Recap / Kamen Rider Gotchard Ep 5 Burn Fight Wrestler G

Burn! Fight! Wrestler G!

Original Airdate: October 1, 2023
Written by: Keiichi Hasegawa
Directed by: Katsuya Watanabe

Summary

M.U.S.C.L.E! Muscle!
M.U.S.C.L.E! Muscle!
Three! Two! One! FIRE!!

Narrator: Previously on… Kamen Rider Gotchard!
While Houtarou and Rinne were out searching for Chemies, Lachesis of the Three Dark Sisters "Gotchanko'd" them into her ant labyrinth!
In order to overcome Lachesis's cunning traps and escape the ant labyrinth, the two of them had to work together!
As the Dark Sisters continue their assault, their motive remains unknown...

Houtarou and Rinne head to a wrestling dojo with their fellow alchemy students, Renge and Sabimaru, to learn more about the Chemies, only to run into the yakuza wanting to claim the dojo for themselves. Despite it being forbidden to use alchemy in such a situation, Houtarou takes Renge's cards to transform into Gotchard in front of a crowd.

Now, Houtarou must find a way to get out of the situation in one piece and keep his identity a secret, which may prove more difficult when a Malgam barges onto the scene...

Tropes

• Abnormal Ammo: Rinne, wielding Houtaro-as-BulletChoucho Wild Mode fires out non-lethal bullets that trick the yakuza into looking at imaginary butterflies for them to chase, tricking them into leaving the gym.
• An Aesop: The power of two working together can be far, far greater than them working separately.
• Bittersweet Ending: After all is done, Hotarou manages to save GorillaSensei from Goriki, who subsequently gets arrested for his crimes. However, Wrestler G is forced to be separated from Koichiro, who will have his memories erased. When Wrestler G tries to follow him, Koichiro harshly rebuffs it, stating that the Chemy should move on without him. However, Koichiro also thanks the Chemy for reinvigorating his desire to teach wrestling to the new generation, and he is hopeful that his gym will rise once more.
• Career-Ending Injury: Gouri broke the back of Koichiro's rising star, causing him to hang up his boots early.
• Creator Cameo: Suit actor Shogo Teramoto appears as a gangster.
• Determinator: Hotaro repeatedly gets hit with Asahi G's windmill back-breaker, but keeps getting back up until he can perfect the counter, going through it all night long. Take note that Asahi's star pupil surrendered after getting hit with this once.
  Hotaro: (as he's thrown to a corner) One more time!
• Discard and Draw: Houtarou trades Energyl and Sasukemaru back to Renge for Kamantis, with the both of them clearly satisfied by their Chemies' performances.
• Double Meaning: Hotaro is nicknamed "Babyface" by Gouriki, referencing Hotaro's youthful looks and because a babyface is a wrestling term for the wrestler who plays the role of a hero.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Supana has this reaction towards Rinne when she stands with Houtarou in refusing to hand Wrestler G over.
• Foreshadowing: Atropos mentions someone named "Master Geryon", whom the Dark Sisters apparently answer to.
• Fusion Dance: Wrestler G fuses with Koichiro, turning him into a wrestler dubbed "Asahi G". This shows that some Chemies can fuse with benevolent humans, turning them into non-Rider allies and not Malgams.
• Go Through Me: When Supana is ready to take Wrestler G for himself, Renge and Sabimaru stand in front of Gotchard, despite having known Hotaro for a few days and learned he was Gotchard just a few minutes ago. Rinne also joins in, to which Supana walks off in defeat.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Renge and Sabimaru learn about Houtarou being the Kamen Rider.
  • The official website's mention of The Power of Friendship being Gotchard's strongest power source comes to light in this episode, as Houtarou is so in sync with Wrestler G and Anttrooper as AntWrestler that it causes a power surge so strong the Gotchardriver overflows.
• No-Sell: Houtaro's first fight against the Gorilla Malgam goes like this.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: While the yakuza are a persistent threat to Koichiro due to wanting his dojo and land, they're not interested in the Chemies and only fought the alchemy students because they just happened to be in the way.
• Pro Wrestling Episode: The focus is on Hotaro learning how to counteract a wrestling move under the tutelage of a former wrestler.
• The Reveal:
  • Played With. Houtarou realizes that the matching Chemy cards add up to 10 for every combination (for example, Hopper1 is 1 while Steamliner is 9), but Rinne tells him that it's common knowledge among the rest of the Academy. Sabimaru, however, points out that Houtarou and Rinne themselves fit the pattern (as the "ichi" (一) in Ichinose and "ku" (九) in Kudo are spelled with the characters for 1 and 9 respectively).
  • The episode also reveals that Chemies can resonate with positive human emotions and not just malice, creating a Good Counterpart to Malgams in the process.
• Shoo the Dog: Asahi harshly does it with Wrestler G after the episode, aware not only of the inevitable memory erasure but also so he won't be targeted by the Three Dark Sisters along with the Chemy.
• Training Montage: Houtarou's training involves him finding a way against Gorilla Malgam's signature backbreaker move, with Koichiro as Asahi G lending a hand. Doubles as Training from Hell, as Houtarou endures the backbreaker multiple times trying to overcome it.
• Trying Not to Cry: As Asahi says his farewells to Wrestler G, he's doing his best not to cry as he walks into his gym.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Koichiro doesn't look shocked over how Hotaro transforms into a gun that makes the yakuza leave with imaginary butterfly bullets, or how a wrestling figure in his possession is an alchemical creature.
• When He Smiles: Sabimaru is beaming with joy when Hotarou calls him sempai.

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Titular Chemy: Wrestler G

Cards used:

Gotchard: Antrooper + Wrestler G = AntWrestler, Gengenchoucho + Bulletbaang = Bulletchoucho

Chemies recovered:

Gotchard: Wrestler G, Gorillasensei