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04-26-2020, 03:00 PM | #111 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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EPISODE 21: "Secrets"
This episode opens with a killer view of the moon through a gap between some trees that quickly pans down to reveal a nearby patrol car. It's a very nice, exaggerated visual... aside from the awkward way the moon visibly jitters when the camera moves, since it's just a special effect. Oh well. All the same, it's an awesome, moody beginning that really sets the tone for these episodes. There will be a lot of creepy things happening at night, starting with Gooma attacking that aforementioned patrol car during one of his mysterious flights between Tokyo and Nagano, where the whole Grongi mess started. That's very much the theme for this one, as the title might clue you in. It's all about moving the series' overarching plot threads forward, centering on the police's ongoing investigation into the Unidentified Lifeforms, with particular attention being called to the fact that nobody is actually sure what the Grongi even want yet. Being Kuuga, there are, of course, other things going on in the background. Yuusuke is off with Sakurako and Jean to go see the progress being made researching Gouram, which could've turned out to be real awkward if Enokida's mom didn't wake her up barely an hour before they arrived... in the middle of the afternoon. Yeah, Enokida's sleep schedule isn't in a great place right now, reflective of a bad habit of pulling all-nighters analyzing all manner of things relating to both Gouram and the Unidentified Lifeforms. Very important work, obviously, but that's probably not much consolation to her son Sayuru. This is more or less the main subplot for these episodes, and it's still crazy to me this is a thing the show made room for. The research chunk of the episode also ties into the investigative angle, naturally, in particular calling attention to how when Grongi blow up, the explosion is centered around their belts, unlike the beltless clone of Ginoga from episode 20, which simply melted when destroyed. Hm. Speaking of the Grongi, there's a ton going on with them here. The primary monster this time is Me-Garume-Re (the chameleon one!), who's out taking advantage of his power of invisibility to murder hapless victims and, rather distressingly, is also announcing the location of his next killing to people at the scene of each crime. Apparently this makes "the game" more "fun" for him, which, uh, whatever he's talking about, can't be good news. As though this weren't enough by itself, we also get our first appearance from a new face who promises to be yet more trouble for our heroes. Well, I say "face", but we don't actually get a lot of that this episode. More credit where credit is due for Katsuya Watanabe, the direction in that introductory scene is pretty stylish. It's not the wild, alien feel Ishida likes to go for, which I prefer, but there's a real grimy crime thriller vibe to all these Grongi hanging out in a poorly lit room waiting to meet a mysterious new associate. Mysterious to us, anyway. The other Grongi go way, way back with this guy, but all we know for now is that he has a rather familiar haircut, and a sweet scarf. Meanwhile, a bunch of cops have gathered to stop Garume's next murder, which becomes ironic when it turns out they're the victims. Garume is great in these episodes. There's something so fun to hate about his cocky attitude. Dude is standing up on high ledges with his hands on his hips to assert maximum dominance, taunting all these officers and even outright calling them stupid when they try shooting him. The invisibility thing is probably what does the trick. Like all Grongi, there's almost nothing a regular human can do to stop him anyway, but you can just tell how much enjoyment he gets out of the added ability to sow confusion and fear on top of that. Now, in case all this Grongi action wasn't enough, the obligatory Kuuga fight for the episode actually sees Yuusuke going up against Gooma again, bringing us full circle with him at night, although Kuuga's a lot less helpless than those cops from the beginning. It's a super cool throwdown in another memorable location, with a swaying spotlight illuminating an otherwise faintly lit warehouse. Gooma puts up a solid fight considering Yuusuke had nearly 20 episodes to improve his skills, but ultimately, Kuuga has him on the ropes, and ready for a good Rider Kick. Now, in case all this Grongi action still wasn't enough for you, Gooma gets lucky when Kuuga is interrupted by the sudden arrival of that mysterious new guy, who comes crashing into the warehouse on a motorcycle, with his helmet covering his face, as though he were some sort of... kinda like a... like a masked rider, or something. Man, this was one busy episode. THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER Nothing too fancy this time. Total thumbs up count: 36+1 = 37 EPISODE 22: "Game" The Grongi on the motorcycle distracts Kuuga long enough for Gooma to slip out, and leaves himself right after. Which is just as well for me. Why bother talking about exciting superhero action when I could be talking about Jean, instead? Okay, well, to be fair, this is actually more about Enokida's plot. She's still throwing herself into her work as hard as ever, having completely forgotten a promise she made to Sayuru to spend time with him, being a little preoccupied. No, scratch that. A lot preoccupied, considering she ends up