[Paladin]

Shoma meets a Granute posing as a musician- who begs for help!

[Zolda]

Kenzou addresses Nyelv casually, so it's very likely that they've already known for quite a long time. It's was definitely Nyelv who supplied Kenzou with a sample of a Granute's internal organ in episode 6. My (outlandish) speculation in episode 6 thread here about Kenzou being one of Nyelv's human disguises was already proven wrong in episode 8 when Hanto checked Kenzou's stomach, but my hypothesis about the connection between Kenzou and Nyelv was quite correct. He's also giving a new sample to Kenzou in this episode, which means that there's a possibility that another human (Sachika?) is going to be implanted with the Granute's internal organ. Nyelv addresses himself and Kenzou as "we researchers" @ 00:40, which means that perhaps Nyelv presents himself as a human when he's been corresponding with Kenzou, and has never revealed his real identity as a Granute to Kenzou. But, if so, like I mentioned last week in episode 14 thread here, have Kenzou, a person of intellect with common sense, logic, and supposedly normal, healthy reasoning ability, ever wondered how the heck Nyelv, who has presented himself as a mere human, has been able to get a boatload of crucial information and resources about Granutes? Hasn't he ever suspected that he could be manipulated by Nyelv when he's given the crucial information and resources about Granutes by Nyelv all this time? Nyelv calling himself and Kenzou as "we researchers" and offering him an exchange of information make it look like they're equal in epistemic position, but I can safely say that it's 100% wrong. Nyelv is a Granute who is not only able to disguise himself as a human, but he's also one of the top 3 members of Stomach, a very secretive organization, while Kenzou is just a human. So, there's a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge asymmetry of information between them. It's more than likely that Nyelv has been manipulating Kenzou.

And vice versa, Nyelv has only been supplying Kenzou with crucial information and resources about Granutes, and it was Kenzou himself who built the Valen Buster. Have Nyelv, a person of equal intellect with common sense, logic, and supposedly normal, healthy reasoning ability, ever wondered how the heck Kenzou, a mere hobbyist nerd and self-proclaimed "Granute researcher" who works in a crummy office, is able to build the Valen Buster, a very complex device, all by himself only with his own money without external financial support at all? Nyelv is supported by Stomach, so it makes sense if he's been able to do everything he's been doing, but Kenzou is seemingly a lone wolf who is supported by no organization, so how the heck Nyelv has never wondered about that glaring fact? It makes no sense at all if only Nyelv needs a financial support from a big, secretive organization (Stomach), but Kenzou doesn't. It's even weirder if Kenzou is also financially supported by Stomach because it'd have opened a bigger can of worms. If they're indeed equal in financial capabilities, then the only thing that can make the story makes sense is that they both should be supported by 2 separate big organizations, with Kenzou being supported by another organization (the Granute police department or other law enforcement agencies) like I've hypothesized since episode 50 of KR Gotchard, or at least by Stomach as well.

In the scene @ 08:05, Nyelv shows his non-humanity when he's baffled how humans are becoming joyful from eating snacks (a cup of pudding and a chocolate bar), so it's very likely that Kenzou has already known that Nyelv is a Granute in human disguise. Sooooo, Kenzou has been working with/for Nyelv fully knowing that Nyelv is a Granute, which means that Kenzou is fully aware of the fact that he's just one of Nyelv's goons tasked with manipulating Hanto into transforming into KR Valen. So, 99% of Kenzou's knowledge about Granutes is likely acquired when working with/for Nyelv. That explains how he always knows waaaaayyyyy too much. If Kenzou is indeed Nyelv's human goon, then all my questions above are pretty much answered. It also means that the answer to my question above about who funded Kenzou's researches on Granutes is quite clear: It's funded by Stomach themselves, via Nyelv.

TLDR:
Kenzou = Nyelv's lackey, although he might get a redemption later and defect from Stomach and decide to work with Dente.

Shouma is giving the Bushel RG to Hanto @ 02:16. And Hanto has still not suspected how Shouma is able to get so many Gochizous in no time? Has he ever considered the possibility that the RG's are created by Shouma himself? Also, in episode 14 @ 09:39 it was shown right in front of Hanto's two eyes that Shouma understood the Gochizou's language, so by that moment Hanto should've been 99,999% sure that Shouma is not a normal human. That scene in episode 14, where Shouma was also shown to chose to go to the Mizoguchi warehouse after reading Shita & Jeebh's ransom note, not the station where the explosion occurred, should've alerady informed him of Shouma's true nature as a non-human. I've been hypothesizing that the plot of the main conflict between Hanto and Shouma in later episodes would not be about Hanto finding out about Shouma's identity as a Rider, but about Hanto finding out about Shouma's identity as a human-Granute hybrid who might also have been the Wolf Granute who kidnapped his mom 18 years ago. Hanto would likely be very surprised when he finally found out about it, which would mean that his plot is an idiot plot. Hanto: "So, you're not a human, Shouma?!" Me: "No shit, Sherlock."

