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Series / Kamen Rider Geats

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"This game — I'll be the winner in the end."

"Welcome to the Desire Grand Prix."

Kamen Rider Geats is the 2022-2023 entry in the Kamen Rider series, the fourth in the Reiwa Era and thirty-third overall. Debuting on September 4, 2022, it aired alongside Avataro Sentai Donbrothers — and later, Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger in the Super Hero Time block. It ended on August 27, 2023, and was succeeded by Kamen Rider Gotchard.

When the appearance of mysterious creatures known as Jyamato threatens the world's peace, a tournament is formed to protect the people — the Desire Grand Prix. Participants transform into various Kamen Riders, and aim to survive while competing for the scores obtained by defeating enemies and saving people. The winner of the Desire Grand Prix will be crowned the "Desashin",note  and rewarded with the right to shape their ideal world. Among these participants are the young naïve university graduate Keiwa Sakurai, popular influencer Neon Kurama, and ruthless former DGP finalist Michinaga Azuma, each fighting for their own desires.

However, unbeknownst to them is that the previous winner of the DGP and current Desashin is among the group: Ace Ukiyo, an aloof and cultured young man who transforms into the fox-themed Kamen Rider Geats.

"Welcome... to my world."

Just who is this young man shrouded in mystery, and what kind of world will he create...?

Shout! Factory licensed Geats in the west in April 2024 as part of their TokuSHOUTsu channel and on their website, which can be watched here.

Kamen Rider Geats's tie-in projects include:

Spoilers for the first 16 episodes are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Recurring Kamen Rider tropes include:

  • All There in the Manual: The TV-Asahi site has some details about equipment the Riders use that are not shown well, as well as the usual nonsense statistics.
  • Cool Bike: The Boostriker, which also doubles as a Transforming Vehicle as it changes into an animal-like formnote  to assist with Finishing Moves. It can be summoned and used even when the Rider is untransformed with the Boost Raise Buckle.
  • Create Your Own Hero: As is tradition although it's much more intentional this time around, since the Riders get their powers from the DGP Staff, who also created the Jyamato to be enemies for them to fight.
  • Elemental Powers:
  • Henshin Hero: Desire Grand Prix contestants can transform into superpowered Kamen Riders.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Like with Kamen Rider Double, Geats' episode titles are composed of two phrases, one of which has a Roman numeral (indicating how far the DGP has progressed) or an "F" (indicating the end for the current season of the DGP), and the other describing the general events of the episode. #16 changes things up a bit by featuring "IR"note  in its title due to the season being extended, then cancelled; #23 has "T"note  in its title due to the season being put on hold; #24 has "SP"note .
  • Monster of the Week: Invoked given the Desire Grand Prix is a game and each round requires a new enemy for the Riders to fight, although Geats has its own unique spin on this trope given how it's a different set of Mooks that appear each week. There are stronger and individualized Jyamato, but they appear much more sparingly and usually as a Climax Boss.
  • Standard Evil Organization Squad:
    • The leading members of the Jyamato side: Beroba, Archimedel, Michinaga and Daichi.
    • During the final arc, a new squad forms when Zitt arrives from the future with Samas and recruits Kekera and Beroba to help him deal with Ace and his allies.
  • Statistically Speaking: As in every Rider show, the stats listed on the TV-Asahi website are complete nonsense, but an exceptional instance comes with the back-to-back debuts of Fever Boost and Twin Command, each of whom fights an identical opponent in their debuts to allow for a direct comparison of their relative strength. Twin Command defeats the Jyamato Rider far more easily, despite Fever Boost being listed as having four times the power that Command does.
  • Swiss-Army Hero: Like most modern Kamen Riders, the DGP Riders are able to modify their powers and use different forms. For instance, with just his normal two Buckles, Geats can activate two versions of Magnum Form (upper and lower body), two versions of Boost Form (same), Magnum Boost Form, and Boost Magnum Form.
  • Transformation Is a Free Action: Zigzagged; when a Raise Buckle is activated, the energy logo can serve as a shield that repels lesser Jyamato, and several characters are shown using this as a weapon. Riders can also use the Revolve function of the Desire Driver, which switches the position of their equipped Raise Buckle that also morphs their body, as a dodge. That said, a Rider can still Lose if they get hit hard enough in the middle of transforming.
  • Transformation Trinket: The DGP Riders all use the Desire Driver. They can use the Driver on its own with a personalized Core ID to activate a base "Entry Form" with only a unique mask on the suit. They can also attach Raise Buckles to each side of the belt which provides armour and abilities to their upper and lower bodies, and it can rotate to quickly swap the arm and leg abilities. In contrast to most Rider shows, each Kamen Rider can use any Buckle as long as they have them on their person.
    • There are the low-tier, common Raise Buckles prefixed with "Armed" when transforming. They provide simple armor and weapons to the Rider. Multiple copies of them also exist. These include Water, Arrow, Hammer, Shield, Claw, Chain Array, Propeller, and Drill.
    • Next are the bigger, more elaborate ones with special jingles and bigger effects. They provide more complete armor as well as stronger weapons. Only one copy can exist per DGP, and each one synergizes particularly well with a certain Rider. These include Magnum, Zombie, Ninja, Monster, and Beat.
    • The Boost series of Buckles are some of the most-featured Buckles outside of the Rider-specific ones, and some of the most powerful.
      • The original Boost Buckle provides massive stat boosts to the wearer as well as access to a Cool Bike and greatly buffing the abilities of any other Buckle in use; but it's only good for one battle and has to be reacquired afterward.
      • Ace later combines five Boost Buckles together into a Boost Mark II Buckle, which is even more powerful than the regular Boost and doesn't need to be reacquired. Unfortunately, it heavily exhausts Ace every time he uses it on its own, and he needs the Laser Raise Riser to stabilize it.
      • Eventually, Ace gets the even more powerful Boost Mark III Buckle. Further, it's a two-part Buckle, and by splitting it up and attaching it to both sides of his Driver, he can complete his Super Mode as Boost Mark IX.
    • There are a few other unique Buckles that have more power than the usual ones, but some come with some sort of drawback:
      • The Feverslot Buckle rolls a random other Buckle to transform into, even Boost if you hit the jackpot. If the Buckle it rolls matches the Buckle in the Driver's other slot, this creates an extra-powerful Fever Form. But conversely, there's always the chance of rolling just a weak Armed Weapon.
      • The Command Twin Buckles are the most powerful ones available to all Riders (at its debut, Command Form was second only to Fever Boost stat-wise), giving the user a heavily armored form that can switch between Jet Mode for agility and Cannon Mode for firepower. But it needs to be charged in battle every time it's used, using Raising Form which is underpowered (slightly) compared to the normal Buckle forms.
      • The Powered Builder Buckle is featured in Movie Battle Royale as Kamen Rider Seeker's Buckle, and Ace gets it in the show afterward. It comes with enhanced Armed Weapon Buckles called Gigant Weapons that can be plugged into the Builder Buckle itself instead of the Driver.
      • Late in the series, Keiwa gets the two-part Bujin Sword Buckle for his Super Mode. Besides the enhanced power, he can swap out the secondary piece for any of the regular large Buckles.
      • The Fantasy Buckle, while "just" a large Buckle like Magnum/Ninja/Beat/etc., has more power than usual and provides a number of mystic abilities. It's especially attuned to Na-Go, providing her intangibility as well, and serves as her Super Mode.
      • Four Aces and the Black Fox introduces the XGeats Buckle, a black repaint of Boost Mark IX used by Cross Geats; and the Oneness Buckle and ID Core, with the Buckle being a card reader that can scan Kamen Rider Gotchard's Cards of Power, which Geats uses with Boost Mark III for a special Super Mode.
      • Jyamato Awakening is set to debut the two-part Plosion Rage Buckle, a new Super Mode for Buffa; and the Dooms Geats ID Core and Buckle, another repaint of Boost Mark IX (this one gold).
    • #11 introduces the Collapsed ID Core, the Jyamato's counterpart to the DGP's ID Core, and the Jyamato Buckle, which some evolved Pawn Jyamato can use to transform into Rider-esque forms.
    • #14 introduces an entirely different Rider System: the Vision Driver and the Providence Card, used by Kamen Riders Glare, Gazer, and Glare2.
    • #22 introduces the Laser Raise Riser and Raise Riser Card, used by the Supporter Riders. It's later revealed that the Laser Raise Riser can also be inserted like a buckle into the Desire Driver.
    • #47 introduces the Zillion Driver and Sirius Card, used by Kamen Riders Regad, Regad Omega, and Gazer Zero.
  • Weapon Specialization: Most Raise Buckles provide handheld weapons that dictate the fighting style of the user.
    • The Magnum Buckle turns Riders into The Gunslinger; they are armed with the Magnum Shooter 40X, a Swiss-Army Gun that can convert between handgun and rifle modes, and the gauntlets or leg armor can unfold into additional gun barrels as well. It synergizes especially with Kamen Rider Geats.
    • The Boost Buckle, instead of a weapon that's handheld, it provides a Cool Bike Transforming Vehicle Power Up Mount called the Boostriker. Though it can be used in Car Fu and as an actual melee weapon in certain conditions.
    • The Zombie Buckle gives Riders the Zombie Breaker, a chainsaw sword. It synergizes especially with Kamen Rider Buffa.
    • The Ninja Buckle turns Riders into exactly what it sounds like and grants them the Ninja Dueler, a pair of trench knives that can combine into a larger dual-edged blade. It synergizes especially with Kamen Rider Tycoon.
    • The Beat Buckle grants musical powers and gives Riders the Beat Axe, an elemental battle-axe crossed with an electric guitar. It is primarily associated with Kamen Rider Na-Go.
    • The Monster Buckle gives Riders the Monster Gloves, a pair of boxing glove-like gauntlets. While we seemingly haven't seen a Rider that it particularly synergizes with, it is primarily associated with low-level antagonists like Kamen Riders PunkJack and Nadge-Sparrow.
    • The Powered Builder Buckle and Gigant Container give Riders a greatsword dubbed the Gigant Sword, a giant rocket-powered warhammer dubbed the Gigant Hammer, and a massive Hand Cannon dubbed the Gigant Blaster.note  They are primarily associated with the movie-exclusive Kamen Rider Seeker.

