Images were taken from My Shiny Toy Robots
My opinions change all the time now, don't they? I remembered not wanting to watch Kamen Rider Kuuga or any new Kamen Rider series back in the 2000s only because of somebody's personal opinion. Like, why am I letting other people's opinions on shows dictate mine? Kuuga is such a show that was in that range. It also took me a long time to return to Toku because there was other newer stuff in the 2000s that I checked out. I was simply taking a break from the Japanese hype in exchange for the Taiwanese hype. I watched some new school Kamen Rider but I was still more into Super Sentai. Now, it's time to do a re-evaluation and I'd say re-review of Kuuga - the highly ambitious reboot of the Kamen Rider franchise.
What I failed to notice or remember was that the Showa era of Kamen Rider was a mess. It took four years after Kamen Rider Stronger ended before Kamen Rider Skyrider (which was intended to be a reboot happened) started. You had Kamen Rider Super-1 which followed a year after. Sadly, a six-year hiatus happened after Super-1 ended in 1981. Kamen Rider Black happened in 1987 and Black RX followed soon after. However, Black RX led to the longest hiatus in terms of Kamen Rider shows. Kamen Rider tried to be revived in the 90s but all attempts failed. They simply ended up as failed pilots like Kamen Rider ZX. We had Kamen Rider ZO, Kamen Rider Shin, and Kamen Rider J which just felt boring. It was also the 90s when Metal Hero was its prime from Winspector up to B-Fighter. However, the late 90s were in decline which resulted at the end of the Metal Hero title as we know it. In the end, Toei simply silently pulled the plug but would later revive Metal Hero in the form of Kamen Rider. You may notice that Kamen Rider is becoming more metallic which suggests Metal Hero isn't truly dead - it just lives on in the form of the rebooted Kamen Rider!
Understanding the meaning of Kuuga
Why was Kuuga well named, Kuuga? I can only offer a hypothetical scenario. Kuuga is derived from the name kuwagata or stag beetle in English. The name also means "empty self" from what I heard. The kuwagata or stag beetle also loses its shell. The term "empty self" can be understood that the hero Yousuke Godai is a selfless person. However, there's more than that with the term "empty self". It would be that Kuuga was not just meant to be a big comeback for the Kamen Rider franchise. The show itself would also be a reboot. A reboot felt risky considering that the Showa era did try to reboot the series with Skyrider and Black but it didn't work. But this time, the Heisei era succeeded where the Showa era failed with the Kamen Rider franchise.
The Showa era Riders had villains acting like typical cartoon villains. Super Sentai villains are still notorious for having stupid plans. Kamen Rider villains in the Showa era usually came up with convoluted and/or unbelievable plots. The Heisei era started to change that in exchange for a sci-fi/fantasy TV drama approach. Kuuga was trying to rethink almost everything you knew about Kamen Rider. No more references to the Showa era's Great Leader who has become nothing more than the Great Loser in massive crossover movies. Great Leader was totally discarded. The last words of Grand Lord Crisis in Black RX were somehow purposely ignored. Instead, we get a fresh new start with new types of villains. Black RX may have been a failed experiment but it did provide ideas for better, later use proving that innovation doesn't always succeed at first try. I heard Shigenori Takatera worked with Black RX so he knew what failures need to be corrected. In short, Kuuga truly emptied itself of some traditional formulas even if it's still a Kamen Rider series.
The Showa era Riders had villains acting like typical cartoon villains. Super Sentai villains are still notorious for having stupid plans. Kamen Rider villains in the Showa era usually came up with convoluted and/or unbelievable plots. The Heisei era started to change that in exchange for a sci-fi/fantasy TV drama approach. Kuuga was trying to rethink almost everything you knew about Kamen Rider. No more references to the Showa era's Great Leader who has become nothing more than the Great Loser in massive crossover movies. Great Leader was totally discarded. The last words of Grand Lord Crisis in Black RX were somehow purposely ignored. Instead, we get a fresh new start with new types of villains. Black RX may have been a failed experiment but it did provide ideas for better, later use proving that innovation doesn't always succeed at first try. I heard Shigenori Takatera worked with Black RX so he knew what failures need to be corrected. In short, Kuuga truly emptied itself of some traditional formulas even if it's still a Kamen Rider series.
