[GoldenXtreme]

I gave Geats a rewatch with the official subs. Once again I really have to hand it to Shout, excellent Rider subs as usual!

Listen though, it's no secret that Geats didn't really do it for me back when I was watching it live and I think unfortunately I liked it even less this time. I'd even go as far as to say this is my least favorite of the Reiwa era shows. It has some good points! Some of the fights are cool and I genuinely enjoy some of the earlier episodes with the wide variety of games that the Riders had to play. But for me, this is a show that just loses me more the longer it went on. I think I pretty much universally dislike the character arcs in this show, which tend to vary between feeling stagnant or suddenly lurching into completely different characterization. Like I'm sorry, I can't buy Michinaga's nice guy all along deal, Keiwa's inorganic villain arc, or... whatever the heck they were doing with Daichi. I also find the show to be "meta" in a way that is really offputting. It often tries to position itself as critiquing television, and Rider shows by extension, but doesn't really elevate itself above what it is trying to commentate on? A lot of moments that try and criticize the production or audience of the DGP as wanting sensationalist drama while the show Kamen Rider Geats just relishes in the exact same thing. I dunno, I certainly see why it works for some people, but it is just a total miss for me. It's too bad, I usually like things more the second time around!