Kamen Rider Kuuga Episode 4: "Dash"
Written By Arakawa Naruhisa
Directed By Watanabe Katsuya
Once again, this review will probably be on the shorter side. Much of this episode is action and the pacing is some of the quickest the series will ever see. At the halfway mark, Godai and Ichijô are already on their way to get the bike! The ending fight also takes up a good chunk of the episode, and that's several minutes free of dialogue that isn't Gronginese or Kuuga enthusiastically revving up. Not surprisingly, this is one of my favorite Kamen Rider episodes of all time.
After the last episode dropped a whole bunch of new characters and locales on us, this one really just sort of puts everything in place, setting up the series status quo once and for all. While there's still twists, turns and character introductions aplenty, this is the point where the basic one-sentence hook for the remainder of the series is established (Kuuga lives in Tokyo and fights evil monsters with a bike, a cop, and a girl who's really good at deciphering things.) It does also feature the proper debut of Kuuga's all-essential Rider Machine: the TryChaser 2000, but more on that later.
Kuuga manages to not get shot full of holes while Ichijô is finally sent off to Tokyo, ignoring his own injuries because a few cracked ribs aren't going to stop him! The well-being of one's self is a running theme throughout the episode (and the series, for that matter.) And on that subject, we're then treated to a scene of a monster digging a bloody bullet out of her eye. Only at 8 AM Sunday morning, kids!
I think you could say that this is probably one of the shows' most violent episodes. Later on, the series will feature astronomical body counts or Kuuga taking increasingly more savage beatings, but I think for sheer brutality, this one's pretty hard to top. There's yet another cop massacre, the aforementioned bullet scene, bloody claw marks on faces everywhere, and that one poor guy in the tunnel... ouch. There's even death-by-thighs! Speaking of the faces thing and the guy in the tunnel, I always worked under the assumption that Mebio's out to take as many eyeballs as she can, and what we're seeing is as good as the network would probably allow.
The violence is always purposeful though; it builds up Mebio as a serious threat and makes Kuuga's climatic showdown with her all the more potent. If there's one thing the show really excels at, particularly in these early episodes, it's cranking up the tension to near-unbearable levels until Kuuga finally arrives on the scene. There's simply no other way out; it's nonstop slaughter until the man in red shows up. Other Rider series can usually get some of that, though Kuuga has the advantage of being one of the few true one-Rider shows, so he has to save the day because there is literally no one else who can. It also helps that his villains' general method of attack is to go out and tear Tokyo a new one.
Just in case you thought things were getting too serious though, Sakurako literally trips over Godai. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before or not, since it was featured in the first episode, but here's where we return once more to Jônan University, Japan's premiere fictional school, which appears in numerous Rider series as well as Ultras, other Ishinomori heroes, and beyond. Through all the bad times (in THE NEXT, Hongô teaches at Jônan University High School) and the good times (basically, everything else) it's always been there, and now it serves as Kuuga's other regular hangout.
Before launching off on her killing spree, Mebio has a run-in with the other Grongi, and while back in 2000 we had little clue why they seemed so grumpy about her sudden vengeful streak, we now know: the game is about to begin. In a way, it seems kind of odd for the others to call her out given how the Grongi have worked up to this point. I tend to think the whole "game" idea was something that was still developing as the series went into production, and at this stage they could just say that Gumun and Gooma were warming up. Now it's time to get real, where there's another reason to the carnage.
I think the whole idea of the game is an interesting one, though it has some odder aspects later on that I've never quite gotten. But then, that's the point of this rewatch! As far as this episode goes though, while the others go off to prepare, Mebio goes off to snap some necks.
And how trippy is that effect when she's running through the city? While super speed is one of those things I think looks best when done with simple editing trickery (see the recent OOO episodes with the Unicorm Yummy; when he runs into the van they just speed up the video a bit to get across the same idea) given what the scene entails, it's understandable. She is running through the middle of busy Tokyo traffic!
The shot of her running past a conveniently-placed Godai is pretty cool. I joke about it, but from a writing point of view it is the fastest way to get your hero in on the action!
