Kamen Rider Kuuga


Kamen Rider Kuuga is a Japanese tokusatsu television series. It is the tenth installment of the popular Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu shows and the first of the series to air entirely in the Heisei period, as well as the first standalone Kamen Rider TV series since Kamen Rider Black RX and the first series of the revived run of Kamen Rider, bringing Kamen Rider into the 21st century.
It was a joint collaboration between Asatsu-DK and Toei, and was shown on TV Asahi from January 30, 2000, to January 21, 2001, replacing Moero!! Robocon in its timeslot. Kamen Rider Kuuga is the first Kamen Rider Series to be broadcast in a widescreen format, albeit cropped during airing. It aired alongside Mirai Sentai Timeranger.

Synopsis

Long ago, the Gurongi Tribe terrorized the Linto Tribe until a warrior acquired the power of Kuuga and defeated the Gurongi, sealing their leader within a cave along with him. In the present day, Kuuga's mysterious stone belt is excavated, freeing the Gurongi as they resume their murderous game on the Linto Tribe's descendants: humanity itself. But a multi-talented man named Yusuke Godai finds himself drawn to the belt and becomes the new Kuuga. He helped assemble the Science Police to fight the Gurongi to ensure the happiness and safety of others. But as the endgame draws near, Yusuke learns of a horrible revelation between Kuuga and the Gurongi Tribe's leader.

Characters

Main and supporting characters

;Yusuke Godai
  • Growing Form: Yusuke's incomplete form, also known as "White Kuuga", that he is forced to assume whenever he is injured, after which he is unable to transform again for two hours. His finisher in this form is the Growing Kick. The police initially refer to this form as "Unidentified Life Form #2" and believe it to be a separate being from Kuuga's other forms until they learn about Kuuga's form-changing powers.
  • Mighty Form: Yusuke's default form, also known as "Red Kuuga", that specializes in hand-to-hand combat. His finisher in this form is the Mighty Kick.
  • *Rising Mighty: An evolution of Mighty Form that that equips Yusuke with the Mighty Anklet, which dramatically increases the power of his Mighty Kick into the Rising Mighty Kick.
  • *Amazing Mighty: A black-colored evolution of Rising Mighty that equips Yusuke with a second Mighty Anklet, which dramatically increases the power of his Rising Mighty Kick into the Amazing Mighty Kick.
  • Dragon Form: An auxiliary form, also known as "Blue Kuuga", that grants superhuman agility. In this form, Yusuke can morph any pole or stick-like object into the Dragon Rod staff, which allows him to perform the Splash Dragon finisher.
  • *Rising Dragon: An evolution of Dragon Form that enhances the Dragon Rod into the double-bladed Rising Dragon Rod for the Rising Splash Dragon finisher.
  • Pegasus Form: An auxiliary form, also known as "Green Kuuga", that grants superhuman senses. In this form, Yusuke can morph any gun-like object into the Pegasus Bowgun, which allows him to perform the Blast Pegasus finisher. However, he can only use this form for 50 seconds before succumbing to sensory overload and being forced into Growing Form.
  • *Rising Pegasus: An evolution of Pegasus Form that enhances the Pegasus Bowgun into the rapid-fire Rising Pegasus Bowgun for the Rising Blast Pegasus finisher. Yusuke can also use this form 30 seconds longer than Pegasus Form.
  • Titan Form: An auxiliary form, also known as "Purple Kuuga", that grants superhuman strength. In this form, Yusuke can morph any pole or stick-like object into the Titan Sword, which allows him to perform the Calamity Titan finisher.
  • *Rising Titan: An evolution of Titan Form that enhances the Titan Sword into the longer and broader Rising Titan Sword, which Yusuke can produce a copy of to dual wield, for the Rising Calamity Titan finisher.
  • Ultimate Form: Yusuke's black-colored final form, also known as the "Supreme Warrior", that possesses immense destructive potential. However, he risks losing control in this form, which changes the form's eye color from red to black.
  • *Rising Ultimate: A gold-colored evolution of Ultimate Form that is exclusively used by Yusuke's A.R. World counterpart Yusuke Onodera.
;Kaoru Ichijo
;Sakurako Sawatari
;Minori Godai
;Shuichi Tsubaki
;Hikari Enokida
;Tamasaburo Kazari
;Nana Asahina
;Jean Michel Sorrel
;Sadao Matsukura
;Morimichi Sugita
;Tsuyoshi Sakurai
;Nozomi Sasayama
;Mika Natsume
;Akiji Kanzaki
;Junichi Chono

