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05-14-2020, 02:28 PM | #211 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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05-14-2020, 04:00 PM | #212 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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EPISODE 40: "Impulse"
This one starts with a scene I really like. It's just Pops and Yuusuke having a little chat at Pole Pole, which ordinarily would be of little consequence, but it builds on the developments of the previous few episodes in a nice way, with Pops telling Yuusuke it's okay if he leaves on an adventure whenever he wants to. It's a touching gesture for how minor it is, and it adds a nice extra layer to Pops' character to show that, having spent so much time around Yuusuke, he's capable of recognizing when he's feeling troubled under the surface. It's the benefit of their particular relationship, because he doesn't look up to Yuusuke the way most of the other side characters do, which means he doesn't brush off the idea something could be wrong with him. Although for how much he knows about Yuusuke, he's still pretty clueless about what a "Kuuga" is, when Yuusuke tells he's still going to be on that adventure for a while. It's the thought that counts, though, and that's why it's a nice scene. The police are having one of their usual "how f***ed are we?" meetings to discuss all the new information, and the new things they wish they had information on. Listening to these guys talk, it's always really easy to sympathize with how hard it has to be to stay on top of the situation. I mean, first they think the woman with the rose tattoo is #0, then it turns out #0 is probably some guy named Daguva. And then this Daguva guy is going around killing nearly 200 other Unidentified Lifeforms in around three weeks, which is like four times more than #4 has managed over nine months. Plus, they don't even know what could possibly be motivating Daguva to kill his own kind, but if it has something to do with bringing about ultimate darkness, then Sugita, about as optimistic as usual, has a pretty simple theory: he's just killing everyone, and humans are probably next. It's business as usual for the Grongi, too, who are continuing with their usual games. The latest player is Go-Jaaza-Gi, who is basically a literal business shark. She's seen typing something up on a computer at an airport, telling the other Grongi she's making her game as easy as possible so as not to waste any energy, which is definitely the kind of efficiency I'd expect someone who looks like she belongs in a boardroom to apply to mass murder! Oh, and, since these episodes are by Ishida again, that means more super creative visuals for the Grongi talking as always. The two scenes of that in this episode are a bit more restrained than usual, but they both have moments where the characters are basically standing in featureless voids rather than proper rooms. This is especially impressive in the airport scene. Yuusuke lightens the mood over at the police station by calling in on the Beat Chaser's radio simply to ask if anyone there has caught a cold while on his way to meet up with Ichijou, Sakurako, and Enokida for their own meeting about Kuuga and the Grongi. Then, when he gets to the university for the meeting, he even climbs up the window into Sakurako's room for old times' sake. They're more little moments, but I appreciate the show remembering to put in these touches of human warmth as the story gets more heavy. Because it is getting pretty heavy, and once the discussion starts, it doesn't take long to be reminded of that. There's a really subtle thing that happens, where Sakurako reads the prophecy about the fearsome warrior and the sun being swallowed by darkness again, and Yuusuke immediately gets a grim look on his face, almost like he's not even listening to anything after that, even getting up out of his seat at the table with everyone. When the big revelation is about to be dropped, Yuusuke is the one to say it first: Kuuga and Daguva are pretty much the same thing. He's figured a lot of this out on his own already, as could be picked up from his reactions to things like Ichijou mentioning the symbol with four horns a few episodes back. Again, Yuusuke's not ignorant, and in this particular case, he has one piece of information nobody else does, and that's the vision he saw when he defeated Jaraji. A pitch black Kuuga with four horns. He's got a hunch already, but Sakurako confirming for him the part of the inscription about the "holy spring" drying up refers to a person losing their capacity for kindness and compassion allows to him to say for sure that he was on the verge of becoming the fearsome warrior. He opens up about his feelings in that moment, how the fear those high school students were put through, and the fact that he couldn't save so many of them, it made him crack a little. All the anger he felt at the Grongi for all the people he hasn't been able to save caught up with him. And remember, he keeps track of the overall death toll. Yuusuke keeps a lot more buried under the surface than it looks like, and he admits it was spilling out so violently in that moment, that, just for a second, he genuinely considered using Rising Mighty right then and there, while Ichijou and everyone else were still around. Yuusuke reassures everyone that he thinks the vision was the Amadam's way of warning him where fighting with anger in his heart is going to lead, and he tries to brush it off by saying it was enough of a wake-up call to make sure that an incident like with Jaraji never happens again, but I don't think the importance of that confession from Yuusuke can be understated. It proves how human he is underneath. Even someone as kind as him is capable of losing control, and, even for a moment, for the smallest moment, he was almost ready to do something that would've horribly injured if not outright killed many of the very people he's trying to protect. Back at Pole Pole, Nana is dealing with her own problems. Earlier she went to an audition, and despite how