Kamen Rider Gavv Episode 25- "Virutal Happiness, The Taste Of Nectar!" Discussion
 

Hanto begins to feel side effects from his new powers while a new Granute emerges posing as a streamer.

Holy shit, the Granutes eat rocks. No wonder why Shoma's mom would talk about Earth snacks to him, that brown sludge we saw them eating in that flashback in episode 2 was literally mud.

Guess that a lot of Granute snacks are either salty (since that's a mineral). And that maybe that powder that we saw in Dente's flashback about Zomb was not flour, but sand.

So them eating rocks all the time is probably a big motivator on why Part-Timers would do anything for more Dark Treats. It tastes like nothing they've ever tasted before.

Shouma says @ 00:05 that Hanto's mom lost her life and turned into Dark Snack spice because of she saved his kid-self, and if his kid-self wasn't there, then she'd have still been alive. Whaaaaaaaaaatttttttttt, Shouma??????????:eyebrow:eyebrow:eyebrow:eyebrow:eyebrow:eyebrow:eyebrow:eyebrow:eyebrow:eyebrow Are you still as stupid and nonsensical as I pointed out last week in episode 24 thread here, Shouma?:eyebrow She was killed and turned into Dark Snack spice not because of your kid-self's fault at all, but because she was captured by a Stomach part-timer (the elusive wolf Granute). Whether she'd met your kid-self or not, whether she'd helped your kid-self or not, she would've still been captured, killed, and turned into Dark Snack spice along with 1000 other random humans. The writers obviously wanted to make Shouma feel guilty about his involvement in Hanto's mom's death, but they did it the dumbest, most nonsensical way possible. Gosh, what a very very very bizarro form of reasoning! At this point I can safely say that the writers (and producers) of this atrocious story didn't really care about common sense at all. *intergalactic hyperdrive facepalm

Shouma says @ 00:26 that he can only eat ice cream for now, and Sachika says that it should be Shouma's opportunity to try all kinds of ice cream. In the scene @ 00:55 he eats ice cream cake for the very first time. So yeah, let me repost my point about this at the end of my post in episode 23 thread here:
"Shouma has been on Earth for 23 weeks, and the first time he eats ice cream is in episode 24?:confused: Heck, it's even given to him by Sachika, not he buys for himself. Why hasn't he tried sampling different types of candies/snacks at the nearby 7-Eleven or other convenience stores, or just vending machines?:confused: Japan has gazillion of vending machines that sell anything, including ice cream in any flavour, color, or shape imaginable. Doesn't he have the slightest curiosity?:confused: This is what happens when a main character has the ability to create his own trinkets out of nowhere. Shouma must be made dumb, because if he's not dumb then he'd have already tried many different types of candies/snacks, including ice cream, and the Blizzardsorbei RG would've been produced much much much earlier, and the carefully planned convoluted plots would've been ruined and the story would've gone 1000% haywire."

Lage 9 looks like he's unimpressed @ 01:59 and says that it's not the kind of foods that Granutes eat, and proceeds to take out a plain rock out of his pocket and casually eats it. Shouma says to the baffled Sachika that since he and her mom couldn't eat rocks, they ate grasses. Why don't Granutes eat meat? Aren't there other animals in the Granute world? Are Granutes the only animal species that exist there? And why don't Granutes eat grasses and plants too? I asked in my post in episode 3 thread here whether Granutes are just inhabitants of another dimension like the Noto in Donbrothers, or evolved humans similar to the Orphenochs in KR Faiz, or artificial species like the Amazons. This scene could imply that Granute are evolved humans similar to the Orphenochs in KR Faiz, although their evolution and branching out of the human species in the phylogenetic tree happened a very very long time ago, perhaps hundreds of thousands (or even millions!) of years ago, or they could be similar to the Fenmushinmu in KR Gaim who were actual humans with sudden, forced biological modification to adapt to a new harsh environment of their world that was infested by Helheim forest, or the Ganmas in KR Ghost who were also actual humans who used surrogate bodies (the Ganma Eyecons) to adapt to a new harsh environment of the Ganma world, while their real bodies were preserved in a climate-controlled coffins. If my hypothesis about the nature of Granutes as evolved humans is correct, then it could explain how Bouche (a Granute, which is basically an uber-evolved human that still has minor traces of human DNA), was able to impregnate Shouma's mom (a pure human) and produced Shouma, a human-Granute hybrid.

