[DreadBringer]

The asspull happens. Or should I said.. Ace-pull.

Man they seem to make as if Buffa using Command Twin Form, is a cliffhanger for Geats last week, especially after making Buffa performed better against Geats, but obviously, no such thing happens. In fact, it further displays Geats hypercompetence once more in how he can hold his own against Command Twin Form with only Magnum, regardless of Buffa's trashtalk of him fighting "sloppy" without reward. Nah you're the one with clear advantage but still have a hard time that'd be humiliating. Buffa using his Jet Mode to fly and win himself the blade/gun lock is a nice tactic though. I guess that'd be how Buffa still retains his assumptions of Riders only having ulterior motives, accusing Geats as being half-hearted in doing this reward-less fight.

Daichi continues to observe Jamatos in how he finds a friendship between Jamato and humans, or each other, to be fascinating. And other than vendetta against Kamen Riders, JamaToru has been doing some actual friendship moves with Michinaga like giving him carbs or mentioning their high school to Daichi. And not unlike Michinaga himself, JamaToru just casually talks with Daichi, a Rider about that here. Otherwise, Daichi just seems to have more attachment to the Jamato crew than DGP than using them, to want more of Beroba's favors. From Beroba's offers, Daichi perhaps would turn into one after finishing his observation of Jamatos. Beroba's response to Daichi is quite a 'friendly' one but, perhaps she'd be the first to backstab anyone she 'likes' in his crew than them. Wonder if there can be more of previous human villain Riders like Kanato getting turned into Jamato to return in JGP.

As someone arrogant and prideful, Ace seems to have a pet peeve of being underestimated, when Niram questions him handling all the Jamatos alone, and later when Tsumuri warns him the same thing, which pisses him off a bit to go rough on the latter by flicking her head. He also boasts about his status against the kannushi in the festival. Otherwise he also further displays his soft spot/bonding with Shouta by encouraging him to not live in fear citing his ill mom, despite the current situation not going smoothly regarding the festival. Ace's wisdom and experience also plays a part here as usual. About Shouta's mom being described as bravely fighting her illness... that's something that can lead for those overcoming trauma or shortcomings like cancer survivors to be refered as heroes, albeit I'd personally disagree.

So what happened in this episode is that Tycoon and Na-Go are struck by the lightning turret, instead of being brutalized by Buffa (one of 2 preview summaries). Their injuries aren't as severe as that summary too, as they later participate in the festival, and them taking backseat is due to them honoring Ace's wish, otherwise they may join. Na-Go missing her attack against a pawn Jamato drumming the festival who dodged it is quite humiliating though. This also displays the core trio's bond where now, in opposite to Geats protecting the canteen for Tycoon, now he entrusts Keiwa and Neon to protect the festival for Shouta's sake, where the latter 2 are also ready to back him up when needed.

With the stall owners being afraid, the festival's stalls here is now run by the DGP crew including those related to them, except Chirami, who still goes faking tears but obviously not doing anything about it. I wonder if there'd be more if the festival ran normally, but the stalls here consists solely of what Keiwa talked with Kekera before, eating takoyaki and yo-yo fishing. Apparently Sara joins Keiwa here but with reduced role like not reacting to Ace or Neon, likely some people forgot it was Sara (or I was wrong). John joins Neon and looks to be quite personable welcoming the attendees but also stays formal reprimanding the 'rebel' Neon who tries the fishing too. Though disagreeing to be there, Tsumuri displays her soft side to encourage Shouta against the oni here, and she seems to now act more as a 'mom'/big sis to the core trio in her warning Ace (Mitsume theory incoming) and patching up Keiwa and Neon's injuries before.

In opposite of what Niram and Tsumuri predicted though, Ace only faces Michinaga and JamaToru. So Buffa with Zombie and Jamato Buckle with Knight Jamato is a bigger threat than Command Twin Buckle as they give Geats with Magnum more hard time than the latter, though Geats still showcased his skill gap here. And actually even the turret knocked Geats out of his transformation too. At first glance, the cliche of hero being cornered, then summons willpower to turn things around happens here, with Goddess of Creation specificallly favoring him to intervene, giving him 4 more Boost Buckles, which somehow didn't visit Keiwa, to form Boost Mark II.

Boost Mark II covers both upper and lower part of Geats despite only taking 1 slot in Desire Driver. Its fight with the left slot version of humanoid version puts emphasis on the brute power offered by the Buckle to easily toss Buffa and JamaToru and cause collateral damage, and the finishing move on JamaToru has a nice anime-like editing to further emphasize its power. The right slot version turns Geats himself into Boostriker-like mode, dubbed Beast Form. His sheer power in that form means no need for strategy for it to stop the turret, he can just charge directly towards it to destroy those. This more powerful form puts a DGP Rider closer to the future Riders in them turning into non-humanoid CGI too. I wonder if Boost Mark II is already stronger than future Riders, at least except Beroba, or Ziin can do the same only that he's not serious according to him.

The truth about Ace is indeed revealed here, where actually Ace has several reincarnations in his previous lives, at least 4 are shown here in A, Ace Garfield, Eisu Yakumo, and Ace Lee. Ace rising his Boost Buckle in air feels Ultraman-ish to me lol (and there's one called Ultraman Ace), and like Ultraman Ace who can be dubbed as Ultraman A, his previous reincarnation, likely the first one, is also that. So this explains why Ace Ukiyo's mother is named Mika Ukiyo, and that there's a photograph of younger him with school uniform in present time. I trusted his words of figthing since 1 AD despite his lying nature actually, and it's done by having reincarnations, thus he's not 2000 year old, just keeps reincarnated until now, but retains his previous memory keeping his previous experiences for DGP, also can explain why he's already able to fight off Jamatos in ep. 24 flashback. There's actually a setup here for the deus ex machina above in 4 of them winning DGP and having a wish to help their reincarnation who steeled himself to protect the world with needed power.

Ziin being only caring about getting emotionally moved is actually addressed here with Ace scolding him that it's not only about fun and games, especially about a world Ace actually lives, not just moving around. No hate for Ziin but kinda glad, that his suspiciousness is noticed in-universe. There's also a new path for Ziin regarding Ace's truth, to seek info about his power. Niram too now would start to antagonize Ace for his further evolution of delayed wish granting a Buckle he never know existed - subtle Ryoma/Kuroto path too?