Kamen Rider Gavv Episode 46- "Shoma's Determination!" Discussion
 

To defeat President Bocca, Shoma must return to the Granute world.

In the scene @ 00:19, when Nyelv is asked by Shouma to return all of Stomach corporation's part-timers in the human world to the Granute world and seal the so-called Door Room, he tells Shouma that he's planning to do it little by little to avoid causing suspicion to Bocca and his regime. He's then asked by Shouma whether he's already prepared his plan to defeat Bocca. Does his plan involve making Shouma cosplay as Nyelv (by copying Nyelv's whole human attire) in order to try to fool Bocca and then strikes him once his guard is down like I hypothesized in my 1st post in episode 45 thread here? Let's see how the story unfolds.

In the scene @ 02:33, Kenzoumbie/KR Bitter Gavv v4.0's Bake Magnum that was supposed to be pathetically destroyed by Lage 9/KR Vram in episode 42 @ 19:44 actually still exists, very likely as another copy made by Nyelv. Nyelv tells Shouma that Kenzoumbie/KR Bitter Gavv v4.0's Bake Magnum is also able to manipulate/mind-control Granutes, albeit having unstable performance and effectiveness, which he claims he has improved. He says that his improvement to Kenzoumbie/KR Bitter Gavv v4.0's Bake Magnum to manipulate/mind-control Granutes only lasts about 3 minutes tops. Shouma concludes that they'll use it on Bocca to temporarily immobilize him and then allow Shouma in his KR Gavv Gochipod form Over/Master modes to kill Bocca, something to which Nyelv has assumed would work since that was how Shouma/KR Gavv defeated Lango Mango in episode 36. And while Shouma/KR Gavv is getting rid of Bocca, Nyelv himself would deal with Liselle and Jeebh. Sooooooooooooooo, this could be the reason why Lango Mango has never shown to anyone that he's still alive since official return to the story in episode 42, except to Sachika who doesn't know who he is anyway. The flow of (dumb) logic is likely this:
- Lango Mango is shown to be still alive at the end of episode 40 arrives and came out of nowhere to comfort Glotta during her dying moment, and officially returns to the story in episode 42.
- No one knows that Lango Mango is still alive, except Sachika who saw him in episode 42 @ 10:16 and wondered where she had seen him before, referring to the scene in episode 11 @ 13:54 when she saw Lango Mango (and felt his creepy aura) at a public pedestrian walkway, so she still doesn't know him anyway. Although, she could likely tell Shouma and the others at the very last minute that she had seen him in episode 42 @ 10:16, but it would be already too late.
- Since Nyelv has erroneously assumed that Lango Mango is still alive and has devised his plan to overthrow Bocca based on that erroneous assumption, then there's a 95-99% probability that it'd miserably fail.
- Like I've said in the 1st paragraph above, Shouma would then cosplay as Nyelv to fool Bocca and execute Nyelv's plan by shooting him with the Nyelv-improved Kenzoumbie/KR Bitter Gavv v4.0's Bake Magnum.
- Like shown in the preview section of episode 45 last week, Shouma/KR Gavv, even in his Gochipod form Over/Master modes will still be overpowered by Bocca in episode 46.
- It means Nyelv's scheme to overthrow Bocca is doomed from the very beginning.