I like when Godai "borrows" the bike (and the helmet- got to send a good message to the kiddies.) This scene serves as a reminder that our hero desperately needs a regular vehicle; he can't just keep running around everywhere, because eventually he'll lose out to the super-fast monsters. He also can't just keep stealing cop bikes, because eventually he'll wind up in jail. Furthermore, if he's going to get a new motorcycle, it has to be able to climb stairs.
By the way, the end of this sequence is filmed around Makuhari Messe, a convention complex in Tokyo I've been to for the Tokyo Toy Show, among other events. If you ever go to Tokyo Disney Land, it's just a few stops away on the Maihama line. I thought it looked familiar!
Ichijô "arresting" Godai is one of those scenes that's always stuck with me; it's another step in their ever-changing relationship. As I said before, I liked the confrontational stuff from the first two episodes, but I actually did enjoy this too. It's early but subtle character growth. Ichijô may not think Godai's head is entirely in order, but he trusts him enough that he's willing to bend the rules if it means saving lives.
Something to consider: What was Ichijô planning to do with Godai originally? Of course we know he brings him to get the TryChaser, but Godai's comments in the car and then Ichijô finding the old note in his pocket seem to make him rethink or at least consider something other than what he originally had in mind. You can probably say he always intended to give Godai the bike anyway and those just served as reinforcement (and a counterpoint to Ichijô's comments at the beginning of the episode.) In a sense Ichijô is once again doing something a little outside the rules here so they have to build it up as a big decision, rather than just have him go "Dude I got your new ride back at HQ."
Speaking of watching 2011 Rider and then going back to 2000, it's fun to see how little things like camera technique have changed. Check out the shaky handheld stuff at the beginning of the episode in the police meeting, or the extended shot of Ichijô's car parking. Maybe we do still see stuff like that and I just don't notice, but it's pretty cool to think about it. Kamen Rider certainly feels much more routinely fast-paced these days, harkening back to the 70's and 80's, whereas I always found Kuuga to be in its own strange era apart from even Agito. The video quality of the early 2000's shows also gives them a weird feel that's not quite like anything else.
This is the point in the review where it gets a little hard to be very verbose, since so much of the episode from this point on is action. I guess I can talk about that, and the motorcycle of course. Otherwise, I don't know what I can do beyond make bikes noises.
A lot of the action is tied into the motorcycle, which I'll get to shortly. But the whole sequence, which is half fight/half chase is a load of fun. God bless all those dilapidated buildings in Japan, huh? The old Riders got good use out of places like the famous Obake Mansion, and now we've got Kuuga driving up the stairs of... um... Neo Geo Agent Metal? I dunno, but it's cool. I also like the continual growth of Kuuga's Rider Kick; it's a little bit different here than it was back in episode 2, and will continue to evolve.
So at last it's time to talk about the TryChaser 2000.
If I'm not mistaken, this is the second non-Japanese manufactured Rider Machine, with Super-1's Harley being the first. Crazily enough though, it's Super-1's other bike that Kuuga's is a spiritual descendant of (after all, Blue Version climbed its share of stairs back in the day.)
The Spanish-made Gas Gass Pampera 250 apparently wasn't the original choice for TryChaser's base machine, but based on this episode alone, I think it's pretty clear they went with the right bike for the job.
As far as debut episodes go, this bike gets a really good one. There's actually only a couple Kamen Rider stories to really get into the origin of the motorcycles themselves. Often times they just come as part of the larger package, with even their creation being something of a mystery.
For instance, New Cyclone had a pretty good debut, though it has to share its entrance with Doctor Shinigami's exit, and I don't need to tell you which event that episode is more known for. Amazon's Jungler and BLACK's Road Sector probably have some of the best debut episodes in terms of how they're built up and then utilized, and Kuuga episode 4 is definitely on their level.
What's remarkable in hindsight is that this episode doesn't even have the iconic red & gold TryChaser look; that's coming soon enough, but at this point it's still got the factory paint job, the "black head" version or whatever they called it.
