Kamen Rider Gavv Episode 11- "Beware of Sweet Words!" Discussion
 

Hanto finds himself caught in a romance scam.

Shouma/KR Gavv has encountered Hanto/KR Valen several times, yet he's never wondered how and where KR Valen gets his Gochizous from. Shouma is the only person in the story who is able to produce Gochizous, yet he's never questioned how several of his Gochizous could end up in KR Valen's possession. Even after KR Valen revealed in the end of episode 10 last week that he got his Gochizous from another person (Kenzou), Shouma's never questioned how his Gochizous could end up in Kenzou's possession. And like I elaborated in episode 7 thread here, Shouma's never wondered how there could be a Granute (KR Valen) who has no Gavv at all, not a mere subnormal/dysfunctional Gavv like his own red Gavv. This story has a very weird reasoning.

Shouma brings in 2 new clients named Emi (the victim of the week) and Hana, her younger sister. A guy named Niwa who is said to be Emi's internet boyfriend is said to be a shady love bomber. This Niwa guy stole Hanto's photo and uses it as his profile photo. Convenient. Instead of using the stolen photos of real people, he should've used AI-generated photos, like many internet scammers actually do. Also, Emi must be a first day on the internet kid. She looks like she's veeery incompetent in even the most basic internet research because a reverse image search on many search engines like Google, Bing, Yandex, etc will reveal where the source of an image within 3 seconds. In Google Chrome she simply needs to right click and then choose "Search image with Google" and 99% of the time Google is able to show the links to the pages that contain that photo. I bet if Niwa the scammer guy says that he's the prince of a wealthy, ancient dynasty in Korea who owns a private land and 20 bank accounts in Swiss banks she'd actually believe it, haha. I get it if she's a naive high schooler, but she's a grown up woman! Haha. And for that simple task she and Hana need to use Sachika's shop's service. Sooooo, it seems like they're both the first day on the internet kids, haha.

In the scene @ 06:40 Lango is officially firing Shita and Jeebh, and from now on he himself will supervise the Hitopress procurement task. His next plan for them is preparing and arranging their marriages to some random wealthy Granutes to consolidate Stomach corporation's position within the Granute society. It seems like they don't like Lango's plan, and will likely do anything to sabotage it, maybe by making themselves look unattractive and uninteresting to the wealthy Granutes, which will likely result it several mishaps.

In the scene @ 11:34 Emi decides to meet up with Niwa the scammer guy anyway to see what kind of a real person he is since his words are able to make her fall in love with him, so yes, she's a naive, gullible, easily manipulated person indeed, like the title of this episode suggested. Hana, Sachika, and Shouma arrive at the meet up location at a cafe where Hanto has already been waiting for an hour without seeing Emi nor Niwa the scammer guy. Hana is unable to reach Emi's phone, and Hanto is very conveniently reminded of the event when Mr. Shioya was killed by the Granute of the week in the end of episode 5. Shouma is also very conveniently reminded of a strange kid who he bumped into several seconds earlier when he was walking upstairs, and he thinks that the kid somehow knows something about Emi or Niwa the scammer guy? Very convenient chain of events. Also, Hanto said earlier that he had been waiting for an hour, but the strange kid had only made his move 1 or 2 minutes ago. That's a very long window of time.

Sachika sees Lango when he's walking among a crowd of humans and feels a creepy aura around him. But why are there a random group of people looking at him and even a random guy taking photo of Lango @ 14:13? It's not that he's wearing a gaudy, conspicuous attire, haha. And Sachika is the only person who is feeling Lango's creepy aura, while everyone else feel nothing.

Shouma finally finds the strange kid @ 14:34. He sees a Stomach agent is waiting for the kid and thinks that the agent is about to harm the kid. Shouma realizes that the strange kid is holding a Hitopress bearing Emi's face, and it's revealed that the strange kid is actually Niwa the scammer guy aka the Granute that licked Emi and Hitopressed her. So yeah, Niwa the scammer guy is actually an online predator, quite literally. Haha. Oh, and why did the scammer Granute need to rush and run away from the crime scene and raise suspicion? He's disguising himself as a harmless kid, so there's no reason to act suspicious after he Hitopressed Emi. The answer: Because the plot needs it. Or maybe he's just a novice kidnapper, haha.

