[Fish Sandwich]

I know we've collectively sort of fallen out of the habit of making dedicated threads for movie discussion around here, but I've always thought that was unfortunate for a few reasons, so I figured I'd do my part now that Gavv's summer movie is out, subbed, and I've been able to sit down and watch it twice. After all, the holidays are often about getting back together with loved ones you haven't seen in a while, and I know I'm not the only one out there who feels a great deal of affection for the characters this show introduced me to, so I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts too.

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It's pretty much the ideal summer Rider movie for Gavv, and since Gavv is sorta my ideal Kamen Rider series to begin with, that also means this is pretty much the ideal summer Rider movie period?

I don't say that to try and force my opinions on anyone, mind you. What I mean by "ideal" in this situation is not inherently synonymous with "best", like you might expect. Even with how much I love Gavv, I don't think this is suddenly my favorite Rider movie. What I'm getting at is much more specific than that. The core of Gavv's overall appeal to me has always been how it so smoothly blends together so many different kinds of things Kamen Rider has been into a whole so cohesive it almost seems to represent everything Kamen Rider *can* be, all at once. The cohesion part especially is important, because how cleanly it's put together -- how it's so easily understood -- is what allows it to be so readily embraced by a wide audience.

The basic job of a summer movie, at least as I see it, is to act as the sort of concentrated essence of the series it's a part of. Especially now that they come out towards the end of the show's run, the idea is to take that increased budget and make a big celebration of the identity the show has built up in that time.

What impresses me the most about this particular example is how it accomplishes that on a few different levels.

There's the standard part of that, which is how well it reflects the overall themes and style of the series. There's a strong story in here that focuses on a lot of the same overall topics that Gavv always does. There's the loneliness and sorrow of feeling like an outsider, there's the joy of sharing happiness with others and there's the desire to protect those precious moments. All that good stuff. The plot especially stays true to something so central to Gavv it's the first lyric of the theme song, which is that those precious moments are gone once they're gone, and all that comes with that.

It's very much within that balance of tones the show had, although it does perhaps push the bitter side further than usual? I always thought Gavv was very clever in how it presented very serious material in ways that were sanitized enough to be appropriate for the target demographic without having to dull the material itself at all. The shining example of that is how it was able to present outright murder and its full emotional impact with the outwardly innocuous visual of snapping an acrylic stand in half, but the movie has a bit of straightforward graphic violence that's only kept family-friendly by the color of the liquid that is technically not identified at any point as being blood. It's definitely still broadly in line, and it felt appropriate for this particular story to me, but I do wonder if that might be a sticking point for anyone.

Regardless, the visuals and audio on the whole are exactly what you'd hope for from the bigger and more bombastic movie version of Gavv. The action scenes start small and continue to escalate as the film moves along, with the choreography being creative and thoughtful as ever. Gou Sakabe's score is also maybe the biggest treat of the whole film, since you get to hear what it sounds like when he gets to write Gavv's music for each scene specifically that whole hour. He expands on the familiar tracks from the show in awesome ways, but what really stands out is the decision to make the film's ending theme into an overall motif for Taorin, building it up throughout the movie so that by the time the actual song plays at the end, the emotional impact it's aiming for is likely to hit that much harder.

All of that is already more than enough to make the movie a total delight from start to finish, but what really makes this thing so definitively Gavv to me is that it's like every kind of summer movie Rider has done, all at once, just as the show was for the shows? It's an inessential side-story, but it also never contradicts the show's continuity in a way that makes them mutually exclusive. It can fit within the show's narrative easily, but it also still gets to be an alternate universe adventure that stands on its own. It's got the balance down, and it also has that same cohesion that makes it very approachable. It's to the point I'd still recommend this to people who haven't even seen Gavv? The narrative references the show in very broad ways that will still leave the majority of twists unspoiled, and it's clearly written in a way that's consciously making sure it explains stuff enough so that the central story will still be able to resonate with people who don't have much existing familiarity with the characters or world. The execution of it all is *clean*, which again, is exactly how Gavv likes to roll. The movie is a celebration for existing fans that would likely make a great sampler platter for anyone else too. It's just hard to go wrong with a Rider movie like this.