Recap: Kamen Rider Gavv, Episode 31 – A Difficult Marriage

After helping them with a job, Hanto turns down Shoma and Sachika’s invitation for lunch. Sachika says she even invited Rakia too, but Hanto is busy. As Hanto leaves, he bumps into Rakia who picks him up by the pants and tosses him out.

Sachika asks Rakia why he’s so cold to Hanty. Rakia says he sees no reason to be nice to him. Shoma says he just has to get to know him.

Meanwhile, Hanto continues searching for some of Shoma’s human family. He looks for the home of Inoue Michiru. But he ends up at the home of a male Michiru who has also been missing.

The woman, Michiru’s sister, who answers the door explains that he has been missing for two weeks. She had hoped to introduce him to her significant other that day when he went out for a haircut to prepare for the meeting and hasn’t been seen since.

Hanto decides to go to the barbershop when he runs into Rakia again who is also on his way to there to investigate a missing pudding shop owner.

Over in the Granute world, Glotta asks Lango to explain what happened. He says it’s just as it is, the Jarudak Family has all the power and the only way for their family to survive was to give up the company to them.

Jiip walks in and tells Lango to get out of Liselle’s seat. Glotta says Jiip is acting too high and mighty these days, but Jiip says he is high and mighty. Jiip tells Lango to hurry up with the procurements and demands they follow his orders as Vice President.

Lango gets up and mocks Jiip as he leaves for work. Glotta asks Jiip what his endgame is and he says his grudge does not include her.

Back in Tokyo, Liselle is lollygagging around town and is invited into an antiques shop where she wants almost everything but has no means to pay. She tries to intimidate him before she orders her Butler to put the owner in his place. Liselle skips off as the owner screams for his life.

On the other side of town, Rakia and Hanto get to the barbershop. Hanto tells Rakia to just leave the questioning to him instead of just barging in. Hanto gets in pretending to need a haircut and convinces the barber to accommodate him.

As Rakia waits outside, Hanto snoops around and starts to ask questions before he is convinced of the barber’s guilt. He ends up seeing Michiru’s items in the back and waits for the right time to confront the barber Granute.

But Rakia barges in and the Granute recognizes him from the Wanted notices. Hanto ushers the other customer out before the Granute transforms. Hanto and Rakia chase him outside. Hanto steps in front of Rakia as they prepare to henshin. Rakia tells him to get out of the way. But that distraction gives the Granute the opportunity to shoot at them.

Hanto knocks Rakia out of the way, but the blob the Granute shoots at them glues their hands together.

As the Granute is able to get away, Hanto and Rakia’s uncoordinated movements get them cactus needles on Hanto’s butt and Rakia covered in cement.

Elsewhere, Shoma gets to the candy shop he stopped at last week. The shopowner is happy to learn the burglar from last week was taken care of. He offers Shoma some newly arrived caramel candies and he loves it. A new caramel Gochizo pops out of his stomach.

The shopowner is happy to see he enjoys them.

Back at Hapipare, Sachika unsuccessfully tries get the blob off of Hanto and Rakia’s hands including with a saw and explosives. Hanto and Rakia argue about whose fault it is and Sachika tells them to cut it out.

Rakia calls Hanto an idiot and comes with receipts to back to that claim up including how he punched Shoma when he found out he was a Stomach, how he let Suga manipulate him, didn’t know about the Shoma clones and couldn’t even tell between the fake and real Shomas.

Hanto and Rakia both say they hate each other and it has nothing to do with whether they’re human or Granute.

Just then, a pair of Gochizos arrive with something to say but no Shoma to translate. The two Gochizos are annoyed with Hanto thinking they wanted to get in his Driver. But they love Rakia when he correctly understands they want to lead them to a Granute.

Rakia drags Hanto out to follow them as Sachika calls Shoma to let him know. As Shoma runs over, he hears a scream. He runs over to find the Butler attacking the antique shop owner. Butler tells Shoma to butt out.

Shoma henshins.

Meanwhile, the Granute is at a temple and is about to Press a pregnant woman. But Hanto and Rakia arrive and they henshin together.