What I've just realized is how convoluted the Hitopress collection system is. Instead of using agents (who look sooooooo hilariously conspicuous since they have no human disguises) to collect Hitopresses from the Granute part-timers, why doesn't Lango/Stomach rent several places and create several drop point locations supervised by Shita and Jeebh where the Granute part-timers submit the Hitopresses they've created? Or, why doesn't Lango/Stomach use other Granute part-timers tasked with collecting the Hitopresses and then pool it to the drop point locations? If Granutes can easily fool humans by wearing an infinite number of human disguises, then why does Lango/Stomach use the conspicuous, gaudy-looking, obviously non-human agents and create a huuuuuuuuge risk of being discovered by humans (and or the Granute police/law enforcement like I hypothesized in episode 6 thread here)? Why bother using human disguises if the Stomach family's agents are still involved at the most crucial point in the Dark Sweets production chain (the collection of Hitopressed humans from the Granute part-timers in the human world)? Isn't using agents defeat the main purpose (or maybe the purpose) of using human disguises in the first place? Why use a subpar solution when a much easier, better solution exists?:confused: The Hitopress collection system makes little sense. It only makes Lango look incompetent. This is another symptom of the very very very lazy and heavy-handed writing of this series.

Another very convenient scene happens @ 19:08 where the scammer Granute manages to run away from Shouma/KR Gavv, yet he's still in Granute form and forgot to put his human disguise on, so Hanto can see him easily. If he put his human disguise (the strange kid) on, then he'd be able to fool Hanto and run away safely since Hanto never saw the strange kid, so it's impossible for Hanto to recognize him in that disguise. Dumb Granute.

Aaannnddd... My hypothesis in episode 10 thread last week here is proven correct where in the scene @ 22:37 KR Valen is indeed detransformed after getting a considerable amount of damage from the scammer Granute's attack, and Hanto is revealed to be the man behind KR Valen's mask. So yes, Shouma does find out about the real identity of the person behind KR Valen's mask not via deduction of his own, but simply via a convenient circumstance when KR Valen is detransformed due to sheer damage. Yep, Shouma/KR Gavv and Hanto/KR Valen are equally dumb. This story has no need for common sense, reasoning, and simple logical deduction. This story only needs manipulations, coincidences, and conveniences by the writers. Congratulations for the lazy, heavy-handed writing.

Next week:

Hanto doesn't like the fact that his real identity has been revealed in front of KR Gavv. Kenzou is asking Hanto to rely on him. What does it mean? Does it mean that he secretly knows that Hanto is slowly forming an alliance with Shouma?

Shouma and Hanto will transform together for the first time. How will Hanto discover the real identity of Shouma as KR Gavv? Is it via convenient coincidence like in episode 11, or is it via deduction? Perhaps Hanto will be low-key asked several vague questions by Shouma which raise his suspicion, but I doubt that he'll discover it via deduction.

The debut of KR Valen Doumaru form.

But he did.

Finally exposed identity for the Riders.

Scamming is one of the tactics employed by the Granutes to raise human happiness, and indeed scammers can use a convincing picture to lure their victims, and once their job is done, their contact numbers become unreachable. This time, however, everyone around Emi—Hana, Sachika, Shoma, and Hanto (whose face was used as the profile picture of the child-looking Granute Early)—alerted her to the scam, but Emi still decided to visit "Niwa" and fell victim to the scam, resulting in her being compressed, though Shoma claims that he would have done the same and sought the truth if he were in Emi's position.

I wonder what Sachika will do as she joins Shoma and Hanto while telling Hana to stay behind, as she's currently a normal human. So far, she has only felt goosebumps upon encountering Lango. Sachika has a bizzare outfit of a skirt with pants. Now, Gavv knows that Valen is actually Hanto, thanks to the Riders de-henshining when defeated. This situation is safer for Shoma since he should face no issues with his human ally also fighting as a Rider, unlike Hanto, who holds a grudge against the Granutes. The preview shows them henshining together, but the claim is that their bond will be tested.

Dunno if by this, Shita and Jeebh can receive a redemption arc for their victim status, which has become even more pronounced with Lango forcing them into an arranged marriage to boost Stomach Inc.'s social standing. They are clearly against this arrangement, despite their respect for Lango, while Shoma expresses sympathy for their plight after Lango fired them, realizing he is not alone in experiencing Lango's abuse. Lango also gaslights Shoma that the current situation is his fault for running away. Outside of their victim status, Shita and Jeebh are just as vile as Lango and Glotta, victim status isn't a positive trait of someone.

