[Fish Sandwich]

I really appreciate how much this episode makes time for a lot of basic joys in the action, even with everything else going on.

Multitasking in general seems to be a particular strong suit of Gavv as a whole, but moving into the new year with Rider shows, as my post on the last episode reflects, I always start dreading once the powerups and the plot developments start kicking into high gear that a lot of the little things will quickly fall by the wayside.

By the standards that have been set over the years, it's extra credit that this one makes time to give both Fuwamallow and ZakuZakuChips distinct beats in the climactic fight where they make use of their unique abilities in creative and fun ways. They don't need to have that much screentime if they use what little they get to stand out, and if they stand out with what little they get, they don't need that much screentime, so you can put plenty of different suits in a single fight. It definitely seems like Gavv understands this the same way it understands the importance of the base form, so I really hope both of those things continue to be true of this show well beyond this point.

I also appreciated the basic joy of Gavv doing the cool catchphrase again, which is one of those things that's occasionally struggled to find a place in episodes where Shouma is hanging out with Hanto. Totally understandable, since it's very much *not* Valen's attitude, but Gavv offering a choice to the monster like that was something that made me want to share my thoughts on the show to begin with -- something I think defines the whole series -- so obviously I'm always that much happier when there's room for it.

And there would be room for it in an episode like this, because the action is far from the only thing that effortlessly makes room for loads of different things to matter all at once. Man, even just the quick beat of Shouma thinking back to when he killed Siita has quite a few layers going on when you stop to consider what the assumptions he's making there say about his own sense of guilt versus the reality of how much the rest of the Stomach Family besides Jiip actually seem to care about the loss.

And it's just sorta like that for most things going on here, which means, as usual, I'm not going to be digging into most of it that much. The biggest topic I'd want to at least touch on is that it's just as nice a showing for the other two Riders. I especially loved how Valen lands the only good hit on Vram that anyone manages so far the way he does, because that's a really cool way to convey Lage Nine's deeper motivations. Kinda sad and funny to think this is already the third time we've had a cliffhanger of Gavv stumbling upon Hanto laying on the ground beaten half to death though! Poor guy is here just trying to be a solid friend and a good kouhai and he always seems to get "rewarded" like this. It's like the dude is just fated to suffer or something!