A new way of introducing conflict
Pursuing innovation doesn't totally discard the old. Just because the typewriter and camera films are thrown out that certain principles died with it. Take for example - doesn't the keyboard in your desktop have the typewriter's letter layout? Doesn't the principle of lightning and distance still apply when you use a digital camera? Kuuga as a reboot still respected the Showa era in some way. I mean, the Rider Kick is WAY BACK in the Showa era. Then you have a bit of a throwback to the very first Kamen Rider episode when you've got a Spider Grongi as the first monster. You have the Bat Grongi, Zu Goma Gu who acts as Grongi's spy of sorts. Both Bat Mutant and Zu Goma Gu appeared in the first episode but were only defeated later. All except that Grongi isn't the new Shocker or Gorgom. Rather, it's almost like a revival of the Geddon and Garanda Empire from Kamen Rider Amazon.
Kuuga doesn't get his powers from the Grongi as an experimental subject. Rather, Kuuga's hero Yuusuke Godai gets the power of the previous Kuuga known as Riku. He's drawn into the mysterious artifact (and that somehow reminds me of Kamen Rider Amazon) and he becomes fast friends with Ichijo the detective. People still don't know who he is and I think Kuuga was meant to be separate from the Showa era. I mean, if it were part of it then why didn't they just simply call him another Kamen Rider? Instead, he's simply called Number 4. Four means death and Kuuga is pretty much that trope. He ends up killing all the Grongis who have been doing acts of sadistic blood games. The Grongi somehow pay tribute to the Predators or Yaujta in the Predator film franchise - or not! Regardless, they can't be discounted to be very dangerous foes.
Kuuga doesn't get his powers from the Grongi as an experimental subject. Rather, Kuuga's hero Yuusuke Godai gets the power of the previous Kuuga known as Riku. He's drawn into the mysterious artifact (and that somehow reminds me of Kamen Rider Amazon) and he becomes fast friends with Ichijo the detective. People still don't know who he is and I think Kuuga was meant to be separate from the Showa era. I mean, if it were part of it then why didn't they just simply call him another Kamen Rider? Instead, he's simply called Number 4. Four means death and Kuuga is pretty much that trope. He ends up killing all the Grongis who have been doing acts of sadistic blood games. The Grongi somehow pay tribute to the Predators or Yaujta in the Predator film franchise - or not! Regardless, they can't be discounted to be very dangerous foes.
The Grongi villains have one unique feature that's not frequently used in Kamen Rider. Some sci-fi or fantasy series have a fictional language. The Grongi didn't get translations until later. Until now, I wish I knew what they were speaking. It was said that the language was used to conceal important plots. I always feel annoyed whenever there's no translation. It's actually a slight modification of Japanese and I don't speak Japanese. Later, the feature was used in Kamen Rider Gaim but not as used. I still feel mixed about why the producers decided to do so. What was also interesting is that Kamen Rider the First and Kuuga both started with a spider-themed monster. Black also had some spider mutants too and it was also intended to be a franchise reboot.
The villains seem to have some inspiration from classic Hollywood sci-fi horror movies. While they have their human forms - they seem to have some inspiration from the Yuuzhan Vong and the Yaujta from the Predator series. They play a dangerous hunting game. How they came to Earth is unknown but I'd like to pretend that they came via spaceship. Maybe, the Grongi are really from another planet but it's not explained. How they developed their language which I'd love to call Gronginese (a combination of Grongi and Japanese) is unknown. The show doesn't seem to explain their origins except that it's linked to the powers of Kuuga. Though they might just be sealed evil in a can like the villains in Kosuku Sentai Turboranger and not aliens. But I'd cut that some slack considering that Kuuga is still a reboot, right?
