Welcome back, fellow Kuugateers, to another action packed Recap of Kamen Rider Kuuga!
When we last left our hero he had just flat-lined at the hospital. But we’ve seen time and again that when Kuuga was about to die in an episode cliffhanger he’d always narrowly avert it once we came to the continuation. So… how is he going to get out of this one?
Well, before the credits Tsubaki swarms in with a team of nurses and doctors and the like, shouting out medical jargon while giving him oxygen and CPR and the nurses say he’s responding to it!
He’ll probably be right as rain as soon as we get back from the opening credits!
Oh, actually they decide to keep the suspense a bit this time. As though somehow we’re just going to assume they’ll let Godai die. No we come back to find Ichijo setting up plans on how to find the Mushroom Grongi, working with his fellow police to hunt down the kissing menace.
Some of the cops point out that it’s kind of weird that Kuuga hasn’t shown up yet, but it’s not like he always has to show up when a Grongi is sighted. Dispatch calls to note they have have got a report on the Grongi’s possible location and Ichijo heads off and engage it.
Back at the hospital Tsubaki has switched up to the defibrillator paddles, which… well it isn’t a good sign but usually in medical dramas those things are good for knocking someone right back to just barely hanging on alive. Which is why we immediately cut to Sakurako working when the mask Godai wore at the start of the series ominously falls down in her office… a sign even she recognizes as a bad one. I mean… they just did that because we know Sakurako is always wrong so they wanted to show us that she was wrong again and that Godai is going to be okay. Right?
Back at the hospital Tsubaki seems to be… freaking out a bit.
He’s angrily yelling at Godai, which is a pretty big change up for his character. Usually his interest in Godai seems to extend to him being a medical curiosity, pricking his morbid fascinations. In fact he’s often joked about cutting Godai up in an autopsy. But now that Godai is actually on the edge of death Tsubaki seems to have completely snapped in a very unprofessional manner.
While he struggles to revive our hero, we find that one of the students at Minori’s school wasn’t able to evacuate because his mom is working near where the Grongi was spotted, and they can’t get a hold of her on the phone. Also, we learn that Grongi reports are put out during cartoons which is actually super creepy.
It’s not surprising obviously, you would want to warn everyone on every channel, but it’s just playing this hyper kid friendly cartoon and having it flash this dark news is a really great contrast, especially when the audience is likely freaking out whether Godai is going to be okay. And speaking of, shouldn’t it be about time they stop teasing us and just have him stabilize already!? I mean, the kid is wondering why ‘Number 4’ hasn’t shown up to save everyone, and Minori is quite sure he’s going to show up any moment now. So of course it’s finally time to cut down to his miraculous revival!
All the other doctors and nurses have stopped assisting, Tsubaki is left the only one doing chest compression and we don’t even hear any medical equipment going anymore. Eventually Tsubaki checks on Godai’s condition and thanks everyone for the help… before excusing them so that they can leave. And… he almost sounds like he’s about to cry when he does it. He sees that the charms Godai was carrying have fallen on the floor, knocked over in all the chaos while they were struggling to save him.
The police, meanwhile, have found the Grongi’s reported location, which turns out to be a growling pile of clothes and blankets. The cops swarm around it carefully, lining up their shots as they silently stake out position.
They close in, and pull back the blankets to reveal… a weirdly mumbling homeless guy. Who is understandably a bit freaked out at being surrounded by police in rifles with gas masks on! He just makes some wordless mumbling while Ichijo actually apologizes for the interruption, and asks him politely to evacuate because of the danger present in the area. He even gives him a little respectful bow after. Ichijo, an officer and a gentleman! Really, it’s a nice little character moment, where after all the tension is snapped his first reaction is to be nice to the guy and worry about his safety, rather than freak out that he lead the police on a bit of a wild goose chase.
Ichijo returns to his car and gets a call from Tsubaki, who is now carrying Godai’s charms while sitting alone in his dark office. We don’t get to hear Ichijo’s side of the call, but… it doesn’t even look like he says anything. He just sits there in numb silence.
Tsubaki says little more than our silent lead, but what he says is… enough. He gives the time, and…
Tsubaki asks Ichijo to contact Godai’s sister, and it seems that Ichijo agrees to do it. And… the audience is probably left in the same numb shock that seems to have taken over Ichijo.
Sugita reports in that Enokida thinks they won’t find the Mushroom Grongi as it is likely hiding to heal up after being injured, which means that it’s probably more useful for the lead detectives to head back to Police Headquarters and plan their next move while the local police run sweeps of the area. Sugita can tell something is off about Ichijo, and Ichijo apologizes as he says he has something to take care of. Sugita is quick to realize it has something to do with Kuuga, but he hasn’t guessed to what extent the problem is, thinking that something must have just held up our hero to keep him from showing up for the fight.