In the scene @ 08:46 Nyelv decides to experiment with a cup of pudding he received from Kenzou earlier and says that it'd also suit "him" while reviewing some kind of a white paper/schematics. This could mean that he's planning to make a male character a Rider, and that male character is likely Jeebh like I hypothesized last week in episode 14 thread here. I have a hypothesis that the rumored KR Vlam is likely Jeebh. Although there's still a lower possibility that Lango or even Lage 9 could be the one who transforms into KR Vlam.

The crab Granute says @ 09:38 that he's not going to get involved with Dark Snacks again and wants to leave Stomach, although he's doing it not out of honesty, but in order to manipulate Shouma and Hanto. The crab Granute is telling his sob story in order to gain Shouma's sympathy, and yes, like I hypothesized last week, the conflict between Shouma and Hanto is indeed due to Hanto not sharing Shouma's belief in the crab Granute's sob story.

Lage 9 is debuting his job @ 14:05 at a court room, although as revealed @ 14:23 he's not working as the procurement supervisor, but just as another part-timer, so the procurement is still supervised by Lango. His modus operandi is very brazen. He doesn't even bother hiding, waiting, and kidnapping humans discreetly. He's simply licking all humans in the room, and posses the very very very convenient power of making all the freaked out humans in the room make happy faces, so all the Hito Pressed humans he's collecting there are high-quality ones with no exception. Him collecting so many high-quality Hito Pressed humans so easily in such a very short time would likely make him the new rockstar within Stomach. As he said himself in the preview section @ 23:08, he'd likely be quickly promoted to higher position in later episodes. He could even be scheming to topple Lango's position and consolidate power for himself. If my hypothesis is correct, then he could be the Shinkuro Isaka/Weather Dopant of this story. What a very very very convenient power!

The crab Granute is doing a cheap farce with 2 of Jeebh's agents in order to trap Shouma/KR Gavv @ 18:20. Shouma/KR Gavv who has just found out that he's duped by the crab Granute all along says @ 19:19 that he wants to believe that there are Granutes who don't attack humans. What the heck, Shouma??? There are clean Granutes. Hasn't he already known that Dark Snacks are just expensive, novelty, recreational drug for those who have enough money, not a staple food that all Granutes must consume in order to survive? Dark Snacks being only drug consumed by less than 5% (or perhaps even much less than that) of the Granute population is already more than enough a proof that there are Granutes who don't consume Dark Snacks. Heck, the Stomach family members even very rarely consume Dark Snacks, because any drug lord worth his salt will never consume the drugs he's selling, ever. Why can't Shouma connect the dots already? There's no ethical dilemma at all. Shouma's idiotic statement in this scene only established him as a character who has room temperature IQ. As usual, it's blatant idiocy. The plot in this story is virtually impossible to progress or even start in the first place, unless key characters like Bouche, Shouma, Hanto, etc do the most illogical, irrational things with zero common sense. Bouche's utterly stupid, irrational, nonsensical decision as told by Dente in episode 5 @ 09:50 had already proven that this story is blatantly an idiot plot.

As shown @ 22:20, the crab Granute is actually more than capable of taking defeating Hanto/KR Valen. Sooooooooo, why the heck didn't he do it in episode 14 @ 13:31 when Hanto ambushed him at a vacant lot? Why the heck did he do nothing and decide to give an infodump to Hanto instead, who wasn't even transformed? Don't know! If the crab Granute did to Hanto in episode 14 what he's doing in this scene, then he'd have capture Hanto/KR Valen alive much earlier. What a dumb Granute, or rather, what a dumb story. Hanto, being the only human implanted with a Granute's internal organ, is likely captured to be experimented on by Nyelv in order to gain valuable data required to finish the Driver he's been developing as shown in the preview section @ 23:09. Like Shouma's asking @ 21:58, Jeebh's agents are involved in this farce likely because earlier, off-screen in this episode Jeebh was promised by Nyelv a new power as a retaliation to Shouma/KR Gavv who killed Shita in episode 14 last week.

