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General Kamen Rider Thoughts
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07-03-2021, 08:46 PM
#
732
Fish Sandwich
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
I've taken so long to get around to continuing my Kuuga Twitter trivia, it looks like Nobuhiro Suzumura decided to go grab a bite to eat in the meantime! Which leads me naturally into the first of several categories I'm going to be breaking this absurdly huge list into:
Cameos and such
- As you can plainly see above,
Suzumura himself makes yet another guest appearance in the show
, this time as a customer at Pole Pole in episode 27
- Not one to be outdone, fellow assistant director
Takayuki Shibasaki shows up again in both 27
and
28
, as a reporter on TV.
- And just in case that wasn't enough cameo action for one episode, then Grongi suit actor and current Super Sentai action director
Hirofumi Fukuzawa stops by a pool to get killed by that episode's Grongi too
, because who
wasn't
in this one?
- For a totally different sort of cameo, if I'm getting this one right, apparently
any time you see Yuusuke's handwriting in the show, it was written by main writer Naruhisa Arakawa, while Ichijou's writing is that of director Hidenori Ishida
, with Suzumura specifically mentioning that his firm style fit Ichijou's character, which sounds about right for Ishida.
- The news report about Kuuga's latest fight featured in the opening of 31
is done by an actual TV Asahi newscaster
, because Kuuga is
exactly
the kind of show that would grab a real reporter to talk about the fictional events of its narrative as though they were any legitimate story.
- More suit actors getting killed by monsters in 31, as Kuuga's suit actor
Kenji Tominaga is the first on-screen victim of Go-Badaa-Ba
. Guess Badaa kinda beat Kuuga after all!
General random tidbits
- 31 was also the show's second recap episode, directed again by Suzumura himself, which may have been a more difficult task than you think, considering
they had to film all the new material for it in a single day
(!)
-
The conversation between Ichijou and Sakurai in 31 was simply filmed at a cafe located on Toei's own lot
, which meant Suzumura had to put lights shining into the windows so the brightness would disguise the obvious stage numbers on the walls outside. (He doesn't mention this, but going back to that scene, I ~think~ you can still faintly see what he's talking about behind Sakurai's head at points anyway?)
-
Suzumura was a bit worried having Kuuga doing a wheelie on his bike to end the episode would be a little too Showa
, but decided to go for it based on the ancient Kuuga having a horse. (I assume he's talking about it being visually similar to rearing there.) Didn't stop me from comparing the ending of that episode to a Showa series in my Kuuga thread anyway!
- Badaa and Kuuga have a rather intense showdown by the coast on their bikes, and finding a location to film it might have been an intense experience for Suzumura as well,
since he and some of the other staff had to find a nearby backup location in a hurry after the one they were all set to film on turned out to be covered up by the tide on the day they actually went to shoot there.
-
There's a rather minor error that happens in 33 where the props people had to reattach one of Badaa's shoulders after it fell off, and ended up putting it on upside-down, which is now forever immortalized in the final episode.
To be fair, it
does
seem pretty hard to tell which way they go. Suddenly I understand why they had those pictures on the scripts!
-
In another amusing little gaffe from 33, Kuuga and Badaa's bikes both completely disappear after Kuuga jumps off to deliver a Rider Kick
, which is another one of those things I would've never noticed, but if you did, and it was bugging you, hopefully Suzumura admitting it was a mistake to shoot it that way provides some closure.
-
Suzumura points out how a shot in 39 where Gouram combines with the BeatChaser in the foreground obscures what's actually a fairly impressive bit of stunt work in the background with Dragon Form
, with Kuuga jumping from on top of a train car, landing, and then doing a big jump with an air ram all in one take. When you call attention to it like that, yeah; pretty cool thing to have happening out of focus!
-
During the shot in episode 2 where Gooma sprouts his wings, you can actually see Suzumura's fingers working the prop.
Ishida apparently said nobody would be able to tell and used the shot anyway. And I never
did
notice! (It's maybe worth noting this particular shot isn't in the special edition version of that scene, however.)
