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Michinaga meets with the Sakurai Sibs and apologizes to Sara for killing her. She says it’s alright since he did a lot to help save her, so they’re even now. They, along with Neon, Tsumuri and Win back in the green room, all worry about godAce as well as the fakeTsumuri running around.
Kekera tells fakeTsumuri that he wishes for Tycoon’s end. She asks for some of his kira kira and then uses that power to grant the wish by way of turning all the existing Riders (except Keiwa) into stuffed animals and figurines.
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Kekera confronts Keiwa, saying this is exactly the world he wished for in order to prove that Keiwa couldn’t possibly save the world on his own. Just as Kekera henshins, Daichi pops up and says Kekera is the embodiment of 蛙化現象, the moment fans turn on their favorite idol over the smallest, pettiest thing.
Daichi says he just saved Sara yesterday, so he is here to stop Kekera from taking that away. Keiwa tells Sara to get to safety and returns to help Daichi who has just been forced to dehenshin. Kekera whisks Keiwa and Daichi to a different location.
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Keiwa asks Daichi why he helped protect Sara. Daichi says he’s started to think maybe true happiness actually lies within a “boring life” like the one Keiwa and Sara live. Daichi thought protecting Sara would allow him to observe just how happy the Sakurai Sibs can really be with their boring lives.
Keiwa thanks Daichi for saving Sara, no matter the reason. Daichi is surprised he would feel that way. But Keiwa says he agreed to help Ace make possible a world where every single person can be happy. So even Daichi can have a chance to be happy. Daichi says he has done some horrible things. Keiwa adds that he has too, but still believes everyone deserves a fresh start as long as there’s a little bit of humanity left inside.
Kekera starts broadcasting across Japan, announcing the start of a new game that will determine whether Sakurai Keiwa truly deserves the title of “Kamen Rider.” Kekera has a family chained up and Keiwa must save them before Jyamatos get to them. Risking your life to save others is the very definition of being a Kamen Rider, after all.
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Keiwa and Kekera henshin and they battle. Kekera keeps Keiwa away from the family until Keiwa is forced to dehenshin. Daichi, watching from the side, knows this is just a rigged game in order to humiliate Keiwa to the country.
Kekera tosses a blank DGP card to Keiwa, saying that is the only way to get what he wants. But at the cost of others’ happiness.
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Meanwhile, Sueru tasks Jitto with ensuring Ace’s godification will finally be complete. Ace can sense Keiwa’s struggles.
Keiwa knocks the card out of Kekera’s hand and says he is done sacrificing others’ happiness. Kekera continues to taunt Keiwa, but Keiwa is resolved in humanity’s ability to ensure everyone’s happiness.
The Jyamato break free and run toward the family. But they surprisingly break the chains holding them. Daichi says he’s the one who grew those Jyamato, so he can easily control them. Turns out Keiwa and Daichi were outsmarting Kekera in order to show that you don’t even need to be a Kamen Rider to save the world.
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Keiwa bumps his chest and henshins. Kekera henshins as well and they resume battle.
Keiwa’s resolve powers Ace and says the creation powers are his to use as he pleases. And with everyone else doing what they can to save the world, he will do the same. Jitto quickly henshins to Regad after Ace manages to break free of the thorned shackles and loses his white hair. Ace henshins to Geats IX.
Kekera is amused with Keiwa’s strength and power making him seem more like a “true” Kamen Rider than he’s ever been. He laughs that Keiwa’s desires will overcome him again someday, but Keiwa says he will never let that happen.
Keiwa says it is up to him how he uses his power. Keiwa goes Bujin and his finisher on Kekera forces both of them to dehenshin. Kekera warns Keiwa that he better be prepared for what’s ahead as being a Kamen Rider comes with great responsibilities.
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Keiwa wants to thank Kekera for making him a Kamen Rider as that is what he needed to protect world peace. Kekera laughs and cheers for Keiwa one last time before he disintegrates.
fakeTsumuri appears and says Kekera’s desire is officially null and void. Michinaga, Neon and Win return to their human selves.
Meanwhile, Ace has no problem countering Jitto’s attacks. Jitto maintains that the world will come to a Bad End as that’s what the future audience wants. But Ace says the present audience wants something different: A Happy End.
Ace delivers a Boost Tactical Victory IX Strike and forces Jitto to dehenshin. Jitto laughs and gets sucked back into Sueru who says Jitto was just someone he manifested.
Ace finds Keiwa and says he was freed thanks to everyone’s sincere desire to bring about true peace. Keiwa says that will be difficult. But Ace says they can do with together as Kamen Riders.
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Just then Sueru broadcasts to all of Japan to announce that the decisive final DGP game is about to begin. fakeTsumuri goes around handing out Drivers as Sueru henshins to Regad Omega.
Episode Thoughts
It really doesn’t feel like we only have two episodes left. But that’s Geats for ‘ya! Hehe.