Gurongi Tribe

The Gurongi Tribe is a mysterious ancient civilization whose members can transform into monsters to kill people for their ruthless game, referred to in their language as the "Gegeru". The 200 members of the Gurongi made their rival civilization the Linto, humanity's ancestors before they were defeated and sealed by the original Kuuga, Riku. However, the seal was undone in 2000 with the Gurongi resuming their Gegeru on the human race that are the Linto's descendants to bring about the "Ultimate Darkness", when humanity will become as violent as the Gurongi.
The Gurongi are classified as Unidentified Life Forms, while those that have a human form are labeled "B". Each of the Gurongi possesses a stylized Gedorudo belt with a Magic Stone Geburon. The naming pattern of the Gurongi is "Group·Species·Creature type": the first part denotes their rank, the second part is the personal name, and the third part indicates the type of animal they resemble. Only 25 out of the 200 Gurongi appeared in the course of the series.
In the series, the Gurongi speak in their own native language which was left purposely unsubtitled during the original broadcast to prevent the audience from learning the series' mysteries and plot twists. The Xu Group is the first to play in the Gegeru, then the Me, and finally the Go in the Gerizagibas Gegeru. The Gegeru is overseen by the two La Gurongi, and the winner of the Gerizagibas Gegeru receives the right to challenge their leader, N·Daguva·Zeba, to a duel known as the Zagibas Gegeru for the leadership of the Gurongi.
The La Group are the judges of the Gegeru and are Daguva's right-hand men. The Nu Group crafts the artifacts used by the other groups. The Xu Group contains lower-tier Gurongi under Zu·Zain·Da, most of their kin slaughtered by Daguva as they failed to acquire the right to participate. Those who did qualify are brought into the Gegeru by writing their names on the portable Dodozo blackboard and using the beads of their Guzepa bracelets to mark the number of people they have killed. The Me Group are middle-tier Gurongi led by Me·Garima·Ba, its members brought into the Gegeru by using the Bagundada abacus to predict the number of people they are to kill and the period to accomplish that. The Go Group are high-tier Gurongi who can transmute their ornaments into weapons like Kuuga displays while in his Dragon, Pegasus, and Titan forms. Unlike the lesser tiers, the Go having La·Doldo·Gu tally their kills for them while creating their rules of conducting their kills. The Go who completes the Gegeru, or the one who can defeat all the Go class Gurongi, earns the right to fight Daguva for control of the entire Gurongi Tribe. Their leader is Go·Gadol·Ba, one of the three strongest Go Gurongi who had modified themselves to alter their forms like Kuuga and Daguva. The lowest Be Group were all murdered by Daguva without acquiring the right of the Gegeru.
;N·Daguva·Zeba
;La·Balva·De
;La·Doldo·Gu
;Nu·Zajio·Re
;Xu·Goma·Gu
;Xu·Zain·Da
;Me·Galme·Re
;Me·Garima·Ba
;Go·Badaa·Ba
;Go·Gadol·Ba

Specials

  • Kamen Rider Kuuga Super Secret Video: Kamen Rider Kuuga vs. the Strong Monster Go·Jiino·Da: Televi-Kuns special video. In the episode, Yusuke reads through newspaper clippings of his actions as Kuuga before he is called upon to fight a new Gurongi called Go·Jiino·Da. The video also previews Kuuga's Rising Mighty Form.
  • Kamen Rider Kuuga: New Year Special: A rerun of Episodes 17 and 31, and an extra episode, labelled as Episode 46.5 First Dream of the New Year.
  • Good Job: A short extra episode, jokingly labelled as "Episode 50".
  • Special Chapter: It is compiled from the first two episodes with extra footage.
  • Extra Episode: Revisited: A short recap episode released on YouTube on March 28, 2025, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the series.