-
Suzumura mentions a couple more things about episode 2
, first of all vindicating me personally by confirming that part of the ending fight does indeed take place on a broken down abandoned roller coaster. What's probably more interesting to everyone else is that he mentions something I was only vaguely familiar with, which is how everything in the episode from that point on was filmed without Ishida being present. Osamu Kaneda handled the action parts, and Suzumura took care of the drama, so you have him to thank for that iconic last scene. (It can be assumed this is also why episode 50 ends with a recreation of that scene.)
- This one is a little more interesting than usual, as it's actually
Suzumura replying to a tweet from chief producer Shigenori Takatera about 43
. 43 is notable for only having a single very token appearance from Kuuga, as its story focuses squarely on human drama. Takatera's tweet mentions that the director for the episode, Kaneda (the show's action director) wanted to do something with more of a focus on drama for once, and that 43 only ended up having Kuuga in it at all because Suzumura brought up that kids are probably hoping to actually
see
Kuuga when, as he elaborates in his reply, the show is literally called Kamen Rider Kuuga.
- Rather teasingly,
Suzumura mentions how the show's aformentioned 50th "episode" (which, if you're unaware for whatever reason, is actually a short self-parody kinda thing Suzumura directed) was born from his "rebellious spirit", while specifying that he won't go into too much detail about it.
The implication seemingly being that the whole project started off less fun than the end result ultimately was. And uh, while it seems half of this conversation
stopped existing
in the time it took me to sit down and write this post, he also goes on to mention in the replies how making fun of all the directors (including Suzumura) was an idea that came from Arakawa, rather than himself. And apparently Suzumura really DID keep his crew working all-nighters a bunch!
- A fun reminder of the drama surrounding Ultimate Form's reveal, as
Suzumura shares a poster that was SUPPOSED to be in TV Magazine around episode 35's premiere, where it was first glimpsed
, but Toei told them not to run it because they were dead-set on not showing Ultimate Form so clearly yet. I still can barely believe Kuuga got away with being *this* auteur.
Fake previews
I haven't actually talked much about these beyond the fact they exist, so I figure I'll correct that a bit right now. The "fake previews" in question are those occasional shots in Kuuga's episode previews that aren't IN the actual episode, featured most often in previews for the first part of an episode pair. This is apparently a result of how tight the filming schedule for Kuuga could be, and most commonly, what the fake previews amount to is Suzumura quickly filming some enticing cool scene of action with Kuuga and the monster that doesn't at all reflect the episode's final content beyond having Kuuga and a monster in it. For example:
-
In the preview for 27
, Kuuga is seen getting held down by another monster as Badaa goes for a Rider Kick of all things, all taking place in the middle of nowhere. This does not even remotely happen in the episode proper, in which Badaa and Kuuga instead have a bit of a bike fight in a grungy old building at the end. I think this example gives you a really clear picture of how wild these things could get. That being said,
the quick flash of the featured monster in the opening for 27 DOES use footage filmed for the preview
, making it less fake than most of them! (Either that, or the opening is just lying too; take your pick.)
-
In the preview for 42
, Yuusuke gets tossed through the air by that episode's monster Baberu, which isn't super interesting by itself, but the more exciting part is that Suzumura claims he filmed a sequence of Baberu deflecting a Mighty Kick from Kuuga that ended up rejected for being a little too Showa. (They seemed very concerned about not being too Showa!)
- In contrast to that last one,
the preview for 44
runs with the idea of its plot featuring Go-Gadoru-Ba gaining the power of electricity and just has him straight up doing Stronger's Electro Fire move against Kuuga. Apparently some things are just cool no matter the era!
Episodes 40/41
...Because they're directed by Ishida and Suzumura had a ton to say about them (
he outright says he's especially fond of them
), if you're wondering why they get their own category.
-
The hole going through Growing Form's shoulder was an effect Suzumura made himself on the set.
He plays it off like his quick and dirty solution of painted tape to make the ridges and some fake blood inside the implied holes (because he couldn't actually bust up the suit) doesn't look that great, but honestly, I've seen considerably less convincing battle damage on toku suits before, so good on him for making something that simple and effective on the spot.