Ichijo agrees with Sugita, and it’s very minor, and probably something you wouldn’t pick up on if you hadn’t been following the show, but Ichijo just seems a bit… off. It’s the kind of time that he would usually give a small smile and nod, or just offer a light chuckle, but he just… seems kind of dead the whole scene, staring forward and out of it.
So… is he going to be the main character now? I mean, the show is definitely hinting at that possibility. We’ve gotten to the point where the police can actively hurt and maybe kill the Grongi, which means that they might be able to carry on without Kuuga. But… he’s kind of in the title for the show right? Would they change it to… ‘Ichijo: Grongi Hunter’ or ‘The Grongi Files’ or something?
Tsubaki is about to call Sakurako when she surprisingly phones him first. Tsubaki fills her in and Sakurako refuses to believe that Godai has died. She’s not, like angry about it though, she’s not shouting or cursing. She’s just choosing to believe that Godai is somehow going to pull through like he always has when injured heavily, despite now being declared clinically dead.
Tsubaki… seems unconvinced. Then again, he was there struggling to revive our hero and is the one who confirmed his death. But it’s time for Sakurako to ruin everything once again by revealing something she should have figured out earlier.
Apparently, there’s a passage in the text that says ‘Beneath the eyelids of the warrior, when his pupils are enlarged, thou hast no reason to cry.’
Tsubaki reveals that he usually checks pupil dilation to confirm death, but if that passage is true than it means that Godai might be okay after all. Which is the sort of thing that Sakurako could have told him BEFORE he declared Godai dead in the operating room.
The Grongi have elected to spend the episode hanging out in front of some kind of multicolored light up billboard (which is distracting but also really cool), and hilariously the Bat Grongi still is coughing up from the Mushroom Grongi’s poison. The Bat is trying to act all cool by talking down on the Mushroom and whining that Kuuga isn’t confirmed dead yet, but the Rose Woman isn’t really taking none of his crap as per usual, calling him an ignorant fool… which is of course delightful.
Also, the Rose Woman drops a little bombshell about the Mushroom, that apparently he gets power ups whenever he loses.
Also, the last Grongi hanging around with the Bat and Rose reveals herself to be Garima, and seems to think she’s the one who’s going to take down Kuuga. The Mushroom Grongi seems to have found a hot spring like place to recuperate, clutching his stomach in some steam while swaying around and looking just generally kind of creepy in the shadows. I mean, that’s pretty standard Grongi stuff but it does still work well from a horror standpoint. Actually, despite looking kind of silly in the broad daylight once he’s cast in shadow the Mushroom Grongi’s outfit has a kind of weird sinister quality to it.
It’s definitely the sun bonnet. It’s just terrifying.
At Pore Pore Nana is looking out the window at the rain, half worried that Godai hasn’t returned yet, half angry that he broke his promise to come right back from his visit to his sisters school. Manager doesn’t seem that bothered though, as he’s known Godai a lot longer and is perfectly aware of how flaky a guy he really is.
Death is but the next great adventure, they say.
Ichijo goes to hand deliver the news to Minori… but just like Sakurako, she has chosen to believe. She notes that Godai never betrays anyones trust, unless that involves you know… randomly skipping work, randomly skipping town, breaking into peoples houses and places of work, breaking into police crime scenes… but never anything important!
She thinks Ichijo must believe with her, but Ichijo is still holding back his emotions, just like when a few episodes back he was dealing with his mothers illness. He always looks on the brink of tears, swallowing back his feelings while pushing forward.
He seems shocked at her belief in her brother, and is unable to process it himself, just staring at her in ever increasing confusion while the rain pours around them. I mean he was just your brother Minori, he was Ichijo’s um… ‘special friend’, that’s going to be hard for him to just deal with!
Back at the hospital, Tsubaki heads over to Godai’s body and decides to give it an inspection… only to learn that his temperatures rising. Dramatic music cuts in with a sting as he realizes that Godai is coming back to life! Which means it’s time for Sakurako to call and reveal that not only had she not told him important information before, but she’s just found MORE important information she should have told him before! She’s being doubly useless this episode!
I mean she’s just like ‘Oh you know I read the sentence right after that and it looks like there’s more.’ And what does she find out? Apparently ‘None shall disturb his sleep’, which both of them take to mean that once Godai was knocked into this little healing coma, everyone was supposed to leave him alone. Not, you know, do a bunch of CPR and electrical shocks on him.
I mean, he might have still done it, since he’s a doctor and you can’t exactly tell him ‘trust in this mythical prophecy and don’t try to save him’, but it’s the kind of thing that might have been nice to know before hand. So, while in previous episodes Sakurako has constantly missed on translating information that would save Kuuga from getting his butt whooped in fights, this time she’s missed on translating information that triggers into his one ability that lets him cheat death. Way to continue being actually worse than useless Sakurako! Seriously, can the police just hire someone else to translate this stuff?