Another dumb thing in this scene is when Shouma/KR Gavv in his strongest form at the moment (Caking form) is having a hard time fighting Jeebh's 2 agents, which is shown when he's even required to do the Caking Breaking finisher to kill them. Shouma/KR Gavv in Caking form managed to overwhelm both Shita and Jeebh, and even managed to kill Shita in episode 14, but he's having a hard time killing Jeebh's agents in this episode? Gosh, this gotta be the earliest instance of nerfing in this franchise so far. I think I can see the rationale of nerfing KR Gavv Caking form in this scene: Shouma/KR Gavv in his Caking form could easily defeat the crab Granute, but if he did it, then it's impossible for the crab Granute to defeat Hanto/KR Valen like I elaborated above. TLDR: The crab Granute defeated by Shouma/KR Gavv in his Caking form = Hanto/KR Valen not defeated by the crab Granute = Hanto not likely kidnapped = No plot for the next episode. Heavy-handed writing at its finest after (God forbid) Geats!

Next week:

The debut of KR Valen Bushel form.

The debut of the unfinished look of Nyelv's new Driver. I really like the color combination of metallic dark blue, metallic orange, and metallic yellow, and it looks much cooler and less gaudy than the Henshin Belt Gavv. How does it work? The existence of a gear on the left side of the Driver hints that it might also feature a crank lever on the user's right-hand side. The crank lever might work like Sclash Driver's up-down crank lever, not rotary ones like on the Build Driver/Evol Driver and Henshin Belt Gavv.

Is it also permanently attached to the user's body like the Henshin Belt Gavv? Is the user also required to get his Gavv permanently modified like Shouma's red Gavv? I think so, because Gochizous are supposed to be consumed by a Granute via a Gavv. Also, does it also have the ability to produce Gochizous? Shouma is able to produce Gochizous because he's a human-Granute hybrid. So, if Nyelv's new Driver is intended to be used by a Granute, then how would the user be able to produce Gochizous? I don't think Nyelv, Jeebh, or anyone who uses that Driver is planning to be dependent on Shouma and be forced to kidnap Gochizous all the time. Nyelv's new Driver would likely contain a built-in sample of human genetics/DNA extracted from Hanto in order to enable a Granute user to produce Gochizous. If Jeebh (or other characters) as the user of Nyelv's new Driver is indeed implanted with human DNA, it'd be ironic if they experience the gradual genetic transformation from Granute into human, the reverse of Hanto's.

If Jeebh is indeed KR Vlam, then I hope he'd become KR Vlam permanently until the end of the story, and not become a mere initial test subject like Sabimaru who transformed into KR Dread. I like it when an underdog character becomes a Rider in a way that makes sense.

Or mmmaaayyybbbeee I'm 100% wrong about everything, haha.

[Sunred]

I just love it when people who act bring something else to the table, and Yosuke Kishi and Kohei Shoji are doing just that.

[Eclipyon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

TLDR:
Kenzou = Nyelv's lackey, although he might get a redemption later and defect from Stomach and decide to work with Dente.

Or they're just simply using each other for their own benefits.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

I have a hypothesis that the rumored KR Vlam is likely Jeebh. Although there's still a lower possibility that Lango or even Lage 9 could be the one who transforms into KR Vlam.

Huh? So far the show seems to imply the opposite, as Lage 9 is currently still Nyelv's test subject.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

As shown @ 22:20, the crab Granute is actually more than capable of taking defeating Hanto/KR Valen. Sooooooooo, why the heck didn't he do it in episode 14 @ 13:31 when Hanto ambushed him at a vacant lot? Why the heck did he do nothing and decide to give an infodump to Hanto instead, who wasn't even transformed? Don't know! If the crab Granute did to Hanto in episode 14 what he's doing in this scene, then he'd have capture Hanto/KR Valen alive much earlier. What a dumb Granute, or rather, what a dumb story.

Did you just ignore the fact that the reason Rojoe is able to do that is due to receiving help from the Agents? Heck, he was actually in trouble before the Agents show up!

[DreadBringer]

The status quo in Granutes being all bad except Shoma for now.

So Rojoe is merely pretending to turn over a new leaf. This is evident in the episode, as his main issue appears to be the poor quality of his Hitopresses. Earlier, he expressed frustration with the changes he has encountered after working for 20 years in Hitopresses, making his situation more difficult. However, there aren't any real incentives for him to stop his crimes and genuinely change his ways. It's unclear why someone would suddenly stop wanting Dark Confections or feel remorse after engaging in such behavior for a long time.

