Snacks up, Riders! Last time, we left off with Bitter Gavv on the rampage, Hanto and Shoma on the outs, and Shoma seeming to be feeling unwell. What’s going to happen? Only one to find out! Join Ethan and tuck in!
Recaps
Episode 22
Picking up from where episode 21 left off, Lakia joins the fight, instantly realising Bitter Gavv can’t be Shoma because their Gavvs are different, only to have his finisher interrupted by Hanto, who’s conflicted about all of this. Shoma wakes up at Gruncle Dentes. It turns out the Gochizo went to fetch him. Shoma’s mental stress is causing his Gavv to become…. constipated? His Gavv’s not been birthing Gochizo as it’s meant to be and Dente helps with that for now. Shoma, learning about Bitter Gavv via social media, takes off and eventually gets a call from Sachika, who basically says she’s still on his side and will hear him out fully when he comes home. Reinvigorated by this, Shoma goes off to investigate Bitter Gavv and runs into Hanto who hears Shoma out. Shoma ‘comes out’ to him and Hanto decides to trust Shoma because he’s him and the pair make up.
They catch wind of Bitter Gavv on the attack again and, after a short exchange where Bitter Gavv says he wants to be the ultimate life form like he’s Shadow the Hedgehog, the trio fight and, well, I don’t need to explain how it pans out. In the aftermath of the fight, Shoma is knocked over a railing and this causes him to remember having met Hanto’s mum as a child, ending the episode.
Episode 23
We get the flashback revealing that Hanto’s mum was trying to escape but, because she tried to help a young Shoma, she was caught and killed. Hanto understandably is all “I understand it’s not your fault but I don’t want to see you right now” and the pair split up again. Shoma fills Sachika in, ‘coming out’ to her too and she’s just as supportive as Hanto. Meanwhile, Hanto meets up with an old pal for a meal out and later on Shoma takes Lakia to meet Gruncle Dente to talk about Bitter Gavv. They are interrupted when they learn that Bitter Gavv is out terrorising people again. But Shoma and Hanto exploded him! Why’s he back?
It turns out, again much like Shadow the Hedgehog, there are clones of Bitter Gavv and this one’s a different clone (CALLED IT !). The trio start fighting and the episode ends with Shoma giving chase to Bitter Gavv, who’s using his own edgy version of Shoma’s buggy bike gatling gun.
Also of note, during this episode, Suga gives Hanto some Dark Chocolate Gochizos he made so he can fight without having to rely on Shoma.
Episode 24
Bitter Gavv gets away as Shoma passes out—his mental hang ups over the drama with Hanto clearly being what’s causing this. He is taken to home to rest until Bitter Gavv starts up again. Eventually, the unwell Shoma is saved by Lakia joining in. Sachika takes the opportunity to grab some nearby ice cream to give to Shoma as it helps when you’re unwell? This births a new ice cream Gochizo, which Shoma uses to becomes Gavv Blizzard Sorbet! A new form debut! I don’t need to tell you how it plays out for Bitter Gavv clone 2, do I? Our new trio go home and they celebrate the win while Shoma looks on thinking how, with Lakia and Sachika, he really has some good people in his life looking out for him, doesn’t he? This bring the episode to a clo… wait! What about Hanto? I hear you cry, dear reader!
Well, Hanto’s buddy that he went out for a nice meal with sells him out and he is ambushed by a Granute, who presses his buddy and beats on Hanto for over a day before one of the new Chocold Gochizo breaks free and hops on the Valenblaster, letting him transform into his newest form… his base form with angry eyes! I’m joking around, I do quite like the suit. It’s a nice, subtle way of making making him seem darker and angrier without changing the base suit all too much. Anyways, after transforming, Hanto brutalises the Granute. His plot line for the episode ends with him reflecting on how his new form will let him take down Granutes without needing to rely on Shoma. The Gochizo makes an evil face.
Episode 25
This episode sees Lakia join Shoma in working at Hapipare as a part timer and is eventually assigned to help a boy who wants an escort to go meet a V-Tuber they like: Helmet Boy. Must be a new branch of Hololive I missed… Meanwhile, Hanto has a cool fight with Bitter Gavv but starts getting side effects. Shoma learns that his ice cream form melts, so he needs to be quick with it.
When Lakia and the boy meet with Helmet Boy, they quickly learn that it is in fact a Granute that’s been using V-Tuber meet and greets as a cover to harvest people. The Kabuto Granute smack talks Lakia’s client and the episode ends with them about to fight.
Episode 26
As with most Rider fights that open an episode, the monster gets away. Lakia tries to talk the boy out of seeing the V-Tuber but he refuses, as it turns out he was the original Helmet boy and he made the character to share his love of sweets with the world but his channel got hacked. He storms off, saying he will confront the Kabuto Granute on their own, only to be found later by Lakia and the pair bond over pudding. They are they called out by the Kabuto Granute who’s trying to target Lakia now, since they know they will be rewarded for doing so, leading to a cool fight between Lakia and Shoma vs. Kabuto Granute and some agents.
After the fight, Lakia shares with everyone that this experience has taught him a lot about the human world and also now he likes eating puddings and not the typical Granute food, rocks. Literal rocks.
Meanwhile, during Lakia’s lovely journey of self discovery with a pseudo little brother figure, Hanto is suffering from withdrawal symptoms and, following a discussion with Suga last episode deciding to keep using the probably made outta dark treats Chocold Gochizo, Hanto stumbles back into Suga’s …. office? Lair? to find him hanging out with two Bitter Gavv clones who are showing off new Gochizo’s they made.
My Thoughts
I really liked this batch of episodes, Shoma coming out to Hanto and Sachika was great, Hanto’s reaction to the flashback is understandable, Lakia’s interactions with Dente were great too and his arrival to back up Shoma was great. Bitter Gavv just being Shadow the Hedgehog is wonderful. I love how Sachika was totally down to take swings at Bitter Gavv herself, despite the dangers. The two parter with Lakia really finding some love for the human world and pudding boy trying and loving pudding… just great stuff all around. Gavv continues to be really good!
Conclusion
Honestly, other than not being sure how ice cream helps when you’re and the logistics of the Granute hacking Helmet Boy’s channel – the V-Tuber model and motion tracking stuff wouldn’t come with the channel like that – I don’t know what I could say that wouldn’t be more gushing! The next episode seems just as good. I can’t wait!
What did you think of these episodes? Did you enjoy the two new forms? As always, I’ve been Ethan: Writer and reviewer serving you toku articles ’til the lights get shut off and I’ll see you all next time!