Gavv claims that Lango's Agents are tough, but I expected them to pose a real challenge to Guruchan's form, particularly since they come from the current big bad, but Guruchan still breezes through them. Gavv’s fight against Lango's Agents is dynamic yet sloppy, making extensive use of the environment around them to avoid or inflict damage. If the vending machine had snacks or Gavv worked on drinks, there could be even more innovative strategies at play. Granute Early has yet to be defeated; I wonder if he will surpass Granute Yard in power for the next episode.

Huh, I wonder what will happen to Shita and Jeebh. Will they set up their own system outside of Stomach Inc. ? Or flee to Earth and go rouge? Interesting twist, I did not expect this to have consequences for them. Although maybe they will just get another chance or something.

I really enjoyed the dynamic between Gavv and Valen, but all good things come to an end and now the secret is out. I'm curious to see how this will shake things up.

Action was really fun too; love the focus on small sets like the alleyway here.

https://i.imgur.com/8T1b4wx.png

Lango's "Huh, yeah, that checks out." expression was pretty good :V

Hanto is clearly a patient and focused dude, as he once waited like a whole afternoon doing nothing outside Masako's house until his lead showed up. 60 minutes to us is probably like 6 minutes to him.

They must've mistook him for some kind of cosplayer.

Congrats on your 300th post!

"Niwa" is more clever wordplay from Komura, as it's Wani with the syllables reversed, meaning crocodile. Which sounds similar to Wana, meaning trap like the catfish scam. In goroawase, you get 2 (ni) and 1 (wa) which add up to 3, the amount of mouths that Granute Early has. Catfish in Japan are also blamed for causing earthquakes (like Oonamazu from Hibiki), comparable to the strong hit that caused Valen to dehenshin. Man, there's like 4 different hidden meanings in this one guy, it's crazy! Keep it up, Komura!

Despite being the older sister, Emi is naive for sure, going to meet her crush even after finding out he was using Hanto's picture. Like, even if a Granute wasn't involved, that's still a way to end up abducted, assaulted or killed. While romance is good and healthy, it shouldn't be used as a substitute for street smarts.

Between this fast-paced acrobatic fight and the explosive CGI fight from last week, the action has been seriously awesome recently!

Failure must have consequences! Lango has already given those two liabilities enough "last chances" and like he said, they couldn't even deliver on their own damn terms, so they've proven that they are totally useless at their jobs.

P.S. This is my 2300th post!

https://i.imgur.com/wtOz4pM.jpg

(I really appreciate that the ending sponsor segment for this one is Chocodon playing dead, by the way. Great attention to detail, and 100% my sense of humor.)

This one worked on at least a few levels, as is typical of Gavv. One of those levels is sort of outside the actual episode itself, which is that it puts the previous two-parter into context as a sort of last hurrah for secret identity shenanigans on this show. If that story was an opportunity to just play around with that shtick one last time before a big change in the status quo, then it's all the more fair it wasn't focusing on any big sweeping character development or thematic depth or anything like that.

This one is also Kazuya Kamihoriuchi's first time getting to play around with *everything* in Gavv, which I think is pretty apparent in a lot of places. The way the Gochizo were worked into the first scene at Hapipare particularly stuck out to me in that regard. That establishing shot's composition, with the actual room all blurry in the background in favor of focusing on the little puppet skit going on in the foreground, yet off to the side of the frame... I mean, leave it to Kamihoriuchi to find an artsy way to go about a quick sight gag with the mascot characters.

It comes off like he was having a lot of fun getting to mess around in Gavv's particular sandbox, and while this part is less solely in Kamihoriuchi's hands, I think Gavv's fight scene in that back alley has a lot of that same kind of energy. It makes sure to get in the basic gimmicks like PoppinGummy's breakable armor and the belt spitting out the sword, and even does something fun and new with the little bike in the same shot the big bike also nearly drops right on the two Agents, which really beautifully captures how intense it must be to fight one of these wacky modern Kamen Riders with their endless arsenals of goofy toy gimmicks. You look away for a second and suddenly Gavv is a big robot dude with a gatling gun. If he weren't so colorful and heroic, he'd probably be pretty scary!

Although I guess Gavv is scary to a lot of people in-universe anyway, isn't he? It feels a bit weird to say it's "nice" to see that emphasized again, but you know what I mean. Especially given how we're touching on the idea of secret identities getting revealed and all that, reminding the audience of the main reason Shouma keeps his own identity secret definitely strikes me as something relevant to have here.

