Series / Kamen Rider Gotchard

"Grab it! The greatest Gotcha!"

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"The Chemistry accelerates!!"

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"Now, it's gorgeous time!"

Chemies: magical monsters created through Alchemy. When the seal on the Chemy cards is broken, fate rests on the shoulders of one young man!

— Opening Narration (by Katsuyuki Konishi, ep. 1-16)

Kamen Rider Gotchard is the 2023-2024 entry in the Kamen Rider series, the fifth in the Reiwa Era and thirty-fourth overall. It aired on September 3, 2023 alongside Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger — and later, Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger — in the Super Hero Time block, succeeding Kamen Rider Geats.

In a world where the art of Alchemy is practiced, the secret Alchemists' Academy has been successful in creating 101 artificial living creatures, known as Chemies. While normally sealed in Ride Chemy Cards, an incident involving Ordinary High-School Student Houtaro Ichinose ends up unleashing all of these Chemies to the world. Entrusted with the GotcharDriver belt and the cards of two Chemies that synchronise with him, Hopper1 and Steamliner, Houtaro fuses with them to transform into Kamen Rider Gotchard, embarking on a quest to recapture all 101 Chemies before they can fuse with malicious humans to become Malgam monsters and wreak havoc.

Kamen Rider Gotchard's tie-in projects include:

• Kamen Rider Gotchard VS Kamen Rider Legend, a two-episode web video spinoff.
• Kamen Rider Gotchard × Geats — The Strongest Chemy ☆ Gotcha Grand Operation, the winter movie crossover with Kamen Rider Geats.
  • X Wizard's Secret Note, a tie-in short novel bundled with the film's Blu-Ray release.
• The Three Dark Sisters Present: Kamen Rider Gotchard Unfinished Plan, radio plays featuring the villains breaking the fourth wall to discuss the events of the show.
• Kamen Rider Gotchard: What's That!? Houtaro and Rinne Switched Places!!, a invokedBonus Episode distributed with Televi-Kun magazine.
• Kamen Rider Gotchard Spinoff: We are Class 3G, a two-episode non-canon High School AU featured on the show's Blu-ray releases.
• Kamen Rider Gotchard Ver.: Romeo and Juliet Complete Edition, a TTFC-exclusive special edition of #31 that features the full version of the play's In-Universe production.
• The as-of-yet-untitled summer movie crossover with Boonboomger set to be released on July 26, 2024.

Spoilers for the first 21 episodes are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Recurring Kamen Rider tropes include:

