[DreadBringer]

More evidence of this series being the love child of Gaim (director) and Ex-Aid (writer).

The Desire Star being unknown throughout the game until the end would make things slower, thus now Chirami tries to speed up the game by adding voting done by the players itself to know which player is the most suspicious. Perhaps later it'd be shown what'd happen to those who got exposed as the Desire Star, but here those with the most votes (or players who don't vote) will get eliminated, regardless if they're Desire Star or not. Thus now the players gotta be careful with their behavior to avoid suspicion, and that there's also public interviews for the contestants too, but unfortunately for Keiwa, his usual characteristics got him in a bad situation. I gotta say I like Keiwa's bad luck in this episode more as it comes more naturally compared to previous episode of him being mistreated for little reason.

Dunno if it's just their nature, or due to the Desire Star game, or both, but Sae and Daichi seem to be the type who twist any good deeds as someone that has some sort of ulterior motives (though this'd add up Sae's resemblance to Michinaga), done in how they use Keiwa as an easier suspect due to him doing good to others (just like how the audience suspect something off regarding Morio's behavior) like cooking them meals which is interpreted as Keiwa poisoning them with laxative or something, which probably speaks more about them than Keiwa. This adds up more Shinji reference in Keiwa, other than their hesitation, in how both are surprisingly good cooks (with Shinji getting acknowledged by Goro, a supreme chef), and that Shinji also seemed suspicious at the beginning due to doing good without clear agenda.

Keiwa's good nature takes the highlight in this episode. Though he's already established as a volunteer, this'd be the first time it's shown onscreen in how one of his volunteering is food pantry for kids, where he's well-liked there. I thought the shots of him interacting with kids would be something to raise his popularity, but it's done to display more of his life instead. Other than that, ofc him trying to process the Jamatos repeating the deceased Rider's lines, which causes him to slow down the Rider team. Moreso when the Jamato took form of Takeshi at the end, to the point of him finally acting, but to stop Nadge-Sparrow from going after him (power gap between Command Twin Buckle and Raise Buckle?), kinda "siding" with the Jamatos there. Unfortunately that gives him convincing evidence for him to be the Desire Star due to him seemingly sabotaging the Rider team.

Keiwa also got tricked again, this time by Daichi, while also revealing more of Daichi's character (as someone despicable). Seemingly like a parallel to Neon and Sae's training scene, Daichi pretends to be someone Keiwa can confide in by sharing his thoughts and doubts and claiming to raise morale by keeping it a secret. Him being Desire Star or not, this shows him as someone scummy and slimy by betraying Keiwa's trust by gaslighting him and also actually used his claim to keep it as a secret to corner him. He has clear planning ahead to use the part of Keiwa keeping it a secret to rile up suspicions, but his schemes to frame Keiwa can also seem reckless as he's openly accusing others (thus he seems so tryhard to hide suspicions off him), even though he at least has Sae backing him up, with Neon seemingly going along by acting confused about Jamato Rider's speeches and Ace claiming there's a good point in the suspicion. So far there's 3 votes for Keiwa, the first 2 is perhaps obvious coming from Daichi and Sae, but the last one would be between Ace or Neon which can be debated.

As someone who tolerates this kind of hesitation, normally I'd be annoyed at this part due to his previous development, and also how they aren't tasked to kill the Jamatos, only beating them in a match? As well as Keiwa falling into Daichi's trap here, but they seem to remember about Keiwa's cunning part as pointed out by Ace, and also cooking up something cool for him next time. I hope his moment to shine likely next episode will involve trickery as a tanuki should, not only fighting. I gotta say though, the Ace scene has a good idea to make use of someone's capabilities/achievements to corner them instead, both acknowledging Keiwa's development while also using it to make things harder for him.

There's some sense of normalcy for Sae, about her having complete family consisting of younger brother and sister, and how she trains them, so Sae seems to be someone far from having nothing left. Other than her basketball training, which both this scene and the game is tailored to Rina Onuki's basketball background, so far Sae also tried to guide Neon in her wish for true love such as facing the problem instead of running away, to the point of being addressed as onee-chan, which probably would be a setup for her future arc. Otherwise, Sae asked Neon about what she thinks of Keiwa here. Wonder what'd be the reason for that, is it due to how so far from what Sae knows (different from audience), Neon is also hostile to Keiwa like her and she suddenly appreciates Keiwa's cooking and gives confused look when others are suspicious here? Indicating as if Neon tries to hide her real bond with Keiwa for some reason (e.g. being Desire Star) but slipped that one time and that even Sae has suspicions for Neon too.

Gene seems to be someone more significant than just an Ace fan, he seems to have some influence in the DGP to convince Niram to give Ace the Command Twin Buckle, or also discussing with Kekera, Keiwa's sponsor who is apparently mere frog, and the one who gave him the secret mission that skews the game in Keiwa's favor (at least, in Rider equipments as his Ninja Buckle got confiscated). Feels that the sponsor's influence isn't too different from Girori in tampering the game, though dunno how much the sponsors have been pulling this string, or even when Keiwa was lucky due to this. Gene also had a photo of young Ace being set in modern times, which may indicate Ace got false memories, but honestly I already felt there's something off before in how the DGP where all players died before Ace joined was also set in modern setting.

Regarding the Jama-Ball game, it's described as basketball with travelling, but how wide is the whole area? Seems to be limitless so far and with changing net ring? There's also unknown rules of what's allowed or not like how much attack you can do to the Jamatos. About Archimedel, it's shown that his greenhouse is located seemingly not in Earth, as Michinaga witnesses the ruins when he goes outside, and... has even more Gaim references about Helheim here, I guess Buffa's human name isn't called Michinaga for nothing , to be the one who witnessed the ruins (even though character-wise he's like Kaito).

Other than Gaim part, the Jamatos being brought back as humans has Ex-Aid's vibes of bringing back humans as Bugsters. Though they seem to have changed personalities as Takeshi focused on protecting the Jamatos instead. Buffa's fight with the Jamato Riders, it clearly displays Buffa's sheer willpower and brute strength despite the disadvantage, though the Jamato Riders seem weaker to go down by some punches? The Jamato Buckle also seems to act as a berserker form for human Riders, destroying 2 Jamato Riders at once but it wears off quickly.