Here comes the trope highlight.

  • Aborted Arc:
    • Played deliberately with the Desastar subplot in the Divergence arc, a subplot that Chirami cooked up purely to serve as a Conflict Ball between the Riders, and which becomes irrelevant once the DGP is hijacked by the Jyamato and the Divergence season is thus cancelled. While Ace and Keiwa figure out who it was just before the arc ends, they don't actually care. Chirami's other changes to the format to make the DGP more like a reality show also disappear with the end of this arc, and similarly go unmourned by the characters.
    • Michinaga spends much of the Divergence and Lamentation arcs slowly turning into a Jyamato and using a broken ID Core. Both of these are resolved when he becomes the Jyamashin and is restored to full health as a result, as well as gaining a much better power-up than the Jyamato Buckle for the duration of the Yearning arc, meaning he never finishes turning into a Jyamato. Jyamato Awaking later reveals that the Jyamato cells remained dormant in his body even after he became the Jyamashin.
    • The series initially took a more realistic approach with ordinary civilians being promoted to becoming Kamen Riders; players were shown having to store their Desire Drivers and Raise Buckles in carry-on bags they had to bring around with them for the realistic lack of hammerspace, while their uniforms have a massive amount of storage pockets to serve the same purpose. This was eventually dropped as the series progresses, returning the series back to the franchise's fictional standard of pulling their equipment out of hammerspace whenever it is time to transform.
    • The end of the Lamentation arc had all of the Jyamato who had participated in the Jyamato Grand Prix being revived after Beroba and Michinaga claimed both the Vision Drivers. This has yet to be followed up on, and none of the Jyamato players have been seen since, especially after Grand End more or less killed them all and left just tiny Jyamato in their place.
  • Anatomy Arsenal: Some Raise Buckles give built in weapons in the added armor.
    • Magnum: If used for the upper body, there are two arm cannons, one on each forearm called the Gunslinger Arm. If used for the lower body, it is two leg cannons called the Gunslinger Leg, one on each ankle.
    • Boost: If used for the upper body, the tailpipes called the Boost Puncher are on each forearm. If used for the lower body, the tailpipes called Boost Kicker are on each shin which can be used as thrusters to aid in endeavors such as highspeed mobility and limited distance flight. In summary, it turns an attack from the limbs into a Rocket Powered Enhanced Strike.
    • Zombie: If used for the upper body, the left side has equipment called the Poison Chamber Arm for the forearm and the Berserclawnote  for the left hand. If used for the lower body, the right shin is equipped with the Poison Chamber Leg and the Berserclaw is the right foot. Buffa's Plosion Rage upgrade also has a clawed left hand, but it's a much bigger monster hand with chainsaw claws.
  • Animal-Themed Superbeing: All of the Riders have animal-themed masks. Geats for example has a kitsune motif, with the white-and-red coloring resembling traditional kitsune masks worn in festivals, and his helmet having fox-like "ears".
  • Anti-Frustration Features: Since the Feverslot DX toy is a slot machine like the one in the show, it also includes a secondary dial that can be used to rig the machine and manually pick a result.
  • Anyone Can Die: Three of the first four episodes kill off Riders that had been advertised as main characters, and those are the lucky ones: each Desire Grand Prix has about thirty contestants, of which twenty seemingly die in the preliminary round.
  • Arch-Enemy: Each of the four main Riders has one.
    • Ace has Niramu, despite the two not having much interaction. Ace's plans to uncover the DGP's secrets will inevitably lead him to confront Niramu eventually, and while Niramu isn't willing to bend the rules to eliminate Ace, he is fully aware of what Ace intends to do and is preparing to deal with him. Niramu later gets replaced by Suel, the man responsible for turning Mitsume into the Goddess of Creation and separating her from Ace for 2,000 years.
    • Keiwa has Daichi Isuzu. It starts when Daichi tries to frame Keiwa as the Desastar to get him voted out of the game and becomes mutual when Keiwa exposes Daichi's treachery, resulting in Daichi getting eliminated. It escalates further when Daichi forces Sara to become a Parasite Jyamato and gets her eliminated.
    • Neon has Beroba, who seems to really enjoy tormenting Neon and doing everything she can to traumatize her.
    • Michinaga has Ace, whom he views as the summation of everything he despises about the Riders who participate in the DGP. Ace for his part doesn't pay mind to Michinaga at first, but after he joins the Jyamato side and starts growing his power, the two develop a mutual Worthy Opponent view of each other. Ironically, Michinaga ends up becoming Keiwa's next arch-enemy after he defeats Daichi, due to his accidental killing of Sara and remorseless attitude towards killing civilians.
  • Audience-Alienating Premise: In-Universe example. The DGP originally starts off as a game where random civilians save the world for the entertainment of the people from the future. However, as the series progresses, it devolves into a blatant Sadist Show with a massive focus on Rider vs. Rider fights and seemingly never-ending torture. This is what ultimately does in Suel, the Executive Producer, and the DGP itself, as the blatant pandering to him and the other VIPs (read: other sadists part of a Vocal Minority) only results in the VIPs fleeing back home to their time when it's pointed out they're not safe even from the supposed comfort of their viewing room, while alienating the Silent Majority who end up rooting for the DGP to finally come to an end and for the perpetrators to finally get what's coming to them.
  • Battle of Wits: The "Scheme" arc escalates to one between Ace, who is trying to uncover the secret behind the DGP, and Girori, who is actively trying to have Ace eliminated. The "Divergence" arc seems to be building to one between Ace and Niramu, with Beroba and Archimedel also throwing their hats in the ring.
  • Battle Royale Game: The Desire Grand Prix, which the series focuses on, is this. What makes this stand out from the previous series that had a Battle Royale is that it plays a heavier focus on the Deadly Game aspect, where the goal each round is usually to eliminate the Monster of the Week. Direct fights between Kamen Riders themselves are also actively discouraged, unless through Loophole Abuse where a Kamen Rider is considered a permissible target under special circumstances.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: After the second arc, multiple main villains emerge.
    • Niramu is the producer of the Desire Grand Prix who seeks to keep it going and prevent anyone from uncovering its secrets.
    • Beroba is the sponsor of the Jyamato and ringleader of their plan to hijack the DGP.
    • Archimedel is working with Beroba to overthrow the DGP, so he can create a world where his Jyamato will flourish instead of being used as enemies.
    • Coming up from behind is Michinaga Azuma, who begins slowly growing his power after allying with Beroba and whose goal is to put an end to the DGP by eliminating all its Rider participants.
    • Following the series of shakeups that occur during the "Yearning" arc, a new ensemble emerges, with Samas becoming the new Game Producer after usurping Niramu, Beroba still around in a duumvirate with Kekera, and Daichi Isuzu taking Archimedel's place as the Jyamato gardener. Even Keiwa steps up as a contender following his disillusionment. And behind all of them is Suel, who originally created the DGP and caused Mitsume's disappearance.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Suel is finally defeated for good, and the living participants are granted their happiness. However, this all comes at the cost of Ace dying at the hands of a possessed Tsumuri, which allows his spirit to ascend to godhood and disband the DGP, granting Tsumuri her freedom. His ascension also causes everyone left in the modern era except for Tsumuri to forget about Ace as a person, turning him into an Abstract Apotheosis of a wish-granting deity without being shackled the way Mitsume was. The series ends with Ziin and Tsumuri paying their respects to him at his shrine, where the cast has written their wishes for the future on ema with the Geats symbol on the back.
