Dawn I: Here Comes the Highlight!
- Original Airdate: August 27, 2023
Written by: Yuya Takahashi
Directed by: Shojiro Nakazawa
Summary
Ace has been taken out, but there are still three Riders who carry on his will. Now it falls onto Keiwa, Neon, and Michinaga to stop Suel once and for all to end the DGP. But is it truly the end for Geats?
"As long as you wish for it, you can make it happen."
Tropes
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The fatal shot Ace received killed off his body, but his spirit lived on to become a god.
- Back for the Finale: Ziin and Kyuun reappear in a the epilogue scenes following the final battle after having left at the end of the last arc.
- Back to Base Form: All four main Riders switch to their base form for the final battle (as Keiwa, Neon, and Michinaga lost their Super Modes due to Regad Omega's Reverse), though Geats finishes Suel off as Geats IX.
- Big Damn Heroes: Ace arrives just in time to help Keiwa, Neon and Michinaga to finish off Suel.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ace ascends to godhood to create his new world, but as a side effect the whole world has forgotten him. He's content with this though, while Tsumuri and Ziin properly remember him.
- Book Ends:
- Ace defeats the Slug Fortress Jyamato in "Dawn F" by letting himself get eaten then destroying it from the inside. Ace defeats Suel by possessing him and destroying him from the inside out
- The first episode was titled "Dawn F", marking the finale of the previous DGP. This episode is titled "Dawn I", marking the beginning of Ace’s new world where everyone could be happy.
- Keiwa and Sara have a dinner in a soba restaurant with them talking about tanuki soba being Keiwa's Trademark Favorite Food and Sara watching Neon's streams.
- Michinaga being offered to eat by his work colleagues, as in the first display of his construction worker life, with him accepting said offer this time.
- Buffa, in his rider form, debuts once again by crashing through a wall.
- Keiwa and Neon once again utter shocked exclamations at Ace's declaration at being a god, just like they did at the Riders' debuts in #1.
- When the world resets, Tsumuri is seen looking out at the horizon like Ace did before.
- The final scene before the stinger shows Ace flipping his coin.
- But Now I Must Go: Ace plans to make everyone forget about his existence, including his closest friends in Keiwa, Neon and Michinaga. While they beg for him not to make them forget, he still goes through with it anyway.
- Call-Back:
- The episode title is a reference to Ace's Catchphrase throughout the series.
- "Change My Future", the ending theme from this season's annual winter crossover movie, plays over the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue.
- Came Back Strong: Ace being killed was part of his plan, and allows for him to ascend to godhood.
- Catharsis Factor: Invoked: Girori implies that the reason the DGP staff members are all being erased from existence (minus the benevolent ones such as Tsumuri) is that the audience wills that they suffer the consequences that their actions deserve.
- Cessation of Existence: The fate of Samas, Dark Tsumuri, and the Game Masters when hit by Ace's World-Healing Wave after the audience trapped them in the present for aiding Suel. Grigori also suffers this as his Redemption Equals Death for his role.
- Chased Off into the Sunset: The Stinger shows Houtaro trying and failing to chase down his partner, Hopper1, to no avail. And to rub salt in the wound, it stops for a moment just to knock him on the head before running off again.
- Critical Existence Failure: The World-Healing Wave Ace summons is enough to wipe all the Game Masters and the DGP from this era, and since there's no way for them to go home since the 4th dimensional gate is closed, they're all erased from existence itself too.
- Dawn of an Era: The series ends in a new world without the DGP and unlimited happiness to go around for everyone, with Ace watching over the whole world in peace.
- Death by a Thousand Cuts: Individually, the main Riders' base form attacks don't do much, but Suel gets hammered by multiple finishers in a row and eventually worn down so badly he can barely defend himself, at which point Ace comes in as Geats IX to finish him off.
- De-power:
- Subverted. Suel reverses time around Keiwa, Neon and Michinaga, removing their Rider powers, yet Ace restores their base Rider powers upon returning.
