[Fish Sandwich]

I really like the title of this episode.

The absence of any snack-themed word choice probably disqualifies it from being a truly great Gavv episode title, admittedly (even if that hasn't been a hard rule for a long time now), but it does a thing I love where it's sort of begging the question of who it's in reference to. The easy assumption is that it's about how Hanto still desires revenge against the Granute who stole his mother from him, right? But then, Hanto isn't the only character in the story pursuing a vendetta in the name of a lost loved one, now is he? And then for that matter, there's the other implication, the one that only begins to play out here, which is that it's maybe not *just* Hanto who still regularly thinks back on that day from his childhood.

It's a lot going on! Which is also exactly what I like about the episode itself. We're in guest writer territory again, with Mouri handling the script here, but that fact barely seems worth mentioning at this point? It's hard to say exactly how much things will have progressed by the end not having seen the back half yet, but I didn't even slightly feel that disconnect I've often mentioned when talking about episodes of Gavv that don't have Koumura's full attention.

I'm not that surprised by this anymore, but the trademark Gavv density is totally there, where even if you only see a character for a single scene, it always feels like there's something going on with them? I feel like I don't know how to put it into words succinctly, but like, Glotta's bit with Jiip here is a great example of what I mean. All those little details happening off to the side of the main plot, which act as setup to eventually let further main plots down the line be even better than they would be otherwise. Naturally, this very episode also demonstrates the other side of that relationship, in little touches like how Hanto writing about struggling businesses was something that actually came up earlier, or the reference to Mouri's previous story about Lakia.

Even when they are merely little things, the added cohesion is always really nice, you know? It's cool how Gavv episodes build on each other like that, and this week is built on threads ranging from the most recent episodes of the series all the way back to the very earliest. That's something you can say about a lot of other Gavv episodes too, I know, but that's also kinda my whole point. I had it in my head for so long that any time someone besides Koumura is writing the show, it means that the story won't quite contribute to the whole in the same way, even if it's entertaining and interesting in its own right, but that whole theory becomes less true every time this happens. Not too long ago, I was impressed by an Uchida story about Lakia thinking he's found the guy responsible for his formative past trauma, and now all of a sudden Mouri is entrusted to do the story where Hanto actually finds that guy for him? That's quite the escalation! Gonna be real fun seeing how this all plays out next time!