[Fish Sandwich]

Some more random thoughts on some random shows:

- Kuuga is another series with awesome episode titles. Every one is a single word made up of two kanji. I like short and sweet titles so this is just one of many things that makes Kuuga a favorite of mine. Extra props for having the last two episodes be "Kuuga" and "Yuusuke", in that order.

- The way Agito (almost) always looks at least 90 degrees away from exploding monsters while also posing. Sometimes he even dramatically turns 90 more to face the camera.
- Gills' opening mouth. It didn't get too much use since it was just some clunky prop but it was a neat way to rub in that he wasn't supposed to just be a guy in a suit. I kinda wish Amazons had borrowed this idea.

- I gave Shinji credit for his evolving fighting style and I can't believe it skipped my mind when I wrote that first post that Blade does the same thing but even more noticeably. Kenzaki distinctly gets his crap kicked most of the time in the early episodes, relying on Garren and Chalice to do a lot of the work, and while he gradually gets a bit better as he acquires more cards (he can't even do a Rider Kick at first), it isn't until he gets Jack Form, coinciding with a personal revelation about why he fights, that he becomes genuinely competent. From this point he goes on to become THE best fighter of anyone in the show, even before he gets King Form, and the show draws your attention to that by having the lead up to him getting said form involve (I think this is a pretty minor spoiler but I'm sure someone cares) him defeating the Caucasus Undead in his base form after all his cards are taken. It's the point where the show really starts to make Kenzaki cool, if you hadn't already come around to him by then.

--

As sort of a companion piece to that thread I made about Gaim, here are even more nice things I have to say about it, mostly minor stuff I didn't want to further clutter my rantings there with.

- The sponsors bit at the end of every episode is made strangely epic by having the main four Riders pose dramatically while sweet music plays.
- The zipper effect that literally opens and closes every episode is quite cool.
- Kouta is another protagonist who becomes noticeably better at fighting as the show progresses.
- I also find it neat how he keeps the Orange Lockseed clipped to his belt when not transformed. He still pulls his Driver out of thin air, but whatever.
- Lastly, the soundtrack is really nice. I think this is true of pretty much every Kamen Rider, but the background tracks set the mood nicely and the songs all have nicely relevant lyrics. Special mention to Ranbu Escalation, which highlights both the similarities and the differences between Kouta and Kaito as characters.