Recap / Kamen Rider Gotchard Ep 24 Sud Ten Turn Forbidden Steel Rider

Sud-Ten Turn! Forbidden Steel Rider!

Original Airdate: February 25, 2024
Written by: Hiroki Uchida
Directed by: Takayuki Shibasaki

Summary

''I, who am about to awaken, am the Azure Liner who has stolen the principles of domination from Alchemy. I laugh at the "gotcha", and I fret over the "friendship"... I shall become the Alchemist of Domination, and I shall sink you to the depths of the steel purgatory! Iron Gotchard!''

Excited when Minato sends them a letter saying he will take down Geryon, Houtaro and the others rush to the scene, but they are shocked at the sight of a brand new Malgam instead. During the attack, Houtaro loses all his cards except for Steamliner. Desperate to get them back, Houtaro consults with Kyoka, who tells him there is a way to transform...under a forbidden technique.

Tropes

• Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Houtaro transforming into Iron Gotchard and with the battle against Dread and the Pteranodon Malgam yet unresolved.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Minato is revealed to have murdered someone 10 years ago, which is implied to be related to why he sided with Geryon.
• Darkest Hour: Gotchard losing one card is bad. The entire Kitchen Ichinose Alliance losing all but five is worse!
• Foreshadowing: During their recap of their journey, the Kitchen Alliance note how forbidden alchemy grants its users powers at a great price to themselves. Later on, with options running out, Houtaro is desperate to the point where he considers using forbidden alchemy, even as Renge and Sabimaru try to talk him out of it.
• Godzilla Threshold: With all but a handful of cards in Geryon's grasp, Houtaro is forced to weigh his options so that he could get his Chemy friends back. Kyoka suggests to him that he could use a forbidden alchemical technique to fuse a human and a Chemy, and later we see Houtaro do so with Steamliner upgraded to Tenliner.
• How We Got Here: The episode opens where it ended — Houtaro transforming using Tenliner into Iron Gotchard.
• Idiot Ball: The inciting incident for this episode is that Houtaro, who knows that Minato is working with Geryon, takes him on his word and heads over to what is clearly a trap where the protagonists loses all their cards except for 5: Steamliner, Unicon, TheSun, MadWheel and DaiOhni. Somewhat justified as Kyoka suggested it might be a ruse because she and Supana believe that Minato is working to bring down Geryon from within.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: The Kitchen Alliance loses all but a few of their cards and Minato has seemingly shown his true colors, but Houtaro manages to transform with Tenliner into Iron Gotchard.
• Recap Episode: The first half of the episode is the Kitchen Alliance reminiscing on their journey due to Kesuzo erasing the data on Sabimaru's tablet.
• Wham Episode: The Kitchen Ichinose Alliance loses almost every Chemy card, then Houtarou uses a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to get an upgrade that later leaves him unconscious.
• Wham Shot:
  • A mysterious figure in alchemist gear approaches Houtaro and the other non-Rider Alchemists as he laments not being able to help the others.
  • Houtarou now has an S-class ring.

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Titular Chemy: Tenliner

Cards Used:

Gotchard: Tenliner (transformed from Steamliner) + GotcharDriver = Iron Gotchard

Dread: Repli-Unicon + Repli-Steamliner = Dread Type One

Chemies recovered: None