Production

Kamen Rider's TV series has been planned since around 1996, and there was a time when it was originally aimed at broadcasting on The Mainichi Broadcasting Production and TBS series at 6:00 a.m. on Saturdays, which was broadcasting the Ultra series. The initial title is "Kamen Rider XV " and "Kamen Rider Kawakami" and the idea of appearing multiple Kamen Riders presented here has led to the idea of form change by consolidating the number of people to one person. Another project title is "Kamen Rider Gaia", which is said to have competed with "Ultraman Gaia".
It is 'Segata Sanshiro' to have become a tailwind. Hiroshi Fujioka, who played Takeshi Hongo in Kamen Rider, the same character played by the same character enlivened the popularity rekindle of Kamen Rider. According to Takeyuki Suzuki, this excitement led to the birth of this work. Producer Nariki Takatera also testified that the Kamen Rider Series of prizes in the prize game was also boosting sales. At the time, it was vaguely perceived as a "positive reaction", but this was a sign that the age group coming to the game center became interested in riders, and it was the beginning of viewers of the old work becoming fathers and forming "two generations of parents and children" fans.
Nariki Takatera's plan "Kamen Rider Guardian" has a clear style with a strong hero color, and there is a remnant of Yusuke's character setting. At this point, Takatera had envisioned a line of traditional hero programs so as not to disappoint the expectations of related companies. After that, the plan proposal submitted by Ishimori Pro Kamen Rider OtisAsked to reconsider the direction because of the strong horror color and tragedy, Takatera decided to drastically review it. In other tentative titles, there was also a plan called "Ouja" after the notation in Kanji was proposed.
Takatera's enthusiasm for creating a completely new Kamen Rider was strong, but he said that it would take a budget equivalent to Indiana Jones to realize the fantastic and unconventional hero image of the initial plan, In response to the point that the "half-earthling and alien" setting is too far from the rider's image, we decided to explore ways to add new flavors to traditional riders.
Takatera's idea of "Kamen Rider-likeness" was the composition of "Man and Man" with live figures such as Kazuya Taki and Tobei Tachibana next to a strange hero called Rider. This is used in an actual work in the form of a buddy of Yusuke and Kaoru Ichijo. On the other hand, the element "remodeled human", which was the basic setting of the old work, was considered not to be mandatory and was excluded.
Toei announced a new project, in May 1999. Kuuga was part of a Kamen Rider revival project that Ishinomori had worked on in 1997, planning for a leadup into the 30th anniversary. However, Ishinomori died before he could see these shows materialize. During the summer of 1999, Kuuga became publicized through magazine ads and commercials.
The Kamen Rider Kuuga trademark was registered by Toei on November 8, 1999.
Kuuga also marks Toei's very first Kamen Rider series to be shot in 1080i, though the broadcast, including the recent home video releases, has been scaled down to Standard definition instead.

Manga

Kamen Rider Kuuga: Extra Episode "Trust" is a manga adaptation, published in the 2001 summer vacation special issue of the TeleCoro Comic magazine. It took place between Episodes 22 and 23.
On November 1, 2014, a manga reboot of Kuuga began serialization in Hero's Inc.'s Monthly Hero's magazine. It is written by Toshiki Inoue and illustrated by Hitotsu Yokoshima with the characters of Kamen Rider Agito added. On October 30, 2020, after Monthly Hero's ceased publication, the series was transferred to the Comiplex website. On April 28, 2022, the series was licensed by Titan Publishing Group for English publication under their new manga imprint.

S.I.C. Hero Saga

Kuuga had two S.I.C. Hero Saga stories published in Monthly Hobby Japan magazine. The first story Kamen Rider Kuuga Edition: Odyssey supervised by series producer Shigenori Takatera expands upon the mythology of Kuuga featuring original characters Riku, the previous Kuuga chosen by the Linto, and the original N·Daguva·Zeba. The second story Masked Rider Kuuga Edition: Dark Side continues the expansion of the series mythology. These stories take place in an alternate universe, as there are different settings between the stories and Kuuga, like the Linto Tribe with warriors and Daguva's personality. Odyssey ran from February to May 2002. Dark Side ran in a separate special issue titled Hobby Japan Mook S.I.C. Official Diorama Story S.I.C. Hero Saga vol.2.
;Odyssey chapter titles
  1. Linto
  2. Gurongi
  3. Gouram
  4. Daguva

Novel

Novel: Kamen Rider Kuuga, written by Naruhisa Arakawa, is part of a series of spin-off novel adaptions of the Heisei Era Kamen Riders. The story takes place 12 years after the series, where Yusuke Godai defeated the Gurongi as Kamen Rider Kuuga. Ichijo is still trying to research the remains of the Gurongi Tribe until rumors of a mysterious "white warrior" surfaces on the internet, which reminds Ichijo of Godai. The novel was originally planned to be released on November 30, 2012, however, it was delayed until June 2013.

Video game

A video game based on the series, developed by KAZe and published by Bandai, was released in Japan on December 21, 2000, for the PlayStation. It is a fighting game similar to Tekken.