As hard as it is to put my finger on it exactly, details like that are probably what I usually see in Gavv that I didn't feel as much with the previous story -- it's when there's those couple of big ideas going on in the plot, and then a ton of little smaller things that act in support of big ideas from past, present, and future episodes alike. Even a quick shot of two of the antagonists holding hands can count for a lot when it's put in the rich dramatic context of both ongoing character dynamics and social commentary revolving around things like big business and the upper class and... like, I usually leave a *lot* out when I'm talking about Gavv, and that sense there's so much to dig into every week is one of the things that draws me to it so much.

So Karakida gets his identity revealed. About time as well.

And that fight choreography in the alley was top notch.

Great job on the writing so far in this, the actors work well together, but IF ONLY the suits and theme were actually COOL looking this would be better than Geats, but it’s too kiddy and garish-in-the-wrong-way for me.
Kamen Rider is now the same as Super Sentai, marking the end of “coolness” in this franchise.
Storytelling is on point, though, just too kiddy cute (throw up emoji here)for my tastes

The aesthetic makes it unique, just like Ex-Aid, in my opinion.

Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence.

And though not much is known about Emi, nothing indicates if she's a paragon of virtue, due to her naivety. Because many people equate kindness with naivety, to my dismay, which may have people encourage others to hate and mistreat others so they grow out from being 'naive'. People should use the term naive more to describe what Emi (someone they likely wouldn't consider compassionate) did here, than just about virtuous heroes for showing kindness, though people also often equate victims as being good.

Though then again, usually medias like this will have the good guys always win, and even though the bad guys may have some occasions where they got the last laugh, it won't last forever. So by this, failure is generally the only option for villains, what'd not count as a failure with deserving consequences for Shita and Jeebh anyway (not counting if they beg for last chance) if Gavv obviously will triumph?

What I personally find a bit weird is that Gavv didn't try to hide from people, to Emi here, like to Kirari before (while also telling Valen to do so) which seems to be what Gavv does to prevent people from freaking out.

Yeah, naivety is in the lack of deduction. Of course showing kindness to others is generally a good thing as the world really would suck if everybody was mean to each other. The exceptions should be determined using critical thinking, to judge whether a person is being honest or having malicious intent. Emi had no reason to trust Niwa and was given many reasons to doubt him, but she still made the most terrible judgment based on a misplaced romance. Cynics will probably use this to insist that romance is bad and naive, but that is not the case. The absence or rejection of logic is the problem. Logic can keep you alive and romance can give you a reason to live, so it's important to use both together to make better decisions. To quote the song: Love is an open door.

Villains can still progress a long-term goal, as long as they manage to salvage something from the plot of the week. Like Nyelve with his experiments, he's productive regardless of the outcome and shows initiative, instead of asking siblings for help all the time. Jeep and Theta assure that they will bring a haul of Hitopresses, they fail and they never have the foresight to bring anything else as compensation for their losses. A serious determined villain on their last chance would usually bet something big like their life or powers, but Jeep and Theta aren't risking anything, only repeating the same shallow, "we'll win this time for sure!", which sounds less credible each time. They're unprofessional and self-entitled due to familial connections, treating their job like it's some kind of game they can reset and now they're getting the punishment.

Speaking of Sachika's reaction to Lango, I think it's time to voice my crazy theory. Let me start with the fact that the opening strongly hints that Sachika will face the fate of a rider. Otherwise, in her bubble, she would be in civilian form, and not just nothing. But I also have a hard time believing that she will undergo an operation similar to the one that Hanto had, unless this is not the only way to save her life. Plus, it doesn't explain her reaction to Lando.
So we need to find another explanation.
Who is Lando? The current head of the Stomatch family and the Dark Treats corporation. He produces drugs from kidnapped people and deliberately targets high-ranking Granutes. We'll get to know their aristocracy better through the twins, but isn't it obvious that there should be opposition to Lando's actions?
Now what defines Sachika? She helps people. Moreover, she is ready to help with absolutely everything. Who else on this show does the same thing? Gochizo. What is Gochizo? A special type of Agent that emerged from Shoma through his hybrid nature. What we know about Agents is that the stronger the Granutes, the stronger and more skillful they are. Temporary workers, as I understand it, do not have the ability to produce them at all. So it's logical to assume that Granutes' top-class Agents will be even more capable than Lando's. Especially if talented scientists work on them, including two candidates just from those shown.
So my theory is that Sachika is an Agent and... an agent. Sleeping, because she herself does not know about her own nature before activation.
Of course, there are things that do not fit into this theory. For example, Sachika's reaction to the other Granutes and her having a grandmother.
But if we imagine that this is an ultra-delicate operation of one of the high-ranking Granutes (or even Nyelv or Dente), this can be explained.