  • Black Comedy: The OOO Driver and Decadriver Raise Buckles are sold together in one box for the Geats toyline. The DGP is a Deadly Game, and Eiji and Tsukasa are among the few main Riders to permanently die, having met their true demises in Kamen Rider OOO 10th: Core Medal of Resurrection and Zi-O vs. Decade respectively.
  • Body-Count Competition: Done indirectly, as killing Jyamato is one of the ways to score points in the Desire Grand Prix.
  • Breaking Old Trends:
    • This is the first Kamen Rider series where none of the base Transformation Trinkets belong to any one particular Rider by default. The main characters are marketed with the larger Raise Buckle that matches their color or personality and are later revealed to be synchronized to them, but nothing prevents other Riders from using "mismatches," sometimes even more often than their intended users, and it's not even clear how much matching combinations benefit the user compared to others with the same Buckles. Visually, the only thing that sets each Rider apart is the helmet granted by their Core ID, illustrated in the toyline by them being plastic bricks that the DX Desire Driver does not even differentiate between, only using them to power it on.
    • This is also, consequently, the first series with a mix-and-match gimmick to return to only using Multiform Balance since Kamen Rider Double instead of promoting a Set Bonus mechanic. The Boost Buckle is treated as a major exception, and is (currently) the Buckle that has unique interactions with the other larger Raise Buckles; the others do not have unique sounds for specific pairings, and none of the Raise Buckles' designs have markings telling viewers which pairings are the most advantageous.
    • Geats also plays extremely fast and loose with the importance of any individual Rider compared to past series, even moreso than Ryuki. By episode 10, eleven Riders have transformed onscreen, and five have been seemingly permanently removed from the plot, either through death or disqualification. There are also dozens of unseen Riders who are killed or disqualified before they are seen. Any other series would rather not debut a Rider at all than kill them off so quickly and frequently.
    • Ace as a main character bucks the trend of the last 13 years — Decade (2009) was the last time we had such a mysterious and smug protagonist, although one could argue that Build (2017) comes close. Tellingly, up until his elimination in the penultimate episode, Keiwa, the Second Rider, is the primary POV character and narrator of the first arc.
    • Rather than creating a new Legend Rider device for the previous Rider series in crossover material (e.g., Drive Arms), Geats opts to convert Revi and Vice into Riders of the current series entirely by directly giving them Desire Drivers.
    • Geats features characters solely portrayed in CGI, but is notable for having two Riders whose profiles when transformed are pretty much just mechanical animals instead of a humanoid costume.
  • Cast Herd: There's the main contenders in the DGP (Ace, Keiwa and Neon) and their respective audience supporters (Ziin, Kekera and Kyuun), the DGP Staff (Tsumuri, the Game Master, Niramu and Samas) and the figures on the Jyamato side (Beroba, Archimedel, Michinaga and Daichi).
  • Cast of Snowflakes: Besides our four main characters, there's also the DGP staff, the supporters, and at least one new Rider introduced in every arc. Each Rider that transforms on screen has, at minimum, a unique helmet, with certain Riders also having distinct accessories (Geats' scarf, Tycoon's leg bandage, and so on), and even Riders that use retools of existing suits have distinct traits to distinguish their suits from the base ones (e.g., the bear Riders' helmets have similar eye designs, but completely different colors and accents).
  • Central Theme:
    • The lengths people will go to to pursue their desires, and whether those desires are worth the risk and struggle that comes with finding them, which is examined in several ways:
      • In the first few arcs, the Riders often discuss this very topic in the DGP lounge between battles, with Keiwa in particular questioning how the others are willing to put their lives on the line.
      • The supporter Riders come from the future, where everything is provided for them... but not having to struggle for anything has made their lives unsatisfying, and they turn to reality TV as a source of tension and excitement.
      • As Michinaga refines his motivation to fight the DGP, he eventually denounces it for stoking peoples' greed so that they get themselves killed. While the DGP is certainly guilty of goading people into danger with promises of their desires, Michinaga's argument comes across like he thinks nobody should make any attempt to change or improve their situation because they'll just get hurt or hurt other people in the process.
    • The permanence of life and death, and what people will do in the current moment with the life they have. This becomes more prominent during the Lamentation DGP, as many of the DGP's secrets and truths about Ace's past come to light, and he ultimately is left to ponder that question himself once he learns that he was the cause of his own multiple reincarnations because of his lingering desire to see his mother again. Similarly, Sara's death forms a major part of the story arc in the Genesis arc, as its suddenness and seeming permanence drives Keiwa to the brink of despair and eventually gives Michinaga a reason to finally re-examine his life goals and motivations for fighting.
    • The connections that one has to their family and how one deals with those connections being tested is also a pertinent one for three of the central cast members, which comes to inform the last parts of the series in a major way. Ace wants to reconnect with his mother, Neon's relationship with her parents is tumultuous enough that she wants to run away from them, and the only family Keiwa has left in the world is his sister, Sara, which drives him to seek world peace for her sake. Ace ultimately learns the truth about his mother, and his resolve is shaken briefly, but eventually solidifies into a desire to make the world better for her sake once she's gone. Neon is left adrift once she learns that she's a wish-born copy of her parents' daughter, but when Kousei and Irumi finally give her the recognition she craves and acknowledge their own mistakes, she comes into her own as a Kamen Rider and finally puts her doubts to rest. In contrast to both of them, Keiwa breaks completely once Sara gets killed, becoming vengeful and overbearingly self-righteous about his wish, but ultimately acknowledges that he still feels empty inside once he gets it granted and still loses Sara and his parents anyway because of his wish.
    • As the series goes on, Happiness becomes a major theme. The heroes are disturbed to learn that the DGP steals happiness from the game's victims to give to the winners, and resolve to work, even if only little by little, towards a world where everyone can be happy. Including enemies like Daichi, if possible. The final two entries in the end-of-episode "DGP rulebook" drive the lesson home:
      Never give up on making people happy.
      People will find as much happiness as their desires will bring.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Early into the second arc, we're shown some of Ace's previous wishes from his DGP victories, his first being that he would be able to keep participating in the game for the rest of his life. This proves vital later on, when it's what allows him to get back in after being forcibly eliminated by Girori, as the wish literally means he cannot be eliminated from the game outside of his own death.
