Recap: Kamen Rider Gavv, Episode 7 – What Flavor Lies Beneath the Mask

Both still henshined, Shoma finds Hanto on a rooftop. Shoma is surprised to see Hanto has a Gochizo. Hanto hopes Shoma doesn’t realize they’ve been swiping his candies.

Hanto tells Shoma to consider him his kouhai.

They try to get a feel for each other while in their own minds, thinking about how to navigate this unfamiliar situation.

Both Shoma and Hanto wonder if the other is a human who got these powers through modification. They both agree that they must keep their identities a secret and that both are pro-human.

Shoma is careful not to let on about his Stomach connection. He calls Hanto “Chocolate-kun,” though Hanto doesn’t like that name. He says to call him “Valen” instead. But he immediately regrets the tine-less Valentines name.

Hanto asks what to call Shoma. Shoma initially says “Red Gavv” but says to just shorten it to “Gavv” only. Or Gavv-senpai for Hanto.

They decide to just keep an eye on each other for now.

Meanwhile, Nyelv has a part-timer on a table in order to implant something new into him.

Elsewhere, Glotta barges into the twins’ collection hideout to ask why they have been lacking in Presses. The twins just say their workers are not that good lately. Glotta offers to spank those workers for them.

Back in town, Shoma accompanies Sachika to meet her Great Aunt Masako. Her regular help had returned to their hometown, so remembering Sachika has a handyman business, called them up to have them help clean around the huge house.

Auntie Masako says she’s not on her own at the moment as she has rented out two rooms to a pair of young, struggling artists: Tamaki-chan and Suetsugu-kun.

Sachika is happy Auntie Masako is helping artists who can sell their work. Suetsugu seems to take offense to the idea that his work is unappealing.
Shoma and Sachika get to work cleaning the house and grounds. But Shoma is a bit clumsy in his speed, knocking a vase off a pedestal and knocking a tree off its roots.

Tamaki asks Shoma to offer some feedback on her work. He ends up breaking off the sculpture’s arm. And though Shoma thinks Tamaki is about to smash his head in with a hammer, she is actually thankful to Shoma and believes what her sculpture needs is actually less and suggests they break off more parts.

Suetsugu, meanwhile, is growing frustrated with his own work.

On the other side of town, Suga-san is checking on Hanto and says he is doing well since the modification. Hanto asks if there are more Granute researchers out there. But Suga-san says he has not met one. Hanto says the Gavv guy also got a modification. Suga-san wishes to research that guy too and asks Hanto to bring him in.

Hanto wonders about another potential Suga-san out here.

At Hapipare, Shoma says it’s amazing how Sachika can do lots of stuff. She says she had to study a lot to be able to do so. Shoma wants to work harder every day. But Sachika tells him to stay put here for now and perhaps she needs to show him the ropes a bit more. She suggests he stay home and clean the office first for some practice.

That evening, the man Nyelv modified visits Auntie Masako posing as an art curator.

Later, Shoma visits Uncle Dente with snacks. Uncle Dente gives Shoma a new smartphone in exchange. And a special function it has is when plugging in a Gochizo, it can project their memories, anything the Gochizo has seen, onto the phone.

They watch a video of Kamen Rider Valen. And since Uncle Dente does not recognize Valen, Shoma realizes it wasn’t him who modified Valen.

Next day, Auntie Masako tells Sachika that Tamaki is headed to Paris after the art curator had offered her the opportunity.

At Hapipare, Shoma makes a Maison Gochizo, a place for the little candies to hide in if needed.

Hanto comes into Hapipare.

Shoma introduces himself as a new employee. Hanto wants to ask Sachika about what he asked her to do. Shoma looks in the ledger and finds that Hanto’s job for Sachika is about digging into the Kamen Rider across social media.

Shoma can’t believe it. He asks Hanto why he is interested. Hanto realizes he must be careful or Sachika might uncover his identity.

The two of the play off their worries and awkwardness by affirming their decision to keep their identities a secret.

After Hanto leaves Hapipare, a Gochizo patrol arrives and Shoma hurries out.

Hanto decides to not think about the Kamen Rider stuff for now and to focus on a missing persons story.

Shoma arrives at an art gallery and is greeted by the curator who Shoma already knows is a Granute thanks to the memory video of the Gochizo showing Tamaki-san getting Pressed. Shoma demands the Granute release her. He henshins and they begin to battle.

They take their battle to a parking garage. A Gochizo pops a fellow Gochizo out of Shoma’s Stomach Driver, allowing him to uphenshin to Chocodan.

After a fierce battle, Shoma is able to retrieve Tamaki’s Press.

Meanwhile, Suetsugu is upset with his work. Sachika sees him go crazy and has an idea. She brings him a snack to try and cheer him up. She compliments his work, but he does not appreciate it. He tosses paint at her. Sachika stops herself from saying something more and just bows in apology instead.

Later, Hanto arrives at the art gallery to see it completely trashed. He finds Tamaki’s passport on the floor. But just then, Glotta appears looking for the part-timer. She thinks Hanto is it, but he says he is just a writer.

Glotta kicks Hanto’s face and asks if he’s human. Hanto realizes that she is a Granute and that they have been wearing human faces to go undetected.

Hanto henshins and Glotta whips out her scythe.

Episode Thoughts

I really liked this episode as we get to see our Hapi3 in action. And on their own too! Each of them was on their own thing. So it was a great way to have them featured and active for the first time in one episode.

First off, the episode did a good job in laying the groundwork for how Shoma and Hanto move forward in keeping their identities secret. Their internal back and forths were fun and was a creative way to sort of set the stage for how they will deal with their situation at the moment. I hope the show can really squeeze as much value and story as they can from the unique dynamic before what will hopefully be a very satisfying reveal later on.

Keeping the two of them together, but separate at the same time allows for them to do their own thing like we saw in this episode. Though of course both are led to Tamaki’s disappearance, they both encounter different things. And that dynamic can really be a beneficial jumping off point for future stories as well.

For Shoma, it was great to see him continuing to adjust to his present life. I didn’t think of it before, but the show can do a lot of nice fish out of water stories with him. And that also presents opportunities for some nice, emotional moments as well as they can touch upon things about the human world he might have missed out on while being imprisoned with his mother.

For Hanto, he too is getting the hang of things. But he comes at this new scenario in his life from a different angle than Shoma. Hanto of course knows less about all this stuff with Granutes and candies and the like than Shoma. So he is sort of our proxy this season in learning more about this whole other world of Granutes and drug gummies and all that. He comes at it in a more serious way. And I think that is a great contrast to have to Shoma.

With Sachika, it’s really nice to see her coming into her own as the weeks go by. I’m sure she will have some big story during the season. So I’m really looking forward to seeing her development. This episode was a great start on that road as she faces something on her own without Shoma or Hanto.

A nice visit with Uncle Dente who conveniently gives Shoma an important device. (Like, actual tech device as well as a plot device lolol) A good check-in with Suga-san that seems to continue planting subtle seeds. And nice small tidbits with the twins and Nyelv. But definitely fun to see Glotta in action for the first time. A Glotta-Hanto rivalry would be fun to watch. But we’ll see if they establish that or not. Hope we get to see a great battle between them two next week.

Overall, a really great episode. Again, the season has settled down and we’re definitely on our way. A steady ride so far!