optimistic everyone felt about it, she comes back with a sullen look on her face. Pops picks up on this, and is ready to provide emotional support, but the situation turns out to be more complex than Nana simply failing to pass the audition. It becomes downright worrying when she asks him if he's ever wanted to kill somebody. The mood at the university has managed to lighten back up at least, with Enokida managing to get there eventually (at least she was up in the morning for once!), and Yuusuke amusing her and Sakurako with what I'm pretty sure is a killer impression of Hiroshi Fujioka, in yet another much-welcome Showa reference. Once they get back to business, the topic of discussion becomes the nature of Kuuga's powers, and how the Grongi are starting to possess similar abilities, like changing objects into weapons. It's one more hint of how similar Kuuga and Daguva truly are, and according to Enokida, it's entirely likely they'll start seeing Grongi with the ability to change forms the way Kuuga does too. Although Yuusuke isn't seeing much of anything at the episode's climax, as trying to track down Jaaza in the water after she kills almost everyone on a plane proves rather difficult. What's more, in another great Ishida sequence, Kuuga is sensing a different presence entirely. An almost ethereal figure in white watching from the distance. One it's hard to imagine has anything good in store for Yuusuke. THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER At long last, the show reaches new heights of thumb action, topping all previous records with a grand total of eight thumbs going up, half of which are in the same frame! Total thumbs up count: 69+8 = 77 EPISODE 41: "Control" Kuuga learns a lesson about getting distracted the hard way when he gets a spear jammed straight through his shoulder less than half a minute into the episode. Ouch! This is just brutal. The thing launches out of the water so fast it sends him flying through the air and pins him to a wall. Yuusuke being the trooper that he is, he just yanks it back out, while in excruciating pain the whole time, and since he had the misfortune of being in Pegasus Form while this was happening, he hit the time limit, and winds up in Growing, and unable to transform again for two hours. All in all, not his best fight! Once things have settled down, Yuusuke makes it clear to Ichijou (and the audience) that the presence he felt reminded him of #0 back in the forest, meaning we just got our first glimpse at Daguva's human form, who can manage to ruin Kuuga's day just by standing in place. That's pretty impressive! Sugita drives up with some new info, which includes a hint as to what's next, deliberately given to the police by Jaaza, as well as the fact that the victims on the plane she attacked consisted largely of the elderly. She's taking this "easy game" thing very seriously, evidently. At Pole Pole, Pops is also taking Nana's problems very seriously, to the point he's actually closed up the shop to take the time to talk about this with her. That's genuinely really sweet. What do you want me to say? Pops is the man, and again, I really appreciate seeing this more compassionate side of him. He's not anywhere near as helpful in situations like this as Yuusuke is, but he tries his best to lend an ear, though that becomes a lot harder when Nana runs out on him. But it's okay. By this point I'm sure we all know what it means when Yuusuke loses the ability to transform after using Pegasus Form. There's nothing quite like a pep talk from Yuusuke, and this is another darn good one. He gets off to a fantastic start by thinking to look for Nana at a place he remembers her saying she used to practice with her teacher at, before the whole incident with Garume. It's less directly relevant to solving her problems than it was with Mika, but I can't get enough of Yuusuke demonstrating how much he cares about people to figure out where the sentimental places they'd go when feeling down are. It'd be so simple to just have the scene start with Yuusuke driving along on his bike until he turns to the side and says "huh?", having randomly found who he's looking for, but that's not good enough for this show. And of course, the reason she's so upset does come back to her teacher. Turns out one of the prompts at her audition was to act like someone you care about is being killed by an Unidentified Lifeform in front of you, which, uh... kinda seems like an oddly specific and insensitive thing to ask of somebody! You know, in case exactly what happened happened? Amazingly, this cruel reminder of what happened to the person who trained her to this point was not the reason she's talking about wanting to kill someone. No, that got her upset, but what tipped her over the edge was one of the other girls at the audition casually saying the fact her teacher actually died would come in handy for the performance. Which, like, yeah, pretty freakin' devastating. Even Yuusuke can understand why Nana would want to beat the crap out of her. He knows it's only human, but he also knows how painful it really is to solve your problems with violence. He asks Nana to take a deep breath, and gives her a spiel about how it's more important to make sure you've let the other person know they've done something wrong in a way that lets them understand, and how trying to do it with your fists doesn't really accomplish that. Nana isn't having any of this right now. She's Yuusuke's number one fan, sure, but none of this is how the "real world" works, right? Nana thinks everything Yuusuke is spouting right now is naive idealism. Yuusuke has a pretty simple retort to this -- of course it is, and that's exactly why it's something you'd want to make real. Things being bad is just all the more reason to try making them better. Because a world where people only know how to solve things by fighting is far too sad. Summarizing it doesn't do justice to the usual great minimalist touch of Kuuga's dialogue, either. I don't know how adequately I can convey this, but the way that instead of saying "with your fists", he just says "like this" while