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05-01-2020, 12:36 AM | #141 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
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I now see the forms in a different light because of you, Kurona. I love the thought of them representing Godai's flexibility in his way of thinking, perfect for a hero who faces all manner of conflict whether monster-related or a troubled stranger.
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05-01-2020, 05:59 AM | #142 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Talking of which: got a couple more thoughts! First of all, to follow up on Dragon Form; this is Godai in a calmer state of mind. But wait, you might ask. Isn't that just kind of Pegasus? And fair enough! In fact, I've always seen Dragon and Pegasus as very similar forms -- the lither, more agile powersets that rely on smarter, more cunning ways to defeat their enemies than just raw strength. In much the same way, I'd argue Mighty and Titan form are two sides of the same coin -- both incredibly strong and simple in their methods, but Mighty is Godai when you think of who Godai is, and Titan is Godai a little more under the surface. With that description you might see where I'm going with what differentiates Dragon from Pegasus. Pegasus is when Godai is considering everything around him. Every sound, every sight, every feeling and every thought. It's what makes Pegasus so good at what it does. But Dragon Form? Dragon Form is when Godai's in a more zen-like state of mind and emptying his mind of all thoughts. And that's certainly not something that comes naturally to him at first, given its first appearance is getting beaten to hell and back. But after that everything in its combat suggests a warrior who's put things out of his mind to focus only on the battle in front of him, freed from worry and doubt. I also want to talk about Gouram for a second because, yes, yes I'm really going this far; I'm sure soon enough I'll be talking about the psychological merits of the police bike. But in all seriousness, I find it quite interesting that when it's not being horse armour, Gouram's most significant use is with Pegasus. Pegasus is, as I keep talking about, a form that has a lot of symbolism and relation to mental health. It's constantly featured in episodes taking on issues of feeling out of place and alone in the world, issues of doubt and feeling like you should just deal with it. Pegasus is the form most associated with taking on so much information and processing so much that unless it's isolated and alone, it's downright impossible to do anything. So I think it's pretty interesting that in those situations, Pegasus is the form that gets a friend.
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05-01-2020, 09:42 AM | #143 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Pegasus is when Godai is considering everything around him. Every sound, every sight, every feeling and every thought. It's what makes Pegasus so good at what it does. But Dragon Form? Dragon Form is when Godai's in a more zen-like state of mind and emptying his mind of all thoughts. And that's certainly not something that comes naturally to him at first, given its first appearance is getting beaten to hell and back. But after that everything in its combat suggests a warrior who's put things out of his mind to focus only on the battle in front of him, freed from worry and doubt.
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05-01-2020, 11:53 AM | #144 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
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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.
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T̶e̶c̶h̶n̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶J̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶,̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶a̶t̶e̶-̶w̶a̶n̶n̶a̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶w̶a̶y̶. Hilarously Sakurako eats lunch with... Ichijou instead. Good thing that they both realize that Yusuke is truly needed for Grongis, otherwise they can't ever fight them back. I wonder why Sakurako took the lights, what purpose does the tool have on her? I do wonder how does everyone knows that Yusuke has an electrical sensation. Quote:
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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. 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.
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05-02-2020, 01:18 PM | #145 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
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One other strength these episodes inherit from 7 and 8? Hidenori Ishida's direction. I gush about him every time, and it's because every time, he's always trying to do some new creative experiment with how to make the episodes he works on more interesting. Just shooting things prettily is rarely enough for him. There's always something unique to talk about with the visuals in his Kuuga episodes. Case in point: he's still finding new ways to shoot the Grongi that make them feel alien and unknowable.