working straight through to the next morning, which, thanks to the ever-helpful timestamps, I can tell you for a fact means Enokida was working about 14 hours straight. Winding back to the night before, though, Jean is listening in on Enokida's phone call with her mother quite intently. Wait, no, I'm underselling it again. He's listening extremely intently. Sakurako practically has to drag him out of the room since they're supposed to be leaving, and when they grab a bite to eat later, she questions what seems to have him so upset. Jean, man of mystery that he is, tries to dodge the question, however. I definitely feel for Sakurako on this one. After all, I'm still trying to figure out if he collects stamps or not. Alas, it's not that easy. Another thing that's not easy is tracking down the Grongi, but the police have two solid ideas of where they might be hiding out, and Ichijou and Yuusuke split up to check them out. The location Yuusuke goes to is a total bust. Ichijou, on the other hand, hits the motherlode, failing to get much in the way of useful intel, beyond further confirmation that the Grongi have learned to speak Japanese, before the woman with the rose tattoo knocks him out cold. Yuusuke finds him, and when he wakes up the next morning, their conversation quickly turns to the more pressing matter of Garume's next announced killing, which is coming up in a few hours. (Yet another occasion the timestamps add to the ticking clock element, by the way.) An element of the plot that's interesting to note here (and forgive me in advance for all the numbers I'm about to throw your way) is that Garume was one of the Grongi introduced way back in episode 3, and this episode makes reference to a previous encounter with him that happened offscreen, in the gap between episodes 6 and 7. This is apparent due to Yuusuke referencing the events happening between the cases of Unidentified Lifeforms #10 and #11, who we never actually saw. Badzuu was #6, and the episode after he was defeated, things picked up with Badjisu, who was #14. Episode 7 even opened with a conversation between Sugita and Ichijou making specific reference to the Unidentified Lifeform cases that happened in that gap. And there have been other gaps in the count since. While I'm sure the time skips were simply to keep the show more or less in "real time" the way Rider shows generally are, I'm totally unaware if there was a motive for creating these offscreen Kuuga adventures beyond it being logical the Grongi would be active more than twice a month. It seems like the kind of stuff that would be chronicled in some comic spin-off or something, but to my (limited) knowledge, these extra Grongi have never gotten more than names. Putting the trivia aside, what's important to take away is that, while an invisible enemy might have been tricky to deal with for a Kuuga that only had Mighty and Dragon Forms to work with, Yuusuke now has Pegasus Form's enhanced senses to give him the edge against Garume's visual trickery. The good news there being Pegasus Form is finally getting a second appearance. The bad news is that Yuusuke isn't too sure how easy it'll be to line up a shot with all the buildings and whatnot getting in the way in an urban environment. Yuusuke does have one idea to deal with that though: asking Gouram for a lift. Bit of an oddball plan, but hey, Sakurako does manage to find some ancient text that might point to what Yuusuke wants. In the meantime, there's a quick scene at Pole Pole I definitely need to talk about, which involves a forlorn Nana coming in to reveal one of Garume's recent victims was actually her acting teacher. It's a pretty emotional scene, and the idea of a Grongi murder hitting so close to home like this is very much the kind of thing Kuuga would think to do. That idea that you never think it could happen to you, until it does, and all that. More of the realism the show loves so much. Which is why it's very, very strange this plot beat is such a minor, offhand piece of the episode. Nana only had one scene in each of these episodes, and her first didn't do anything to set this up, nor do we actually see the murder in question take place. It comes off like there were entire scenes cut out of the episode, and I'm just not sure how I feel about that. Heck, Nana's entire interest in acting has been offscreen so far, which also doesn't help. These episodes don't have a proper emotional core the way most Kuuga two-parters do, and I don't think they really needed one. This story is very specifically about elaborating on the literal world of the show, answering long-standing questions and introducing new ones, which makes this scene an oddity. It doesn't drag the episode down, but it's just a tiny bit too disconnected to elevate it, the way it was probably supposed to. Still, there are some big answers here, and they don't get much bigger than when Garume finally explains to the police why the Grongi are killing people. As it turns out, it really is just a game. Something that keeps the Grongi amused. It might be more than that, too, but that's their core goal. There's no scheme for world domination or anything like that going on. These guys are in it for the thrill of the hunt at best, and just because they like the sound of your screams at worst. Garume maybe falls somewhere in the middle. I get the impression he picked up Japanese so thoroughly more to mock his prey than to blend in with society, but, no matter what, he's owed a thorough beatdown from Kuuga at this point. The police are able to keep him