Kamen Rider Gotchard

Kamen Rider Gotchard (仮面ライダーガッチャード) is a Japanese drama, the 34th entry of Toei Company's Kamen Rider metaseries, and the fifth series to debut during the Reiwa period. The series debuted on September 3, 2023, joining Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger and later, Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger in the Super Hero Time lineup after the finale of Kamen Rider Geats.

Plot
Houtaro Ichinose is a student at Furasu High School who one day discovers the Alchemist Academy, a secret school for alchemists, beneath the school. Alchemist Fuga Kudo gives him the GotcharDriver, which gives him the power to transform into Kamen Rider Gotchard, and entrusts him with the task of retrieving the Chemies, artificial lifeforms that were released a decade ago and can fuse with humans to become humanoid monsters called Malgams.

Fuga's daughter Rinne, a student at the Academy who transforms into Kamen Rider Majade, assists him in his task. He is also assisted by Supana Kurogane, a graduate of the Academy who transforms into Kamen Rider Valvarad. He was given the same task, but initially sees the Chemies as tools and serves as a rival to Houtaro, who wants to befriend them. They are opposed by the Three Dark Sisters: Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis, who intend to use the Chemies for their master, Geryon, while creating Kamen Rider Dread systems to counter the Riders. It is later revealed that Fuga's betrayal was due to his discovery of a conspiracy within the Alchemist Union related to Geryon's plans. When Geryon finally carries out his plan to destroy the world, the Riders are aided by the time-traveling Kamen Rider Gotchard Daybreak, who is revealed to be an alternate version of Houtaro from a future where Geryon succeeded in his plan to turn the world into gold. The Riders defeat Geryon, who is devoured by the same monster he tried to summon for the sake of his plans.

After Geryon's death, the Dark Sisters are joined by Gigist, one of the "Dark Kings" and the creator of the first two Chemies. Ho-Oh Kaguya Quartz briefly reunites with Houtaro from his own world to fight Hundred under Kamen Rider Legend when they invade Houtaro's world. To counter Gigist, Houtaro unlocks the true power of the 101th Chemy, Nijigon, which was hidden inside the GotcharDriver to transform into his ultimate form, Rainbow Gotchard. Germain and Gaelijah, two other Dark Kings, also appear and intend to claim a piece of the Philosopher's Stone, the ultimate alchemic artifact, which is contained within Nijigon. The Dark Sisters take advantage of the confrontation between the Dark Kings and the Riders to revive Geryon, who was devoured by Germain, by having him emerge from Germain's body and take it over and obtain his powers.

Production
The Kamen Rider Gotchard trademark was registered by Toei Company on May 15, 2023, and published on May 23, 2023.

Gotchard was officially announced on July 21, 2023. An online production announcement conference introducing the main cast and characters and the artist for the show's theme song was held on August 9, 2023.

The opening theme song "CHEMY×STORY" is performed by rock band Back-On. Starting from episode 17, a new version of the song is performed as a collaboration between Back-On and rock band Flow.

Films
Kamen Rider Gotchard debuted in the feature film Kamen Rider Geats the Movie: The 4 Aces and the Black Fox.

Strongest Chemy ★ Gotcha Great Operation
Kamen Rider the Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy ★ Gotcha Great Operation (仮面ライダー THE WINTER MOVIE ガッチャード＆ギーツ 最強ケミー★ガッチャ大作戦) is a crossover film released on December 22, 2023, starring the casts of Gotchard and Kamen Rider Geats. The film was written by Hiroki Uchida and directed by Kyohei Yamaguchi. The theme song is "All for Love" performed by Blank Paper. The events of the film take place between episode 15 of the series and ''Kamen Rider Gotchard: What's That!? Houtaro and Rinne Swapped Bodies!!''.

