[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan

I banish thee to hell. it's not awful, it's just comparatively plain, but I like it. I like the Pegasus forms too, but the problem with those is he's limited to using them for such a short period, he chou henshins into one and has to end the fight in seconds or else he loses - which is great from a storytelling perspective, but not great from a perspective of wanting to see the form more.

Red is enhanced strength. It's the most balanced form, and yes, since he's fighting beings of enhanced strength it's not obvious. If I recall, it becomes more apparent that he's significantly stronger with Rising Mighty.

I haven't watched Kuuga for a couple weeks now, I just got to the first Rising upgrade, Rising Titan, which is a superior deco to Titan, also I rather like the Gourongi enemy and the rules for the game she's following. But mostly I liked the way the upgrade in power was teased for a few episodes, present, but a slow build until BAM! Super stronger now.

Not only is it really boring looking, with a shit finisher, it provides him with what good jumping? I guess that form is really useful in a...basketball game?

Kinda weird that he got the Pegasus form so early, considering he hasn't really had a reason to use it since the Bee dude.

I can't wait to see these Rising forms!

I love the villains in this show, just because the show does such an excellent job of portraying them as a real threat. Whether it be that epic scene with Ichijou in the church, as the UL stalked him on the ceiling above or when the UL lost her eye and went around stealing them back, whether it be all the cars chucked, the people killed or just the general chaos and carnage the villains are just fantastic.

Even villains of the week rack up quite the body count, and the show makes sure you keep track, actions have consequence in Kuuga and it makes a wonderful change from the general incompetence of the majority of Toku villains, bar maybe a general or two.

[ryan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Not only is it really boring looking, with a shit finisher, it provides him with what good jumping? I guess that form is really useful in a...basketball game?

It's also supposed to be faster, but it's not really portrayed well.

Quote:

I love the villains in this show, just because the show does such an excellent job of portraying them as a real threat. Whether it be that epic scene with Ichijou in the church, as the UL stalked him on the ceiling above or when the UL lost her eye and went around stealing them back, whether it be all the cars chucked, the people killed or just the general chaos and carnage the villains are just fantastic.

Even villains of the week rack up quite the body count, and the show makes sure you keep track, actions have consequence in Kuuga and it makes a wonderful change from the general incompetence of the majority of Toku villains, bar maybe a general or two.

Agreed.

There's even one episode where Godai asks Ichijo what the bodycount was from a previous UL, one that we didn't see, and it was something crazy, I'm thinking like 2700, but maybe only 1700?
Anyway, I both like that they indicate there are other incidents, life goes on, between episodes, and I dislike that life goes on between episodes and we don't get to see them all.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan

It's also supposed to be faster, but it's not really portrayed well.



Agreed.

There's even one episode where Godai asks Ichijo what the bodycount was from a previous UL, one that we didn't see, and it was something crazy, I'm thinking like 2700, but maybe only 1700?
Anyway, I both like that they indicate there are other incidents, life goes on, between episodes, and I dislike that life goes on between episodes and we don't get to see them all.

Yeah the budget for this show is non-existent. I know Japan doesn't have a lot of money to make these, so they usually wow me with just how far they manage to make the money stretch with a little imagination but most of Kuuga's action sequences have been pretty awful, it looks like they use up the majority of the budget each episode on showing the carnage before Kuuga cleans up and I guess that isn't such a bad thing.

But yeah Kuuga does a pretty decent job of making the whole situation feel real and big as we slowly learn about the UL and their weaknesses and come to accept that in this world hundreds of people get killed daily by monsters.

It's kinda like a toku series which points out just what a nightmare hell world living in a toku setting would be, something that your usual toku tries to not point out.

[ryan]

One of the things I'm liking about Faiz is that the monsters are killing people, and it can be kind of grim, like the girl Orphenoch, where they take the time to setup how horrible people are to her as a human, so that when she rises as an Orphenoch you empathize with her transition and dislike of humanity, and it's not until later you realize she murdered an entire high school basketball team during their practice, including her sister. Ouch.

