Kamen Rider Gavv Episode 7- "What Flavor Lies Beneath The Mask?" Discussion
 

Neither Gavv nor Valen knows who the other truly is, but will the Riders secrets become known?

I forgot to post on the other threads 'cause I binged everything and was enjoying the crap out of this series.

Hopped on to Abema today too to watch as it airs.

thank god that they did not made Hanto to be a blinded bat and still retain an attitude worth looking forward.

Shouma and Hanto weirdly getting along as Gavv and Valen also as Shouma and Hanto is adorably funny.

Both are so inept at maintaining fascade that any third party will definitely notice that there's something they are hiding. They are also digging their own hole so hard that it also comes back as something cool sounding. This also applies to the Stomach siblings xD

It really shows that so far, they'll be trustworthy partners in suppressing Granute menace.

Fundamentally dark yet filled with dumb hilarity in its pillars.

Now I'm pretty convinced that Sachika-chan will turn into a KR. This show so far has shown twice that the required cost to be a KR is to suffer high amount of sadness and depression and she becomes one this ep and it seems to escalate next ep.

At first I've thought Suga = Nyielv.... but I've abandoned said thought since the two might have a different kind of relation. Suga might probably an experimented "spawn" of Nyielv. Who knows... time will tell.

Also, Chocodan Gavv debut. A bit underwhelming but still cool. I just can't get over that each choco shot ends up like crap stain. xD

I'm sure next ep, we'd get a pretty beaten up Valen.

Also, Hanto's name 絆斗 could be jokingly read as "Hunt" for obvious reasons or by each kanji as "To be connected(bond) to"

Shouma/KR Gavv thinks that Hanto/KR Valen is also a modified Granute, and, on the other hand, Hanto thinks that Shouma is also a modified human. But strangely, although Shouma thinks that Hanto is also a modified Granute, why does he think @ 01:14 that KR Valen being a modified Granute yet not having a Gavv is a normal thing? How can a Granute, whether modified or normal, produce agents/Gochizous without a Gavv? Although all Granutes of the week and the Stomach siblings are also modified Granutes who had their Gavvs modified to allow them to assume their human forms, all of them still have their Gavvs intact. Also, how can a Granute, whether modified or normal, assume their human forms without a Gavv? The fact that Hanto/KR Valen doesn't have a Gavv to assume his human form should tell Shouma that since KR Valen doesn't need to use a Gavv to assume his human form, then it means that KR Valen is not a Granute in the first place, but a human. Why isn't Shouma more curious about those things? Or is there another way for Granutes to produce agents/Gochizous and assume their human forms without using their Gavvs? Don't know! Hanto/KR Valen not having a Gavv should raise suspicion from Shouma. At the very least he should consider the possibility that Hanto/KR Valen is a new, experimental type of modified Granute who is able to create Gochizous and assume his human form without requiring a Gavv. TLDR: All Granutes need their Gavvs to be able to assume their human forms, so the fact that Hanto/KR Valen doesn't have a Gavv means that he doesn't need a human form, which can only mean that he's a human, not a Granute. Very weird reasoning by Shouma.

Nyelv says @ 03:34 that he's testing a new feature on the Granute of the week. Yep, like I've hypothesized since episode 4 here, here, and here, he's very likely testing some kind of experimental upgrades for the Granutes' Gavvs. What's that new feature? Like in my hypotheses above, his experiment will likely result in the creation of a Granute-only transformation device. What will be the name? Pac/Paku Driver? I'm interested to see who will be the user of the Granute Driver, if my hypothesis is correct.

Shita and Jeebh are collecting Hito Presses at their new collection center, and they're visited by Glotta who scolds them for the decrease in the amount of Hito Presses they're supplying to the factory.