• By the Power of Grayskull!: Aside from the staple "henshin", Valvarad uses "tekkō"^note 鉄鋼, literally "iron and steel" before becoming a Rider.
• Cool Bike: One of the Chemies is a motorcycle named Golddash, which Gotchard uses as his ride. Gotchard Daybreak also has his own Daybreak version of Golddash.
• Henshin Hero: The various Riders transform by fusing with pairs of sealed Chemies. Supana also turned into a "kamen senshi" ("masked warrior"), Valvarad, before becoming a Rider himself.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: A regular trope for the franchise, but stronger than usual here: while the Chemies are described as disruptions to the natural order, they're generally peaceful; the catalyst that forms Malgams is human malice causing Chemies to fuse with them. Hotaro wants to protect everyone, but he tends to emphasize protecting the Chemies from evil humans as opposed to the other way around.
• Monster of the Week: Malgams, created when a Chemy synchronizes and fuses with a human of malicious intent.
• Phlebotinum Rebel:
  • Inverted. As far as we know, the Chemies weren't made as tools for good or evil (they're described as being an accidental byproduct of some alchemic transmutations), but they are innocent creatures. They can easily be corrupted into monsters by human malice, a reversal of how most Kamen Riders take villains' powers and use them for good.
  • Played straight with Gotchard's and Majade's transformation mechanism, which turns Houtarou and Rinne into chimera-like beings called the Ride Chemy Doll and Alchemis Doll respectively. The only other use of the word "doll" in a meaningful context is in reference to the homunculi-like figures used to create Golden Malgams and which the Dark Sisters may or may not be made from, indicating this trope.
  • Iron Gotchard is created using a Dangerous Forbidden Technique, and described in production notes as being closer to a Malgam than a Rider; only barely staying on this side of the line due to The Power of Friendship and Hotaro not being malicious.
• Swiss-Army Hero: Gotchard can access many different forms based on combinations of two of the 101 Ride Chemy Cards. Even sticking with just the standard pairs and ignoring the Fantastic and Cosmic cards associated with Majade, he still has 36 base forms (72 if you count their Wild variations) and eight possible Super Gotchard forms to choose from.
• Transformation Trinket: Various characters draw on the power of the Ride Chemy Cards using unique devices:
  • Gotchard uses the GotcharDriver belt, which takes the powers of two Ride Chemy Cards with a combined value of 10 and fuses them. He can later add plugins to access upgraded forms:
    • The Exgotchalibur allows him to add single Rank 10 cards for various Super Gotchard forms
    • The GotcharIgnitor is used with any regular combo to become Fire Gotchard.
    • The Tenliner Chemy itself, with its card, is used for Iron Gotchard; and adding the Crosshopper Chemy and card creates Platina Gotchard.
    • Finally, his unidentified Super Mode uses, at a minimum, two Nijigon cards; and the rest of the Chemies can be enhanced to similar "Rainbow" versions.
  • Valvarad uses a greatsword-rifle called the Valvarusher with the Madwheel card, and can alter his armor with other Vehicle cards (Gutsshovel and Gekiocopter are the ones shown in the show). He later adopts a ValvaraDriver belt (similar to the GotcharDriver with the GotcharIgnitor built in) to become Kamen Rider Valvarad. Unlike the other Riders' combos, he combines Vehicle and Occult cards of the same level, with his default form using Madwheel enhanced into a new form called Machwheel along with its counterpart Rank 6 Occult card Daiohni.