Obviously, Hanto did not trust any Granutes from the beginning and criticized Shoma for having faith in Rojoe. I disagree with Shoma's reason for believing their potential redemption, like merely following orders from the Stomach bosses or that they are not the biggest problem. Serving someone doesn’t negate the possibility of wanting to be evil, and being comparatively better doesn't mean one can't be horrible by their own merits. I guess Shoma still displays a degree of naivety like the other goody-two-shoes.

If Shoma claims he won't forgive their crimes, as Hanto suggests, but still acknowledges their choice to change, what would that mean? If they truly turn their lives around, he would have to stop attacking them and protect them when they come under threat. Typically, to people it seems not forgiving someone implies never seeing them as anything but a monster, although Shoma appears frustrated when he hears Rojoe pleading for a second chance. Nevertheless, he agrees to protect Rojoe when Agents attack him.

Currently, Hanto's prejudiced view—that everyone in the Granutes is bad—seems validated. Yet, prejudice is never justifiable, even if all the Granutes deserve their current fate. It'd be likely more compelling if Shoma's faith in Rojoe had a greater cost rather than culminating in random betrayal to illustrate that Rojoe is truly a lost cause, in how he'd later prove that Hanto's approach, which categorizes everyone as bad, is misguided. A pivotal moment may arise when Shoma encounters a non-addicted Granute or when Hanto meets Dente.

Suga and Nyelv indeed work together and understand each other well. Nyelv provided Suga with footage of the Granute Yard fight. Lango is notably callous in dismissing Shita's death, referring to her as foolish for dying so early. Meanwhile, Glotta criticizes Nyelv for not saving Shita, while Nyelv only thanking Shita's 'sacrifice' for obtaining information about Gavv's growth. So far, their motivation seems focused solely on keeping up with Gavv's evolution, while Suga's ultimate goal remains uncertain. Nyelv, on the other hand, appears to have sinister intentions.

So far, Jeebh has been involved in assisting Rojoe by sending his agents. Not really a bright move for Rojoe to loudly announce his betrayal while being behind Gavv, though it's usually the case for MOTWs. Rojoe likely believes that having some backup will allow him to defeat Gavv, even though Gavv has already killed Shita and gained an upgrade that allows him to create more minions. Hanto has demonstrated some of his capabilities while untransformed by putting Rojoe in a handlock before his transformation, although he ultimately still lost.

[Mesnick]

After the rich action and emotion of the last episode, this one sets the stage more for the future plot of both the entire show and this arc. The Christmas story at the beginning again recalls the characteristics of Shouma's character: he is naive and benevolent. This is what the delayed Granute the crab decides to take advantage of, deciding to outsmart Shouma and improve his status in Stomatch Inc. Shouma is naive and inexperienced, but not stupid, so he does not trust him absolutely, but, despite the objections of Hanto and Denta, he decides to give Granute a chance. What this loser didn't take into account was that with Shoum in super form, he was clearly no match for him, even with the support of Jeeb's Agents, who was too desperate to fight on his own. What’s even more ironic is that Hanto himself manages to be captured (this is how to show a gimmick torn from a transformation device!)
Also in the episode there is the collaboration of mad scientists, Sachika's Christmas troubles, the demonstration that the Cake Agents can also use Gochizo and the continuation of the story of the recruited advanced Granute. It seems that he can make people happy and thereby obtain high-quality goods in huge quantities. But his carelessness will clearly play a cruel joke on him. Overall a good episode, looking forward to the continuation of the story.
P.S. I liked Sheeta's disappearance in the opening. Nice little touch.
P.P.S. Considering Valen's receipt of the Bushel form, I'm a little worried about his future. That is, if his final form is Cake King Form, only in black and brown it will be kind of boring.

[Fish Sandwich]

Well, it's not quite the gift I asked for, but Christmas episodes by Nobuhiro Mouri are definitely a present I appreciate this show giving me. And probably a present the show will be thankful it gave itself, for that matter! Mouri is basically the Valen to every main writer's Gavv -- he's the secondary guy you think will cause more friction than he does, only for it to turn out he's actually pretty understanding and gels well with the show's leading force, even if his style is a little different.

Although maybe it's weird to make that comparison when Hanto actually does create some friction here? But then, maybe not, because it's friction by Hanto's standards, so it's not like he's shooting Shouma with his gun by the end of this one, you know?

There's a clash between the two Riders' views on the Granute here, but it's firmly within the context of these two being friends having an argument, which definitely seems like the right nuance for this show. In general, the plot here, I'd almost call it a pleasant surprise, but the "surprise" is that it's a bunch of things I thought would be interesting turning out to be exactly as interesting as I thought they'd be? Which I'm not sure counts?

