Kamen Rider Kuuga Ep 17 Recap- It Feels Like the First Time

Welcome dear readers, as we go through the looking glass with today’s recap of the recap episode of Kamen Rider Kuuga.

Oh, is that spoiler territory? It kind of feels like it since this episode actually gets off to a pretty engaging start! It’s just a regular day in the city, people doing like they do with the walking around and ignoring the Rose Woman who’s sitting off the street doing her nails, until a newspaper blows in on her foot showing that the 24th Grongi has been defeated. The ambient sound then cuts out as we are introduced to our villain of the week!

She leads him off to a side street where he shifts to his Grongi form (it’s a Tiger, which you’ll not guess unless you look it up in extra media like a lot of the Grongi forms) and says something in Grongi that the Rose Woman helpfully translates as being 72 kills in 6 hours as the stakes for his murdering time, which is a pretty aggressive body count! She gives him his bracelets and the horn ring to the belt key click, and he is ready to head out and get to murdering before we’re even to the opening credits.

Man, I’m tentatively hyped! Heck, they come back immediately from the opening to have Ichijo radio Godai to let him know that the Grongi is already on the attack and that there’s been a number of casualties. Though then Ichijo kind of drops the ball.

Yup, Ichijo is putting paperwork ahead of all the ongoing casualties. Again, he explicitly got done explaining to Godai that police are dying and then addendum-ed that he really had to get all those documents filed. Considering Ichijo is shockingly effective in proving a distraction to Grongi despite his being just an ordinary human this seems like a rather bizarre prioritization.

Well, I mean it’s not like by the time Godai gets there he’s just going to drive up on a road literally strewn with corpses or anything, right?

Well, at least they can all die safe in the knowledge that Ichijo will have gotten all his files in on time. Truly, a noble sacrifice.

The Tiger Grongi is still on the scene though and after tossing aside a dead cop he sets his sights on Godai, slowly stalking towards him as the Narrator cuts in and wait what?

No dear readers I have not been remiss in not mentioning a Narrator until today. Because until today Kuuga has not had a Narrator! Nope, right here smack at the start of episode 17 of the series Kuuga has decided that it is time to introduce one. It’s like they didn’t anticipate that one day over a dozen years after they released the show I’d be here doing that job for them for free!

And he’s not telling us anything we don’t know either, he’s just saying what’s happening on screen. Just reminding us that scary monsters are murdering people after we just saw the aftermath of a scary monster murder people. But as the Tiger attacks Godai there’s a far more distressing casualty than all those nameless officers.

The Trychaser 2000’s control panel has been smashed to pieces! It’s… kind of surprising that with how often Kuuga has rammed it into monsters all of a sudden now getting punched once was enough to totally trash it, and just having him punch a hole in some flimsy electronics doesn’t exactly sell this new Grongi as a powerhouse so it’s just kind of this weird thing that happens before the fight gets going proper.

Also before the fight gets going proper the Narrator is all like ‘Naw man rather than watch a sweet fight it’s Recap time!’

Ok, so the narrator explicitly says he’s going to answer two questions with these episode recaps.

1. How did Godai Yusuke gain the power of Kuuga?
2. Why does he continues to fight?

Let’s see how this narrator does!

So obviously, he decides to start his recapping right at the beginning, in… episode 3? Yup, he’s going to start things off with the Polices view of Kuuga, as apparently the most important fact about the origin of his powers is that the Police thought he was two different people at first and considered him to be a bad guy.

They do show the good bit where Ichijo sticks up for our hero only to be shot down since the Police can’t take any chances, and while I’m not sure this is the best place to start talking about Kuuga it is probably one of the best places to start if you want to introduce the audience to Ichijo. And since he is awesome I will tentatively approve of it.

Also awesome is that they jump to episode 4 when they talk about him earning the Polices trust. And how does he earn their trust? Why the same way he earned mine dear readers, with back wheelie motorcycle tire smashes to the face!

Yes, the narrator has explicitly confirmed that his sweet motorcycle ramming skills are why the Police are on his side and I for one am glad the show has made that canon.

So now it’s time to more forward! Forward all the way… back to episode 2… by introducing us to Godai via the shot of him sleeping the night away in a restaurant booth.

