[Fish Sandwich]

When I think of Kamen Rider, I'm generally thinking of a show like this.

Gavv's premiere is wildly successful when it comes to doing what Kamen Rider has arguably done best ever since around Decade, which is taking a completely off-the-wall silly surface-level story concept and using it to portray deeper and more complex ideas, without losing sight of the simple fun of the premise.

Because, before anything else, this is a fun episode of a show, as you'd expect from the candy motif. Shouma's a charmingly excitable lead who can find wonder in something as simple as eating a gummy. Sugihara's typically kinetic direction runs through like, every kind of adrenaline-charged thing he's ever done with the action, from making stillness move, to a big CG chase scene that remembers to get the real suits in there where it can, to another showdown around shipping containers... I could probably go on just about the fight scenes for quite a while. The most important thing is less how familiar a lot of it feels, though, and more how well Gavv sets itself apart right away. The Gochizo are disposable in a way something like a Chemy isn't, which ends up making them even more adorable than they already would be (plus, Gou Sakabe kills it on the music as usual by making Gavv's main theme basically be them cheering Gavv on), and the idea of Gavv having to repeatedly transform as his armor keeps breaking off makes Shouma's power seem fragile in a way that, physically, stresses how this is a Rider made out of soft candy, but also thematically works well if the show is going to make a point out of how weak Shouma starts out versus the strength he'll presumably gain throughout a year of adventures.

That's already more than enough to make for a solid premiere, but what takes this one to the next level for me is that it's a first episode that explicitly has the Kamen Rider telling the villain "I'm a monster, and so are you", which is as Kamen Rider as Kamen Rider can be. There's so many layers to *why* there, I'm not sure how well I can explain it, actually. Part of it is that I feel like these characters are meant to be outsiders more than simple paragons, and between Shouma being a literal visitor from another world whose belt is a gross second mouth, and Gavv's frequently slouched posture, they're already nailing that aspect. The hugely important thing is that since these shows have that Ishinomori DNA of exploring humanity and free will and all that, it's critical that both good and evil come from the same place to emphasize that the bad guys aren't just obvious "others" who need to purged from society or whatever. The element of choice is where a ton of nuance comes into the story, and that's why Shouma allowing the Granute that decision before going for the finisher was a staggeringly well-done moment. It suggests Koumura understands Kamen Rider down to its bones in a way you don't see every year. (Not that the variety is a bad thing of course.) So yeah, needless to say this far in, I'm very excited to see where Gavv takes itself over the next 40-50-some episodes.