Recap: Kamen Rider Gavv, Episode 22 – The Truth Is Sweet and Bitter

Vram uphenshins to invisible jelly. But before he can deliver a finisher, Hanto shoots at him and allows Shoma to get away.

“What happened to teaming up with Shoma?” Hanto asks. “Shoma?” Rakia laughs, adding “What happened to taking down all Granutes including him?”

Rakia leaves. “I’m confused too,” Hanto says.

Shoma, meanwhile, wakes up at Uncle Dente’s. Uncle Dente says he was worried sick last night and found that a bunch of Gochizos were jammed up in Shoma’s tummy. Usually his Gavv typically spits out the Gochizos after snacking, but it didn’t seem in the mood last night. So he had to scrape them out. He hands Shoma one of them, Elegan Macarons.

Uncle Dente asks if there’s anything weighing on Shoma’s mind as that could be a cause of Gavv constipation. Shoma tells him about Hanto finding out about his secrets. But Shoma asks how Uncle Dente even find and bring him here.

Uncle Dente says the Gochizos got in touch with him. So he put on a disguise and hurried over to fetch him. “I may not be able to wear a human face, but I had a really good disguise!”
With Uncle Dente in such a public place, Shoma thinks rumors have spread so he goes to Twitter. Only, he sees the tweets about the dark version of himself rampaging.

Sachika is also reading the social media posts and she can’t believe Shoma is a monster and a Kamen Rider.

That evening, Hanto goes to Hapipare. But Sachika quickly pushes him out the door. She is more upset with him for blabbing Shoma’s secrets. She believes Shoma must have had a reason for keeping them. And she wants to believe the Umasho who is kind, a snacker, awkward but always trying to put a smile on others’ face is the real deal.

Hanto runs away. He admits that deep down, he also wanted to believe in him.

Meanwhile, Rakia thinks about how the guy he and Hanto were fighting earlier was not Shoma since he had a black Gavv. His Gochizos tell him that it must be another lookalike fashioned after the akaGavv like him.

Rakia thinks that makes sense and thinks Nyelv would be the prime suspect. But he has no way to get in contact with him now, especially after what’s happened.

But Rakia suddenly realizes who the true culprit might be.

Speaking of, Shoma is scarfing down pizza and chicken, saying “he” told him to just eat and sleep so he can recover and he can resume searching for more new powers.

Next day, Shoma goes investigating Shoma. But he has to be careful as he gets recognizes by people. He thinks about calling Hanto, but he wonders if it’s too late for them.

That’s when Sachika calls and asks where he’s been all this time. Shoma apologizes for worrying her. She tells him about his lookalike running amok and advises him to lay low or he could get arrested.

Shoma is surprised that she doesn’t think it’s him. Sachika says of course not. And if there’s anything he wanted to tell her, she promises to hear him out to the end. He has no reason to be afraid and she hopes he can come home safe.

Shoma thanks her for her understanding and kind words.

Later, Shoma overhears people talking about how Shoma has attacked a delivery truck. He hurries over where he runs into Hanto. Shoma apologizes and Hanto says it’s a relief to know that it wasn’t Shoma doing all those things after all. Hanto also apologizes for how he acted.

They head to a safer place to talk. Shoma explains that his mother was a human kidnapped to make Dark Treats. But father Stomach took a liking to her. That’s why his siblings weren’t too fond of them or their father after that.

After Papa Stomach died, the siblings immediately tried to get rid of them by turning them into Dark Treats. But Shoma ended up somehow surviving on his own and that’s when he escaped to this world for the first time. He has been able to enjoy many delicious snacks and met so many wonderful people. He can’t help but think about how his mother once lived a happy life here, so he wants to do everything to protect it,

But unlike other Granutes, Shoma is not wearing a human disguise. He has looked like this since birth and he has a mouth, known as a Gavv, because he’s a Granute. Even though it has been modified.

Because of his Gavv and how much stronger he is than humans, Shoma was afraid of scaring people so he kept it a secret. Hanto feels guilty because all his talk of hating Granutes wanting to defeat must have made it even harder for Shoma to be honest with him.

Shoma bows in apology and says he didn’t want Hanto hate him. Hanto says he’s a real screw up. Even before he found out he was a Kamen Rider, he already trusted Shoma and believed he was an ally of humanity. But then he just forgot all of that like an idiot.