The Future Daybreak
Kamen Rider Gotchard the Movie: The Future Daybreak (映画 仮面ライダーガッチャード ザ・フューチャー・デイブレイク) is an upcoming film scheduled for release on July 26, 2024. It is double-billed with ''Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger GekijōBoon! Promise the Circuit''. film as part of Kamen Rider the Summer Movie 2024 (仮面ライダー THE SUMMER MOVIE 2024). The film was written by Keiichi Hasegawa and directed by Ryuta Tasaki. The theme song is "THE FUTURE DAYBREAK" performed by Back-On×Flow. The events of the film take place between episodes 43 and 44 of the series.

Spin-offs

 * Kamen Rider Gotchard vs. Kamen Rider Legend (仮面ライダーガッチャードVS仮面ライダーレジェンド): A two-episode web-exclusive special released on Toei Tokusatsu YouTube Official, Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club, TVer, Telasa, Abema, TV Asahi Video, and Amazon Prime Video on November 5, 2023. The events of the specials take place between episode 2 and 3 of the series.
 * The Three Dark Sisters Present Kamen Rider Gotchard: Unfinished Plan (冥黒の三姉妹プレゼンツ 仮面ライダーガッチャード 未完計画): A web-exclusive series released on Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club on December 31, 2023.
 * Kamen Rider Gotchard: What's That!? Houtaro and Rinne Swapped Bodies!! (仮面ライダーガッチャード どうする！？宝太郎とりんねがいれかわっちゃった！！): Televi-Kun's "Hyper Battle DVD" (バトルDVD). The events of the special take place between Kamen Rider the Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy ★ Gotcha Great Operation and episode 16 of the series.
 * We Are Class 3G (我ら3年 G(ガッチャ) 組): A two-episode series included as part of the Blu-ray releases of Kamen Rider Gotchard.
 * Gotchard Short Anime GotchAnime: Get Furasu High School's Seven Mysteries! (ガッチャードショートアニメ ガッチャニメ 富良洲高校七不思議をガッチャせよ！): A web-exclusive animated short series released on Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club on April 28, 2024.

Novel
X Wizard's Secret Notebook (クロスウィザードの秘密ノート) is a short story in the booklet included in the Special Collector's Edition of the Blu-ray release of Kamen Rider the Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy ★ Gotcha Great Operation.

Cast

 * Houtaro Ichinose (一ノ瀬 宝太郎): Junsei Motojima (本島 純政)
 * Rinne Kudo (九堂 りんね), Mercurin (マーキュリン): Reiyo Matsumoto (松本 麗世)
 * Spanner Kurogane (黒鋼 スパナ), Jupitta (ジュピッタ): Yasunari Fujibayashi (藤林 泰也)
 * Renge Icho (銀杏 蓮華), Kinkiravina (キンキラヴィーナ): Oto Abe (安倍 乙)
 * Sabimaru Tsuruhara (鶴原 錆丸), Isaac (アイザック), Televi (テレヴィ): Rikiya Tomizono (富園 力也)
 * Minato (ミナト), Sayzombie (セイゾンビ): Rikuto Kumaki (熊木 陸斗)
 * Atropos (アトロポス): Itono Okita (沖田 絃乃)
 * Clotho (クロトー), Vanfenrir (ヴァンフェンリル): Kanon Miyahara (宮原 華音)
 * Lachesis (ラケシス), Buglesia (バグレシア): Alisa Sakamaki (坂巻 有紗)
 * Ryo Kajiki (加治木 亮), Butler (バトラー), Firemars (ファイヤマルス): Amon Kabe (加部 亜門)
 * Kyoka Edami (枝見 鏡花): Saki Fukuda (福田 沙紀)
 * Geryon (グリオン): Kenta Kamakari (鎌苅 健太)
 * Tamami Ichinose (一ノ瀬 珠美): Yoko Minamino (南野 陽子)
 * Fuga Kudo (九堂 風雅): Kanji Ishimaru (石丸 幹二)
 * Hopper1 (ホッパー1), Crosshopper (クロスホッパー), Mitemirror (ミテミラー), Angelead (エンジェリード), Carery (ケアリー): Misato Fukuen (福圓 美里)
 * Steamliner (スチームライナー), Tenliner (テンライナー), Repli-Steamliner (レプリスチームライナー): Nobuyuki Hiyama (檜山 修之)
 * Gigist (ギギスト), Donposeidon (ドンポセイドン), DreaDriver Voice: Ryōtarō Okiayu (置鮎 龍太郎)
 * Narration, GotcharDriver Voice, Smaphone (スマホーン), Mechanichani (メカニッカニ), Renkingrobo (レンキングロボ), ValvaraDriver Voice, Gaiard (ガイアード): Katsuyuki Konishi (小西 克幸)
 * AlchemisDriver Voice: Haru Shinonome (東雲 はる)