I’m not kidding, the first shot of Godai in the episode Recap proper is him waking up yawning. This is what the show thinks of our hero. I for one would’ve picked maybe the time he actually was introducing himself to Ichijo back in episode 1? When he was actually showing off his business card and all that? Or maybe some time when he was doing something actually mildly heroic? I mean seriously the next shot they cut to is from the same episode where he smashed his old bike into a burning down church so he could use it as an improvised weapon on the Bat Grongi.

And then he went to put out the fire on Ichijo. Why are you not leading with this Narrator? This is the kind of thing that shows off how heroic Godai is! Also, this is when the Narrator elaborates on how Godai got his powers in the first place for some reason.

Yeah they’re not going to show that or anything. Just, you know, some ancient civilization gave Godai a belt and now he’s Kuuga and that involves him putting out pants fires. Move along.

They do decide to show the full footage of his first transformation into Red Kuuga, and then his first jump kick to kill the Spider Grongi, so… I’ll definitely give them that, those were two kick ass moments definitely worth re-watching. Like, once a day at least.

So now that we’ve got our heroes back story established… apparently… what’s next to cover? Why introducing his sweet ride of course! And how do they decide to show off the Trychaser 2000’s impressive skills? Well anyone who has read my recap of episode 4 is likely able to guess. Seriously, take a moments pause and see if you can guess.

Are you ready? Did you guess ‘show the Trychaser going up stairs’? You’re right! Rather than focus on the specs of the Trychaser though, the Narrator decides to spend more time dealing with the symbolic nature of the gift and the fact that Ichijo handed it over against the orders of his department.

I mean we get a few shots of the Trychaser spinning around and then we cut to Ichijo and the Police Chief arguing over whether whether handing over the experimental bike was a good idea. Rather oddly for all the screen time he’s getting in these Recap bits we haven’t been properly introduced to Ichijo yet. Though I mean Sakurako was talking with Godai earlier and they didn’t even bother naming her so she’s getting about as much respect from the official Narrator as I give her.

Hey you know what else was apparently important for us to watch from episode 5? The Trychaser changing colors for no adequately explained reason. Thanks show for making me watch that again without even trying to go over why or how it’s happening! In fact they show a bit of the really awesome fight against the Rhino Grongi from episode 12 after that while talking about how Kuuga has defeated a bunch of Grongi, but since they used up all the time with the color changing they don’t show his flaming Rider Kick finish because I have no idea why. I mean they really are not giving my favorite episode so far the respect it deserves!

Well, apparently now it’s time to introduce us to the supporting cast.

So I guess we’re going to be talking about Ichijo and Sakurako as they are the two closest allies to our hero, maybe get into Tsubaki and Enokida and all the other ha ha ha oh come on would I be even doing this kind of setup if it was anyone else than the greatest character on this show?

Nope, wrong again Manager. It’s you! The Pore Pore Manager is the first one to be shown out of the bunch, which is hilarious because he’s introduced here as specifically not knowing that Godai is Kuuga from back when Godai tried to tell him about it in episode 7, showing Manager as too thick to pick up on it being literally said straight to his face. Also the narrator doesn’t bother chiming in to introduce him because, you know, he doesn’t have a name. Also why ruin the beauty of his performance with any needless exposition?

I’m not even kidding where they dwell on this bit for a ‘laugh’ and then really quickly just run through Sakurako, Ichijo, Enokida and Tsubaki before deciding to take a little bit of time on Minori. But really only so that even the narrator can point the weird fact that the public calls Kuuga ‘Number 4.’ You know, and not… ‘Kamen Rider’, because naming your superhero that would just be silly.

Oh! Apparently they just decided that awesome kick to the Rhino Grongi’s face needed a little buildup!

Well played official Narrator! Actually, from here we get a little greatest hits reel of Kuuga’s finishing moves from his various colors. Episode 6‘s jumping staff strike, Episode 8‘s crossbow shot (including awesome bee needle catch first of course), and Episode 10‘s ramming a sword straight through a dude’s stomach which remains as hardcore now as it was then.

