[Fish Sandwich]

It feels weird writing about these ones. The stuff I most want to dig into is all kinda right there on the surface, so it ends up feeling like I'm not accomplishing much by just pointing at it all and saying "I liked this"?

Because, you know, I do like these ones. When I was joking about getting Shimo involved for a Christmas Gavv adventure, I didn't actually think Koumura would cede the final two-parter for the year to somebody else, but in terms of the series structure, I'm really glad things worked out the way they did. Koumura does the usual big season finale thing in time with Caking's debut, and the two episodes after that are given to Mouri for a more mellow outing that still does what those end-of-the-year stories are supposed to do by setting up exciting new plot threads, but keeps it more simmering in the background to center instead on a cute little story loosely patterned after a classic holiday tale.

And even that, structure-wise, is super well placed? Just like Kaneko got to play around with Gavv and Valen right before they figured out each other's identities, Mouri gets to do one last outing with Shouma and Hanto as a duo before the Rider dynamic expands to include a third character. No doubt we'll still get plots about the two of them as a pair even after this (especially with Shouma's *other* other identity still being secret), but just as a perfect little snapshot of where Gavv is right now, in this specific moment, it's a nice way to close out 2024.

Which is probably the way to spin it that explains why I feel as satisfied as I do? This episode doesn't have the most creative, intense action or the most layered, surprising drama this show has given us, but the way it's set up means it doesn't really need to have those things to succeed. The background goal of creating intrigue around Lage Nine? It's already extremely clear he's not quite like any other character in the show, without much *else* being clear yet, so mission accomplished there. The foreground goal of telling a smaller, cute story about how people who care about each other work through the occasional argument? It'd almost be harder to mess that up with the chemistry Shouma and Hanto have built, so again, mission accomplished.

It's a rather cozy outing for Gavv all around, which can be just what you're after around the holidays. I mean, at this point, Kamen Rider has somewhat of a reputation for shocking and/or upsetting things happening this time of year, so -- assuming for a second that reputation is 100% earned -- in a way, it could be argued the biggest shock of all is that Gavv was content to keep building the story at the steady pace it has been from the start. But even if that's shocking, I think you'd be hard-pressed to ever call it upsetting.