Sachika casually offers a job to Lage 9 @ 02:57 to help him learn about humans' way of life. So yeah, here he is: Another grown-up man who can't find a job for himself and needs to depend on Sachika. I excitedly thought that Lage 9 was the Donnie Brasco of this story, and was disappointed and proven completely wrong when it was revealed that he was just an ordinary civilian Granute who had a very very very convenient power. What a letdown. Why can't he find a job for himself in the human world? The Granute society is virtually identical to the human society, so there must be transferrable skills that he can use in the human world. Basically all Granutes of the week have seamlessly integrated with the human society and have had no problem in finding jobs in the human world on their own without receiving basic training from Stomach (as shown in episode 15 @ 15:33 where Lage 9 was dumped in the human world by one of Lango's agents), so why can't Lage 9 (and Shouma)? Heck, even the octopus Granute in episode 24 last week had a nice, popular yakiniku restaurant, so it's not that Granutes are unfamiliar with humans' cultures. Another weird thing that I've mentioned several times is how Dente, who is virtually Stomach's most genius scientist because he was the one who created everything in the Dark Snack production line from A to Z, has been living like a destitute sage inside a cave in the human world. The Granutes of the week living normally like humans and the main characters (like Shouma, Dente, and Lage 9) being unable to find jobs merely seem like a very very very convenient trick to move the plot of this convoluted story.

A kabutomushi Granute is disguising himself as a virtual food vlogger named Kabuto Dance (very imaginative, I know) and gives his recommended sweets as a treat to a human victim who comes to an offline meetup @ 03:47. His modus operandi is very similar to the Granute of the week's in episode 9-10. It seems like he's also Stomach's muscle who is tasked with capturing Lage 9. Lage 9's betrayal was discovered by Glotta in episode 20, so why has Stomach only ordered another part-timer to hunt Lage 9 down in episode 25 today? Why did they wait for more than a month to make a move? Don't know! Seems like just another dumb decision made by Lango the stupidest CEO villain.

Kenzou asks Hanto @ 06:05 about the performance of the Valentine present (the Chocold RG) he gave to Hanto, and Hanto says that it was amazing and made him stronger. So yeah, it seems like the Chocold RG would very likely make him overconfident or even cocky. Hanto then points out what are the pizza boxes under Kenzou's desk are for, and as usual Kenzou is playing dumb by saying that he had a young friend come over, which very likely refers to a Dark Shouma, so it's more and more implied that the Dark Shoumas are indeed created by Kenzou the Master. Hanto sees a social media post @ 06:49 showing that a new Dark Shouma (#3)/KR Bitter Gavv is causing ruckus again at a local karate dojo. This is Dark Shouma #3, and his modus operandi of causing ruckus is identical to #1 and #2, so why hasn't the Tokyo police department do anything to deal with him?:eyebrow His face is identical to #1 and #2, so why has the Tokyo police department do nothing to restrain him, or at least try?:eyebrow Heck, since his face is also identical to the real Shouma who he was cloned from (duh), why hasn't the Tokyo police department mistaken the real Shouma for a Dark Shouma and sent at least one detective to Hapipare to interview Shouma and Sachika and investigate this case?:eyebrow The real Shouma doesn't even bother to cover his head anymore, so there must be many people who mistake him for a Dark Shouma. As usual, the answer is crystal clear: Because they're deliberately made stupid by the writers in order to move the idiot, convoluted plot. Kenzou says @ 07:03 that he's glad that Hanto's getting stronger, so yeah, he's definitely having an ulterior motive when he gave Hanto the Chocold RG's, perhaps to make Hanto/KR Valen the psaring partner in order to make the Dark Shoumas stronger. When one of the Dark Shoumas (likely #5) have reached a certain level of strength (likely in episode 27), Kenzou will then absorb its cells with the newly completed Bake Magnum (not Bake Gunner like I previously hypothesized, haha) which will allow him to transform into KR Bake. The fact that KR Bitter Gavv Breacookie form has virtually identical helmet and body armors (albeit with a different under suit) with KR Bake Breacookie form could imply that the Dark Shoumas/KR Bitter Gavvs are indeed initial/prototype iterations in order to create the finished product: KR Bake Breacookie form.