gesturing with his fists, it's so much more powerful for some reason. And that's what I think this whole scene is. Powerful. It's probably more than evident at this point how much I love the themes that take center stage during the last stretch of the show, and these episodes do an absolutely fantastic job of taking everything that was implied back in 34/35 and just running with it. We get a much deeper look into Yuusuke's psyche here, and what makes his advice to Nana click so well is that we know where it's coming from. These aren't just hollow suggestions. Yuusuke is starting to feel the pressure of being Kuuga more than ever. All the pain of that lifestyle. All the tragedy. All the anger. It's not hypothetical to him. The Grongi are people who truly can't be reasoned with, and it's precisely because he deals with them the way he does that he's all the more dedicated to making sure us regular humans realize we can talk things out. Joe Odagiri's acting here is also pretty excellent, continuing a trend he's developed in these recent episodes where there are the briefest little pauses in Yuusuke's smile. Occasionally, just for a moment, all that confidence completely leaves his face, and all the weight he's carrying underneath is plain to see. Like when the Beat Chaser's radio starts beeping and he realizes he has to leave, even though he clearly doesn't want to, and he struggles for a second to actually tell Nana he needs to go. Once he does leave, he gets the latest news on Jaaza. Turns out she was cryptically announcing her targets via the internet, and the police have managed to crack the code and find out she's after a cruise ship next. A cruise ship full of children. Oh, and there was a post there saying she hopes to finish the "trivial" killings as soon as possible to move on to a more "important" game. You can imagine how Yuusuke feels hearing the slaughter of children dismissively referred to as trivial. Once he gets to the boat, there's an emphasis on him clenching his fist, clearly feeling that same rage again, but he takes a look at the blue sky above that seems to calm him down. And that right there is why you can take it seriously when Yuusuke tells you not to lose control of yourself and act on your worst impulses. Because he's practicing what he preaches. He has to, because unlike Nana, or any other regular person, he possess the kind of power that could easily bring about tragedy on the same level as the Grongi if he ever lets himself slip too far. There's obviously the whole rest of the fight I could talk about. Cool stuff like paying off Enokida's earlier talk by having Jaaza change forms, or Kuuga turning from Dragon to Titan and seemingly changing the rod straight into a sword, or, heck, Rising Titan with two swords. It's good stuff, too, but this is another one where that's just not the part I most want to talk about. To me, the real climax of the episode is what the fight is contrsted with: Nana's confrontation with the girl she was thinking about killing not too much earlier. It's another way the show's minimalism adds so much. We don't actually see the conversation between the two. She's smiling at Yuusuke back at Pole Pole in the end, so it's assumed things worked out, but the act the scene focused on, what really mattered, was just her following Yuusuke's example and keeping her head clear. We don't need to see what they talked about, or how it went, because none of that matters anywhere near as much as the simple fact that Nana had the courage to try talking first. That's the kind of stuff that makes me love Kuuga, and it's the kind of stuff that makes me love this amazing set of episodes. THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER This one's pretty packed too, but it's hard to top how crazy the previous episode went. Total thumbs up count: 77+4 = 81
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 04-06-2023 at 06:14 PM.. |
05-14-2020, 04:20 PM | #213 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Alright guys, it's time to continue the Funny Wacky Gun Scenes!!!
... or not, because after a whole series of screenshotting and collating these because I found them so damn funny, I was not expecting a scene that took it this seriously. It's incredibly obvious in hindsight -- of course Godai as the wonderful person he is doesn't want to be a living weapon, and of course the themes of the series would gather around that conflict. And of course, if you're making one of Kuuga's powers the ability to use a gun in a certain way, having Kuuga hold a gun is an extremely effective way of showing those themes. The attachments below do not do the scenes - the end of 40 and the start of 41 - justice. There's a lot going on here, of course; and arguably the big takeaway is what Fish highlighted -- Daguva's human form and the effect it had on Godai. But beyond that, with how long Kuuga holds the untransformed gun, with how much he just stands there with it, how much the camera zooms in on and holds on that shot... it really nails what these episodes are about. Godai holding a gun is just wrong. It's not right. His hands weren't made for this and he's not the sort of man to use a weapon of murder -- and yet, here he is.
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05-14-2020, 04:57 PM | #214 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
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We are getting closer and closer to the debut of one of my favorite things in Kuuga, and I swear Kurona if you manage to talk about it before me there will be words. WORDS I SAY!!!
Anyway yeah, another point to how well Daguva is pulled off is not getting to see his human form fully for a while; As if his aura is so intense and alien that even the viewer can't make him out fully. It's good framework. |
05-14-2020, 05:05 PM | #215 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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We are getting closer and closer to the debut of one of my favorite things in Kuuga, and I swear Kurona if you manage to talk about it before me there will be words. WORDS I SAY!!!
