[DreadBringer]

I don't know what will you do to these kind of responses compared to Die's ones, but let's do this too.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The series opens with a hero from an bygone era battling the forces of evil, before being placed into a long slumber. Despite moments of clarity, most of the shots have a grainy filter placed over them which makes them appear... almost like an old TV show.

So there you have it. In just under 50 seconds, Kuuga has already gotten you up to speed on both its premise, and the real-world significance of its existence, all without saying a word. Immediately, it's apparent how seriously the people making this show were taking things. I'd imagine the director, Hidenori Ishida, deserves credit for the genius use of the filter. Kuuga's main writer, Naruhisa Arakawa, actually specifically recommended him for the job in part because of an incident the first time they worked together where Ishida apparently questioned Arakawa intensely on a line in the script to get a better idea of how to shoot the scene. Again, the show's staff wasn't messing around.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

That goes for Arakawa himself, too. After a brief scene establishing a research team has found Kuuga's tomb, we get to meet our hero for the next 49 episodes, and let me tell you, it's perfect. It endears the audience to Yuusuke right away with a heroic act, and the talking to the audience thing. (Thanks again, Ishida!) It also fills you in on a bit of his backstory and life philosophy, shows off his carefree personality with the juggling bit, introduces his signature thumbs up gesture, and even gets to work building some of the series' central themes.

So, the showing here is that kindness acts can be mimicked and inspired by the others, like someone that saved Godai when he was lost. But would mean that emulating others isn't that bad. Also kindness can come from your past bitter experience too (who says dark past only leads to villainy?). This scene clearly shows that Godai is a true hero (it's about an act, not about fighting as superpowered creature), but I'm afraid that Godai can veer into toxic positivity with him insisting that others smile without actually getting into their problems (especially when like you said there, it didn't really work), I know this one isn't because he narrates his bitter experience himself.

And other than that Godai can be a... troll?! Like keep climbing out of window to visit Sakurako, while also wearing a scary mask for a prank (before Sakurako gets thrown in Gurongi stuff!). Also with him pranking an officer with "look up there" diversion.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Kuuga goes to child-scaringly great lengths to show how destructive the Grongi are, and that scene where Yuusuke, witnessing the carnage around him as the sound fades out, replaced with a heartbeat to emphasize the tension, it's great stuff. Yuusuke's mostly been a pretty goofy dude the whole episode, so giving him that big where he decides to take action, it starts to demonstrate why he's deserving of being the show's hero.

And Kuuga is one of the series to show a threat equally, at one point a female officer got attacked too! I wonder what triggers the vision on Godai? He seems to be completely normal before he puts on the belt.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The rest of the episode from that point on is just him throwing down with Zu-Gumun-Ba. Anyway, Gumun is just a great monster. Starting off this new era of Rider by directly paralleling the motif of the original series' first baddie is a touch of respect towards the classics I love, plus, his design is cool, and the episode makes great use of his spidery abilities. He's really got Kuuga on the ropes here. In what will prove to be merely one of a long series of bold choices the show makes, Yuusuke is barely scraping by in his first fight, and wearing the wrong costume, to boot. Kuuga's Growing Form is strong enough to push a police van around without trouble, and tough enough to take several hits without getting turned to paste, but compared to even a low-level Grongi like Gumun, it's just not a lot of power.

No, keep using the monster's true name! Reviews like this should give as many necessary information as possible. And true that Gumun uses his spider abilities well, instead of ignoring them in favor of purely hand-to-hand combat (something I don't like in a good number of fights). I also like it when a fight choreography makes use of the environment like you said there using a police van to attack the enemy (so mundane object can still be dangerous and useful!), it can compensate for the sometimes sloppy combat tokusatsu fights give (probably justified though, as those transformed may never been in fight before). But well, despite all of that, Kuuga Growing Form is still the most successful incomplete Rider Form by a long shot.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The best Yuusuke can manage when all is said and done is fending him off with some help from Ichijou. Despite taking the gamble of having an incomplete Kuuga fail to finish off the villain, the episode still makes the ending feel triumphant, with Kuuga flashing a thumbs up to Ichijou before departing against the sunset, all set to an epic remix of the theme song.

So the Gurongi has a penchant to be distracted to those who shoot them with guns, even if they're completely immune to that? That's sort of their weaknesses? And this one thumb up is really significant here yeah to show that he's human (and giving a glimpse of who's the warrior is).

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

This one is the real deal. Everything great about the premiere goes double for the second episode. Starting with the cold open that cuts to the chase. 41 seconds. A bat monster is killing people. Done. I love it.

