[DreadBringer]

Sorry if those'd be contradictory, but....

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Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Entire DGP seasons could have been removed with no real impact, especially the one where there was no winner.

Maybe it being dubbed as "game" rubbed you the wrong way, or the DGP being suspicious from the get-go, but I think it's just doing what Kamen Riders often do with their organizations? Where the main cast work for certain organization in fighting monsters, but midway discover that the organization is corrupt, and Geats does have the transition that time too, when the time of using Kamen Rider powers for good begins, against Beroba and the Jamato crew trying to achieve their goals of getting the Goddess of Creation for their own ends, like Gaim's battle of Forbidden Fruit. Though yeah, those people still dub their schemes as "games" too, but yeah don't be misled, from that point it's villains' schemes being set on motion as usual (outside of the DR).

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Then they just keep dumping more characters and plot points that are barely relevant to anything in the mix. Supporters, DGP staff, Ace's past lives, finite amounts of happiness in the world, constant world resets, the tree of knowledge! It was absolute narrative chaos that I can barely even process and didn't come together to make a satisfying whole.

Ace's past lives explain why he's so good at everything, he has far greater experience than any humans, of which for others there are unexplained ones like Tendou and Tsukasa's OPness. Also the past lives come from his creation powers, which is something that is important to solve the problems in last arc, so yeah, Ace is someone who has always inherited the creation powers, but is not aware of it until he reunites with Mitsume - of which he does reunite with her to ask why he's reincarnating, the answer is subconsciously making use of his creation powers to reincarnate and ensure he'd be reunited with her someday, but after aware, he makes use of said power to great effect in the last arc.

The finite happiness in the world is Kekera's belief, thus he molds Keiwa into his ideal kind of "hero" by having him go through throwing people under the bus to save people that he wants, his family, rather than the "wishy-washy" type of striving for everyone's (fans also often hate that and like, want those people to kill and sacrifice more "for the greater good"), shown in him going through the DGP's wishes with the full knowledge that he'd sacrifice people's happiness. One characters' belief doesn't mean series' representation. Overall it's just the DGP crime of making few happy at the expense of many, and ofc they want to keep that secret, of which Ace seeks to atone for his mother being put through that by acting as a total antithesis of the DGP, including making use of his powers in other ways that doesn't come to people's expense unlike the DGP, and he gave Keiwa hope too that drastic means isn't the only way to achieve ideal world - of which Keiwa chooses to follow Ace's teachings over Kekera's, making him stop cooking up extreme ideas if he fails (he gets more drastic as he got deprived of the wish like others destroying DGP or Sara dying) for good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

The audience and Kekera in particular felt like a parody of the idea that "Rider fans just want to see people suffer on TV" and more broadly the kinds of people who enjoy these death game stories, without really getting why it is that people want these kinds of things. Generally, fans don't just want to watch a character suffer for the sake of it, characters who suffer are relatable. We want to root for them to overcome their challenges because they seem more real. When they succeed we are reminded that we can do the same, and when they fail we feel their pain.

Who says Kekera doesn't want to overcome the challenges? It's Kekera's belief that humans can only change when they're brought low. But the thing is, he's the one who orchestrated the suffering himself, so that makes him villainous that he'd harm anyone to get Keiwa to develop, like Sara or other people by backing up Daichi. Kekera also wants Keiwa to grow constantly so he'd keep causing suffering so he can keep growing, there are no limits in growth. And it's my personal fear, but I think that perhaps people like, for example authority figures who want to have their students/workers/etc, got better (and those people's crimes are also swept under the rug, as people can think they know best to put people through suffering for development), may cook up something that makes their underlings suffer constantly so that they can keep consistently grow, but may be forbidden due to society rules or such - and when they fail, those kind of people often berate and discard the failing people btw. It's my paranoia but perhaps that idea can happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

The way Geats approaches it felt like it was talking down to fans when they have very real criticisms like "it feels cheap to constantly revive characters just for a happy ending" and reducing it to all of them being a bunch of sadists. It was almost like the show was smugly looking at the viewer and going "There, isn't the story better this way, where everyone can be happy?" while making an absolute mess. I keep wanting to compare it to Shin Kamen Rider, which had a similar story about human happiness. Shin Kamen Rider was serious and goofy and completely earnest, with a deep love of Kamen Rider and what it was about, while Geats' poor meta commentary towards fans just felt cynical. Ugh, sorry, but this particular aspect just really peeved me.

I'm someone who is fed up with people justifying villains or such and in general seem like feeling the world is centered around them, like wishing hell for those who they personally dislike only due to "annoying" or such, honestly, so I guess I support the criticism of those type of fans based on these supporter type of characters... but perhaps people'd hate them while still not realizing about these kind of people on internet - particularly that, they're harmless only because they don't have powers like those 2, but I'd want if sometimes people can be aware of that, of which this series now do have people who have similar thoughts being described as Kekeras, and I feel that even though people can not perform the evil schemes they do can normalize those evil deeds performed by others. I know people'd complain about not being unable to differentiate real life or fiction, but yeah those characters are those representation that, I think I'd want to make some fandom more aware.