So yeah, like I've previously said, Bocca's endgame is pretty much manipulating the entire Granute society, starting with the aristocrats/wealthy. I'd like to repost my point about it in the 3rd paragraph of my post in episode 43 thread here:
"I think perhaps Bocca's endgame (about transforming the entire human world into a planet-scale Hito Press farm) is part of his ultimate political scheme of manipulating virtually all of Granute's population by using Dark Snacks. Buuuuuttttt, at the beginning of episode 41, it was shown that he already had the dead body of his assassinated political rival whom he said to possess hypnosis power. If Nyelv was able to combine the poor Granute politician's body with Kenzou's body, then he should've been able to combine it with another Granute's body, and then used it to hypnotize the entire Granute population. Which means: Bocca already had all the ingredients to create his ultimate tool of mass hypnosis that he'd ultimately use as his political weapon, without even involving Stomach corporation (except Nyelv) Dark Snacks, kidnapping humans, and all that crap. Bocca's convoluted endgame (about transforming the entire human world into a planet-scale Hito Press farm) is just the same exact plan with 10 extra steps, which of course, will end in Bocca's (and Liselle's) death, haha.:lol:lol:lol
What he should do is:
- Keep the dead body of his assassinated political rival who he said to possess hypnosis power.
- Combine it with another Granute's body.
- Use it to manipulate the entire Granute population.
- Win the election and be the dictator president for the next 100 years.
Instead, what he's actually been doing is:
- Keep the dead body of his assassinated political rival who he said to possess hypnosis power.
- Combine it with a human's body.
- Use it to manipulate the entire human population.
- Use the entire human population as ingredients of Dark Snacks.
- Feed the Dark Snacks to the entire Granute population and manipulate them.
- Win the election and be the dictator president for the next 100 years.
- Of course, his convoluted plan will be screwed up at the last minutes by the protagonists, and it will end in Bocca's (and Liselle's) death.
Instead of winning the election by using a simple, straightforward plan, he's decided to use an uber-convoluted plan that will result in his own death. If this is what'll actually happen in the story, then I can only say:
What a dumb politician Bocca is!:lol:lol:lol"

In the scene @ 03:24, Sachika is showing Hanto and Lage 9 Shouma's thank-you-and-goodbye note. Lage 9 correctly suspects that Shouma is returning to the Granute world by himself. He is then planning to search everywhere in Tokyo, even randomly, for the doors that may lead to the so-called Door Room, which then Hanto and Sachika join in. This is soooooooooooooo weird. The so-called Door Room can only be found and accessed by the members of the Stomach family (including Shouma) and their agents. Lage 9, Hanto, and Sachika are not members of the Stomach family, so how the heck on God's green Earth that they're going to even find the doors that lead to the so-called Door Room?:confused::eyebrow They won't even find any door in Tokyo that actually lead to the so-called Door Room in the first, because in order to find them, they need to be checked/sensed (by probing) and then authorized by a member of the Stomach family (including Shouma) and or their agents. Even if they stand in front of a door that actually lead to the so-called Door Room, they won't even know that since it can only be sensed by a member of the Stomach family (including Shouma) and or their agents. This means: As usual in this atrocious story, they would very very very likely find it in a very very very convenient coincidence. This is what happens when my story and its internal logic is super-duper-hyper-mega-ultra convoluted. In the end, the laws of logic, rationality, and common sense will prevail and force me to use a gazillion of very very very convenient coincidences and or stupid/irrational/nonsensical decisions by the characters to connect the plot points, which means that my story is super-duper-hyper-mega-ultra convoluted, messy, and heavy-handed. Gosh, the writers of this pathetically, laughably, embarrassingly, indefensibly lazy, sloppy, heavy-handed, and atrocious story reaaaaalllllyyyyy loved shooting themselves in the foot.:lol:lol:lol

In the scene @ 04:32, Shouma can't believe that he returns to the very same room inside Bouche's mansion where he and his mom were house arrested for about the first 20-25 miserable, dumb years of his life. The green screen/image compositing looks off and weird there, haha.:lol He's reminded of the scene where they were talking about returning to the human world and being hApPy there. There that cringe-inducing word again: hApPy/hApPiNeSs. hApPy/hApPiNeSs is just sooooooooo cringey because they're not happiness. hApPy/hApPiNeSs is just the shallowest of the shallowest of the shallowest ways to attain happiness, and it's very very very evident from the sheer, gigantic, colossal shallowness and stupidity of this atrocious story.

