[Fish Sandwich]

Yeah, the belt is going to take some getting used to. From a merchandising perspective, it's convenient for Valen fans who are also Vram fans, I guess, but on a visual storytelling level, I'm still having trouble accepting it. In terms of the show's lore and all that, it admittedly more than checks out, but I can't help getting a little hung up on how Hanto's new transformation device is a straight copy of something made by the other mad scientist responsible for Valen's tragic origin. Or, heck, wait -- maybe that's actually better than if it was something completely new? Gonna have to think on this one some more!

At any rate, everything else about this episode is pretty much perfect.

The thing is, while I'm banging on about the specific belt Hanto is now wearing, none of that is more important than the overall visual symbolism of Valen now having any transformation belt, or the imagery of Hanto on a motorcycle, for that matter. The whole story is essentially graduation day for Hanto, with him finally breaking free of everything that's had him shackled to become a true Kamen Rider in a way he maybe wasn't before.

And those shackles are about more than just Suga's literal manipulations, too! There are so many layers to this episode I'm struggling to organize my thoughts on it. There's also this whole thing where it's this very Gavv theme of Hanto overcoming a sort of deeply internalized... like, is a lack of self-worth an accurate thing to call it? It's a lot like what Shouma was going through really early on the series, where Hanto's life experiences have pushed him to this place where he can't see his own value -- can't see how it can be okay for him to even just... be, and the heroic triumph in the end is also about forgiving himself for things he wouldn't even be hung up on if he weren't so obviously a good person who deserves the chance he eventually takes to continue pursuing happiness.

Plus, all that of course dovetails with the way the rift between Shouma and Hanto finally resolves, and *that's* more brilliant than I know how to even dig into as well. Shouma giving Hanto this big pep talk and Hanto -- as true to this show as possible -- has the empathy to immediately realize that the pain he's currently feeling inside is pretty much exactly what Shouma has gone through, and how that's sort of the big key that lets him finally move on from the revelations of his mother's death in a way logic alone couldn't accomplish. So then we get this big climax where a scene that would usually be the character getting the power-up helplessly tackling the newest bad guy by themselves instead has both of them getting smacked around by Bake untransformed, because the lesson for Hanto here is so much about being able to lean on the people who care about you.

It's the imagery once again doing so much to emphasize the story being told, and just as much as the story itself, I was constantly being impressed by that throughout the episode. I lead off by questioning the belt, but I mean, the new Gochizo being two brothers is kinda more perfect than the people who came up with that as a fun toy gimmick probably realized at the time? Even just Hanto's hair is underscoring the way this one sorta peels away his whole exterior to show you the man underneath down to his core. Man, and I'm not even gonna get to dig into Suga's whole side of the story right now! With all the hidden motivations and the way he basically ruins his body without a second thought just because of how much those goals mean to him, and like... the Vram/Bitter Gavv scene is one of the best parts of this whole episode, and it doesn't even have to do with Valen!

Again, they really nailed this thing to the wall, as far as I'm concerned. I'm probably not doing a great job explaining any one thing here, but that's because it's like half a year of plot threads and narrative themes all culminating so beautifully in an end-of-a-chapter type episode that lands everything back at Sugihara once again evoking the final shots of the opening, and the friendship between the main characters associated with it. Like I said back when that happened at the end of 8 -- it's hard to keep a post snack-sized when there's this much going on in a story! This was a very thoughtfully constructed episode of a generally very thoughtful series!