[Fish Sandwich]

I haven't ever directly mentioned Suga in half a year, have I?

Goes to show how compact I'm actually managing to keep these posts, I guess, because I actually think he's one of the most compelling presences in the whole series. A lot of that probably comes from the consistently strong performance Shintarou Asanuma always gives in the role.

There's a sort of natural charisma there that makes Suga's superficially friendly demeanor just believable enough to potentially distract a viewer (or Hanto) from his constant refusal to properly engage emotionally with literally anyone around him. Suga treats the other characters in this show as though he himself only thinks of them as fictional characters -- occasionally endearing tools of no real consequence, existing to be moved around in ways that suit his tastes. As such, he recognizes people's feelings within the specific context of how they can be used, but good luck getting him to grapple with the reasons a clone of Shouma he's raising might want to call him dad ...at least not unless he comes up with a way to leverage that to his ends as well. Really, given the emphasis Gavv puts on empathy and sharing and all that, Suga is, in his own way, at least as much of an antithesis to those themes as the Stomach family.

One of the other things that makes Asanuma's performance so fun to watch is all the little touches he always puts into even the smallest scene, and apparently it was even specifically his idea to have Suga forget for a moment what Kamen Riders are supposed to say when they transform, which was maybe my favorite beat in this whole episode. It's such a perfect way to emphasize how little this all means to him. For people like Shouma, Hanto, and Lakia, becoming a Rider was an event that marked the start of a new chapter in their lives, and a commitment to fighting in the name of what they hold more dearly than anything. To Suga, Bake is just another experiment he happens to be occupied with at the moment, and he's only doing the fieldwork himself because Hanto running out left him shorthanded. Rather than feeling unmotivated or underwritten by comparison, it ends up working extremely well as a deliberate contrast to the heroes, all while fulfilling that crucial purpose of moving the story along.

There's still a lot that's mysterious about Suga, but now that he's been forced to become a more active participant in a story he seemingly thinks of himself as being above, that momentum is sure to start shaking things up quickly. Between hints of a specific grander purpose Suga is working towards, Sachika and Hanto meeting Dente so that all Shouma's allies have been properly introduced to one another, and of course, Hanto finally learning the truth of how thoroughly he's been manipulated, it definitely already feels like a lot of the old status quo of the show's first half has been completely uprooted just by this one episode, and that's coming after all the other developments lately that have accomplished much the same. Although of course, one thing that hasn't changed is how fun this show is to watch week after week.

[Zolda]

