[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kiwami

I love these characters man, they are so good. Sachika is the champion, never doubted even once. And Hanto is just as real; to come around and face one’s mistakes isn’t easy. Plus, I like to see how Shouma now has the confidence to properly tell Hanto everything, as evident by him telling Hanto about meeting his mother.

Sachika is also the reason why Hanto ends up facing his mistakes, because of her calling him out. And also even Rakia.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

As mentioned before, Sachika was smart enough to see through Niwa's catfish scam, so she'd probably be immune to such Disney plot twist villains and love at first sight. She's already known Shouma for almost 6 months, so she can vouch for him being a genuinely good guy and correctly deduce that what's shown on social media is not what it looks like.

As what I've said in my posts, I do compare/treat Sachika similarly as most of the main Riders (which I also wish that the fandom will see another females that has all-loving type of personality the same as those main Riders too), which unfortunately for KR franchise, do often have this type being portrayed as having unwavering belief to others particularly their loved ones, which also usually translates to naivety. Do you view Sachika differently as for example, people like Shinji by this? Because I do want to differentiate what's the difference of someone having full faith on people but the ones that are naive (though tbf, it can be hard to figure out one's true colors) and isn't. Those kind of Disney plot twist villains are often the charismatic villains that as what you said, hide their true selves to deceive others and gain good publicity, allowing them to be transparent and get away with doing bad deeds behind the scenes and turn people against the heroes.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Good to see Shouma finally being comfortable about being honest to Hanto, even volunteering information about his flashback to Sae. I agree that Hanto was wrong for having prejudice, but between his own critical thinking and interaction with Sachika and Lakia, he proves that he's still a good person who won't hold on to bad thoughts when he understands that he was wrong. I still think this could've been prevented if Shouma revealed it sooner, before the thoughts of prejudice developed.

People are praising Gavv here for not doing the misunderstanding trope, which you may agree, but I guess what you said here still sounds like a misunderstanding, but ofc you like Faiz (and Shoma and Hanto hiding each other's identity gives me Takumi and Yuuji vibes). I really understand why Shoma doesn't reveal his identity to Hanto, which is why I put more blame on Hanto for having an actual dark trait which got resolved here (he already had the prejudice thoughts since Soji's death, it's about all Granutes not what he plans for Shoma). I really relate to Shoma here, where I'm so closed-off and secretive, not wanting to reveal more/enough detail when I'm asked or wanting to convey something, because I fear about what others would react or do to other people following it (I guess, like Hanto telling Sachika to reject Shoma, for Gavv comparison here).

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I'd imagine a lot of people will like this episode simply because they're happy to see a misunderstanding in Kamen Rider cleared up so quickly, but I think that superficial joy risks missing what actually makes the story work. It's not a matter of if it avoids the kinds of themes and character dynamics you might see elsewhere; what's important is that it stays so true to the themes and character dynamics of Gavv.

And about what people praise here, this'd be what a handful of people consider a good and a right way to write stories/characters, where the misunderstanding part would be what they consider a bad writing and contrived drama. You're a Faiz fan too, but I wonder what actually counts as a bad writing, and what counts as a misunderstood work where it's more of people not getting it. I know you do usually defend unpopular stuff, and I can have a similar feeling of being conflicted if something bad is actually bad or people not understanding it (can sound snobby, but dunno).

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Sachika is the person to look at if you want to know what I mean by all this. (As she so often is!) There's a simple relief to seeing her refuse to give up her faith in Shouma after last week's revelations, but that by itself doesn't actually move the drama *forward*. Where that comes from is how specific an angle the show finds to have Sachika express her feelings, with her instead being explicitly upset with Hanto. Trusting a friend is one thing, but Sachika shows an immense consideration for Shouma's own perspective on top of that, and both of those things are key to how Hanto ultimately makes amends with Shouma.

Sachika is someone exactly similar to the goody two shoes kind of main Riders, her goal is to make everyone happy. So she should act the same as those main Riders too where they often want to put their full faith on other people. Then again, obviously her putting faith on Shoma is the right way, where those main Riders are often criticized and getting their kindness seen as naive, when they put their faith on someone audience find unlikable, or especially if they put a misplaced faith.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Last week, he was smart enough to step back and try to view things objectively, but that was also part of what led to him being fooled by Bitter Gavv. What he learns from Sachika here is that it's still important to think about those subjective viewpoints too, which leads first to him understanding his own feelings better, and realizing why he instinctively got in Vram's way.

And even Rakia also called out Hanto about attempting to kill Shoma after finding out his identity. Rakia is a worse person who's still uncaring about humans, which is why even though Rakia's lecture is shorter of telling Hanto that he sucks, it's probably more embarassing to be in the wrong compared to a supposed permanently villainous species that Hanto accuses Shoma and Rakia of being in the same league together.