I love the later series, Den-O, Kiva, Fourze, W, but they don't have the same danger to them like Kuuga, or Faiz. I think Kabuto is the latest series I've seen any of that still has civilian deaths. Oh, I guess Kiva did, but like maybe one an episode, at most.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan

One of the things I'm liking about Faiz is that the monsters are killing people, and it can be kind of grim, like the girl Orphenoch, where they take the time to setup how horrible people are to her as a human, so that when she rises as an Orphenoch you empathize with her transition and dislike of humanity, and it's not until later you realize she murdered an entire high school basketball team during their practice, including her sister. Ouch.

I love the later series, Den-O, Kiva, Fourze, W, but they don't have the same danger to them like Kuuga, or Faiz. I think Kabuto is the latest series I've seen any of that still has civilian deaths. Oh, I guess Kiva did, but like maybe one an episode, at most.

I honestly think that is a big reason Kuuga keeps me around, even with all its awful special effects, that sense of threat. I'm not really a big fan of the whole 'gritty' scene but if the UL's intentions are to simply kill, then they've achieved more in these 15 episodes I have seen than all the the toku villains from any series I've ever watched combined.

It's so hard to go from Kuuga, where you damn well know the villains are a threat and they've damn well proven it, to so many other toku series where the villains just kinda stand around, sending out minions one at a time for the heroes to defeat after the villains cause some light property damage.

Eh episode 15 was another meh episode. I loved how we learnt more about Ichijou, he is the best character in this show and I wish he was the Rider but what was the point of that bike upgrade?

Isn't Kuuga's bike meant to be the shit anyway? Hell, it even has a button that changes the paint job to suit Kuuga...for reasons never explained.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

I like Red Kuuga's design but it doesn't seem to have any powers at all? I think it's supposed to enhance his abilities but between the low budget and the fact he is fighting power houses anyway the form seems kinda useless and is really a waste of the best costume in the series so far. And the blue form is just awful through and through.

Mighty Form is designed to be a balanced enhancement of all of Kuuga's abilities. The other forms just take a couple of abilities and hyper-enhance them - Dragon is fast and agile but weak; Titan is strong and tough but slow. Mighty balances everything and is easily the most multi-purpose form. It's upgrades are also the strongest, as Rising Mighty is a beast and Amazing Mighty is even stronger.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan

I love the later series, Den-O, Kiva, Fourze, W, but they don't have the same danger to them like Kuuga, or Faiz. I think Kabuto is the latest series I've seen any of that still has civilian deaths. Oh, I guess Kiva did, but like maybe one an episode, at most.

I agree completely. I really miss this aspect of the older shows.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Mighty Form is designed to be a balanced enhancement of all of Kuuga's abilities. The other forms just take a couple of abilities and hyper-enhance them - Dragon is fast and agile but weak; Titan is strong and tough but slow. Mighty balances everything and is easily the most multi-purpose form. It's upgrades are also the strongest, as Rising Mighty is a beast and Amazing Mighty is even stronger.

I guess with a bigger budget this would be more apparent, seriously excited for these new forms. I just hope the show finds its feet again soon, after a solid opening ten or so episodes for the most part, the quality has really started to dip.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

I guess with a bigger budget this would be more apparent, seriously excited for these new forms. I just hope the show finds its feet again soon, after a solid opening ten or so episodes for the most part, the quality has really started to dip.

Keep in mind the show is 13 years old. They didn't do a lot of CGI back then and, as you may have noticed, when they do it's not very good by modern standards.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Keep in mind the show is 13 years old. They didn't do a lot of CGI back then and, as you may have noticed, when they do it's not very good by modern standards.

Oh yeah I can accept it for the times but so far the UL's and Ichijou have had better action sequences than the main rider.

[ryan]

Speaking of Kuuga, I watched episodes 25 and 26. The Gourongi/Kuuga stuff filled maybe 10 minutes of the two episodes, and the rest of it was a super stretched out store about a kid having to deal with the fact that thins change as we get older. It could have been only about 10 minutes of stuff, but it was extraordinarily stretched out to fill two episodes.

It was rough.

But Rising Pegasus was pretty cool.