In the scene @ 06:07, in a very strange, very obvious infodump monologue, Nyelv says that although he does intend to return the Hito Pressed humans to the human world, he still has some stocks of Dark Snacks that were manufactured before his deal with Shouma in episode 45 last week. he's planning to use those Dark Snacks to manipulate the Granute society into electing Shouma as the president. A flashback scene plays where his kid-self was talking to Zomb. He was talked down by Zomb by being called weak like his mom (Bouche's wife, who probably died of sickness a long time ago and is totally irrelevant to the story). He was also called useless by Zomb and told to follow the examples of Lango Mango and Glotta. This flashback scene shows that he's long resented Zomb and has since determined to use the Dark Snacks to put the Stomach family at the top of the Granute society's pecking order. He's then visited by Liselle and Jeebh who asks him to show the progress of Bocca's plan (his endgame to invade the human world and transforming it into a planet-scale Hito Press farm) and the data from Jeebh's battle training in episode 43. He then directs them to his lab/workshop which is located in separate room. This is likely where he's dealing with (read: distract) Liselle and Jeebh.

In the scene @ 07:28, Shouma is preparing his attire as a Nyelv cosplayer, haha.:lol An RG which was at Nyelv's office several moments earlier then comes to give him a signal which likely means that Nyelv has also just begin executing his part of the deal to distract Liselle and Jeebh.

In the scene @ 07:49, Hanto, Lage 9, and Sachika are trying to open random doors in Tokyo to see whether they lead to the so-called Door Room. And yes, like I've said above (and a gazillion times before, haha:lol:lol:lol): God forbid, as usual in this atrocious story, in a very very very convenient coincidence, in the scene @ 07:57, Sachika does find it when she sees one of Nyelv's agents transporting several part-timers back into the Granute world via the so-called Door Room. This scene is not only atrociously convenient, but also dumb because the agent is doing it at a public place, not at a private place controlled by Stomach corporation, such as Jebbh/Liselle's villa and various Hito Press collection points. Out of nowhere, Lango Mango appears and unmasks the Granute who was newly-trafficked in episode 44. The Granute recognizes Lango Mango even in his human disguise and is grateful that he's still alive, and when Lango Mango asks him what the heck is going on, he can only tell him that it was Nyelv who instructed the part-timers to return to the Granute world. So yeah, this scene it uber-atrocious and uber-convenient because it easily gives 2 pieces of crucial information to Sachika at once: The location of a door that lead to the so-called Door Room, and the fact that Lango Mango is still alive.

In the scene @ 09:04, Sachika the heroine-with-virtually-no-backstory-except-2-mundane-facts-that-she-has-a-filthy-rich-grandma-and-that-she-lives-in-the-same-apartment-complex-as-Ritsu is trying to confront Lango Mango and tells him that she's Shouma's friend. She's upset at Lango Mango for killing the part-timer, albeit having already been told an intel about Nyelv's plan. Lango Mango's answer if bafflingly idiotic: He killed the part-timer because he says that the poor part-timer was trying to kill him despite knowing that he's Lango Mango the stupidest CEO villain, and since he's the CEO, he can do whatever he wants to his workers who he sees as mere disposable pawns. It upsets Sachika even more because she thinks that she's also a CEO that employs Shouma, and she starts her usual shallow, naive lecture about the CEO's responsibility of the hApPiNeSs of the employees and customers.

In the scene @ 10:05, Hanto and Lage 9 arrive at the scene to calm down Sachika the heroine-with-virtually-no-backstory-except-2-mundane-facts-that-she-has-a-filthy-rich-grandma-and-that-she-lives-in-the-same-apartment-complex-as-Ritsu, while Lango Mango is warning them that Shouma is being manipulated and used as a pawn by Nyelv in his scheme to overthrow Bocca. I asked above how Lage 9/Hanto/Sachika would open the door to access the so-called Door Room since they're not members of the Stomach family (including Shouma) and or their agents, and the answer is in the scene @ 10:37 when Lango Mango himself authorize the door and leave it open to allow Lage 9/Hanto/Sachika to access the so-called Door Room. This means that Lango Mango is also manipulating them and using them as pawns in his conflict with Nyelv and Bocca, like Lage 9 says later @ 11:54 before he and Hanto are entering the so-called Door Room.