  • Clueless Aesop: In #16, Keiwa chews out Girori for not only failing to understand Ace's desire (and the seemingly frivolous wishes he makes in order to get closer to achieving it), but the desires of the other Riders as well, saying that if someone is willing to risk their life for a dream, no matter how insignificant it may appear to be, you shouldn't think less of them because of it. The Flashback accompanying Keiwa's speech displays all previous Riders, not only the ones with simple wishes like Taira, Neon, Yukie, or Ittetsu, but also Riders with more destructive wishes like Michinaga and even Kanato, who obviously will have others object to their wish. It also displays Morio; while his wish was unrevealednote , he was the one who pointed out that the DGP's sheer power of granting seemingly any wish was worth risking his life in #4, but not long after the other Riders object to his pursuit of his desire due to his double-crossing and underhanded tactics to get a leg up in the DGP when his true nature was revealed.
  • Combo Platter Powers: Like a number of past Kamen Riders (Double, OOO, Build, and Saber), the DGP Riders use a modular system that allows them to mix and match different armor sets and abilities. A toy ad even explicitly shows off Geats getting ten possible forms from combinations of three items. However, it ends up downplayed since the major armor sets are rare, and it's difficult to acquire one, much less two or more to combine them.
  • Cosmic Chess Game:
    • The Desire Grand Prix is structured to be a form of this, giving various sponsors the opportunity to help their preferred player to win by paying to set up "secret missions" for them to fulfill and to send them power-ups and other assistance.
    • Halfway through it develops into a chess match between Niramu and Beroba for control of the DGP, with the Riders and Jyamato as their pieces on the board. The Goddess of Creation also seemingly gets involved, granting the wishes to give Ace the Boost MK-II buckle for an unknown purpose.
  • Counterpart Artifacts: Played with, some of the large Raise Buckles have their Reactors match each other.
    • Magnum and Boost have their own individual Reactor designs when used in the Desire Driver with a Magnum having Speed Stripes to represent a fired bullet while Boost has a speedometer; when used together the design is reminiscent of multiple magatama in a circle.
  • Crapsaccharine World: The distant future that the DGP staff and audience hail from is a world where all desires are granted to people via the use of Reality Warper technology, leading to an intense sense of boredom that justifies the existence of the DGP as a form of entertainment. According to Ziin, death is also no longer treated with weight as a result of lifespans being pre-determined, and Kekera isn't even aware of what festivals are, viewing them as just an aspect of ancient civilization.
  • Create Your Own Villain: The Jyamato are a very literal example. They were created by the DGP Staff to specifically serve as enemies for the Desire Grand Prix, but the gardener they tasked with cultivating them began to resent them being used solely as fodder for the DGP and plotted with Beroba to overthrow the game.
  • Crossover: As is custom, this year's Movie War, Movie Battle Royale, not only has the Geats cast pair up with the cast of Kamen Rider Revice, but some of the cast of Kamen Rider Ryuki showing up as well, with Ryuki, Knight, Ouja and Ryuga confirmed appearing.
  • Custom Uniform: The main quintet of Riders have unique additions to their Entry Forms that other Riders don't have, namely a white Scarf of Asskicking for Geats, a green sash on the leg for Tycoon, golden bracers for Na-Go, a purple tassel on Buffa's hip, and a full-on cape for PunkJack. Each have a passive effect on them as well, with Tycoon's sash giving him extra luck, Na-Go's bracers giving her extra punching power, Buffa's tassels giving him increased fighting spirit, and PunkJack's cape granting increased jump height.
  • Darker and Edgier: Downplayed to an extent. Right from the promotion, Geats makes it clear that the story concerns a full-blown Deadly Game where There Can Be Only One and the fate of the world is at stake, with the protagonist being an older and less overtly heroic character sporting a Mysterious Past and questionable motives. Even the Riders are much darker in terms of color palette, consisting of a plain black bodysuit with accessories worn over, with most just having an animal head to distinguish themselves from one another, and the poster is awash in dark neon colors instead of the brighter presentation typically used. However, in comparison to previous shows that have used the battle royale format, most notably Kamen Rider Ryuki. While the Desire Grand Prix is still a survival game where civilians are conscripted into fighting monsters, it's unique in that Player Versus Player combat is meant to be avoided, and players who indulge in it are hit with a hefty score penalty, while heroic actions like saving civilians are rewarded.
  • Deadly Game: The Desire Grand Prix is a competition, but the Riders are being sent out to fight monsters that easily can and do kill them. Downplayed in that merely losing by getting retired simply results in Laser-Guided Amnesia and being sent home until it's revealed that comes with an incredibly harsh catch, as it causes the losers to lose all original motivation and be left a shell of the people they once were, though they regain them if they're brought back for another round.
  • Death Is Cheap: Discussed. When Michinaga is able to come back from the dead, Niramu and Samas track him down and haul him back from Earth to the strange Jyamato greenhouse area. When asked why, Niramu tells Samas that if he came back to life like that, then the Desire Grand Prix would "lack realism" and expects him to be revived as a Jyamato instead.
  • Died on Their Birthday: Akari, the real heiress to the Kurama Conglomerate, died on her 8th birthday in a kidnapping gone wrong. This led to Kousei wishing for the creation of Neon in her stead as a replacement daughter in order to detach himself from his grief.
  • Doppelgänger Attack: One of the many ninja tropes associated with the Ninja Raise Buckle. Geats uses it to great effect against the first Final Boss of the DGP.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: All three of Beroba's henchmen have different reasons for serving under her. Archimedel wants to create a world for the Jyamato to thrive in and Michinaga and Daichi are both going along with her plans in the hopes of getting their desires granted. Given that they all have the same goal of accessing the Goddess of Creation, they get along well more or less without much friction.
  • Dwindling Party: Enforced, as the DGP rules eliminate whoever is in last place for a round (unless someone is killed, in which this part of the process appears to be skipped). Case in point, of the over 30 participants in the first arc's DGP, just seven survive the opening salvo, with the number progressively dwindling until just three are left by the end.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Geats makes his debut in the movie for the previous Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Revice: Battle Familia. Ace himself appears untransformed in The Stinger of Kamen Rider Revice's final episode.
  • Empty Shell: #11 reveals that disqualified Riders normally have the desires behind their wishes erased from their psyches to ensure they won't come back.This is largely because said desires are used to fuel the Goddess of Creation's wish-granting power at the end of the DGP. Depending on what kind of wish they wanted to make, this can have devastating effects:
    • When he loses his memory, Keiwa lacks the selflessness that fueled his dreams for world peace and focuses on himself instead of other people, as he doesn't think he has the ability to be of any help to them. He also becomes much less willful and gives up way more easily, as evidenced by his turn to gambling on scratch-off tickets instead of getting a job; he's also changed his Trademark Favorite Food from tanuki soba to sushi.
    • Similarly, when Neon loses the will to run away from her family and seek true love, she becomes an Extreme Doormat willing to do whatever her mother Irumi says.
    • There are Riders whose personalities aren't changed after elimination, though, usually for Riders whose wishes actively involve the DGP: Michinaga is one example, since his wish involves other Riders (and the DGP by proxy), and Ace in #15 is another, as his wish during that time is to become a DGP staff member.
