Snacks up, Riders! I hope you brought your appetite because we have our first ever quadruple feature feast being served! A double double feature, if you will… starring romance, scams, big things hiding in small packages and dramatic call outs. Let’s dig in!
Part One: Identities Revealed, Cats Going Fishing
Episode 11 Recap
In this episode, the duo from Hapipare are tasked with vetting a ladies date by their older sister, who’s worried that because they have spoken online and never met in person there may be something fishy. Shoma and Sachika immediately agree with the older sister when they recognise the person in this mystery date’s profile picture; it’s Hanto, whom they call up, invite over and confirm that it was not him sending the messages. Meanwhile, Lango fires Jeebh and Shitta, taking over their responsibilities himself before deciding to go pay Shoma a visit.
Hanto goes to the date in place of the Emi (the younger sister whose date it originally was), planning on turning this romance scammer into an article and, at least, get some payback and compensation for the reputation hit they caused him. Shoma quickly realises Emi was so adamant before it’s unlikely she’s going to give up on her date so easily and goes to check on her, with Sachika and her sister in tow. When all they find is an annoyed Hanto, who’s been sitting there an hour, they quickly realise a Granute probably got her and also that a child pushed past them on the stairs in a hurry. The trio split up, with the older sister hanging back.
In an alleyway, Shoma runs into Lango, two of Langos agents and the kid they were looking for. It turns out the little kid was, in fact, a Granute. It’s here we get the full reveal; the Granute would catfish lonely people and hide as a kid on the way to the date spot, nabbing them as they pass. After some taunting by Lango, a really, really cool fight happens, and the agents and the Granute play keep away with the pressed Emi.
The Granute gets away with the pressed Emi and runs into Hanto, who manages to get it off him and throw it to Gavv to free her. Unfortunately, it’s seconds too slow to stop Valen getting hit so hard it cancels out his transformation, revealing to Shoma that Valen is Hanto and taking us into episode twelve.
Episode 12 Recap
Shoma makes a getaway with Hanto on his back, and reveals to him that he’s Gavv before taking him inside the Hapipare office. As Shoma attempts to bandage him up, the pair talk a little about why Shoma saved Hanto, trading traumatic backstories. Meanwhile, Sachika finds a scared Emi and, along with her sister, takes her back to her place. She calls Shoma to let him know and that she’s going to stay the night there too, to make sure she’s okay.
Over in Granute world, a new jellyfish looking Granute is brought before Lango and Glotta, as they discuss upping the number of key part timers. The next day, Sachika returns to the offices and shares her plan to catfish the catfisher. Since she spent all night finding the catfisher, Shoma tells Sachika to go to sleep and leave it to him. He calls Hanto just as he gets a check up from Suga, who remarks that accelerated healing must be a side effect of the modification, too.
The pair ambush the catfishing Granute and defeat them with the power of teamwork. Shoma gives Hanto one of his donut Gochizo to transform with and also Gurucan’s Vrocan Assist giant gun.
The episode winds down with Hanto showing a video he recorded of the Kamen Riders beating the Granute to put Sachika at ease. When asked how he got that shot, we find out that, while Shoma was blasting, Hanto was crouching down recording this with his phone. Hanto and Shoma exchange smiles that now they have someone to share this burden with. All isn’t rainbows and puppies, though, since Shoma thinks to himself that Hanto only is cool with him because he thinks he’s a modified human…
We then cut to Jeebh and Shitta getting thrown out of, what was once, their base. They swear vengeance on Shoma, bringing this two parter to a close.
The Bad
You might be able to guess what I’m going to complain about but yeah my worry from last week appears to be right. Not only are we not going to see Shoma offer a chance to surrender to Granutes anymore as long as he’s fighting with Valen and I get it. It would raise questions between them and the writers don’t wanna address that which leads me to my second point that I also brought up last week . Shoma and Hanto eventually have the legally mandated “main Vs secondary” fight because Hanto learns he’s actually a Granute and probably sees at first Shoma offering them a chance to reform as him picking them over the human victims. Which i’m not looking forward to and hope if there is conflict between them its for more then just Hanto wanting to genocide, i have faith that the writers wont disappoint me but we will have to see.
The Good
Oh my god the fight choreography, in that alleyway in particular, was amazing. The tightness and verticality of the space being used was just so good. Additionally the panicked reactions of everyone as they realized not only was Emi gotten but that Kid was probably the Granute was really believable. Extra shoutouts to Hanto and Shomas whole exchange in Hapipare about why Shoma privatized Hanto over getting the kill on the catfisher Ganute and why it’s important for them to live to not let their deaths add to the list of names taken by the Granute. Beautiful and heart wrenching stuff.