In the scene @ 11:04, Shouma is entering the so-called Door Room to go to Bocca's presidential palace, and introduces himself as Nyelv Stomach to one of the guard Butlers (Bocca's agents). Bocca asks Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer (haha:lol) whether his consultation has anything to do with his endgame to invade the human world and transforming it into a planet-scale Hito Press farm, and Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer answers that he's just asking for additional budget and shows Bocca the data on Nyelv's tablet.

In the scene @ 12:59, Hanto and Lage 9 who are inside the so-called Door Room are randomly trying to find a door that leads to a corridor in the Granute world. Not sure what corridor they're talking about. Perhaps one inside the Stomach mansion.

In the scene @ 13:09, Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer is shooting Bocca with the Nyelv-improved Kenzoumbie/KR Bitter Gavv v4.0's Bake Magnum to hypnotize him and tries to attack Bocca who is supposedly hypnotized. Yep, my hypothesis last week at the end of my 1st post in episode 45 thread here is proven to be 100% correct in this scene. Nyelv's plan does ultimately involve making Shouma cosplay as Nyelv (by copying Nyelv's whole human attire) in order to try to fool Bocca and then strike him once his guard is down. This scene is just another evidence (among a gazillion other ones) of how pathetically, laughably, embarrassingly, indefensibly lazy, sloppy, heavy-handed, and atrocious KR (God forbid) Gavv's story is. Nyelv's plan has proved that he's as shallow and stupid as Lango Mango is, so I'd like to repost my point about it in my 1st post in episode 45 thread here:
"Doesn't Bocca even notice that he's a completely different guy?:confused::eyebrow:confused::eyebrow:confused::eyebrow I've always asked: why the heck has Nyelv been wearing his human disguise in the Granute world almost the entire time?:confused::eyebrow Why the heck hasn't he just shown his true Granute form in the Granute world?:confused::eyebrow The answer is likely: Plot convenience, as always in this atrocious story. Shouma, being a human-Granute hybrid, doesn't have a Granute form, so he needs to cosplay as Nyelv (by copying Nyelv's whole human attire) in order to try to fool Bocca and then strikes him once he lets his guard down. If this is indeed Nyelv's plan to take down Bocca, then I was 1000000000000000% totally wrong about him, because it means that Nyelv is as shallow and stupid as Lango Mango is."

Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer/KR Gavv in his Gochipod form Over/Master modes is trying to attack Bocca. Bocca initially thinks that Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer is the real Nyelv, but when he transforms into KR Gavv, he's just realized that Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer is just Shouma the Aka Gabu, which he says because he can't tell humans apart. Helllllllllloooooooooo, Bocca???:confused::eyebrow Nyelv is a Granute, not a human, so hasn't it occurred in your dumb mind that the fact that Nyelv always insists on wearing his Mimic Key/human disguise all the frakkin' time even in the Granute world means that he's very likely plotting something against you?:confused::eyebrow:confused::eyebrow:confused::eyebrow Heck, even I, Zolda, a mere human with peanut-sized brain was already able to read pretty much the whole writing on the wall since a week ago(!) in episode 45. My Lord in heaven, this atrocious story is just sooooooooooooooooooo chock-full of brain dead, stupid, idiotic characters, be it the protagonists, the villains, the weekly guest characters/kaijins of the week, or even the background characters/extras. Long story short, Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer/KR Gavv, even in his Gochipod form Over/Master modes, is still overpowered by Bocca. The fight scene is nice, but what's the point of nice-looking, well-choreographed fight scenes when the underlying story is pathetically, laughably, embarrassingly, indefensibly lazy, sloppy, heavy-handed, and atrocious? All credits go to the hard-working directors/action directors/suit actors/etc, and none to the writers.