Shouma also received an intel from an RG @ 07:51 about the ruckus at the dojo caused by Dark Shouma #3. Dark Shouma #3 is so childishly petty that he transformed into KR Bitter Gavv just to beat up 3 karateka (and 2 security guards @ 15:40), haha. Hanto arrives at the crime scene and transform to KR Valen Chocold form to fight Dark Shouma #3/KR Bitter Gavv, but Dark Shouma #3/KR Bitter Gavv just casually runs away. Shouma arrives there at a very very very convenient moment when Hanto detransforms @ 09:14, aaannnddd... He sees Hanto experiencing a pain in his chest @ 09:26 (and also @ 21:20). So yeah, it seems more and more likely that Hanto's transformation into KR Valen Chocold form will cause a serious damage to his body, and even screw up his human DNA and mutate it into Granute DNA like I've hypothesized since my post in episode 7(!) thread here. As shown @ 13:11, Shouma arriving late there at a very very very convenient moment is just to inform him that Hanto's use of the Chocold RG is damaging his body, and of course, Shouma's concern would very likely be dismissed by Hanto since he has entered his dumb, stubborn Sad Boi dark secondary Rider phase. "i CaN dEfEaT aLl gRaNuTeS bY mYsElF wItHoUt ReLyInG oN sHoUmA aNyMoRe!", says Hanto the dumb, dense, stubborn Sad Boi dark secondary Rider. So convenient!

Lage 9 is doing a delivery job @ 10:10 when he delivers for a cake for an office worker who ordered it based on a recommendation from Kabuto Dance. He then meets a teenager named Koji Minamoto @ 11:11 who is planning to meet Kabuto Dance offline and needs an escort. Lage 9 asks Koji why he needs an escort, and he says that he might not need it for the old Kabuto Dance, but that may not be the case now, which could imply that the kabutomushi Granute killed/Hito Pressed the old Kabuto Dance person and hijacked his Kabuto Dance persona, as conveniently shown @ 13:57 in Kabuto Dance's page that someone mentioned that a friend of his met Kabuto Dance offline and hadn't had returned. Man, this kabutomushi Granute must be a very dumb criminal who doesn't even bother to secure his alibi. As usual, the police hasn't done nothing about it. And of course, Sachika conveniently gets a last minute cancellation call from another client so that Koji could be left with Lage 9. Well, at least @ 11:11 Lage 9 and Sachika looks like they're dating, haha.:lol
Gavv 25 @ 11.10
https://i.imgur.com/40R9UD5.jpeg

Koji finally meets with Kabuto Dance @ 17:39. Kabuto Dance wonders why Koji doesn't look happy to meet him, and Koji says that it's because Kabuto Dance is a fake. Koji says that the current Kabuto Dance took over the real Kabuto Dance that he created. Koji suspects that the current Kabuto Dance must be doing something bad to the fans who messaged him. This is sooooooooo weird. How is the current Kabuto Dance a fake? Is he just a fake clone persona that was created by the kabutomushi Granute by creating a new account? It'd be very easy to tell which one is the official real Kabuto Dance account and which one is a fake clone account. Heck, Koji could've simply contacted the streaming website admins and easily showed them 1000 pieces of evidence that he's the real Kabuto Dance, not the kabutomushi Granute, and the streaming website admins would've just terminated the kabutomushi Granute's fake clone account in no time, and the kabutomushi Granute wouldn't have had amassed many followers. Koji as the real Kabuto Dance could also make an announcement on his own page and on the fake Kabuto Dance's page that he's the real Kabuto Dance. Heck, it's obviously shown @ 13:57 in the fake Kabuto Dance's page that someone mentioned that a friend of his met the fake Kabuto Dance offline and hadn't had returned, so Koji should've used that post as an initial clue and contacted the police, and the police should've been able to very very very easily connect the dots and tasked one of their personnels to act as a bait to lure the fake Kabuto Dance out, and effectively causes the plot in this episode to pathetically crumble like a house of cards since Koji wouldn't need Lage 9's escort service. Or did the kabutomushi Granute/the fake Kabuto Dance hack Koji's account and basically stole the account? It still makes no sense since Koji could've still contacted the streaming website admins and proved that his account was hacked by a bad actor, and the streaming website admins would've disabled access to his account to assess the problem and would've easily discovered that his account was accessed by a bad actor in an unauthorized manner from an unrecognized device/location/IP address. Koji should've done the same thing an owner of a Youtube channel does when his account is hacked. My Lord in heaven, this plot makes no sense at all and is soooooooooooooooooooooo painfully, cringe-inducingly, pathetically stupid beyond belief because the solution to the problem is soooooooooooooooooooooo obvious and could've been easily done by Koji. A gazillion of dumb decisions merely to advance the plot = Pure lazy, cheap writing. This utterly stupid plot in this episode is just another proof of how pathetically, laughably, indefensibly lazy, cheap, and heavy-handed KR Gavv's story is, and at this point I'm not surprised at all. KR Gavv (and KR (God forbid) Geats) is the prime example of when the writers have 1000 plot points and 0 common sense.
Yep. As always, the most fundamental law in KR Gavv's story applies:
Common sense = 0

