[Kamen Rider Die]

MASKED RIDER KUUGA EPISODES 42 - 43



Happy Christmas! I didn’t know if I’d have time to watch any Kamen Rider on Christmas, but I did, and I wrote a bit about the experience, and I posted it on TokuNation, and here we are. It may be Christmas Day when I’m writing this, but it’s just a regular day of posting on the boards about this old Japanese superhero monster show.

Topical! This story’s all about longing for a sense of normalcy, which everybody but Tsubaki is convinced is just around the corner. Team Kuuga is ridiculously confident that Godai can quell the rage inside of him, swiftly eliminate the devastatingly powerful last few Grongi, and defeat Daguva, a monster that can knock Godai out of his henshin if Godai even thinks about him too hard. Tsubaki, on the other hand, would like to at least broach the topic, for group discussion, that they are all colossally screwed and endless darkness will soon cover the land. It’s a solid point, and worthy of maybe a little consideration, but the Team lands pretty firmly on Godai’s Going To Be Fine Don’t Worry About It. Time will tell!

With the story’s monster surprisingly dispatched in the opening battle (an ass-whooping delivered to Titan Form is cut short by a well-timed Ichijou sniper shot, and then Body Attack from Golden Gouram to finish the fight), the rest of the story is… I don’t want to say “pointless”, but I’m not 100% sure what the point was. Ichijou stops a hostage situation, and the returning Mika witness him apprehending the culprit. It’s a fine non-Grongi Ichijou subplot, and it’s basically the only action we get for 75% of this story, but it ends in a really weird way. Mika won’t even look at Ichijou afterwards, and when Godai sees her off at the train station… Look, maybe it’s the translation, but I’ve got no idea what I’m supposed to be getting from the conclusion of this story. See if you can crack this for me:

MIKA: I was afraid. Extremely. I saw Mr. Ichijou’s laughing face earlier but it’s probably something he doesn’t need.
GODAI: Really?
MIKA: For some reason, it feels like it’s not the same person.
GODAI: But it was the real Mr. Ichijou. If that kind of Mr. Ichijou is here, even though I’m afraid I won’t ever go. But you know. The real Mr. Ichijou has a laughing face too.

Mika gives Godai a blank stare, cut to Ichijou at the police station looking at a sunset, credits roll.

What?

Like, I guess maybe it’s that she saw laughing Ichijou, then she saw scary policeman Ichijou, and… something? She didn’t like him anymore? She’s mad at him? I don’t understand her reaction, and I feel like the show didn’t, either. It’s baffling, in a way where I’m not sure if I’m supposed to feel sad for Ichijou or disappointed in Mika. Is Ichijou fundamentally broken in ways only normal people like Mika can see, or is Mika just being kind-of an asshole?

Thoughts?



Oh, and how was your Christmas? I got a Figuarts Ghost (Ore Damashii), everyone’s 8th to 15th favorite Kamen Rider, as a Christmas present (thanks, Patrick, for the figure and for indulging me talking about suit motifs for 90 seconds) and it even came with a little Yurusen to have floating next to him, telling him he’s being a terrible hero! Fond memories. It’s been a neat 2019!