Speaking of which, are romance and naivety really the only reasons? The show directly compares her to Shouma. And, as it seems to me, they are related not only by the lack of experience, but also by the family that keeps you locked up. It seems to me that it is no coincidence that Yomi is the older sister whom the younger sister takes care of. This was done to hint at an unhealthy dynamic. Again, Hana grabbed her phone to block her boyfriend. Again, Hana grabbed her phone to block her boyfriend. And, as was correctly noted, Emi is an adult woman who has every right to make mistakes.
I think that while she was hoping for the best, she suspected that she would most likely be disappointed. But she wanted to do the act on her own and get into the situation. Even if it is a stupid act and a terrible situation. Simply because she wanted to feel like an adult and escape from her sister?s care.

There were 2 instances of logical anomalies in this episode that I didn't elaborate in my first post.

#1:
How could Shouma immediately conclude that the strange kid had anything to do with Emi? Out of many people inside the cafe, outside the cafe, and perhaps the other shops inside the building, how could he pinpoint that the strange kid knew anything about Emi's location? Why didn't he ask other people inside the building or outside the building first? Why didn't he ask the cafe employees first? Don't know!

#2:
How could Hanto think that he would be able to find Niwa the scammer guy without using Emi as a bait? Hanto didn't know that Emi was going to go to the cafe at the very last minute, since when she was at Sachika's shop she said she wasn't going to go to the cafe. Emi only went to the cafe as a last minute decision that Hana didn't even know about it.

The sequence of events are as follows:
@ 08:24 : Hanto was shown Niwa's profile picture and confidently stated that Niwa wasn't him.
@ 09:04 : Emi agreed to Hana's suggestion not to go to the date.
@ 09:16 : Hanto decided to make an article about Niwa as a payback for stealing his photo. He then asked Emi and Hana for the exact time and place of the date.
@ 10:22 : Hanto arrived outside the building where the cafe was located.
@ 10:42 : Hanto passed the strange kid aka Niwa the scammer guy aka the Granute in disguise.
@ 11:06 : Shouma voiced his concern to Sachika that Emi was going to go to the date anyway, which confirmed that previously Emi did agree not to go to the date.
@ 11:36 : Sachika received a call from Hana who was surprised and concerned that Emi had already gone from her apartment on her way to the date, which once again confirmed that previously Emi did agree not to go to the date.
@ 11:52 : Emi was walking to the cafe, and licked by the Granute aka the strange kid aka Niwa the scammer guy shortly thereafter.
@ 12:17 : Shouma and Sachika arrived outside the cafe building to met Hana who had already been there.
@ 12:36 : Shouma, Sachika, and Hana met Hanto who had been waiting 1 hour in the cafe.

As I've laid out above, Hanto never knew that Emi decided to go to the cafe at the very last minute, because it's a, duh, last minute decision. Hanto, Hana, Shouma, and Sachika didn't know about Emi's last minute decision which was the complete opposite of her promise to them the day before. So, if the only information Hanto had was the fact that Emi did agree to cancel her date as suggested by Hana, then how the frak was Hanto going to find Niwa the scammer guy without using Emi as a bait? Was he planning to ask every guy in the cafe to confirm their identity? Was he planning to ask every guy, "Hey, dude. Are you Niwa?", or worse, "Hey, dude. Are you Niwa who has planned to have a date with a girl named Emi at this cafe at this exact time?"? Of course Niwa, even if he didn't put on his human disguise (the strange kid), wouldn't have answered that question honestly. When a criminal is asked, "Are you a criminal?", of course they would answer, "No, I'm not a criminal."

Hanto's plan to meet Niwa and interview him made no sense at all. Those 2 instances of logical anomalies above are solid pieces of evidence of how laughably, hilariously sloppy the writing in this series is. The writers of this story are trying to emulate Riku Sanjo who often used this type of detective/investigative-style of subplots as shown in KR W and KR Drive, but they've miserably failed. It's only 11 episodes, and the writers are consistently shooting themselves in the foot in all 11 episodes. Very very very impressive.