In the scene @ 15:58, Hanto and Lage 9 who were inside the so-called Door Room several moments ago manage to find the door that leads not to a corridor inside the Stomach mansion in the Granute world, but to the path to Bocca's presidential palace. As usual in this atrocious story, in a very very very convenient coincidence, out of a gazillion of random, non-descript doors inside the so-called Door Room, Hanto and Lage 9 manage to find one door they're looking for by randomly trying several among a gazillion of doors. Even the writers managed to give themselves the cheat code to enter God mode and manipulate statistics, haha.:lol What an atrociously lazy writing. Several short walks outside, they manage to find the location of Bocca's presidential palace when they see the ruckus caused by the fight between Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer/KR Gavv in his Gochipod form Over/Master modes and Bocca the stupidest politician villain. Lage 9/KR Vram and Hanto/KR Valen arrive at the right time @ 18:42 to shield (see what I did there? Haha.:lol) Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer/KR Gavv who is about to be finished off by Bocca.

In the scene @ 19:40, Bocca visits visits Nyelv's lab/workshop to kick his ass and finds that Liselle and Jeebh are also there. Nyelv is of course surprised when he sees that Bocca's nice white suit is still white as ever, haha.:lol Well, Nyelv, I can only say to you: Surprise surprise, sucker!:lol:lol:lol Even I, a mere human with peanut-sized brain, was already able to read pretty much your whole scheme since a week ago(!) in episode 45. Congratulations, Nyelv! You've just demonstrated that you're as shallow and stupid as Lango Mango is!:lol A painful, torturous punishment from Bocca is likely waiting for you, Nyelv.

In the scene @ 20:15, Lage 9/KR Vram and Hanto/KR Valen manage to take Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer/KR Gavv back from the Granute world and fend off several Butlers in pursuit. And yep, like I hypothesized last week in episode 45 thread here, Sachika the heroine-with-virtually-no-backstory-except-2-mundane-facts-that-she-has-a-filthy-rich-grandma-and-that-she-lives-in-the-same-apartment-complex-as-Ritsu is giving a speech and scolding Shouma the Nyelv cosplayer for not trying to share his burden/duty with the other protagonists. And of course, as usual, it's accompanied with her cringey speech/lecture about hApPiNeSs.

End of episode, haha.:lol

Next week:

Bocca is commencing his endgame.

Jeebh and Liselle are unleashing many copies of the Dark Shoumas' RG's in the human world. What are those for?

Lage 9 are encountering many humans who are seemingly blissfully hApPy. Perhaps this is the effect of Bocca's endgame, which like I hypothesized in my 1st post in episode 42 thread here could use the bigger, much more powerful version of Kenzoumbie's hypnotizing Bake Magnum. Perhaps it's some kind of broadcast antenna to mind-control the humans, which works in reverse of the Riddler's Remote Encephalogram Stimulator Box aka NygmaTech Box in Batman Forever (1995)?:confused::eyebrow Don't know!

Nyelv says he's also afraid of his own life. Perhaps this is the moment that he's finally realized that he's just Bocca's pawn all along.

So, in this episode, Nyelv and Shouma plan to eliminate Bokka. To do this, they use Sugi's hypnotizing gun (which, as it turns out, does not work on Granutes for long, which explains the defeat of Bokka's political rival), then hit him with the full power of Over Mode and, not without the help of Dark Treats, make Shouma president. Nyelv seems to be honest with his brother.
He distracts Liesel and Jeebh and even recalls the temporary workers from the human world. We also get Nyelv`s flashback. An interesting detail is that while the rest of Stomatch were traumatized by their father's neglect, in his case it was his grandfather who was to blame. This explains and emphasizes his detachment from his siblings.
But in any case, the assassination attempt on the president fails miserably.
Bocca was concerned about the antidote, and without hypnosis, Gavv was no match for him even in his strongest form. And although Master Mod's super speed and Bocca's habit of shifting most of the fighting onto the minions gave the audience a spectacular battle, Shouma didn't stand a chance. By the way, it's interesting that the stingy, but effective and very powerful fighting style of President Granutes resembles Vram. Fortunately, Shouma's friends do not shed tears, but act. Sachika encounters Lango again and finally learns who he is. After a squabble over their different understanding of the responsibility of the company's leader, Lango decides to simply open the passage, thus intervening without actively participating. And Valen and Vram arrive just in time to save the defeated Shouma.
There is a touching reunion in the human world, and Shouma admits that his happiness matters too.
The preview is quite interesting, as it shows the Riders' confrontation with Nyelv. It looks like the main smart guy Stomatch will either die or be reunited with Lango. Liesel also spreads dark Gochizo...em, another version of dark Gochizo. Well, I wonder how our heroes will cope with all this.