- The World-Healing Wave does this to all the surviving End Riders as part of wiping out everything from the DGP from our time.
- Early-Bird Cameo: After the final DGP rule is shown, the final scene shows Hotaro Ichinose chasing after Hopper1. Ace wishes him happiness as well and walks away.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Oh yes. Ace ascends to godhood and with his powers he grants the other DGP contestants their happiness.
- "End of the World" Special: Suel is destroyed once and for all, preventing the Grand End, and allowing Geats to remake the world one last time with his new godhood into one where everyone's dreams and desires are attainable.
- Face Death with Dignity: In contrast to Samas, Girori merely accepts the end of the DGP with a smile, stating the denizens of this time are the ones who shape the future now.
- Foregone Conclusion: In terms of this episode only, it begins with the status quo that happened after the final battle with Ace being deified and the rest of the Riders returning to their normal lives.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- Keiwa is seen studying at the end, with a book about tips for passing the police officer exam in front of him. It seems he's going to achieve his dream of world peace through a more proactive method.
- The many wishes at Ace's shrine include Ben and John's ("Happiness for ojou-sama", albeit obscured), and Sara's wishes, which she makes more and more of the longer she gets to think about what she wants. Among them are Kousei and Irumi's, as well as previous DGP participants.
- Good Luck Charm: It's revealed in Keiwa's portion of the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue that he treats his Tycoon ID Core as this as he's studying for his police officer exam.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Ace's dead body is never shown with the head in view, given that Tsumuri shot him in the face and all.
- Grand Finale: Of the series.
- Grand Theft Me: It's revealed that Black Tsumuri possessed regular Tsumuri to grant her wish of finishing Ace off for good. Ace later pulls this off on Suel.
- In Medias Res: After the Cold Open that repeats the final scene of the previous episode, we then move to a scene where Keiwa and Sara are happy eating soba, with the final battle being shown through flashbacks.
- Irony:
- Michinaga's wish after the DGP is gone is to eat meat, the wish Chirami offered to him back in #33; back then, he completely rejected it in favor of purging the DGP.
- Though Daichi starts off by using the Jyamato as means to an end, including devouring them in their infancy to gain more knowledge, he's the one who ends up proposing peaceful existence between humans and Jyamato— unlike Archimedel, who wanted to replace humanity with them.
- Killed Off for Real: Ace dies for good after Tsumuri (unwillingly) shot him in the last episode, but said death is what he needed to ascend to godhood.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Ace erases the memories of his own existence from Keiwa, Neon and Michinaga for their own good, despite their pleas otherwise.
- May It Never Happen Again: Variation. Girori is content with the DGP coming to an end by leaving this age 'in the hands of its people', and Ziin does mention talks of a new DGP, but this time it won't be a high-stakes Deadly Game like Suel made the previous one into.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Tsumuri breaks down crying when she sees the slain Ace.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Suel finally kills Ace by having Black Tsumuri possess Tsumuri and shoot him in the head. But it turns out to be exactly what Ace wanted, as his death released his soul and allowed him to become a god.
- No-Sell: Unlike the previous episode, Ace has immunity against Suel's time reversal due to his own godhood status.
- Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Even though Ace's mortal body is gone, his death only serves as a catalyst for him to ascend to godhood and help his friends defeat Suel and end the DGP once and for all.
- Out-Gambitted: Suel thought that Ace dying would simply reincarnate him again, and by the time he regains his past-life memories and right to rejoin the DGP it would be too late as the world would have already been changed beyond his control. But Ace had already planned for his own death since meeting Mitsume in #38, instead turning it into a catalyst to release him from his morality and ascend into godhood in order to overpower Suel himself.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Suel is still dealing with the effects of partial paralysis caused by some members of the VIP audience deserting him during the previous episode. After dealing with Ace, Suel's arm twitches with electricity running up and down it as the "eye" on his knuckle spazzes out with groans of pain before blinking out, implying the masked man and woman Neon and her father persuaded to leave met a grisly end despite their promises of protection.Suel: I don't need an audience that backtalks me.
