.jpg)
A young man is running from strange figures chasing him through a strange world. He ends up falling through a door in the floor and seemingly finds himself falling into Tokyo. He seems to recognize this as the world where his mother came from.
The young man, Shoma, is awaken the next morning by a little boy named Hajime. Shoma’s stomach growls and asks if he has anything to eat.
Though Hajime says to wait for him, Shoma follows him anyway as he takes in this strange (to him!) world. Shoma asks if what Hajime is holding in his hand is food. But Hajime says it’s just a bag of pretty seashells he hoped to give his mother.
.jpg)
Shoma seems sad as he thinks of his own mother. But he quickly jumps into action to save Hajime from being killed by a truck. Shoma shields Hajime and when the truck hits him, its front shatters, ejecting the driver and passenger right out the front window. Shoma is perfectly fine though and he is even able to grab the driver and passenger to safely set them down on the ground as they go flying.
Shoma is shocked. But Hajime is also surprised that Shoma is shocked. Shoma says he just expected the truck to be a bit stronger.
.jpg)
On the other side of town, freelance writer Karakida Hanto approaches a woman whose husband has disappeared. He shows her a crayon drawing and asks her if she saw something like this before her husband went missing. He says it’s like a monster. But the woman refuses to listen to such nonsense.
Hanto’s mentor Shiotani approaches him and says he needs to learn how to ask questions better since monsters are just fiction to regular people. He points out though that the woman’s reaction implies murder and encourages Hanto to get them a scoop.
Elsewhere, a man delivers something to someone who appears to be the same as the figures who had been chasing Shoma. In exchange, he receives a small box which he wants more of.
.jpg)
Hajime brings Shoma to his secret base and gives him lots of delicious snacks to choose from. Hajime says he’ll bring real food later. But Shoma’s mind is blown when he has a first taste of gummies ever. He then gives a lollipop a taste for the first time and loves it so much.
But his stomach suddenly gets a little pain and something pops out. He has no idea what it is, but he pulls his jacket up and more little things pop out of the device on his stomach. Hajime asks what they are and Shoma says perhaps they’re his kenzoku, or little things that help him out. And maybe he can use them. Which is now possible thanks to the snackies.
Hajime says no offense, but he believes Shoma is not human. Especially considering he has a weird mouth on his stomach. Shoma is impressed that he knew and says that his people all have mouths, called gavvs, on their stomachs.
Hajime asks if they eat humans. Shoma says he doesn’t, at least.
Just then, Hajime gets a call from his father saying his mom has already arrived. She’s been working abroad and this is her first time home in a while. Shoma apologizes for keeping him and Hajime promises to bring him a meal later.
Hajime also advises that if Shoma goes out, not to be conspicuous and let people know he isn’t human.
.jpg)
On the way home, Hajime catches the eye of the weird man from the transaction earlier. He opens the box given to him and takes a bite of a jelly which excites him so much, a large tongue pops out of his stomach and gobbles up the rest of it.
Back at the secret base, Shoma wakes up and thinks about something his mother told him. She asked him never to eat their snacks, but did not say why.
Suddenly, he sees something and quickly moves.
The weird man stops Hajime and comments that he seems to be enjoying life. Hajime tries to run away from him, but the creeper follows and says that happiness is very delicious and make for even tastier Dark Confections. He lifts his shirt up to reveal a mouth on his stomach and his huge tongue again pops out, about to devour Hajime.
.jpg)
Shoma zooms over and manages to save Hajime from the tongue. The creeper pulls a tooth from his stomach mouth and he turns into some kind of monster.
Shoma gives Hajime his bag of shells for his mother which he forgot at the secret base.
.jpg)
The creeper does not understand why Shoma does not quiver in fear. Shoma reveals his stomach mouth and says that he is a Granute too. Shoma charges toward the creeper, but just gets swatted back. The creeper calls him a little shrimp.
But Shoma feels a tremor in his hand and has strange memory flashes. When the creeper approaches Hajime, Shoma gets up and stops him from touching the boy.
Shoma gets tossed aside again. Memories of his mother run through his mind and he questions why he is so weak. But he pushes himself to fight and says it’s going to be different now,
.jpg)
Shoma takes a punch to the face, but then delivers a big punch to the creeper. He is determined to have Hajime live a happy life with his mom.
As Shoma gets punched to the ground again, the little friends appear and tell Shoma to eat him.
.jpg)
Shoma is about to stuff the friend into his mouth. But they all tell him to use his other mouth.
Shoma stands, opens the zipper on his jacket and pops the friend into his mouth driver. He cranks it up and he is able to henshin.
.jpg)
Shoma now understands that this is the power his friends have entrusted to him. He can now better match up against the creeper. Shoma uses the little jelly friends to power himself up even more.
Hajime’s mother appears, terrified by the monsters. Hajime tries to tell her that Shoma isn’t one, but she grabs him and takes him away.
The creeper mocks Shoma who acknowledges that the two of them are indeed monsters. But a sword pops out of Shoma’s stomach and he continues to overpower his opponent.
