[Paladin]

Hanto is asked to test out a new device, that may turn a human into a Kamen Rider...

[Zolda]

As usual, Hanto comes to the office every morning, but this morning he doesn't see Mr. Shioya there. He thinks Mr. Shioya is still out doing field investigation, so he decides to go to the location (the suspicious bar which Hanto said in episode 5 @ 05:29 is an illegal gambling den that's often visited by famous people) as well. When he arrives there, he very conveniently finds many pieces of incriminating evidences (a piece of paper containing the address of the bar, a wallet, a camera, a bag, and *wait for it* a broken Hito Press) that point to Mr. Shioya being licked by a Granute. These evidences look like they're conveniently left there by the Granute of the week simply to tell Hanto that Mr. Shioya had been killed by that Granute without a shadow of doubt. This is beyond dumb. Why would a criminal leave soooooo many pieces of incriminating evidences that point to his crime? Why didn't he remove those evidences before he left the crime scene? And more importantly, why would that Granute of the week decide to kill Mr. Shioya and leave his Hito Press at the crime scene? The answer: Because he's required by the higher force (aka the writers) to do so. He killed Mr. Shioya because the writers needed to rile Hanto up by having a person closest to him getting killed by a Granute so that he will have the sense of revenge as a necessary motivation to henshin into KR Valen later in this episode. If that Granute is a rational person, then he'd have still kept low-quality Hito Pressed humans like Mr. Shioya because they'd have still been able to be processed into low-quality Dark Snacks, and that Granute would've still been rewarded with a piece of Dark Snack. What a very very very dumb decision by the Granute of the week. It's still episode 6, and there have been sooooo many obvious instances of plot convenience and unnatural/manipulative/heavy-handed writing like shown in this scene.

It seems like the Granute of the week (or rather, the writers) has never watched Minority Report (2002).



Shouma is commanding the majority of the Gochizous (36 units) to patrol the city and investigate any signs of Stomach's activities. So yeah, Shouma is both able and willing to command the Gochizous to do any of his bidding. Why, then, he didn't command them to help him some foods in episodes 2 to 5? The anwer: Because he's required by the writers to not do so. Had he done it, then the subplots in episodes 2 to 5 wouldn't have happened. This is another example of how the writers of this story love manipulative/heavy-handed writing.

Sachika arrives at her shop @ 04:09 and finds 6 units of Gochizous. And yes, like I hypothesized last week here, she does think that the Gochizous are toys. She's even the one who name them Gochizous due to them looking like snacks. It's funny how the Gochizous are instantly playing dead the moment Sachika enter the scene.

Hanto rushes to Kenzou's office to report about Mr. Shioya's broken Hito Press. He begs Kenzou to save him, but Kenzou says that it's impossible. Hanto's crying as he laments that he should've been the one who investigated the suspicious bar. Hanto tells a sob story recounting how his mom was kidnapped by a Granute, how his grandma who raised him died as well, and how Mr. Shioya was the only person who was concerned about him. Yes, the writers of this show also love infodump, don't they? And yes, like I said in the first paragraph above, the writers manipulated the Granute of the week into killing Mr. Shioya with the sole purpose to instill a sense of revenge and embolden Hanto's grudge toward Granutes. It seems like he'll be made into an extremist character with a narrow view and black-or-white mentality who views all Granutes as criminals, and his grudge towards all Granutes would then fuel his conflict with Shouma and other benevolent Granutes, like I hypothesized in episode 2 thread here.

In the scene @ 06:52, Kenzou's straight up offering Hanto a chance for revenge. Kenzou examined Mr. Shioya's broken Hito Press earlier and detected a substance similar to mushroom mucus. He says that mucus is not a general characteristic of Granutes, so he has conveniently narrowed down the possibility of the culprit being the Mushroom Granute. He then unveils his recently completed invention, the Valen Buster, and says that Hanto will gain the same power as KR Gavv if he uses it. There's, however, a human is required to have an ability similar to a Granute before a human is able to use the Valen Buster. Out of a container, he then pulls a strange-looking specimen that looks like some kind of internal organ. Kenzou says that it's an organ unique to Granutes that produce only Granute-specific bodily fluids, and that organ needs to be transplanted into the user's body. His motive is suspected by Hanto who thinks that he'll end up being his guinea pig. He dismisses Hanto's suspicion by stating that it's a win-win solution, since Hanto is having a grudge toward Granutes, and he's simply aiming to create tools to fight Granutes. The trope of a scientist transplanting a kaijin's body part into a human to enable him to use a Rider system is similar to how Genta Igarashi was injected with Gifu cells by Dr. Karizaki in KR Revice. I hope the writers of this series only copy the trope and didn't also copy the unresolvable logical anomaly from KR Revice.