The final villain Daguva Zeba doesn't have any links to the old organizations either. Kamen Rider Stronger did have the Great Leader say he was also behind Geddon and Garanda Empire. However, Daguva doesn't appear to be the same Great Leader at all. He doesn't mention anything back in the Showa era. Instead, he really just sticks to what Kuuga should be - a franchise reboot. He's the long-awaited master of the Grongi tribe. He plans to return the world to darkness. It's refreshing that he actually isn't the Great Leader at all! He's an entirely new entity that had NOTHING to do with the Showa era evil organizations. Instead, he just ends up what he is - a new villain who seeks to drown the world in darkness. Quite interestingly, he's got Zeba in his name and that's the name of the main villain in Hikari Sentai Maskman, right? From what I heard Zeba means the power of Zeus. Daguva Zeba truly one fearsome foe towards the end!
The villains seem to have some inspiration from classic Hollywood sci-fi horror movies. While they have their human forms - they seem to have some inspiration from the Yuuzhan Vong and the Yaujta from the Predator series. They play a dangerous hunting game. How they came to Earth is unknown but I'd like to pretend that they came via spaceship. Maybe, the Grongi are really from another planet but it's not explained. How they developed their language which I'd love to call Gronginese (a combination of Grongi and Japanese) is unknown. The show doesn't seem to explain their origins except that it's linked to the powers of Kuuga. Though they might just be sealed evil in a can like the villains in Kosuku Sentai Turboranger and not aliens. But I'd cut that some slack considering that Kuuga is still a reboot, right?
Correcting the failed potential presented by Kamen Rider Black RX
I could say that Kuuga actually improved some good things that Black RX did but didn't implement properly many times. Sometimes, I feel Black RX is unfairly maligned but I do agree with some things critics say. One of them has to be the multiple forms that Black RX uses to make him too cheesy. Black RX may not be a blockbuster or a classic but it was giving Toei some ideas on what changes they may want in the future. Black RX introduced multiple Rider forms to sell more toys. The second half of Black RX featured the civilian friends getting more involved. Joe and Reiko were helping Kotaro as he combats the rather silly Crisis Empire.
In Kuuga, the hero gets all the help he can get behind the scenes. Ichijo always did investigations and the police station with it. Ichijo is pretty much the human friend that shows how regular humans can still help out superheroes. Other friends like Sakurako decoded the language of the Linto. The help goes on and on. Black RX did introduce us to Reiko and Joe of the Wind. Reiko was just that hapless girlfriend UNTIL the second half. Reiko ended up helping Kotaro fight Crisis like Joe did. We have Kyoko who could manipulate water and has archery skills. Kyoko lost her parents to Crisis Empire. In Kuuga, Ichijo becomes an improved Joe who appears from the beginning and guides Kuuga. Sakurako may be no love interest but she's the one who decodes important stuff. The help Kuuga gets even involves the WHOLE POLICE DEPARTMENT. The police department even went as far as to create stuff that could help them beat the Grongi without overly relying on Kuuga.
Kuuga also doesn't immediately learn his new forms so easily. Instead, he has to learn to adjust to them and how to fight with them - something I wish happened during the earlier episodes of Kamen Rider Zero-One. The forms start to appear when they're needed but the hero doesn't learn them immediately. It was fun to see Sakurako decode the language. Sure, Reiko became useful but the first half was spent with her as comic relief. Sakurako managed to correct Reiko as a character. It was also amazing how some moves were obviously taken from Black RX. Dragon Form was obviously a depowered version of Bio Rider. Bio Rider was too powerful when he became water. Pegasus Form's crossbow was obviously copied from Robo Rider's Vortech Shooter. Pegasus Rider lacked the durability of Robo Rider. Titan Form's finishing move obviously ripped off the Revolcane Sword Crash while he had Robo Rider's durability and slow speed. Unlike Black RX, Kuuga doesn't become too powerful at that instant.