The devastating defeat of the final form.

The backstory of Nyelv is shown, where he's dismissed by his grandfather Zomb for being useless and not being like Lango and Glotta. So, he also got a tragic backstory, and for at least Nyelv, his villainy is due to Zomb, not Bouche, wanting to prove Zomb wrong about his capabilities. It's not something from Komura (Bima-X), but the next Bima, Bima-S animation, also features someone not as strong wanting to prove himself with his intellect, but it's a good guy rather than a bad guy.

It can feel that Nyelv is trapping Shoma, but it seems that Nyelv really overestimates himself and Shoma, thinking to just hypnotize Bocca and have Shoma destroy him with his final form. Nyelv has a sinister plan to use the Dark Treats against Granutes to control them, but it's still to benefit Shoma in securing Shoma's position. Hanto obviously would feel this way, which seems to be a good reason why Shoma wouldn't consult others to do this.

Lango actually knows about Nyelv's plan, but he's tolerant of Nyelv working together with Shoma, as even he knows that eliminating Bocca is more important to him, hoping for that to happen, which seems to be why he lets Sachika, Hanto, and Rakia go. But he still confronts a part-timer who follows Nyelv's orders and executes him, which seems contradictory, and got me to think he didn't know about Nyelv's plan.

Nyelv seemingly fighting Shoma in the next episode preview can seem to be easily interpreted as him backstabbing Shoma, which is expected, with Shoma also suspecting him that when he defeats Bocca, but it should be consistent that even for being depraved villains, Lango and Nyelv aren't onboard with Bocca, and that this can be about scheming against Bocca. Jeebh still doesn't fully know about what's happening right now, like Nyelv not answering for his battle data.

I guess Sachika retains her reckless methods in confronting bad guys, in both Hanto and Rakia when confronting Lango or entering the Granute World. But it's good for her to feel sympathy for the part-timer whom Lango executed, not limiting her vow to make everyone happy for Shoma. Though she focuses on ensuring that the main Riders are also happy, in both Shoma and Rakia, despite them potentially sacrificing themselves, as making everyone happy should include them too.

For tension, Over/Master Gavv loses against Bocca, though most of the onscreen fight is against Bocca's agents. Like Lango before, Bocca is about force fields, but is colored blue and is further from his body compared to Lango, and he can also fire beams, small or big ones. Vram aura farmed here to manage to hold on to Bocca's attacks by shielding the cast. Valen carries the MC (literally), but Vram carries the escape.

I think it's more down the middle. He was piecing together Nyelv's plan, but he needed the verification from the part timer to truly get it.
Since in the last episode, all he really saw was Nyelv drop off the human presses and then Shouma and Nyelv enter through a gateway together, so he didn't know the entirety of the plan.

Based on Nyelv's line "I value my own life, too" it's evident that it's less of a backstab and more Nyelv was given the ultimatum of kill Shouma or die.

https://i.imgur.com/J5L41KJ.jpg

I didn't actually expect the plan itself to last more than the single episode it did.

