Recap: Kamen Rider Gavv, Episode 5 – The Memories Are Painful

Shoma is shocked to wake up to a Granute looking down on him. He quickly henshins and knocks the Granute onto the bed. But the Granute is excited to see Shoma is doing well after the surgery and to see the Gochizo’s power first h and. He’s just annoyed though that Bouche had not told him of his progress sooner.

Shoma is taken aback at hearing his father’s name. But the Granute goes on to explain that he had worked on Shoma’s Gavv when he was a little boy.

The Granute introduces himself as Dente Stomach, his father’s little brother!

Meanwhile, the twins talk about how Shoma’s changed from being a weakling as a kid. And also after Uncle Dente’s experiment on him had seemingly failed. Perhaps the results are only showing up now. Uncle Dente is the genius behind their human-to-spice system, after all. And also brother Nyelv’s engineering mentor.

Lango approaches them and questions their lack of progress on human collection. If they have no results soon, he’ll fire them and his Agents will take over instead. Lango is eager to have them rule over all Granutedom. Especially as they don’t know how much longer they can continue their black market drug trade. That’s why they must target the wealthy to their stuff. And he can’t tolerate deadweights.

Back in the human world, Sachiko calls Hanto with a monster sighting and he heads out to investigate. Boss Soji again warns Hanto about trusting Suga-san.

Speaking of, Suga-san continues working on something with the Gochizo.

Over at Uncle Dente’s, Shoma tells him about Papa Bouche’s death and asks what he is doing in the human world, about him creating Dark Sweets and why he helped him after he collapsed.

Uncle Dente says he couldn’t help it seeing his red Gavv. He explains that Shoma’s Gavv could not birth Gochizos like theirs since he is half-human. Shoma says it is not his mother’s fault. But Uncle Dente says he would be surprised to know Papa Bouche really did care for Shoma and his mother.

Uncle Dente flashes back to when Papa Bouche asked him to use his skills and technology to infuse Shoma with power to birth Gochizo so he can live proud and strong.

Uncle Dente says it was a tall order, considering he had never worked on humans before. He even grew attached to Shoma since he was a cute kid. So he was determined to make it work. So he decided to head here to Earth and research humans in order to do so. But he ended up loving human snacks and staying here.

Uncle Dente offers some chips for him to try. But Shoma is not in the mood. Uncle Dente is amused that human snacks are what has fueled Shoma’s awakened power. And he is proud of Shoma as the culmination of Papa Bouche’s love and his own work.

Shoma does not share the fuzzy sentiment. His mother hated his father. She never asked to be kidnapped or to be loved by him. Not to mention they had been locked away in the mansion the entire time. Uncle Dente says it was for their own safety from his siblings. It was either that or risk being too happy and end up as spice.

Shoma can’t believe they were made miserable on purpose. Yet another decision made by his father and uncle for them.

Uncle Dente tries to stop Shoma as he runs away.

On the other side of town, Hanto finds a Gochizo trapped in a net and saves it. But he suddenly spots an Agent and he and Gochizo follow it. They watch as the Agent meets with another, delivering the Compressed People.

Shoma stops running and thinks about their painful memories of he and his mother while imprisoned by his father. Mama Michiru promised to take him to the human world one day.

Just then, Shoma heads a child crying and heads over. The mother says he dropped his toy through the grate. He offers to help them and the boy’s cries make him think about Uncle Dente’s words to him about Papa Bouche protecting them.

Shoma effortlessly removes the grate and the boy gets his toy back. The boy and his mother thank Shoma and leave. Shoma is determined to ensure humans can freely be happy without threat of be turning into drug ingredients.

Shoma’s stomach growls and he gives the chips Uncle Dente gave him a try. They’re spicy, but delicious. Hirihiri Chips Gochizo pops out of his stomach and Shoma vows to protect them and be happy.

The Gochizo that Hanto had found rushes over to Shoma to lead him back to the Agents who have a case full of Compressed People.

Hanto throws a rock at the Agents to stop them and buy some time. But the Agents end up knocking him unconscious.

Shoma arrives just in time and henshins. As he fights them off, Hanto wakes up and runs inside to check on the Compressed People.

Shoma uphenshins using the Hirihiri Chips Gochizo and easily takes care of the Agents. He hurries back to Hanto and cautions him to be careful about not snapping the Compressed People in half.

Shoma carefully releases the Compressed People who all scream in horror at the sight of him. But Hanto fiercely defends Shoma and tells the people that he is the Kamen Rider that has been saving everyone, not a monster.

Shoma thanks Hanto and quickly leaves.

That evening, Hanto pays Sachiko for her help this week. She gives him his receipt and he leaves. Shoma arrives and he panics as Hanto walks out. But Hanto merely greets him and walks away. Shoma is relieved that Hanto does not realize he is the Kamen Rider.

Shoma walks inside Hapipare. Sachiko scolds him for leaving so abruptly. But Shoma apologizes. He says he had a lot to think about, but asks if she can allow him to work here again. He wants to become someone who can make others happy like she does.

Sachiko will give him one more chance as long as he doesn’t run away again. Shoma thanks her and she prepares where he can stay.

Shoma promises his mother that he will make a happy life here away from his horrible family.

Meanwhile, Boss Soji is on a stake out at a potential illegal gambling den. But a Granute suddenly approaches and compresses him.

Episode Thoughts

Definitely a great episode! I’m happy they pick up where last week left off in terms of momentum. Very much a great follow up to last week’s great episode.

It was awesome to meet Uncle Dente. And he was definitely the perfect way to introduce Papa Bouche and learn more about Shoma’s life while in the Granute world with his mother.

First off, it was a great way to also introduce the idea that there are “nice” Granutes. Sure, Uncle Dente did create the human spice machinery. But he’s obviously a “nicer” Granute compared to the siblings. It would be great to meet more Granutes like him and explore the Granute world as well. They can’t all be hungry druggists or greedy businesspeople lol

But very interesting learning more about Papa Bouche and his relationship with Shoma and his mother. The idea of them being locked up as a way to protect them from happiness (and thus, protecting them from the hungry druggists and selfish siblings lol) is so fascinating. And seeing that happiness may be one of the season’s themes, I know there can be a lot of great stories to tell for both our main characters and the people they will meet each week. It’s a good foundation for the season.

Really great seeing Shoma’s solid development so far. And the way the show is building out the foundation of his character is very good as well.

Love the way the show was able to seamlessly further Hanto’s story too, alongside the big developments for Shoma, in leading up to next week. And also being able to reintroduce Sachiko to the picture and move closer to the trio coming together.

I feel like these two episodes are so different from the first three. And I guess it’s just that the season has settled down and shaken off the typical jitters of the start of a new year. The pacing of these two episodes in relation to the overall story is how I hope the rest of the season will go. And the tone of these two episodes is the kind I prefer more as well.

So overall, another strong episode. I really enjoyed it. And I’m happy to see Gavv getting into a good rhythm now.