Kamen Rider Kuuga Ep 10 Recap – Mikado the Wonder Dog

Lie back, light a pipe, and relax for an evening full of Kamen Rider Kuuga, why don’t you?

We join Kuuga still at where we left him off last week, just absolutely beating the ever loving hell out of the Squid Grongi. Which, quite unfortunately for Kuuga, seems to have only tickled his opponent as he is quite literally just laughing the whole time. After the Grongi gets tired of shrugging off Kuuga’s blows the Squid decides to go on the offensive, shaking off Kuuga and tossing him around a bit. Basically the Squid takes his time just beating him up before he decides to get serious and goes back to the explosive ink spitting.

So… yeah. Things aren’t exactly looking up for our hero.

The Squid is about to deliver the finishing blow when suddenly his stomach pops open vents that start expelling steam everywhere… which… well I didn’t see that coming at least! The Squid says something and dives off into the water which just leaves our hero puzzled, but hey that beats being dead right?

After the opening credits we get to the real star of our show, Mikado the Grongi sniffing dog! Seriously, even Ichijo is all about Mikado!

Mikado is such a good boy, yes he is! He’s lead the police right to the Grongi’s hideout, and we might be able to finish up this show right now. I bet there’s probably not like, forty more episodes to go. Of course, if their are they’ll be changing the name to Kamen Rider Mikado.

Ichijo is waiting out front with one of the other detectives on his squad, Sakurai, and just as they are getting ready for the siege we hop back to Godai recovering from being both punched and blown up. Probably the latter was a bit rougher than the former. Godai hears about the assault over his police radio and immediately sets off to assist which, well it is pretty impressive that he’s game for another fight after that trouncing!

Sugita shows up with the experimental weapons and questions whether or not the Grongi are even in the warehouse, and everyone gives him dirty looks for not trusting Mikado and he totally apologizes for it. How dare he doubt Mikado just because he’s totally untested in real operations?

We see the Grongi in the warehouse chatting a bit and looking angry, and it seems like they’ve figured out that the humans are outside because we hear them mention the ‘Linto.’ Also the Bat sniffs all over the Rhino’s body so either they figured out Mikado tracked their scent or… uh… let’s… let’s just hope that’s the case.

The Grongi start infighting among themselves, the Rhino grabbing that chalkboard and yelling at it while the other Grongi try to rip it away from him while the Bat looks on and just continues to be creepy.

The police slip up outside in some Hazmat outfits, and considering the smoke grenades were just made from smoke that was coming out of a factory I am seriously wondering if that factory should still be allowed to be in operation.

They toss the grenades in and the smoke starts pouring out, taking the Grongi by surprise. While they start to shield their mouths from the threat of the smoke we cut to the ever more exciting scene of Minori and Sakurako having a phone call where they’re chatting about Godai. Because that is what the producers of this show know we want to see, hot girl on girl talking to each other about problems over the phone action!

Minori seems worried about Godai still from last week but Sakurako is totally cool with him being Kuuga now, but that’s all pretty boring so even the show gives up and cuts off mid conversation so we can get back to the siege on the Grongi warehouse.

The cops burst in, guns at the ready and fan out, only to find the place abandoned. Still, they find the squiggly line chalkboard left behind, along with all the creepy barbed wire tied up dolls with knives stuck in them and what not.

This all really does tie well into the serial killer theme of these monsters, and I can admit that coming across this kind of thing is a mite bit unsettling.

They manage to find an escape tunnel that the Grongi have fled through, but before they can even formulate a plan guess what happens. Huh? C’mon guess!

If you guessed that Mikado is already on the case than duh, obviously you’re correct!

The police chase off after Mikado, while our heroic canine corners the Rhino Grongi. Mikado barks up a storm as the police zero in on them, while the Rhino Grongi does his usual angry glowering face thing. But just before the police can arrive…

Well…

The Rhino descends on Mikado, and after turning the corner the handler just finds Mikado’s leash in a pile of bloody leaves.

