[DreadBringer]

I've watched Black, but I wasn't really deep into that as I watched it on TV with uncertain airing and not really complete either, so holding that off, but wouldn't have a chance to properly discuss then... Or probably there are only few people here because this episode is quite more straightforward than previous ones to end the "Encounter" DGP, where there can be more unexpected stuff in which Rider lasts, including if they'd keep Da-Paan or Mary longer or not.

They challenged Ace's worldview a bit here which is good, in how he seems to think that just forgetting things to move on and live their usual lives the best approach, being brought back from Michinaga's flashback. Not on Michinaga, who has a single-minded focus to destroy Kamen Riders, and Ace being right that there's a difference between courage and recklessness, it's done with Neon, who has a crappy life where she got a tiger mom (reminiscent of her cat motif). Sometimes people want to move on and change their usual life, something Ace needs to learn to acknowledge better (dunno if he'd do that). Probably this stems from how easy everything is to someone hypercompetent like Ace.

Now I see the pattern of Geats , the one who is shown training before would win, like Neon's can kicking and now Ace's boxing exercise. The other 2 was doing their own thing. Neon was the voiceover in the beginning, but turns out it didn't involve her recording, it happened later instead, only bidding farewell to her fanbase due to her likely death. It's also nice to see Neon not being her cutesy self in said recording. Michinaga talks to Toru, likely his ghost, and as usual he's fully amiable. That'd be how actually Michinaga holds someone dear, not like what he did to Keiwa, has some soft spot but still abrasive. Later, it's nice that Michinaga's refusal to give up is compared with his main Buckle Zombie, who's known to raise from dead.

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Originally Posted by Mesnick

Wow, I'm the first to write a review for this episode! Apparently the rest are either too distracted by the Black Sun and a lot of teasers, or they don’t want to spoil the viewing for others with spoilers. Well, then I'll try not to give out the winner. Let me just say that Ace learned his lesson in this episode, which proves that he is by no means a cool imba. Also, DGP employees take off their masks, and PunkJack (who is actually a punk) promises to make the next DGP more fun. I will also point out that in this episode a baby was killed, even if later they were resurrected. And Caiva didn't show up, but that doesn't mean anything. In a word, I'm looking forward to the next episode to look at new riders and a new world.

He's still imba, but yeah Ace's perfection doesn't seem to outright reach Tendou's level (neither did Tsukasa). It's already shown in Ace's failed flirtings, but here Ace loses his cool a bit when his egg didn't hatch for a long time, or anything regarding his mom. I wonder if egg is something new to Ace? As previously he always knows how to get through the game in unexpected ways both in and out of universe before he explains it. Though of course, when the egg hatches, it's the Monster Buckle that can one-punched the Knight Jamato and gave Ace the win (the word not the Rider) in anticlimatic way.

Now I'm quite suspicious of Punk Jack, his expression and his eager for fun, eyeing for Ace, gave me Parado or Jin vibes. Overall he's the opposite of the quiet nature he forced to employ as DGP staff. His name can be potentially a meme material with the first name being literally "win" (and if he doesn't win the game...?), and the last name being a play of the religious word "hallelujah". Though his full name would read "Halloween". And yeah, though Geats have reset, they seem to continue the franchise brutality from Revice in baby death here (after sheer bodycounts provided by Orteca before including a child).

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Raise Buckles being sentient items that hatch from eggs reminds me of Ryusouls. Pretty cool how the way the eggs are raised determines what they become, with Ace's tough love producing the strongest spawn. Definitely a "don't try this at home" moment though.

The eggs part also still display each of the main Riders' personality. Ace displays his usual unflappable and calm nature, only treating his situation as late hatcher. He's also patient due to his confidence, though it's not unlimited in him losing his cool a bit. Neon is driven to win but seems to be the most proper one, thus she thinks about warming the egg. Michinaga as usual, stubbornly does things his way like when he used Magnum and rejects help from Girori. I wonder though if those eggs really are the solution to fight against the evolved Knight Jamato, even if not as quickly as Ace did with Monster Buckle, as Propeller and Drill Buckle doesn't seem to be as special/more powerful than Ninja Buckle. Propeller seems to be more effective with its flight capabilities (of which Ninja offers more than that).

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Keiwa's absence has the effect I expected, putting Ace in the focus and even having him be the one to learn a moral for once, following Michinaga's example of reckless courage to realize what his egg needed to hatch. Michinaga was annoyed that he inadvertently inspired Ace to win, but after Ace paying him a sincere compliment and encouraging advice, their rivalry seems to be growing in to something mutually constructive, like how the Monster Raise Buckle was born.

Seems that as someone else said elsewhere, with no Keiwa, his thing spreads to the remaining Rider, with Ace completing a secret mission to find Boost, Neon being the voiceover, and Michinaga displaying reckless courage that got Keiwa retired earlier. True that Ace seems to learn something here, to face some hardship after everything's been easy to him before, but like before, I wouldn't think determination (either courage or recklessness) as something moral by itself, courage can apply to any aim, whenever it's good, questionable, or bad. Ace giving compliment and encouraging advice was something he did to Keiwa too before, and him being sincere or not was literally questioned there, which Ace didn't fully deny when asked that by Keiwa. Though I agree that their rivalry seems to proceed a bit, but then again...

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Ace's advice to Neon was helpful as well. Neon already proved she could win the DGP when she successfully kicked the can out of the Jyamar Area, something even Ace didn't consider. The only reason she didn't win was that the Jyamato changed the rules. Neon used to be the underdog, but in the next game, I think she's going to be a strong contender for sure.

I don't know if the DGP would have the memories of the finalist retained or not, Michinaga is Ace's consistent rival, but it can all stem from only their encounter in Toru's death in each DGP iteration, instead of their previous DGP feud (that got erased each time Ace wins, but not for Toru's death). If so, then Ace's advice wouldn't be helpful to Neon... or even her current development so far with it getting erased.

Otherwise, yeah it's good that they didn't sideline Neon's growth in ep. 4 to be one-time only, but they're consistent with it, continuing that with her keeping up with Ace at Concentration, kicking the can, and making use of the Raise Propeller and Knight Jamato's attacks to wipe out the Pawn Jamatos; she survived (unlike her supposed last stream) not by being passive, but by performing at least as good as Buffa against the final boss. I'd like to see her capabilities outside of being Rider though outside of last can kicking, but this episode only showed Ace's. Though dunno about her sudden burst of fighting ability in ep. 4, regardless of mentality, as she's a newcomer without fighting background and, there are those who complained about the primary Rider with no fighting background "suddenly" becoming good in their Rider debut.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Masked Guy revealing himself as Giroli wasn't exactly much of a surprise considering the lack of suspects, even less than Calibur revealing himself as Kamijo. We know very little about either of Giroli's identities other than that they're both DGP staff, so the question now is, who's Giroli and how is this reveal going to become important?

Other than it being expected, I do hope that the twist has something more important in it, as you said, there's little to be known yet about Giroli, either in his concierge or game master position, thus the twist has less impact IMO for now.