[DreadBringer]

Reiwa's secondary Rider tradition continues.

Shoma continues his efforts to redeem Lakia, starting with them introducing themselves to each other. Lakia's callousness in kidnapping humans stems from his lack of knowledge about them. Coincidentally, Takeshi's situation is somewhat similar to Lakia looking after Comel, which might evoke empathy in him for humans, helping Shoma succeed. It is also unclear how much Lakia cares about other Granutes, especially given his statement that he doesn't care if anyone dies.

It appears that if Lango is the leader and Nyelv is the brains, then Glotta represents the brute force among the Stomach group, primarily focused on fighting. Glotta in her Granute form is still stronger than Cake form and also Vram Jelly. Jelly possesses Clear Vent powers but hurts Lakia's heart (liver, not heartbreak). Shoma and Lakia infiltrating the Stomach Inc. base reminds me of Monsters Inc., where they go through various doors to access each other's worlds (and the main villain plans to kidnap thousands). I’m unsure which of Lakia's victims have been processed, but Takeshi has not.

Hanto acts irrationally and lumps Shoma together with the other Granutes. Though miscommunication is still involved to some degree when Glotta reveals that Shoma is part of the Stomach family, as well as when he fights alongside Vram, who as far as Hanto's concerned, is still evil and never learns about his backstory or the changes he has undergone. What comes to my mind when Hanto confronts and punches Shoma at the end was Price punching Yuri in MW3 due to him knowing Makarov.

Hanto joins another secondary character who starts out nice but later becomes antagonistic toward the main Rider. Hanto has negative traits, being consumed by hatred and vengeance; this darker side is beginning to surface. However, his actions are currently similar to Geiz pursuing Sougo (otherwise Geiz only fights against bad guys). Hanto's journey could lead him down a villainous path if he begins consistently targeting innocent Granutes, paralleling Lakia's actions against innocent humans, but in reverse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwami

The end though, oof. That's how Hanto realizes? Oh no. And to be honest, he's a bit of an asshole about it. No wonder Shoma couldn't tell him. You even told yourself that his actions speak for themselves and that your own ego limits your judgment already Hanto, and your first reaction is to get up and punch the guy in the face? That’s mean. Makes for good drama though.

Though Hanto's generally goofy as his screentime is mostly about interacting with humans, Hanto does have similar traits to many of the other secondaries starting as assholes, like Gou/Mach's prejudice to Roidmudes or Terui/Accel's hunger for vengeance. Those are dark traits, and there's no incentive for Hanto to grow out from it for now.