[Fish Sandwich]

I find the structure of this one a little amusing, in that it's like Hanto and Shouma both go to hang out with their backup buddies when Hanto decides he needs some space, especially because -- after the previous episode so strongly emphasized what a perfect duo Gavv and Valen are -- it sort of makes Vram seem like the discount interim sidekick?

Not that he actually is, of course. Far from any kind of sidekick, Lakia is an independent character with his own strongly held motivations and beliefs, and just like Hanto, that's what the gap that forms between Shouma and him comes down to. Less "amusing", because it'd be nice to see all these people just get along smoothly, but definitely very entertaining, because watching all these well-developed characters intertwine with one another always gets me excited to see where things will go next.

The dynamic between all the Riders is of particular interest right now, because it's been made extremely clear that all of them are pretty firmly on the same side, and yet, they're standing on that side for such different reasons that interpersonal conflict keeps happening anyway, even if none of them has gotten angry enough to smack one of the others into a river or anything yet?

No, instead, Morota gets to throw Hanto's mom into liquid this time, in probably the most traumatizing version of that signature of his direction he's ever done. It's enough to get Hanto to want some time to himself, but it still doesn't actually undo the story we just had about reaffirming his friendship with Shouma, so the episode instead mounts the tension by taunting the viewer with the notion that it might soon be time for some manner of cruel reminder that Valen is as much a test subject as he is a hero.

Meanwhile, in typical Gavv fashion, Shouma introducing Lakia to Dente immediately has consequences beyond the simple reason he actually went to see him, raising questions both about how Lakia will act on what he learned here and how those actions might contribute to further development for Dente himself. And then on top of that, of course, in the fight at the end, the show makes a point of how Gavv's values as a hero don't line up with Vram's, and demonstrates very clearly how that can present problems in its own right, which I think means I've looped right back to where I started with this post.

As an episode that's about setting stuff up, it's pretty much overachieving? Every ally Shouma has is put in a position that challenges the status quo, with even Sachika promising to become more directly involved in other parts of the story now that she's fully in the loop. Although of course, Sachika being Sachika, that one isn't a threat to the stability of the status quo the way some of the other stuff is, which makes for a much appreciated reprieve from the drama elsewhere. At least something went right for Shouma this week, you know?