[Fish Sandwich]

EPISODE 34: "Tremble"

Cold opens don't come much colder than this. A high school student lies in a hospital bed, reduced to hysteria at the thought of what someone told him four days ago. He's going to die today, and he knows it, because the same thing has already happened to many of his classmates. He's surrounded by his family, who try to assure him everything will be okay, but there's nothing they, or anyone else can do, and sure enough, his life is cut short right there in that bed, to the horror of his family, as well as Ichijou, who was in the adjacent hallway, unaware as the person responsible for all of this passes by him without notice. These are going to be some pretty heavy episodes.



They aren't entirely without their moments of levity, though. This is chiefly provided by Yuusuke. There's an amusing bit right after the opening (which, along with the ED, switches to its second verse starting here) with him and Nana cleaning the Beat Chaser outside of Pole Pole, but he quickly heads over to Minori's preschool, where even his side of the plot isn't all fun and games. He was only heading over there to amuse the children with another one of his many skills, but when two little kids are having a spat, dealing with it takes priority. They had a bit of a fight over some building blocks that ended with one of them kicking over the whole project and walking off, which obviously isn't ideal behavior. Yuusuke tries to stress the importance of properly communicating your feelings, and working things out that way, instead of letting your anger get the better of you. This is always one of my favorite sides of Yuusuke to see. He's way more about explaining "why" than simply telling people "what", and the show underscores how much people's little struggles mean to Yuusuke by having him consciously ignore Ichijou calling on the Beat Chaser's radio for a second to try and make sure things at the preschool will be okay before leaving.

Back on Ichijou's end, it's a much more grim situation. They aren't even positive an Unidentified Lifeform is responsible just yet, but dozens upon dozens of high school students have died the same way as the one in the opening over a period of only a few days. Obviously something they'd like to put a stop to, but finding out how this is even happening proves tricky in its own right. Tsubaki has figured out from his autopsies there are huge barbs in the students' brains that caused the deaths, that he theorizes start out as something smaller and more benign, which is why it takes four days for the students to succumb to the effects. It's also probably why they apparently can't do anything to detect where they are beforehand, and why they can't remove them before it's too late. The sheer hopelessness of the Grongi plot here is something special. It feels so much more personal than usual. An entire grade of male high school students is being killed, and by the time the episode starts, most of them are already gone. It'd get anyone trembling with fear, and that lends the story a great sense of urgency, especially when you see one of the funerals, too.

Sakurako is helping out on that front by heading over to Nagano to take a look at something relating to a massacre that recently happened there. While it's not made clear in this episode exactly what that is, it obviously has to do something with the Grongi, and this is as good a chance as any to mention Ishida's usual great direction on these episodes. It's keenly felt in parts like the cold open as well, but as always, the Grongi scenes are crazy atmospheric. There's a bit of the woman with the rose tattoo walking through a forest where everything is so excessively green, it looks like the air is full of poison gas or something. The later scene with the other Grongi discussing her absence is a combination of a bunch of his other favorite tricks, with fences and grates obscuring the characters, who are also barely illuminated outside of brief flashes of light, all done in that cold blue palette.




Ichijou and Yuusuke head off to protect Kazuya, the sole suspected target of the recent killings who hasn't had any contact with the mysterious perpetrator yet, currently held up in a house in the middle of nowhere with his parents, hoping to avoid his notice. It's obviously not that simple, though, and he gets to the family before the heroes can. It's a very tense sequence straight out of a horror movie, and yet, what's most horrifying of all is this monster's response when asked why he's doing all this. His name is Go-Jaraji-Da, his motif is a porcupine, and his goal is to make people suffer as much as possible, because it's fun.

Kuuga manages to get there before he can do the family any (physical) harm, which leads to some great bike action, including a bit where he changes to Dragon Form and breaks off a random branch from a tree to use as his weapon. It's barely over a minute of action before the episode is over, but it's a cool way to close out the first part.

THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER

Yuusuke is having a pretty good time right now. Let's hope it lasts.





Total thumbs up count: 58+3 = 61

EPISODE 35: "Emotion"

Kuuga's fight against Jaraji takes a turn for the worse when it turns out he can teleport all around the place, which he uses in combination with his more straightforward ability to shoot needles everywhere to turn Kuuga into a pincushion, because being Yuusuke is suffering. Jaraji leaves before finishing the job though, seemingly a lot less interested in taking down Kuuga than Grongi usually are. Presumably it's no "fun" hunting something that isn't afraid of him.



Sakurako has arrived in Nagano, where it turns out the victims of that massacre were actually Grongi themselves, with it being suspected the one who did the deed was Unidentified Lifeform #0. Immediately after this suggestion is put forth, the show cuts to the woman with the rose tattoo, further hinting she might just be the one responsible. After all, she was in Nagano while all this was going down. Could be something to consider, I don't know. At any rate, what Sakurako is actually there for, which she finds out after taking a trek through the rancid smelling remains of the slaughter (more wonderful atmosphere), is to take a look at a symbol on a wall, drawn in blood, that resembles the ancient symbol for "warrior" that represents Kuuga.