  • Ensemble Cast: Downplayed. While Ace is clearly the protagonist of the series and gets the lion's share of focus, the series also evenly divides the spotlight between Keiwa, Neon and Michinaga, granting each of them dedicated plotlines and Character Focus episodes that revolve around their development and/or backstories. As such, Ace tends to be Outof Focus or at least Demoted to Extra when an episode is focused on the other three main characters.
  • Evil Versus Evil: Most of the conflict from the third arc onward is between opposing Big Bads Niramu and Beroba. Case in point, even when Ace does fight Niramu in #32, it's because he's being used by Beroba in a plot to claim both Vision Drivers.
  • Evolving Credits:
    • A version was seen with the series' promotional posters. When Geats first appeared in Battle Familia, a poster was released with Geats in a cityscape. A week later, the preview teaser trailers and articles started being released, and a new version of the poster came out with a half-dozen silhouetted Riders added in the background. And then a week after that, the press conference with the full reveal aired, and the poster was again updated to fully show all the Riders.
    • The opening (first shown in episode 2) shows some clips of the Riders' performances in that episode. Starting from episode 3 it also highlights the declination of participating Riders, replacing their shots with their death/loss.
      • In the opening for the "Encounter" arc from #3 to #9, where Taira/Ginpen would be is instead replaced with translucent yellow silhouettes and a shot of his death when he got eliminated. Kanato Sumida/Da·Paan, Morio Koganeya/Mary, and Keiwa Sakurai/Tycoon follow suit in #5, #7, and #9 respectively, though Keiwa's standalone shots of him as a civilian still remain.
      • The "Scheme" arc introduces a new lineup consisting of Ace, Michinaga, Win, Ittetsu, and Yukie with Neon and Keiwa added in #11 and #13 respectively. Eliminations include Yukie at #11, Ittetsu at #13, and Ace temporarily removed at #15.
      • The "Divergence" arc made major significant changes, with the lineup consisting of Ace, Keiwa, Neon, and new participants Daichi and Sae. Michinaga is also included, but shown separate from the main cast due to getting lost in the Jyamar Garden, then ultimately joining the Jyamato, represented with vine-like structures surrounding him. One of the Desire Cards shown labelled "Who's the one to achieve the desire?" was changed to "Who's the back stabber?", referencing the new "Dezastar" rule in the arc, and Geats' two Command Forms are also featured.
      • The "Lamentation" arc flips it on its head, with the Jyamato side shown where the DGP Riders would normally be. Ace, Keiwa and Neon are also shown with their supporters.
  • First-Episode Spoiler: The series doesn't open up with the beginning of the Desire Grand Prix, but the end of the previous DGP, with Ace being the winner and creating "his world". This fact was kept hidden by all promotional material.
  • Five-Man Band: The DGP Riders become one during the "Jyamar Ball" game. Ace is naturally The Leader, Keiwa is The Lancer, Daichi Isuzu is The Smart Guy, Sae Ganaha is The Big Girl and Neon is The Heart. The Jyamato opposite of them also start off with a five-man team comprised of a Rook and four Jyamato Riders.
  • For Doom the Bell Tolls: The world being made anew at the end of every DGP is preceded by a bell tolling.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • The Game Master's speech pattern is very similar to Girori's. #9 reveals them to be one and the same.
    • In #3, Tsumuri states that "only the Jyamato know" where Riders killed in the DGP go. #14 strongly hints that they are used to create new Jyamato.
    • #20 has Niramu eating an ehomaki, which requires one to do so undisturbed in order to get good fortune, only to be interrupted by Samas. Things start to go sideways for the DGP not long after.
    • The opening credits end with Ace breaking chains off his body before Tsumuri holds a gun to his head. The first happens in #47 when Ace breaks free from his bonds as the God of Creation and the second in the end of then penultimate episode where Tsumuri shoots Ace.
  • Forgot About His Powers:
    • The Riders rarely use more than one Buckle at a time after the first arc. Sometimes, the writers seem to forget that the Riders even have some of the Buckles they've used, with the Fever Slot and Command Twin Buckles in particular falling victim to this. Some of this seems to be an unfortunate side effect of the costume design — while the upper torso armor works fine and generally doesn't inhibit mobility, the same cannot be said for when it becomes leg armor in most cases, as the Raise Buckles that aren't Boost simply have too many large pieces translated to the legs to be practical for most stunts.
    • The extra powers the Buckles have are rarely used after their debut. Ninja's teleportation and substitution technique, Beat's buffing effects, Monster's big energy fists, etc., are usually forgotten very quickly. There are also instances where a power will only be occasionally used after its debut, but not in situations where they'd be useful, such as the superspeed and gravity manipulation of LaserBoost.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Regarding the main quartet Riders: Ace is the Phlegmatic, Keiwa is the Melancholic, Neon is the Sanguine, and Michinaga is the Choleric.
  • Gambit Pileup: All of the Riders participating in the DGP have their own mutually exclusive desires. Several of them are being sponsored by Mysterious Backers who each have their own reasons for wanting to see them prevail. And the staff of the DGP also have their own agenda for holding the game. As do the Jyamato and the figures affiliated with them. In short, you'll probably need a score card to keep track of everyone's motivations and who's aligned with who at any given moment.
  • Gemini Destruction Law: The playing card-themed Jyamato in #5-6 each correspond to a card suit, and have to be defeated at the same time as another Jyamato of the same suit to be destroyed permanently.
  • Hostile Show Takeover: After Beroba steals Chirami's Vision Driver, she converts the Desire Grand Prix into the "Jyamato Grand Prix", with the Riders as the enemies and the Jyamato as the players. The objective of the JGP is to defeat Niramu and steal his Vision Driver, which Beroba needs to force the Goddess of Creation to grant her wish.
  • In Medias Res: The series begins at the Final Battle of the previous Desire Grand Prix, with the new one beginning after Ace wins and resets the world.
  • Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: As is the the norm with arc-based Rider series, Geats is very sparing when it comes to early plot details, providing little in the way of information from the start on the nature of the DGP, the Jyamato, and other elements actually are. It's only later in the story when the true meaning behind what is going on becomes apparent.
  • Just Eat Gilligan:
    • The Genesis arc has the heroes grapple with how to deal with the civilians who've been turned into Stage 2 Parasite Jyamato, with the thought seemingly never occurring to them that they could just ask Tsumuri to use her Reality Warper powers to make a powerup that can defeat Stage 2 Parasite Jyamato while saving their hosts.
    • Similarly, after Sara is killed, Keiwa chooses to give Tsumuri over to Zitt in exchange for the chance to revive Sara, even though he could have just asked Tsumuri to revive Sara, especially since Tsumuri had already shown a willingness to help him and was able to bring back Ace an arc before.
  • Kick the Dog: The Jyamato Grand Prix is set up to incentivize these kinds of acts by Beroba, an openly gleeful sadist. Jyamato get points for doing things to terrorize humans and cause them misery. Even Beroba gets in on the puppy kicking action.
  • Killed Off for Real: As shown with Shirowe, participants/Riders who are killed in the DGP don't come back even when the GP is over and the world is reset. To hammer it home, their bodies disintegrate upon their deaths. As revealed in #16, their bodies are transported into the Jyamar Garden to be used as fertilizer by Archimedel for creating Jyamato. This also applies to regular civilians, too—any normal person who dies during a DGP is used to fuel whatever wish the Desashin asks the Goddess of Creation to grant, and doesn't return to life when the world is reshaped according to that desire.