- Sequel Hook: While the main story is resolved very neatly, the epilogue reveals that Ziin is starting up his own, non-fatal version of the DGP that he wants Tsumuri to help him with, hinting at future stories involving the game.
- Ship Tease: Kyuun and Neon’s final scene has shades of this, helped by the fact that Neon’s wish is to find a prince charming.
- Shout-Out: Suel's death is similar to the demise of Agent Smith in being destroyed from the inside before exploding with his killer standing in his place.
- Shrine to the Fallen: Variation. Ace's shrine at the end of the show also doubles as a memorial to him for both Tsumuri and Ziin, complete with a stone replica of the Geats IX Buckle.
- Thanatos Gambit: Ace reveals that as part of his plan to create a world where everyone can achieve their happiness, he has to become a god, with his death just the final part of the plan to allow him to transcend to godhood.
- Title-Only Opening: The title only shows at the end of the cold opening, with no music whatsoever.
- Theme Song Power Up: "Trust Last" blares for the final battle. Doubles as Last Episode Theme Reprise.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: During the World-Healing Wave, none of the civilians bat an eye at the celebrating and clapping Himawari Jyamato as soon as they're saved.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- Suel's composure falls to pieces as he's gradually overpowered. But when he learns Ace has possessed him and is about to destroy him from the inside, Suel can only exclaim a panicked This Cannot Be! in genuine fear as he dies.
- Samas is left panicking and shaking Black Tsumuri when she finds the 4-dimensional gate closed, leaving her trapped in the present era with no way to escape Ace wiping out her and the DGP once and for all. All she can do is scream in denial as they’re erased for good.
- Wham Shot: Suel being revealed to have survived the final kick, only to glitch and his mask breaks to reveal Ace, as he possessed and destroyed Suel from within.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue:
- Win's band is back and better than ever.
- Daichi is living happily alongside his Himawari Jyamato, wishing to ensure a peaceful co-existence between humans and Jyamato.
- Sara is watching Neon's live streams at work and wishes to live a peaceful life, remain a Neon fan (and go shopping with her sometime), travel abroad, be as good as a cook as Keiwa and for his health. And that's just what we end up hearing, as she wishes to write even more wishes, but running out of spaces.
- Michinaga goes back to construction work and is later seen having a cookout with his co-workers.
- Neon resumes doing Neon TV with Kyuun as her producer.
- Keiwa is now studying to become a police officer, and he's kept his now functionally useless Tycoon ID Core as a Good Luck Charm.
- Ziin decides to start his own DGP that’s not a Deadly Game that deprives others’ happiness for others to achieve their happiness, offering Tsumuri the job of Navigator.
- Tsumuri is living in the present, free to choose her own path.
- A shrine is created in honor of Ace, and his spirit resides over it.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: While the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue accounts for the majority of the important surviving characters, Neon's parents are conspicuously absent, though it's likely Kousei returned to prison to serve his sentence. Though their wishes are shown at Ace's shrine
,note confirming that they are alive and well at least. The same applies to the revived players that are good. - The Worf Effect: Regad Omega is so powerful he can ward off Michinaga's Jyamashin powers.
- World-Healing Wave: After Suel is defeated, Ace lets off a wave that de-powers the End Riders and removes every aspect of the DGP staff except Tsumuri.
- You Are Already Dead: Ace tells Suel this after the latter seemingly survives his finisher, as his mask cracks to reveal Ace behind it.
Mission 4 — Final Grand Prix
GAME RESULT
GAME RESULT
Ace Ukiyo/Geats
Keiwa Sakurai/Tycoon
Neon Kurama/Na-Go
Michinaga Azuma/Buffa
Suel/Regad Omega (Eliminated)
Keiwa Sakurai/Tycoon
Neon Kurama/Na-Go
Michinaga Azuma/Buffa
Suel/Regad Omega (Eliminated)
Final DGP Rule
People will find as much happiness as their desires will bring.
