[Sh Ranger]

I was surprised by how much this crossover focused on Desast. He's kind of like Rintarou, but without a sense of morality. They're both orphans looking for a family. Rintarou found his with Team Saber, now Desast wants to be a big bro to Kanon, relating to her as a fellow orphaned artificial lifeform. Like maybe what Desast needs in his life isn't more excitement, he has enough of that in his blogs, but to find some people who care about him. Maybe he's just secretly really lonely and tragically misunderstood. We finally get to see his alleged rivalry with Touma for the first time and it reminds me a lot of Ghost's and Specter's fights during the first 99 days deadline, with Desast mocking Touma for his innocence and not understanding what it means to live in Hell. That's a really clever parallel to increase sympathy for him and I totally need to start giving Fukuda more credit. This here, Takahashi, is how you write a crossover between your two shows! Desast needs a hug.

On the Ghost side, since of course this is also a crossover with my fourth favorite Heisei Rider show so I feel obliged to mention something about it, I thought it was great just to see Takeru and the gang again and Jabel trying to reason with Desast like how Onari did to him, even though it didn't work here. He probably just needs to train some more to get on Onari's level. I like how Takeru acted as a sempai Rider to Touma as well as declaring himself a fan of his book, they get along real tight as people who appreciate the wonder in the world and the stories of people who give them inspiration. Looks like my speculation about Danton's followers was correct. They're using Kanon to get to Makoto. He's the key to recreating the ultimate lifeform. I'm excited to see where the post-credits scene leads!