[DreadBringer]

Rider and true color reveal.

Guess Sachika has her limits, despite not being afraid of the Kamen Riders or Rakia before. She admits she's a bit scared of Dente, and the fact that Hanto has Granute organs implanted in him shocks her. The story highlights Hanto's refusal to use Shoma's Gochizos, prompting Sachika to question him about it. Hanto struggles to provide an answer. It's clear that Hanto doesn't hate Shoma; he shares with Shoma insights about Suga's true nature, his problem is just him being too reckless.

Suga is flat-out villainous, similar to the other depraved scientists in the KR series. Guess Maki from OOO was another one who started out on the ally's side before defecting later, though he has always declared his intentions to end the world back then. Like typical mad scientists, Suga views others as guinea pigs, despite claiming to thank them—echoing Nyelv's sentiments upon witnessing Shita's death. Willingness to sacrifice anything for his goals, which Suga brings up, is villainous trait.

As expected, Suga's evil nature shocks both Shoma and Hanto, which is nice, as what Suga points out, Shoma focuses on protecting humans, and the people he's encountered have generally been likable. Only Sachika initially raises Shoma's suspicions, which means she holds a higher moral ground. Although Shoma protects Granutes like Rakia as he begins to turn good too. Being human or Granute merely signifies one’s species; sentience allows for the capacity for good or evil.

If Hanto were more knowledgeable about Comel, it might also surprise him that Granutes can be a ray of sunshine too, though now he seems to have moved past his hatred of Granutes here, correcting himself wanting to exterminate the Granutes to the Stomachs instead. However, Shoma didn’t take Hanto’s feelings toward Granutes other than him into account when bringing him to Dente. It’s likely that Rakia offered a similar experience, as he was also initially out for blood against Dente.

Though it's probably because Bake was toying with Gavv, I find the beatdowns done to Gavv Poppingummy unimpressive since it's a base form and previous threats have already dealt significant damage to him. Bake certainly has a distinct character, fighting out of curiosity about what his new toys can do. As usual, nice to have him use the environment, like throwing cars. I wonder if Suga will meet his end in the next episode, given that it has been dubbed Suga and Hanto's final battle.

The Hitopress is used for non-Dark Treats purpose in Soji's murder. Wonder what'd be the difference between using Hitopress or just directly murdering him, perhaps it's just done for meta reasons to have the murder look less gruesome to children, albeit just making one lose consciousness with some blood for death is generally safe to watch too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I wonder if this is how Sachika might end up as a Rider, with him using her as a test subject.

Don't really care if this happens or not, but her being used as a test subject rather sounds being a victim, rather than her keeping her agency. I thought it'd make sense if she'd seek Rider powers, knowing how one becomes Rider (at least if she knows about safer option Suga does), as an extension to making everyone happy; the Heisei/other Reiwa way on how one often ends up becoming a Rider (to the other's Showa), having Sachika's goals and getting the power for it. And dunno if Suga would meet his end next episode too, though this'd deprive Sachika's chance to become a Rider if she'd stay a supporting muggle.