Kamen Rider Geats Episode 20- "Divergence IV: Courier!" Discussion
 

The remaining players of the Desire Grand Prix must find a fruit-shaped time bomb.

Reference to Gaim?

Wow, I guess one of my theories from last week's thread turned out to be right

Okay. This is my first review on this forum, so bear with me if some thoughts are jumbled.

First, we should address the elephant in the room. We now know who the desaster is. I feel like the reveal happened too early, and it should have happened in the next episode at the earliest. Also, sae being proven as the desaster to us before the characters learning about it was kinda... lazy? I feel like if it had been revealed to us at the same time as the others, then it would have had a bigger impact. The whole reveal just kind of fell flat for me.

We get to see more of Buffa using the jyamato buckle, and jesus that transformation looks PAINFUL. I'm curious how the whole "Turning into a jyamato" thing is gonna work. Is he just going to get corrupted until he transforms into a basic suited monster? Or is he going to find a way to control the corruption? only time will tell.

I will say though, the fight between Buffa and Geats was great. It really got me excited for the inevitable fight between them at the end of the season. Buffa blocking the bullet with his horn at the last minute got me thinking. Are the others able to block attacks with parts of their helmets? Could Geats theoretically block a bullet with one of the ears on his helmet? Or is it an individual thing with Buffa's horns?

We also got a reveal in the Jyamato's sponsor, Beroba. When Beroba enters Jean's (Geats' sponsor) room, Jean points a new weapon/gun at her. I suspect that the gun is either a henshin device (kind of like the AIMS shot riser) or a new buckle entirely. I also wonder if the weapon is specific to Jean, because if it is, then you could draw a comparison between this gun, and the magnum buckle that geats is attuned to.

Beroba being the jyamato sponsor also leads to more questions. Are there multiple sponsors? If the only sponsor is Beroba, why is there no one else supporting the jyamato? Beroba can't be the only one rooting for the villains can she?

We also see a small scene where the producer decides to have a talk with Beroba and the Jyamato. I wonder if this means he has a form for the vision driver, and if so, when will he use it?

Overall, this episode was a good one, with questions being answered, and those answers leading to more questions.

The reveal of the DezaStar finally happening... or it's another surprise.

The Time Bomb game (fruit bombs... Gaim reference again?) once again involves Sara as the damsel in distress, and I guess this instead is viewed as something positive, to raise the stakes of the episode especially with the implication that this time the victim is killed permanently. Dunno if the Sakurai parents were victims in a game where the victim is killed permanently like this one, but the DGP hasn't been revolutionized that time. Sara not being the all-wise guide for Keiwa unlike previous sisters are shown again here in how Keiwa's the straight man against her here, for questioning Sara's decision to cut the suspicious pineapple (or even thinking it's unnecessary for Sara to call just for that at first), and reminding her situation when she fangirls to Ace and Neon instead as unexpected guest.

That also showcases how much the Jamato has evolved, to the point that they managed to 'blend' in human lives by writing them a threatening letter (still in their language) and driving cars, likely communicating for their delivery as well. I guess the evolving Jamatos are not all about power like in Schemes DGP, like how obviously the Jamatos here aren't really threatening as fodders fighting wise. And even the Jamatos have sponsors backing them up too, in Beroba. Character-wise and even look wise to some extent she just screams Azu from Zero-One (previous Takahashi series), with her being sadistically playful and having a calm and smiley exterior at all times. Daichi also apparently returns in the next episode, likely in Jamato side as well.

By taking an interest of Michinaga as he wants to destroy all Riders, making him practically similar to Jamatos, as well as his ruthless aims to do anything to win, technically Beroba is also one of the Rider sponsors, so Geats and Buffa rivalry extends to even their sponsors. Sponsors' influences are further shown in Jean giving Ace a secret mission that returns his primary Buckle Magnum, and holding a gun that is potentially a new Raise Buckle. The sponsor's influence is still on equal grounds with other sponsors though, like Kousei ensuring to Irumi that Neon'd prevail with a powerful supporter.