Poor Mikado… you were truly too pure for this world. May a flock of angels sing thee to thy slumber.

Godai arrives too late to save Mikado, as he, Sakurai, Sugita, and Ichijo all just look down forlornly at our loss. I… I’m not sure if I can go on.

Well, I suppose I have to. If I don’t recap it then who will?

We cut back to Minori who is now at work, and one of the kids claims that he’s that awesome new very imaginatively and not at all weirdly named superhero ‘Number 4.’ And as kids are wont to do, he decides that because he is emulating his hero he can beat up another kid to take a book from him.

The fight escalates to the point where Minori has to intervene, and there’s an actual slow motion shot of one of the kids swing the book up and bringing it down to hit her on the arm, and it is super dramatic y’all. I mean they even play a dramatic music cue just that you know this book swing has taken this kids fight OVER THE LINE.

There’s way too much action going on here! I’m still distraught over Mikado, can’t you slow things down?

We cut off to something far nicer, Godai and Ichijo sharing a date by a bridge. Just chilling you know, looking at photos and making the really impressive leap of logic that the Grongi’s weird whiteboard is some sort of counting device.

Godai and Ichijo rap a bit on how to take down the Squid Grongi, since the only reason he didn’t kill Godai earlier was because he ran away. Godai himself recalls that Sakurako mentioned something about Kuuga being able to use a sword, and decides that that is perhaps the only thing that will work.

I am somewhat dubious of this claim. I mean, I would think you’d at least want to try one of the forms you already know how to use first Godai… remember Blue and Green, maybe they could be useful? You could dodge all the shots with Blues speed, maybe shoot at him back from long range with Green?

Anyways, there’s a brief aside where some new girl at the train station calls the Pore Pore Manager, calling him Uncle over the phone. But he is way too busy watching the new news report about Kuuga’s fight that morning so he immediately hangs up on her without hearing her out. Ha ha, what a fun comic relief that Manager is!

And then Minori calls him but for some reason she gets to chat a bit, even though it seemed like he just hung up on actual family of his? He just fills her in on Godai going to visit the police, which means Godai really doesn’t even create excuses for when he slips out to fight crime, it’s just that the Pore Pore Manager is so dumb he can’t ever put two and two together.

But man oh man, do we get to have some fun now… It’s time for an epic showdown! Godai versus Ichijo!

Quick aside, I already knew this before watching the show but how awesome is it that Japanese police have Dojos? Anyway, Ichijo is in black and Godai is in white, and both of them definitely hold their own. Clearly they have some idea what they’re doing with sword fighting except it’s obvious that Ichijo is the superior swordsman.

He pressures Godai back in a pretty nice little flurry of blows, taunting Godai until Godai realizes that the reason he’s losing is because he’s moving around too much. He’s letting Ichijo control him and the flow of the fight. So he comes to a full stop and immediately loses from a hit to the head. But he asks Ichijo to continue with the sparring as he’s on to something.

And we’re back to the Grongi and I have completely neglected to mention, because it’s not always so played up as it is in this scene, that whenever the Squid Grongi walks around his footsteps make sounds like wet squishy farts. There is no other way to accurately describe them and it just adds up to the already wonderfully silly image of the character.

Oh Squid Grongi… you are a delight.

Anyways, nothing really happens, just showing a new hideout for the Grongi in some sewer while they all smile and nod at one another one by one to eat up some screen time… you get no bonus points for having correctly guessed that the Bat Grongi continues to look weird and creepy during this segment. But it turns out that interlude was just to heighten the tension before we’re back to the awesome Ichijo and Godai match, round 2!

Godai completely drops his guard and lets Ichijo score a hit on him, but after telling Ichijo to continue all Godai does is walk towards him slowly, not bothering to defend and just taking every blow that comes his way. This continues until he backs Ichijo to the wall, where with no room to maneuver Godai manages to disarm Ichijo and finally land a blow of his own.