visible long enough for Mighty Form to get some hits in, but the second Garume can, he runs for the hills, but that's no problem for Kuuga, who puts that plan from earlier into action, sniping Garume from the skies with Gouram's help. And that's pretty much it for this two-parter. It ends not too different to how it began, with Ichijou hoping the mystery of what Gooma is up to gets solved soon, since, you know, that thread is still just as loose as when the story started. These episodes move loads of different pieces around on the board without much in the way of a singular goal, but, aside from my misgivings with Nana's role, I'm hesitant to call it an issue. It all feels too deliberate in what it's doing. This two-parter, from the outset, wasn't trying to be a self-contained story. It's two straight episodes of twists and turns as the show readies to move into the back half, getting invested viewers even more invested than before. In that larger context, I think it really succeeds, despite lacking the cohesion of some other episodes. THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER Nothing fancy here either. Total thumbs up count: 37+1 = 38
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 04-08-2023 at 07:46 AM.. |
04-26-2020, 03:33 PM | #112 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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This episode I really look back on as the big example of how my subs failed me hard. Garume's revelation of this being a game is supposed to be just that, a revelation; but it's something I just knew about the Grongi since like, their first dialogue scene! It really hampered what should be such an incredible, significant mome--
Oh, shoot, this is the first episode Gouram lifts Pegasus! I CAN FINALLY CONTINUE POSTING THESE!!!
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04-26-2020, 06:04 PM | #113 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,465
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The sheer coolness factor of a Grongi who's similar to the OG Kamen Riders though...
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04-26-2020, 06:08 PM | #114 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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I'm not really a Showa guy (can't remember if I've mentioned that), but even I was into that Grongi's design. Dudes on motorcycles should always wear scarves. I think I'm more insistent on that than helmets!
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04-26-2020, 08:32 PM | #115 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
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Frankly, Kuuga should have used the 'snipe them from the skies' method a lot more often and make the Grongi afraid to go out in the open!
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04-27-2020, 04:44 AM | #116 |
Warrior of Delusions!
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Wait, you dont know either?
Posts: 5,827
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You know how it's hard to get motorcycle licenses these days? Well, back then, the problem was "Flying Beetle" licences. Super expensive, can't afford to do it too many times.
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04-28-2020, 01:22 PM | #117 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
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Quote:
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Speaking of the Grongi, there's a ton going on with them here. The primary monster this time is Me-Garume-Re (the chameleon one!), who's out taking advantage of his power of invisibility to murder hapless victims and, rather distressingly, is also announcing the location of his next killing to people at the scene of each crime. Apparently this makes "the game" more "fun" for him, which, uh, whatever he's talking about, can't be good news. As though this weren't enough by itself, we also get our first appearance from a new face who promises to be yet more trouble for our heroes. Well, I say "face", but we don't actually get a lot of that this episode. More credit where credit is due for Katsuya Watanabe, the direction in that introductory scene is pretty stylish. It's not the wild, alien feel Ishida likes to go for, which I prefer, but there's a real grimy crime thriller vibe to all these Grongi hanging out in a poorly lit room waiting to meet a mysterious new associate. Mysterious to us, anyway. The other Grongi go way, way back with this guy, but all we know for now is that he has a rather familiar haircut, and a sweet scarf.
Quote:
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Now, in case all this Grongi action wasn't enough, the obligatory Kuuga fight for the episode actually sees Yuusuke going up against Gooma again, bringing us full circle with him at night, although Kuuga's a lot less helpless than those cops from the beginning. It's a super cool throwdown in another memorable location, with a swaying spotlight illuminating an otherwise faintly lit warehouse. Gooma puts up a solid fight considering Yuusuke had nearly 20 episodes to improve his skills, but ultimately, Kuuga has him on the ropes, and ready for a good Rider Kick. Now, in case all this Grongi action still wasn't enough for you, Gooma gets lucky when Kuuga is interrupted by the sudden arrival of that mysterious new guy, who comes crashing into the warehouse on a motorcycle, with his helmet covering his face, as though he were some sort of... kinda like a... like a masked rider, or something.
