Kamen Rider Kuuga (仮面ライダークウガ) 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 (letterboxed) 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

Gurongi Tribe

The 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. The 200 members of the Gurongi made their rival civilization the, 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, when humanity will become as violent as the Gurongi. The Gurongi are classified as, while those that have a human form are labeled. Each of the Gurongi possesses a stylized belt with a. 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 (originally created by the producers as a cipher of the Japanese language) which was left purposely unsubtitled during the original broadcast to prevent the audience from learning the series' mysteries and plot twists (as it was referred by them in the early episodes). The Zu Group is the first to play in the Gegeru, then the Me, and finally the Go in the. 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 for the leadership of the Gurongi. The are the judges of the Gegeru and are Daguva's right-hand men. The crafts the artifacts used by the other groups. The 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 blackboard and using the beads of their bracelets to mark the number of people they have killed. The are middle-tier Gurongi led by Me·Garima·Ba, its members brought into the Gegeru by using the abacus to predict the number of people they are to kill and the period to accomplish that. The 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 Ra·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 were all murdered by Daguva without acquiring the right of the Gegeru.

Episodes

The title of each episode is written with only two kanji.

Specials

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 (CrossBuoy)" 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 (Kamen Rider No. 1) 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

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 supervised by series producer Shigenori Takatera expands upon the mythology of Kuuga featuring original characters, the previous Kuuga chosen by the Linto, and the original. 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.

Novel

, 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 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

Theme songs

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.

International broadcasts, home video and video streaming