Recap: Kamen Rider Geats, Episode 21 – Divergence V: Gazer’s Hammer!

The DGP live broadcast gets hacked by Beroba in order to get a confessional from Michinaga who says he’s come back to destroy the Kamen Riders and that he doesn’t give a shit about what the audience thinks of him.

Beroba and Archimedel explain that their goal in creating the Jyamatos is to steal the Goddess of Creation from the DGP. With her, they can do as they please with the world.

Michinaga is surprised when Daichi, alive and well, pops in to join the convo. Beroba had recruited him in order for them to form an anti-Kamen Rider team.

Meanwhile, Sae hurries over to her family’s restaurant where they are now currently tied up to a melon bomb. Tsumuri announces the timebomb round continues with now Sae’s family as the hostages they must save before sunset.

Sae demands the Zombie Buckle from Keiwa, which he quickly hands over. Keiwa and Ace take care of the watermelon Jyamato and get some treasure boxes. Sae, meanwhile, gets roped in by Michinaga who demands she hand over his Zombie Buckle. Neon tries to help get Michinaga off Sae’s back, but he is too powerful.

Sae begs Michinaga to let her use the Zombie Buckle to help her family, but his bloodlust for Kamen Riders takes over. He shoots at Sae, but Neon jumps in to knock her out of the way and absorb the brunt of the attack herself.

Sae helps bandage Neon up at the greenroom and asks why Neon would put herself in that position. Neon understands Sae needing to save her family. Ace interrupts their conversation, saying he can’t let Michinaga get away with butting in like this.

Ace asks Neon to help introduce him to someone… DGP Producer Niramu. While they have lunch, they discuss the interference by Michinaga. Niramu says they’ve always had trouble with the pesky Jyamato sponsor. But Ace says the whole lot of them, Jyamatos, DGP admins and even the traveling audience are all weirdos.

Ace says Niramu must not be from this era if they can twist the world around at their whim. Niramu turns that around on Ace saying that someone of his skill and repeated wins must not be of this time either.

Both acknowledge that they are very mysterious.

Over at the Jyamato farm, Ace and Daichi talk about Core IDs being planted to grow Jyamatos. Both agree that they would do anything to make their ideal worlds a reality, even if it means teaming up with these Jyamato crazies.

Elsewhere, Neon accompanies Sae in searching for the melon Jyamato. They find their hideout, but Sae wants to ask Neon about the Dezastar card she found.

Tsumuri tells Ace and Keiwa the location and they hurry over. Keiwa pulls out a Boost Buckle and Sae rips it from his hands, saying she cannot afford to lose. Keiwa asks if she is the Dezastar and she says that she is, so she must defeat both Keiwa and Neon in order to win.

Sae and Ace both revolve in order to take care of the Jyamatos. Once they find that the melon bomb wires are yellow and blue, Sae hurries over to save her family.

Elsewhere at the quarry, Niramu henshins to Kamen Rider Gazer in order to stop Michinaga from interfering with the others. Niramu demands Michinaga hand over the Zombie Buckle, which he of course refuses. Niramu attacks Michinaga, steps on him and then sends a Delete finisher at him.

But Michinaga is still alive. Niramu laughs at him being able to cheat death once again and acknowledges that Michinaga is indeed real.

Sae arrives at her family’s restaurant. But she too gets wrapped up in melon bomb wires. With only a few seconds left, Neon runs in to cut the final wire and they are free.

Back at the greenroom, Tsumuri reveals the voting results of this round and all four votes have Sae eliminated. Sae eliminated herself even knowing Neon is the real Dezastar. Neon explained to Sae earlier that sincere love is the number one thing that needs to be treasured. So even if she is the Dezastar, she will help them save their families.

Sae explains that her love for her family is all she needs to protect them, now and forever. She doesn’t need the DGP for that and Neon helped her realize so.

Before Sae is retired, she tells Neon to make sure she finds her happiness too.

Chirami checks the current viewers poll to see that Michinaga now has 7% of the audience share. Neon comes to confront him about setting her up with the Dezastar card. Chirami says it was just a prank, but she survived anyway.

Neon is only one round away from claiming the victory and she is determined to go all the way.

Episode Thoughts

First off, I like to say Pardon the lack of insightful comments (more than usual, at least lol) in this week’s Episode Thoughts. Just a tad more distracted this Saturday evening than usual and honestly just sped through this episode. But I’m sure many friendly visitors will be able to point out some interesting things to focus on in the comments section. 😊

A good episode. I think the best message from it was that you don’t need the DGP to get your ideal world. Sae was able to learn that thanks to Neon (somehow), so it looks like she’s officially retired from competing in the DGP. I mean, not Retired in the “elimination” sense. But retired in a way that she’s not going to keep coming back for more like Ace and Daichi. Know when to throw in the towel, you know? lol

It’s funny because in the last week, there have been stories about the Squid Game reality show being a torturous nightmare for the contestants who are fighting for a $4.56 million prize. So the DGP reminded me of that. Is that money worth the torture and suffering? Or you know what you’re getting yourself into, so you have to face the craziness of the reality show you applied to be on. Interesting!

As many people concluded last week (myself not included lol), Neon is the Dezastar. She’s desperate for a boyfriend y’all! But that doesn’t mean she’s going to let families die for it! So that’s good to see. Her being able to set aside her boyfriend dreams helped Sae realize that all she needed to care for her family was… well, care! Her caring for them and doing what she can without having to create this perfect world is all she needed.

Funny that Neon doesn’t see it that way and would rather force a perfect world of love to achieve her dream since she’s come this far. But of course we have our main four needing to be center stage, so she isn’t going to just quit and let herself be eliminated! What’s the fun in that?!

Anyway, I don’t know what story potential there is for Neon being the Dezastar. She hasn’t really done much sabotaging, so it’s not like the others would be particularly upset or feel betrayed. Ace wouldn’t care and Keiwa is too nice to be upset about it. That’s kind of why I wanted Keiwa to be the Dezastar just to give him something more interesting to do. And also because I still like Keiwa the most of the Riders even if he can be frustratingly Aw shucks all the time lol

Perhaps the show could negate the possibility of any of them winning by having Michinaga and the Jyamatos sabotage the game more. Especially since Niramu and Chirami seem very pleased with the results of this unexpected twist. First of all, the show doesn’t seem too eager to have anyone but Ace win the DGP. I thought we’d be getting different winners throughout the season. But it doesn’t seem that way anymore, to be honest.

But also, more drama = more DGP viewers of course! And Michinaga and friends wreaking havoc in the game will be a big ratings grabber. Especially with at least 7% of the audience liking what they see. That can definitely grow easily in the next round before another player is eliminated.

Anyway, that first “I don’t give a fuck” confessional from Michinaga was badass. And I can easily see how viewers would like rooting for the “villain” in a reality show. Especially when the other players are kind of boring or annoying or both. Lol

Elsewhere, Ace and Niramu talking about them being very old is not so much of a surprise. I think when the show introduced Ace’s memory of his mother, it looked very medieval. So Ace being an ageless wonder or a time traveler is not much of a surprise or twist. I don’t think it even really matters in the end in explaining why the DGP even exists since that’s really the main question right now. Along with what Ace and his nonexistent family have to do with it. But that’s far off in the future too.

So overall, a good episode. The story is chugging along at a nicer pace these last few weeks even if I’m not particularly wowed by what’s happening. As long as it keeps moving for now, then we’ll see how the new twists and dynamics will drive the story even more.