Oh yeah, the academic problem of only giving theories in lessons, with not enough life lesson to face them. Should Kanzaki make a counseling on the students for future topics? Oh well he did it a bit with Hiraku. Also here, a wish-fulfillment moment, someone skipping school isn't met solely by a scorn from the teacher.... Hiraku also is unafraid to be honest regarding the future to say "My place is gone"... w̶h̶o̶ ̶t̶a̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶l̶e̶a̶r̶l̶y̶?̶ Also want to ask from a reply I neglected before, regarding "has anyone had a teacher like Kanzaki", what are your criteria for a teacher like him? Quote:
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Did Hiraku become... (I admit, not really a serious question) homeless after his grandma died? Or all his family lives there (and if it's turned into parking lot, they moved?). Well yeah admittedly old houses is also a something you cherish. Did the parking lot used to be a playground for him to play in that place? I guess that shop must've something no other shops (or other around there) have to give Hiraku no options. Quote:
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But Yuusuke, he doesn't care about rules. He cares about making sure people know how much their lives mean, and that's what makes him so reassuring. He won't criticize a child in pain, not even indirectly, and no matter how well-meaning it might be. It's okay for Hiraku to take time moping, even if it won't bring him the answers he's looking for. It's also okay to be worried about the future, as long as you spend the present trying to be the version of yourself you want to be. All of this, I don't think it's an understatement to call it a daring moral for a kids' show. There's a sort of.. expectation in society, and certainly in Japan, that children don't have "real" problems, you know? Politely telling them to suck it up when they complain is generally considered an acceptable solution. So to have Yuusuke, to have Kamen Rider, telling children instead that their anxiety is not only okay, but something of value, something that's an important part of growing up, that is huge.
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05-02-2020, 02:00 PM | #146 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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EPISODE 27: "Ripple"
History repeats a little here, because after a fantastic, emotional two-parter featuring Kanzaki so good the normally ominous music in the preview was replaced with the theme song, the opening changes yet again. The first version is still the best, but I think I like this one more than the second. Say goodbye to Negative Ichijou, and hello to this shot of Rising Titan Form posing with suave style. Considering the show is still just in the middle of introducing the Rising forms (which kinda makes the new opening a spoiler!), this isn't quite the start of a new chapter like the last time this happened, but it is another two-parter written by Inoue that will feature Dragon Form fighting a monster by the water for its climax. Things in Kuuga have a way of looping back around, huh? Well, uh, yeah, they kind of do, since first thing after the cold open, Yuusuke is telling Sakurako about Tsubaki's "joke" theory about the electrical shocks that led to Kuuga gaining the Rising power being caused by the time he used a defibrillator on Yuusuke. The show essentially takes a second here to put two and two together for the audience, and clarifies that, joke or not, Tsubaki was probably right on the mark, which would also explain why Sakurako hasn't found any ancient text that actually mentions any of this. Because this didn't happen to the ancient Kuuga. The conversation then turns to Pops' vacation plans, where it becomes apparent he's cheaped out on heading to the coast in favor of hitting up a nearby water park. Yuusuke brings up that with people less willing to travel while the Grongi are around, the park has lost a lot of its regular customers. What we can take away from this is that Pops supports local businesses. Or I suppose we could take away that these episodes are about the effects the Grongi are having on society. The ripples, if you will. That might be more important. These episodes may have some surface-level similarities to episodes 13 and 14, but unlike them, they get to the point a lot quicker. Right after this scene, the episode moves over to the water park in question, where Pops, Nana, Minori, and Minori's friend from work, Keiko, are having fun in the sun. Keiko is actually the major guest character here. She's been around the preschool in a few episodes before this, if you're keeping track. I don't know if Kuuga just had a super easy time getting actors back for some reason, but it's surprising how rare it actually is for someone entirely new to show up. It seems like any possible prior connection between characters gets used, to the point even an extra like Keiko can become a huge part of a story at some point. It's like once you've been introduced in Kuuga, the show never really forgets about you. Even Kameyama, Ichijou's old partner from Nagano, manages to keep squeezing in appearances every now and then. Anyway, Keiko's whole dilemma here is that she's pregnant, which she's very happy about because having a child is a wonderful thing, and she can't wait to see her child grow up to live a happy, fulfilling life in a world that's so... full of monsters. Oh, right. That might be a problem. A lot of Keiko's optimism ends up pretty crushed when it turns out the latest Unidentified Lifeform stopped by the pool they were at only a little