- There's also the matter of how Kuuga got that wound to begin with, ripping a big spear thrown by a monster out of his shoulder, which is a pretty gruesome shot for a kids' show, all things considered. There's even blood spraying out of the wound and everything, an effect accomplished by -- and I feel dirty saying this,
but Suzumura assures me it's a common trick in filmmaking
-- basically blowing up a condom full of fake blood. But while Kuuga's use of blood squibs is nothing unusual, what's generally
not
supposed to happen is for them to explode violently enough that you can see bits of the ruptured, er, "container" flying through the air too.
Ishida was very happy with this result though, because it ended up looking like bits of Kuuga's flesh.
Sounds about right for Ishida.
- Putting aside all that gross violent stuff for a bit, there's a super cool shot in 40 where the monster for that episode is walking through a door, but the entire room becomes like this surreal white void, and Suzumura explains that
this was simply accomplished by Ishida himself cranking the exposure on the camera way the heck up, an effect Suzumura notes could only be accomplished because they were shooting on a digital camera rather than film.
- The glimpses of Ultimate Form in 40 have it with black eyes, which is obvious if you know Kuuga's story, but what I was never previously aware of is that
this is actually different from its first appearance in 35, where it was filmed with the red eyes.
One of the replies to that tweet also makes a great observation, calling attention to how the shots of Ultimate Form in the opening added in 36 show it with red eyes, only for 37 onwards (with the exception of 48) to have a gray filter over those shots obscuring the color, lending credence to the idea that it took the staff a second to decide what they were doing with Ultimate Form.
-
The cast of a scene in 40 taking place in an air traffic control center consists entirely of assistant directors from the show.
Suzumura and Shibasaki show up
yet again
, while the trio is rounded out by the man working the microphone, Yuuichi Tazawa, who happened to speak English (and quite well, too!), which is why they just used him and the other directors. Suzumura even points out Tazawa is working on movies abroad nowadays, which is pretty neat!
- Just like 26,
40 has a cool moment of Ichijou passing his gun to Yuusuke while they're both driving along, and Ishida was very particular about making it look as awesome as possible both times
. While they were simply driving in opposite directions in 26, 40 is differentiated by having Yuusuke recklessly (and thus
coolly
) stopping in front of Ichijou, who then stylishly slides his car to stop alongside him to make the hand-off.
- Further reckless and cool bike action in 40 occurs when Yuusuke stops as close to the edge of a pier as possible, and
you can still see a bunch of tire tracks on the ground from all the practice that stunt required to make sure nothing would go wrong.
- Daguva's creepy obscured appearance at the end of 40 was accomplished partly by putting the camera's focus on the background, and, in the shots where that wasn't enough,
by using a gas stove (!) in front of the camera to create a haze effect
so you wouldn't be able to make out his face clearly.
- The conversation between Nana and Yuusuke in 41 features a street performer in the background,
which was not at all in the script
, but (I presume Ishida) figured it'd add to the atmosphere of the scene. I can personally add here that seeing this scene featured in the documentary from the Blu-rays, with the artistic contrasting music and everything, was one of the many moments that made me realize I HAD to make that thread about the show, so yeah, smart choice in my opinion. The location with the single tree would also be used by Ishida for the Crane Orphenoch's final scene in Faiz, which is neat. Lotta very dramatic things happening by that tree!
-
The Coast Guard boat in 41 is a straight up real Coast Guard boat, with the crew being real crew, from the real Japan Coast Guard.
A pretty notable testament to both how much Kuuga cared about reality, and how big Kuuga got to be able to call in these sorts of favors. I mean, what, are you gonna
not
be in Kuuga given the chance?
- For Kuuga's fight on a different boat in 41,
they went through the trouble of making some stuff they could smash up to make sure the action was still physical and exciting despite the limited space to work with.
They also brought a mat onboard for the bits with Dragon Form jumping around,
but it flew off in the wind to rest forever in a watery grave
, a sight Suzumura claims he's never witnessed again since.