  • Lancer vs. Dragon: Keiwa vs. Michinaga. Ironically, each of them plays both The Lancer and The Dragon at a different point in the story. Keiwa acts as Ace's foil until he gets manipulated by Kekera into becoming his Dragon, while Michinaga is Ace's rival throughout the story and becomes Beroba's Dragon during the Jyamato Grand Prix.
  • Lighter and Softer: The "Genesis" Season of the DGP created by Ace aims to replicate how the DGP used to be before the higher ups turned it into a Deadly Game Show: there are no high stakes beyond the threat of death if the Kamen Riders fail, and there's nothing rewarding the Kamen Riders if they win beyond bragging rights. However, it was never meant to be, as the combined efforts of Jitto, Daichi, Beroba, and Kekera resulted in the death of Sara, resulting in Keiwa firmly crossing the Despair Event Horizon and, in the process, betraying Ace and handing Tsumuri over to Jitto to kick off his own DGP.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Geats has quite the long chain of these. It's made more complicated by the fact that there are also dueling cases of this trope.
    • Archimedel, the Jyamato gardener, turns out to be a DGP staff member assigned to grow them as enemies for the game, with the Game Master having a direct line of communication to him and being the one who plans out each round.
    • Girori, the Game Master, turns out to be subservient to Niramu, the Game Producer, who gets rid of him when he begins interfering in and mismanaging the DGP, and Niramu in turn answers to the DGP's creator, Suel.
    • Archimedel also turns out to secretly be working for Beroba, who is the one who devised the Jyamato's plan to usurp the DGP. After his death, the Jyamato resurgence post-Grand End turns out to be the doing of Daichi Isuzu, who was made the new Jyamato gardener by Beroba and Kekera in order to start up a new game for their amusement.
  • Missing Mom: Ace's primary motivation is finding his mother Mitsume, who left him alone as a child. Her disappearance is later revealed to be connected to the Desire Grand Prix itself, as she once was a Navigator like Tsumuri.
  • Mood Whiplash: Geats was never an especially light-hearted show, but episode 29 clashes harshly with the rest of the series, featuring things such as the Death of a Child (albeit offscreen and only referenced) and Neon slowly descending into a mental breakdown.
  • Morality Kitchen Sink:
    • The DGP Riders all vary in terms of moral alignment. Some have legitimately good desires and want to help people (Keiwa), some have more self-serving desires but still make an effort to help others whenever they can (Neon, Ittetsu), some are shady and underhanded but still also occasionally do acts of good (Ace, Sae), some are dicks while also having decent or sympathetic traits (Michinaga, Win), and some fall squarely into evil category (Kanato, Morio, Daichi).
    • The viewers of the DGP also vary in alignment. Some sympathize with the good-natured Riders and want to help them achieve their desires but are either rude (Kyuun) or forceful (Kekera) about it, some just watch it for entertainment (Ziin) and some have actively malicious goals (Beroba).
  • Mythology Gag:
  • Nice, Mean, and In-Between: There are some minor ones between the Palette Swap Riders:
  • Ninja Log: This is one of the various ninja tropes associated with the Ninja Raise Buckle. Literally the moment Keiwa gets the buckle, in the process of getting hit by the first Final Boss's attack, this ability activates leaving a log where he was standing.
  • No Fourth Wall: The "audience" referred to in #16's "Truman Show" Plot reveal includes the Real Life viewership of Kamen Rider Geats.
  • Nominal Hero: The DGP relying on a false premise to Save the World that offers either a prize (to the players) or entertainment (to the audience) means that some of the Riders fight for self-serving ends rather than altruistic ones, prioritizing victory or using the events as a source for entertainment and often being mainly well-intentioned but pragmatic at best or self-centered punch-clock Anti Heroes who only cares about getting their desires by any means necessary at worst.
  • No Ontological Inertia: Zigzagged. On one hand, any changes the Jyamato effect such as zombifying players will revert after the round ends, but players who are killed or eliminated stay as such at least until a winner emerges.
  • Not Just a Tournament: Inverted with the Desire Grand Prix, which was supposedly set up to combat the Jyamato but is really just a TV show meant to entertain an audience in the future. So the twist is that it is just a tournament.
  • Off the Rails: Despite the Game Master's (no matter who's in the position at the time) best efforts, the Desire Grand Prix repeatedly gets hijacked or derailed by a combination of the players and outside forces to the point the DGP itself suffers no less than two Hostile Show Takeovers before the series is even half way over.
  • Orwellian Retcon: The Game Master originally wore a generic airsoft mask in #1. Re-releases of the episode were edited to show him from the shoulders down, until he got an entirely new mask in #4.
  • Otherworldly Technicolour Hair: Downplayed. The four supporters - Ziin, Kekera (in human form, anyway), Beroba, and Kyuun - all have natural hair colours. But each one has a different, unnaturally-coloured streak. Blue for Ziin, green for Kekera, pink for Beroba, and yellow for Kyuun. This denotes at a glance that they're from the far future, where they are allowed to take any form they so choose.
  • Palette Swap: There are some Riders who get remodeled identical-looking helmets.
    • There are three bear-themed Riders with near-identical helmets: Shirowe the polar bear, Da·Paan the panda bear, and PunkJack the grizzly bear. They have different forehead gem colors and Shirowe has a different ear shape; while in terms of colors Shirowe's is white, Da·Paan has black markings on the ears and one eye, and PunkJack's is colored pumpkin orange.
    • There are three bird-themed Riders: Ginpen the crested penguin, Keilow the owl, and Nadge-Sparrow the tree sparrow.
    • There are two caprine-themed Riders: Mary the bighorn sheep and Letter the mountain goat, a viverrine-themed Rider in Hakubi the masked-palm civet, a porcine-themed Rider in Tarbon the wild boar, and a bat-themed Rider in Burari.
    • We have the deer-themed Rider Seeker and the wildcat-themed Rider Gya-Go.
  • Power Creep: An odd, non-video but in-universe game example. Early into the series the Jyamato are dangerous but manageable with the existing array of Raise Buckles, mostly consisting of Armed Buckles with rare instances of more potent ones like Magnum, Zombie or Boost. However, the Jyamato start growing stronger at a more exponential rate each season and gain the ability to use the Desire Drivers themselves; this causes the Armed Buckles to stop being an effective means of dealing with them and are no longer utilized by the middle of the series. Afterwards the larger Buckles become all but a necessity, with Boost and the Fever Slot Buckles being given far more often to shore up an ever increasing threat. Eventually Boost even gets an upgraded form, Boost Mk. 2, and gets paired with the even more advanced Laser Raise Riser to square up to yet another surge in the threat the Jyamato form.
  • Power Limiter: The Power of Creation, being the center of all the conflicts, comes with certain limitations that prevents its wielder from simply changing the world as they please.
    • In a half-awakened state, its wielder needs to find a wish that they share with their allies and truly all resonate with in order for it to activate; activating the power of the user's own strong will happens, but very rarely.
    • In its fully awakened state, it becomes Power At A Cost, as its wielder will eventually turn to stone and lose all their free will, becoming a deity that only exists to grant wishes. This subsequently puts them at the mercy of the DGP or anyone else that approaches the petrified wielder of the Power and simply states their wish.
  • Power-Up Letdown: The Raise Buckles which simply grant a weapon are decidedly lacking, both in terms of granting what can only charitably be called armor and in their actual combat performance being atrocious. That being said, each can be not only boosted via Boost, but depending on the Buckle, each has a certain situation that can turn it into a Lethal Joke Item if used effectively.