The Grongi on the motorcycle distracts Kuuga long enough for Gooma to slip out, and leaves himself right after. Which is just as well for me. Why bother talking about exciting superhero action when I could be talking about Jean, instead? Quote:
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Sakurako practically has to drag him out of the room since they're supposed to be leaving, and when they grab a bite to eat later, she questions what seems to have him so upset. Jean, man of mystery that he is, tries to dodge the question, however. I definitely feel for Sakurako on this one. After all, I'm still trying to figure out if he collects stamps or not. Alas, it's not that easy.
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An element of the plot that's interesting to note here (and forgive me in advance for all the numbers I'm about to throw your way) is that Garume was one of the Grongi introduced way back in episode 3, and this episode makes reference to a previous encounter with him that happened offscreen, in the gap between episodes 6 and 7. This is apparent due to Yuusuke referencing the events happening between the cases of Unidentified Lifeforms #10 and #11, who we never actually saw. Badzuu was #6, and the episode after he was defeated, things picked up with Badjisu, who was #14. Episode 7 even opened with a conversation between Sugita and Ichijou making specific reference to the Unidentified Lifeform cases that happened in that gap. And there have been other gaps in the count since. While I'm sure the time skips were simply to keep the show more or less in "real time" the way Rider shows generally are, I'm totally unaware if there was a motive for creating these offscreen Kuuga adventures beyond it being logical the Grongi would be active more than twice a month. It seems like the kind of stuff that would be chronicled in some comic spin-off or something, but to my (limited) knowledge, these extra Grongi have never gotten more than names.
Quote:
Putting the trivia aside, what's important to take away is that, while an invisible enemy might have been tricky to deal with for a Kuuga that only had Mighty and Dragon Forms to work with, Yuusuke now has Pegasus Form's enhanced senses to give him the edge against Garume's visual trickery. The good news there being Pegasus Form is finally getting a second appearance. The bad news is that Yuusuke isn't too sure how easy it'll be to line up a shot with all the buildings and whatnot getting in the way in an urban environment. Yuusuke does have one idea to deal with that though: asking Gouram for a lift. Bit of an oddball plan, but hey, Sakurako does manage to find some ancient text that might point to what Yuusuke wants.
Quote:
Quote:
The police are able to keep him visible long enough for Mighty Form to get some hits in, but the second Garume can, he runs for the hills, but that's no problem for Kuuga, who puts that plan for earlier into action, sniping Garume from the skies with Gouram's help.
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04-28-2020, 03:30 PM | #118 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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EPISODE 23: "Uneasiness"
Toshiki Inoue is back on writing duties for these ones, and he's basically doing a sequel to episodes 5 and 6. Possibly the kind of sequel that might as well be a remake? We'll work this out as we go along, but given this one also starts with a cold open of Sakurako in a room with Jean, getting worried about things, it's certainly looking pretty similar. The first key difference is that this time, she's specifically worried about some text she's translated, which the audience is kept in the dark about for the time being. Familiar or not, this scene does hit all three of my personal criteria for a great Kuuga cold open. It's under a minute, has only as much dialogue as is needed, and properly establishes the central concept of the plot. Good stuff. After the opening, Nana shows up to Pole Pole, where a conversation with Pops quickly brushes the whole "teacher got violently murdered" plot point under a rug so we can get back to more Pops Puns, which only makes me further question why the idea was introduced in the first place when the show seems actively uninterested in exploring it at the moment. Beyond that, the scene's only other purpose is to have Nana ask where Yuusuke is, so we can find out he's off to the university, where he asks where Sakurako is, which fortunately isn't just so we can find out she's off asking where someone is, ending this chain before it becomes the entire plot of the episode, which, thinking about it, might've actually looped around into being kind of impressive. Before we see what she's up to, there's a quick scene with the police reiterating the revelations about the Grongi from the last episodes, which I'm going to be generous and say is helpful for viewers who missed a week back in the day. Things start getting exciting when the scene shifts to Gooma, over in Nagano, performing some kind of crazy demonic chanting to summon forth... something. It came out of the ground like magic, so it's probably pretty cool though. Whatever it is, Gooma seems super happy about it. Ichijou meets up with Yuusuke to discuss everything that's been going on. In a touch I really love, when Ichijou asks him, mostly rhetorically, how many Grongi casualties he thinks there have been up to this point, Yuusuke replies with the exact correct number of 1,389. It's a subtle thing, but it shows how heavily all this weighs on Yuusuke, despite