Michinaga consistently claims that he's not the same as the Jamato, while he eventually has returned to the game as a Jamato-backed Rider, wonder what'd cause him to change his mind. Despite his denial though, it seems that the Jamato Buckle has infected him and that he does lose his humanity, of which, although Ace still talks to him in a patronizing matter at times here, Ace'd also display a concern for him here regarding the Jamato Buckle's effects as well as not cheap shotting him when the Jamato Buckle stuns him. In the DGP, Michinaga's someone who disagrees on attacking other Riders, but when he's not a DGP participant, he seems to throw it away by giving proper Geats vs Buffa fighting scene, of which, obviously Geats will win due to Buffa's shortcomings, like Geats using the mirror to distract him, though here Buffa seems to give slightly better fight than Tycoon (both in Command Twin Buckle) due to his raw power with Jamato Buckle.

The previous episode had Kekera telling Keiwa to 'drop the nice guy act' with a shot of Keiwa being determined, and it's displayed here with him forcibly borrowing Lopo's zombie Buckle (as he'd return it afterwards) by yanking it, just like Ace to Neon in ep. 11. Wouldn't exactly say that as stopping being nice though, as it's still done to save someone else (albeit a family) and it's him further gaining more backbone which'd be good if this continues, albeit yeah he's quite rough there, as well as pulling relatively more brutal moves against the pineapple Jamato. Seems that the view of kind equals pushover still persist when this scene is interpreted as Keiwa displaying his bad side or going off the deep end in the face of family, using the inner demon tease in the movie. However, shouldn't Ninja Buckle able to teleport crossing walls?

Irumi has returned here, and now she has known about the DGP. The players are forbidden of revealing it to others, but wonder about sponsors like Kousei. Obviously, if Neon venturing outside is forbidden to her due to her paranoid nature of the kidnapping, the deadly DGP would have her continue to restrict her. She also wouldn't care about Sara as she looks down on commoners as shown in ep. 3. Obviously, Neon would object to all of this, including the fiancee arranged for her compared to when she got eliminated. Otherwise, Neon here continues to be normal 'again' from ep. 19, with her brief teamup with Tycoon at the beginning, as well as displaying great care for Sara, including telling the Riders to focus on saving Sara when the DezaStar vote is brought up, which earns Keiwa's gratitude.

The last part of the episode had Sae holding the DezaStar mission card, which can be quite obvious to reveal that she's the DezaStar, or that there can be surprises like how she just find someone else's mission card which she takes a look at. Regardless, there's some more peeking for her character here, with her being the older sister that outright provides for the younger siblings, not just teaching them sports (which is their dream). I wonder if her family sense actually extends to others like subtly sympathizing with a Rider's family being targeted, or also, likely rather small reaction when Tycoon yanks her Buckle. To make sure her athleticism doesn't degrade with age, that probably touches upon how professional athletes can be broke after retirement which wouldn't happen if she gets her wish, which means she can never retire, but is her earning not as much as the others like Ace or Neon to cover for her family's defunc restaurant despite her implied prestige in athlete world? Otherwise, the DezaStar mission here is outright about attacking other Riders (with the bomb), which, doesn't get Chirami in trouble?

Also there's more on Chirami here, it seems that his menacing act when wearing the Game Master mask is a part of his personality, with him also going menacing when announcing the Jamato. As someone obsessed with realism, now Niram further is scheming something against Michinaga, with the likely appearence of Gazer, a gold and bulkier version of Glare. Niram is also shown eating ehōmaki, of which it's said when it's eaten uninterrupted while facing the "lucky direction" of the year during a specific time, your wish while eating the thing will be granted, explaining Niram using the compass before eating it. That's also favoring realism even witihin the wish granting DGP? I wonder what'd happen if Niram learns that Michinaga has been infected, if he'd finally let him live. I'd think Gazer is Chirami, and perhaps he'd display the purpose of GM as Riders.

The next episode has a new rider, Kamen Rider Gazer (gold-repainted Glare costume) with what also seems to be the Vision Driver so I'm assuming this is when the producer will use it?

I mean, based on the name alone, Niram is the prime suspect

There've been a couple of very Gaim-like moments: both the body-horror in this episode with the slowly-turning-into-a-plant-creature and the "OMG, that kaijin I killed was actually my transformed friend," although the latter was treated as less traumatic. Kouta had a full-on existential crisis in Gaim, whereas Keiwa just got a little paralyzed when facing other Jyamato.

I wouldn't wager one way or another about whether any of these are intended to be nods to Gaim. It seems to me more likely, given that these are integral plot elements, that there's just some similarity. I suspect the plant-transformation makeup/costuming was reused from that show, but that's about it.