The facts that Kenzou has been able to complete the Valen Buster in 2 weeks, and, more importantly, even has access to a Granute's internal organ increases the possibility that Kenzou's research has been backed and funded by a very big, powerful organization like I hypothesized here. That organization could be clandestine extra-governmental one, or at least has the authority similar to a governmental organization. Kenzou could be as rich as Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future, but no way a lone private scientist doing his passion project has access to a ultra-confidential, ultra-crucial specimen of an extra-terrestrial nature. That kind of super top-secret specimen/information is only accessible to intelligence organization like CIA.

Shita and Jeebh say are surprised when an agent reports that one of their warehouses in the human world was destroyed, along with all stocks of Hito Pressed humans. So, Stomach does have several warehouses in the human world to temporarily store the Hito Presses.

Like I mentioned in the episode 3 thread here, in the scene @ 09:24 it's now shown that the elusive Wolf Granute that kidnapped Hanto's mom 18 years ago did have a red Gavv. I have a hypothesis that the Wolf Granute was actually Kid Shouma, though it's weird that Kid Shouma's Granute form looked like an adult one. This hypothesis still has several other logical gaps, such as why the Wolf Granute acted like a wild/feral animal, and why it had exposed mouth (unlike other Granutes) which meant it had bot a mouth and a Gavv. If the elusive Wolf Granute was indeed Kid Shouma, this could be a strong sign that Shouma and Hanto will have a big conflict in later episodes, likely starting in episode 20. The scene @ 09:32 shows a flashback where Hanto (who looked like a typical high school delinquent) first met Mr. Shioya. This is how a back story should be done, not via cheap, lazy infodumps that have been used several times in this story so far.

Shouma returns to Dente's cave and brings several types of snacks (gummy candies and chocolate bars). He's planning to ask for Dente's help in making him stronger to fight Stomach/Lango et al, and will return his favor (read: manipulate him) by giving him more snacks. Last week in the episode 5 thread here, I wondered why a brilliant scientist like him had been living like a destitute sage inside a cave, much like an very dysfunctional adult who is unable to find a job, unlike the other Granutes of the week who've seemingly integrated with the human society. Now I've finally found the definitive answer: Because he's required by the higher force (aka the writers) to do so. Had Dente been living and working like a functional adult and integrating with the human society like the other Granutes of the week have been doing, then he'd have no need of Shouma giving him snacks like shown in this scene. If Dente had had his own income, then he'd have been able to buy any snacks he likes, and Shouma's bribe in this scene wouldn't work, and he'll be able to leave Shouma at any time. TLDR: Dente is made to be a dysfunctional adult with the sole purpose of enabling Shouma to manipulate him. Yep, once again this demonstrates that the writers of this story really really really love manipulative/heavy-handed writing.

Nyelv says @ 12:17 that according to Dente's documents, his modification on Kid Shouma's red Gavv was considered a failure, and concludes that failures are what make biological experiments interesting. Shita and Jeebh are surprised when they find out that he has known about Shouma's transformation into KR Gavv, and ask him to get rid of Shouma. He declines their request and says that he's interested in the connection between Dente's Hito Press system and Shouma's modified red Gavv that enables him to transform into KR Gavv. Like I hypothesized here, it seems like he's interested in developing his own version of the upgraded Gavv for Granutes or even a Granute-only transformation device. He's shown @ 13:16 to be holding a broken Hito Press which looks like the bottom half of Mr. Shioya's Hito Press. Was he the one who broke Mr. Shioya's Hito Press and killed Mr. Shioya, not the Granute of the Week (Mushroom Granute)? If so, then what was the point of him breaking Mr. Shioya's Hito Press? If he needed to research Hito Pressed humans, then why didn't he simply visit Glotta's factory? Why did he even visit the bar that was investigated by Mr. Shioya? Don't know!

Kenzou performs the transplantation surgery on Hanto by himself @ 13:20. Doesn't he even think that there's a huge possibility of fatal complication due to transplanting an organ, let alone an alien organ of extra-terrestrial nature into a human body? Don't know! He seems like a curious yet reckless scientist who only cares about his research. The huge possibility of fatal complication could be the factor why Hanto would later need routine check up (and maintenance) at Kenzou's lab.

The Granute of the week uses an elaborate yet openly public arrangement as a street magician to lure unsuspecting humans. I have a good tip for him: Go to a wedding ceremony, any wedding ceremony would suffice, and wait until the groom need to go to the toilet. Wait near or inside the men's toilet, and lick the groom there. Voila, he gets an easy yet high quality target. He'll be able to target male family members as well. If he's lucky then he may be able to get the bride as well.

