Kamen Rider Gotchard Reviews

Why Rinne (Allegedly) is the Secondary Rider, not Spanner (Draft)

From Toei themselves: "Finally!! The heroine Rinne Kudo transforms. First female rider. See the beautiful and splendid Kamen Rider Majade/Majed (official romaji will come later) in action at the theater."

Well Toei, maybe you should learn from Dragon Ball Super Broly and not just spoil everything in your movie's climax, but honestly, awesome. And in an interview, which I'll paraphrase, she says:

"I was surprised because I had never heard of it before, and I dreamed of transforming into a Kamen Rider since I was a child. I tried my best to say 'Transformation', in a cool voice. Although I felt a sense of responsibility, I went into it knowing that I wanted to do my best while having! As a child, I admired the cool Kamen Rider, so I want Rinne to be a strong heroine. I always wanted to fight rather than be protected so Rinne, let's do it! I think it's great that we have a relationship where we protect each other and are protecting each other."

And allegedly, if this is true, awesome, Rinne will be our first secondary rider. Why is this such a big deal one might ask? Why isn't it Spanner? Aren't they just giving her the powers?

Look, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. Kamen Rider heroines in suit have not had the best treatment: Tackle wasn't even considered a Rider and was killed off despite intially plans to revive her, Agito's sister offed herself, Femme was in a 13 Rider show and only showed up in a movie to died, and it wasn't until the Decade movie and both of Dragon Knight's female characters, the AMERICAN adaptation Toei actually likes for good reason treated them better in 2009.

While it's had issues since then, there have him improvements: Nadeshiko returned, Mayu/Mage became a key player, Marika's flaws didn't stop her from gaining fans, Alia was underused but survived, Poppy had her moments and got to fight, win, survive and grow, Tsukyomi was allowed to be a Rider...near the end, and Reiwa has been pushing it too.

And look at Reiwa: Valkyrie's treatment is a discussion point but she became the first tertiary female rider. Sabela was allowed to shine and any of her non-brother moments were great especially in Girls Remix and was even allowed to take on a general of the final boss and win. Jeanne is also polarizing but proof Toei can make a heroine awesome and feminine. And Na-go's what happens when Takahashi finishes the women's stories course after the pandemic.

So for the people to act like Rinne being a Rider is forced or "pushing some agenda" is nonsense, which I will get to later.

So why is Spanner not the secondary Rider? Because he's antithetical to Gotchard's themes. He actively believes Chemies are tools just because they were created by humans, and while he's right to point out their potential and anger, his form of subjugation makes him no different than the villains.

When he's fighting someone with either as much experience or more of a bond with their Chemies, there's a reason he struggles more. Dread uses the hosts' knowledge and love for their Chemies to their maximum potential, Hotaro is powered by two at a time and works to understand their pros and cons. Spanner can only push a cheat card to the systems limit and since he's using them as a tool, he can't draw out his potential.

Hell after his debut, his most effective moments are giving Mad Wheel to Hotaro to get him and Rinne out of the madhill, Gotchard recoiling, boosting him with SteamHopper's fever attack, and working with Minato to stall Dread while the others get UFO-X. He's much more effective when he works with people, but he doesn't have the self-awareness to recognize that or acknowledge it until he goes to Professor Kyoka for improvements.

Meanwhile, look at Houtarou and Rinne. The two of them are presented as popular options: a not so bright but well meaning optimist and a technically and intellectual yet distant loner. Between their heart to hearts regarding her father's impact on both of them regarding their goals and as alchemists, her helping him out in fights, able to tease and accept the other, then promising to make each other stronger, it's a clear sign they are developing individually and together.

And Rinne's developed far more than Spanner in terms of Chemies. She started off neutral but between Wrestler G and Hopper 1, she gets Hotaro's bond with them, which later leads to her not falling prey to Atropos' words and putting faith with her father's decision to steal and protect the Chemies.

So if someone asks, who has done more to earn their development as a Kamen Rider, Rinne or Spanner, the clear answer is Rinne.

"But aren't they giving Rinne the powers for no reason? Isn't it forced?"

How? She's the most important protagonist on the heroes side given her ties to the big good, the introduction to the academy for the protagonists, has every faction's eyes on her, and her development is about not using her guilt to shut herself away or drown into doubt, but to pick herself up and rise up to be an alchemist her own way while finding the value of life through her father's sacrifice, Hotaro, and the Chemies. All she needed was to find a Chemy that could synchronize with her and get a belt. Which she will, based on the movie.

Also, according to people who keep up with this way more than I do: the Japanese theaters had boys excited to see her transformation, there's been positive reactions from fans in Japan, and the producers are are trying to bring in the Precure audience: you know, the female Dragon Ball anime that has a main demographic of girls but got guys into the franchise for the actions scenes and character development.

Look, anyone's response to Kamen Rider officially having its first female secondary rider being "the role should've gone to a man," or "it'll lose Toei money," speaks to their character more than Reiyo's. Gotchard's fans, her co-workers, and her family will be proud of her.

So Reiyo Matsumoto, congratulations on the role.

Episode 15 and 16's reviews will be completed and on the way, meanwhile I need to figure out why there's barely any black x latina/hispanic stories on wattpad. You'd think they'd be a lot more.

Also, fun fact, Soul Crossers was envisioned as basically a male human/female demon primary and female human/male demon secondary Rider inspiration. Kinda nice a franchise that inspired a story ended up doing exactly what I wanted but in half the time of the story XD. Not a shame plug, though I have been absent for....two weeks? Yikes I need to start updating things pronto.