Recap / Kamen Rider Geats Ep 31 Lamentation VII Heaven or Hell Game

Lamentation VII: Heaven or Hell Game ♡

Original Airdate: April 16, 2023
Written by: Yuya Takahashi
Directed by: Ryuta Tasaki

Summary

Daredevil! You've hit the wall!
Did you think you could get away?
You have us to repay!

Beroba: The Jyamato Grand Prix: a tournament where the Jyamato fight against humanity.
Though it cost us many Jyamato, we succeeded in booting Na-Go out, at least for the time being.
Now, the fated final battle approaches; stay tuned for more misery from the humans~

It's time for the final round of the JGP: a game of "Heaven or Hell", where a piece of the Earth suddenly breaks off and levitates into the heavens; those unfortunate enough to be caught in it are attacked by Jyamato and are forced into colored circles. Should they stand on a circle that is the "color of hell", they will fall to their deaths.

According to Beroba, everything is done by an evil goddess. But just who is that goddess? As more truths unravel, they will shake our heroes' world; one such truth will test even Ace's resolve...

Tropes

• Apple of Discord: When Daichi reveals the truth about Mitsume to Ace and realizes Keiwa is there, he makes sure to emphasize Mitsume's role in the DGP as the arbiter of happiness, leading to an angry Keiwa briefly grabbing Ace by the collar to vent his frustrations.
• Bait-and-Switch: Played with, as the previous episode implied Michinaga's group planned to reveal Ace's mother being the Goddess in order to shake him up. While they do, and Ace is slightly bothered by this, it's implied he already somewhat suspected this. It's the next thing they drop on him, that desire wishes are made by sacrificing others (and thus the countless wishes Ace has been making as part of his centuries long gambit have been unknowingly fueled by innocents) that truly gets under Ace's skin and seems to throw him off his game.
• Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Keiwa being made as another Goddess sacrifice and Archimedel being eaten by his own Jyamato, to Daichi's horror. This results in the Jyamato gaining Archimedel's intelligence and ability to assume his form.
• Die Laughing: Archimedel's last moments before the Dunkleosteus Jyamato finishes eating him involves him laughing.
• Dwindling Party: Neon has gone AWOL after the events of the last episode and Keiwa is sacrificed to the Evil Goddess by Michinaga, leaving Ace on his own.
• Equivalent Exchange: The Desire Grand Prix works on the principle of the net happiness in the world being equal to zero, so in order to fulfill the wishes of the eventual winner the people who die during the DGP are sacrificed as a result to the Goddess of Desire.
• Evil Knockoff: The "Evil Goddess" used this round is explicitly one to the original Goddess of Desire, down to a similar function of using the lives sacrificed in this mission to fuel itself.
• For Want Of A Nail: Mitsume's strong desire for a child with a human from the past despite it being impossible to do so somehow ended up with her obtaining a Reality Warper Power at a Price, which she used to create Ace. Having learnt of this, the DGP made use of and abused her power for their games throughout the centuries since then, some parts of it having shaped history as we know it.
• Fusion Dance: Archimedel orders the Dunkleoteus Jyamato to devour him whole, resulting in it gaining his intelligence, personality, and human form, basically fusing the two.
• Gory Discretion Shot: What we see of the Dunkleosteus Jyamato consuming Archimedel is only seen in shadow as Daichi watches in shock.
• Internal Reveal: Ace learns that his mother Mitsume is the Goddess of Creation from Daichi, something Buffa and the viewers learned in the previous episode.
• Lucky Charms Title: Yet another uneven-numbered episode title with Beroba's heart.
• Morton's Fork: Despite the citizens having to step on the correct colored circles to not fall, a safe color can turn into a non-safe color at any time, even if someone is standing on it.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Beroba reveals that the Jyamato's Evil Knockoff Goddess being fueled by human lives isn't too different from how the actual Goddess of Desire worked; the latter used lost lives as its fuel source to grant the DGP's wishes.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The reveals of this episode regarding the Goddess of Desire has left Ace rather stunned to the point where he largely stays on the sidelines with only one duel against Michinaga as the exception. He's nowhere as cocky or collected as he usually is.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Goddess of Desire's wish-granting ability is fueled by the sacrificed happiness and lives of humanity since the beginning of the DGP.
• Put on a Bus: Neon has reasonably gone on hiatus after the events of last round, looking for a new place to return to.
• The Reveal:
  • When the DGP grants a Desire, more despair is made to balance out the joy created. This also explains why Keiwa's and Sara's parents never came back to life, as Kekera reveals.
  • Daichi reveals that Ace's mom, as the goddess, has been sacrificing people's happiness since ancient times, and that Ace was born from that sacrifice.
• Serial Escalation: Seeing how much just a bit of his blood/essence had nourished the Dunkleosteus Jyamato, Archimedel decides to go all the way by sacrificing his entire self as nourishment for it in the hopes of drawing out its full power.
• Trauma Conga Line: Sara goes through one in this episode. First she frets about Neon's hiatus from Neon TV. Next she gets involved in another DGP/JGP game by accident. Then she saw the high school girl she saved push a man down a pit to save herself. And finally she's forced to watch Michinaga beat up her brother then throwing him down a pit, disappearing as a result.
• Wham Shot:
  • Michinaga throws Keiwa into the pits, turning him into bubbles as a result.
  • The Dunkleosteus Jyamato absorbs Archimedel, eventually taking on the latter's identity as well.

---

Final Mission — Heaven or Hell
CURRENT STANDINGS

Entry Players

Michinaga Azuma/Buffa
Rook Jyamato (eliminated)
Dunkleosteus Jyamato (returning player)

Enemy Players

Ace Ukiyo/Geats
Keiwa Sakurai/Tycoon (eliminated)
Neon Kurama/Na-Go (on hiatus)

---

JGP Rule #8

The happiness of the sacrificed is repurposed into the power to remake the world per a victor's ideals.