Kamen Rider Kuuga Ep 31 Recap – Letting the Days Go By

Hey there all you readers out there. Before we get started can I say that I am STILL super hyped about the jump kick last we… two weeks ago? I mean c’mon aren’t you all? If you’re not then I’m pretty sure you need to go re-watch it. I’m going to go do that right now myself!

Okay, everyone back with me? I want to be sure we’re all on the same page before we kick things off since this episode is by its very nature going to have a weird start up. I mean Kuuga effectively nuked half the city and there’s bound to be some fallout from that so let’s see what it’s like with Tokyo being a post jump kicked wasteland.

Okay maybe not all of Tokyo was leveled, so sue me. It’s still pretty big! 3000 meters is almost 2 miles in radius (for those of you who prefer English units), which is definitely a healthy dose of destruction. We find this out from one of the weirdest TV shows I’ve ever seen, as it’s a guy with a stick pointing to newspaper articles he’s taped up onto a board that he’s summarizing for the viewers. It’s… kind of like a news show but not really I guess? I should note that the picture in the magazine is one of Kuuga right in the middle of his Rider Kick which means at least whoever took that picture has been vaporized because they were like ten feet from the explosion.

Godai and Minori are watching this broadcast at Pore Pore and there’s a palpable air of unease hanging over the whole thing, as the TV Newspaper Reader Guy talks about uncountable casualties and growing public unease in regards to the ever increasing power of Kuuga which is a really good cause to jump to the credits!

After the credits Godai says it’s a shame he destroyed city blocks but he’s pretty sure he wouldn’t have won the fight without doing so and Minori talks about how it’s a good thing nobody got hurt thanks to the intervention of Ichijo and the Police and just before the credits they were talking about giant explosions leaving uncountable casualties so man I don’t even know what that’s all about. Unfortunately I don’t have time to worry about it because who should show up at Pore Pore to ruin this scene?

No for once it’s not Manager, it’s my old nemesis Kuuga Narrator! I thought we had seen the last of him way back in episode 17 but he has returned to toss us once more back unto the breech of a Clip Show! Just like last time he’s promising to reveal some information for us and this time he’s vowed to go over how Godai lucked into getting the Golden Power and got stronger. Let’s see how he does!

Well he starts things off correctly at least, bringing us his first fight with the Mushroom Grongi from episodes 18 and 19 that killed Godai and set up the whole defibrillator thing in the first place.

Then they show the shots of his friends and loved ones reacting to his death (not including Sakurako because she is neither friend or loved one!) which, again, were definitely high points of the series and honestly not a terrible way to introduce us to people in a quick swing through the characters personalities at least which is kind of what you should hope to be doing with a Clip Show if you have to use one.

The narrator goes ‘Something something Amadam powered up whatever’ while we see Godai dead in bed and then they show Kuuga come back for the last of his triple jump kicks against the Mushroom as the show decides it is time we switch from any plot nonsense as we’re just going to do highlights of some Grongi kills. I approve!

We get the next time that Kuuga kills the Mushroom Grongi which is fun because I may not have mentioned it last time but you can totally tell they just drop a dummy in a Mushroom Grongi costume off a building and it looks hilarious, then Chameleon getting shot from the sky by Green Kuuga hanging off of Gouram which is something that the show decided he’s not really going to do all that often because it was silly, and finally Garima getting impaled by Golden Purple Kuuga which is when finally we get the techno-babble about what is going on with Kuuga.

But it failed to do anything about Godai’s mole hair! Also the Narrator just loves talking about power now, just how Kuuga’s power unlocked more power, and his power is so powerful because the power he powered up lets him power his way through powerful opponents. There may be something of a theme going on here.

Back at Pore Pore Godai and Minori talk about how Sakurako is going to show up and how it’s amazing that she can work so hard and pull all-nighters when the both of them would be worn out trying to put up with her exhaustive workload. Which of course means Sakurako comes in looking super energetic and cheery!

Do I have to even say it? Nope, but I will anyway! Sakurako obviously did not pull an all-nighter and just lied to everyone about it so she could look more productive while she was really just sleeping at her desk. Of course she is quick to change the subject so that they don’t talk about it, vaguely alluding to having some business with Godai which probably involves her talking about that same dang translation she’s been obsessed with, and then going to help Minori with making coffee, leaving Godai just scratching his head. Literally scratching his head, which is the absolute most generic way to demonstrate confusion for some reason across multiple cultures? Isn’t that kind of weird?