Kazuya is now being held at a police station in the hopes of protecting him from coming to any harm. There's a lot of weight to how terrified he is by the terrible situation he's suddenly found himself in. How he can't do anything other than cry and ask "why us?" This has quite the effect on Yuusuke, who seems a little less patient than usual seeing the kind of terror Jaraji is inflicting on people. Yuusuke's always been very sensitive of other people's feelings, and because of that, I think he really understands on a deep level that the damage being caused here goes far beyond just the deaths themselves. Nobody is just another statistic to Yuusuke, and that's why it makes sense that all he can say hearing that question from Kazuya is that there isn't any reason they have to die, and that he won't let that happen to Kazuya. It's a very striking moment, because I don't think Yuusuke really makes explicit promises to protect people like this. It's usually implied enough that he doesn't feel the need to outright say it, and that's how you know this particular case is starting to mean a lot to him. And it probably means even more when Kazuya mentions how Jaraji told them he was making them suffer for his own amusement.

The lone element of comic relief left in this otherwise deadly serious episode is a scene at Pole Pole with Jean and Pops bonding over their mutual favorite actresses. As much as I love Jean, there's probably an argument to be made this scene doesn't contribute anything to the story, but I'd argue it's at least placed well enough not to detract from it. Having a minute in there to cool down might have been good for the kids watching the show, too, but I can't do anything other than guess, there. It's just that this is a very intense episode all the way through, and it only becomes more so after that midpoint.

The big turning point is when Yuusuke happens to catch a news broadcast announcing the deaths of the last of Jaraji's victims besides Kazuya himself, who has only become a target to begin with after one of the students' decision to commit suicide left him a person short for his "game". But even if that death doesn't count to the Grongi, it sure does to Yuusuke, and as he sees the names and faces on the screen, all he can think about is how Jaraji is doing all this for fun, and all he can feel at that thought is anger. To the point he feels the need to admit as much to Ichijou. How upset he is he couldn't stop this sooner. It's all pretty worrying behavior from a character who almost always manages to keep a lid on himself no matter how dark things get.

Following this, Jaraji makes his way to the station, and effortlessly sneaks right up to Kazuya in his room, only stopped by Yuusuke, who, turning into Kuuga and tackling him out of a window, begins to absolutely maul the monster. It is disconcertingly vicious, which Kuuga doing almost nothing but punching Jaraji in the mouth, over and over again, his blood spraying onto both of them, to the point Jaraji tries to run away, evidently either having lost the ability to teleport from the beating, or simply being unable to think straight due to sheer terror. The tables have been completely turned, and Kuuga is so intent on pummeling Jaraji right then and there, for a second it seems almost like he'll forget he can't kill monsters with people around anymore. Fortunately, he's still got the presence of mind to load him onto the Beat Gouram and drive him off to somewhere more remote. He changes to Rising Titan Form, and as images of the lives lost in the past few days swirl in his head, Kuuga finishes off Jaraji in a fit of pure rage. The monster is dead, Kazuya is safe, and the deaths of the other students have been avenged. All of which begs one question -- how does Yuusuke feel?



And of course, he feels awful. Jaraji's death hasn't brought him the slightest bit of peace, and it isn't just because of the 90 dead teenagers that won't ever come back. That's a huge part of it, but what I think is truly eating Yuusuke right in that moment, after the fight, is how upset he let that get him. At the end, he wasn't fighting just to protect someone's smile, or because it was something that needed to be done. He was fighting because he wanted to. Each of those blows to Jaraji, it was no longer simply a means to an end; Yuusuke genuinely desired to make him feel the kind of suffering he was dishing out, and that terrifies him. He doesn't want to believe he has that kind of darkness in him, but right there, in the fires of that explosion, he sees it for the first time. A vision of a Kuuga that's nothing more than a living weapon, with no purpose beyond fighting.

This is one of the most definitive episodes of the series. It pushes the show's central themes farther than they've ever gone to this point, resulting in a narrative that's wildly unlike standard hero tokusatsu fare. There's a central theme here that's a really bold choice for this kind of show in having Jaraji's defeat be so empty. Because it's like, what's the big deal, right? That guy was a scumbag among scumbags; Yuusuke should be cheering at the end... shouldn't he? But what Kuuga is trying to emphasize with these ones is the fundamental futility of violence. That's how the subplot with the kids at the preschool, who ultimately learn to understand each other after Minori talks about how important it is to have the courage to speak openly to one another, factors in. Why Yuusuke is so sure they'll work it out in the end, because, after all, they're both human. At the end of the episode, those kids are smiling, but Yuusuke isn't. It's a pretty three-dimensional moral, because the show also never falls into the trap of trying to say what Kuuga does is "bad". There's no mistaking that defeating the Grongi through force is necessary. But even still, it just isn't something to be proud of, and that's what I think these ones capture so well, especially by making the choice to have all the Grongi victims be so young. How hollow that whole cycle is. People are constantly being killed by these monsters, and the best Yuusuke can do is kill them back. When you get down to it, that can barely be called winning, and it's certainly no ideal solution.

So between the thoroughly explored themes, the tense plotting, the strong direction, the insanely memorable climax, and the relevance to the series as a whole, it's safe to say this two-parter is another highlight of the entirety of Kuuga. One of the best of the best.



THUMBS UP COUNTING CORNER

Obviously Yuusuke has a little too much on his plate this time, but thankfully Minori is there to pick up the slack.



Total thumbs up count: 61+1 = 62