his carefree attitude. Ichijou is bringing this up because he figures going after the Grongi from the source, taking down their leader, would be the best approach to keep that number as low as possible. The problem being figuring out who that is. Gooma's constant trips to Nagano point to Unidentified Lifeform #0 being their leader, and Ichijou even theorizes here that the woman with the rose tattoo could actually be #0. It's not a bad guess, considering the information available. After all, she's clearly in a position of authority, and we've never seen what her monster form looks like. For all anyone knows right now, it might be her. Getting back to Sakurako, it turns out she's with Tsubaki, intent on asking him about any changes that have happened to Yuusuke lately. One thing I want to note about this scene is how much it reinforces my fan theory about Tsubaki being kind of a creeper, because on either end of the conversation, he makes some pretty embarrassingly bad-taste comments to Sakurako, culminating in him abruptly trying to ask her out to lunch, which, sheesh. I think Inoue was having even more fun with Tsubaki than I am. In-between looking for a date anywhere he can find one, however, Tsubaki explains that Yuusuke thinks the electrical shocks he's been feeling as Kuuga over the past few episodes are a sign that he's becoming stronger, which has Tsubaki pretty optimistic, since the Grongi have been getting more and more fierce themselves lately. Sakurako, on the other hand, thinks this might have a connection to the text she translated earlier, and that's what she's afraid of. She asks Tsubaki about the possibility that Kuuga might actually use up all his energy that way, but it's apparent even she's not too sure what she's talking about right now. On the way back, Sakurako is handed a lighter as a promotional gift before she boards her train... which mantis-like monster Me-Garima-Ba also enters. Is she following Sakurako? What's the nature of the mysterious incense-looking thing she's wearing? Why isn't she flipping out and murdering people right then and there? Hopefully you haven't cracked this case already, because this is the big mystery for these episodes. Yuusuke goes to see Tsubaki himself, and is surprised to find out that Sakurako was there earlier. Tsubaki fills him in on how anxious she was about the electric shocks, and also throws out the possibility him using the defibrillator on Yuusuke when he was "dead" actually caused them, but it's a little hard to tell how serious he's being, considering he's still cracking jokes about Sakurako coming just to see his face. To be fair, this did all start happening after Yuusuke came back. Sakurako, it turns out, isn't much more informed than anyone, confessing to Ichijou she's hitting a point where the ancient texts are getting more mysterious, and more difficult to decipher as a result. But at the very end of the episode, as Kuuga takes on Garima, we finally find out what she's figured out that's got her so concerned. It's a passage cryptically describing the sun being swallowed by darkness when a "holy spring" dries up, and a "fearsome warrior" appears like lightning. That last bit being the connection she's worried about. Definitely not the kind of ancient prophecy that sounds like good news! THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER Just a couple of thumbs here. Total thumbs up count: 38+2 = 40 EPISODE 24: "Strengthening" It's made readily apparent how strong the Grongi are becoming when Kuuga's fight with Garima ends with her taking a direct hit from the Try Gouram and still living. It still hurts her, and she quickly retreats to lick her wounds, but for a finishing move that was blowing up entire shipping trucks and the Grongi inside them, you'd expect a better result. Yuusuke is looking on the bright side as usual, though, telling Ichijou he thinks he's finally starting to understand how to harness the extra power of the electrical shocks, planning to head to Enokida for help with the matter, but not before checking in on Sakurako. She's obviously feeling pretty low right now, to the point she's stooped to shameless product placement. Putting aside how happy McDonald's must've been to have one of Japan's biggest heroes call their food delicious (even when cold!), this is actually another very Yuusuke moment that I think Inoue did a great job with. He's here to talk about why she's so upset, but he doesn't bluntly ask about that right away, instead sliding into that only after getting her to smile first with by talking with his mouth full like a goofball. Like with Chouno, it's maybe not quite how Arakawa writes him, with his followup prodding of "we're friends, so you can tell me anything" being a bit more of a platitude than usual, but the sentiment is still nice, and it's still evident that Yuusuke puts other people's emotions above everything else. Sakurako shows him what she deciphered, but Yuusuke is confident it's completely unrelated to what's happening to him right now. He points out that a warrior who "appears like lightning" doesn't actually describe him, since he's a warrior from whom lightning is appearing. Simple logic, but he might have a point. There's still a lot of mystery surrounding the text, but the visit from Yuusuke succeeds in cheering Sakurako back up, and he heads off to see Enokida. Meanwhile, Ichijou and Sugita are trying to track down the mystery behind Garima's targets. First they realize a bunch of the victims were carrying those same lighters being given out that Sakurako