[Fish Sandwich]

I haven't taken time out to mention him yet, but this week seems like a perfect spot to say -- Hanto seems like a real swell guy.

His actor brings a charming energy to the role, and Koumura's scripts have smartly fleshed the character out over the past month without making his role in any given episode so big that it detracts from the focus on Shouma. We've already established an obvious parallel in their backstories with them both losing their mothers to the Granute, but their situations and their personalities clearly aren't the exact same either, so I'm looking forward to how that'll develop over the course of the show.

Right now though, it's simply nice to see someone giving the Kamen Rider the credit he deserves, right when he probably needed it most. Thus far, Shouma has always been quick to retreat whenever he's made to feel his presence may in any way cause trouble for the people around him, and the way he lets those fears drive his actions left him starting this episode pretty much at rock bottom, beginning to believe that making someone happy is just another way he'll end up hurting them.

The big infodump about Shouma's father by way of his granduncle gives us a ton of important backstory, formally introducing two new characters in the process, and even firmly establishing Gavv's old-school roots as a Rider, but just as important as any of that, it also reinforces how Shouma has all these painful, probably pretty complicated feelings he's been carrying with him his entire life, and while he's always eager to help others, it's only really here I think we see him actively start pushing against that sorrow, and considering his own happiness as something worth fighting for in the same way.

He's already starting to grasp that after realizing how absurd it is to let the bad guys convince him bringing joy to others is somehow the real crime here, but I have to imagine those words from Hanto are what really cemented Shouma's newfound resolve. It's the now usual routine of Gavv saving people, getting called a monster, and then meekly leaving without refuting the claim, except this time, Hanto says what Shouma still won't -- what Shouma probably wants to say, deep down. So instead, Shouma simply says "thank you" before he leaves, which was a wonderfully downplayed moment. I really enjoyed that Shouma's big moment of bravery in this one, more than anything during the action, ends up being his decision to go back to Sachika. It's good that he won't let the villains deny him his happiness, but it's great that he's trying not to deny himself anymore.