Back on the streets, the Mushroom Grongi has recovered and now seems able to poison people at a distance, just blowing a kiss and causing an entire staircase full of people to collapse, with more people collapsing as he walks forward and gets closer to them.
Seems that the Rose Woman wasn’t kidding about him getting boosts from getting hurt. Remember to that he used to have to hunt near air conditioning units, but now he seems able to kill out in the open. That’s definitely a big step up on the danger meter.
Back at HQ the police are struggling to come up with a plan after losing track of the Mushroom the last time, while Enokida calls in to report that she’s going to fix up the TryChaser with new parts, which if you’ll remember was damaged a few weeks back in the Recap fight. Seems… kind of weird that they’re just getting around to it since Godai was driving it around while it was damaged but… whatever. Just gives me an excuse to once again point out it would have been a fine time for them to explain the paint job changing aspect. I mean I know we’re way deeper in the series but I’m never going to let that one go.
Enokida asks after Godai’s condition but Ichijo is unable to answer and she quickly decides to change the subject. But before they can get deep into the conversation the police report comes in of the Mushrooms now far more public murder spree, and the police set out to take him down. Before he can run off though Enokida notes that she’s made a new batch of gas bullets at twice the power of the ones that were able to hurt the Mushroom, and she’s going to have them sent over so that they can use them in the engagement. I’m sure they’ll prove to be once again very useful. Definitely!
At the hospital we get a closeup of Godai and hear some… weird psychic sounds, like short discordant scratches compared to the trills we usually hear when he’s having a vision. A nurse shows up to check on him and seems shocked but we don’t get to see what she’s seeing because we have to hurry over to see the police getting schooled by the new powered up Mushroom. But that’s before Sakurai, Sugita, and Ichijo show up with their new powered up rifles to take him down. They get ready, aim, and fire! And… nothing happens.
Yeah they all hit, smoke running off the Mushrooms body. But he just rubs over the spots and quite obviously mocks them in Grongi.
He then blows a kiss which soon causes a rather visible cloud of pink smoke to start filling up the area. And even the police who remembered to pack their gas masks start falling pray to his assault. Which is I’m not sure how gas masks work but hey it’s special magic Grongi spore poison so I guess he can just go right through technology now.
Also, notably, none of our police leads packed gas masks. Which is probably so we can distinguish them this time but really usually they’re way more competent than that so it’s just this weird little thing to point out.
With the police dropping like flies they try to fall back, though the Mushroom throws one of the fleeing cops into the detectives and knocks them all down. They’re now just sitting ducks as the Mushroom closes in on them to deliver the finishing blow. That is… until… we see a blurry shadow run in the distance… and we hear the Grongi say ‘Kuuga’! With a blur Kuuga tackles the Grongi, and when they come up he’s got him in a headlock to keep him from spitting out more poison.
Ichijo just watches in stunned silence (if you haven’t noticed that’s kind of a theme for him this episode.) Until, in a fun moment Sugita notes it’s Number 2, and Ichijo has to correct him that it’s a white Number 4. That’s because apparently up to this point the police were STILL operating under the assumption that Number 2 and Number 4 were not the same, despite having seen Number 4 change colors a bunch of times. I mean I know I should just be hyped that Kuuga is alive but isn’t that nuts? We’re almost 20 episodes in and Ichijo still hasn’t even bothered filling them in on that!
Also, SWEET! Kuuga is back and he is ready to kick some Grongi butt! And considering the mushrooms head while looking kind of like… an… well, we’ll just say *ahem*, also does kind of look like a butt which is more acceptable to talk about so we’ll just say he’s got two butts to be kicked.
Despite being White, Kuuga seems totally in control of the fight, even going so far as to slam the Mushrooms head through a car window. Which is of course totally awesome.
The Mushroom manages to knock Kuuga back but the police unleash a barrage of gunfire which is enough of a distraction for Kuuga to tackle the Mushroom and drag him over a nearby (apparently) grassy cliff. Despite them fighting in like a tunnel just a second ago.
Also Kuuga does a diving jumping punch which is really cool and man is this a good fight scene!
The music isn’t even the usual sweet rock song but an all new sweet rock song (at least, I don’t recall hearing it in the previous fights). Or maybe it’s just a sweet rock song that is so perfectly matched to this fight that it just stands out! But all fights must end sometime, and this one is wrapping up as Kuuga lands his Rider Kick!
Ah well, it was a fun ride while it lasted… wait… the music is wrapping up and the symbol appears, but the Mushroom DOESN’T EXPLODE.
Am I angry? No… because immediately Kuuga just gets in position, because it is now time for a DOUBLE RIDER KICK.
Ok, I get it. There were two butts so he had to have his butt kicked twice and now it is all over right?