  • Kamen Rider Legend uses the LegenDriver belt with Legend Rider cards.
  • Kamen Rider Dread uses the DreaDriver with dark "Repli-Chemy" cards.
  • Kamen Riders Majade and Wind use the AlchemisDriver with the Fantastic/Cosmic card combos and the High Alchemis Ring.
  • Kamen Rider Gotchard Daybreak uses a red "Daybreak version" of the GotcharDriver with fiery Daybreak versions of the Chemy cards, and has his own Fire Gotchard form using the GotcharIgnitor.
  • All students and staff of the Academy have their Alchemist Rings, which they use to change into their uniforms.
  • As for the Ride Chemy Cards themselves, they're ranked from 1 to 10 in ten different categories. The cards are:

• Insects: 1: Hopper1/Crosshopper (grasshopper), 2: Pikahotaru (firefly), 3: Gengenchoucho (butterfly), 4: Bakuonzemi (cicada) 5: Antrooper (ant), 6: Greatonbo (dragonfly), 7: Stagvine (stag beetle), 8: Kaiserbee (bee), 9: Kamantis (mantis), 10: BeetlX (rhino beetle)
• Vehicles: 1: Spicle (bicycle), 2: Skebows (skateboard), 3: Hiikescue (fire engine), 4: Gekiocopter (helicopter), 5: Deepmariner (submarine), 6: Madwheel/Machwheel (car), 7: Golddash (motorcycle), 8: Gutsshovel (excavator), 9: Steamliner/Tenliner (train), 10: Exceedfighter (fighter jet)
• Jobs: 1: Odorippa (dancer), 2: Dokkirimajin (magician), 3: Doctorkozo (doctor), 4: Pilets (pirate), 5: Wrestler G (professional wrestler), 6: Sasukemaru (ninja), 7: Bulletbaang (gunslinger), 8: Apparebushido (samurai), 9: Karyudos (hunter), 10: X Wizard (wizard)
• Animals: 1: Yamibat (bat), 2: Catchula (tarantula), 3: Mechanichani (crab), 4: Bussasorry (scorpion), 5: Bountybunny (bunny), 6: Hawkstar (hawk), 7: Tsupparihebi (snake), 8: Gorillasensei (gorilla), 9: Ganvhale (whale), 10: Lixion (lion)
• Artifacts: 1: Raidenji (battery), 2: Kesuzo (eraser), 3: Mitemirror (mirror), 4: Energyl (energy drink), 5: Panpakaparka (parka), 6: Televi (TV), 7: Timelord (clock), 8: Smaphone (smartphone), 9: Renkingrobo (giant robot), 10: X Fortress (fortress)
• Plants: 1: Happyclover (clover), 2: Burningnero (habanero pepper), 3: Bambamboo (bamboo), 4: Saboneedle (cactus), 5: Venomdake (mushroom), 6: Utsubocchama (pitcher plant), 7: Flayrose (rose), 8: Buglesia (rafflesia), 9: Junglejan (jungle vegetation) 10: Xeggdrasil (World Tree)
• Occult: 1: Carery (fairy), 2: Berosol (Karakasa), 3: Sayzombie (zombie), 4: Angelead (angel), 5: Zukyumpire (vampire) 6: Daiohni (Oni), 7: Mackraken (kraken), 8: Jyamatanoorochi (Orochi), 9: Ninetail (kitsune), 10: UFO-X (Flying Saucer)
• Ancient: 1: Nammonite (ammonite), 2: Akumanocaris (anomalocaris), 3: Pakuraptor (raptor), 4: Ojilacanth (coelacanth), 5: sabeliger (sabertooth tiger), 6: Warptera (pteranodon), 7: Gigalodon (megalodon), 8: Tricera (triceratops), 9: Blizzammoth (mammoth), 10: X-Rex (T. rex)
• Fantastic: 1: Gigabaham (Bahamut), 2: Macentaurus (centaur), 3: Unicon (unicorn), 4: Vanfenrir (Fenrir), 5: Inphoenix (phoenix), 6: Yoacerberus (cerberus), 7: Haodin (Odin), 8: Gingriffon (griffon), 9: Donposeidon (Poseidon), 10: Dragonalos (dragon)
• Cosmic: 1: Mercurin (Mercury), 2: Kinkiravina (Venus), 3: Gokigenmeteon (meteor), 4: Neminemoon (the moon), 5: Firemars (Mars), 6: Grandsaturn (Saturn), 7: The Sun (the sun), 8: Jupitta (Jupiter), 9: Kuroana (black hole), 10: Gaiard (Earth)
• 101st: EX: Nijigon (rainbow)
• Separate from the main collection of cards, there are also Legend Rider cards representing prior series, complete with their own Chemies. Most Rider cards are rank 5, with the exception of Kamen Rider Geats which has ten Riders ranked from 1 to 9 so that they can be paired off with one another.

