Ultraman soda is p good therapy

Kuon loves Hoeru deeply, just as he's deeply jealous of him. Because of his jealousy and love he wants to control Hoeru. A mother is the one who ¨knows best¨ for their child. I don't think he consciously thinks this way. Kuon is well aware of his jealousy and need for control. But he doesn't seem to think about his feelings regarding motherhood. I think that's something subconscious.

Kuon seems to think very little about fatherhood. Almost not even caring about it. We know nothing about Tohno dad. But Koyo waltzed in and claimed authority in No One world. He assumed like he knew what was best for them. Hisamitsu could've felt that Koyo was arrogant and ignorant. Stupid for playing ¨house¨. Other than Tohno mom, Hisamitsu was the one who was supposed to know what's best for Hoeru.

In Kuon's eyes, fathers are ignorant, naive and doesn't have any real control. Following this train of thought, I assume that Tohno dad was pretty passive in his parenting.

Regarding these three questions, Kuon's themes can be summed up nicely. The worst case of gifted child syndrome and the worst case of eldest child syndrome.

HOWEVER

a bunch of this is me making assumptions on the very little information we have. Episode 43 brought up so many interesting and concerning questions that I doubt we'll get answers to. Gozyuger's pacing and distribution of screen time got extremely messed up. And now with so few episodes left and Kuon being a toy sword, I have a hard time believing that we'll get answers. Maybe if we get a v cinema.

@yuquiitas yes you’re so right! I should’ve mentioned Akiko. About the screen time thing, I forgot to add that I don’t think and that it isn’t Akiko’s fault that it all got messed up. Besides what happened to Imamori, I get the feeling a lot happened in production that made Akiko’s and the other writers job difficult.

Kuon loves Hoeru deeply, just as he's deeply jealous of him. Because of his jealousy and love he wants to control Hoeru. A mother is the one who ¨knows best¨ for their child. I don't think he consciously thinks this way. Kuon is well aware of his jealousy and need for control. But he doesn't seem to think about his feelings regarding motherhood. I think that's something subconscious.

Kuon seems to think very little about fatherhood. Almost not even caring about it. We know nothing about Tohno dad. But Koyo waltzed in and claimed authority in No One world. He assumed like he knew what was best for them. Hisamitsu could've felt that Koyo was arrogant and ignorant. Stupid for playing ¨house¨. Other than Tohno mom, Hisamitsu was the one who was supposed to know what's best for Hoeru.

In Kuon's eyes, fathers are ignorant, naive and doesn't have any real control. Following this train of thought, I assume that Tohno dad was pretty passive in his parenting.

Regarding these three questions, Kuon's themes can be summed up nicely. The worst case of gifted child syndrome and the worst case of eldest child syndrome.

HOWEVER

a bunch of this is me making assumptions on the very little information we have. Episode 43 brought up so many interesting and concerning questions that I doubt we'll get answers to. Gozyuger's pacing and distribution of screen time got extremely messed up. Not Inoue Akiko’s fault. Production has been hell. And now with so few episodes left and Kuon being a toy sword, I have a hard time believing that we'll get answers. Maybe if we get a v cinema.

Security regulation hates her! Showa tokusatsu stunts (long edit)

Asked for help for this on my main blog. I'm going to make a short edit that's actually social media friendly. But I prefer the long edit.

Thank you to:

@shadowsandbag @mo-ok @sunshinemoonrx @tenbillionhomodjs

Crap you’re right I didn’t think of that

well i'm just gonna say it, it's sexual assault. when tega june is on top of tega sword, kuon is on top of hoeru. tega june forcing herself on tega sword (in a way that can be shown on a children's show) that's kuon forcing himself on hoeru. kuon is just as into the ¨romantic¨ aspect of this fight as tega june is.

this is some insane writing choices for a super sentai show but it's brilliant. i love it. a lot of jpn fans have pointed out the domestic violence themes and in this episode it's heavier than ever. an intense, sensitive topic that miss inoue handles with grace and as much brutality as is needed and allowed.

during the mech fight, i gripped onto my chair so hard that my hands hurt.

i literally paused and screamed and then needed a moment to collect myself

EDIT: i saw some takes on twt that irritated me. saying that this was a poor word choice, some implying that Inoue hadn't thought this through or that it was just for shock value.

I highly disagree. Every uncomfortable thing Kuon has done has a reason behind it. He's obsessed with Hoeru. Hoeru, to Kuon, is the weaknesses that made him experience some sort of trauma (yet to be shown). At the same time Hoeru is Kuon's last way to feel hope and love. He's amazed that Hoeru has remained so kind. He wants to control and protect that, to regain some of the stability and love that he had as a kid.

despite what i've written above, i don't think Kuon is romantically or sexually attracted to Hoeru. I don't think he would literally rape him. as mentioned, domestic violence and abusive relationships are themes in this show. by alluding to sexual assault in the mech fight, Inoue both illustrates how messed up Kuon is and furthers the conversation about these themes.

of course you can hate it and be disgusted by it. obviously you're supposed to be. i just don't want people to think that Kuon is some yandere character meant only to be a hinder and spectacle. you can have other interpretations than me. even argue if you want to if this is appropriate for children (i think it is) but you cannot say that this was a poor word choice.

i am very surprised how much fun i'm having with Kuon. how much i'm looking forward to what he does next. partially because i can't predict it, and because he's a well-written character with well-written taboo subjects (incest, dv, sa). as my friend said, the mech fight is a good jumping off point for parents to talk about consent with their kids.

Regarding Hoeru and Kuon, yes I’m still feeling good about it so far. I personally like that Kuon hasn’t had a lot of screen time. Keeping him distant from us and Hoeru, but always haunting us.

Next episode is gonna reveal a lot about Kuon. I expected to be super excited about this. But because of Imamori’s treatment and erasure from the show, I can’t enjoy gozyuger rn. This next episode was supposed to be Sumino focused too.

Never in a million years could’ve I predicted that the reason I lost enthusiasm in one of my favorite toku dynamic, would be the sexist, racist and abusive firing of a teenage actress.

What I mean by this is that Sumino, Imamori, is critical to the show. No matter how good anything else is, Sumino’s erasure looms over it. And for good reason. This isn’t something we should look past.