  • The Psycho Rangers:
    • Starting with #11, the Jyamato become smart enough to use the Desire Drivers themselves, enabling them to become Elite Mooks called "Jyamato Riders".
    • #20 has the Jyamato executives recruiting Buffa and Nadge-Sparrow to their ranks, in order to build a team of Riders to counter the DGP Riders.
  • Reality Show: After the "Truman Show" Plot reveal in #16, the Divergence arc onwards amps up the reality show aspects due to the new Game Master's management, complete with characters having Medium Awareness and Confession Cam moments.
  • Reed Richards Is Useless: The Desire Driver is essentially an extremely powerful hydrogen engine that runs at 96% efficiency, fits in the palm of your hand, and has none of the drawbacks associated with hydrogen fuel (such as explosion risk or lack of mileage relative to its container.) If rewired properly, it could be a different kind of driver for highly efficient renewable energy. It's instead used to fight monsters in a bizarrely roundabout fashion (and can be used by said monsters as shown in #11 onwards) for morally ambiguous ends. It's ultimately zig-zagged; while we learn the audience is from a distant future where these technologies are almost certainly commonplace in normal use cases, #38 additionally reveals the DGP has a very strict monopoly on every form of technology used by them in a way that implies they might be withholding its use regardless... until Ace uses Boost Mk. III to erase that regulation from reality.
  • Reset Button: An in-universe version. Should the Desire Grand Prix end with a clear winner, they're crowned the Desashin with their wish granted and whatever damage the Jyamato inflicted is wiped away, for the most part. In a more extreme example, if the true nature of the Desire Grand Prix is ever figured out by the players all memory and evidence of the DGP is removed from the current timeline and they move on to a new era to host the games in.
  • Retool: The show features several In-Universe examples happening to the Desire Grand Prix. To wit:
    • The Divergence arc features a new Game Master who then adds Reality Show elements, including cast interviews and elimination via fan voting.
    • The Lamentation arc has the Jyamato hijack the DGP, turning it into the Jyamato Grand Prix, where the aim is to acquire both Vision Drivers so that the Jyamato may have their desires granted.
    • It's also later revealed that the DGP originally was a zero-stakes game where the grand prize was a special coin, yet after Mitsume "stepped down" as Navigator (read: having her powers outed by Suel and turned into the Goddess of Creation), the show became the high-stakes, reality-warping affair it is in the present day.
    • After that, in the Yearning arc, the Executive Producer Suel reformats the game again into the Desire Royale, which sees the Riders fighting each other instead of the Jyamato, just like they did in the Revice crossover. It is then revealed this is an Uriah Gambit to get rid of the current-era Players, as the large amount of retools up to this point had led Suel to believe it is too dangerous to continue on meddling in the current era, and as such had also arranged for an immediate evacuation of the DGP behind the scenes.
  • Scoring Points: The Desire Grand Prix has a point system which is mission dependent but often for taking down enemies and saving civilians. It comes and goes depending on certain arcs, however.
  • Self-Parody: The Desire Grand Prix is in some ways a satire of the Kamen Rider series itself, particularly of the Reiwa era seasons and some of the tropes they utilize.
    • It's easy to see Girori coming to see the DGP as "his" game, only to be overridden by the Producer and have a new Game Master brought in to replace him, as a metaphor for writers who face studio interference from the producers and who are let go midway through when their creative visions don't align with those of the higher-ups.
    • When Michinaga survives his elimination and tries to reenter the game, Niramu goes out of his way to eliminate him again since him coming back from the dead damages the feeling of realism the DGP has, which is similar to the criticism of some Rider seasons where Death Is Cheap and how its easy to predict which characters will return based on how popular they are.
    • Upon being brought in as the new Game Master, Chirami introduces new mechanics to the DGP that put the Riders more at odds and make them distrustful of one another, effectively a jab at Rider media that have Riders fight each other based on flimsy reasoning.
    • The Jyamato Grand Prix is a pastiche of Rider media that puts the villains front and center as a way of cashing in on their popularity with audiences.
    • The Yearning and Genesiss arc sees Kekera arranging Keiwa to become a Fallen Hero by engineering a tragedy in the form of his sister being taken out by Michinaga, all to shape Keiwa into his ideal definition of a hero.. This is essentially a lampoon of the Reiwa era's trend of forcing more conflict by making a previously heroic character suddenly turn to the dark side.
    • The primary reason Girori turns against the DGP in the final arc is because it's turned from a show about heroic Riders saving the world from monsters into a Sadist Show centered around Rider v Rider fights and the participants being put through constant torment, mirroring criticisms of the turn the Kamen Rider franchise took with its attempts to seem edgier and the increase in the number of anti-heroic or even outright villainous Riders.
  • Set Bonus:
    • The Boost Buckle allows itself to basically boost the other larger scale Raise Buckles (i.e., Magnum and Zombie), to the point where it alters their call sounds. That being said, it appears to have a specifically special affinity for Magnum as they produce a synchronized display pattern when used together on the Desire Driver.
    • #5 reveals that some Raise Buckles work better with certain Core IDs — i.e., Magnum with Geats and Zombie with Buffa.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: The Jyamato evolve and become stronger as the series goes on, at first gradually but eventually much more rapidly. The Jyamato Riders are the first Jyamato to appear that give the status quo a kick in the nuts, followed by the Jyamato as a collective becoming more advanced under the guidance of their gardener.
  • Spiritual Antithesis: The series is this in regards to Kamen Rider Ryuki, in the games' focus intially focusing on fighting monsters with in-fighting among Riders not allowed. Additionally, while the Rider War is a singular conflict stuck in a "Groundhog Day" Loop from interference and always ends with no real winner, to various degrees of pleasantness (ranging from a clean Ret-Gone to an "Everybody Dies" Ending), the Desire Grand Prix has multiple rounds and intentionally alters time and space to clean up damages and keep non-participants out of the loop, not just to accommodate the winner's wish. Also, while the aforementioned alternate "Everybody Dies" Ending in Ryuki is strongly implied to be an unnatural occurrence caused by a loophole in Shiro Kanzaki's designs (to his detriment), it would be entirely possible for the equivalent to occur naturally for countless loops in Geats simply by losing.
    • Also, while it's easy to take it as a Lighter and Softer Ryuki at first, we find that it needn't be so light after all by the early Sacrificial Lamb rider death being similarly antithetical: in Ryuki it was a Dirty Cop who used monsters to get rid of people who knew too much. The instant his Driver was broken, ending his contract with his monster, said monster promptly ate him. He was mourned by no one. In Geats, it's a man who wants to heal his son's illness, lamenting that his son is now ill and will not have a father. The premise going from 'fight to the death' to 'world-saving game' means instead of people who knowingly signed up for a game where they must kill the other contestants, few making it up to even Anti-Hero, we have ordinary people who are usually pretty decent learning what 'game over' means the hard way.
    • Starting in the Yearning arc, the series starts beginning less of an antithesis when Suel holds a Desire Royal that encourages Kamen Riders to battle each other. Fights between Kamen Riders would become more frequent from that point on.