Hanto did see the strange kid, but did he actually pay attention to the strange kid? Did he recognize the strange kid's face? He only passed the strange kid very briefly once, when he was walking to the cafe and the strange kid was waiting for Emi in the hallway. He didn't pay any attention to the strange kid because he did look like a normal, harmless kid, let alone look at and recognize the strange kid's face. So, even if the Granute put his human disguise back on as the strange kid in the scene @ 19:08, Hanto would've very likely not recognized him. He would've mistaken the strange kid again for just another random kid.

No, you misunderstood my argument. What took too long wasn't the fact that Hanto waited 1 hour, but the fact that the strange kid aka Niwa the scammer guy aka the Granute in disguise wait almost 1 hour to flee from the crime scene.

Someone might say that the strange kid aka Niwa the scammer guy aka the Granute in disguise only licked Emi shortly before Shouma, Sachika, and Hana arrived at the cafe, but that reasoning makes no sense. Emi was very eager to meet Niwa the scammer guy, so the only thing that makes the most sense is for her to arrive at the cafe on time, not 1 hour late, so she should've arrived at the cafe shortly after Hanto arrived there. Emi wouldn't have wanted to squander her only chance to meet Niwa the scammer guy by arriving late.

So, the most logical explanation is that Emi arrived at the cafe shortly after Hanto and then she was immediately licked and Hito Pressed by the strange kid aka Niwa the scammer guy aka the Granute in disguise. The perpetrator (the strange kid aka Niwa the scammer guy aka the Granute in disguise) waited 1 hour until he fled from the crime scene because the writers told him to do so in order to be discovered by Shouma (via another lazy, heavy-handed method). That's another piece of evidence of how sloppily written this story is.

Lango only looked edgy, like a rockstar. You usually encounter that kind of visually edgy characters in metal concerts, haha.

What's so clever about using puns? Japanese love puns, so puns are very common. If the writers of this show are clever, then they should've allocated their mental acuity to identifying and eliminating the many instances of logical anomalies and other forms of sloppiness in the writing. Instead of focusing on writing cheap puns, they should've focused on writing a story that makes sense. Writers write stories, not puns.

Do we really know though? All of these are just your assumptions.

Granute could sit outside the cafe for an hour and read, because in an hour he had an appointment with an Agent nearby. Yes, it would have been more logical to move to another cafe, but perhaps he did not have pocket money, and the boy who did not order anything was kicked out from everywhere.

Yes, we do really really really know. And no, they weren't my assumptions. They were the story's internal logic that were clearly shown on the screen. Here are the proofs:
- Gavv 11 @ 10.42
https://i.imgur.com/GA8JPBS.jpeg
- Gavv 11 @ 10.45
https://i.imgur.com/WshMWkx.jpeg

You can see in those screenshots that Hanto just walked right in front of Niwa the scammer guy/the strange kid/the crocodile Granute, without even taking the slightest look at him, let alone pay attention. During 99% of the duration between 10:39-10:51 Niwa the scammer guy/the strange kid/the crocodile Granute was on Hanto's peripheral vision because Hanto thought that Niwa the scammer guy/the strange kid/the crocodile Granute was just a random kid sitting on a chair at the hallway, so it's should've been impossible for Hanto to know the detail of the face of Niwa the scammer guy/the strange kid/the crocodile Granute, let alone recognize him, which is why Niwa the scammer guy/the strange kid/the crocodile Granute not putting his human disguise back on as the strange kid in the scene @ 19:08 an utterly idiotic decision.

See how conveniently stupid the characters in this atrocious story are?

That's a very bad excuse. If Niwa the scammer guy/the strange kid/the crocodile Granute had an appointment with one of Lango's agent later, then he should've waited outside the cafe's building, or better: Just go to the meeting point and wait there. If he was a criminal who still had normal, healthy, and well-functioning logic, rationality, and common sense, then he should've fled from the crime scene (the hallway to the cafe) as soon as possible. Unless it's for destroying evidence, no criminals will ever stay at the crime scene for one hour and risked being exposed by witnesses, ever! After all, Tokyo has a gazillion of public places where he can hang out free of charge. Why on God's green Earth did he conveniently decide to hang out at the frakkin' crime scene (for 1 hour!) where he committed his crime, and worse, act suspiciously when he decided that he finally needed to flee? The answer is soooooooo crystal clear: Because the writers need him to do so, simply in order to move the uber-convoluted plot.

It's acceptable if these instances of bad writing only happen 5-6 times in the whole 50-episode story. But, if they happen 5-6 times in each episode(!), then they would make you cringe, right?