[Kiwami]

I love these characters man, they are so good. Sachika is the champion, never doubted even once. And Hanto is just as real; to come around and face one’s mistakes isn’t easy. Plus, I like to see how Shouma now has the confidence to properly tell Hanto everything, as evident by him telling Hanto about meeting his mother.

The action scene was awesome, did not expect Bitter Gavv’ blade being able to absorb powers and turn into gummy, that’s super fun. The whole scene was just a slew of great effect work and clever ideas. That’s Gavv in an essence really, the characters are fantastic, the action is a joy to watch, the whole show is just the best.

So Bitter Gavv really is an experiment by our mad professor, huh? I wonder how that will end. Maybe our “Dark Shouma” will develop a consciousness one day?

[Eclipyon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

My final response:

Which does not refute and has nothing to do at all with what I just said, but please go on again with your irrational behavior.

[FairyKing]

I really love that Sachika's shirt says "appearances are deceptive" in this scene. It's so perfectly fitting, both for how she's realizing Shouma wasn't what he appeared to be before, and for how she still wants to trust him despite what he appears to be now. Just great attention to detail!

[FairyKing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

Which does not refute and has nothing to do at all with what I just said, but please go on again with your irrational behavior.

You're labeled as "new member," so just in case you don't know: If you're tired of seeing someone's posts, you can click the "User CP" button (it's on the black bar below the thread title), then the "edit ignore list" option on the left-hand stack, and enter their username. You'll still see that they posted and have the option to view their individual posts, but by default their posts will be hidden and only take a single line of space so you can easily just scroll past. Not as thorough as blocking someone on most other sites, but I highly recommend doing it for anyone you get frustrated by!

[Eclipyon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairyKing

You're labeled as "new member," so just in case you don't know: If you're tired of seeing someone's posts, you can click the "User CP" button (it's on the black bar below the thread title), then the "edit ignore list" option on the left-hand stack, and enter their username. You'll still see that they posted and have the option to view their individual posts, but by default their posts will be hidden and only take a single line of space so you can easily just scroll past. Not as thorough as blocking someone on most other sites, but I highly recommend doing it for anyone you get frustrated by!

I'm good, apologies if the disagreement between me and Zolda from the other threads are derailing the topic. Based on the way Zolda is replying to me, looks like he's the one who'll be doing the blocking.

[FairyKing]

Another thing I loved in this episode was how, for lack of a better word, floppy Bitter Gavv was when he fought. Huge kudos to the suit actor for really selling the idea that Bitter Gavv, as this newborn monstrosity of science, doesn't really know (or maybe care) how to move his body like a normal person.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

So, turns out Shoma did create a Gochizo after eating the macaron from last episode. It's just that his Gavv fails to spit the Gochizo out due to stress, causing him to faint...

So Gochizou constipation is now a thing. Considering that Gurucan is heavier than the others, this has the potential to be extremely painful if Shouma eats those while depressed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

Hanto is shaping up to be secondary rider of the year for this year's end of the year list. Never change, Karakida. Never.

I awarded best main actor to Hino Yusuke, so looks like I made a good choice. Amazing performance as Karakida Hanto!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Hanto still maintains some rationality regarding recent events, but Sachika has a clear advantage in this department. In this episode, it's Sachika who praises Shoma's virtue as someone genuinely wanting to make everyone happy. As a result, her judgment is much less clouded. Hanto, on the other hand, does something inappropriate to expose someone's secrets. It makes me wonder how she would handle a Disney plot twist-style villain who acts good while hiding their true nature, as their actions would inspire faith from others.

As mentioned before, Sachika was smart enough to see through Niwa's catfish scam, so she'd probably be immune to such Disney plot twist villains and love at first sight. She's already known Shouma for almost 6 months, so she can vouch for him being a genuinely good guy and correctly deduce that what's shown on social media is not what it looks like.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I believe Hanto is more in the wrong here since holding prejudice is a dark trait, understanding why Shoma is hesitant to reveal his secrets to him. However, Shoma is also becoming more open about his past, not only to Sachika?who reassures him (as expected, the main Rider-like figure should unconditionally accept him)?but also to Hanto. By the end of the episode, Shoma also reveals to Hanto that he has already met Hanto's mother.

Good to see Shouma finally being comfortable about being honest to Hanto, even volunteering information about his flashback to Sae. I agree that Hanto was wrong for having prejudice, but between his own critical thinking and interaction with Sachika and Lakia, he proves that he's still a good person who won't hold on to bad thoughts when he understands that he was wrong. I still think this could've been prevented if Shouma revealed it sooner, before the thoughts of prejudice developed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Rakia's plot also continues as he uncovers that Suga is working with Nyelv. He attempts to get Suga to contact Nyelv, who claims he's not affiliated with anyone and only wants to further his research. For Suga, characters like Hanto or Nyelv are merely means to an end.