bit after they left, which would certainly make things feel a lot closer to home. Thankfully, the police are still working as hard as ever to sort this mess out. I mean, they've still barely got a clue what's going on, but they are trying. All the progress they've made up to this point has been significantly undermined by the fact that they're dealing with the Go level Grongi now. They're tougher, smarter, they have weapons, yeah, but that matters more to Kuuga. For the police, what's the most worrying right now is that the patterns they're using to kill people are more complex, and thus harder to predict, ruining what was pretty much the only thing the cops were consistently on top of. They managed to get Buuro taken down last time, but as Ichijou points out here, they never did manage to figure out why he was flying to the areas he was. Another problem they've yet to solve is finding equipment that's of any use against them. Although Enokida is shown looking at a screen with designs of a bike that doesn't quite look like the Try Chaser, and she mentions a mysterious "BTCS" to Ichijou at the end of their scene together. Huh. As for the Grongi themselves, they're hanging out as usual -- in weird rooms with poor lighting. It's Katsuya Watanabe's turn in the director rotation again, and while I still don't have much to say about his style overall, I will note he's kind of become Ishida Jr. when it comes to Grongi scenes. He plays it a bit safer, but has the basics down, like the mostly monochromatic colors, and the shots that aren't focused on the thing you're actually supposed to be looking at. Yuusuke ends up leaving a very busy Pole Pole in the hands of Sakurako to go help out Ichijou. Sakurako keeps busy by dealing with Tsubaki asking her out to lunch again, Tsubaki trying to score a date apparently being how you know it's an Inoue episode. Yuusuke keeps busy, because, despite heading out to help with the pool murders, he ends up distracted by Go-Badaa-Ba, the bike guy, who it turns out is also another grasshopper one. I guess somebody realized that idea was too good to only last two episodes, so they go all out with Badaa. He's tougher than Badzuu, and as we find out here, on top of having his own transforming bike, he even does his own transformation pose, taking the Rider inspiration to the next level. And speaking of transformations, Yuusuke's has a weird little easter egg of sorts. There's like a straight up sci-fi earpiece that appears before the helmet forms around him. You might think this means someone didn't get the memo that Kuuga's powers are more fantastic, but then, the Pegasus Bowgun has some high tech detail on it, and Kuuga also has a pet beetle robot, so I don't know. What I do know is that this episode ends with some sweet, sweet bike action, followed by Kuuga getting caught in a fiery explosion. Uh oh. THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER I guess it's only fair an episode that ends with Kuuga getting blown up skips out on the thumb action. Total thumbs up count: 49+0 = 49 EPISODE 28: "Clarification" Of course, that explosion turns out to not be a huge deal, with Kuuga shaking it off, and managing to get back on his bike, still ready for action. This seems to impress Badaa enough that he calls it a day, and rides off. This whole fight sequence is insanely cool, by the way. There's a nice gradual escalation the show does with Kuuga's encounters with Badaa. The first time he showed up, it was just to say hello. This time, he's clearly just testing Kuuga's skills more than anything. Badaa is great rival material, and the way the show decides to build that rivalry is smart. There's an anticipation for what comes next. When is Badaa going to take off the training wheels and really go after Kuuga? Is Yuusuke going to be ready? Making it so Badaa isn't taking things seriously at first means there's still a mystery to him whenever he shows up, because we haven't seen him giving his all yet. And if this is him not trying, then when he finally is, it's bound to be the kind of bad day for Kuuga that makes for great television. After the opening, Ichijou heads to the scene of the latest pool murder, where he briefly takes note of a woman nearby playing a piano. He doesn't quite suspect it yet, but this is in fact Go-Bemiu-Gi, the sea snake responsible for all these deaths. Her patterns are proving difficult for the police to crack, but they're starting to put the pieces together, noting that the number of victims at each scene seems to vary too much to simply be random. Yuusuke points Ichijou in the right direction when he suggests looking for some kind of sequence in the locations, which leads to him finally cracking both Buuro and Bemiu's logic. Buuro was targeting Tokyo's different wards in the order of the gojuuon (alphabetically, basically), while Bemiu's killings are based on a piece of classical music, with the number of people killed representing the type of note, and the name of each location representing its place on a musical scale. Thankfully Ichijou, being a class act himself, knows the composition in question is a piece by Chopin just from the tiny bit of it he heard Bemiu playing earlier, and just like that, the police have their edge back, able to make preparations for the next set of murders. Bemiu isn't too happy when she realizes nobody is at the pool she was going to next. While all this is going down, there's of course plenty happening with the supporting cast. This episode sees Nana also learning her and the others from Pole Pole could've been attacked by an Unidentified Lifeform if they had merely happened to stay at that pool