Kamen Rider Kuuga: Difference between revisions

{{tropework}}

[[File:ChoHenshin.gif|frame|One Kamen Rider, a TON of different forms. <ref>From left to right: [[Joke Character|Growing]], [[Jack of All Stats|Mighty]], [[Fragile Speedster|Dragon]], [[Glass Cannon|Pegasus]], [[Mighty Glacier|Titan]], [[Mid-Season Upgrade|Rising Mighty, Rising Dragon, Rising Pegasus, Rising Titan]], [[Super Mode|Amazing Mighty, Ultimate]].</ref>]]

{{quote| ''A New Hero. A New Legend.''}}

The 2000-2001 entry in the ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' franchise, and first in the Heisei Era.

A group of archaeologists uncover an ancient tomb of a legendary warrior, and discover a mysterious belt-like artifact known as the [[Transformation Trinket|Arcle]]. Unfortunately, they also happen to pop the lid off of the [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can]] at the same time, unleashing a race of monsters known as the Grongi. The tribe-like Grongi compete against each other in a "game" of killing humans, with the strongest Grongi winning the right to challenge their leader for domination of their race.

* [[Badass Spaniard]]: No, not a character, but Kuuga's [[Cool Bike|Cool Bikes]]s were both made by Spanish manufacturer Gas Gas. Coincidentially, ''Kuuga'' has the most awesome [[Car Fu|Bike Fu]] of any Heisei ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' series.

* [[Deconstructor Fleet]]: It's not a full deconstruction but it has a lot of subversive elements, like the monsters from the past not being able to speak Japanese, to the fact that cops are heavily involved. The cops themselves show what would happen if normal people dealing with monster would be like - a lot of dead bodies, though down the line, they're not as useless as they were in the beginning. Most Tokusatsu and Shonen shows gloss over elements like these, and in addition common shonen tropes like [[Calling Your Attacks]] are avoided by Kuuga. The motivation of the monster isn't even spelled out to us until a bit down the line. Hell, Kuuga growing in power is treated as a scary thing and causes problems later in the series. There are many other examples if you look at the series, while the show can be viewed as a standard toku, if you compare it to later series and even earlier series, it can rather jarring.

* [[Final Battle]]: {{spoiler|Deconstructed, as instead of a typical shonen final battle involving a myriad of explosions and absurdly powerful attacks, Kuuga defeats N-Daguva-Zeba in a brutal fistfight that continues well after they both destroy each other's [[Transformation Trinket|Transformation Trinkets]]s and revert to human form. The battle ends with Yuusuke, not Kuuga, pummeling Daguva to death in the snow.}}

* [[Friend Onon the Force]]: An interesting variant with Ichijo, but otherwise applies - note the number of times Kuuga needs to borrow a gun, for starters.

* [[Homage]]: The Go-Bada-Ba is a reference the Showa-era Riders, most likely [[Kamen Rider (TV series)|the first one]]. In human form, he rides around on a motorcycle while wearing a red scarf. Rather than simply transforming into Grongi form, he performs the classic [[Kamen Rider (TV series)|Rider 1]] henshin pose in order to do so (and that Grongi belt that all the Grongis have is emphasized a bit, as if it were his [[Transformation Trinket]]) while still wearing the scarf. Oh, and [[Mythology Gag|he's also a grasshopper Grongi]].

** ''[[Shinzo (Anime)|Shinzo]]'' is shown in the 19th episode.

* [[Hot -Blooded]]: Yuusuke Godai.

* [[How Do I Shot Web?]]: Each episode arc introducing Kuuga's new forms involves him getting used to the strengths and weaknesses of each, as well as learning which weapon it uses.

* [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]]: The ultimate plan of the Grongi is {{spoiler|to cause humanity to embrace brutality and violence as the Grongi do. [[Rousseau Was Right|Unfortunately for them..]]}}.

* [[Kill It Withwith Fire]]: Godai plays it straight in Episode 20.

** It must be noted also that Growing Form isn't just "not powerful enough" (like many other [[Joke Character|Joke Characters]]s), it has all the weaknesses of the other forms, and none of the advantages: slow like Titan Form, weak like Dragon Form, feeble like Pegasus form AND it doesn't have any weapon.

** Also, if [[Spell My Name Withwith an "S"]] is invoked, the villains are called [[Guro|Gurongi]]ngi.

** [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]: Black-eyed '''Ultimate''' Form {{spoiler|and '''[[Kamen Rider Decade|Rising Ultimate]]''' [[Kamen Rider Decade|Form]]}}. <ref>Only while he's under the control of Dai-Shocker. Once he's back to normal, it becomes more of a [[God Mode]]/[[Lightning Bruiser]].)</ref>

* [[New Powers Asas the Plot Demands]]: This is ''actually'' the explanation given as to how Yuusuke unlocks some of his forms. (e.g, he doesn't unlock the agile Dragon Form until he fights a opponent who he can't reach and thinks, "I need to jump high too!")

* [[Police Are Useless]]: [[Zig -Zagging Trope|Zig-zagged]], they're doubtlessly a [[Redshirt Army]] whenever they confront a Grongi face-to-face, but are extremely competent in every other aspect of their job. They're really at their most effective when serving as Kuuga's [[Mission Control]], using their resources and deductive powers to track the Grongi's movements and warning/evacuating the citizens whenever necessary in order to minimize casualties. In the end mostly subverted when they invent bullets that ''do'' work on Grongi.

* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: {{spoiler|Inverted. Black-eyed Ultimate Kuuga is powered by rage, and is thus prone to becoming evil. Godai's good nature negates it and replaces the black eyes with Mighty Form's red eyes.}}

* [[Redshirt Army]]: Almost every episode had policemen getting killed while feebly trying to combat the Grongi.

* [[Rousseau Was Right]]: Pretty much the theme of the whole series. Also the reason why Godai keeps fighting for everyone and {{spoiler|why the Grongi didn't succeed on having humanity embrace brutality and violence like they do}}.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: The title of the first episode is "Revival".<ref>''Fukkatsu'' in Japanese, which, like the English term, can mean either a resurrection or a media revival</ref>. While there are two in-story revivals in that episode, it also indicates the beginning of the [[Revival]] of the ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' franchise.

* [[Theme Naming]]: Each of the Grongi is named in a certain fashion; the first part refers to their class, the second is a personal name of sorts,<ref>which typically forms a pun on the Japanese word for what plant/animal they resemble</ref>, and the third part refers to their species/type.

* [[Took a Level Inin Badass]]: Apart from the obvious hero, special mention goes to the Grongi [[Butt Monkey|Zu-Gooma-Gu]] {{spoiler|who, after taking a part of Daguva's power for himself, manages to overcome his photophobia and go toe to toe with the remaining Go-class Grongi.}}

** {{spoiler|Add in the fact that he also was on the verge of killing Kuuga and would have done it had he not sensed Daguva near by and went to challenge him only to be killed off screen}}

** [[Simple Staff]]: Dragon Form. Rising Dragon Form gets a [[Double Weapon|two-ended]] [[Blade Onon a Stick]].

[[Category:TurnLive-Action TV of the Millennium/Live Action TV2000s]]

[[Category:Kamen Rider Kuuga{{PAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:TropeTV Series]]