That too, is possible.

Figured I'd give the heads-up here.

From last weekend's episodes (Geats 20 and Donbrothers 46) Toei have started to use video codec itu-r bt.709 for their releases. I'm not even gonna pretend like I know the technical details of that but basically, if your computer uses Intel graphics? It can't quite handle that and downgrades the quality. I use direct 1080p videos and to me it felt like I was watching in 480p. Here's a comparison from the OP below; with Geats 20 on the top and Geats 19 on the bottom.

https://i.imgur.com/WNHQSMz.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/mfQTM9E.jpeg

It doesn't seem to effect everything, though -- I in fact didn't notice at first because the opening scenes of characters talking in the interview room, in the DGP lobby, Keiwa's sister at home? They all looked just as good as they always do -- but as soon as it switched to an action scene, the video quality took a nosedive. It seems to mostly effect anything involving effects: fight scenes, the OP, CGI etc. Just something to be aware of

https://i.imgur.com/RuOWFw1.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/p7hxswV.jpeg

Agreed; I definitely would've preferred if the reveal came for us, the IRL audience, at the same time as it did for the characters. Plus, it felt (at least to me) like there wasn't much evidence prior to this episode that pointed towards Sae being the Desire Star? If anything, Neon was my next prediction after Daichi was revealed to not be Desire Star, followed by Ace.

It would've been interesting if it was Neon, as some sort of deal with her father to have her independence and his sponsor support. Really started to think that was possible after the scene with her mother. But yeah being the character we haven't been following up till this arc and who will probably be gone after it is the more obvious and predictable route...

Sure looks that way.

Youkoso!

There are definitely multiple sponsors, but Beroba's the only Jyamato sponsor we know about. Gene's phrasing suggests there might be others like her though. I wouldn't be surprised if she was behind the introduction of Jyamato Raise Buckles, a test drive in preparation for becoming a Rider sponsor with Michinaga as her champion. Jyamatos are meant to lose the DGP by design, so a human-Jyamato who was once a qualified Rider could be Beroba's ticket to turning the tables.

I'm curious to find out about the sponsors' deal, what's their stake in the DGP and reason for supporting their respective Riders. Kousei probably had no choice but to tell Irumi now, since Neon's communal living would've needed to be explained to stop her from freaking out even further. Although, maybe finding out her daughter is involved in a death game is actually more stressful than not knowing? Good for Neon anyway, standing up to her and asserting her independence. Irumi shrugging off Sara's welfare is terrible, as Sara is one of Neon's most loyal fans.

I thought maybe Tycoon could've used his cloning ninjutsu to throw the apple bomb without blowing his cover, tricking Ace to suspect Neon and Sae, considering how hard last episode tried to make us think Keiwa was innocent and how he's the only one in this episode without any votes against him. But yeah, looks like Sae was the Desire Star all along.

Sponsored by Zaia Enterprise.

*insert Pen Pineapple Apple Pen here*

I'm kind of glad to see Buffa back in the game (I mean, we kind of figured) but I'm a little disappointed that he won't be using Zombie Buckle for the time being. Such a good suit that suits him (*wheeze*).

On another note of disappointment, I kind of wish they made the Desastar someone else, since Lupo was a little too obvious (not counting Quiz Owl, who was acting way too obvious, but still).

But regardless of my complaints here, I'm still enjoying Geats. And I love the Create Buckle.

Next Episode: The Wolf's out of the sheep's clothing.

Perhaps it's intentional.... Takahashi isn't the only returning Rider veteran here after all.... Geats has Gaim's director Naomi Takebe.

To be fair, everyone had good arguments of why they can be DezaStars, like how the least standout character is the is valid here, but Daichi's shit-stirring behavior is also valid (and the even more predictable route).

I wonder what are your thoughts about sponsors seemingly tampering the game not unlike Girori, but Game Masters are the one forbidden from interfering while sponsors can be just as much impactful IMO. Irumi shrugging off Sara's welfare is something that is actually expected, as in ep. 3, Irumi looks down on "normies" such as Neon's fans and forbids her from associating herself with them. Irumi's the snob kind of rich where Neon's the opposite. Though, while Irumi is still overall loathed, she gets a few defenders in this case as it makes sense that if parents learn that their kids are in dangerous situation without their consent, they'd also try to get them out, other people be damned.