I like the idea of a hero who has to struggle because of the limited capacity humanity has in general. Kuuga also must face the possibility of his humanity declining while he fights the power-hungry Grongi. His motives for defeating the ancient menace all go down to him wanting to protect the smiles of people. The Grongi are pretty much sadistic creatures who only care about their happiness. The two sides are pretty much the antithesis of each other. The selfless motive of Yuusuke is somehow what keeps him going on in the difficult fight against the Grongi. The only thing I felt weird was how Kuuga had to gather objects to produce the weapons. Though, it may be intentional so Ichijo could lend his gun whenever applicable. The concept wasn't explored again probably due to how ridiculous it felt. I guess people were too used to the weapons appearing from thin air than this concept, right?
The theme song somehow sums Kuuga as a successful reboot
Here's the English translation of the theme song as taken from the Kamen Rider Wiki:
The vacuous planet...
Let's start our age from zero
Legend is something got to be repainted
Let go the accelerator
Now is the time
KUUGA Revive yourself with burning blood
KUUGA Energy made of pride
KUUGA To be strong and powerful...
No Fear, No Pain
As far as standing before love
No Fear, No Pain
No dreaded thing ever does exist
Leave them far behind!
Gonna get over the top!
Meta-morphing!
Masked Rider KUUGA!
Dreadful history...
Let's just rewind it to zero
Hero's someone to be the only and good
Jumping over that cliff
Now is the time!
KUUGA The silent majority's
KUUGA Voices calling you
KUUGA It is proving you are strong
No Fear No Pain
Ones who destroy and ones protect
No Fear No Pain
Must find true answer right in there
Run up to the peak!
Gonna change all of the world!
Meta-morphing!
Masked Rider KUUGA!
KUUGA Revive yourself with burning blood
KUUGA Energy made of pride
KUUGA To be strong and powerful...
No Fear No Pain
As far as standing before love
No Fear No Pain
No dreaded thing ever does exist
Leave them far behind!
Gonna get over the top!
Meta-morphing!
Masked Rider KUUGA!
Somehow, the song itself speaks of what Kuuga is. It sings of how Kuuga is boasted to be the successful reboot of the franchise. It was denied during the 90s as Shin, ZO, and J were unsuccessful attempts to create another Kamen Rider series. They were intended to be reboots but they failed. The legend is something to be repainted. Isn't that what Kuuga is, a legend that's repainted? A new legend is born and he's an entirely new kind of Kamen Rider. Some cliches like the Rider Kick are kept yet he appears to be more metallic. A nod to Metal Hero, maybe? Because that's what it seems to be with Kamen Rider series having metallic suits. Toei probably thought they could just continue the spirit of Metal Hero with the Kamen Rider series.
Dreadful history? Rewinding it to zero? The series does it again. The dreadful history is that the Showa era did have some problems. After Stronger the series did face hiatus until Skyrider in 1978. Super-1 did kick in but there was a six-year hiatus before Black. ZX was just a TV movie that never became a TV series. Then Black RX showed up leading to the 11-year hiatus with no new Kamen Rider series. The 90s Kamen Rider movies never made a new series either. Worse, Shotaro Ishinomori died in 1998 at only 60 years old. Yet, two years would be the rebirth of Kamen Rider. It's back to zero and the dreadful history is put behind as a lesson. I feel like Black RX was part of that dreadful history. Many of the concepts were eventually improved during Kuuga.
I guess that's why the song went in that way. No fear, no pain - because the fear and pain after a long hiatus seem gone. Fear and pain somehow seem to disappear in the face of true courage. Courage isn't necessarily the absence of fear but overcoming it. However, fear disappears when it's faced head-on while the trials are on. That seems to be what Kuuga is truly about, right?
________
I feel like the whole theme of Kuuga is nearly the same as Marvel's Spiderman. That is with great power comes great responsibility. Somehow, Kuuga's theme goes that way as the driving force of the show. With that great power came the revival of the Kamen Rider franchise. The Heisei era did what the Showa couldn't - that was to make Kamen Rider a nearly yearly thing. That is except Kamen Rider Decade which didn't end so well having to cancel midyear. Yet, we still have a new Kamen Rider released every now and then. It's been an unbroken streak from 2000 up to 2020.
If anything, please pay your respects to Kuuga for actually reviving the Kamen Rider franchise from the slumps!
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