And then Godai immediately collapses from the over exertion of taking like 6 blows straight in a row to the head.

This does not seem like a good plan Godai! Dude, straight talk, the Squid blows things up, remember? I’m pretty sure just taking every hit is not going to be the best way to handle this! Ichijo warns him this is a risky plan of attack but agrees to let him go through with it, probably because he feels kind of bad for beating the hell out of Godai.

Minori shows up to meet up with the guys, and runs into a female officer who seems jealous that she knows Ichijo because I guess she hasn’t figured out that her crush on the handsome young detective who is always hanging out in secret with the handsome young world traveler is going to go unrequited.

Also she makes a pouty face that no police officer should ever make in the history of ever.

Until she is named I’m calling her Officer Pouty. So, Minori and Godai go for a walk where Minori reveals she is worried about Godai becoming Kuuga because she’s losing him! Of course, this story opened with him returning from one of his many trips around the world so it’s not like he’s the kind of person to hang around all the time anyways.

We get a short interlude where Enokida reveals to Ichijo that her scientific analysis of the green ash they found tells them a bunch of stuff they already knew. Namely that the Squid can spit out explosive stuff, and that his body overheats when making too much of it so he has to emit vapor and dive into the sea to cool off. But she does reveal that those steam vents on his stomach are probably a weak spot as they’ll be connected to his internal organs, so it’s not like her neglecting her son this week was a total loss!

Godai and Minori do that classic… ‘This is a serious/sad discussion so we’re going to have it on a swingset in the park’ thing that lots of shows like to do.

Though usually you’re supposed to just kind of broodily sit on them, Godai is actually all about some swing set time which is great. Really, it’s a complete fit for his character that if he was near some swings he would be swinging.

Godai reveals that he’s scared about the whole ‘fighting monsters to the death’ thing too, but says he’s fighting evil for the same reason she’s teaching, they both want to make others smile. And once she realizes that is true thumbs up are had all around! Then Minori gives Godai his birthday present, which is that all the kids in her school did up hand made good luck charms for him in a big bundle.

Which I want to make fun of but… dangit it’s actually a pretty sweet gift. I mean, it’s definitely a good gift for a guy like Godai. But if I was having to fight monsters every day for the safety of Tokyo I’d kind of hope someone would at least put a little cash into their present. I don’t think that’s too much to ask! Maybe treat him to a nice dinner at least? We’ve seen how bad the Pore Pore Managers cooking probably is, he could use a break from it.

Godai gets a call on his police radio telling him the Squid Grongi has been spotted and his sister wishes him good luck in the upcoming fight. And oh man, do we get one of the best scene transitions ever. I’m not even kidding. We go straight from Minori smiling to police running away from a full screen explosion. It is a delight!

So yeah, the Squid has entered the usual final phase of a Grongi’s plan to do whatever the hell it is they’re doing that involves murdering a buttload of cops and he is just now blowing up police cars while they all flee in terror. That is until Godai slams a ramp-less jump on the Trychaser, hopping a car so he can ram his tire right into the Squids face! And yes, I shall forever and always love tires being slammed straight into Grongi faces, it never gets old for me.

So after sticking the landing Godai summons his belt while the Squid shoots some ink at him. The explosion hits just as Godai Henshins and right after the fire clears away we get to see Kuuga’s new form.

Silver armor with purple trim. Good look on him, and a dang spiffy way to introduce it I have to say! That’s how I want to showcase all my new outfits, stepping out from a curtain of fire.

Kuuga whips back and grabs the Trychaser handle, and remember how I complained that having the handle be the key for the bike was kind of silly? Well, it’s going to finally come in handy. Because guess what kind of looks like a sword?