It's true that Keiwa is a tanuki thus he's also supposed to be a sneaky trickster, but would you think that this action can be OOC for him to do as this sounds troublemaking, or that this is actually harmless enough for him to do and, how he can fulfill the DezaStar mission as harmlessly as possible?

Well...

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...350/image0.jpg

It can still be a red-herring where Sae is possibly just holding someone else's DezaStar mission card, like she found it, which likely it can be Neon as she shares the lounge's space with her. And the preview for 21 is described as:

"And behind these battles, there is always a plan as the game of suspicion continues, the Dezastar is actually… "

Well the sponsors are a major source of revenue for the DGP, so Niram's going to want to keep them happy, even if that means rigging, sadly. I don't like it when executives and stakeholders interfere with results, but I understand why that happens. At least they haven't blown up anybody's head yet though.

I think Ace is right to have reservations about Gene, with how he's digging in to his past. Ace has to fight over and over again to get what the DGP won't give him, so he probably doesn't want to rely on someone like him who doesn't understand that struggle. Beroba is also a sponsor, but unlike the others, she actually wants better game balance between Riders and Jyamatos.

Regarding Irumi, yeah, I agree that her behavior is consistent, she wants to protect Neon from the real danger of the DGP.... But man, I just can't muster any sympathy for her at all. She sucks as a mother and a human being, with her apathy for anybody's feelings except her own.

He could've believed in Ace's talent to dodge the impact, like we saw. He might be willing to hinder his fellow Riders to an extent, but if he receives a Secret Mission to do something depraved like Da-Paan feeding Na-Go to the zombies, then yeah, he'd probably draw a line at that. Unless he makes it to late-game and feels confident enough to get his desire granted.

Watched the episode. Well, I liked the introduction of the Jamato sponsor, although I still believe that it is the Jamatos who are the main victims of the DGP. Beroba herself is directly a pure villainess, hating humanity simply for its existence (but remember that this is Geats, which means she could well lie). The idea of ​​the round, also with the involvement of relatives, is good, although the moment with the cutting in the last seconds was more like a parody of such clich?s. Keiwa telling Michinage "Are you alive?" this is strange, because Ace shared the story of the meeting with him. It also seems like the VFX budget has been cut slightly since Jamatobol, but the fights are still spectacular due to the very good filming. Overall, a solid episode, but very in-between.
P.S. Regarding Daichi's return in the next episode, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's great that Michinage will have someone to talk to, on the other hand, I would prefer Dapan or Merry. Although, maybe the extra screen time will help Sparrow not look like the clich?d anime smartass that he was in the DGP.

I would say that Keiwa would be quite ruthless in this episode, but it's more likely due to the threat to his sister and the overall Zombie Buckle vibe.

She doesn't deserve any sympathy, though doesn't mean she can't be deemed as someone worse than the likes of Kanato only because she's more infuriating to watch (for now, at least). I hope this kind of move doesn't get defended due to parent position where the kid is always seen as wrong one - naughty and disobedient (me bringing up about 'If I were her I'd do the same thing' excuse was a complaint), and for people to not lump any rich people together with her (other than a villain doing this in Kanato, this is also quite Michinaga move, but done on the rich instead of Riders), which for the latter happens frequently.

Do you think that there can be ways Keiwa be bold or asserting himself here without being 'ruthless' in your eyes, especially in a case Sae refuses?

I don't really blame him for taking the buckle from Sae (Ace did the same with Neon in the maze episode). I'm more about the fact that he lifted an unresisting enemy with zombie hands and cut him in half. And no, I don't think anyone can look brave while killing a fleeing enemy, but I think it would look less brutal with other weapons.

Just watched the episode today and I did notice this.

If I imagine correctly something very similar happened during Zero-One around the time Thouser was introduced. Don't know if the timeframe matters but it's strange regardless.

I think this just - vanished after a few episodes? It did not stay like this for Zero-One's entire runtime, that I definitely know.

Yeah, a friend let me know about that too. Hopefully it leaves just as quickly this time as well... it's a big shame for me because I've been enjoying the action in this show a lot

It is kind of a bummer, with Keiwa using the Zombie Buckle, seeing the great effect work that ensued and all. How much better it could've looked.

But it does not take away much from the show being excellent. And, what happened with me during Zero-One - it makes for a great excuse to rewatch these episodes later once the home media releases are out :)