The creeper ends up hopping away. But Shoma feeds his mouth more candy and is able to bring about a vehicle for him to chase after the monster through Tokyo. The creeper says he doesn’t recall any of their kind being like Shoma.
Shoma gives the creeper an ultimatum. Give up the Dark Confections or be beaten to a pulp. The creeper refuses to give up his treats so Shoma locks in a gummy and delivers a finishing kick.
.jpg)
Shoma is relieved he has finally protected someone.
Later, Hajime goes to the secret base, bringing food for Shoma. But instead, Hajime finds a note. Shoma thanks Hajime for saving him and giving him snacks when he was hungry. He apologizes for scaring Hajime’s mother and promises to keep his identity more of a secret.
.jpg)
Hajime wipes away tears and says Shoma should’ve have left evidence if he wanted to be more low-key. He rips up the letter to protect his friend.
While walking along, Shoma asks a gummy to turn into a motorbike for him like the one that just passed by. The gummy obliges and Shoma rides down the street.
One week later, a young woman finds Shoma passed out in the park.
.jpg)
Episode Thoughts
The first episode of a new season of Sentai or Kamen Rider is always interesting. It’s that awkward time where you can be excited to meet some new friends, but also still missing your old ones whom you were just with last week. And for me, it’s especially tough since I loved Gotchard. Though I try never to compare the two back-to-back seasons like that immediately, the residual feelings of the last one can certainly have an effect on how I might receive the new one that’s just premiered.
That said, I thought this first episode of Gavv was alright. Definitely very interesting. I hadn’t read anything about the season or even watched the trailer, so went into the episode not knowing anything about it other than something about jellies/gummies. Lol
I think my first impression of the season so far is that it’s not love at first sight. There have been seasons where I already have a very good feeling after the first episode. Not really the case this time. I think I’m still a bit unsure about what to expect.
Now for me in my toku watching, I can forgive a show’s meh writing if it somehow has great characters that I eventually care about. (Which has been the case for almost half of the Kamen Rider seasons I’ve watched.) On the flip side, though maybe less so, I can forgive not very good writing for the characters if the story is good.
So far, I like Shoma. I think the fact that he is an alien and only now just discovering Earth can give him a lot of endearing qualities. Not to mention what appears to be a painful past. (A third straight season of our title character having mommy issues? Lol Well, at least it’s a change from the previous daddy issues lolol Just kidding.)
So he leaves a positive first impression. As does Hanto. Both seem like more on the lighter side. No angsty or tsundere or cocky guys on first glance for our lead and secondary Rider. So that can also be a refreshing thing as well.
Sad that Hajime is only a guest. Shoma having a nice young friend would’ve been nice to see.
Not sure what to think about the little gummies. Especially after a season with Chemies. But we’ll see. Then there’s the strange stomach mouths lol And the drug jelly gummy. And secret drug transactions with human food. And these aliens wanting to eat human joy I guess. I have no idea. lol
I must say at first I was worried when the first scenes were of Shoma going through some strange CGI world. I had war flashbacks to King-Ohger. lol I was going to be so annoyed if we were to get another virtual world season. But thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case lol
I somehow stumbled on who the head writer is for this season and Junko Komura was a guest writer for Wizard and Drive. So that’s alright. But then I saw that she was a head writer for Akibaranger, Zyuohger, LuPat and Zenkaiger. That’s when I got a little worried. Lol I meh on the former and latter. Two of these seasons which are #s 14 and 15 out of 15 on my rankings of Sentai seasons I’ve watched. (Three out of my bottom four!) And my least favorite Sentai season ever which, just thinking about it now, still annoys me so much and actually pulls up some negative feelings about it.
So that makes me even more apprehensive now about what to expect from this season! Lol But I am always hopeful at the start of a new season. So crossing my fingers I will warm up to Gavv soon! lol
I gotta say, this newest premiere has me pumped up and eager to see what’s to come. Despite its colorful and lighthearted motifs, there’s some SERIOUS darker elements right off the bat, mostly coming from how the Granutes like munching on happy humans.
I already like Shoma a lot. He’s probably the most unique Primary Rider we’ve ever had. It’s neat that his Granute side gives him abilities even outside of his Rider Forms. And similar to many of the Primary Riders before him, he’s a good-natured goof, but I like that the season’s already established that he has a more serious and somber side relating to how the main Granute group took his mother away from him. I wonder what his as-of-now-unknown father’s thoughts on that whole matter are.
And even though it hasn’t been explicitly stated yet, I think it’s pretty clear that Shoma’s a half-human, half-Granute hybrid. Reminds me of Jeramie from King-Ohger (I know he was your favorite part of that season 😁). I’m pretty sure that’s why Shoma’s Gavv is more mechanical while full-blooded Granutes’ Gavvs are more… organic. Judging by the bit of information we get here, hybrids seem to be a bit of a “rarity.”
