Kamen Rider Kuuga Series Review

Happy Holidays to everyone! It's a special day and everyone has their traditions. I have many things I like to do on this day and one of those things is watching episodes of Kamen Rider Kuuga. Why Kuuga you ask, why not Double? Well it's because I watch Double way too many times anyways so I wanted to stick with an older classic for a tradition. If you love Kamen Rider you at least heard of Kuuga. This series brought life back to the franchise and it follows similar elements from the Showa era, but this series is easily the one that changed a lot of things. Finally, this series is very special to fans since Shotaro Ishinomori died during the production. So it's no doubt that this will be a very well memorable series.

Now Kuuga's story may sound simple just by writing it. Well an ancient race that has been labeled as Unidentified Lifeforms have awakened and kill humans for reasons unknown. At the first case where a group of archaeologist are brutally killed by what is labeled as Number Zero. At the scene a man named Godai Yuusuke was stumbling around and soon he catches the sight of an artifact. Soon images are sent to him as he sees a color changing warrior fighting off strange monsters. Later that day he goes with his friend Sakurako to watch the last recorded video of the victims. After that while they start to walk back, but one of the creatures starts to cause havoc and soon gets to the building. The police officers have no power what so ever to even hurt the creature as he kills many officers. The ancient belt soon falls out and Godai takes the belt and puts it on. It completely vanishes, but a little while it appears on his waist and he performs his first transformation. Unlike the past images he has seen he transforms into a white armored warrior and fights the creature. He doesn't kill it, but he won his first battle and this starts his beginning. An officer by the name Ichijo who met Godai at the murder scene and when he shows the video suspects that the warrior was Godai. Even though he is confused he actually wants to help him in his fight. Godai soon evolves into a red warrior and more powers start coming to him as he has to learn how to use them. That's not the only thing though as the monsters are experience the new life and even adapt to the environment as they start speaking Japanese and using modern technology. All of this goes with how they kill humans as all have some sort of pattern or style of killing. The story is a basic single hero fighting to protect others, but the amount of depth the show gets into really makes it feel more complex since there will be many parts you will not understand what is happening.

Pros- As I said before the show goes into a lot of different things which helps with the progression of the show. Godai keeps evolving with new powers, the monsters keep adapting more and more, and even the police officers find ways to fight off the creatures. There is also very good character moments so every episode has something specific to focus on making each episode feel very important. The series also can play with how you think since the unknown creatures speak in an unknown language mostly. These scenes still catch your interest since you can sort of tell what they are talking about at times and we see them planning things out, having conflicts with themselves, and again adapt to the new world. This is also another part of Kuuga that everyone knows, Godai Yuusuke. This guy is another amazing main character since he is entertaining in both action and drama. He is a very happy person who has many talents he can perform. He likes to see people smile and that is soon his reason to fight, to protect people's smiles. The other characters are also very fun with Ichijou being one of the best non rider characters. He does so much even though he doesn't have the same powers Godai has. He risks his life to lure out foes and he can see the many patterns of the creatures as he can use that thinking to find and stop them. There are other characters who actually learn of Godai's identity which is really risky since the police see Kuuga has one of the lifeforms. They help him with his body and he gains many skills and items from them. The fights are really outstanding as Kuuga was the first rider to have over ten forms! The fights were very varied as Kuuga kept gaining new powers and help.  Everything in this series is all rounded up into a really realistic feel which is very different for the Kamen Rider franchise. Overall this series has so many shinning factors, but not every gem is perfect.

Cons- There is only like two things that bring the series down, but only by a little. The pacing can be on and off at times. There are some scenes that I can understand why they are slower than usual, but some of those really take too much time and seems like panning. There are also some really artsy directions and it works at places, but again some scenes can't do it well. These are really little since it doesn't happen that often.

Even some of the creature's scenes and action can be slowed down.

Overall- This is a true masterpiece even with some parts that slow down the experience. Everything looks great and yea the effects aren't the best, but it was the year 2000 and Toku series are usually low budgeted. If you love Kamen Rider or want a friend to get into it I think this is the right place to look. It's dark, but not too dark like Faiz. Has great progression so that there is always something to keep your mind on like Double. The fight scenes have much variety thanks to many forms and new items like most of today's rider series. Kuuga took new light on the single hero concept and completely made something different and original. It's a must watch for new and hardcore rider fans. Kamen Rider Kuuga gets an A

One more thing, Joe Odagiri is amazing! Also he doesn't hate his role

http://orendsrange.blogspot.com/2012/11/joe-odagiri-like-his-role-as-kamen.html#.UNnW-3fjNGp