a while longer, and this scene, I really like. There's a mention of her teacher being killed again, and overall it really works to start putting some value into her plotline by suggesting that these things do weigh down on her, even if she doesn't always show it on the surface. Keiko sits down for a discussion with Minori where she admits she's worried bringing a child into such a chaotic world is a mistake. It's pretty weighty stuff handled quite well. One thing I really like is that the Godai Speech this time is coming from Minori Godai. Again, Inoue's take on Yuusuke often ends up feeling a little different in moments like these, so to just not have him be the one lifting people's spirits ends up being a point in the story's favor. And, also like I've said before, I like Minori's characterization and the similarities she has with her brother a lot, so this feels like a natural progression. It's a very Kuuga kind of outlook being presented, with Minori telling Keiko than even if life is full of suffering and hardship, it's also full of things that will make you glad you're alive. It's not the most complex moral in the world, I guess, but it's a good scene. I have to confess, though, I'm even more fond of the scene in here between Enokida and my main man Jean, who gives her a gift for her son: a book of papercraft projects he wants her and Sayuru to work on together. This is the kind of sweet gesture you'd never get out of a guy like Tsubaki, you know? Not only was Jean paying attention to what that phone call was about, he even makes sure to tell Enokida he thinks it's wonderful how much she enjoys her job while giving the book to her, just so there's no misunderstanding his motive here. Jean's just out here bringing families closer together, because that's how he rolls. At the episode's climax, Bemiu has decided a beach is an acceptable substitute for a pool, and has resumed doing her thing there, because of course summer vacation in the world of Kuuga means a high chance of getting whipped by a snake monster. Kuuga's there to deal with it, using Dragon Form in a fight that has a super interesting progression to it. He actually gets one end of the Dragon Rod broken clean off, and then loses it entirely, shortly after getting thrown into a shack, but then lucks out when the tide brings in a random stick for him to use as a new weapon, leading to Rising Dragon's debut, which is strictly business, going straight to the finishing move, with Kuuga ramming Bemiu through, and then tossing her into the sea, where she creates an explosion that's notably more huge than usual, something also true of Buuro last time. Hm. And that about wraps these episodes up! I still have a soft spot for Chouno, but this is definitely Inoue's most solid work on Kuuga to this point. The detective drama is legitimately compelling, really having the cops think their way through the current case, and even the last one, which is extra impressive. The heartfelt human part has a great angle, and lands well. And the two fight scenes are both really frenetic and fun. Any way you look at it, I think this is a winner of a two-parter. THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER Still light on the thumb action, but Minori is making her brother proud here. Total thumbs up count: 49+2 = 51
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 04-08-2023 at 10:53 AM.. |
05-02-2020, 02:50 PM | #147 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,396
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It's weird. While of the "base" forms, Titan is my favorite, when it comes to Rising, I give it to Dragon. Its debut, as well as how much the Rising variant fills out the design, it just does it for me.
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05-02-2020, 04:14 PM | #148 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Yaaay, the iconic Rising Dragon Gif Thumbs Up! I knew it was coming, but it's always nice to see.
I have to agree that this is probably Inoue's best, at least so far. While the last episode sticks out in my mind for its character work, this one sticks in my mind for its investigative and mystery work. I have many... many criticisms of Inoue, but one thing I really have to give him is that he knows how to make something stick in your memory. This killing pattern is so unique and something I don't believe I've seen done in literally any other show; and the investigation towards it is so natural that I can still very easily visualise it in my head. Just, yeah, super solid television!
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05-02-2020, 06:27 PM | #149 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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There's a completeness to this story that I really remember enjoying, at least in how it feels less like the cops get whipped until the finale and then Kuuga kills the monster. There's a nice sense in this one that Kuuga's great at detonating monsters, but the police are trained investigators, and if they both do their part then the day can be saved. A solid partnership, you know? I really liked this one.
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05-03-2020, 03:32 AM | #150 |
TokuKnight89
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Central Louisiana (Cenla)
Posts: 2,551
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I remember a 2018 article regarding Kuuga's conception, as well as Agito and Ryuki, that might be pertinent due to the renewed interest in the series thanks to SHOUT!
https://tokusatsunetwork.com/2018/08...ction-to-9-11/ |
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