Like I hypothesized last week here, Hanto is visiting Kenzou's lab to have his body checked after the transplantation surgery in episode 6. Kenzou says that there's no problem so far. Is he telling the truth or is he lying? No way an organ, let alone an alien organ of extra-terrestrial nature can be transplanted into a human body without the risk of fatal complication. Even organ transplantation from a human donor to a human recipient requires a very very very thorough compatibility check. I have a hypothesis that the side effects of the Granute organ transplantation will eventually show up later, probably between episodes 25-35 to grant the final form for KR Valen. The side effects of the organ transplantation will likely mutate his human DNA into a Granute DNA, like what happened in District 9 (2009) when the human protagonist is slowly mutating into an alien creature after accidentally getting sprayed with fuel for alien ships, which actually contains alien DNA. Hanto asks Kenzou whether there's another Granute researchers besides him, and Kenzou only says that there likely is, although he has never met him, and Kenzou's answer makes Hanto become curious about it.

Shouma's new gadget is actually created by Dente. It's a smartphone-like device that has a very convenient feature that allows Shouma to see the recorded memories of the Gochizous. Dente and Shouma are wondering who created the transformation system for KR Valen.

One of the Gochizous that Shouma commanded to patrol the city and investigate any signs of Stomach's activities last week finds the true identity of the Granute of the week who is posing as a fake art dealer. So, if Shouma can get accurate info about the true identity of an undercover Granute from a Gochizou, then he and Hanto should be able to use their Gochizous to spy on each other and uncover each other's identities. Shouma is the most advantaged here since he's the only producer of the Gochizous, so he should be able to uncover Hanto's secret identity as KR Valen easily.

Glotta visits the Granute of the week's fake art gallery, and she encounters Hanto there. Why is she visiting the gallery in the first place? Is it to evaluate the Granute of the week's performance, since she was told earlier by Shita and Jeebh that the decrease in the amount of Hito Presses they're supplying to the factory is caused by the declining performances of the Granutes of the week? Hanto finds out that Granutes have human forms, and he concludes that that's the reason why there has been very few sightings of Granutes. Hanto/KR Valen is fighting Glotta in her human form. This could be the earliest instance of a protagonist Rider fighting one of the enemy generals. Perhaps Lango, Glotta, and the other Stomach siblings aren't too important as they seem, or is it only because this story is going way too fast? Well, at least the story in this episode is slowing down a bit, fortunately.

Next week:

The continuation of the duel between Hanto/KR Valen vs Glotta in her human form. It seems like Glotta in her human form is still stronger than KR Valen.

The duet of KR Gavv Chocodan form and KR Valen Chocodon form. Based on the preview, it seems like the Granute of the week is not completely destroyed by KR Gavv's finisher in episode 7. The new feature that Nyelv adds to the Granute of the week's Gavv in episode 7 is likely the ability to withstand KR Gavv's/KR Valen's single finisher, and that's why they need to combine their finishers in episode 8 to completely destroy the Granute of the week.

Kenzou points to his belly while saying that the mouth on the belly can't be hidden. It looks like a red herring.

Sachika looks pissed off. This could be her first time encountering a Granute. What's the context that she can be at the same warehouse with KR Gavv and KR Valen? Does she find one of Shouma's spy Gochizous and decides to follow it to the warehouse? Or maybe the depressed painter guy is the Granute of the week's new target after he fails to kidnap the sculptor girl in episode 7.

Shoma and Hanto are just :lolol

Shouma thinking that Hanto is a modified Granute while Hanto thinking that Shouma is a modified human is the most hilarious misunderstanding I've ever seen. The fact that the whole misunderstanding gag extends to their human idenities is even funnier. The fact that their Rider names were the result of them trying to look cool and utterly sucking at name-giving is just the cherry on top.

I actually laughed when the Chocodon Gochizo just ripped the Poppin Gummy out of the belt and sent it straight to Snack Valhalla. This show keps finding ways to milk as much black humor as they possibly can in a kids show from sentient disposable transformation trickets, and I am here for it.

And judging from the preview, yeah I think Sachika is absolutely gonna encounter her first Granute, seeing as how really mad she sounds upon the idea of swindling people's happiness. She actually provides an interesting foil to the Granutes in that her organisation is genuinely devoted to giving people joy while Stomach Inc only makes people happy to turn them into spices.

On another note, as much of a jerk the painter was towards Sachika, I can definitely understand his frustrations as someone who worked hard on drawings only to have it fail my initial expectations. Not justifying his response, but yeah I can understand.

