Some Spanner Thoughts
Originally Posted on: 5-29-2025
Contains spoilers for Kamen Rider Gotchard and Gotchard Graduations. Originally posted on on Tumblr.
So there are some things about Spanner I feel are important to mention to start:
One: He is a hard sell at first, I won’t deny that. Spanner is an actual asshole at many points and has only shown genuine kindness (not the act he put on for Rinne since her dad is Fuga + Him and Kyoka were trying to get info on him) are to Minato and Kyoka. I can see why his attitude repels people away from him.
Two: His growth is a lot more subtle and slow, and comes to a head in Graduations. In the show in ways Spanner doesn’t change, but at the same also does change in many ways through the show. He does things early Spanner would scoff at. Protecting Hotaro from Kaguya’s attacks is one such example. As he said in the V cine, everyone gradually became close to him over time.
Three: He is disconnected and doing his own thing compared to Hotaro and Rinne. Their paths do converge at multiple points, but then they also separate a lot as well. There is a really good essay about Spanner I will also link to because it goes into this aspect of his character and story, as well as other things I’ve also noticed about him. I do recommend checking it out! Its a very good read.
Spanner to me is very interesting thematically if you want to dig into what is there! The main theme around his arc in the show is him coming to terms with who he is, and making that into something he can be proud of instead of something to loathe. (A la the black flames turning into silver) He also engages with the main themes of Gotchard in Graduations: “moving forward” with the entire time loop situation.
The show also even adds context as to why he is so much of an ass to the chemies and the others: he is afraid of losing people. Which makes sense, he lost his parents in a very tragic way. (And then saw them die again twice after!) He kept everyone at arms length to not feel the pain of loss. But when he confronts oroborus within him, he accepts the change that is to come after graduation. He will move forwards and accept the future head on along with all of these changes.
I’ve said this elsewhere before too, but Valvarad GT also symbolizes Spanner “graduating” from previously seeing chemies as only just tools, and using them as such. Now he is actually embracing them as allies to fight and live alongside with. This is also symbolized through the fact Spanner fights with the attached gigantliners. All of which is a massive step for him.
This part I am copying from a previous essay I did, but I feel it’s also important to add here to dig into more about him and his themes:
Gotchard also has a lot of themes about youth going on too. Spanner to me is someone who is in a state of in-between youth and adulthood, as well as someone who has refused to engage with his youth because he grew up really fast. He is on the opposite side of the spectrum compared to Hotaro. He looks at things in a more logical (and even a bit cynical) way compared to Hotaro’s emotionally driven ways fueled by his ideals. Which makes them clash at various points in the show. But Spanner also lacks maturity at the same time. He keeps trying to act like an adult, though at times it’s in the most counterproductive ways. As we saw when he tried to transmute all the chemies into himself which would have killed him. Because to him that’s what an adult should do, which is what he sees himself as.
There is more I could go on about but I’ll stop here for now. I find his arc to be subtle, yet satisfying. Spanner to me is a very interesting character to dig into with the layers he has going on, so it makes me wish the fandom at large didn’t reduce him to just only an arrogant jobber. I feel it does a disservice to him as a character.