[DreadBringer]

Again with a Rider final boss after not giving Akaishi and Giff one. And turns out George's path here is completely new, separate from both his early portrayal and post ep. 25 one.

It's already teased before ofc, but so turns out that George does end up as the final threat if the series, which was a speculation during his early portrayal due to his really shady nature. If it turned this way, I do think that it'd be better to keep George shady throughout the series, and probably had him be the character that aids both sides like DJ Sagara or Evolt for his own ends (if it's still ultimate Kamen Rider and still Juuga), without him being temporarily turning into a better person (still not getting an info about Chic here). Even if it'd be sort of 'predictable' that George would be a final boss (and had a big bad potential before), but at least George had a fitting portrayal of being shady if it leads into this direction. Albeit probably George wouldn't have good intentions if it's the case (he feels creepy here, but doesn't feel malicious as he aims for world peace in extreme way), but perhaps his vision would be better than a sudden conflict to wrap up the series (of which Giff wasn't taken down in the last episodes).

Now George takes the anti-villainous path of accusing the demons as the root of the world's problems, thus trying to get rid all traces of Giff and demons. I do think that superpowers in real world can cause more trouble, and that he's basically removing any superpower/supernatural (other than himself as Juuga, purely human work) aspects in the world, but yeah, despite the dangers superpowers can create, eradicating anyone/anything with a trace of that supernatural aspect is extreme and bigoted in a world with superpowers.

Though, there are still bits of George's older character here, where before George can frequently act like a manchild especially in his shady portrayal, such as pettily pouting against Vice's criticism to his Jackal design despite the impending danger. And his manchild traits are something that drags on the conflict here, like how he rejects solutions like Daiji handing him the other Rider's Drivers or burying the demon's works, he simply says it's pointless if he can't beat up the demons (e.g. Igarashis). It's similar to a child making unreasonable demands out of pettiness and a lack of restraint, with how he's sidetracked by the need to spite the demons and proving his creation, putting it ahead of the 'greater good'.

Bon being the one who is brought back in this episode is either intentional or had many coincidences. For a handful of villains with noble intentions lately (Akaishi, Daiji w/o Kagerou, George), he's the first one in this series, but of course he's reformed now. And Bon was also previously a dark take of Kuuga, who wants to make people smile but takes the approach too far like entertaining his livestream viewers by unleashing the Lion Deadman to the public to attack figures he thinks deserving. After reformed, perhaps Bon would take similar path to Yusuke, with him being surrounded by kids here and later trying to entertain the kids by doing something funny, like Yusuke performing tricks at them. And now, there's George who becomes Juuga, another dark take of Kuuga (particularly Ultimate form).

Juuga's name is also a portmanteau of "juu" (十, means 10) and "Kuuga", a reference to him using the power of 10 ViStamps, and Kuuga being the 10th installment of the Kamen Rider franchise. Even George's actor Noritaka Hamao was born on November 26, 1999, a couple of months shy of Kuuga's premiere too. Juu can also mean "beast" (獣) in Japanese, and Juuga has the power of 10 beasts. Another trivia is, "kuu" part of Kuuga's name is pronounced the same way as 9 in Japanese (九), Juuga replacing "kuu" with "juu" also had hidden meaning that he's meant to be a Rider that surpasses even Kuuga. Outside of the Kuuga references, Kuuga fought for everyone's smiles, Juuga only fights for his own, which also makes Juuga resemble Another Kuuga, its evil version (Juuga also lacks the red eyes Kuuga Ultimate had, which'd also resemble black-eyed, corrupted version of it). Juu can mean "filled" (充), making Juuga's name mean "filled-self" (充我) in contrast to Kuuga meaning "clear-self" (空我).

Perhaps the more conflict was meant to wrap up Ikki and his memory problem, overall Igarashi happiness, by giving him stakes to henshin and protect his family, losing more of his memories, or letting his other family members get beaten up. Other methods had been tried, but even with Vice transforming alone, it didn't stop the memory loss, and George rejected Daiji's solution. Despite how the series was a mess at handling people's plots, I do was pleasantly surprised by Ikki forgetting even his parents, mistaking them as customers. Which'd be normally a really insolent move, but it's outwardly-influenced for Ikki, which is a turning point that Ikki's memory loss isn't meant to be taken lightly, despite that before the family vows to create a new happy memory with Ikki. For now, Ikki still doesn't forget Daiji and Sakura, but probably if he henshins next he can forget about them too, and likely lose his drive for fighting, as he'd forget the stakes Juuga gave to the Igarashis.

It's the bare minimum of what they should do with the MC, not making his presence small like Revice juggling many arcs at once before, but then again, there can be another way Ikki's stakes can be established other than creating a new, sudden conflict (and another one of new, likely half-assed arc of someone), like someone else that is already established stirring up conflict, or doing this before Akaishi or Giff is defeated instead of focusing on multiple other arcs (use Daiji and Sakura in their weaker Rider form for this stake). There's also, only 4 episodes to properly establish the very MC's arc, being finally known what's the problem of Ikki forgetting his memories (forgetting his parents here). Revice being a wasted potential had double meaning, in the series after strong start, and the titular Revice IMO, in Ikki, as his potential for both family happiness here or solving Rider sensibility problem of turning people busybodies, something not addressed often.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VoidinToku

Is George the new Lelouch from the anime hero turn villain turn redemption/sacrifice? Never a fan of his character. It?s like demons.

I get more Sasuke vibes in George here personally, to erase everything that is a part of the past in the name of world peace due to thinking that the past had brought conflict and would always bring conflict later, in this case, everything demon related which George deemed as the root of every problem in the world. Also Lelouch was an anti-hero, and a really extreme one before, so it's not like his turn to (anti-)villainy was that drastic.