[DreadBringer]

Another villainous DGP Rider is confirmed here, among existing ones.

Morio's reveal as a wanted criminal on the run who used to work as a dealer on shady casino (fitting his name Koganeya, kogane means gold) solidifies his status as a villain. Compared to Kanato though, Morio's a more grounded villain. Kanato's more abstract (helped by DGP's desires) in his massive goal to exterminate all humans, while Morio's a textbook everyday crook who's mainly concerned on escaping responsibilities, including fleeing from the country. Kanato's significantly a worse person though, albeit Morio's slimeball traits can make him more annoying and loathsome.

Morio's following behavior also further displays his criminal nature like stealing Keiwa's Boost Buckle, picking on the vulnerable, as well as how typically bad guys would never confess (for obvious reasons), in him constantly trying to cover up his deeds (with him already putting a friendly facade as well). The moment his background is revealed, his friendly facade crumbles though, with him employing obvious lies (he's not doing his time on prison yet), as well as contradictions (exposing himself as the Boost Buckle thief), to cover himself up. He talks like a gangster when he's eliminated as well.

I'm glad that here they make Ace and Neon notice how Keiwa's in disadvantage as Punk Jack's partner (not only me ). Not directly helping, but would say Neon's words against Keiwa for capture the Boost are quite supportive, as Keiwa usually puts others above himself and can feel guilty for bringing others down, but here Keiwa doesn't need to feel guilty for "reaping" Morio's benefits as he's wrong and undeserving of that, so he can be more compelled to go all out and take what's rightfully his. Albeit Keiwa's already angry at Morio and disapproves his stealing before. Here Keiwa really wants to use the Boost Buckle but still failed, this time it got unfairly taken away from him as he still lost the fight with Morio, and even then despite surviving this round, Buffa's the one who used it later.

Ace was someone who did trick Keiwa of giving Boost Buckle previously, and him showing disapproval to both Morio and Michinaga's (outwardly) tactics can sound hypocritical... or that it means to explain which line Ace would draw at gaining advantage or even what line you should draw in competitive environment in general? As while people are urged to win and defeat opponents in competitive environment, doesn't mean that any actions meant to win can be excused. Maybe Ace does relatively harmless tricks (and here he gives the Boost Buckle back to Keiwa) in comparison to Morio picking on the vulnerable or Michinaga having no regards of other Rider's lives to win? Seems that Ace can occassionally look down on Michinaga due to disapproval to Michinaga's behavior, instead of being a bully or such.

The preview before seems to paint Ace as the culprit in Toru's death or being disrespectful by laughing, but it's actually the opposite, Toru was assaulted by 2 unknown Riders (happened to be Elephant and... Imperer, quite lazy retool) who robbed his Buckle and leaving him defenseless against Jamatos. While Geats actually saved Michinaga from the following Jamato attacks. Though Geats also tell Michinaga to forget DGP events. Dunno if that's Ace trying to help him too as most of the time he makes sure attack victims are ok, but this'd inadvertently downplay Michinaga's predicament.

Ace's problem may be that as the best man in the world (other than flirting) he can't relate well to people's everyday problem even when helping them, as to him everything's quite easy to the point that he's cocky, likely addressed in Michinaga claiming him as a snob who doesn't understand him before. Regardless, Michinaga's the Rider type that has prejudice towards a group that has wronged him, like Fuwa who's prejudiced against Humagears. Michinaga's like that to Kamen Riders, and his wish is that too, a world w/o Kamen Rider. Man, out of context that can be a 4th-wall comedy potential like Zi-O's ep. 3.5 (blow up Toei Studio).

Unlike many other prejudiced characters that aren't bad guys though, Michinaga's prejudiced against a human group here, which can make him feel more cruel in comparison to be ruthless against other humans, compared to the likes of Fuwa who are mostly killing fictional threats (MOTW), with them having to be restrained the few occassion they target the good ones. Michinaga's vendetta against Riders can make him hypocritical or ironic that this can turn him into yet another cruel Rider type he despised especially if he goes up against decent Riders, as humans can be less inherently evil (likely Toru too) or be given non-violent/lethal solutions to deal with compared to MOTW, albeit obviously evil people can inherently join DGP.

But this episode solidified the 'hero' part in anti-hero better for Michinaga, and as usual, it really played off the characters well. Morio's true nature is revealed as he's written out of the show for now, which is used as the driving force for Michinaga's actions in this episode, as Morio's the very Rider that resembles Toru's robbers (and indirect murderers) which Michinaga hates, despite Morio thinking that his selfishness would be helpful to him winning. Keiwa's genuine selfless nature also has won over Michinaga (who has no faith on Rider's motives) a bit, seemingly becoming his anchor to prevent him from fully becoming what he hates (Toru's robbers) and gave him better focus on which Riders are actually loathsome to eliminate.

For someone usually bullheaded, Michinaga's scheme here is actually clever and cunning, to have him hold the Boost Buckle instead of Morio (..he had belief in his useful teammate), and have everyone left on the dark for his team switch, including pretending to accept Morio, so later Mary spends his time being confused why Buffa stands still... not unlike Punk Jack, until Tycoon fights. His primary objective is to eliminate Morio, but dunno if he knows about Tycoon's luck to draw him in the reroll as it's randomized (that Morio's job gave him advantage in), then if he does yeah he acted tsundere to Tycoon. The jazz break of pausing Tycoon and Buffa destroying a Heart Trump Jamato pair. So for now they're pulling the usual kindness eventually wins over people to save Keiwa here, while Morio got eliminated because his schemes made him disliked.