Overall, Gavv continues to be an absolute treat to watch (pun intended), and I look forward to seeing Chocoloate-kun throw hands with dommy mommy scythe lady next week.

Sigh, you just answered your own question...

Funnily, this episode also showed how Shoma's superhuman strength is also a liability to his job due to his lack of control.

Here we are, now our Riders are properly named! And it’s actually code names for each other created out of necessity, that’s cool. Really well done scene, love the play with the inner monologues. Not gonna lie though, I did not know Valen comes from Valentine :lol

Plot this week is simple but cute; the chocolate Gavv form is really cool and the action was fun.

The only other thing I have to add though is goddamn; the eldest daughter of the Stomach family is a menace. The actress is killing it!

See, every time I watch the OP I'm thinking about this. The way the three scenes are shot, both of the guys have their Rider forms alongside them.

At first I was all for it, then I saw what Hanto went through, and now I don't want Sachiko to get hurt.

In my mind I'm seeing her adopted by Stomach Inc. and turned into a puppet at first or something, please no.

She still has her conspicuously empty bubble in the OP, and Hanto's has been filled. It looks like they planned to fill in Hanto’s bubble after his debut as Valen…

IDK if it was the actual dialogue or just the fan-translators doing something odd, but the subtitles I read had Shouma say something about how "guns and chocolate go together." Is that a reference to something? The only answer I can think of is that he's talking about Valen, but I'm wondering if there's an association between guns and chocolate in Japanese culture, or some other iconic media that links the two?

Not only the Gochizos, how the Riders are named is done in-universe too.

Not only about losing their family or getting surgeries from a sus scientist, Shoma and Hanto are pretty much acting the same way in trying to hide their Rider identities and also their embarrassment in how they act to each other including their names. Otherwise, as they don't know yet about their truths, they think they're the same as each other, where Gavv thinks Valen is a modified Granute done by Dente (thus he has Gochizos), while Valen thinks Gavv is a modified human experimented on by Suga, etc.

So Hanto is still his swell self when dealing with humans, like of course his embarrassments above when he interacts with Shoma in Hapipare, still awkwardly laughing with each other. But when he confronts Glotta, he seems to have a prejudice against the Granutes, wanting all of them to die, not exclusively the ones that murdered his mom and mentor. Wonder if he learns that Granutes are a normal society that is threatened by Stomach Inc. too later, or even if he knows Shoma is one too.

So like Takebe's previous food series Gaim, Shoma's superhuman strength can cause trouble when he tries to help too, just like when Kouta tried his Gaim powers in his jobs in ep. 2. Sachika now has to teach Shoma the basics, and it's revealed she does learn a lot of stuff for her handyman job. Fortunately for Shoma, one of the patrons Tamaki Tatehori is pleased with Shoma's ability to break stuff. Tamaki's first shot of the location on the statue she's sawing with is insane stuff though.

Sachika's flaw so far seems to be similar to Ikki's busybody or early Keiwa's platitude stuff, that Sachika just keeps going on trying to help in what she thinks is best for that person, like giving Suetsugu Egawa snacks or praising their work. It's a dick move for Suetsugu to splash Sachika with paint for this, but this is also something Sachika needs to work on. And next week, likely she quickly learned about Granutes and also the Riders (with the selfies). So far, it's claimed that her bringing joy to people runs on the family, with her also having her grandaunt introduced, like Shoma's Dente, Masako Takarayashiki.

The earlier granduncle Dente now has an upgrade to Shoma by giving him a Gochizo memory reader to record what the Gochizos have seen, letting him show evidence against Granutes that deny their identity and crimes, like Katsumi Iwashimizu a.k.a Granute Dean. While for now, Suga can only hope that Hanto brings Gavv with him, which he declines. Gavv has another form debut here, Chocodan, and like Valen, he's armed with long-ranged Chocodangun, but with a different finisher.

Dunno if it's Stomach Inc general to make people happy, or it's just some part-timers strategy to disguise themselves. They seem to just target humans that seem happy. Though this may be a foil in how they make Granutes "happy" by making them addicted to Dark Treats. And she has to be careful now about making people happy, as it can endanger them. Like Shoma in ep. 5. Unless she has full faith on Riders would be able to fend them off.