Hey, now would be a good time for some behind the scenes info! Since they just showed us all the finishers back to back, and since I’d hinted before they all had their own names, why don’t we go over them real quick? His proper Rider Kick in Red (Mighty) Form is called ‘Mighty Kick’, when in White (Growing) Form it’s called ‘Growing Kick’. His jumping staff strike in Blue (Dragon) Form is called ‘Splash Dragon.’ The crossbow shot in Green (Pegasus) Form is called ‘Blast Pegasus’ and the sword stab in Purple (Titan) form is ‘Calamity Titan’. You might have noticed a little theme there, and that theme is being non-imaginative with attack names. Back to the Recap!

So what’s up next? Oh! Actual new footage! Kuuga and the Tiger Grongi are fighting through the streets which involves a lot of pushing and hugging.

There’s a bit of hard punching and a bit of grappling, but Kuuga seems to be on the losing side in both cases. He’s not being completely overwhelmed but he’s definitely not landing any solid hits in return. After getting tossed on his backside he decides to go for a color shift, but while doing his posing he’s caught by a chain from the Tiger which interrupts his transformation!

The Tiger Grongi manages to get the chain wrapped around Kuuga’s throat, choking him out for awhile and ramming him into cars and walls and generally making our hero look like something of a chump.

Also, here’s an important little side note. The Grongi had been named last episode as ‘Gadora’, and this time when speaking in Grongi he mentions ‘Me Gadora Da.’ Hey, maybe that’s a hint at naming conventions! (It is totally a hint at naming conventions.) I’ll get into that later though because apparently our Narrator, satisfied that he has answered the questions he had made us suffer through flashbacks for, has developed some new musings while he was away!

Yup, now he’s going to school us on what’s up with these Grongi! So questions 3 and 4 up there for him to answer and we’ll get to his final score for this in the end.

So where to start with these serial killer kaijin?

Well he decides to jump over to episode 7 where Sakurako named the Linto and the Grongi for the first time, which isn’t a bad place to get the ball rolling. And then they jump right back to the sweet multicolored lightning and zombie hands clawing out of the ground way back in episode 1 and I definitely approve of this introduction so far.

They just keep the ball rolling as they head into the Spider Grongi’s rampage through the police station in episode 1, which is a great scene to use to demonstrate their brutality as he does just go out of his way to murder everyone he can get his hands on. Murdering is kind of a theme with the Grongi, as I think most fans of the show can attest.

And it’s time to once again rely on Ichijo to carry us forward as they show him talking about the 200+ Grongi that have come back to life, and then showing his stalking of the Rose Woman and the Bat Grongi. The narrator uses the chance to go over the three main oddities about the Grongi. First off, that they have a strange language. Second, that they have tattoos. And lastly, you know the minor detail that they are also MONSTERS.

I mean, I appreciate us getting to watch that head crushing scene from episode 3 again and remember how the Bats fall from grace all started, but that’s just a weird choice. First off, the Rose Woman hasn’t even explicitly shown us her Grongi form yet (if she even has a proper one). Second, their ability to transform into rubber suit monsters is not the one you lead off with? That’s kind of the whole reason the show cares about them Narrator! Tattoos and strange languages are not exactly why I tune in week to week.

The Narrator talks about how the Police have found out the Grongi like gathering and have been tracking them, showing us the Police raid from episode 10 and then their sorting through the evidence they found, giving us some shots of the counting paraphernalia the Grongi like to use. And then as the Narrator wonders at why the Grongi murder, we get a short review of the how they do it starting with one of my personal favorites, the Bee’s one shot needle kills from Episode 7. Then some more counting and the Piranha’s attack on the boat from episode 13 which is sadly not nearly as cool without the awesome classical music backing.

The Narrator finally throws his hands up on the matter, talking about how the Police are still quite lost and apparently agreeing it’s all just still unknown.

Though right after that he shows a few shots of those times when the Grongi mentioned in Japanese things about ‘rules’ and ‘games’, letting the audience in on a bit more information than the cops so they can start coming up with their own theories. Which is good! That’s one of the things I really like about Kuuga!

Also the audience is reminded of the mysterious entity who started this whole mess way back at the beginning of the series. The multicolored lightning flinger himself who’s only been seen in shadows and really grainy horror movie footage. Unidentified Life Form Number 0. Who, of course, is even more of a mystery than the rest of the Grongi.

And now it’s back to the fight! Which, thanks to some damage to electrical cables, takes place among flaming wreckage as Kuuga fights so often love to do. Also I quite appreciate that the narrator is extoling the virtue and strength of our hero while he is being choked to death.