Lage 9 conveniently comes out of nowhere @ 19:14 to save Koji. Whattt???:eyebrow This is also weird. He followed Koji @ 15:19, just several steps behind him, so he should've arrived at the meetup location at the same time as Koji did. He should've also escorted Koji into the dining room (because that's pretty much what he was paid for!), and didn't need to wait until this scene to show up before the kabutomushi Granute. Gosh, more heavy-handed writing. Lage 9 says that the kabutomushi Granute is an idiot for allowing himself to be used by Stomach, and the kabutomushi Granute replies that he's not as stupid as Komel, a statement that obviously enrages Lage 9. The kabutomushi Granute says that he heard a rumor from his friend that an idiotic part-timer got scared and ran away in the middle of a job. This could imply that Komel chickened out when it came the moment when he needed to Hito Press a human. But, if Komel ran away in the middle of a job in the human world, then doesn't it mean that he could only run away in the human world? So, since only Stomach family members (including Shouma) and their agents are able to open the interworld portal, then how the heck was Komel able to arrive at Lage 9's house in the Granute world in episode 19 @ 17:13? Since Komel was a part-timer who defied Stomach's orders, then it must be impossible for him to be allowed to return to the Granute world. The only explanation is that Komel was allowed to return to the Granute world by a Stomach insider who also had the ability to open the interworld portal, and that insider was not Bouche, Lango, Glotta, Nyelv, Shita/Jeebh, and their agents, which means that the insider was likely Dente or Zomb (if he was somehow still alive). It makes more sense if the insider was Dente, but it'd make little sense if it was Zomb since the name Zomb Stomach had never been mentioned and or implied prior to episode 23. If Zomb was/is still alive and commanded/commands Stomach corporation, then Nyelv, the only character so far who is implied to be the mastermind of the plot in this story, should've taken notice and carefully planned his schemes in order to prevent being detected by Zomb, the only Stomach family member that's even more powerful than Bouche, since Nyelv has already been able to fool Lango the stupidest CEO villain (and Glotta). I smell the writers went full Yuuya with the plot regarding Komel's death.
Gavv 25 @ 15:19
https://i.imgur.com/eAwTPfn.jpeg

Speaking of Stomach's interworld portal, who the heck created it? Who gave the Stomach family members the crucial ability to open an interworld portal in the first place? None of the ordinary Granutes are able to do that, so that crucial ability must be created by someone before Dente created his Dark Snack recipe and the whole Dark Snack production line (Hito Press process, etc). The Stomach family members can't just conveniently have the crucial ability to open an interworld portal and trafficked humans and Granutes. The fact that even one member from the Granute police department has never appeared in this story, except when Lango the stupidest CEO villain said in episode 5 @ 04:53 that he was concerned that the Granute government might've cracked down on Stomach's illegal drug operation, is more than enough proof that no one in the Granute world, not even the Granute police department, know that the Stomach family members have the crucial ability to open an interworld portal. I hope this convenient, crucial ability to open an interworld portal will be addressed in the next 10 episodes. This story already has a gazillion of logical anomalies and plot holes, and if it's left unaddressed until this story ends then it will be the ultimate proof that the writers and producers of this story didn't really care about logical consistency.

Jeebh? Yep, as usual, he's still MIA.
# of episodes without Jeebh: 9.
My only conclusions:
- The writers wrote themselves to a corner and couldn't do anything to insert Jeebh into the story, so he needed to be sidelined until his advertising tenure begins, very likely after Kenzou reveals himself as the creator of the Dark Shoumas and transforms into KR Bake in episode 27(?).
- There's a possibility that the writers also went Yuuya with Jeebh. Perhaps during the last 9 episodes Jeebh has been searching for Zomb to request his help to strengthen him in order to fulfill his revenge on Shouma for killing Shita. Or maybe not. Who knows what kind of convoluted plot points were crammed into the story next?

