[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

If you'll notice, the introductions of the Rising forms have gone in reverse order, gradually working their way back to Kuuga's main form, and I think that's super smart. It's like a countdown. Rising Mighty is a big deal. It has to be, and the show knows it.

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).

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

There's also confirmation here that Jean is aware that Yuusuke is Kuuga, having been told by Enokida offscreen at some point, continuing a trend of #4's identity being the very definition of an open secret.

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.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The latest Grongi to get in on the game seems to be more into the concept then usual, as his shtick in human form is dressing like some kind of gambling gangster, choosing the locations for his murders by playing roulette.

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... ??

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Before we get there, though, Yuusuke discusses the status of the Amadam inside him with Tsubaki and Ichijou.

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.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Ichijou finds Yuusuke unconscious, and has him taken to Tsubaki. Meanwhile, Chouno is desperately running to make it before his deadline, but any hope he has of getting there in time is pretty thoroughly dashed when Gamego knocks him out just as cold as Yuusuke.

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?

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

This is another episode that really focuses on the impact Yuusuke has had on the people around him, with Tsubaki getting to do a lot of the heavy lifting on that front.

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...

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Just about the only scenes that don't contribute directly to the main plot here are the two with Jean and Mika, which I can't think of a good way to work in anywhere else, so they get their own paragraph.

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

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Chouno's been brought into the hospital himself, waking up to realize, to his horror, that he missed his window. Instead of having him go straight to throwing a fit, he immediately tries to get on the phone with the company running the contest to see if he can still sort this out, but he gets hung up on before he can even try the old "a horrifying monster was blocking traffic" excuse. It's another great moment to build some more sympathy for Chouno, showing him still trying even once things have already gone wrong, but he still has his limits, and this breaks him a little. Yuusuke has already run off to go deal with Gamego, meaning this time it's entirely up to Tsubaki to try keeping him looking forward. He starts out friendlier than last time, sincerely happy to see Chouno making progress, having found out he's been getting his illness treated in the time since they last saw each other. It starts getting a little ugly when Chouno accuses Yuusuke of just smiling his way through life without any trouble, compared to how much he's been struggling. Again, Tsubaki's one of the few people who truly gets what Yuusuke is going through, so that remark gets under his skin a bit. Chouno insists that anyone would be as happy as Yuusuke if things always went as right for them as they do for him. Which, of course, shows how little Chouno is aware of what he's even talking about. Yuusuke's been battered, bruised, beaten, bitten, blown up, shot, thrown off of skyscrapers, poisoned, dead... you name an injury, and chances are he's had it at some point or another. Being #4 has been far from fun and games for Yuusuke. But his suffering goes beyond even that, and Chouno's about to learn why. His conversation with Tsubaki reaches its most tense point when he says he would've been better off letting Biran kill him back in episode 14, which makes Tsubaki lose what patience he has left, snapping at Chouno for his defeatist attitude. This causes Chouno to punch Tsubaki in the face. After this, Tsubaki has just one question. How did it feel?

And of course, it felt bad. Chouno doesn't feel any happier having hit Tsubaki. He doesn't feel relief, or satisfaction. He lost control, and he lashed out, and the look on his face makes his regret clear. All of that is just from one punch. Yuusuke, though, this is what he deals with almost every day. It doesn't always show on the surface, but it's there, no matter how justified using violence to stop the Grongi is. He hates it, and Tsubaki knows this. He knows that Yuusuke really is scared of what he might become because of the Amadam, and he knows the reason he doesn't complain about it, even the tiniest bit, is because he puts other people's smiles first, no matter what. How much of an impact hearing all this has on Chouno is left up in the air for now, as Tsubaki leaves him with one other piece of information about Yuusuke to chew on. He really liked Chouno's drawing.

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 . 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.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

In his fight with Gamego, Kuuga is doing better than last time, especially thanks to help from Ichijou, who uses that new ammunation to disarm the Grongi. He succumbs to the recoil just like Enokida warned him about, but this action provides Kuuga the opportunity to load Gamego onto the TryGouram's horns, and take him off to a slightly more remote location. You see, this time, Yuusuke is planning to use the gold version of his red form, and he's got a very bad feeling about what all that extra power might do. As such, he's had Ichijou evacuate the nearby area in case it might result in people getting hurt. Very, very good thinking on Yuusuke's part, because Rising Mighty's Rider Kick turns out to have exactly the kind of effect he was afraid of.

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.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

But that dream came true, and now, that post is so obsolete, I never even posted it. And that's awesome. While I've yet to watch a full episode, I've went and checked dozens and dozens of bad lines from MCS' translation to find, nearly every single time, they're fixed up perfectly. And as an even more pleasant surprise, the dialogue just plain reads great. Very natural and smooth without losing the meaning. Plus, the theme songs are translated to that same standard, so it's even better. There's basically no downside to this situation. Just like Shout's Sentai stuff, it's streaming for free on several different services, too, so it's just as cheap as piracy! The only thing to even consider being bummed about is that the Grongi language is rendered in English, but, as much I'm *firmly* on the side that believes it shouldn't be by default, there are legitimate arguments to be made in favor of handling it that way, and, I'm telling you, it's a total non-issue in the face of how good a job was done. Just think about the implications of complaining about it for a second. The biggest problem with the official Kuuga release is that they did too much work. Well, that, and being in a region where you still can't watch it officially, admittedly. Still! There has never, ever been a better time to watch Kuuga, whether you're new to the show or not, and if you doubt the people making this stuff happen have a real passion for what they're doing, just take a look at what clip TokuSHOUTsu's YouTube page chose to sell people on the show. You don't pick this one by accident!

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

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Originally Posted by Kurona

Often I don't like trying to do responses to every little bit of a post, because it really ends up resulting in me trying to find things to say when I either just don't or it was already said for me. Fun fact: that's been my experience in a LOT of this thread; a scene you're describing in a post reminds me of thoughts and emotions I had in response to it... and then you lay out those thoughts and emotions for me! It's kind of wild seeing other people have such similar experiences to me; there's something kind of nice about it?

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.

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Originally Posted by Kurona

I've said far too many times how I'm not a fan of Inoue's writing, and especially on this show I think he wrote some of the weaker ones. And my feelings on his writing in general aside, I think there's a big reason for that -- his writing is very wild. 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. That doesn't stop drama and emotional moments from coming through - in fact, at his best, Inoue really knows how to make those work for each other - but it's really not a good fit for a series as minimalist and grounded as Kuuga. And he certainly seems to understand this, because he tries to reel in his normal tropes and style and nail what Kuuga's all about. But while there's times he comes close - there was a pretty damn good one last time - it's often just not the best outings Kuuga has.

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.

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Originally Posted by Kurona

Might seem a bit of a random thing to bring up in a Kuuga thread, but I bring it up because if romance was what they were going for between Enokida and Jean? If the two ended up as a couple? I really, really wouldn't mind!

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

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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

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.

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.