I don't exactly agree with the mindset that one needs to be harmed or suffer to be good, but likely Sachika should be agreeing to throw herself to harms way, if it means she can advance her goal on bringing joy, unless later the toku scientists like Dente or Suga manage to develop a harmless henshin device, in case she becomes a Rider. Then she'd be like the heisei lead Riders' debuts :p

Dunno honestly why the Sachika talks are all about what'd happen to her, not about what'd she do. While people often complain about female's agency, this talks doesn't seem to give her one, tbh, mostly about worrying if she'd be a victim.

I think your assumption is correct, because even folks in Japan were wondering what he meant by it. Some people in Japan seem to speculate that because Shoma saw Hanto as Valen, a chocolate-based rider, use a gun during his debut battle, so he probably thinks chocolate forms and ranged weapons, in this case a gun, are just meant to be within the show.

Shouma and Hanto being awkward guys might be the first time that has happened in Kamen Rider. Both are good at projecting a cool fa?ade though, which is why there Rider names, Gavv and Valen, end up sounding cool, despite having somewhat lame origins. And I am so happy that they still manage to be awkward dorks. And this kind of miscommunication seems believable, unlike other shows.

Nyelv being an amoral experimenter seems on point. Nothing new there. But is he doing this secretly or openly? That is the question.

And I think this is the first time Shouma has been shown to be somewhat incompetent when it comes to helping out. Which is good. Because we wouldn?t want our Gavv out of water to be good at everthing, would we now?

Sister Glotta here to audit ya! And now she is off to the punish the part timers.
Once again, Shouma and Hanto are awkward dorks who only manage to keep their identities secret because the other party is also an awkward dork.

Art gallery Granute go! As usual, Gavv giving him the option to swear off Dark Treats is a nice thing. Give everyone a chance to redeem themselves.

And Hanto had the misfortune of coming across Glotta. Which made me realize that Hanto had never seen how Granutes disguise themselves. Now onder he couldn?t make headway in the investigation for his mother?s killer. He probably thought he was just a Wolf Granute the ran around Japan, probably hiding in the sewers and only coming out at night. He didn?t expect the monsters to wear human faces.

CHOCODAN DEBUT! BITTERSWEET GUNSLINGER COWBOY GO! Although I like the detail of how Shouma actually misses most of his shots. He is a beginner at shooting, after all.

Man, this Suetsugu painter fellow is a real jerk! How dare he throw paint at Sachika just because he is having a hard time selling his paintings?

Glotta wields a sythe. How appropriate.

Next episode, Chocodan X Chocodon!

https://i.imgur.com/6eaNDeh.jpg

Also for the record, "chocolate bandito" was absolutely my runner-up for favorite form change going into this show. Really, if I didn't rate the colors of Fuwamallow Form so highly, the raw conceptual brilliance of Chocodan Form would probably push it up to the top. I don't think any other suit we've seen in this show yet sells the concept of Gavv as a hero with quite as much immediacy. It might not be the Gavv form I ended up immediately loving the most, but it's still the one I understood the fastest, even above PoppinGummy. You know he's cool because he's a gunslinging cowboy with a spiffy hat and poncho, but you know he's weird and silly and *fun* because all of those things are made from chocolate. His gun is literally just a bar of chocolate.

As I've learned to expect from this show, the execution when it comes to putting that concept into action managed to handily exceed even my already heightened expectations. Especially with Teruaki Sugihara back in the directing role for this episode, the fight scene here is a frenetic delight throughout. Not only is the gun just a bar of chocolate, but it's one Gavv has to take a bite out of to get the shape right, and the projectiles the gun launches are, naturally, also pieces of chocolate. Holding true to what impressed me right from the premiere, there's this simple but striking use of both digital and practical effects to bring the particular candy flavor of the fight to life, making this one into an energetic paintball match, punctuated by all the typical comic book sound effects and cute Gochizo antics. Like quite a few episodes so far, the Rider action is actually a fairly small portion of the runtime, but perhaps for precisely that reason, not a second of that action goes to waste. From the very instant Shouma first transforms, until he lands a finisher, basically every beat has something to it worth remarking on.