I've got nothing more to say, so let me repost my point about Jeebh in episode 23 thread here:
"And hooooooooooooooooooooly crap, Jeebh is still frakkin' absent!!! Where the heck are you, Jeebh???:confused::confused::confused: He's the only character in this story whose transformation I've really really really looked forward into, but at this point all the momentum and all my expectations about him have completely evaporated. He's completely missed his momentum.
The weirdest thing is that the writers still could't even deal with Jeebh's storyline, yet they added a new villain (Zomb) into the story and potentially made the story much harder to resolve. They hadn't solved the previous problem yet they created a new one. Also, Kenzou is starting another manipulation, adding another difficulty in resolving Jeebh's storyline."

Let me repost my point about Jeebh in episode 21 thread here:
"Jeebh is still absent after his last appearance in episode 16. He doesn't appear at all since then, not even 1 frame. The fact that Jeebh is still nowhere to be seen could mean that he'd likely transform into the 5th Rider or the 6th Rider, since there has been a rumor about Kenzou transforming into KR Bake. Perhaps Jeebh would be one of the normal Granutes who are possessed by Dark Shouma's cells and gets his Gavv corrupted, or perhaps he's the final user of the Henshin Belt Bitter Gavv. That, or he's simply forgotten by the writers due to the super duper hyper mega ultra convoluted plot, haha.:lol Jeebh is supposed to be the person who has the most problems with Shouma due to Shita being killed by Shouma in episode 14, so he should've been consumed by revenge and *wait for it* bitterness. He should've been searching frantically for Shouma to exact his revenge. He should've ordered his agents to search for Shouma and attack him at first sight. Heck, he could've even decided to play dirty by using Sachika as a hostage to lure Shouma out. But that didn't happen. Instead, Jeebh has been completely gone from the story. So yeah, perhaps he's simply forgotten by the writers due to the super duper hyper mega ultra convoluted plot, haha.:lol"

Like I said in my post in episode 22 thread here:
"My only words for Jeebh:
You either die a villain, or live long enough to see yourself become a forgotten villain. The worst fate is not being a dead character, but being a character forgotten by its own writers. *facepalm"

Next week:

Koji will still take Lage 9 to the kabutomushi Granute's crime scene. He says in the preview section @ 23:16 that that channel is an important place. It implies that that channel has some kind of sentimental value to Koji. Perhaps the kabutomushi Granute (or rather, him in his human disguise) was likely his partner in building the Kabuto Dance channel, and the kabutomushi Granute took over that channel for himself later and stole the Kabuto Dance persona. But I think this hypothesis can be easily refuted, because it's strongly implied @ 17:39 that Koji and the kabutomushi Granute has never known each other, since if Koji had known that the kabutomushi Granute's human disguise was the one behind the fake Kabuto Dance persona, then he should've addressed him by his name or at least by his alias/fake name in the human world. So, perhaps my hypothesis in the previous paragraph above about Koji's dumb decision is correct? Don't know!

Hanto will still use the Chocold RG's, likely even after being warned who Kenzou who is pretending to care. Kenzou has consistently shown that he's untrustworthy, yet Hanto still trusts him and allow himself to be used as Kenzou's guinea pig by using the Chocold RG's? Yea, Hanto is as dense and dumb as ever. Him distancing himself from Shouma didn't even make sense. The writers obviously made him do so just because they needed to move the plot.

Oh, and since KR Valen Frappe Custom form was revealed several weeks ago, I have a hypothesis that Hanto could likely finally realize that Kenzou is indeed untrustworthy (duh!), and Nyelv on the other hand would likely offer a help by creating a new copy of Vrastum Gear for him to counter Kenzou's Bake Magnum and say, "See, Hanto? That's how untrustworthy Kenzou is. Here, I give you a Vrastum Gear and the Frappeise RG, and I want you to trust me instead."

Mmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyybbbbbbbbbbeeeeeeeeee...

Shouma says in this episode (and in several previous episodes) that he and his mom ate grasses and the likes, so that sludge was likely mashed grass porridge, not mud. Grasses do have much higher nutritional values, and on the other hand, mud has almost no nutritional values to humans, so if Shouma and his mom ate mud, then they would've died of extreme malnutrition a long time ago, especially his mom.

