Recap: Kamen Rider Gavv, Episode 37 – I Have Never Forgotten

While public opinion on Kamen Riders and Granutes have shifted more toward their favor, the Gang still have some work to do. That includes their work at Hapipare. A little boy named Hiroto comes in to ask for help bringing in more customers to his family’s wagashi shop. He brings them some dango as payment and Shoma enjoys his first ever taste of it.

Hanto offers to write an article on the shop later as he’s done for struggling businesses lately.

Shoma and Sachika head to the shop to speak with Hiroto’s mother. She explains that she and her late husband started the store, Ando, together. But after his death a year ago, they have lost a lot of customers since he was very sociable and had a good business sense.

Kenji-san, who has been working for their shop for years, has kept the father’s recipes alive.

On the other side of town, Rakia is about to leave to ask Uncle Dente to help fix his Driver. Shoma calls to ask if he can speak with Kouji-kun to perhaps feature the wagashi shop on his YouTube channel.

Shoma later visits the candy shop owner to see if he has any tips. The owner says he only recently took over the store as he grew up visiting it. He has a special connection and asked to inherit it when it almost closed. He does suggest that having some kind of quirk or gimmick can help like how he turned his candy store into a coffee shop as well.

Sachika asks Hanto to write an article for them. Hanto drops the drawing of the Granute that took his mother and is reminded that he has yet to avenge her.

Meanwhile, Nyelv and Jiip report to the president about Lango’s demise at the hands of AkaGavv. The president says they’ll have to figure out a way to deal with these humans. Nylev says their Treats supply will suffer in the meantime. But Liselle says that’s not going to happen when she and Jiip are still in charge.

Jiip is still shaken up by Lango’s death. Later, he has a nightmare of Shiita being upset with him that he hasn’t avenged her yet either. When he wakes up, he gets a visit from Glotta who confronts him about getting moved to procurement duty. He insists it wasn’t him.

She grabs his neck and asks him if he’s happy now that he’s gotten revenge against Lango-niisan. Jiip says he only wanted revenge against AkaGavv. Liselle arrives and orders Glotta to keep her hands off him.

Glotta leaves and tells Jiip to have fun with her. Jiip is resolved to kill AkaGavv as soon as possible.

Next day, Sachika shows the family the Instagram page she’s made for the shop. Shoma suggests they come up with some kind of visual gimmick for their items. Kenji-san says Mr. Ando insisted on traditional ways. But they say that all they need is to set apart the already delicious treats from the competition.

When Hanto arrives and notices the nice logo, Shoma gets the idea to have animals be their gimmick. They head to the zoo for some inspiration for animal-shaped wagashi.

While Shoma and Sachika are with Hiroto drawing animals, Hanto asks Kenji-san some questions. First, how did Kenji and Mr. Ando meet. Kenji-san says Mr. Ando picked him up off the street after he had done some unforgivable things. He was a bit lost in life before Mr. Ando took him under his wing.

Kenji-san says Mr. Ando help get his life back on track and reminded him of the joy of making treats.

They head back to get started making the new treats. But they are stopped by Jiip who is pleased to find AkaGavv. The words frighten Kanji-san as he holds Hanto close.

Jiip tells Shitta to wait a little longer for the revenge. He transforms. Shoma tells Sachika to take Hiroto and Kenji-san to safety. Hiroto drops his sketchbook as they run.

Shoma and Hanto henshin to battle the Agents. Jiip leaps into battle and takes on Shoma. Agents drag Hanto away, but he is forced to dehenshin after he takes care of them.

Liselle watches as Jiip tells Shoma everything is his fault. Jiip begs Shoma to let him take his revenge. But Shoma taps him away and prepares a finisher. Liselle, however, jumps in to protect her husband.

Just then, Hiroto comes running to grab his sketchbook. Liselle shoots at Shoma, but it ricochets and instead heads the overpass. The rubble begins to fall right on top of Hiroto. Kenji-san leaps in to cover Hiroto from it.

Liselle and Jiip leave.

And from the rubble, Kenji-san emerges… as a Granute! Hanto, however, recognizes this Granute. This is the one that took his mother from him.

Kenji-san does not remember. But Hanto says he vividly does and shows him the drawing.

Kenji-san understands now why he became a Granute hunter. Hanto approaches him and aims to shoot. But Hiroto begins to wake up. Kenji-san transforms back to his human form and takes Hiroto into his arms. He assures Hanto that he will not run and they can talk about all this later.

Shoma asks a Gochizo to follow them to make sure.

Episode Thoughts

A very good episode. And of course it was focused around the idea of revenge and avenging loved ones.

The biggest part of the episode was of course learning the identity of the Granute who took Hanto’s mother. On one hand, it might be a bit underwhelming learning it wasn’t one of the big names. Like a Stomach, for example. On the other, considering one of the themes of the season is the idea of illegal drugs and the drug trade and all the unfortunate collateral damage that comes with it, this very much fits in.

You wouldn’t know who is affected or how it might affect others. Drugs and crime don’t necessarily pick out specific victims. So in that sense, a random addict working to get his next Treats fix being the one that delivered Mama Karakida to her death certainly fits the bill here.

If anything, it makes for an even heavier and more emotional moment. It’s obvious Kenji-san has tried to change and better himself. Somehow finding a way to atone for his sins. And he seems to have been a positive presence for the Ando family and especially for Hiroto after his father’s death. (Though of course, we can’t ignore the awkwardness of it seeming like Kenji-san is trying to take over Mr. Ando’s spot in the family and business lolol But I highly doubt that’s what they’re going for here.)

Really, it’s just a sad and heartbreaking story showing again the consequences of this horrible illegal business and addiction. Countless lives and families twisted and ripped apart by it. We know how Hanto is a victim of it, but we can also see how Kenji-san was a victim too even if he is obviously not without fault.

The idea of revenge for Hanto will probably take on a new light after we learn more about Kenji-san’s story. So that is definitely something to look forward to next week.

As for the other story of revenge, Jiip is obviously in desperation mode now. He can’t take not having his sister any longer. Whether in the same body or not. (Ewe! lol) He’s out for blood and I wouldn’t be surprised (or mind) if it ends up him getting ended by Shoma again either, to be honest.

One moment stood out for me though. The way Shoma tells Jiip “It’s over” like he has no qualms about ending yet another sibling. Like, obviously Shoma has every reason for his own “revenge”, however he might see it, against the siblings who threw him aside and killed his mother. But it was almost a chilling moment as well. I don’t know that I felt it when Lango blew up last week or when Shiita first went poof. But Shoma almost ending Jiip with an almost eager, or I guess calm and subtle relief was very interesting!

Less interesting is Liselle wanting to keep her boytoy around. More interesting is Glotta starting to spiral a bit herself too. I look forward to seeing what she does. But I do hope it’s a good, substantial story for whatever happens to her. (And that she hopefully takes Liselle down with her.)

Overall, another great episode of Gavv of course. There is no shortage of story left to tell as we near the final stretch!