[Fish Sandwich]

EPISODE 21: "Secrets"



This episode opens with a killer view of the moon through a gap between some trees that quickly pans down to reveal a nearby patrol car. It's a very nice, exaggerated visual... aside from the awkward way the moon visibly jitters when the camera moves, since it's just a special effect. Oh well. All the same, it's an awesome, moody beginning that really sets the tone for these episodes. There will be a lot of creepy things happening at night, starting with Gooma attacking that aforementioned patrol car during one of his mysterious flights between Tokyo and Nagano, where the whole Grongi mess started. That's very much the theme for this one, as the title might clue you in. It's all about moving the series' overarching plot threads forward, centering on the police's ongoing investigation into the Unidentified Lifeforms, with particular attention being called to the fact that nobody is actually sure what the Grongi even want yet.

Being Kuuga, there are, of course, other things going on in the background. Yuusuke is off with Sakurako and Jean to go see the progress being made researching Gouram, which could've turned out to be real awkward if Enokida's mom didn't wake her up barely an hour before they arrived... in the middle of the afternoon. Yeah, Enokida's sleep schedule isn't in a great place right now, reflective of a bad habit of pulling all-nighters analyzing all manner of things relating to both Gouram and the Unidentified Lifeforms. Very important work, obviously, but that's probably not much consolation to her son Sayuru. This is more or less the main subplot for these episodes, and it's still crazy to me this is a thing the show made room for. The research chunk of the episode also ties into the investigative angle, naturally, in particular calling attention to how when Grongi blow up, the explosion is centered around their belts, unlike the beltless clone of Ginoga from episode 20, which simply melted when destroyed. Hm.

Speaking of the Grongi, there's a ton going on with them here. The primary monster this time is Me-Garume-Re (the chameleon one!), who's out taking advantage of his power of invisibility to murder hapless victims and, rather distressingly, is also announcing the location of his next killing to people at the scene of each crime. Apparently this makes "the game" more "fun" for him, which, uh, whatever he's talking about, can't be good news. As though this weren't enough by itself, we also get our first appearance from a new face who promises to be yet more trouble for our heroes. Well, I say "face", but we don't actually get a lot of that this episode. More credit where credit is due for Katsuya Watanabe, the direction in that introductory scene is pretty stylish. It's not the wild, alien feel Ishida likes to go for, which I prefer, but there's a real grimy crime thriller vibe to all these Grongi hanging out in a poorly lit room waiting to meet a mysterious new associate. Mysterious to us, anyway. The other Grongi go way, way back with this guy, but all we know for now is that he has a rather familiar haircut, and a sweet scarf.



Meanwhile, a bunch of cops have gathered to stop Garume's next murder, which becomes ironic when it turns out they're the victims. Garume is great in these episodes. There's something so fun to hate about his cocky attitude. Dude is standing up on high ledges with his hands on his hips to assert maximum dominance, taunting all these officers and even outright calling them stupid when they try shooting him. The invisibility thing is probably what does the trick. Like all Grongi, there's almost nothing a regular human can do to stop him anyway, but you can just tell how much enjoyment he gets out of the added ability to sow confusion and fear on top of that.

Now, in case all this Grongi action wasn't enough, the obligatory Kuuga fight for the episode actually sees Yuusuke going up against Gooma again, bringing us full circle with him at night, although Kuuga's a lot less helpless than those cops from the beginning. It's a super cool throwdown in another memorable location, with a swaying spotlight illuminating an otherwise faintly lit warehouse. Gooma puts up a solid fight considering Yuusuke had nearly 20 episodes to improve his skills, but ultimately, Kuuga has him on the ropes, and ready for a good Rider Kick. Now, in case all this Grongi action still wasn't enough for you, Gooma gets lucky when Kuuga is interrupted by the sudden arrival of that mysterious new guy, who comes crashing into the warehouse on a motorcycle, with his helmet covering his face, as though he were some sort of... kinda like a... like a masked rider, or something.



Man, this was one busy episode.

THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER

Nothing too fancy this time.



Total thumbs up count: 36+1 = 37

EPISODE 22: "Game"

The Grongi on the motorcycle distracts Kuuga long enough for Gooma to slip out, and leaves himself right after. Which is just as well for me. Why bother talking about exciting superhero action when I could be talking about Jean, instead?

Okay, well, to be fair, this is actually more about Enokida's plot. She's still throwing herself into her work as hard as ever, having completely forgotten a promise she made to Sayuru to spend time with him, being a little preoccupied. No, scratch that. A lot preoccupied, considering she ends up working straight through to the next morning, which, thanks to the ever-helpful timestamps, I can tell you for a fact means Enokida was working about 14 hours straight. Winding back to the night before, though, Jean is listening in on Enokida's phone call with her mother quite intently. Wait, no, I'm underselling it again. He's listening extremely intently.



Sakurako practically has to drag him out of the room since they're supposed to be leaving, and when they grab a bite to eat later, she questions what seems to have him so upset. Jean, man of mystery that he is, tries to dodge the question, however. I definitely feel for Sakurako on this one. After all, I'm still trying to figure out if he collects stamps or not. Alas, it's not that easy.