Suga only wanting to further his research reminds me of Sylens supporting Eclipse to get to HADES without concern for loss of human life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Well, if a Sachika-kind of person is a male, they would be those who stumble upon a belt and use said power to protect everyone.... like Shinji, Eiji, Takeru, Aruto, etc.

"The person to return home to" kind of reminds me Yukimi, the only non-Rider Igarashi whose personality is similar to Sachika's. However, Yukimi's job is running the sento, which is also her house, whereas Sachika's job takes her to whatever place her clients need her, so she's sometimes not at home to return to. She also does stuff outside of her job, like helping look for Takeshi, so she still seems to be a good fit for a Rider.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairyKing

I really love that Sachika's shirt says "appearances are deceiving" in this scene. It's so perfectly fitting, both for how she's realizing Shouma wasn't what he appeared to be before, and for how she still wants to trust him despite what he appears to be now. Just great attention to detail!

Actually, it says, "Appearances are deceptive", which basically means the same thing but I wanted to point that out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

Another fun note, the episode reveals that Hanto has always assumed Shoma's Gavv is actually a belt. Not surpising, as even a Granute like Rakia has once made the same assumption as well.

Hanto and Lakia were accustomed to seeing organic Gavvs, so yeah, makes sense that they wouldn't associate it with Shouma's prosthetic one. Especially since Kamen Rider Gavv has a belt strap mostly to hold a Gochizou.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

I'm good, apologies if the disagreement between me and Zolda from the other threads are derailing the topic. Based on the way Zolda is replying to me, looks like he's the one who'll be doing the blocking.

Happened to DreadBringer 2 years ago. Happened to me yesterday. We should start a club.

[FairyKing]

I cannot believe I messed that up, how embarrassing ^^;

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I awarded best main actor to Hino Yusuke, so looks like I made a good choice. Amazing performance as Karakida Hanto!

I can see why. I just love how Hanto isn't fixed on one thought and instead constantly questions himself and asks if he's left out or forgot something.

[Fish Sandwich]

I'd imagine a lot of people will like this episode simply because they're happy to see a misunderstanding in Kamen Rider cleared up so quickly, but I think that superficial joy risks missing what actually makes the story work. It's not a matter of if it avoids the kinds of themes and character dynamics you might see elsewhere; what's important is that it stays so true to the themes and character dynamics of Gavv.

Sachika is the person to look at if you want to know what I mean by all this. (As she so often is!) There's a simple relief to seeing her refuse to give up her faith in Shouma after last week's revelations, but that by itself doesn't actually move the drama *forward*. Where that comes from is how specific an angle the show finds to have Sachika express her feelings, with her instead being explicitly upset with Hanto. Trusting a friend is one thing, but Sachika shows an immense consideration for Shouma's own perspective on top of that, and both of those things are key to how Hanto ultimately makes amends with Shouma.

Last week, he was smart enough to step back and try to view things objectively, but that was also part of what led to him being fooled by Bitter Gavv. What he learns from Sachika here is that it's still important to think about those subjective viewpoints too, which leads first to him understanding his own feelings better, and realizing why he instinctively got in Vram's way.

That's enough to get him to that conversation with Shouma, and I think, of all the great things going on in that scene, the one that most speaks to Gavv's overall themes is how Hanto, with so little direct prompting, figures out his own culpability in why Shouma kept that secret for so long in the first place. The two of them are able to patch things up so thoroughly -- to the point their bond is ultimately even stronger for it -- in large part because Hanto stopped to imagine what it was like to be in Shouma's shoes. And I feel like that's kinda the show in a nutshell? Finding happiness by allowing yourself to feel the sorrow of others as if it were your own? Maybe?

I know I'm on the right track because I was just talking about something like this with Vram a few weeks back, but I'll also probably try to express this same thought several different ways talking about episodes yet to come. It's sort of like putting together a thesis on a work, but the work in this case isn't even halfway through, so I'm also still just guessing at what the full picture looks like any time I try to make broad statements about Gavv as a whole.

What I can talk about in its totality right now is this one episode, which was supremely enjoyable. I picked my one thing to dig into, but of course, on top of that, there's obviously copious amounts of smaller plot threads that move in exciting ways, and a bombastic action scene bringing Doumaru back seemingly just so it can team up with Caking to make cream-filled donuts. That's how they choose to symbolize the teamwork between the two Riders through the action! And you get this level of creativity basically every week on this show!