There's also like 20 other minutes of show here to talk about, of course, and all that was also living up to the high standards Gavv has been setting for itself. The biggest highlight for me is the Rider non-action at the start, which ended up being great for completely different reasons than I expected. I'm very happy to see a Kamen Rider show taking advantage of the "Kamen" part of the title, in the same way I'm always glad to see any actual Riding happen, but while mysterious heroes with secret identities are cool, I'm also really glad these particular two are also this *hilarious*. Their conversations in and out of costume here take advantage of how Shouma and Hanto have more similar overall personalities than a lot of main Rider duos do, playing up their mutual panic at the thought of being exposed, as well as the very similar-yet-opposite mistaken conclusions they jump to about each other's backstory. It's a quirky dynamic that still leaves plenty of room for dramatic potential on top of the fun gags, and that balance is just one more commendable thing about the way Gavv is written.

I just love the idea of Shoma and Hanto getting along well in both their Rider forms and civilian forms, but still not knowing the other's identity and just being total goofballs. I thought for sure we were gonna get a LuPat situation where they're friends as civilians but enemies as Riders, but that doesn't seem to be the direction we're headed in.


And yeah, the intro definitely makes it seem like Sachika will be our third Rider. Her just having an empty yellow bubble after Gavv and Valen just feels too awkward for it to not be some kind of foreshadowing.

Hell yes. :lolol

Aka Gavv-sempai and Chocolate-kun. :lol

No, that was Chocodan. The one used by Valen is Chocodon.

That could be interesting.

I hope you're right. Some of us are still a little disappointed about the Kamen Rider Saber ED teasing us with Meispada.

Chocolate can restore the Dead Eye meter in Red Dead Redemption. Probably not the reference they were going for, but that's my headcanon.

I mean, Glotta did just kick Hanto across the room, so I think Hanto's reaction here is justified.

Tamaki gets it, destruction can be an art as well! And she accepts criticism, so she has strong potential to hone her talent. Iwashimizu has no right to mess with that.

Now we know why Suetsugu's art won't sell, he thinks orange and pink go together. :p

Chocodan Gun could be a cool pun as it's pronounced "chokodangan", with dangan meaning bullet, since the bullets are also chocolate. Like how "gan" means both gun and eye for some weapons in Kamen Rider Ghost, which also had a brown cowboy form that debuted in Episode 7 and a belt with a mouth.

It's a little extreme to claim that Shouma and Hanto have similar overall personalities based on a few comedic internal monologues, when the way they act openly is actually pretty different. I'd say their dynamic as Riders is more like Drive and Mach, with Gavv fighting to protect the innocents and Valen fighting to destroy the evil Granutes. Two sides of the same coin, but still opposite sides.

What really got me rolling on the floor laughing was when Hanto was like, "Shit! I ended up going with a chocolate-related name! Stupid! Stupid!". :lolol

Caught up with Gavv. Well, I'm really enjoying this show so far. Good plot, interesting and likable characters, great fight scenes. Still not a huge fan of the costumes, but appreciate making the most of the theme as abilities. The Agents are some of the strongest troupers in the franchise and give me much more of a "Squid Game" vibe than the entire Geats. And from the world of Granuts and the Stomach family I immediately remember Akumizer 3. Also, the number of mad scientists on screen is simply off the scale, which allows you to introduce new toys without pulling them out of poor Shouma. I hope these three get together. So I continue to watch with interest.

For the current episode. I like the confusion between Woof and Valen because it's logical and funny rather than annoying. Although there is no point in prolonging it and bringing it to the point of absurdity. I also liked the subversion of expectations when Shouma's superhuman strength causes problems. Shokodan's fight and debut was amazing, spectacular and funny at the same time. I wonder what the cleaners will think when they see a parking lot stained with chocolate and sprat.
If there's anything to criticize, it's not the most successful editing. It would have been better to move Hanto’s arrival to the gallery after Gavv’s victory, otherwise it turns out that he and Glotta silently looked at each other without starting a fight for an indecently long time. But I’m looking forward to the end of their fight, the shooting-chocolate team-up and the development of Sachika’s situation with the irritable creator.