Another thing that's not easy is tracking down the Grongi, but the police have two solid ideas of where they might be hiding out, and Ichijou and Yuusuke split up to check them out. The location Yuusuke goes to is a total bust. Ichijou, on the other hand, hits the motherlode, failing to get much in the way of useful intel, beyond further confirmation that the Grongi have learned to speak Japanese, before the woman with the rose tattoo knocks him out cold. Yuusuke finds him, and when he wakes up the next morning, their conversation quickly turns to the more pressing matter of Garume's next announced killing, which is coming up in a few hours. (Yet another occasion the timestamps add to the ticking clock element, by the way.)

An element of the plot that's interesting to note here (and forgive me in advance for all the numbers I'm about to throw your way) is that Garume was one of the Grongi introduced way back in episode 3, and this episode makes reference to a previous encounter with him that happened offscreen, in the gap between episodes 6 and 7. This is apparent due to Yuusuke referencing the events happening between the cases of Unidentified Lifeforms #10 and #11, who we never actually saw. Badzuu was #6, and the episode after he was defeated, things picked up with Badjisu, who was #14. Episode 7 even opened with a conversation between Sugita and Ichijou making specific reference to the Unidentified Lifeform cases that happened in that gap. And there have been other gaps in the count since. While I'm sure the time skips were simply to keep the show more or less in "real time" the way Rider shows generally are, I'm totally unaware if there was a motive for creating these offscreen Kuuga adventures beyond it being logical the Grongi would be active more than twice a month. It seems like the kind of stuff that would be chronicled in some comic spin-off or something, but to my (limited) knowledge, these extra Grongi have never gotten more than names.

Putting the trivia aside, what's important to take away is that, while an invisible enemy might have been tricky to deal with for a Kuuga that only had Mighty and Dragon Forms to work with, Yuusuke now has Pegasus Form's enhanced senses to give him the edge against Garume's visual trickery. The good news there being Pegasus Form is finally getting a second appearance. The bad news is that Yuusuke isn't too sure how easy it'll be to line up a shot with all the buildings and whatnot getting in the way in an urban environment. Yuusuke does have one idea to deal with that though: asking Gouram for a lift. Bit of an oddball plan, but hey, Sakurako does manage to find some ancient text that might point to what Yuusuke wants.

In the meantime, there's a quick scene at Pole Pole I definitely need to talk about, which involves a forlorn Nana coming in to reveal one of Garume's recent victims was actually her acting teacher. It's a pretty emotional scene, and the idea of a Grongi murder hitting so close to home like this is very much the kind of thing Kuuga would think to do. That idea that you never think it could happen to you, until it does, and all that. More of the realism the show loves so much. Which is why it's very, very strange this plot beat is such a minor, offhand piece of the episode. Nana only had one scene in each of these episodes, and her first didn't do anything to set this up, nor do we actually see the murder in question take place. It comes off like there were entire scenes cut out of the episode, and I'm just not sure how I feel about that. Heck, Nana's entire interest in acting has been offscreen so far, which also doesn't help. These episodes don't have a proper emotional core the way most Kuuga two-parters do, and I don't think they really needed one. This story is very specifically about elaborating on the literal world of the show, answering long-standing questions and introducing new ones, which makes this scene an oddity. It doesn't drag the episode down, but it's just a tiny bit too disconnected to elevate it, the way it was probably supposed to.

Still, there are some big answers here, and they don't get much bigger than when Garume finally explains to the police why the Grongi are killing people. As it turns out, it really is just a game. Something that keeps the Grongi amused. It might be more than that, too, but that's their core goal. There's no scheme for world domination or anything like that going on. These guys are in it for the thrill of the hunt at best, and just because they like the sound of your screams at worst. Garume maybe falls somewhere in the middle. I get the impression he picked up Japanese so thoroughly more to mock his prey than to blend in with society, but, no matter what, he's owed a thorough beatdown from Kuuga at this point. The police are able to keep him visible long enough for Mighty Form to get some hits in, but the second Garume can, he runs for the hills, but that's no problem for Kuuga, who puts that plan from earlier into action, sniping Garume from the skies with Gouram's help.



And that's pretty much it for this two-parter. It ends not too different to how it began, with Ichijou hoping the mystery of what Gooma is up to gets solved soon, since, you know, that thread is still just as loose as when the story started. These episodes move loads of different pieces around on the board without much in the way of a singular goal, but, aside from my misgivings with Nana's role, I'm hesitant to call it an issue. It all feels too deliberate in what it's doing. This two-parter, from the outset, wasn't trying to be a self-contained story. It's two straight episodes of twists and turns as the show readies to move into the back half, getting invested viewers even more invested than before. In that larger context, I think it really succeeds, despite lacking the cohesion of some other episodes.

THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER

Nothing fancy here either.



Total thumbs up count: 37+1 = 38