Gatchanko! TropeList!:

• Adults Are Useless: A number of adults do step in and help the teen protagonists, but it's noticeable that they step out just as quickly. Their teacher Minato caves to the villains because he thinks that opposing them will just get everyone killed (again). Gotchard Daybreak and Rinne's father Fuga both appear to help the kids activate new upgrades and even fight a bit, but each only lasts a couple episodes before they have to leave again. Kyoka is the only adult alchemist actively helping her juniors, but she mostly gives Supana moral support as his surrogate mother figure and rarely interacts with the rest.
• Alchemy Is Magic: The show portrays alchemy and the Alchemists' Academy as very magical in nature; more of a mystic art than a science. Hotaru even calls it magic at first, before Rinne sets him straight. It doesn't help that alchemists use rings similar to Kamen Rider Wizard.
• All There in the Manual:
  • Production has said that a number of Gotchard's forms will only be portrayed as CGI Wild forms, but the backs of the cards have images of the helmet he would have in humanoid form, so we have at least some idea of what those forms look like. Concept art versions of the actual forms themselves also appear in a tie-in mobile app. (Unfortunately, Wild forms not portrayed onscreen are out of luck, as are Majade's and Valvarad's alternate forms.)
  • Production notes for each episode are also posted online, providing additional information that doesn't get mentioned in the show.
• Arc Symbol: Arrows; as Gotchard himself, the Alchemists' Academy insignia, and all of the Chemies incorporate noticeable arrow designs.
• Bishōnen Line: In his debut fight, Gotchard starts out in his Wild form as a steam-powered grasshopper, but doesn't do that great until he figures out he can switch to a humanoid form and that's able to turn things around. There's no indication that the human forms really are stronger or harder to access than Wild forms in general, but production did say that they are going to be relatively rarer due to production logistics.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • Continuing the trend of expanding female roles, Rinne becomes the first female Secondary Rider as Kamen Rider Majade.
  • Most Rider series (including all previous Reiwa entries) tend to keep the same opening from start to finish. Gotchard, however, is the first since Den-O to switch it mid-run.
  • Much like BLACK and unlike the vast majority of the franchise, Gotchard does not have any mooks in the main series.
• Cards of Power: Gotchard gets his powers from Ride Chemy Cards, not unlike Ryuki, Blade, or Decade.
• Central Theme:
  • Going off with the themes of human malice from Zero-One and Outsiders, humanity is always capable of evil — by choice or against their will; no matter how hard they try to suppress them, especially when absolute power corrupts absolutely. Outsiders deals with an A.I. trying to cull down malice through totalitarian methods, this series has the villains preying on the malice of people to turn them into monsters.
  • "Rules" is also a recurring subject, with Hotaro noted as using rather unorthodox methods to deal with the Chemies as opposed to following standard alchemist procedure. When Geryon takes control of the Alchemists' Union, the protagonists have to face whether they're going to go along with the rules placed on them, and Rinne deciding to set her own rules is a major part of her Character Development that allows her to re-access her Kamen Rider powers.
• Combo Platter Powers: Like Kamen Rider Build, Gotchard combines items with random themes together. Some of the various combinations are steam train/grasshopper, samurai/skateboard, ant/wrestler, cactus/hawk, motorcycle/crab, and battery/jungle. (And those are just the major ones that get physical suits, there are more as CGI Wild forms).
• Early-Bird Cameo: Gotchard first appeared in Kamen Rider Geats' summer movie, then later appeared out-of-suit in Geats' finale.
• Evolving Credits: #17 debuts a new opening sequence that features Rinne's and Supana's Rider forms, as well as a remix of CHEMY×STORY performed by BACK-ON alongside FLOW, featuring the second verse. Also counts as a Spoiler Opening given that Majade had yet to debut in the show and Valvarad's Rider form had yet to debut altogether upon the opening's introduction.
• Exponential Potential: With 101 Chemy cards, Gotchard has a lot of potential combinations to use. At a minimum, the GotcharDriver toy recognizes 54 specific combinations (36 standard two-card combos, ten Fantastic and Cosmic combos, and eight individual Rank 10s). Factor in their Wild versions (assuming the 10s and Fantastic/Cosmic combos have them), and that's 108 forms. In theory, though, any mixed-category combination totaling 10 could be valid in the show, which would make 415 possible combinations (830 with Wilds).
• Fusion Dance: The protagonists merge with two Chemies at a time to become Kamen Riders. Similarly, Chemies can fuse with malicious humans to turn them into Malgam monsters.
• Goggles Do Nothing: All of Gotchard's (humanoid) forms include some form of goggles on the forehead; purely as a design element and not used for anything.
• Gotta Catch Them All: After being scattered in the first episode, Gotchard's goal is to recapture all 101 released Chemies. Surprisingly, though, he's not going at it alone; with several other alchemists succeeding in reclaiming them both on- and offscreen.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode is named after a Chemy, be it a pun on the Chemy's name or just directly name-dropping the Chemy itself.
• Lighter and Softer: The show is much lighter than the other three Reiwa entries, as its overall tone is more in line with the 80's Showa (excluding BLACK), the 90's film J, Hibiki, Den-O, early Phase 2 Heisei entries (along with Ghost), and Saber. It also explores the concept of human malice and how power corrupts people, as the majority of the villains are seen willing to commit horrible acts that are similar to those in real life, even if some of them are not inherently evil. Once the third arc kicks in, the story takes on a darker direction while retaining some of the lightheartedness despite the appearance of the show's resident Knight of Cerebus.
• Magical Incantation: Several acts of alchemy are done with incantations, with the literal Japanese text of the commands being arranged to form an instant rune (on-screen only, not in-universe) that triggers its effects.
• Merchandise-Driven: In addition to the usual merch for a Kamen Rider series, the Ride Chemy Cards are marketed like normal trading cards (and are even labeled as such, despite the word "trading" not appearing in the show); they're sold in randomized blind packs and with different rarities and variants like foil treatments and alternate art.
