Recap: Kamen Rider Gavv, Episode 12 – A Bond Connected by Doughnuts

Shoma tells Hanto to hop onto his buggy and they drive off away from the Granute.

Now safely in an empty alley, a groggy Hanto tells Shoma he can’t really go to a hospital considering his now-abnormal body. Hanto thinks Shoma’s probably known who he was for a while. But Shoma denies it.

Hanto thinks it’s unfair that it’s only him who got unmasked. So Shoma dehenshins and reveals himself as well. “I knew it was you,” Hanto says before he passes out.

Shoma brings Hanto back to Hapipare and bandages him up with the help of the Gochizos. Shoma notices that Hanto’s stomach is not the typical Granute abs and realizes he must have gotten a modification and that he was human all along.

Sachika calls Shoma to tell him that she’ll be staying with Emi and Hana tonight as Emi is still shaken up from the ordeal.

Listening to their conversation, Hanto realizes Sachika doesn’t know Shoma is a Kamen Rider. But he says nothing would change with her even if she did.

Shoma goes to Hanto’s side, asking if he’s bandaged him up correctly since he’s never done it before. Hanto says it’s fine since he can fix it later.

Hanto tells Shoma that he will thank him for saving him this one time. But he is upset that Shoma did not focus on defeating the Granute instead. Shoma says he did it because Hanto was in danger. But Hanto says that doesn’t matter. What matters most is that more people are going to get pressed and eaten if they don’t take care of the Granutes as fast as possible.

Shoma understands how he feels, but he points out you can’t save people or defeat Granutes if you’re dead. Some things can’t be done unless you survive and live.

Shoma adds that if he left Hanto to die and continued to fight, then he’d just be adding to the list of people he just stood and watch Granutes take from him. Hanto says Shoma is right, he was just pushing his worthlessness on him.

Both Shoma and Hanto talk about watching their mothers die in front of them thanks to the Granutes.

When Hanto takes a photo of him and his mother out of his bag, Shoma suddenly experiences a sharp pain.

Meanwhile, Sachika tells the sisters about Kamen Riders helping people against monsters. Emi worries the monsters might come after again. She apologizes to her sister Hana for not listening to her about the sketchy guy.

Next morning, Sachika arrives at Hapipare and tells Shoma about planning to meet with the scammer with the hopes the Kamen Rider will come to finish him off. But first, she’ll go take a nap.

Meanwhile, Hanto visits Suga-san for a check-up. Kenzo tells him to come by anytime.

As he’s gathering his things, Hanto gets a call from Shoma and hurries out. Kenzo comments that Hanto’s rate of healing must be due to the modifications.

Over in the Granute world, Lango tells Glotta about Shoma having evolved so much that it is no wonder the twins struggled against him. But he notes that Shoma’s strength is only physical and not yet mental.

Anyway, Lango wants Glotta to help choose new part-timers. Ones who are standout candidates.

Just then, Agents bring in a Granute who attempted to steal some treats from a cart earlier.

Back in Tokyo, the little Granute boy again waits outside the café meeting place. A woman comes walking by him and the boy quickly jumps up and opens his stomach mouth.

The woman, however, is Shoma. And Hanto is with him as well.

Shoma and Hanto henshin.

Shoma lets Hanto choose a Gochizo to use. Hanto plugs in a Donut Gochizo and uphenshins to Doumaru. Together, Shoma and Hanto are able to finish off the Granute.

Back at Hapipare, Hanto shows the sisters a video proving that the Granute is defeated. The sisters are thankful for it. Sachika says it’s cool that Hanto was able to get a good video of the finisher. But how? Hanto just plays it off.

Hanto approaches Shoma on the side and tells him it’s a big weight off his back that someone knows what he is going through now.

Hanto tells Shoma not to be so formal with him from now on. The two shake hands as friends. But Shoma knows Hanto only trusts him because he doesn’t know he is a Granute. So Shoma must continue keeping him in the dark about his full identity.

Meanwhile, the twins refuse to go home or they will be married off and separated. They’ve been together since birth and they don’t want to be apart.

Agents tell the twins they can no longer be here even though it was their base of operations in the human world. They are no longer employees. So the Agents drag them out onto the street.

The twins blame Shoma for putting them in this predicament. They vow revenge.

Episode Thoughts

A great episode focused on Shoma and Hanto’s relationship!

I’ll start with my nitpick first. And of course, this is before knowing what they actually do have planned for the usual big Christmas episode. But I think it could’ve been great to have them reveal their identities to each other in that episode. Do more with them talking about losing their mothers to the horrible Granute people. And then still end the episode with the two of them affirming their new bond and Sachika coming over to pull them over to the Christmas treats for the party or something like that.

I’m fine with them doing it now, like I mentioned last week. But like they mentioned a bit how they (or I think Hanto specifically) kind of had an inkling as to who the other Rider was, it would’ve bee fun to play around with that dynamic until the reveal. The fun suspicions and suspecting.

But there’s still Shoma keeping his full Stomach identity from Hanto. Which obviously can help bring about conflict with them later on too. So it’s alright. I think, if anything, the solid storytelling so far makes me hopeful for the possibilities of what’s ahead for the season.

I very much liked that scene between Shoma and Hanto at Hapipare. It was a great scene that showed both of their personalities. Shoma, of course, still having a lot to learn about the human world. But very eager to help, especially someone he considers a new friend. Hanto, meanwhile, the typical lonely hero wanting to save everyone even if it means sacrificing himself.

It was a great dynamic to see play out in this scene. And I think a very good scene to cap off this almost fully coming together between our two heroes. Again, there’s definitely plenty of drama and conflict to come between them, potentially. But for this first 12 episodes, I think a great and logical step forward for them and for the story.

For the other characters, we get the familiar idea of our title heroes bringing about change they never expected. Whether for the Stomach Sibs or Kenzo, they are watching the gummy and choco guys closely and seemingly ready to pounce when they see an opening to harness those powers for themselves.

And for the twins, an interesting opportunity to flesh out the family dynamics as well as the strange and oppressive world of the Granutes.

Overall, this episode was definitely focused on Shoma and Hanto. And it was a great way to take a big step forward for their characters, their relationship and the story.