  • Story Arc: This is something of an in-universe mechanic, as each season of the Desire Grand Prix takes place over the course of a single arc. Discounting the "Dawn" season (which has already reached its finale by the first episode), the arcs are:
    • "Encounter" - Told mainly from Keiwa and Neon's POV as the two become participants in the DGP and compete alongside regulars Ace and Michinaga.
    • "Scheme" - Sees a new season of the DGP begin as the Game Master plots to eliminate Ace before he can uncover more of their secrets, and as the Jyamato gardener plots something in the background.
    • "Divergence" - A new Game Master is brought in and the DGP is retooled to be more of a Reality Show-styled game, in which Ace, Keiwa and Neon compete alongside two previous DGP finalists. Also, Michinaga survives his elimination in the previous arc and winds up in the Jyamar Garden, where he's recruited by Beroba and Archimedel to assist them in their Jyamato uprising.
    • "Lamentation" - The Riders find themselves competing in a "Jyamato Grand Prix" after Beroba seizes control of the DGP and reformats it into a game where the Jyamato are the players.
    • "Yearning" - Has the Riders competing in a "Desire Royale", which is really just to distract the Riders while Suel prepares the Grand End.
    • "Genesis" - Following Ace's halting of the Grand End, a new Jyamato gardener begins a "Parasite Game" by infecting people with the parasite Jyamato, while at the same time a new Game Master arrives with the goal of capturing Tsumuri.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Played for Drama, as Keiwa confronts Ace on how his mother, Mitsume, should atone for the pain she caused to so many people. Ironically, when Ace reunites with her, one of the very last things she said to him before passing on was admitting how she had to atone for the pain she caused to so many people.
  • Sudden Contest Format Change: Each story arc is delineated by a major change in the format of the Desire Grand Prix. The Encounter arc that begins the show is the closest to a conventional "season" of the DGP, then the Scheme arc that follows it sees the Game Master attempt to take out Ace for digging too deep into the DGP's secrets, then the Divergence arc happens after the Game Master was booted and the next round gains Reality Show elements like contestant interviews and fan voting.
  • Supernatural Phone: The Riders are all given Spider Phones which keep them up-to-date on Grand Prix data. They can also turn into robotic spiders; and the toy versions can attach to the belt like a Buckle but this was never used in the show.
  • Symbolic Cast Fadeout: Dead Riders find themselves greyed-out during the opening sequence of the show whenever a new in-show round begins.
  • Tanuki/Kitsune Contrast: Geats, a cocky yet charming Rider with a kitsune theme, is contrasted with Tycoon, an awkwardly dorky university graduate with a tanuki theme.
  • There Can Be Only One: The main premise of the show is that there are multiple Riders in the Desire Grand Prix, and the winner will receive what they desire the most. Downplayed, as the other Riders don't have to die, as the winner merely needs to get the most points. Those who are simply 'retired' rather than killed have their memories erased and return to their normal lives. They can even theoretically return for another go, regaining their memories in the process.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: The Desire Grand Prix is actually broadcast to an audience in the far future, with the staff of the game using Time Travel to travel to different historical time periods and use them as settings for the game. Apparently, they're from so far in the future that they can't be affected by any changes to the timeline, and their meddling with time doesn't seem to produce any major divergences from regular history. They also seem limited to only being able to jump between eras, as they apparently can't travel just a few minutes back in time. Additionally, in the case of a "Grand End" that ends the DGP's tenure in a current era, any audience members that get left behind in the current era will cease to exist.
  • To Create a Playground for Evil: As put by the rules of the Jyamato Grand Prix, the Jyamato who wins gets "granted their world of misery."
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Neon and Sae form this sort of duo, with Sae being a reserved and gruff star athlete, while Neon is a cutesy and outgoing celebrity influencer. Despite the contrast in their backgrounds and personalities, the two of them quickly bond and grow close to each other.
  • Transhuman: The people of the future that serve as the DGP's audience can take on any form they desire, live lives as long as they want, and do not have to worry about things like disease. It's to the point where they're no longer capable of having children with present-day humans biologically.
  • Trapped in Villainy: The End Riders in the final arc are all forced to fight other Riders, including each other, under the threat of being eliminated if they refuse.
  • "Truman Show" Plot: The cast learns in #16 that the DGP is 'saving the world, as entertainment' and they've been watched by an unseen audience the entire time. The viewers are then made aware the show's universe is an extradimensional world created for this purpose.
  • Uncertain Doom: Failing the preliminary round and coming in last place during specific challenges means a Rider is disqualified. The hosts of the Desire Grand Prix are intentionally vague about their fate, which in the worst case scenario entails that dozens of people are dead by the end of the first round every time the game begins. #6 eventually reveals that they are returned to their original lives, with their memories of the DGP and the ambitions/personality traits tied to the wish that they wrote on their Desire Card erased, at least for those that didn't die by the Jyamato. The others who did aren't that lucky and get deleted from the world as stated by the DGP rules. Michinaga is a notable exception to this as his body is still intact due to his frequent usage of the Zombie Buckle.
  • Uriah Gambit: The Desire Royale that Suel initiates in the Yearning arc is just a ploy to eliminate the remaining Riders and keep them distracted while the preparations for the Grand End are finished.
  • Wham Episode:
    • #14 throws several curveballs at the cast all at once. Win reveals more details of the Desire Grand Prix, including that Ace's mother may have been the Navigator before Tsumuri. Furthermore, the DGP is sponsored by certain wealthy individuals, including Win's grandfather, Neon's father, and the Kurama Zaibatsu writ large. Ben and John, while investigating the last matter for Neon, discover they were once DGP participants as well, and Ace finds out that the Game Master is Girori; Girori promptly uses a new Driver to become Kamen Rider Glare, curb-stomp and mind-control PunkJack, and eliminate Ace from the Desire Grand Prix in the process.
    • #15 follows this up with Michinaga dying to the Rafflesia Fortress Jyamato after insisting that he can fight without anyone's help, leaving Keiwa and Neon unsure of their odds to win. An amnesiac Ace, who was on the scene thanks to messages he left for himself that pointed him toward the Kamen Riders, regains his memories from Michinaga's Core ID and promptly demands to be let back in the game; when Girori tries to refuse him, Tsumuri points out that Ace's wish means that he has to literally die in order to be permanently disqualified from the DGP, and gives Ace his Driver and Core ID back. However, after Ace destroys the Fortress Jyamato, Girori declares an "Intermission Round" where the goal is to hunt down Ace to become the Desashin.
    • #16 has several bombshells. First, Girori is fired from the DGP for his actions...and Ace, Keiwa, and Neon are made aware the DGP is actually a reality show where Riders save the world for the entertainment of an unseen audience. Afterwards, the audience is informed the show's universe takes place in an extra-dimensional world created for this purpose.
    • #21 has the official Dezastar reveal after several Red Herrings involving all the current DGP players; Neon, for whom Sae takes the fall to keep her in the game.
    • #23 reveals the truth behind the Desire Grand Prix and its spectators.
    • #24 has Beroba hijacking the Desire Grand Prix and turning it into the "Jyamato Grand Prix".
    • #29 reveals the circumstances behind Neon's origins. She was already stated in #25 to be a wish-born human via the Goddess of Creation, but this episode reveals that she's a Replacement Goldfish for Akari Kurama—Kousei and Irumi's biological daughter who actually died during the kidnapping that Neon remembers surviving.
    • #30 features The Reveal of what really happened to Ace's mother, how that relates to the origin of the Goddess of Creation, and the hidden mastermind behind the DGP. It also has Neon help Irumi regain her memories and leave the Kurama household altogether, retiring from the next and final round of the Lamentation JGP.
    • #32 features Ace and Niramu coming to blows after Ace finally reunites with his mother Mitsume, and both getting eliminated by Michinaga, allowing the Jyamato side to claim both Vision Drivers and Michinaga to inaugurate the Desire Royale.
    • #38 has the Grand End in full swing, Tsumuri confirmed to be the inheritor of the Goddess of Creation's power, Samas returning and shooting Niramu, and Geats unlocking his Geats IX Super Mode.
  • Wham Line:
    • #25 drops a bombshell regarding Neon's true nature, when Kousei protests Niramu resetting the world.
      Niramu: Then why don't you grant [Neon's wish] by showering her with genuine love? You still can't, even after our Goddess granted you the gift of a daughter?
    • #26 shows a number of past wishes that completely flips the head of the audience's understanding of just who Ace is:
      A, Ace Garfield, Eisu Yakumo, and Ace Li: A reincarnation of mine will steel his resolve to protect the world. Grant him the power to realize it.
  • Wham Shot:
    • The first episode had a screen that listed dozens of Kamen Riders taking part in the Desire Grand Prix, and all but three have already been eliminated.
    • Another one is given in the second episode that reveals just how unforgiving the DGP is — the first mission alone saw the number of Riders drop from twenty-six down to seven.
    • We see a rotary dial telephone identical to the one in the Desire Temple lounge located in the greenhouse where Jyamato are grown.
    • #16 has countless cameras shaped like eyes manifest around the Riders as it's revealed the DGP is a reality show being watched by an unknown audience.
    • #20 has Ziin pulling a gun-like device that has the underside of a Raise Buckle attached to its receiver on Beroba, and Sae holding the Desastar Mission card at the end.
    • The end of #32 has a succession of these, starting with all the Jyamato who participated in the JGP being revived after Michinaga makes his wish, the logo for the Desire Royale flashing onscreen, and the reveal that Suel has apparently been watching all of the events unfold and has a box containing Core IDs for each of the Riders in the game, including PunkJack (who was thought to be eliminated prior) and a mysterious new Rider.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: While Sara was freed from the Tree of Knowledge, we have no indication that the other citizens infected with Parasite Jyamato were ever freed.
"Life is a battlefield. Vague ambitions won't see you through it."

 
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Geats IX Vs Gazer

Geats fights Gazer in his IX form while the theme song plays.

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Geats IX Vs Gazer

Geats fights Gazer in his IX form while the theme song plays.

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Geats IX Vs Gazer

Tycoon VS Turbon

Geats IX

Ace's New Power

Kamen Rider Geats

Neon Receives A...