- While filming a shot of the aforementioned Coast Guard boat from a
different
different boat Suzumura was on, they were having trouble keeping pace until
Ishida yelled at them over the radio not to fall behind
, at which point the captain got super fired up and pushed the boat as hard as it could go. Sounds about right for Ishida.
- This is something I vaguely recall hearing somewhere before, but apparently
Daguva's elusive original suit was a modified version of a rejected suit for Gooma?
Episodes 34/35
...Because it's more Ishida greatness
- For the funeral scene in 34,
Ishida had Suzumura ask for 200 extras
, which meant Suzumura was a little anxious about telling him they could only arrange for 50. But then Ishida revealed this was all a chessmaster haggling tactic on his part, as he wanted 50 and assumed from the start he'd only get about a fourth of what he asked for if he had Suzumura say 200. Sounds about right for Ishida.
- There are some
creepy insert shots of Jaraji
, with a "filter" effect that was actually resourcefully created by filming the footage, playing it on a CRT screen, and then filming
that
, rather than anything in post. The same unnerving effect is used during the climax of 35,
when there are flashes of the news report Yuusuke witnessed earlier
, although that one is probably more obvious. Suzumura also mentions here that Ultimate Form's eye color was obscured in the end by showing it in monochrome, since, as previously mentioned, it was apparently filmed with the red eyes.
-
The location for the bike action in 34 was previously featured in 12
, and it's a place the Narita brothers (the guys behind Kuuga and Badaa's bike stunts) actually use for practice, which makes it a natural choice to film at. It was even used for both of Kuuga's bikes!
-
The scene of Kuuga tackling Jaraji out a window involved them building a whole chunk of building at the studio for them to break through, before returning to the actual location with the bits of glass to get the shot of them landing on the ground.
Sounds obvious once you say it, but the added effort to do these stunts practically is always worth appreciating.
- Oh, and speaking of,
here's a really funny story about Jaraji's suit actor, Toshihiro Ogura
! (You probably know him most for playing Ryutaros, by the way.) After filming the scene where Kuuga starts beating his face in so much blood comes out, Ogura had blood on his mouth after taking the mask off. Suzumura assumed this was the fake blood from the mask, but it turned out
he was legitimately bleeding from the VERY REAL punches Kuuga's suit actor was giving him.
It's very important to stress here that Ogura getting punched was a plan he agreed to beforehand (from what I could find elsewhere, he's even the one who threw the idea out there to begin with?), and it was all about making Kuuga look truly angry, but still, that is one heck of anecdote right there. Mad respect for this dude.
- And then on top of that, they apparently tortured the poor dude even more, because Suzumura insists that
Jaraji flying away from Kuuga's bike towards a lake was NOT accomplished with composite shots, but instead with what could be described most simply as a reverse bungee.
And he mentions Ogura saying the strain of the cord was enough for him to hear his
bones
creaking? I
swear
the shots where Jaraji is visibly flying huge distances look like composite shots to me, but I might just not
want
to believe the people making Kuuga were *this* insane? Again, mad respect for Ogura for putting up with the cruel and unusual punishment all in the name of lending Kuuga that sense of reality. Still really glad he found a less stresful calling playing the fun breakdancing dragon later though!
--
...And that about covers it all, finally! Well, not
everything
, I suppose, as there are tweets I either felt were a bit
too
minor to interest people who don't have my deep love of behind-the-scenes trivia, or tweets that I didn't feel I understood well enough to describe. Beyond that, Suzumura didn't have the time to talk about every last episode, including for example, well,
the last episodes
, so there's plenty of Kuuga trivia out there still left untold. This particular post ended up being WAY bigger than I expected, so, as always, thank you if you decided to indulge my incessant rambling about Kuuga. And for what it's worth, I'd like to say thanks to Suzumura, too, for taking the time out to share all of this stuff to begin with. It's always really fun to discover how much there still is to be discovered about this show.
__________________
誰かの笑顔のためだろ?
Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 04-06-2023 at
07:19 PM
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