Hanto bows in apology.

From now on, Hanto says, he will trust Shoma not because he thinks he’s a human. But because Shoma is who he is.

Shoma is touched and thanks him. The Gochizos are happy to see them make up.

After Shoma finds the treats that finally gets him to pop out a Gochizo, Shoma and Hanto arrive. What are you? Hanto says.

Shoma tries to remember and introduces himself as Bitter Gavv, soon to be the world’s ultimate organism. Or so he’s been told.

The three of them henshin and begin their battle.

Meanwhile, Suga is cleaning up after Bitter Gavv’s lunch when Rakia arrives.

Rakia says he needs to speak with Nyelv. But Suga says it’s a bit of a one-side relationship, so he has no way to connect them. Besides, Rakia is the Granute so he should have better luck in contacting Nyelv. Though after he backstabbed him, perhaps it’s impossible.

Rakia asks who told him that. Suga feigns ignorance.

Rakia asks what Suga’s deal is. He’s human, yet an ally of the Stomachs. Suga says he is an ally to no one. He is simply a man of curiosity who researches as he pleases.

Back to the battle, Shoma and Hanto have some trouble keeping up with Bitter Gavv. Even as they combine their powers. Bitter Gavv laughs as they are able to finally knock him back.

Bitter Gavv says it must be nice to have lots of powers. But he believes what he has is enough to beat them. They all deliver finishers at each other, forcing them all to dehenshin.

Shoma is thrown over the side of the railing, but Hanto grabs him. That triggers the memory of Hanto’s mother again for Shoma. But this time, he sees Hanto’s mother falling in the water as well.

Hanto pulls him back up. After a long pause, Shoma says it just came back to him that he has met Hanto’s mother.

Episode Thoughts

A great episode. Definitely a character-focused and character-driven episode centering on Shoma and Hanto’s relationship. Though I envisioned the reveal of Shoma’s secret very differently, the show has done very well with the direction they’ve gone. And they’ve executed it well.

Now first, I have to say I think I watch too many BL dramas I guess. Because I couldn’t help but laugh during that entire scene of Shoma and Hanto letting all their emotions out.

Not because it wasn’t good or anything. It was great actually. I don’t think we’ve had such a sincere, deep conversation between two main Riders like this in a long time. It wasn’t contrived or forced. It was a legit moment based on a very strong foundation the season has built for both characters. That made the scene work and land flawlessly. Can’t say that often on Kamen Rider or Sentai, that’s for sure.

But I couldn’t help but laugh as well. Especially when the Gochizos were dancing like they were kilig seeing the two guys sharing a moment together. They must be fujoshis or something lol

But seriously, the vibes in that scene even go beyond anything I saw between Sento and Ryuga or Eiji and Ankh or Tsubasa and Daiki. Lol

More innocently, it is just a great example of good writing where characters and their relationships with each other have been properly developed. And developed more than enough to make a moment and scene like that work so well.

I think the show has done great in conveying Hanto’s confusion and conflicted feelings. I wouldn’t have minded maybe even an episode more focusing on that. But at the same time, him cooling down and Sachika being able to knock some sense back into him also felt natural. Again, speaks to Hanto and Shoma’s relationship so far.

And with Sachika, I think her being almost immediately understanding of Shoma is well within her character as we know her so far too. At the very least, she wants to believe in Shoma and the fact that Hanto did not is what made her so upset. If not also hating that Hanto’s revelation about Shoma caused her to momentarily doubt her Umasho too.

That said, I hope Sachika finally gets some deeper material soon. I’m very much looking forward to seeing her getting her own focus and story.

Great to see Rakia on his own this episode. While he too has a tragic past and a grievance against the Stomachs, he still has a clear head to notice that Bitter Gavv was not the real Shoma.

More importantly though, he was able to figure out that Suga was probably behind Bitter Gavv as well. So I really liked that scene of him going to Suga and being suspicious of this mysterious guy.

And with Shoma’s family, always great to have fun moments with Uncle Dente.
But hearing Shoma explain how Papa Stomach basically impregnated his mother was crazy! How dark is that! I mean, we of course already knew. But to have Shoma explain it to Hanto really highlighted how twisted that sounds! I really hope the show will dive deeper into that family dynamic as we learn more about who Papa Stomach really is.

Overall, another great episode of Gavv.