Geekatana Review: Kamen Rider Kuuga

Those that know me well enough know that I'm also a big super sentai and kamen rider fan. And although I'm not as hardcore as some of my friends I do delve into them when I have time. I haven't posted anything for a while since I've been rather busy on things so I thought what better way to get back into the swing of things than to do this type of review...mainly a kamen rider one.

I've been putting off making a review of these for a long while now so I thought today might be a good day to start a quick review of one. And what better way to start one than to do a review of Kamen Rider Kuuga. Also some minor spoilers ahead.

So why Kamen Rider Kuuga? We'll aside from its the first kamen rider series to be made after the long drought of kamen rider tv shows in the 90's it's also the first Heisei kamen Rider series marking the beginning of the new era of Kamen Rider. Although technically the Heisei era started with Black RX it is Kamen Rider Kuuga that is the official first Heisei Kamen Rider. Rider RX being the 9th and Kuuga being the tenth rider series respectively.

The series follows a multi talented Yusuke Godai who finds himself drawn to a stone belt found in an excavation site and eventually merging with it to become kamen Rider Kuuga when the mysterious Grongi Tribe resurrected to exact revenge on humanity who are descendants of the Linto that once sealed them long ago. Kuuga with the help of the Science Police must learn to unlock Kuuga's different abilities in order to protect humanity.

The fun part about Kuuga is that you don't need to have knowledge of previous kamen rider series to enjoy it as the series does a good way of explaining what is going on. The story does takes it time to build up its story and a lot of the minor plot shown in the start of the series won't be brought up again until later. The series pace picks up halfway throughout its run and by then you should be well invested in the series to fully enjoy it.

The plot of Kuuga is one of the best in the kamen Rider series for me ...although not number one I'd still put this one in the Top 5 as even though it does drop into your typical cliché story the plot matures and gets serious as the story progresses. I'm guessing around when episode 14 onwards.

I like how they tried to give the Grongi more depth than your typical monster of the week like how certain conditions, time and numbers coincides on how they hunt or kill their prey. Also each Grongi is unique on its own with its own strength and weaknesses and not your typical monster episode filler. Although this also the reason that lead to certain Grongi leaving the good guys alive to fight another day cause they type of quirks aren't met. Kind of live vampires can only hunt during the night kind of stuff.

There's also the minor flaw of the Grongi all looking like emo punk band members when they could have clearly have gone for more diversity with the Grongi human disguises with only the tattoo being the linking factor. Still I guess it's a minor oversight in production.

Visually the show is a lot more flashy than its predecessor and a lot of the style Kuuga does is pretty much been the staple of Kamen Rider since like its changing form and base color, the multiple rider weapons. Since it came out back in January 2000 visually it has shown its age yet it's still is appealing in it's own way. Thus certain scene having bad and outdated cgi.

The Kuuga armor is a bit lazily done with the lower part only having a knee armor and nothing else but the look does grow on you and I love how the suit change and grow as the series progresses leading to better looking suits later on.

There's also that time where the Grongi could have finished off the main characters but walked away simply cause they were in a hurry when they could just spare five seconds just to slit their throat. Still errors like this is not a big factor unless you take your kamen Rider really show seriously.

Overall Kuuga for its minor flaws is a great series and one I'd recommend starting out on if you want to get back into the kamen Rider since it story stands on it's on feet. Story does takes it time to pick up and you will find it well worth your time watching from beginning to end. An easy recommendation for anyone who loves kamen Rider and those who wants to get into the Rider franchise.