[Fish Sandwich]

Hey, it's yet another cameo from Nobuhiro Suzumura('s hand), which means I'm here today to talk about more juicy behind-the-scenes tidbits from his Twitter account.

- The somewhat grotesque cameo in question this time is from episode 20, for starters. Kinda fun to think that Suzumura got to play (the mutant clone of) a Grongi, even if only for one shot. Also of note about episode 20 is that its original title in the script was "Comrades" (or however you want to translate 同志), rather than "Smile". They both work, but I definitely prefer the final choice. It just would've been a huge shame if the word smile didn't get used as an episode title somewhere, you know?

- Episode 17 may be but a humble recap episode, produced to give the show's production much needed time to breathe, but it also marks Suzumura's directorial debut. That being said, it IS just a recap episode, so the two bits of trivia I found most exciting are simply that Suzumura made Kuuga's suit actor Kenji Tominaga do that Mighty Kick 12 times (worth it!); and that Takatera apparently specifically requested the TryChaser get a new control panel for reasons that go unelaborated upon. Maybe the original one just wasn't modern enough for him?

- Suzumura also shared some pages of the script for 17, which is the kind of thing I probably find more fascinating than most people. But like, come on! You can even see that Grongi dialogue is written with the Japanese translation right next to it so the actors know what they're talking about! That's pretty cool, right!?

- He also had quite a bit of trivia regarding episodes 25 and 26, and just as I would hope, some of it was basically about how insane Hidenori Ishida is. When directing these ones, he was dead-set on keeping the camera moving as much as possible, which certainty helped sell the story's emotional tone better... and also made a ton of extra work for the crew as they were suddenly making much heavier use of camera dollies and jibs than usual!

- Suzumura was responsible for preparing the car that Buuro comes crashing down onto in 26, a process that involved smashing it from the top with an iron ball, as well as burning it with fire, because of course. What makes me really love this one is how Suzumura notes that it was his first experience lighting a car on fire without a camera rolling, which gave him pause to realize all over again what a crazy show Kuuga is. I've joked before that Ishida's favorite part of directing is telling people to go start fires, but what I hadn't considered was what must go through the minds of the people who get asked to light the matches.

- Of course, trivia like that is just how you everyone really cared about making a quality product, and especially thanks to Arakawa's poignant script, episodes 25/26 are some of the show's very best. Which is why I wasn't actually that surprised to find Suzumura saying that he looked over to see Joe Odagiri crying during the last scene while watching a rough cut of 26 that didn't even have music yet. It's powerful drama, man! Which is why you shouldn't be surprised that the last thing I'd like to call attention to is simply a very wholesome exchange where a fan got to personally thank one of Kuuga's staff 20 years down the line for making a story that left a huge impact on them watching it in middle school all that time ago. Kuuga is a really good show.