While I ponder synchronous cross cultural human response to stimuli the show decides it’s time to catch up with our secondary lead, Ichijo. He’s having breakfast at the police commissary and reading newspapers full of blurry photos and trash talk about Kuuga. Sakurai shows up and mentions that the higher ups are distancing themselves from Kuuga even after being gung-ho about cooperating with him in the wake of the recent scandal. Which isn’t that surprising because I mean he did just blow up a city block and I kind of think that’s the sort of thing the police usually frown upon.

But now it’s time for me to get reeeeeeeally irritated. And I think anyone following these recaps will understand why.

What the hell Kuuga? Seriously! Sakurai doesn’t know about Godai being Kuuga? What the heck is your position on this whole secret identity thing!? I mean I’d be fine if you were just consistent but none of this makes any sense! To recap (which is what I do, I am your humble Recapper after all), Ichijo originally kept Kuuga’s identity secret from the rest of the police for the obvious reason that they didn’t trust Kuuga. Despite that the police agreed to cooperate with Kuuga which was… weird, but I could run with it.

Then eventually Ichijo tells Enokida, off-screen, that Kuuga is Godai. Which made some kind of sense with her having to run tests on him and being involved in all the scientific research so it was understandable. Then just recently Enokida told the Police Chief who Kuuga was while they were talking about building Kuuga a new bike, which all also happened off-screen, and a bunch of secondary characters confirmed they knew Kuuga’s identity, with Jean having learned off-screen which is obviously something of a trend, and it basically seemed like it was just open now.

But now Sakurai is revealing that Ichijo has not told any of the rest of the police what Kuuga’s identity is? How does that even work? I mean I know Sakurai is barely a character but geez Ichijo the Police Chief already knows and he was the one guy you seemed to be hiding all this from so why not at least tell your fellow task force members? This is the kind of stuff that you don’t notice when you’re watching the show for the first time but sitting here dissecting it all just really becomes apparent how weird everything about this subplot is.

ANYWAYS Ichijo literally laughs at his question, which seems kind of dickish, and then we’re off to see what the Grongi are up to this week.

If you guessed anything other than meeting up in a weird place and be ominous then man have you even been watching this show?

Badaa is flipping his coin while Baruba is talking about stuff and Abacus Grongi is flicking his Abacus beads around which was something I thought he only did when he was counting off kills so maybe he’s making up for some lost time? Like maybe this conversation is them telling Abacus that actually Badaa already killed a few dudes so you can go ahead and credit him a bit before he starts his Gegeru?

Oh and Badaa throws a weirdly shaped sheet of… I guess we’ll call it ‘Grongi Paper’, which has symbols on it and for some reason that convinces Abacus it’s okay that Badaa gets to use his motorcycle (I have no idea why Abacus gets to decide if he uses his motorcycle), while the Grongi reinforce the whole ‘Horse’ thing which I totally love.

If you squint, it kind of looks like the top is a horse running, and the middle is… I don’t know a really toothy mouth? And the bottom is a dude riding a horse. So I’m going to assume that translates to ‘I like horses, getting to ride one would make me have a big happy Grongi smile.’ And Abacus agrees with Badaa’s sentiment.

But yeah, I’m really burying the lede here aren’t I because it’s Badaa’s turn at bat! So far he’s shown up to harass Kuuga a few times and has proven to be a capable threat and he’s finally going all out. And from the tenor of their conversation it seems like rather than most Grongi who go after the Linto first Badaa is going to be targeting Kuuga directly which fits in for his pattern as he seems to have something of a rivalry with our hero.

But Badaa drops another surprising little hint when he’s mounting up to ride out. When he mentions something about a ‘Final Gegeru.’

He seems to imply that he’ll have to win his Gegeru to get to it, but I believe this is the first time the series has made hints towards some sort of end game for the Grongi. We still have no idea what that could be, but it means they might not just be mass murdering without cause. Is there some sort of goal in mind?

Oh and Narrator kicks in to basically say all that I just said, just kind of throwing his hands up like he did last time he was around and going ‘Man the Grongi are weird isn’t that cool huh?’

And Narrator’s return means it’s time for more Clip Show… Hooray?

We start things off in episode 25 and 26 with the Owl Grongi flying around giving people blow-dart assisted cardiac arrest before showing Golden Green Kuuga’s depressingly fast finishing blow against him, followed by the better fight in episode 28 where Golden Blue Kuuga flung the Snake Grongi out into the ocean and if there’s one uniting factor in both of those it is far less ‘Golden Power activated’ and way more ‘Crappy Explosion Special Effects.’