I have several new points:
- I mentioned in my first post above that although the Bake Magnum guarantees a sufficiently high degree of safety to Kenzou, when he detransforms @ 22:41 his right hand is experiencing visible burns, which he says is because the transformation puts a strain on an old man's body. This statement could be a clue to the next step of Kenzou's plan. I hypothesized at the end of my first post above that the code K baby could be a perfect, ultra-engineered human clone(s) that was created from Kenzou's own DNA and is likely able to withstand the Bake Magnum's power without experiencing burns.
I have a new hypothesis:
The code K baby (babies?) could be a baby clone (clones?) into which he then transfers his consciousness via a mechanism similar to the one in Arnold Schwarzenegger's film The 6th Day (2000), and in Kenzou's case, the transfer could be done before the moment of his death. This kind of transfer of consciousness mechanism is required because clones are physical duplicates, and the memories inside those clones are the last known memories during the cloning procedure, so new memories of the original person after the procedure can't be duplicated. It means that the clones/code K baby (babies?) would only have the memories of the original Kenzou due to them being created before the end of episode 26, so those clone(s) could only have his memories up to that point, and his memories from episode 27 onward wouldn't be recorded because the original Kenzou still exists and a clone is still not activated. This kind of transfer of consciousness mechanism has a fatal weakness, that is, it can do nothing if the body of the active Kenzou (be it the original Kenzou or previous clone) is destroyed. If the body of the active Kenzou (be it the original Kenzou or previous clone) is destroyed, then his new memories are also destroyed, and the newly-activated clone's memories are reset to the last state (before the end of episode 26 or any other last state in future episodes). If creating serial clones via a transfer of consciousness mechanism (which is then activated with a dead man's switch like what happened in Tenet (2020) when Sator used it to detonate a nuclear bomb to destroy the past) is indeed the endgame of his plan, then he's planning to make himself effectively immortal.
- It's actually very easy for a clone to know whether he's got new memory transfer or not. Say, if a clone only remembers that the last day is May 16 (the day he was created or the day he got his last memory transfer), but the date he's activated today is May 26, then the obvious 10-day memory lapse means that the original Kenzou or the previous clone died without having a chance to transfer his new memories into the new clone. His previous 10-day memories are basically toast forever, although it can be recorded externally via texts, photos, audio/video recordings, and other forms of documentation, similar to the premise of the film 50 First Dates (2004). I hope Kenzou has a good documentation habit, haha.
- If Kenzou is smart, and more importantly, prudent(!), then, besides creating multiple clones of himself that are likely stored inside his crummy office/lab, he should've also created at least 10 other clones of himself before the end of episode 26 as backups/safety measure, but are hidden in the safest location he can find (not inside his crummy office/lab!). This way, if all of his known clones (inside his crummy office/lab) are ultimately destroyed, then one of the 10 hidden clones will be automatically activated, although it will have a memory reset due to it being created before the end of episode 26 and not getting new memory transfer.
- Kenzou was already able to create at least 8 Dark Shoumas at once, so he should've created at least 10 code K babies. It makes no sense if he only created 1 code K baby. Or, perhaps he was only able to create 1 code K baby due to resource limitation? The Dark Shoumas were able to be created in such a short time due to them being downgraded, low-quality clones of Shouma. So, if Kenzou wanted a code K baby to be a perfect, high-quality, ultra-engineered clone of himself, then his resources could've likely only allowed him to create 1 code K baby, not 10.
- If Kenzou's inability to create multiple code K babies was indeed due to him experiencing resource limitation, then this is just another proof of how laughably heavy-handed this story is. Kenzou, a hobbyist scientist who is not supported by any organization, is able to do cloning, a very complex scientific procedure, in a very very very short time. It's still not clear whether Kenzou's and Nyelv's cahoots also grants Kenzou with huge resource support from Nyelv or whether it's just information/intelligence-sharing. It makes sense for Nyelv to be able to clone a Granute (and also build new Drivers, trinkets, and weapons) due to him getting helps from other Stomach's scientists and misappropriating Stomach's funds due to Lango the stupidest CEO villain's utter stupidity. But, Kenzou's just a hobbyist scientist with no real job, thus no real source of income, let alone resource/material/financial support from a 3rd party, so how the heck Kenzou's able to do everything he's done in this story so far? I hypothesized in my posts in episode 5 thread here and in episode 6 thread here that Kenzou could've been a very rich yet eccentric/one-track minded genius like Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future trilogy, but so far, Kenzou's back story has never been shown unless it had something to do with Hanto or his cahoots with Nyelv. Like I've just mentioned, Kenzou has very little back story, and when he got one, it almost always had something to do with Hanto and or Nyelv, and it never showed how Kenzou had been able to do everything he did without any resource/material/financial support from a 3rd party. When the writers needed Kenzou to move the plot, they gave him unlimited resources/materials/funds, but when the writers needed the plot to move the other way to allow other characters to defeat him, they limited his resources/materials/funds. That inconsistency is a symptom of a very very very convenient, heavy-handed writing. TLDR: It makes no sense for Kenzou to be able to do almost everything Nyelv does without any support from a 3rd party.
- Or perhaps Kenzou won't need to transfer his consciousness into the code K baby? If so, then he'll simply need to activate it, and it will have all his current memories via telepathy, like I elaborated in the 2nd paragraph of my post in episode 24 thread here about Dark Shouma #1's and #2's memories.
- If creating clones with perfect memory to reach immortality is indeed Kenzou's endgame, then, based on the scene in episode 26 @ 12:23, there's a high chance that Nyelv had already known about it and try to copy his plan. There's also a possibility based on the scene in episode 14 @ 20:15 that Nyelv would test his cloning procedure on the pieces of Shita's Mimic Key to revive her.
- Another possibility is that Nyelv or even Kenzou end up using their cloning procedures to revive Zomb, Bouche, or other deceased Stomach top brasses. Perhaps Zomb is the mastermind of the whole story who had a plan to be revived as an immortal clone? Perhaps Zomb was the 3rd party who provided resource/material/financial support to Kenzou? Don't know! Cloning is definitely a very very very convenient way of reviving dead characters. After seeing how easy it is to clone anyone in this story, I see quite a high chance that the cloning procedure could likely play a crucial part in this story after the debut of KR Gavv's final form in episode 38.
- In episode 27 during the preview section @ 23:08 Kenzou says that he'll create the strongest creature, which could be the code K baby like I've hypothesized since last week. So, the endgame of his plan is actually not only creating the ultimate transformation device (the Bake Magnum), but also creating the ultimate human (the code K baby?) that's able to withstand the ultimate transformation device's immense power. It means that KR Bake Breacookie form is likely not KR Bake's ultimate form and that he'd likely use another much much much stronger RG, not the Breacookie RG which would then only be relegated to KR Bitter Gavvs. Based on the preview section @ 23:16, Shouma and Hanto, especially Hanto who would debut as KR Valen Frappe Custom form in episode 28, would likely have a tag team and kick Kenzou/KR Bake Breacookie form's ass. The defeated Kenzou would use the Dark Shoumas/KR Bitte Gavvs as covers to enable him to safely escape, and he'd then start designing the ultimate RG based on the new data from KR Gavv Blizzardsorbet form and KR Valen Frappe Custom form, especially the data from KR Valen Frappe Custom form which is supposed to be stronger than KR Valen Chocold form.
TLDR:
The ultimate transformation device (the Bake Magnum) + the ultimate RG(?) + the ultimate human (the code K baby?) = Kenzou's endgame.
- Speaking of KR Valen Frappe Custom form, it uses the Vrastum Gear as well, so it's probably not safer than KR Valen Chocold form, because in several instances it's been shown that even Lage 9, a normal Granute, has experienced strain on his heart when using the Purujelly RG. If the Vrastum Gear (and the Purujelly RG) is not even totally safe to Lage 9, a normal Granute, then (as implied by Dente's statement in episode 27 @ 16:21-16:33) how the heck is it supposed to be safer to Hanto, a normal human only transplanted with a Granute's internal organ? It makes no sense if the strain on Hanto's heart subsides when he's using the Vrastum Gear and the Frappeise RG, but the exact same symptom still happens to Lage 9's heart when he's using the Vrastum Gear and the Purujelly RG. If anything, the Vrastum Gear should be much more dangerous for Hanto to use than even the Chocold RG since so far only Lage 9, a normal Granute, has been shown to be able to use it, so the strain on Hanto's heart should be worse. Let's see in episode 28 whether the strain on Hanto's heart does subside when he's using the Vrastum Gear and the Frappeise RG. If it does, then it'll be yet another proof that the writers of this story don't care at all about the consistency of the story's own internal logic. The convenient solution in episode 28 could likely be that Dente would eliminate the danger factors of the the Frappeise RG, which is based on the Chocold RG. Chocold = Choco + cold => Frappeise = Frappe + ice, although as far as I know generic frappe doesn't contain chocolate. Coffee drink that contains chocolate is called mocha coffee/mocha frappe, not just frappe, haha.
- Oh, and speaking of the Dark Shoumas, my question in my post in episode 22 thread here is still unanswered:
How did Kenzou clone Shouma's Henshin Belt Gavv?
How was Kenzou, the creator of the Dark Shoumas as clones of Shouma, able to create the Henshin Belt Gavv as copies of Shouma's red Gavv/Henshin Belt Gavv? Shouma's red Gavv/Henshin Belt Gavv is a prosthetic device (just like the Stomach Drivers), not an organ, so Kenzou shouldn't have been able to copy it by simply cloning Shouma's cells. Did Nyelv give him Dente's schematics of Shouma's Henshin Belt Gavv? There's no reason for Nyelv to allow Kenzou to access Dente's schematics of Shouma's Henshin Belt Gavv because Kenzou is only responsible for developing the Valen Buster (and manipulating Hanto). So, how did Kenzou clone Shouma's Henshin Belt Gavv? Don't know!

[Tokumonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Damn.... So Shioya really did get Hitopressed and killed after all.

He was definitely Hitopressed and broken. What we don't know is whether he's actually dead. IIRC, our heroes still have the half Hanto found. We know that when someone is rescued, they have no memory of the intervening time, suggesting they've been essentially in suspended animation. The show has made a point of showing us, more than once, that Nyelv has Shioya's other half. I wouldn't be surprised if, whenever our heroes initially confront Nyelv, he explains that he can re-fuse the halves, at which point Shioya could be safely un-pressed. And then, of course, Nyelv proceeds to use that as leverage over our heroes.

On another note, I still can't get over how much I'm enjoying this series. Reiwa Rider is now up to... what? 3 good-to-fantastic shows and 3 hot messes? (This is, of course, a highly arguable point.) And it looks like they're even more full-steam-ahead with the junk-food theme than Gaim was with fruit arms and somehow making it cool anyway.

Their dedication to pretty visceral fight scenes is also impressing me. It's really easy for toku battles to look samey, but lately, it seems like there's been at least one stand-out-memorable moment per episode.

Now if we can just get a Rider suit for that yellow bubble in the opening credits...

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tokumonkey

He was definitely Hitopressed and broken. What we don't know is whether he's actually dead. IIRC, our heroes still have the half Hanto found. We know that when someone is rescued, they have no memory of the intervening time, suggesting they've been essentially in suspended animation. The show has made a point of showing us, more than once, that Nyelv has Shioya's other half. I wouldn't be surprised if, whenever our heroes initially confront Nyelv, he explains that he can re-fuse the halves, at which point Shioya could be safely un-pressed. And then, of course, Nyelv proceeds to use that as leverage over our heroes.

I admire your optimism. I've been wondering if the Hitopress was a fake, so I did lose a little hope after seeing that it was most likely real. But if it's really possible for Nyelve or Dente to repair it and subsequently unpress him, then of course I'd love to see that. Hanto deserves to have something good happen in his life. I guess I'll hold on to that hope for a while longer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tokumonkey

On another note, I still can't get over how much I'm enjoying this series. Reiwa Rider is now up to... what? 3 good-to-fantastic shows and 3 hot messes? (This is, of course, a highly arguable point.)

I generally agree with the statement, but yeah, I imagine we might partially disagree on which 3 are which. And that's cool, to each their own.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tokumonkey

Now if we can just get a Rider suit for that yellow bubble in the opening credits...

I'll keep hoping for that until the show ends!