has, so they go to check the store that was handing them out. Then they realize the victims who had the lighters all boarded a nearby train around the same time. Then they realize some of the victims who didn't have lighters boarded the train around the same time. Then they realize the victims who didn't board the train were probably already on the... the... thetrain... *snoring* Oh, sorry, I must've fallen asleep for a second there. Yeah, allow me to throw a bone to anyone who thinks I take it too easy on this show: the mystery plot this time just isn't a mystery. Inoue seems to be under the impression there was something ambiguous about Garima's actions, with the lighters presumably meant to be a red herring, but it's just... way too obvious she's tracking down the people who were on that train car. It's not all that unusual to have episodes of Kuuga where the viewers have more clues than the heroes do, but here it's too easy to connect those dots before them, rendering the investigation scenes here utterly limp. Despite the joke above, I'm not actually bored to death watching it. It's not a huge chunk of the episode or anything, but the fact that the only defense I can come up with amounts to "at least you don't have to see that much of it" kind of underscores the problem. This is another example of Inoue not having a solid grasp on Kuuga's style, and it dragging the story down. Anyways, the eventual, inevitable result of all this is Sakurako being warned she's a target just in time for Garima to show up anyway. A little behind this, Enokida has provided Yuusuke an isolated room to do... whatever it is he does. The show doesn't dwell on it too much, perhaps ironically figuring this part of the plot wasn't ambiguous. So let's play detective ourselves here. Yuusuke specifically mentioned to Sakurako he wanted a room to shut himself in, we see insane amounts of flashing electricity from in there, and when he's done, he's visibly dripping sweat. Those are our facts. It's not too hard to figure out from there that Yuusuke presumably wanted a safe space to just let all that power loose to see what it did, and get a feel for it, but once again, this story's priorities are maybe not totally straight. At any rate, Yuusuke catches up to Sakurako in the nick of time, and gives Garima everything he's got. That means it's finally time for the Rising forms! I also want to take a second to specifically talk about this shot which I found neat. It depicts Titan Form's initial shift to Rising Titan, and, since the designs physically nearly identical, they seem to have accomplished this with the simple but effective method of digitally editing the hue of Kuuga's armor in post, only using CG for the belt, the addition on the sword... and the torso, for some reason. It's identical to Titan's normal torso as far as I can tell, so why that spot in particular needed the extra treatment, I have no clue. Whatever the reasons, the end result was a fairly convincing shot that I took notice of specifically because of how much I didn't notice it, if that makes sense. Although the torso becomes glaring when you know what you're looking for. Rising Titan, though! Definitely just as cool as the original, and also like the original, its debut consists of nothing but it annihilating the enemy with a single stab to the guts, although this time the monster comes to him. It's a short fight, but while it doesn't do a whole lot to show off what's so special about these new golden powers, Kuuga does destroy with a single hit an enemy previously shown to survive even Gouram's power, so it's clear enough this is an upgrade. And that's pretty much it for the episode, aside from a brief hint that Sakurako is still a little worried, and the "to be continued" screen completing its own little arc, as the lightning from the past few episodes becomes a radiant golden glow instead. Attention to detail like that is appreciated. Which is why these episodes are once again, not the show's best material. For different reasons than the Chouno episodes. These ones are focused enough, but between the combination of Sakurako's arc being too redundant for an A-plot, and the barely mysterious mystery B-plot, there's not a ton here to get particularly excited about. Just about serviceable, with some cool action, and some solid movement on the overarching plot, but little more. THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER A few more thumbs here too. Total thumbs up count: 40+3 = 43
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 04-06-2023 at 05:53 PM.. |
04-28-2020, 04:24 PM | #119 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Yeah, boy, did not love the setup for Rising Titan here. It's bonkers that a show that's so relentlessly present-tense and dedicated to the minutiae of its storytelling was like, Nah, everyone'll figure this out, we don't have to have any dialogue supporting it. Bonkers.
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If there's only one thing I learned from Amazons, and there is, it's that it's best to have a burger or two if you've been killing monsters. It was all a Kuuga callback and I never even realized it!
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04-28-2020, 06:07 PM | #120 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
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If Japanese TV shows have taught me anything, it's that McDonald's and Pizza Hut are eternal, even in alternate histories where they shouldn't even exist.
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