[Fish Sandwich]

I once described the precision of Gavv's storytelling by likening its style to "crossing t's and dotting i's", and I think this episode pair stands out as a stronger than usual example of what I mean by that.

The whole mission here was to sketch out the shape of a new status quo for the series, and while the broad strokes of new antagonists and active collaboration between our heroes are the part that accomplishes that goal, it's the level of fine detail around all that which makes it into something impressive.

It's everything that's *in* the episode, from Sachika's little reactions to things that are still new to her, to the slightly less obvious seeds being planted for the future, and it's even in the stuff this episode seems to deliberately *avoid* doing here and now, like holding off on some big scene of the three Riders transforming together to unite against a common foe. After all, this is only the story establishing the bold new era of everyone working together, so you don't need to rush into that before we've even had, say, a proper Valen/Vram team-up. It's the consideration you get with Gavv, you know? It's never been afraid to take its time finding the right moment for things, even if that sometimes means it takes over half the show for those little robot arms on Gavv's Gochizo holder to finally serve a purpose in a fight scene.

It ended up being a very cute moment, though, right? Given my established obsessive desire to see Rider shows not forget about old toys as they go along, it probably isn't too surprising to find out one of my absolute favorite parts of this whole episode was simply that, among all the crazy new stuff being layed out, it also reinforces how the protagonists are back in a place of stability by landing everything on some truly classic Gavv action. Gavv and Valen teaming up to take on a monster of the week, leading off with their base forms... multiple suits getting their own cool moments in there... it's pretty much everything I could personally want. Plus, you know, it's got all the usual creativity to how it's put together. It's maybe a bit short on written sound effects, but then, it *does* have a flashback happening within a thought bubble, which still fits the bill for comic book styling. Definitely plenty enough going on to wow a viewer, even before getting to the double ice combo that's hypothetically the main draw of the scene.

And while Vram is still off in his own (also cool) fight scene, the episode does choose to underscore the teamwork theme by having Gavv's catchphrase evolve into the plural form, because, you know, Hanto is finally in a place where he can also distinguish between someone who's a monster and someone who's just a Granute! Kinda the perfect moment to represent the overall episode, really -- a balanced blend of comforting familiarity with a thrilling new twist mixed in.