Interestingly, both Shouma and Hanto suffer from health problems that can be healed by making peace. And yet another Bitter Gavv decided to terrorize the fighters and police, apparently because they ignored the tricks of his older brothers. Although it is quite common for tokusatsu villains to attack martial arts classes.
But the main character in this episode is Lakia. He is even found sleeping on the street, just like Shouma did back in the day. Sachika takes him to work and, not so much overcoming as ignoring the difference in their characters, begins to introduce him to the human world. It seems that she was less persistent with Shouma. This acquaintance, by the way, shows that despite the outward indifference, the loss of his brother is an unhealed wound for Lakia, and therefore it is he who will have to protect the boy from the Granute of the week - the confectioner-vituber.
By the way, I liked how much they put into the scene at the store. There are puddings, a flashback of Lakia, and even a hint that the boy is a real YouTuber. If we talk about the episode as a whole, then this is the first part of the filler, preparing the ground for further events. Not the most delicious, but pleasant enough.
P.S. It's strange that the ice cream cake was not used to create the combined superform.
P.P.S. It’s also strange that if Granute eats stones, then Zomb generally uses people as ingredients instead of sending his agents to get bricks. By the way, in the flashbacks of Lakia, the streets in the world of Granute are paved with paving stones. As I understand it, this is an analogue of grass in our world: you can eat it, but the taste is not very good.

Secondary and tertiary seem to be undergoing a reversal.

Shoma's claim that he has only been eating ice cream lately reminds me of Ankh in OOO. However, the other aspects of Ankh are demonstrated through Rakia being accompanied by the girl who owns the Rider hangout spot helping him act more civilly. Rakia claims to not understand humans at all, and still hope that Rakia will learn about Sachika's own philosophy. Unless this episode quickly wraps up Rakia's journey to integrate with humans in him saving Koji thus he now cares about them already.

Like Shoma before in ep. 23, Sachika also leaves Rakia to manage the humans around him on his own. It's unclear what Rakia did with the injured civilians in ep. 23. Shoma and Sachika's persuasion for Rakia to work for them revolves around providing for his needs on Earth. However, I don't find this convincing enough to turn Rakia into someone as good as they are; being good should mean helping others without expecting anything in return. Besides, rocks are commonly found on the streets, and thus can be eaten without payment.

Shoma claims to intend to go to Rakia’s location when warning him about Koji visiting Kabutodanshi, but the attack from Bitter Gavv causes Shoma to seemingly cancel that plan and instead confront Bitter Gavv. Multiple issues arise: Koji’s potential danger, Bitter Gavv attacking civilians, and Hanto's current state. Granute Le Beet illustrates that the part-timer Granutes aren't necessarily coerced into evil by Stomach Inc.; rather, they are proud to work for them and view Comel as a coward.

For once, Valen performs better than Gavv. Even Gavv's strongest upgrade, Blizzardsorbet, fails to defeat Bitter Gavv due to the form's temporary nature, leading to its quick melting like ice cream left out of the freezer, which de-henshins Gavv. However, Valen, powered by Chocold—who is confirmed to enhance his strength in this episode—successfully defeats Bitter Gavv in a one-on-one battle.

Dunno about blaming Suga for creating a rift between Shoma and Hanto. While it's unclear how long Hanto intends to distance himself from others to process his thoughts, he can easily return to Shoma and the others whenever he chooses, regardless of his reliance on his Gochizos. Ultimately, it is Hanto's decision to withdraw from the main cast, as evidenced by his refusal to contact Sachika. While we don’t know what Suga is getting involved in, manipulating someone doesn’t diminish their agency.

Really like the focus on Lakia, I enjoy seeing him in the spotlight.

VTuber disguise for the Granute is kind of funny. I know creating a PNG is easer, but it would’ve been kind of cool if they would have a real VTuber guest-star. Bandai has work relations with Cover; it isn't entirely out of the question.

Kind of interesting how Shouma still feels unwell and how our new super upgrade fails one episode after it was introduced to a fitting drawback; it will be nice to see our hero figure this out.

Missed opportunity. Blizzard Sorbet is kind of cool (literally), but for me, it doesn't have the emotional value that Caking did, since that was something Shouma and Sachika made together and a product of their friendship that's immortal, compared to the ice cream Sachika made herself in seconds. I think Caking looks more regal and elegant, like it should've been the Super Form instead, but of course it's not recommended right now due to Shouma's poor health.

