[DreadBringer]

None really problematic in this episode, but there's some personal disappointments.

So there's a clear explanation on why Keiwa's so lucky. It was indicated before of Kekera giving secret missions appropriate for him, but now it's confirmed that he's the one who directly gave him Boost several times behind the scenes. Seems that while Game Master can't interfere with the game, the 'outside' party like fan/viewer/sponsor can? Kekera also doesn't seem to appreciate Keiwa's kindness (concerned for Jamatos) and trusting nature (Daichi's words), giving him a pep talk to be more suspicious of others instead. Which makes me wonder what does Kekera see in Keiwa, as obviously most people who like him would have his kindness as primary reason, or if Kekera is just assigned to support him. A̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶u̶s̶u̶a̶l̶,̶ ̶a̶ ̶w̶a̶r̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶c̶e̶r̶t̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶K̶e̶k̶e̶r̶a̶'̶s̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶.̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶S̶h̶o̶t̶a̶r̶o̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶T̶o̶k̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶d̶.̶

Michinaga's journey on the greenhouse turns out to involve more characters in the story than just him alone, like how it highlighted Niram and Samas' expected true nature, of how Niram only prioritized audience's reactions above everything else, which'd include killing off anyone who's still alive for 'realism' as humans shouldn't survive fatal injuries, while planning to revive Michinaga as a Jamato for audience's entertainment, and Samas being steadfast to help Niram's dirty work, with her possibly being 'inhuman' like Tsumuri to be strong enough to carry Michinaga's body back. Chirami also prioritizes audience entertainment. and his contrast to Girori is more highlighted here as the old-fashioned one, wonder how far Chirami can take his approach, especially with him turning the Riders against each other. and as usual, Archimedel had further creepy stuff by the Jamato baby's eyes. Michinaga also seemingly just heard all their conversations which can expect him planning something, likely the first time since eliminating Morio, and after he ignored his lesson of ignoring Ace's help to get him back on the game.

It also provides the solution to clear Keiwa's name, as Ace informed to Keiwa that the dead Riders are truly gone with Michinaga as the sole exception, as Michinaga also learned from Archimedel. Something that Keiwa needs to know to clear his hesitation as the Jamatos only shapeshift into Riders. Overall this part also highlights on how Ace has been attached on Keiwa (outside of him not telling his true goals to him unlike Neon), with him still being helpful to spoil him with steak as 'supper' (celebrity life), and relaying those info to him, and later defending the canteen, albeit with likely some stealthy way such as voting him to further motivate him. Now I wonder if Ace'd let him in when he was there when Keiwa begged him to share a room with him. Ace's scene with Michinaga also emphasized that the hatred is more one sided in Michinaga's part, though Michinaga only gets an onigiri (appropriately a beef one, with Ace even bringing him up right after him and Keiwa talked about beef) unlike Keiwa's luxurious stuff.

After some strange behavior to Keiwa in Divergence DGP lately, seems that Neon finally starts to speak up about Keiwa in honest way, of it being obvious that she'd describe Keiwa as kind to a fault, and that it makes sense for him to try being concerned about the Jamatos being connected to dead Riders, which makes him a trustworthy person in her eyes that she can't see as a Desire Star. Being honest also seems to have opposite effect to Neon going along with Sae's slapstick before, but instead Sae seeing her opinion as believable and later, seemingly warmed up to him a little like giving him Ninja Buckle back. Despite this though, I'd probably suspect her as the Desire Star here still due to her previous behavior to him, but still has her limits in this episode to finally stand up for him. Though the argument of her fumbling the ball may not apply anymore as she now performs well, like what actually Sae stated. Ofc Sae likely getting Neon on her side can be an argument for Sae being Desire Star as well. It's unknown what are the reguirements and the drawbacks of being Desire Star though like being required to cause some shit-stirring.

Keiwa's cool moment here is shown by him being the one who almost single-handedly scored the goal in the tie-breaker game and raising his popularity status to 2nd behind Ace. It's pretty badass for him to be able to hold his own against multiple Jamatos while using entry form (so they made Tycoon caught up to Buffa in entry form feat too, perhaps Na-Go next), but yeah, turns out that the cool moment here is only about game performance, no trickery involved. It's true that it makes sense that his kindness would make others latch on him, and bail him out, but yeah I'd like for his tanuki aspect to also shine more here. Ace is overall the MVP of this episode with him being the one to score a double goal to force the game into a draw (and even then he can do that earlier), and the one who exposed Daichi's schemes by attacking the shapeshifting Jamatos, while convincing others that Daichi was the one seemingly more Desire Star-like in his behavior. So Keiwa's name being cleared was other's work with Keiwa just finishing the job, and he didn't learn anything about his trusting nature, unless it's subtle as shown in him voting Daichi too. And it's also unknown why he left out Command Twin Buckle, even if it gave the scene of entry form whooping ass.

I actually expected Sae and Daichi, being the veterans who pose more of a challenge, to last longer than other extra DGP Riders, similar to the likes of Shibaura, Tezuka, or Tojo in Ryuki, but turns out they don't, or at least Daichi here as he's eliminated here, which kinda disappoints me, for the first time seeing an extra Rider being eliminated, as I'd like to see more of him based on my screentime expectation. And he's not the Desire Star, which I never thought he was anyway. He's an easy guess, thus he's a red herring. But it's also an irony that his shit-stirring behavior is what makes him look like an actual Desire Star, getting all other Riders vote him out at the end, even if he wasn't one, making his judgmental nature his downfall, as well as a mistake for him to openly accuse Keiwa. And I also called it that Daichi directed suspicion to Keiwa to eliminate his competitors, as it's stated the one with most votes will be eliminated regardless if they're Desire Star or not.