[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Zolda

In the opening monologue, Hanto says that the rumor about the existence of Granutes has recently spread among the public. Does this mean that the Granutes have only recently kidnapped humans and turned them into Dark Snacks? From the sparse pieces of info that have been spreading in social media, it does look like the kidnappings have only happened recently in less than a year. Hanto also said in previous episodes that he had only recently acquired the crucial leads about the event that happened to him 18 years ago, so he confirmed that the kidnappings have only happened recently. Or have they done it since a long time ago, at least since the elusive, feral Wolf Granute kidnapped Hanto's mom 18 years ago?

Surprising to hear Hanto doing the narration this time instead of Shouma. This is a more Hanto-focused episode, so it's cool to hear some of his perspective on recent events. The casual way he opens with "Yo, sup!" and how he talks about his investigation progress is a quick and effective way to distinguish him from Shouma, who's more reserved and doesn't have a clear goal other than taking care of the MOTW.

Intriguing to learn that Hitopressing is apparently a new invention to make abducting humans more discreet and yet despite that discretion, the Granutes have instead become more notorious now than when they were attacking kids' mothers in public. We also learn that the red Gavv is a one-of-a-kind creation, which means that Shouma somehow got it from the Granute Wolf, or.... No, he couldn't be, right?

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Hanto meeting Suga is a jackpot for him, where Hanto can learn more about the species of his mother's murderer. And as a toku scientist, it's expected that Suga would be really useful, successfully developing a countermeasure against the Granutes, storing a Gochizo that seems like it will be used for Valen's debut. Like George before, Suga uses English phrases like "yes," and for now, Soji is suspicious of him.

Suga is portrayed by the young-looking 48 year-old Asanuma Shintarou, who previously voiced my favorite character Juran in Zenkaiger. He seems like a pretty cool and smart guy, but I totally get why Shioya would be cautious of these eccentric scientist types, considering how George ended up as the final villain. I like that Shioya isn't telling Hanto a hard "no", just saying he should investigate properly before trusting Suga. It's tempting to bet everything on a hot lead after 18 years of searching, but Hanto needs to play this right.

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Originally Posted by Sunred

This. The Showa-esque elements are quite strong so far. Heck, even Hanto's whole backstory gave me V3 vibes.

Shioya refers to himself as a foster father, so it sounds like Hanto's father is dead as well. Hanto better take care of his little sister then.

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Originally Posted by EpsilonX

I watched this live on TV in Japan today without ever having seen another episode and without knowing enough Japanese to understand most of it. Here's my thoughts:

- It seems like the main guy is in hiding? And he doesn't want people to find out his secret identity? But looks like the villains know who he is...

Similar to Houtarou with the GotcharDriver, Stomach are after Shouma for his red Gavv, but they're also after happy humans for their high quality spice. So this gives Shouma several reasons to keep a secret identity.

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Originally Posted by EpsilonX

- It seems like he's still learning to be a Kamen Rider?

Yep, his first henshin was in Episode 1. Geats is currently the only Reiwa Primary Rider to start with experience.

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Originally Posted by EpsilonX

- Those two girls look like they're meant to be twins but they didn't care enough to find people who look even remotely similar

Twins aren't always identical, y'know. Just look at Ricky and Cutannar.

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Originally Posted by FairyKing

And the poor little motorcycle-launching attack got to be useful this time! A little bit! I mean, it didn't do any actual damage, but it disarmed one agent and briefly distracted the other, so that's better than nothing! ... I'm guessing the writers really hate that gimmick.

The good old Inoue Toshiki method of integrating gimmicks in to the story.... Don't!

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Originally Posted by gashatfreak

His mother's actually dead! There's no 'they can still be saved later' shtick, she's actually 100% unambiguously dead. And so are the other human victims.

Of course, this is Kamen Rider, after all. The last 3 protagonists having living parents were outliers, so Gavv should remind people that dead parents are actually expected in this franchise.