Despite seeing little of him in this episode, I have a good feeling about Hanto too. He seems to be a bit “different” in attitude compared to many other past Secondary Riders. And what’s especially intriguing already is that, based on his drawing, he seems to be searching for a specific Granute.
And I know I’m “looking ahead” here, but I think it’d be really awesome if down the line, a villainous half-human, half-Granute hybrid is introduced as an Evil Counterpart to Shoma. Someone who’s older, smarter, has significantly more experience with his hybrid powers, has a backstory that parallels Shoma’s but is more different and “tragic,” etc. Someone who has significantly different views on the conflict and humans and Granutes in general, perhaps due to suffering mistreatment from both. And it’d be neat if this hypothetical villainous hybrid found Shoma to be a “kindred spirit” and sincerely wanted Shoma to join up with him…. On a possibly related note, that Granute in the drawing Hanto’s carrying around has a mechanical Gavv like Shoma’s.
I also sympathize with your… apprehension regarding this season’s head writer. I have mixed feelings and similar thoughts regarding her Sentai seasons:
– Zyuohger: Obviously the main problem with this season was the 4 Zyumen (specifically that hot-headed jackass Leo) treating Misao like crap, even though the latter had every good reason to lack self-confidence and still wanted to help them out any way he could in spite of that (which was especially meaningful considering that, until late in the season, the mere sight of Ginis terrified him). The villains were underwhelming, which was a shame since Cubaru and Bangarei had real potential. Cubaru being revealed to be the sole survivor of a planet Ginis destroyed and justifiably wanting revenge on him was honestly the only thing that kept Zyuohger “interesting” for me in its second half. He even came up with a hell of a brilliant plan to Ginis out too! But pretty much all that potential was squandered when his last appearance reduced him to a spineless, groveling coward eager to be Ginis’s minion again if it meant being spared. Bangarei, despite only appearing in about 12 episodes, had a solid “presence” to him. And he ironically seemed to play the Blood Game better than the season-long antagonists! His second episode where he “resurrected” Yamato’s mother from his memories (along with a whole score of other people’s dead loved ones), let the two spend quality time together to reconnect before going on the attack, made Yamato watch him “kill” her in front of him, and laughed in Yamato’s face at his misery was a twisted “highlight” of Zyuohger.
– Lupinranger vs. Patranger: The villains were lackluster and severely uninteresting. Except Zamigo, of course. His sinisterly laidback attitude at the heinous crimes he committed positively reminded of Evolto from Build. He was also cool in how he “did his own thing” and showed absolutely no fear in talking back to and even threatening the big boss man. Shame he was underutilized and didn’t appear much.
– Zenkaiger: I give the season points in fully embracing the goofiness and prioritizing having lots of fun. However, I feel the season was unable to be serious when it arguably needed to, particularly in that storyline with Kaito’s brainwashed father. I wanted some tears and heartbreak to go along with that, man! Other seasons like Magiranger and Gekiranger “satisfied” me in that regard. The villains were also meh. Stacey was obviously the best of the bunch. And I suppose his father Barishitara “stood out” too, if only because of how much of a CREEP Mr. 893 Wives was and the surprisingly dark implication that went along with that particular detail….
Though what’s intriguing and “reassuring” is that this season’s villain group has an aspect to them that automatically makes them compelling and provides nuance.
Re: the Evil Counterpart to Shoma you describe, that’s basically a Jeremie Brasieri I think hehe. On neither side, or on both sides something like that. That would be a good dynamic to have.
Don’t know much about the villains this season since I didn’t really read up on them. So I’m sure I’ll feel stronger about the season as it plays out in these first couple of weeks.
And with the writer, there’s some good things (however few) I liked in her seasons. And Zenkaiger being her most recent, which I enjoyed even if I was still disappointed in them not making use of all the potential it had, perhaps she’s learned from whatever missteps her previous seasons have had. hehe
Perhaps Komura will do better writing a more serialized show like Kamen Rider instead of a more episodic one like Super Sentai.
When I was pondering the possibility of a villainous hybrid appearing in the future, I was thinking less of Jeramie and more of Stacey from Zenkaiger if he were taken more seriously as a threat by his enemies, was more effective and calculating as a villain, and acted as both an ally and a headache to both sides of the conflict at certain points.
Jeramie was a good guy through and through whose main issue was his naïveté in thinking that there could be an end to the conflict without fighting. Whereas I assume this potential Evil Counterpart for Shoma would be significantly more cynical and bitter, perhaps due to humans being scared of him and calling him a monster and Granutes flat-out rejecting and looking down on him because of his human half. Hence why he’d likely view himself and Shoma as being “two peas in a pod.” He’d probably only reserve kindness and care for a select few individuals while being fully willing to cross any line to make his vision of an “ideal world” a reality.
It’s interesting since it’s only episode 1 and we have no idea what to expect yet. Anything is possible so we’ll see where they go and if the writer is up to the task here.
I think this is a decent opening. Also not writing out Hajime yet, why spend all that time on essentially a guest?
That would be great for him to be another friend of Shoma’s. And potentially his family having their own story relating to the Granutes too.