Just like how Necrom filled in for Specter.

For now, it seems like Lakia's capacity to care about humans depends on them reminding him of himself (for Mitarai) and Comel (for Koji). Weird how Lakia hadn't heard of Vtubers before, since we already know that social media exists in the Granute world. Maybe this is due to the Amargas' poverty that they can't afford internet.

You can't just eat random rocks you find in the street though, due to germs. Probably better to try looking for them in a rural area like Kamen Rider Quarry. I imagine Granutes' digestive systems are like dragons, so the most coveted gourmet rocks could be high pressure gemstones like diamond, which you'd totally need a lot of money to purchase. Humorous how Kohei Shoji went from a character made of rock in Kiramager to a character who eats rocks in Gavv.

Not surprising that Le Beet is stupid enough to insult the deceased Comel in front of his big bro, considering that he admitted to losing his Mimic Key. He committed identity fraud and thinks that not wanting to murder innocents is "chickening out", so I hope Vram takes care of him appropriately.

Chocold increases Valen's stats to rival Gavv in base form, but I'm a little disappointed that dark chocolate got stereotyped as evil, despite being the purest and healthiest flavor of chocolate. Hanto's body should feel better for using it, not worse.

I think it would've been more fitting if Blizzard Sorbet overuse caused brainfreeze.

https://i.imgur.com/n6zNMcv.jpg

I suppose the roughest part of Hanto and Shouma's current friction ought to be how much I don't want to see them apart, but if I'm being totally honest, I'm probably more actively concerned about how the current status quo affects the chances of seeing their base forms regularly.

No PoppinGummy in this one! Technically not the first time that's happened, but it is the first time Gavv has fallen into the pattern of so many Riders before him by jumping straight to whatever the latest power-up is. That's enough reason by itself to hope Shouma gets well soon, surely. Ice cream's great and all, but I want him to be enjoying the full spectrum of delicious treats again as soon as possible, so that *I* can enjoy the full spectrum of Gavv forms in fights that get to use more than one costume.

(I also find it curious that Bitter Gavv only shows up in costume here, by the way? It gives him the vibe of some guest character in a crossover where they couldn't get the actor on set, but like... Shouma is right there? Although I guess if they're trying to avoid overworking Chinen Hidekazu or something, I can't complain.)

Putting aside my eternal concern over base forms, though, I enjoyed this episode for what it was. It's another one from Mouri, and also the kind of episode that's maybe a little tricky to talk about without the context of the back half of the story.

The current big drama between the two main Riders moves forward about an inch, and without Koumura fully involved, I don't expect much more than another inch or two next week. That seems to be part of the mission for guest writers on this series though, so I mostly appreciate that they at least aren't totally stationary. Even though neither character is really the driving force here, little things like Shouma learning the ins and outs of ice cream powers, or Hanto's growing (over)confidence and adorable bad-boy black jacket still give them something to do.

Lakia is the one clearly in the spotlight for this story, and as such, that's definitely where the most interesting things in the episode are. Him filling in for Shouma at work is one of those ideas that immediately sounds so fun I'd be upset if I didn't get to see that at some point. His lack of enthusiasm makes for a great contrast, which here is already amusing, and also leads to a plot that hopefully has something or another interesting to say about Vram as a hero next time. I don't expect to be calling these ones a new highlight for the series anytime soon, but I am excited to see where they're going.

Oh my god, you two. Just kiss and make up already.

Similar to Ghost's Alain focus with Fumi in Sachika's role eh? :p

It does seem to be common among normal people, to only want to care about something that they resonate with or can relate to, like perhaps how often people only want to acknowledge characters if they relate, and think those that they don't understand are bad writing or such. But still, even if it's realistic and relatable, it'd be still bad trait, and Rakia is still not a paragon of virtue after joining Shoma's side for now, of which Gavv likely would be seen as a black and white show, despite being something dark.

True, but dunno if Granutes would resist germs easier than humans or if it's similarly as harmful as them. Humans wouldn't be able to actually eat or digest rocks well, AFAIK.

As some people often only pin the blame on the biggest bad, what they deem as true villain, dunno if Le Beet acting that way would be just blamed on the Stomachs' Dark Treats warping the personality of those who eat them like that.

The stereotypical dark is evil stuff. Should use different type of chocolate then for Chocold.

And yeah, for the team not breaking apart, more lighthearted shows are more likely (but not immune to this) to fulfill this.