Cast

  • Yusuke Godai: Joe Odagiri
  • Kaoru Ichijo: Shingo Katsurayama
  • Sakurako Sawatari: Kazumi Murata
  • Pops : Kitaro
  • Minori Godai: Wakana Chizaki
  • Shuichi Tsubaki: Yoshitaka Otsuka
  • Hikari Enokida: Kaori Mizushima
  • Nana Asahina: Shio Mizuhara
  • Jean Michel Sorrel: Serge Vasilov
  • Mika Natsume: Yuka Takeshima
  • Sadao Matsukura: Yudai Ishiyama
  • Morimichi Sugita: Takashi Matsuyama
  • Tsuyoshi Sakurai: Nobuyuki Yoneyama
  • Nozomi Sasayama: Eri Tanaka
  • Hitoshi Kashihara: Takashi Kikuchi
  • Junichi Shiina: Makoto Hatayama
  • Gohei Ebisawa: Fujio Mori
  • Tsurumaru Kameyama: Katsuaki Nishide
  • Akiji Kanzaki: Takashi Inoue
  • Junichi Chono: Daisuke Uchida
  • Keiko Motoki: Rie Okada
  • Atsuko Enokida: Machiko Naka
  • Sayuru Enokida: Kentaro Niibo
  • Hiroyuki Yashiro: Yutaro Kamata
  • Shuto Terashima: Tomoaki Takagi
  • Kanako Suyama: Yukako Mino
  • Woman With the Rose Tattoo : Mie Nanamori
  • Xu·Goma·Gu: Mitsuru Fujio
  • Xu·Zain·Da: Akira Nogami
  • Me·Galme·Re: Masaharu Mori
  • Me·Garima·Ba: Miho Kido
  • Nu·Zajio·Re: Chu Takatsuki
  • Xu·Vazuu·Ba, Go·Badaa·Ba: Nobuyuki Ogawa
  • La·Doldo·Gu: Tenmei Basara
  • Go·Gadol·Ba: Masato Gunji
  • N·Daguva·Zeba: Kenji Urai
  • Narration: Fumihiko Tachiki

Theme songs

;Opening theme
;Ending theme

Reception and impact

The show won Seiun Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 2002.
The series originated the term Odagiri effect, named after the lead actor Joe Odagiri, which means a television program attracts a larger than expected number of female viewers because the program stars attractive male actors or characters. The producers discovered that, besides the target demographics, Kuuga was also attracting a large audience of women around the age of 30. The show was attracting the mothers of children who found Odagiri attractive. Following this, Odagiri went on to a more high-profile career, while the follow-up series, Kamen Rider Agito attempted to re-create the effect by casting three attractive male actors in the lead. Again, the show attracted large numbers of female viewers, although long-term viewers, mostly men, disapproved.

Broadcasts, home video and video streaming

  • In its home country of Japan, the series originally aired on Sunday Mornings at 8:00AM JST on TV Asahi and other ANN affiliates from January 30, 2000, and concluded on January 21, 2001, with 49 episodes. During the near end of the show's original broadcast, the series started being released on VHS and DVD by Toei Video from December 8, 2000, to November 21, 2001, months after the series conclusion. 12 volumes have been released total, with each volume holding four episodes, with Volume 8 holding five episodes. Rental releases originally began on October 13, 2000, and the jacket designs for the sale and rental versions are different. Due to the DVD rentals starting earlier than the later Kamen Rider releases, there was no extras for each volume. Interviews were only included on the sale version of the DVD release. Other monster introductions and trailers were included in the New Year Special and the final volume. Episode 1 was included as an extra in the "Shotaro Ishinomori 70th Birthday DVD Box" released on July 21, 2008, and in the first edition of the first volume of the Kamen Rider Decade DVD. A Blu-ray Box set was released in 3 volumes between January 6 and May 11, 2016. In addition to the ancient language translation of the TV series, BOX 1 contains the DC version of episodes 1 and 2, BOX 2 contains Kamen Rider Kuuga's Super Secret Video "Kamen Rider Kuuga VS. the Powerful Monster Go-Jino-Da," and BOX 3 contains the New Year's special.
  • In Southeast Asia, an English dub has been made under the name Masked Rider Kuuga and aired and released on home video in 2001, with all 49 episodes being covered. The English dub was produced in Hong Kong by Omni Productions. The English episodes were written by Colin Shevloff, who was also the English voice of Yusuke Godai. It was distributed in Malaysia by Speedy Video.
  • In Indonesia, the series received an Indonesian dub and it aired on RCTI in 2001.
  • In Malaysia, the series received a Malay dub and aired on TV3.
  • In Saudi Arabia, the series aired on Spacetoon with an Arabic dub.
  • In the Latin Spanish-speaking world, two Latin-Spanish dubs have been produced. The first Latin Spanish dub was produced by Cloverway with dubbing work by Venezuela studio, Etcétera Group. In Chile, it aired from November 3, 2007, to June 15, 2008, on ETC. In Mexico, it aired on Azteca 7 on January 8, 2008. Only 25 out of 49 episodes of this dub were covered and went unfinished because Cloverway was closed permanently by Toei Animation Inc. Then in 2021, Toei commissioned a new Latin-Spanish dub that was produced by Olympusat with dubbing work by Mexican studio, Meliorem. This was dubbed remotely online during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aired on Ultra Familia in the United States. On September 7, 2021, the series was distributed across all of Latin America on the FreeTV digital streaming service. Unlike the first dub, this new dub covers all 49 episodes.
  • In North America, Shout! Factory acquired the license to release the entire series on Blu-ray. It became available on September 20, 2022, in its original Japanese audio with English subtitles spreading across seven discs. Subtitle options even include the option to have Gurongi given English subtitles or not.

Works cited

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