Ha ha ha NO. No he resists the explosion AGAIN. And Kuuga is not about to just give up this plan of attack.
If kicking doesn’t work, there is only one possible answer. MORE KICKING. JUMP KICKING FOREVER.
Yes my friends, this episode which has given us Kuuga’s death and resurrection gives us also not one, not two, but THREE Kuuga Rider Kicks.
And this last one isn’t just like those regular two he threw before. Oh no. This one is special. First off, his anklet starts to glow red, and if that isn’t enough of a sign that something awesome is about to happen the music kicks back in with the ‘something awesome is about to happen’ rock cue the series likes to use.
Kuuga takes his time on this one too. He goes through his full posing, making absolutely sure this Rider Kick is going to be awesome enough to finish off the Mushroom for good.
Kuuga charges, leaping forward while his foot once again erupts into flames before he delivers a THIRD hard kick into the Mushrooms chest.
The screen even shakes violently at the impact, while we hear Kuuga yelling with an echo backing behind him.
After the Mushroom falls back we get to see Kuuga posing with his smoking foot. And finally, FINALLY his belt cracks, and with a last cry of ‘Kuuga’ he violently explodes.
And of course do I even need to say what happens next?
Though I mean… Godai was in like robes at the hospital did he go through the effort of going to find a fresh change of clothes before rushing to the fight scene?
Also Ichijo’s response here is amazing.
He is trying really, really hard to fake being angry while he is super relieved that his friend is okay, and it is just the perfect way for him to let out all the buildup that has been coming to this reunion.
I know I have been doing a lot of picture clips for this part but please you have to believe me I need to drop just two more even though we’re past the fight scene. Because as Ichijo turns around and smiles while he walks off he gives his usual sweet behind the back thumbs up just to let Godai know everything is going to be okay.
And Godai’s response is to literally skip run after him, and to trip and fall down like a total idiot.
All while mellow romantic guitar plays in the background. I’m not even mad. I mean this episode was super dramatic and we had to deal with almost having our lead die and then they end it on just a goofy little bit of slapstick humor and somehow it is just super sweet and really, really works.
Well, alright, it’s not totally over. We see Sakurako and Minori get the news of Godai’s survival over the phone as they smile happily, and the last shot is Godai and Ichijo looking way more like two giggling love-struck schoolgirls than our two female leads while they walk off together.
And so we leave Godai and Ichijo to *ahem* catch up… as we are off to the credits!
So, Final Thoughts?
Have I commented on how awesome the episodes of Kuuga have been lately? Because they have been! And not even for just gimmicky reasons. I mean it’s not like there’s just one scene that makes this episode great, it’s just this overall measure of quality storytelling.
No lie the first time I saw this episode I thought they were really going to kill Godai. I figured at that point that someone else would become Kuuga and the show would continue on without him. Up until Sakurako reveals the information about his survival they play it hard like he has passed on, and that ends up making it all the more shocking when he comes back. I mean I might just be naive to think they would kill the main character off just halfway through the series but I think that’s a testament to how mature the story telling in Kuuga is that it can be considered a legitimate possibility.
Like a lot of the best episodes of Kuuga this one is something of an Ichijo show. It’s actually pretty brilliant that this episode came after Ichijo dealt with the drama with his mother, because after setting the tone for how he deals with difficult emotional situations it’s all the more clear how hard it is for him here to process that Godai has died. In nearly every scene he has in this episode he has long silent stretches where he looks like he’s about to scream or cry or just breakdown, and the sheer stunned look he has when Kuuga returns is completely earned.
But this episode doesn’t just win on storytelling and acting, it also has a really, really solid fight at the end. It’s not the longest in the series but the opening part is a very good buildup for the danger of the Mushroom now that he’s powered up, and then to have White Kuuga come in and beat the tar out of him while still relying on a little police assist is a very good way to make both sides seem useful. The fight has a good kinetic flow to it and how could I not love getting to watch 3 Rider Kicks back to back? It’s a great finish to a great fight, and it leads to a great finish to a great episode.
And now, on the next Episode of Kamen Rider Kuuga!
The Mushroom isn’t dead! Minori and Sakurako are happy Godai is back! Tsubaki plans to hit on Sakurako even though he can do way, way better! The Rose Woman goes to meet up with the ‘Go League’! Godai makes a stupid face and pretends to be Ichijo over the phone! Enokida begs Godai to come ‘touch things’ in a really girly voice and it is totally weird y’all! Everyone finds out the Mushroom isn’t dead despite being Rider Kicked 3 times! And Kuuga goes to make sure the rampaging Mushroom is put down… permanently!
Man how many more Rider Kicks will we get to see next week? Will it just be an episode that’s start to finish Rider Kicks on the Mushroom Grongi plus those other things I already just mentioned!? Tune in to find out in Kamen Rider Kuuga Episode 20: Smile!
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.
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