[DreadBringer]

Not an objectively bad one like usual with nice character moments, but had me personally conflicted.

So the Grand End is something quite "simple" in first glance, just the DGP leaving the current world to start over somewhere else. I thought before there are various DGPs in various worlds, but it seems that only 1 is held at a time. The stakes is everyone in that world forgetting the DGP, which'd make it near impossible to track down the DGP for those who wants to take it down, like Ace for Mitsume. It's mitigated for the sponsor-related parties, that they can have a chance to retain them.

Niram takes an active role again after his resurrection, to try steering Win based on his wants to keep his memories... like Girori. He also assigns supporters like Ziin to do his bidding. Him claiming that he's also looking for what happened to Mitsume seems to confirm that he purposely lied to Ace before, that cruelty. And here, now Kousei's the one who is disgusted with Niram treating the world as disposable entertainment. Niram is often shown eating fancy stuff, and it's actually canonically seen as one of his personal happiness. With him probably being wealthy from his income, overall he seems to be a merely hedonist.

Previously Win seems to be back on the DGP side, but it's consistent that it's not, with him refusing another offer to keep his memories like Girori did, from Niram. And him fighting Ace was just him "greeting" him, continuing to help him by informing about Grand End. Albeit the help is about looking for Mitsume, not thinking that Ace would fight hard against it. This episode claims he's revived, but the special apparently claims he somehow didn't die before... About Win calling Ace brother, so this'd show that he's genuinely attracted to Tsumuri, and sets on marrying her, turning Ace into his brother-in-law, not just a facade.

Other than his truce with Ace, Michinaga is also pitted against Archimedel, both battling for the ID Cores, for Michinaga to advance the game/crush and Archimedel to use as fertilizer. His wish completely follows his words, meaning that Buffa gets his ass handed by the Dunkleosteus Jamato. Guess this'd answer why Buffa doesn't get upgrades as a Jamashin, because he's not made to be completely invincible. Not the first time, but Michinaga here has even more softened interactions with Ace like him warning about Archimedel's actions, and he just quietly being in denial when Ace points out that he's being helpful, which seems to establish him as a tsundere and now integrated in his side.

But actually, I'm worried that now this can mean that Michinaga may will get away with everything by being buddy-buddy with the main cast, regardless if he's redeemed or not, even though Ace never had a real contempt for him before. Ace frames Michinaga's Rider hunting as not only sparing them in comparison to Jamatos to only get them retired, but also saving them. Michinaga's denial is also quite tame to claim as only teaching them a lesson. This does provide more context in his Rider hunting that he'd want to eliminate the desires in those Riders via the retirements and memory wipe, which is consistent via his hatred of desires and happiness.

But this just feels like downplaying his crimes (and the term anti-hero being used in-universe for this), with the question of Michinaga leaving Riders to die or not like pretending it never happened, when he did to Takeshi, extending to civilians, and also directly murdering Tycoon and Geats. Ofc, later Michinaga's still going on about hunting Riders, and only fighting Archimedel to take back the ID Cores, which Ace again frames him as being tsundere (that he genuinely wants to save Sara, after ). I hope that actually, it's just Ace's tricks to try to appease him, since he has no way of beating him in battle now, trying to stay on his good side so that he doesn't die. Otherwise, Ace also outclasses Michinaga, in drawing. As an artist, I fully take Ace's side against Michinaga claiming it's tryhard and overdesigned.

The DezaStar stuff is brought up though only minor of Neon regretting her action choices in ep. 22, but cursing Daichi's fate as that, who has betrayed them again. It happens that Sara learns about Neon's circumstances behind her existence, and though Sara wouldn't change her views on her, Neon still feels guilty about something outside her control, claiming that she leads her fans on. She still underestimates how much the fans care about her though, to think that it's easy to find another favorite, seems to be the side effect of feeling loveless due to her parents' treatment. And despite regularly thanking people, she's baffled about friendships too, as Keiwa'd convince her that there are people who accept her in this era like him viewing her as a friend. While Keiwa's be protective of anyone, now here Keiwa is shown to really value Neon's presence personally too, not mentioning Sara first anymore like ep. 4. Here it's claimed that going to the future isn't what Neon really want.

I thought the screenshot of Keiwa and Neon smiling proudly to Sara was about her growing as a fighter (though she shoved a Pawn Jamato away), but actually not yet, albeit there's actual character progression of her. Though she has stated that she can't keep going without Neon TV, she still views Neon as a person, and not a fodder for her entertainment, thus she'd accept Neon's decision to sever ties with the current world, albeit she'd still continue to be devoted. Beroba and Kekera's schemes successfully lure Keiwa to take Sara away from the Jamatos, and Sara actually got quite angry for Keiwa joining. Neon's now get even more involved with the Sakurai siblings to defuse the argument, but Sara now extends her motivation of fighting for Neon's happiness as well... which'd be what gets Keiwa to accept her participation, thus he's not overly protective. And what Keiwa and Neon are proud of is Sara's inner character strength, not capabilities.

And for Dunkleosteus Jamato, it manages to be a good match for even Geats LaserBoost. I wonder if it's actually comparable to final bosses. Perhaps by this I should give more credit to Na-Go fighting it off in ep. 30, with necessary aid from Kyuun though. Of which, Na-Go feels oddly weak here to struggle fighting multiple, but Pawn Jamatos. I thought multiple Pawn Jamatos won't surpass a single high-ranked Jamatos. This'd be similar regarding Buffa fighting it with Geats LaserBoost, and Tycoon Command Form putting a better fight to it than Buffa early on should show that the other 2 main Riders aren't slouches to Buffa. This feels like Takahashi's previous climatic fights, of Muteki carrying other Riders against Cronus, and Zero-Two carring other Riders (like Horobi) against Ark. Regarding Buckles compartibility though, Buffa here seems to put better fight with Monster, instead of Zombie. And Geats continue to be a troll to Buffa with using him as a springboard for his invincibility, while shooting him when Buffa confronts him about it.

Archimedel actually dies here, and died a tragic death of being surrounded by his sons. Of course, Beroba would only dismiss him as useless, a move Girori also did to Win. The stakes for the future people is the highest one to have them cease to exist when they're left behind, as Ziin tries to negotiate for mutual benefit, despite this being Beroba's fault. Despite Beroba's sadism, now she's likely forced to comply due to going against Sueru. Seems official that Beroba has been dethroned now. Kekera considering Grand End to be entertaining also displays his lack of regard to living beings like early Ziin.