The Conclusion
While I have my issues with this two parter, Gavv continues to be impeccable tokusatsu and a highlight of my week. Going into the “end of Q1, main Rider gets their first major power up” section, I can not wait to see where we go from here!
Part Two: The King of Cakes
Episode 13 Recap
Episode 13 opens with Shoma chatting with Gruncle Dente about Valen, and why Shoma got a headache when he saw a picture of Hanto’s mum. Dente suggests that Shoma might be missing some memories here and there…. I’m sure that’s fine and not foreshadowing some twist…
After the opening, Sachika makes a Bûche De Noël (Yule log) as a practice for the one she plans on making for the neighbourhood Christmas party. The pair share some of it, with Shoma revealing that he’s always wanted to try sharing cake like this. The conversation leads to Sachika agreeing to teach Shoma how to bake a cake in the time before she has to take off for a job. Meanwhile, Lango takes the jellyfish Granute to Nyelv to be modified and, when informed that Shita and Jeebh have run off, says that it’s fine since they’ll be targeting Shoma, saving him the effort, allowing him to build in the background while they keep our heroes busy.
Hanto learns of a musician that he suspects of being a Granute and calls Shoma while he and Sachika are shopping for ingredients. Shoma sends out some of his minions to track them down. Back home, Shoma bakes a cake and, as Sachika leaves for work, the pair promise to try the finished cake when they get back. Just as Shoma finishes putting the final touches on the cake, Hanto calls, letting him know he found the Granute.
Hanto and the Granute start fighting and, as Shoma arrives, he spots a minion of Shita and Jeebh. He tells Valen to handle this one and takes off after it. Valen gets caught off guard when the Granute lets slip he’s been at this for 20 years. He gets away.
Meanwhile, Shoma meets Shita and Jeebh atop a cliff and, after dealing with the Agent, they bait him all alone with his new Bûche De Noël form. Shita and Jeebh transform and proceed to combo Shoma so hard he’s sent flying off the cliff as the episode comes to an end.
Episode 14 Recap
Episode 14 picks right up where #13 left off, with Shoma having barely survived the battle with his siblings. At the bottom of a cliff, Hanto finds him, and the pair make their way back to Sachika before the Agents can find him. When they arrive, a worried sick Sachika believes Hanto when he says he was caught up in a fight while out for a walk.
Knowing he’s going to need to face them again soon, Shoma takes the chance to keep his promise and try his cake with Sachika. They offer some to Hanto but he declines, looking up leads on his phone while the Hapipare pair enjoy Shoma’s cooking.
Just as Shoma is feeling reinvigorated by the power of his cake (gotta imagine his Granute healing kicked in with his now full tummy), Hanto sees social media posts about an explosion that happened and, as he shows Shoma, he catches a note calling him out written in the Granute’s language.
As the pair take off, they have to talk Sachika out of tagging along. Shoma promises to come back alive. As he and Hanto are about to split up, the pair fist bump, promising not to go dying on each other.
Hanto jumps the Granute he’s been looking for but, similarly to before, after mentioning Stomach Inc, the Granute gets away. Shoma faces off with Shita and Jeebh and, after awaking the power from his cake, assumes his new CaKing form (get it? because royal icing) and, with the power of his new form, do I really need to say it?
He makes quick work of the twins, killing Shita while an heartbroke Jeebh gets away. Just as Hanto arrives, Shoma collapses – his new form takes a lot out of him to use. The episode ends with Nyelv arriving to greet Suga, the pair clearly having been working together this whole time.
My Thoughts
What a great pair of episodes! I love the contrast between the twins fighting so hard because they feel they have nothing and nowhere to go home to, and Shoma fighting so hard because he finally has something and somewhere to go home to. The development between Shoma, Hanto and Sachika was all really great too.
The new form is very cool as well, packing its own minions that, based on the next episode preview, seem like they can use other Gavv forms too?! Also, that cliffhanger! While I was wrong about them being the same person, I was right that there was something up between Suga and Nyelv! Can’t wait to see what they’re planning.
The Conclusion
The momentum for Gavv hasn’t stopped in the slightest, giving us more than our fill of great action, great drama and great acting. All around, a great time! I cannot wait for next week’s episode. With Hanto learning more about Stomach Inc, we seem to be heading to some more drama, which is exciting, too! I can’t wait!
What did you think of these episodes? Did you drool over Shoma’s cake? Did you feel bad for the twins? Until next time, as always, I’ve been Ethan: Writer, reviewer and cake lover for The Toku Source! Keep on snacking.