The Mushroom Granute fights KR Gavv for several minutes, and is able to get way from him. And somehow, he's conveniently found by Hanto and Kenzou at the right time. How are they able to pinpoint the Granute's exact location/escape route and maybe even already wait for him there? Did they commanded their Gochizous to spy on him? Don't know! Hanto asks him @ 18:20 whether it was him who broke Mr. Shioya's Hito Press, and he said yes. So, it was indeed the Mushroom Granute who did it, not Nyelv.

As I said last week, Nyelv says @ 22:48 that things are getting interesting and that stimulation is important. I have a hypothesis that he's likely planning to use KR Gavv and KR Valen as sparring partners (aka unknowing pawns) whom he'll gather valuable data from. Those data will then be used to upgrade the design of the Granutes' Gavvs, or even to develop a Granute-only transformation belt/device that can also use or even produce RG's similar to what Shouma's red Gavv does. It'd be interesting if he's indeed Kenzou's antithesis, and they're trying to one-up each other. The clash of their Rider systems is the clash of their intellects.

The conclusion from this episode:
There goes Mr. Shioya. Yes, like I hypothesized last week, Mr. Shioya is indeed used as a bait in the conflict and subplot between Hanto and the Granute of the week in this episode and to give Hanto the motivation to transform into KR Valen. This story is demonstrating that it's going way too fast. If this super duper hyper ultra-fast pace is kept then I'm afraid the story will run out of secrets by episodes 15-20. I'm not sure how the writers are gonna fill the remaining 44 episodes. Perhaps each of the Stomach siblings will take turn to drive the story starting in episode 20 with their convoluted plans? Or perhaps the story will slow down and change into an episodic 2-parter format? Or perhaps the story will keep the super duper hyper ultra-fast pace and fill the remaining episodes with more convoluted, heavy-handed writing? Don't know!

Next week:

The debut of KR Gavv Chocodan form and Shouma's new gadget. Is that gadget produced by Shouma via his Gavv, or is it created by Kenzou?

Shouma and Hanto are starting to be entangled in the secret identity subplot.

[Eclipyon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

The trope of a scientist transplanting a kaijin's body part into a human to enable him to use a Rider system is similar to how Genta Igarashi was injected with Gifu cells by Dr. Karizaki in KR Revice. I hope the writers of this series only copy the trope and didn't also copy the unresolvable logical anomaly from KR Revice.

Showa Riders: First time, son?

[Kiwami]

Previous shows: "Hey secondary character, pick up this toy and put it in a funny device, go do Secondary Rider things".

Gavv: "I need to cut you the f' open and put this alien organ inside your body. You're awake the whole time by the way".

I love that this show is so real. As in, they could've easily made this way different, especially with the target demographic in mind, like how past Rider shows simply throw something a characters way and then boom, secondary Rider. I don't blame them for that by the way, just saying Gavv does it better IMO.

I didn't even expect that they would kill off the mentor character, that's cold. And then what? Our guy gets sliced up, stitched together and first thing he does is walk out there and kick ass? Damn son.

Love the henshin sequence by the way, how he rips the silver foil wrapper off of himself, perfect, chef's kiss. Suit is excellent too, the metallic red with the chocolate-logo printed on, the black undersuit with the gold lines, the chocolate bits as armor, so awesome.

I freakin' love Gavv man, this show just does not stop. Valen being great aside, I enjoy how Shouma sends his minions on patrol, how they get their name and that Dente is now officially an affiliate - because snacks are the best kind of payment there is

[Zolda]

I forgot to mention about Dente eating snacks from Shouma @ 10:51. He eats it through his mouth, not through his Gavv. So, it turns out Granutes do have a functional mouth and digest foods through it. If Granutes digest foods through their mouths, then what's the function of the Gavv? Aren't Gavvs supposed to be the Granutes' mouth? Or are they just tools to lick humans and convert them into Hito Presses?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

Showa Riders: First time, son?

Showa Riders were humans modified with cybernetic enhancements, not transplanted with a body parts/organs/cells extracted from a dead or living kaijin organisms.

[Eclipyon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

I forgot to mention about Dente eating snacks from Shouma @ 10:51. He eats it through his mouth, not through his Gavv. So, it turns out Granutes do have a functional mouth and digest foods through it. If Granutes digest foods through their mouths, then what's the function of the Gavv? Aren't Gavvs supposed to be the Granutes' mouth? Or are they just tools to lick humans and convert them into Hito Presses?

Did you forgot Granute Hound taking the first bite of the Dark Snack using his mouth in Episode 1?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

Showa Riders were humans modified with cybernetic enhancements, not transplanted with a body parts/organs/cells extracted from a dead or living kaijin organisms.

Semantics. At the end of the day, they are still body modifications.

[Zolda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

Did you forgot Granute Hound taking the first bite of the Dark Snack using his mouth in Episode 1?