In all seriousness, Kuuga does get beat up a lot and it actually works pretty well for the character. It gives his fights a little more weight. But sometimes you just have to be awesome and since we spent the whole episode talking about the guy I think it’s time for some ass kicking, and thankfully the show agrees! As the fight music picks up he manages to knock back the Tiger Grongi, buying himself enough space to get the running start he needs for his Rider Kick. And after launching into the jump for it the show… does this really weird effect where they take footage from a bunch of cameras around him and splice it together to make this weird choppy effect like the camera is spinning around him, and it really doesn’t work and any screengrab of it is just going to be  blurry and bad and man is it a disappointing way to end this fight.

Oh, and of course the Tiger Grongi explodes. But after watching countless explosions earlier in the Recap portion that were honestly way better it’s seriously a letdown.

Ichijo shows up, paperwork finally finished, and laments that he missed the entirety of the fight. To which Godai realizes that since it was a pretty lame match in the end the most important thing to point out is that the Trychaser got damaged.

Which obviously he explains by pantomiming driving a motorcycle for some reason as the narrator talks about what a great hero he is again.

And that’s what they decide to end the episode on, for some reason!

So, Final Thoughts?

Man is this not a good Clipshow. Even the new footage isn’t really that enticing.

The recap is meant to catch us up on what’s happened so far, but they are completely missing the important themes of the show. It’s seriously like they don’t even understand the strengths and weaknesses of Kuuga. A significant portion of Kuuga is really devoted to the friendship and partnership of Ichijo and Godai, and though he gets a lot of shots in the Recaps Ichijo himself only gets a passing mention. As for Godai and his fighting as Kuuga, the most interesting thing the show has going for it are his struggles to find and master new powers in response to ever escalating threats, and this episode never even bothers addressing any of that. It’s mostly about trying to say how cool Kuuga is as a hero when the show’s biggest strength is that he’s not, but that him trying so hard is what makes up for it.

It does get that the mystery of the Grongi is important, and picks the right shots to show how violent and weird they are, while also peppering in all the major clues about what is really going on so I will give them credit for that one. Also the Narrator realizes that Mika is so unimportant that she’s not even worth mentioning, which is sadly only enough to counterbalance the fact that he also forgets that Jean exists.

The new stuff in the episode is one long context-less fight. The Tiger Grongi has no special powers or tricks, and no real buildup or serious threat to him. I mean he does seem to have the advantage for a good bit of the fight, but never to the overwhelming degree of the Grasshopper, Rhino, or Squid so he never feels like this insurmountable challenge. He just kind of beats up on Kuuga for most of the episode until Kuuga gets serious and kicks him into explosion town.

I think the most obvious example of this Recap not understanding the show is that it never once shows a thumbs up in this episode. Not in the old footage and not after the new fight. Godai’s signature move, his identifying feature that lead Ichijo into finding out he was Kuuga, the important keepsake he’d learned from his mentor as a youth, is not once just shown let alone discussed. Perhaps because this Clipshow realizes it didn’t earn it, and is really deserving of a big fat thumbs down.

Time to grade the Narrator! He didn’t show us the scene of Godai getting the belt or first awakening his powers so he didn’t answer number 1. He does touch on a little bit of the ‘fighting for peoples smiles’ so I guess I’ll give him number 2. For question number 3 he does acknowledge the Grongi as an ancient tribe and them being magic lightninged back to life so I also will give him that one, but since the show itself hasn’t answered number 4 that one is also a loss. So with me even being charitable he’s only at 50% for this Clipshow which is sadly not a passing grade.

You know, as a passing thought… Anyone who is reading these recaps, and especially anyone who’s seen the show I’m curious what clips you think should have made the cut for the Clipshow? Feel free to post in the comments! No points for pointing out that the Truck explosion should have been in there.

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

Godai plays drums on garbage! A weird man… or maybe woman kisses a dude? Ichijo leads a squad of cops to hunt a new Grongi! The weird man or woman is the new Grongi and brags about being able to kill Kuuga! A Grongi kisses Kuuga! And Godai… um… Godai isn’t looking so good after that…

He’s going to be ok… right? Come back to find out in Kamen Rider Kuuga Episode 18: Loss!

That’s not a very hopeful title…

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.