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Kamen Rider Kuuga's Realistic Approach: Making Yuusuke Godai More Human


While I was at first having a hard time accepting Kuuga or what, I realized I am now able to appreciate it more than the first time.  I just thought I might want to talk about the "realistic approach" to which our hero Yuusuke Godai doesn't immediately learn about his superpowers and new forms, he even needs Sakurako to unlock the powers of Kuuga which does make this one huge positive plus- Naruhisa Arakawa has made the hero more human thus viewers can relate to the person.  In fact, every time he gains a new form, he doesn't immediately beat the monster but rather he tries to learn that new power and then he learns it, then he defeats the monster.  That makes him less superhuman and more human, which might actually symbolize the step by step process to ultimate success where he finally defeated the Grongi after a series of trials he had to encounter.  Kuuga or not, Yuusuke is still the same person he is even with the superpowers he had attained.

As I thought, this approach has managed to make a new Kamen Rider genre that was different from the Showa.  In the last Showa, Black RX learning about his two new forms made him too superhuman.  It seems to be a classic thing in Tokusatsu to "go learn the power immediately" over to what Kuuga had to offer of making him less super and more normal.  That's what I felt is a twist if done right can be very pleasing.  So far, I was at first thinking it was dragging then I realized, "Hey this is more like how great heroes are, they have to ascend from lower status to higher status."  Seeing him go from weaker to stronger, then eventually from learning to adjust to all situations just made the show "more realistic" and "believable" overall with an otherwise good storytelling pattern that I think was not very present in the Showa era.

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