Hanto and Rakia battle the Granute, though are held back by their attached hands. The Granute ends up shooting at the blob and separates them. The Granute tries to shoot more and they again get stuck. This time, Rakia’s hand to Hanto’s foot. They are able to get the Granute to shoot at the blob again to separate them.

Hanto and Rakia deliver Vram Shooting and Cocodon finishers at the Granute. But only his husk is destroyed and the Granute gets away.

Hanto scolds Rakia for throwing him around everywhere. But Rakia freezes up when he sees a slash on the tree, reminding him of his brother being slashed in the back before he died.

Back with Shoma, the Butler easily matches his attacks. Liselle arrives and explains Butler is one her father’s minions. She tells him to stand down and invites Shoma to join her for a bit.

Episode Thoughts

Gosh, I was enjoying the episode so much, especially after Hanto and Rakia’s shenanigans and then Liselle had to pop up and ruin everything. hmph. Lol

Let’s get that out of the way first. I of course want to learn more about Liselle and her father and what they’re all about. But I don’t want to see it if it interrupts other stuff I actually want to see, you know? Lolol Like, we can hold off for a week or two lol

Related to that, I think the scene with the Stomach Sibs kind of gave us a peek into what each of them are thinking. Lango certainly isn’t just going to submit to the Jarudaks and definitely not to his little brat brother. So he’s just biding his time for sure. And for Glotta, even if she’s not the target of Jiip’s grudge, it still doesn’t mean she’s all Team Creepy Twins either.

I honestly see a tragic ending for the twins. Perhaps someone, even Nyelv but hopefully Liselle actually, ends up fusing them together or something and they get killed or whatever in a battle. Maybe like sacrificial lambs I guess. Which, in a way, would be fitting for the overall story. But also disappointing that they haven’t really had much character development. We’ll see though.

Also, this episode continues to just pile on to how horrible beings these Stomachs and Granutes and Jarudaks are. The Granute almost Pressing a pregnant woman who just went to the temple to pray for her baby?

Anyway! (lol) to the more interesting and fun parts of the episode. Which was basically everything else.

It was definitely a Hanty-Rakian focus episode. And they’re dynamic was one of the most fun I’ve seen in a long while. Completely outrageous slapstick comedy. But it worked so well. It was fun and hilarious. And it somehow reflected their characters well as opposed to being forced and contrived in a way that regresses them. I know for certain other seasons, that would definitely be the case.

But here, it worked well. And I think part of that has to do with two things. One is Sachika being Mother (in more ways than one! Hehe) and trying to sincerely get the kids to get along. But the other thing also is the human-Granute dynamic.

Both Hanto and Rakia say that has nothing to do with their animosity toward each other. But I think there’s also some lingering feelings there too. Even if they both, separately, have formed a great connection with Shoma, the bi-… uh, biracial? Bispecies? Lol. The half-human/half-Granute guy. Even if they have become close to him, there’s still that uncertainty and getting to know one another stage for a Hanto and Rakia. Both who either have had a long-standing grudge against the other’s race and the other who has become jaded and closed off to the world because of their painful past.

And really, both have had painful pasts of course. But as Hanto has started to move forward, the pain is still very much fresh for Rakia. And it’s great to see that the show is going to deal with that in a big way starting this week and continuing into next.

Rakia eventually avenging his brother’s death, even it’s just to start here first, will be a great way to help him open up more to his new friends and of course be able to move forward too. And that will of course be a wonderful moment for our Hapi4.

Thank you to everyone in the comments last week who mentioned the possibility of the shopowner potentially being a connection to Shoma’s human family. That’s a very interesting possibility and it will really be great to watch the search for his family unfold. The season has done well with unfurling big plot threads in a good way with good pacing, for the most part. So I know that the eventual climax(es) for this plot thread regarding Shoma’s family can become very satisfying.

So thankfully the princess stuff was kept to a minimum this week and the majority of the episode was focused on things I actually care about and want want to enjoy. Hehe. Overall, Stomach Sibs/Liselle scenes excluded, this might have been the most fun episode of Gavv so far this season!