TryChaser 2000 (or TRCS 2000, if you prefer) is a pretty cool bike overall. I'm not sure if I like it more than its eventual successor, which loses the Kuuga-ish color scheme, but gains the parachute. I will go into great detail about the parachute when the time comes, but needless to say I @#$%ing love the parachute.
But back to the original model: it feels like every recent Rider bike has been of the heavier-style, and while that's cool, I would like to see something lightweight like this again. If nothing else, Decade proved that they can still conceivably do it. I like those big antennae thing on the back too.
As for the name, there's some debate for it being "TriChaser" as in "TrialChaser" (since you know, it was an experimental superbike that eventually leads to the GuardChaser.) Beats me, but since the song is called "Try & Chase", I'll stick with that.
You don't suppose 0318 actually stands for anything, do you?
Also, you've got to love the TryAceller. Not only is it indisputable proof that Agito is a sequel to Kuuga, it's also a piece of marketing genius. You have no idea how psyched I was back in 2000 at the thought of Kuuga taking his bike handle off and bashing it over monsters' heads. Which, admittedly, I don't remember him doing much at all. It did serve as the main source of the Titan Sword's creation, so I guess that counts.
But still, a bunch of the original Mighty Form figures even came with one as their accessory! I thought it was going to be like his weapon of choice, the way Dragon had his rod, Pegasus had his bowgun, etc. I guess my 16-year-old mind thought it would double as a stun baton or something. Alas, I did not pick up the DX version, nor the G3 edition repaint. I know Faiz has a similar idea a few years later and to his credit he did bash monsters with his bike grip sword-thing.
Anyway, the actual unveiling of the motorcycle, followed by Godai's subsequent henshin and the ensuing driving sequence is the point where the episode goes from "merely very good" to "bonafide classic". This scene is so awesome, I'm amazed it hasn't been ripped off more! Everything is just perfect: the pacing, the camera shots, the roar of the engine, the music (especially the music.) It's hard to articulate just how thrilling this was in 2000. If the first three episodes hadn't already done it, this is where the show says it once and for all: Kamen Rider Is Back.
There are many Kuuga moments that often get wheeled out as the definitive one, the best-in-series scene that you post on message boards to tell everyone why they should watch the show. The first Mighty Form transformation, the city-destroying Rising Might kick, the Titan Form freak-out, the unorthodox final battle, etc. If I have to pick just one though, it's the first ride. The hero gets on his bike, transforms and goes off to save the day. It is Kamen Rider in a nutshell.
Now if I have any gripes about this episode, it's a minor, ridiculous nitpicky one, and it's not even really a fault of this episode specifically... but this is the point where people should have started slinging around the term "Kamen Rider". I know, I get that Kuuga's reasoning is the police still don't know our hero from his enemies so he's still #2 & #4 to them... but really, this would have been the perfect way to work it into the dialogue. Even if it was just a one-off thing dropped in by two nobodies or a newspaper headline!
I know there's the theme song and the Terebi-Kun thing (if I remember right) but come on: Sugita (soon-to-be-regular #1) couldn't have come away from that near-death experience still thinking "well that bike-riding guy who speaks Japanese and looks totally different from the other monsters is an ally, but he MUST be one of those monsters!" Maybe they did sneak it in there and I missed it, or maybe one of the W writers traveled back in time to prevent it from happening since that show basically pulled off exactly what I'm getting at here to great success.
It still doesn't detract from the fact that this episode rocks. And truth be told, the dialogue-free last scene is probably better than Ichijô or somebody turning to the camera and namedropping the series title. Instead we get something simple, silent and simply perfect. We've come a long way from the end of episode 1, which this scene is the bookend to.
And so concludes the first episodes of Kamen Rider Kuuga. The opening four are generally the ones I look to when I consider what my first impressions of a show were, and Kuuga's opening act holds up really well. With a kick-off like this, it's no wonder Kamen Rider's still going strong all these years later.
Next Time: The Grongi play a dangerous game, and Kuuga's feeling blue.
No comments:
Post a Comment