• Mon: The website synopsis describes the Chemies' original purpose to be "humanity's companions", which is why they are able to synchronize with a human's emotions to lend them their power.
• Mon Tech: In addition to the various Drivers that the Riders use to harness the power of the Chemies, the Alchemists' Union also possesses Chemy Risers, wrist-mounted devices that they can use to both capture Chemies and harness their powers without the need to transform into a Kamen Rider.
• Mythology Gag:
  • A making-of blog for Gotchard's Early-Bird Cameo states that Hopper1 is based on Berry, a talking grasshopper that aided Kamen Rider J.
  • In the toyline, the "Parallel" (alternate-art) versions of Ryuki's and Blade's Legend Rider cards are made to resemble their original Advent and Rouze Cards.
• No Ontological Inertia: Rinne establishes early in the show that normally, alchemy only produces temporary changes that revert themselves after a while, demonstrating by levitating a set of objects that proceed to place themselves exactly back where they were when the effect expires. Chemies are what happens when an alchemical effect becomes permanent, although nobody knows how to make this happen.
• Pokémon Speak: With a few exceptions, the Chemies all talk by saying parts of their names over and over.
• Police Are Useless: Averted. While the Malgams themselves are typically too dangerous for the average non-alchemist, the hosts of the Monster of the Week are often left for the authorities to deal with once the Chemies are saved.
• Power at a Price: Episode 12 introduces the concept of forbidden alchemy, which can do things that normal alchemy can't like Thinking Up Portals, but has horrible consequences for the alchemist. When desperate, Hotaro takes the risk and uses it to create his Iron Gotchard form.
• Ring of Power: Alchemists perform their alchemy using special rings. Rinne has a unique one that interacts with her Transformation Trinket.
• Rings of Activation: The UFO-X Transformation Sequence includes a Flying Saucer hitting Gotchard with a beam of rings.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Gotchard and Dread each wear a waist-length white scarf in most of their forms, making them the first Riders to wear physical scarves in their primary forms since the Showa era.^note Other Riders such as Double and Geats have worn a strip of cloth hanging off the back of their collar to evoke the appearance of a scarf, but not a real one worn around the neck. The only previous Rider form in the Heisei or Reiwa eras to have worn a true scarf is Geats Feverslot.
• Shout-Out:
  • The production notes for #13 state that the Union of Alchemists is one to the Ministry of Magic from Harry Potter, being the governing body of a hidden society.
  • The Level 7 Artifact Chemy is called Timelord.
  • The production notes for #24 describe a Kamen Rider In-Universe as someone who uses two (or more Chemies) in perfect harmony. The phrase used to describe the concept is "Two in harmony surpass one in perfection", alluding to the motto of the Kirijo Group in Persona 3.
• Space Is Noisy: Invoked with the presence of Gokigenmeteon, who despite having the appearance of a meteor shower is also music-themed (each head's contrail forms a type of sheet music notation) and thus indicating this trope is in effect.
• Spiritual Antithesis:
  • To Kamen Rider Blade. As both series' plot involves collecting monsters and sealing them in cards to invoke transformation and abilities by the Riders. While the Undeads are a genuine threat to humanity that needs to be sealed by the Riders, although some are altruistic in their nature, the Chemies were mostly innocent creatures that can be fused with a malice-filled human to turn into a Malgam with the Riders needing to defeat the monsters before sealing the Chemies inside the cards.
  • Also to the concurrently airing Kamen Rider Outsiders. As both series have the underlying theme of dealing with human malice. Outsiders deals with an artificial intelligence bent on culling down human malice through totalitarian methods like stoking fear and paranoia through mass surveillance and propaganda, extreme use of violence against the villains and dissidents over perceived insubordination, and even genocide. This series, on the other hand, has the villains preying on the worst impulses of humans and forcibly fusing them with Chemies to turn them into Malgams.
  • The two-parter leading into the debut of Kamen Rider Valvarad serves as this for the recurring Reiwa trend of a good guy making a Face–Heel Turn ^note Aruto, Kento, Daiji, and Keiwa being examples. Normally, when such a Kamen Rider is faced with a devastating loss like seeing their loved ones die in front of them, they immediately fold and fall to the dark side, adopting a Darker and Edgier power set and antagonizing the protagonists for about a tenth of the show's runtime while the protagonists are either too busy focusing on their own problems (Geats) or are simply stopping said dark Rider without trying to understand their motivations for most of the series (Saber, Zero-One and Revice). However, with Valvarad, both Houtaro and Rinne immediately help Supana not only snap out of his Malgam form, but also help Kyoka in making the tool needed for him to fully become a Kamen Rider, turning his villain arc into more of a Victim of the Week scenario.
• Supernatural Phone: A smartphone-based Chemy named Smaphone. Once Hotaro acquires it, he's seen using it like a normal phone, but it can also act on its own.
• Wham Episode: #17: Due to the events of the crossover movie and their lack of process, Minato announces that the union is dismantling the Alchemist Academy and the Chemy retrieval will be now be handled by the Dark Sisters. Before any of the students can protest, Minato transforms into Dread and steals Supana's Chemy cards, intending to do the same with the rest of the students' cards and rings.
• Wolverine Publicity: Gotchard Daybreak and Legend are prominently shown on the poster promoting the second act, yet the former only appears for two episodes before he is Put on a Bus and the latter doesn't make an appearance for the entire act and the one after it, only doing so five episodes into the fourth act.
• "X" Makes Anything Cool: The Rank 10 Chemies all have noticeable "Xes" in their character designs, and many of them have an X in their names as well (BeetlX, Exceedfighter, X Wizard, Lixion, X Fortress, Xeggdrasil, UFO-X, and X-Rex — the other two, Dragonalos and Gaiard, are explained as predating the naming system). The card backs also have a giant X in place of the normal design, and Gotchard can use their power with an X-shaped add-on to his Driver.

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