Pretty much since I first heard Gavv's catchphrase, I (and probably everyone else) was imagining the dramatic potential of a monster who actually promises to give up being evil on the spot. Pretty much since Valen debuted, I (and probably plenty of other people) have also been imagining how Hanto's hatred of Granutes might factor into that for even greater dramatic potential. It was maybe surprising that Mouri would be the one to write it, but it was absolutely not surprising that he was up to the task.

It's a plot that's good in ways so obvious I probably don't need to dig into them, and beyond that, crucially, it feels like a Gavv episode all around. It's got that density to it, with lots of little plot threads moving along outside the central narrative. Basically everyone in the show gets at least one meaningful scene here, even though the focus is so squarely on Shouma and Hanto.

I find it especially interesting that these episodes raising the question of whether or not a Granute can go straight do so through a monster who's completely insincere, while also starting to bring to the forefront a Granute who certainly seems to be on a path to a prominent role in the overall series, in whatever exact capacity that turns out to be. Might be an episode that ends up retroactively carrying some added irony for one reason or another, who knows?

[Kiwami]

Best part

[OrionThompson]

Shoma’s encounter with the Granute musician sets the stage for an epic tale—can’t wait to see how the story unfolds. Love the creativity here! Also, I’ll check out your sales thread. Supporting fellow creators is always a win. Keep up the awesome work, Paladin4221! Summarizing my dissertation into a compelling abstract felt impossible until I used Academized’s https://academized.com/dissertation-abstract-help dissertation abstract help. Their writer created a well-crafted abstract that encapsulated my research beautifully. It was concise, clear, and professionally written, perfectly reflecting the essence of my work. This service made my dissertation submission stress-free. I’m so grateful for their assistance and would highly recommend it to other students.

[Zolda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

Or they're just simply using each other for their own benefits.

They are using each other for their own benefits, but what bigger benefits do Kenzou gain from his conspiracy with Nyelv? So far, the only benefits for Kenzou from his cahoots with Nyelv are likely money and resources to satisfy his scientific curiosity about Granutes, while the benefits for Nyelv are much bigger due to being able to manipulate Hanto/KR Valen and now also Lage 9/KR Vram. If Nyelv is benefitted more than Kanzou, then yes, Kenzou is Nyelv's lackey because he, like Hanto and Lage 9, are likely just pawns for Nyelv's grand plan to achieve his bigger ambition, which is perhaps toppling Lango from the CEO position.

I initially thought that Kenzou's vast knowledge and resources about Granute was due to him being supported by another big, clandestine organization (which I've been hypothesizing is Lage 9's police department/DEA in the Granute world, if he's indeed a police/DEA mole), but so far the story has been showing and implying that Kenzou's vast knowledge and resources only come from Stomach (via Nyelv). It made no sense for Nyelv to just gave the Granute internal organ to Kenzou to be implanted into Hanto's body, but didn't provide the necessary knowledge and resources to build the Valen Buster. It should be impossible for one mere human to be able to create a biological weapon of otherworldly origin, unless he's supported by a big, clandestine organization of at least Earthly origin that has been researching about Granutes since a very long time ago.

There's another possibility. Perhaps Kenzou is supported by another huge organization (Lage 9's police department/DEA in the Granute world), and the people at the top leadership in that organization is having a different secret plan that can only be achieved by fulfilling Nyelv's secret plan first. So, Nyelv is actually being secretly manipulated by another group of people. Mmmaaayyybbbeee...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

Huh? So far the show seems to imply the opposite, as Lage 9 is currently still Nyelv's test subject.

Which one is the opposite? Jeebh becoming KR Vram, Lango becoming KR Vram, or Lage 9 becoming KR Vram? It's already shown in episode 17 that KR Vram is indeed Lage 9.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

Did you just ignore the fact that the reason Rojoe is able to do that is due to receiving help from the Agents? Heck, he was actually in trouble before the Agents show up!

The crab Granute could've attacked and even easily killed the untransformed(!) Hanto when Hanto ambushed him in episode 14 @ 13:31. Of course, he didn't do it, right? Because if he did, then Hanto could've been killed during that scene in episode 14, and if Hanto died there, then there's no infodump for Hanto, and no plots in episode 15 and 16, which were largely only possible due to the crab Granute's actions. And even if Hanto transformed into KR Valen, the crab Granute could've at least tried and defend himself, or at least run away, not giving out crucial infodump.