Yup! After doing his little Kuuga mojo magic on it, the motorcycle handle morphs into a purple blade with an extendable tip. Man, there’s a lot of… extendable stuff Kuuga’s got going on. I’m not going to try and read too much into what that might say about his psyche if he’s making these weapons up from his mind…

So, Kuuga proceeds to put his “plan” into action. If you’ll recall that plan involves him being repeatedly being hit by the exploding ink bombs that earlier he worried could kill him in one shot.

And he is ridiculously lucky because all he knows about this new form of his is that it has a sword. But it turns out that this just also happens to be his heavily armored form too, so he doesn’t just explode like an idiot from the first ink blot shot at him!

And then things get SURREAL. Seriously, this is totally nuts. Ok, while Kuuga is doing his unflinching walk, just stone cold shrugging off all these killing blows, the synth rock we usually get for these fights fades out and we switch to inter-cut shots of Minori singing with the children in her class, and the children’s rhyme underscores the battle.

We cut between this.

And this.

Back and forth over and over again! Also, the pyrotechnics they use sometimes look like they’re close enough that they are actually brushing against Kuuga’s suit actors costume and man is this just ever weird! I mean I guess they are trying to show the both of them are working for other peoples smiles but it just makes it all the more obvious that singing songs to kids and walking through a minefield are not really properly comparable jobs.

And children’s songs are always just creepy at the best of times, and listening to them while watching a dude in a super hero costume walk through fire to go murder a rubber suit monster is it just completely bizarre.

Kuuga finally gets up close and personal, and in a pretty brutal finisher just rams his sword straight through the Squid Grongi’s stomach.

It’s not over quick either. There’s an initial explosion first when he rams it through, but after that the Squid just cries in pain while Kuuga basically twists the sword in him till the Squid Grongi finally completely explodes into body chunks that bounce off of Kuuga’s shiny new armor.

And to finish out our episode we obviously cut back to Minori now running and laughing with the children because that’s not freaking mood whiplash right there! man does this episode have a weird climax!

So, Final Thoughts?

This episode is honestly a bit of a mixed bag after last weeks. Godai’s plan to beat the Grongi relies pretty heavily on his new form having super powerful armor which is something he doesn’t even guess will be true, and just luckily turns out to be the case.

The raid on the Grongi is something of a let down as well because we don’t get to see any real showdown between them and the police. The Grongi just flee and leave a bunch of confusing clues that doesn’t tell the audience much of anything they didn’t already know.

The final fight is also up and down. Watching Kuuga walk through explosions is great, but it’s just undercut by the awkward choice to stage the whole thing to a mellow children’s song. I mean it’s a very memorable experience to be sure, but after delighting us with his wet squishy dunce cowboy clown self I feel like the Squid Grongi deserved a little more suitable end. Or maybe that was the most suitable end possible for him, now that I think about it!

Overall it feels like they were trying to do something a little different in pacing for this episode and it doesn’t feel like it worked out all that well. Still, it’s a far cry better than any of those downer episodes where they just followed whiny characters in the past. Minori resolves her worries pretty quickly with Godai, and it proves to be a good character building moment for him at least, even if she is still a little on the flat side.

And of course… we all had to say goodbye to Mikado just as we were getting to know him. I know you’re up in little doggy heaven Mikado, chasing Grongi around and jump kicking them. Dogs can jump kick in dog heaven, I’m pretty sure that was revealed in an episode of All Dogs Go to Heaven the series, which I am very confident no one has ever actually seen to be able call me out on.

And now, on the next episode of Kamen Rider Kuuga!

Some random new guy talks about a promise! Pore Pore Manager talks about promises! Godai talks about a promise! Sugita talks about Ichijo having a girlfriend which I of course am skeptical of! Rose Woman speaks Japanese! And Godai fights the Rhino Grongi (likely for revenge on Mikado) only to get BODY SLAMMED!

All of that and more in Kamen Rider Kuuga Episode 11: Promise!

RIP Mikado. You did well.

Kamen Rider is Copyright Toei Company, TV Asashi, and Bandai. The Subbed version recapped in this article was produced by the wonderful folks at TV-Nihon.