There's sort of a temptation there, for me at least, where I *do* kinda wanna see the grand dramatic irony of Shouma dressing up as a "proper" member of the Stomach family played out as a longer arc, but it's admittedly difficult to imagine that version of events being as true to the characters. It's just not that kind of show? Of course Shouma's determination to abandon his life in the human world immediately blows up in his face, because that decision meant abandoning everything that makes him strong. That's what this episode is here to reinforce -- the ultimate victory of Kamen Rider Gavv can only come if Shouma is happy at the end. Which is maybe the real trick of this one's title, as Shouma's actual determination by the end is a reaffirmation of what he really wanted the whole time.

It's a strong character moment, in an episode full of them. A lot of them with Shouma, naturally. Seeing him revisit that room we've seen so much of in flashbacks was pretty great, especially for how the way he swallows his feelings there acts as a particularly nice contrast to that ending scene. I'm not sure if we've ever actually seen Shouma openly crying like that at all before? Usually, no matter how sad he gets, the tears stay bottled up, so it seems pretty significant for this to happening here and now, in this specific context. It's a level of detail I appreciate, just like how Sachika headbutting Shouma is filmed in a way where it's so clearly more affectionate than it is angry. Or how that letter from Shouma says out loud that Sachika is his hero, using the exact word, because I've felt since the second episode that's an extraordinarily important conceit to this series. Sachika confronting Lango was also pretty great, on that note! Amazing way to bring some levity to the episode, because underneath that jokey tone of the scene is the underlying notion that Lango is secretly at least as much of an archnemesis and foil to Sachika as he is to Shouma, which is funny, but again, also maybe kinda important on a thematic level. Plus, on top of all that, this episode offers some fun buddy cop shenanigans with Hanto and Lakia, while also making the time for a flashback sequence that helps illuminate why Nyelv might have the relative soft spot he seems to at times for those others in his family would write off as weak. (Although the emphasis there is on it being a *relative* soft spot, of course.)

All in all, it's an episode that's about as packed to the gills as I think anyone could ask out of one so close to the end. And apparently, for Sugihara's work directing Gavv, this actually *was* the end (on TV), which is pretty crazy to think about! Finales tend to really benefit from the energy of pilot directors signing off on the shows they got off the ground to begin with, so it's sad for that to apparently not be the case with Gavv.

On the bright side, though, it seems like a lot of that sort of energy simply ended up going into this episode. Not only in all that aforementioned human drama, but also in the absolutely insane action sequences that are about as Sugihara as Sugihara can currently be. It's admittedly maybe a bit incongruous to have the insert theme playing and everything when the larger point of the narrative is that Shouma isn't making the right choice by being there to begin with, but even then, it's not like the action doesn't support the story. You're watching Master Mode dash around with the power of shots made of like five million individual elements composited together, playing up its speedy shtick as much as possible... in stark contrast to the villain Gavv is trying to stop, who notably barely needs to move at all. It's a visual spectacle to behold, and it's one with purpose, to boot, whether it's playing out against the backdrop of a CG environment we're seeing from all sorts of new angles, or in a nighttime forest with the moodiest lighting imaginable. All of it was no doubt a ton of extra work to put together, but the results speak for themselves.

A contrast to Bouche's decision to bring a weak human and Granute in to the family, so it certainly makes sense that Nyelve would hold him in higher regard than the callous Zombu.

Gavv met his Master and his winning streak was Over.

I think Vram A La Mode Mode is the most OP Final Form in the show. The least flashy, sure, but having a shield that can block the strongest attacks and an immortal Gochizou are useful as hell.

Pretty much. His arc seems to going exactly the same way as Cubal's in Zyuohger. The cunning mastermind played his last card too soon and now he has nothing left but loyalty to barter with. At least, Nyelve can try and prove Zombu wrong, or die trying.

In any case, it seems that Nyelve can likely be eliminated from the list of final boss candidates at this point. So now I'm thinking, either the obvious Bocca, or the underdog Jeep, whose combat data was only slightly below Shouma's. It would be kind of fitting for the twins to be both the first and last to fall.