Guest cast

 * Gōriki (剛力): Yukio Naya (納谷 幸男)
 * Hijiri Himeno (姫野 聖): Ayane Kinoshita (木下 彩音)
 * Licht Kugimiya (釘宮 リヒト): Yasukaze Motomiya (本宮 泰風)
 * Kamen Rider Gotchard Daybreak (仮面ライダーガッチャードデイブレイク): Daigo
 * Starshine Hoshino (スターシャイン星野), Grandsaturn (グランドサターン), Ninetail (ナインテイル): Takaya Aoyagi (青柳 尊哉)
 * Seina Tsukumo (九十九 静奈): Kanon Matsuzawa (松澤 可苑)
 * Owarai club members (30): Hirofumi Suzuki (鈴木 浩文), Shinnosuke Takahashi (タカハシ シンノスケ)
 * Saigetsu (サイゲツ): Katsuya Takagi (高木 勝也)
 * Ho-Oh Kaguya Quartz (鳳桜・カグヤ・クォーツ): Seiichiro Nagata (永田 聖一朗)
 * Kamen Rider Zein (仮面ライダーゼイン): Toru Okawa (大川 透)
 * Mai (マイ): Tomomi Jiena Sumi (鷲見 友美 ジェナ)
 * Hina (ヒナ): Hitomi Isaka (井坂 仁美)
 * Koyomi (コヨミ): Chisato Akita (秋田 知里)
 * MC (41): Catcher Nakazawa (キャッチャー中澤)
 * Express delivery workers (41): Masaru Yamashita (山下 優), Kōichi Nakayama (中山 幸一)

Theme songs

 * Opening themes
 * "CHEMY×STORY"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi (藤林 聖子)
 * Composition & Arrangement: Hi-yunk (Back-On)
 * Artist: Back-On
 * Episodes: 2-16
 * Episode 1 does not feature the show's opening sequence, and it is instead used as an insert song in episodes 1, 31, and 39.
 * "CHEMY×STORY"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: Hi-yunk (Back-On)
 * Arrangement: Flow
 * Artist: Back-On×Flow
 * Episodes: 17-32, 34-ongoing
 * Episodes 33 and 38 do not feature the show's opening sequence, and it is instead used as an insert song in episode 33.


 * Insert themes
 * "Rising Fighter"
 * Lyrics: Asami Sakata (坂田 麻美)
 * Composition: Haruo Yoda (与田 春生), Takatsugu Tsumabuki (妻夫木 崇次)
 * Arrangement: Takatsugu Tsumabugi
 * Artist: Beverly
 * Episodes: 2-6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16
 * "What's your FIRE"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: tatsuo
 * Artist: Rider Chips
 * Episodes: 18, 19, 21-23, 25-28, 31, 32, 34, 35, 41
 * "Kimi ni Zukkyun" (君にズッキュン)
 * Lyrics: Isa Takinoo (瀧尾 沙)
 * Composition & Arrangement: tatsuo
 * Artist: Zukyumpire (ズキュンパイア) (Jyutaro Yamanaka (山中 柔太朗))
 * Episodes: 22, 23
 * "Living Legend"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: Ryo
 * Artist: Ho-Oh Kaguya Quartz (Seiichiro Nagata)
 * Episodes: 33-35
 * "THE SKY'S THE LIMIT"
 * Lyrics: Hi-yunk (Back-On), TEEDA
 * Composition & Arrangement: Hi-yunk (Back-On)
 * Artist: Back-On×Beverly
 * Episodes: 38-42, 44

International broadcasts
TBA