I already talked about that in my first comment in episode 1 thread here. In that comment, I wondered why the Granute of the week in episode 1 ate the Dark Snacks with the mouth in his human form, not via his Gavv. If Granutes, both in their kaijin and human forms, eat any type of foods, be it Dark Snacks or ordinary foods, via their mouths, not their Gavvs, then what is a Gavv? What's the point of a Gavv if Granutes are still able to eat via their mouths?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

Semantics. At the end of the day, they are still body modifications.

Semantics? No, it's not semantics. Of course body modification has been one of the main tropes in this franchise since day 1. Everybody knows that. Kuuga also had body modification trope, but it was done via a mystical/biological means, not robotic one. The difference is in the detail. What I pointed out was the detailed method of the modification, not the general trope per se.

As far I can remember, Revice was the first series in this franchise to use a different transplantation method with body parts/organs/cells extracted from a dead or living kaijin organisms. Amazons (or Ex-Aid) kinda did it earlier when Jin Takayama (or Ex-Aid Riders) injected Amazon cells (or Bugster viruses) into his body, although the cells (or virus) were cultivated in lab, not extracted from dead or living Amazons (or Bugsters).

[Eclipyon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

I already talked about that in my first comment in episode 1 thread here. In that comment, I wondered why the Granute of the week in episode 1 ate the Dark Snacks with the mouth in his human form, not via his Gavv.

He uses both though? After taking the first bite using his mouth, he consumes the rest using his Gavv. Episode 5 also shows a Granute eating a Dark Snack using his mouth while in his kaijin form.

[DreadBringer]

Gavv's really moving fast, I'm also one of those who'd expect Michiru to be likely used as a hostage later by the Stomachs against Shoma, and if she dies, it'd be a dramatic moment later. It's the same for Soji, where I expect him to be the current VOTW, but he's killed off, and there's another secondary Rider fueled by revenge.

The Stomachs are more divided now. Lango wants to rule the Granute world, Siip and Jiita feel threatened by Lango, and Nyelv only wants to observe things for further evolution or progression, after the development of Hitopresses and human disguises, purposefully not helping Siip and Jiita get rid of Gavv.

It seems like Suga is becoming more suspicious, with him supporting Hanto's revenge and using it as motivation, being deemed insane by Hanto, only caring about the success of his Rider project while recording Valen, and obviously, him stealing the Gochizos at the end. Obviously, Suga wouldn't know if the Gochizos are living beings, but it'd still be stealing regardless, even though he claims he borrows them.

Hanto's previously swell, but it seems that he's becoming more unhinged after Soji's death, much like typical secondary Riders. Chocodon's distress as it's used to power Valen seems to show this, similar to Suga's treatment above. I'm wondering if Hanto would be made as a darker version of Shoma if he lets his tragedy consume him, unlike Shoma. Also, now I'm not sure if Valen would be quick allies with Gavv, even though the opening strongly suggests the main trio will be together.

So Sachika's the one who's naming Shoma's familiars Gochizos. The Gochizos seem to not move if there are other humans around. I don't know if it's because they understand not to move or if Shoma asks them not to. Reminds me of Toy Story ofc. For now, Sachika still doesn't know Shoma's true nature. I still don't understand why Shoma and Sachika are promoting ramen.

Even though Dente is the only person who can do the job, I didn't expect Shoma to be chummy with Dente, giving him snacks as a thank you for his help and smiling and believing in getting his help. Similarly, after considering Suga to be insane, Hanto chooses to go back to him and accept being his guinea pig so he can get revenge, as Valen also needs Granute traits to be used. Although it had already happened before when Ritsu was converted in episode 2, now, Shoma directly tells the Gochizos to be his scouts.

Rather clever tactic for Otake to present himself as a magician who attracts people, so he can pass on eating/converting people as just a magic act. Shoma's help can still lead to a negative reputation, making him appear rough towards a girl for no reason. Soji claims Hanto's fighting skills are not very good, and thus his secondary debut isn't dominant like most previous secondaries, though his injuries from the surgery also doesn't help. He still has a cool environment tactic to collapse the floor they're fighting on and disorient Otake.

[Zolda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclipyon

He uses both though? After taking the first bite using his mouth, he consumes the rest using his Gavv. Episode 5 also shows a Granute eating a Dark Snack using his mouth while in his kaijin form.

The Granute of the week in episode 1 did finish the rest of the Dark Snacks by eating it with his Gavv, and the Granute in episode 5 did eat the Dark Snacks by eating it with his mouth in his kaijin form. Granutes having 2 mouths (the Gavv and the actual mouth) is what makes the mouth kinda redundant. A Gavv is basically a copy of the actual mouth, and the added features are that it allows Granutes to create their minions, assume their human forms, and turn humans into Hito Presses.