Anyway yeah, another point to how well Daguva is pulled off is not getting to see his human form fully for a while; As if his aura is so intense and alien that even the viewer can't make him out fully. It's good framework.
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05-14-2020, 05:40 PM | #216 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
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But beyond that, with how long Kuuga holds the untransformed gun, with how much he just stands there with it, how much the camera zooms in on and holds on that shot... it really nails what these episodes are about. Godai holding a gun is just wrong. It's not right. His hands weren't made for this and he's not the sort of man to use a weapon of murder -- and yet, here he is.
As if these episodes weren't good enough already.
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05-14-2020, 06:11 PM | #217 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
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Do you... do you want to just like, do the rest of this thread for me? Because I kind of feel like you could do a better job. Because this observation, that these episodes devote an unusual amount of screentime to Mighty Form just standing there with the gun, the face of the show, holding a real weapon, and all the implications that carries? Totally brilliant. Brilliant, and also completely over my head. But on watching that scene again, with the way it specifically focuses in on the gun as Daguva is watching, as though it's what he's interested in, like, I'm now very confident this was entirely intentional.
As if these episodes weren't good enough already. But, yeah, maybe it is because of my devotion to HaHa Funny Gun Bug but it is the part of the episode that stuck out the most to me, and one of the scenes I think about a LOT when I look back on Kuuga. Frankly, though, don't sell yourself short -- there's countless examples in this thread of your observation shedding light on things I hadn't thought about or paid much attention to, and makes me appreciate Kuuga even more than I already did! (also holy shit thank you for the compliment)
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05-15-2020, 05:31 AM | #218 |
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If there’s one thing I remember about episode 41, it’s the name dropping of Yusuke’s old college professor.
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05-15-2020, 04:17 PM | #219 |
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It's neat seeing Yuusuke be so included in this whole process now. He actively contributes ideas, like suggesting they focus on Zazaru for now, since she's the one actually on a killing spree at the moment, while also noting if her body is full of dangerous acid, he's going to need a safe enough place to let her explode.
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Jean is at the lab to give her a disc containing a bunch of data on Gouram, but, again, I don't think Jean is here just because he cares that much about Gouram. As usual lately, it's a bit of an awkward atmosphere around the two, with them both trying to keep any conversation as quick, professional, and/or shallow as possible. It's apparent they both have some things they really want to get off their chests, but they can't find either the words or the will.
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He's going after the woman with the rose tattoo, seemingly with some deeper motive, but of course, it's all buried in his own language, as Gooma has never taken to speaking Japanese. I really respect how the show is still keeping the Grongi speech up this late in the game. It's very particular about what information it gives out freely.
Of course you shouldn't intervene in Grongi fight, it will turn into 2v1 if Kuuga interrupts and they saw a common enemy. You may can intervene from afar with Pegasus Form though, just to make one of them die quicker. And lol Ichijou, integorrating a Grongi (with a gun as a threat like a cop would do to criminals) wouldn't give exact results as it would be to humans. And this culminates the investigation, B1 isn't what they seek for. BTW, what does the B stands for in B1? Also how Ichijou survived whatever B1 did to him? Quote:
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Over in Nagano, Sakurako explains to a colleague that the that the four-horned Kuuga mark is actually a separate character from the regular version, that was used specifically in that one inscription, but because the extra horns were a bit worn, she mistakenly assumed they were the same, and had it entered into her computer that way the whole time.
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Ichijou wakes up in the hospital, despite Yuusuke earlier saying it would probably take around three weeks to make a complete recovery. Instead, Ichijou is going to shoot for about an hour or two, even if it's a bad idea. Add this to the list of similarities between the two of them.
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It's getting late in the evening, and Gooma is running around the woods killing more cops like a horror movie villain. Fortunately, Kuuga gets there in time save at least one of them, going into Titan Form for some extra power, which I believe also makes this the first episode of the series (not counting the recaps) where all of Kuuga's base forms appear. One more thing that highlights how big in scale this plot is. Ichijou gives an assist with a device that generates sonic waves to disorient Gooma.
Lol man... entrance and victims count for a threat buildup. Entrance is the main impression to see how powerful a threat is because obviously they would undergo an entrance first before fully appearing! And for some reason, the deal with Gooma here, it reminds me of Graphite in Ex-Aid, where both of them gets stronger by absorbing a tiny part of the big villains, but even if they got significantly stronger, it's still nowhere compared to the actual big villains, which are kept mysterious and only talked about until the one who absorbs a part of their power dies. Also Gooma doesn't explode like Kuuga's victims? |
05-16-2020, 11:11 AM | #220 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
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BTW, what does the B stands for in B1?
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Kuuga didn't fight Gooma with Rising Forms right? How would it go if Kuuga does?
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