Recap / Kamen Rider Gotchard Ep 17 Moonbreak Messenger

Moonbreak Messenger

Original Airdate: January 7, 2024
Written by: Hiroki Uchida
Directed by: Takayuki Shibasaki

Summary

I've been going with the flow from the very beginning
The hustle and bustle surrounding me
You must have known that you were alone
From life til death.

Narrator: Last year... on Kamen Rider Gotchard!
Houtaro Ichinose, a young high school-student who longs for a dream, "Gotchank-ot" to meet Chemies, mysterious life-forms created from alchemy!
With the alchemist Fuga Kudo guiding him, he became Kamen Rider Gotchard!
He then fought battle after battle with the aid of his reliable friends, repelling the Three Dark Sisters!
However, this was but the calm before the storm, as the true enemy now approaches...!

Houtaro is wondering about the orange version of his Rider self who saved him from the Malgam and Geryon's clutches. However, there is little time to catch a break or be lost in thought, as another Malgam is on the attack. Houtaro transforms into Gotchard to counter the threat, but the new Malgam proves to be too much for him to take on. Suddenly, the orange Gotchard returns, but leaves the young alchemist with some very cryptic advice concerning his strength and situation, along with a warning about the future.

Will Houtaro and his team be prepared for those jaw-dropping revelations?

Tropes

• Ambiguous Situation: Is Minato's Face–Heel Turn genuine or is he only faking this to protect his students from something even worse?
• Big Damn Heroes: Gotchard Daybreak saves Houtaro from the Moon Malgam twice, pointing out that he's not prepared to beat it as he is.
• Chess Motifs: Kyoka tells Supana that he's under a slump as they're playing a game of chess, which he denies. Kyoka then promptly hands him a checkmate to show that he's indeed in over his head.
• De-power: Downplayed. Minato takes Supana's Chemy Cards after defeating him, rendering him unable to transform into Valvarad.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In the revised opening, the card backings used by Gokigenmeteon, Haodin, Vanfenrir, Grandsaturn, Dragonalos, and Gaiard (all identified by their physical features being represented in the helmets) can be seen in the border of the episode preview, ahead of their in-show debuts. Machwheel, Kinkiravena, and Gingriffon also appear in full at various segments in the opening.
• Face–Heel Turn: Minato declares the expulsion of his students and the dissolution of the Alchemist's Academy, and shows his alliance with the Dark Sisters as well as transforming into Kamen Rider Dread.
• Foreshadowing: Gotchard Daybreak warns Houtaro that he will be betrayed by someone he trusts in the near future. Surely enough, Minato reveals himself to be in league with Geryon and the Three Dark Sisters.
  Gotchard Daybreak: "In the near future, you will be in the middle of something terrible, and lose faith in someone you trust."
• Internal Reveal: Downplayed. Houtaro learns of Geryon from Gotchard Daybreak, but the latter chooses to keep mum on the details.
• Mythology Gag: The framing of Minato's betrayal of his students, as well as his demand for the Chemy cards, mirrors that of how the Swordsmen of Logos betrayed Touma.
• The Reveal:
  • Geryon reveals that he is an alumnus of the Alchemist Academy, and knows Minato personally.
    Geryon: It has been a long time since I visited this school...
  • Supana was saved by Kyoka a decade before, and she sent him to investigate Rinne to learn more about her father.
• Wham Episode: The Alchemists' Union has sold out to Geryon. Minato betrays the students, saying they're now off the Chemy case: the Dark Sisters are now the ones investigating. He then proceeds to turn into Dread and steals Supana's Chemy cards.
• Wham Shot: One after another.
  • First is Supana aiming his Valvarusher at Minato as the students encounter them, as Minato tells them to surrender their cards and rings.
  • Next is the Dark Sisters dressed in Academy uniforms, as Minato tells his students that they've been replaced by the Dark Sisters in terms of retrieving Chemies.
  • And finally, Minato brandishes the Dreadriver in an attempt to take their cards and rings.
• You Are Not Ready: Daybreak delivers a type of this to Houtaro after saving him from the Moon Malgam.
  Gotchard Daybreak: I told you before. As you are now, you cannot win.
• You Have Failed Me: The Alchemists' Union declares the dissolution of the Academy due to repeated incidents involving Level 10 Chemies, as well as their slow progress in retrieving Chemies in general.

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Titular Chemy: Neminemoon

Chemies Recovered: None.

Additional Information: Minato, siding with Geryon, has taken Madwheel and Gutsshovel from Supana.