And that’s not just me saying it, the Narrator himself is using these clips to talk about how the explosions are getting bigger with every finish! Man don’t go calling attention to that geez, I mean just look at these again!

You do not want the audience being called to pay attention to this stuff Narrator!

We cut over to episode 29 to get a brief interlude where they’re talking about how for lack of a better explanation the defibrillator is probably what gave Godai all his new power ups and covering all the bits where Tsubaki and Ichijo are worried about their friend whose untested ancient powers have no gotten even more untested considering they’re going off even the script that the old civilizations had left for them, which of course Godai never worried about because Godai.

Then it’s time for Gamego highlights, starting with him making it rain (giant metal balls of death, not cash monies though you can totally picture his Gangster self doing that), followed by Golden Purple Kuuga’s failure to defeat him.

Then the show just… shows the entirety of Golden Red Kuuga’s Rider Kick again and… well, considering I love the hell out of that kick are you at all surprised I’m going to be posting it here again for all of our enjoyment? This is one of the few times I’m in total agreement with you Narrator! This is something worth watching again!

And we return back to Pore Pore to Godai making a salad after that. Sakurako (who wasn’t in any of the flash back stuff because seriously she is so unimportant right now) asks Godai about him summoning the Golden Power using his willpower, which is something Tsubaki mentioned to her. Godai just explains again his powers are based on his feelings and that when he wants to do something his powers just react, but before Sakurako can get to whatever actual serious question she’s dancing around Ichijo calls and dramatic music happens, so you know this isn’t just him seeing if Godai is going to make their dinner date.

After getting word that Badaa has been spotted, Godai vaguely alludes to the Police Science Research Institute having developed some new tech before he runs off to fight. We catch up with Badaa and apparently he’s targeting motorcyclists, which… okay I mean that’s understandable I guess that’s kind of his main character trait? But seriously dude you love motorcycles too shouldn’t you sympathize with those poor Linto you are running over?

Oh and I would be remiss if I didn’t note that Badaa totally wheelie kicks this Hawaiian shirt wearing dude in the face because man is that not awesome… and a surprisingly dangerous looking stunt for some reason when I watch it happening to a regular dude and not some guy in a rubber suit?

And uh… yeah he eventually straight up runs the dude over which, again, stunt work on that is really awesome because even though they cut away at the last second it really looks like that actor is about to be hit by a motorcycle flying through the air.

So long Hawaiian shirt dude, you shall forever live on in my heart as some guy who let me watch some cool motorcycle stunts by virtue of getting murdered by a Grasshopper monster. Truly one of our greatest heroes.

As Badaa flees the scene Godai Henshin’s to Red on the Trychaser and the Narrator cuts in to talk about how Godai will protect peoples smiles and blah blah blah we’ve heard all that before and then we cut to the end credits.

So, Final Thoughts?

Maaaaan, what a drag of an episode. Compared to last time at least the Narrator did what he set out to do and gave the basics of what the Golden Power is but other than that this Clip Show was a real snooze fest. The new stuff that is happening is all pretty dull for the most part. Watching Godai, Minori, and Sakurako making lunch is not exactly compelling television.

Considering how amazing Badaa has been up to this point, to have the first half of his two-parter be a Clip Show is really disappointing you know? Because up until this point whenever a Grongi starts his Gegeru the next episode he has been explodey bitsed by Kuuga so it seems really a drag that we have to waste what little time we have with Badaa getting to watch him only run over one guy. And I mean that was a pretty cool scene on its own. Probably the highlight of the episode and it has almost nothing to do with the rest of the episode around it!

And coming right off the high that was Kuuga’s city destroying kick it seems like we could’ve had a way better episode you know? Even if you wanted to do a clip show. How about frame it as one where the news media, public, and police are reviewing Kuuga’s recent activities and starting to get more scared as they realize his powers are going more and more out of control, culminating in his last Rider Kick? It would’ve at least tied better into the plot…

Just… blah. Blah blah blah. And isn’t it kind of weird the entire episode took place in Pore Pore but Manager wasn’t there? At least Badaa is going to be around next week to cheer me up!

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

The police talk about Badaa riding a motorcycle like it’s some shocking news! Ichijo talks about the BTCS with Godai! The BTCS is officially named the Beatchaser 2000! And Kuuga and Badaa have a motorcycle duel on a rocky cliff culminating in the both of them hitting a sweet jump!

Join me in being way more hype for next week than I have been today as we all look forward to the motorcycle themed greatness that is to come in Kamen Rider Kuuga Episode 32: Obstacle!

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