Anyway I liked this episode. just 22 minutes of Keiwa main character-ing as he should. It reminded me of the early, more hopeful days of the season when Keiwa definitely felt more like the main character than Ace. And this episode made it seem like basically every story revolved around Keiwa. Whether it was Michinaga or Daichi or Tsumuri/Neon/Win and of course Ace himself. Everything circled back to Keiwa lol And it was fun to immerse myself in an alternate world where this season is titled Kamen Rider Tycoon instead. Lol
During the episode, I actually thought that Beroba had a better finale than Kekera. And I thought Beroba’s finale was not very good lol I had high hopes for Kekera back in the beginning. The random frog figurine was amusing. And I thought that if eventually Kekera turned out to be a bad guy, it would be a fun contrast or something. But instead of being a very interesting character with lots of potential, they just turned him into just “another one.” That is, just another one of those Squid Game-esque VIP fans who get off on seeing people suffer. No depth at all. Oh well. Bye!
Elsewhere, I legit forgot Sueru exists. It’s another one of those instances where Geats has had so many people come in and out of the show that none of them are ever that impactful or relevant.
Take Jitto. He’s great, but too late. A great premise for a character, but really came in too little, too late to make much of a difference for the overall story. Some great scenes from him. And he’s badass. But honestly, the show isn’t better nor worse because he popped up. The same can be said for many other characters this year, unfortunately. They’re all just there. And because of that, it took time away from the actual main characters. Or took time away from other characters who needed better development and foundation like a Jitto or a Daichi or a Beroba. I guess we have Sueru to blame for random characters popping in and out of his mind? lol
Oh well! Anyway, the FINAL game is about to begin. (Are you sure this is the FINAL game, show? Lol) We’re almost there, just gotta hang in for two more weeks. hehe
Honestly I think on the characters issue, the problem isn’t that they have so many ‘bit’ characters. Its that so many of them have significant overlaps in personality and story role between them.
Yeah that’s why there’s too many. It really feels sometimes they split one character into 2 or 3 different people.
Boy, they are really forcing that Daichi redemption storyline, huh? All he needs is a robotic dog companion and he’ll be good to go lol. But seriously, the one thing Keiwa was justified in during his eyeliner phase was wanting Daichi’s head for what he did to Sara and what must’ve been countless other civilians. I was 100% with Keiwa on that front, and “pure-hearted” Ace, who totally never assisted in taking a villain’s life for payback (cough *Chirami* cough), ruined that satisfaction lol. As many flaws as Revice had in the end, and it had a LOT, one of the constant positives of that season was that it always made clear that Olteca, despite his sad past, was an irredeemable monster to the end. (Though, of course, I, like you, wanted Olteca to last longer in the season as the villain. Maybe as the ultimate Final Boss, with him being set up as the Igarashi family’s evil counterpart, detesting the idea of family due to his past experiences and being jealous of the Igarashis’ unconditional love for one another.)
Anyway, I noticed you didn’t really mention Kekera in your Episode Thoughts despite this episode being his swan song. Can’t really blame ya. He didn’t really do a whole lot in the long run. Which is a shame because his character reeked of wasted potential. His actor seemed to be having a ball in the role playing an evil version of the typical bombastic and loud Kamen Rider mentor. I honestly found him a lot more interesting than Beroba. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a sadistic villain that causes misery for misery’s sake, but in hindsight, I would’ve preferred if Michinaga disposed of her in the Lamentation arc after he took the Vision Driver from her. With Kekera, I felt his dynamic with Keiwa could have been more intriguing than it turned out to be. Kekera, instead of doing everything for shits and giggles, perhaps could have genuinely wanted to mold Keiwa into a hero that is committed to protecting others, while being perfectly willing to resort to extreme measures to get Keiwa to that point. The Kekera-Keiwa conflict could have posed the question of what the ideal hero should be: someone who perseveres through misery and shows no mercy toward those who inflict it upon on others, or someone who prioritizes showing kindness and compassion even to those who don’t deserve it.
But oh well. Add his character to the mountain of wasted potential from this season, which also includes Kanato, the Jyamato, the future-people in general, and a whole host of other things I’m probably forgetting lol.
Yeah, redemption stories are fine when done well. But it was definitely not done well with Daichi and almost feels like they threw it in because they like the actor Dai Goto. Which, he’s great. But the character is meh lol
You’re right about me forgetting about Kekera, I have no idea why. As during the episode, I did feel like Beroba’s finale with Michinaga was actually much better than Kekera with Keiwa. Also because I had such high hopes for Kekera earlier in the season. I’ll go back and add more thoughts hehe
Good idea about Kekera though. Instead of yet another VIP fan who wanted to see people suffer (probably because of the show’s initial want to be a Sunday morning “Squid Game”), it would’ve been interesting to see him be different and actually want to see Keiwa succeed.