What did the monster do to the corpse that it's identified as missing?

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

From there we get the fallout of Yuusuke's first outing as Kuuga. Surely, such a life-changing encounter, such a terrifying experience, would leave Yuusuke with a lot to think about. And maybe it does, but first things first, he's waking up from a nice nap and having a good breakfast. Yuusuke's laid-back nature and underplayed reactions are a huge part of what makes his character such a delight, and another aspect of Kuuga that was treading some new ground at the time. The trick is that the show also knows how far to go with it. Sakurako is here to bring up the normal questions and concerns you'd expect, so Yuusuke isn't really allowed to ever be willfully ignorant. Even more than that, he's not ignorant, and this scene provides a great glimpse into that. Yuusuke casually mentions how he didn't like the "feeling" of being Kuuga, and when Sakurako asks what feeling he means, the show provides a sharp answer.

So he slept in a restaurant (having a breakfast and 11 hours sleep would mean a full night sleep)? And he wasn't kicked out when the restaurant is closed (and did Sakurako stay or wait outside?)?? O̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶a̶u̶r̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶p̶e̶n̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶2̶4̶ ̶h̶o̶u̶r̶s̶?̶ Well, I'm glad that Godai gives sharp answer because not giving that would be a bit of morally bad action to me, causing trouble for himself and others (when he lost control or something) and morally pure Godai shouldn't be like that.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Yuusuke can have fun scenes with Ichijou where he immediately makes it clear he's not bothering with the secret identity shtick, and seems more concerned with the sound the belt made when it merged with him than all the danger he's in, because we know from moments like this there's more to him than that.

Oh yeah! The enemies, Unidentified Life Forms are obviously not a secret, so Kuuga's identity himself also has to be open, as he's the only one can stand up to Gurongis and he gotta make sure the public know that.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Although he's definitely not leaving a great impression on Ichijou! This episode hinges on their conflicting outlooks. A later conversation with Sakurako hammers home what Yuusuke's problem is, in case it wasn't clear yet. He hates violence. The action itself is disgusting to him, even if the end result is preventing further violence. But the only thing he hates more than violence is seeing people suffer, and he finds the resolve to put those feelings aside after seeing the daughter of the professor who lead the research team at the ruins crying over his untimely death at the hands of the Grongi.

Ichijou forbids civilians to also help because it will jeopardize the police into saving the headstrong civilians too? But this one's should be obvious that Kuuga is the only one can stand up to Gurongis. He already left a bad impression on Ichijou since the excavation team scene before tbh. Ichijou wants to save civilians but he's constantly hard and antagonistic to them. Other police didn't seem to have this mindset. So Godai hates violence... though he didn't think that he can talk down the monsters (well, obviously before knowing they're irredeemable where he got no option but to fight, or that they speak in foreign language)?

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

All this, plus Ichijou tracking the mysterious monster attacks down to a church gets us to one of the greatest scenes in Rider history.

So when previously gun failed, Ichijou opts for a shotgun? What's next? It would be even better if Godai tries to ram Gooma with his bike there, like the police van on episode 1. And masterpiece aside, I know this is a franchise trademark, but I find it hilarious that Godai opts for a henshin pose, instead of just punching the monster while simultaneously transforming into Kuuga.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The rest of the episode is pretty much gravy after that. The fight moves out of the church and into um, I think it's a broken down roller coaster or something? Whatever it is, it's another unique and interesting location for the ending showdown to happen, especially with Gumun getting in on the fun for a brief tag team, before the fight changes yet again, with the sun coming up (we know from the handy timestamps Ichijou got to the church right before morning), scaring away Gooma, and leaving Kuuga to make up for last week by finally finishing his first monster. With kind of a weak kick sort of move? And for some reason, his foot is smoking afterwards? It's probably nothing. If I could be the tiniest bit critical, the digital effect of Gumun exploding looks ~not great~, to say the least, but on the other hand, not doing practical explosions means the fights don't all have to end in a quarry, and they can put severed bits of the body flying through the air, so, you know, all I'm saying is this approach came with some benefits, too.

For sure it's abandoned building, according to wiki. But yeah unique locations and setting can also compensate for sometimes sloppy hand-to-hand combat too. Gumun didn't appear throughout the episode until now, convenience? And again Gurongis being distracted by a shot from gun, probably really their weakness! Kuuga finishing off Gumun gives me a Faiz debut-vibe where finisher wasn't used at all, but an ordinary attack. His foot is smoking because he puts an energy stamp in Gumun perhaps.