Allow me to make a totally underwhelming and anti-climactic response post to all of that by simply saying, yeah, the first time I saw that explosion from Rising Mighty? "HOLY SHIT!!!" at the top of my lungs.

I knew I'd forgotten something, because YEAH, WOW, OH MY GOD

I actually really like the design of Rising Mighty because it almost feels more 'complete' than regular Mighty, with the extra gold lines and the guard over his leg. It's too bad (but necessary, I suppose!) that he doesn't really fight in it, only finish things off!

Am I that guy? I guess I'm going to be that guy. I don't really like the big explosions of Rising Mighty.

(Look, in a Fish Sandwich Rewatches thread, you can't exactly have Fish Sandwich coming in to play the contrarian. I'm happy to cosplay as that character, at least this once.)

The enormous body count in this series frequently gets brought up by Kuuga detractors as being so depressingly high that it loops around to being unrelatable. Ten people dead is a tragedy, ten thousand dead is a statistic, you know? There's a point where the scale increases and your brain just doesn't have a space for it.

The visual of Kuuga accidentally detonating a... I don't know, a district, it's just too much for me. It takes it from the realm of the personal, the specific, Kuuga on his own versus a monster, and turns it into special effects, makes it feel gratuitous.

I get that there's supposed to be a danger to Rising Mighty, to the Grongi, and that all of this should start to feel cataclysmic. It's just, for me, that escalation started to make it less heroic. It's not a hero fighting to save humanity at the cost of his own, it's whichever monster can blow up the most stuff.

Like, I get it, your mileage may vary. There's a more gritty, endangered feel to Kuuga than another show. Things being this dangerous, I guess that works for a lot people. It's just, the introduction of Rising Mighty makes Kuuga feel less like a proector and more like a natural disaster, and I'm just not as into that.

I was going to argue this point right here and now, but considering we're only at the cliffhanger where it happens, I think I'd rather wait at least a few episodes to discuss this in detail. For now, I'll just tell you, I don't think "Kuuga" and "gratuitous" are two words that go together. It's a very thoughtful and deliberate show, and all of this stuff is no exception. The thoughts you have about that explosion are all things it actively wants you to be considering.

Fair enough!

And according to Kazari people love the #4 and wants to use it to promote Pole Pole. Now Yusuke should expand his Kuuga emblem creation for the restaurant too with Kazari still not knowing about him being Kuuga. And of course Nana wants not only her but everything to be centered on Yusuke... (probably if Kazari plans to use Yusuke as promotion she'd agreed immediately).

But Enokida hasn't told the cop's boss yet unlike Jean (and namedrops Godai making him confused which only knows him as #4). Well at least they want to tell that #4 is heroic like Sugita does.

So even the random kills aren't really random... the random part is only determined by a roulette. And yeah, it's truly brutal with the attacks feeling like a meteor shower to me. And at one point a corpse is shown in one piece... ??

OK Ichijou why are you complaining about Tsubaki calling them to explain Yusuke's situation while usually asking Sakurako to do the same. Well, with Sakurako still not knowing the latest translation Tsubaki just hypothesized that. I think this scene is kinda to show that, Kuuga is operating out of the box (aka the translations) compared to its time in the past due to the modern era? Kuuga's experiencing something that is exempt from the texts. Yeah but Yusuke if you become a living weapon, you will just be another threat who takes away people's smiles and is unstoppable with no one to fight the Grongi-like destroyer.

If Kuuga Pegasus' limit is the overloading nerves, what makes the limit of other Risings like Titan here? And I know that Titan Form's sthick is power walking, but can it actually run? Also so Grongis in human form wouldn't easily kill humans like Chouno?

So this is how it should go normally for Tsubaki? Competely serious about the work without any distraction like flirting. I'm not really sure if they haven't given their best in previous parts of the series where this part of the episode is just a rephrasing...

And poor Mika, being threatened by Nana just because of wanting to meet Yusuke.

Well yeah he's getting better. Though dunno if it's because of the new writer or just development (Inoue can ignore character developments). He's still an asshat but he's not outright evil like in his debut. My petty concern for this scene? I'm afraid of the drawing getting ruined, teared apart :p. And in this scene, not only Tsubaki, but I already know where it goes when Chouno claims everything's easy for Yusuke, which is about his burden of fighting as Kuuga (I straight up predicted what Tsubaki will explain to Chouno). Also I wonder if it's about him getting fired within work, does that have to do with Chouno's attitude? He doesn't seem to be good with people.

And that's... how a finisher should be! I think a finisher should be totally distinct from usual attacks, to show that the attack is really strong (and sorry, not really getting that from Kuuga before). If it's not in how the attack is done, it should be shown in the effect of the attack. Kuuga Rising Mighty's Kick is only a standard jumping side kick, but the effect is phenomenal. For this time, the nuke explosion isn't a part of a monster dying (which is not the part of the finisher attack itself), but it's caused by the attack itself, which would truly show the power within the attack.

So you've promoted a good external source of a Kamen Rider series too. I think I'm in it too, by alsopromoting a good external source for another series in another thread... but it's an encyclopedia about a Rider series (Ryuki and OOO) instead of a video. As for Kuuga, I have been watching here, a link coming from KR Reddit Discord: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...jLh5sAN5FeNZKM

I̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶p̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶m̶e̶?̶ Well, I just want to give a fair focus on most part of the series, instead of just focusing like on, like, the fighting part (and neglect other parts a tokusatsu series cover), or certain characters only.

I know Inoue's gotten infamy, but honestly I'm confused, I mean the style you mentioned there, "It's goofy, it's over-the-top, it's larger than life and laugh out loud and in your face and wide-angle lenses.", is the thing that gets most memorable in internet, as those are the easiest to make use of a meme material, instead of grounded stuffs that is considered less stand-out (and can seem more lifeless) compared to the wacky stuffs like that.

But Enokida's already a mom with a child! Jean as stepfather?

Well I like the big explostions as to show how powerful a finisher attack compared to an ordinary attack.... and I feel like Kuuga IS meant to be a disaster, meant as a living weapon. But Yusuke's heart is the key to avert that part of Kuuga.

You don't need to justify yourself, and I wasn't referencing you.

Yeah, and quite clearly there's no other parent around. There's a reason Enokida relies on her mother to look after her son...

Same. I was actually going to reply to Die in detail but then remembered that it'd technically count as spoilers.

For the record though Die, it's all cool you think different. I just disagree, is all.

It's not even just implication. When she's defending Ichijou's personality to Sasayama in episode 16, Enokida specifically mentions her husband left her because of her workaholic tendencies.

Though this might not be all that well known on account of MCS' subs having her say instead that she tries to avoid work because it makes her tired (you know, the exact opposite of her personality?), which is another one of those errors that reminds how glad I am to have new subs of Kuuga! :p