Kamen Rider Kuuga General Discussion Thread

[Smilodon]

I never saw Shotaro as a product of the Godai like mold, I saw him as Sanjo and Hasegawa's own creation. I do agree though, without making Shotaro look human, we never would have seen Phillip grow. And in the end, the story is about Phillip basically.

Eiji is definitely a Godai redux. I think he's a pretty well made character too. His backstory was definitely more emphasized than Godai's. We never got much of Godai's past except when his teacher was there. "Godai was crybaby, but not weak" and all of that sort. But like Godai, his pure heart enables him to use the power of OOO without suffering its side effects.

Kenzaki...just never felt very Godai-ish to me. I don't know why.

 

[RaiDK]

The biggest problem I had with Kuuga was that half the supporting cast pretty well did nothing for the while series. Godai was fine, the cop was fine, the lady who did the translations was fine... But the. You had characters like Jan - Why was he even in the series?

Pretty great show otherwise though, it was pretty cool to have a protagonist who WASN'T trolling his way through the series and did actually struggle and occasionally lose.

The whole 'Ultimate Darkness' thing was pretty meh though - to me it felt like the sort of thing that was only there because we had the characters' word on it - there was nothing actually happening to show it was a real threat. It wasn't like Blade or OOO where you could see the berserk King/Putotera forms rampaging on their friends.

 

[musashi03]

The biggest problem I had with Kuuga was that half the supporting cast pretty well did nothing for the while series. Godai was fine, the cop was fine, the lady who did the translations was fine... But the. You had characters like Jan - Why was he even in the series?

Those characters were there to add more color to the other secondary characters.

The whole 'Ultimate Darkness' thing was pretty meh though - to me it felt like the sort of thing that was only there because we had the characters' word on it - there was nothing actually happening to show it was a real threat. It wasn't like Blade or OOO where you could see the berserk King/Putotera forms rampaging on their friends.

Huh? They pretty much showed the after-effects of the No. 0 attacks, there were scenes with a pile of dead bodies on the road with cars broken down and Godai being the most serious he's ever been through the series. I think they didn't need to show it because of it's graphic nature, since we're all supposed to know that No. 0 is much more powerful than any of the past Grongis which already did a lot of damage to society themselves. Kids are watching the show, hence probably the control in showing No. 0 attack scenes.

 

[RaiDK]

I remember that bit, I'm more talking about the possibility of Godai becoming the ultimate darkness. There's like 5 episodes straight of all the supporting cast going "I hope Godai doesn't become the ultimate darkness", yet Godai is pretty much fine the whole time - it's not like he was teetering on the edge or anything. At no point did I think that was actually going to happen.

Meanwhile in you had crazy-laughing Kenzaki attacking his friends after using King, Shouichi losing control the first time he got Agito Burning in that pre-G4 special and Putotera going mental on Birth, which gives you something solid to think 'Crap, maybe something bad IS about to happen'.

 

[musashi03]

I remember that bit, I'm more talking about the possibility of Godai becoming the ultimate darkness. There's like 5 episodes straight of all the supporting cast going "I hope Godai doesn't become the ultimate darkness", yet Godai is pretty much fine the whole time - it's not like he was teetering on the edge or anything. At no point did I think that was actually going to happen.

Huh? Because it was the whole point of the series, have trust in Godai if he gives you the thumbs up.

Meanwhile in you had crazy-laughing Kenzaki attacking his friends after using King, Shouichi losing control the first time he got Agito Burning in that pre-G4 special and Putotera going mental on Birth, which gives you something solid to think 'Crap, maybe something bad IS about to happen'.

You didn't get it did you? Every time Godai uses his fists, he is risking himself. Hence the final battle where you see him cry out while punching whereas N Daguva Zeba laughing while punching. The exclamation point was driven during the Porcupine Grongi arc, where he definitely lost it. But Godai was pretty much surrounded with people who had faith in him, kind of like post-KR-W Fuuto where everybody now loves W.

The show gave the ambiance that we should trust Godai, and that's it.

 

[Smilodon]

Episode 42 is when Godai went berserk. Not necessarily as the Ultimate Darkness, because it shows that Kuuga, whether Mighty or Ultimate, is not a Hero. Kuuga is a killing machine, created for the sole purpose of eradicating the Grongi. The original Kuuga couldn't handle it and had to seal himself away. It shows that at any moment, the power of Kuuga could consume its user, with or without the Ultimate Form. You gradually realize that as the series goes on. Godai realizes that the Amadam is not something that will make him a hero, it is something that will make him a human weapon, and he is forced to carry the weight of being the 'Ultimate Darkness'.

Plus Kuuga rarely showed Ultimate Form. It wasn't like King Form or PuToTyra. It was only hinted at, and used once in the whole show. They didn't even show Amazing Mighty. Not in spoilers or scans. They really built it up.

 

[RaiDK]

That was all fine, I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about the possibility of Godai becoming the ultimate darkness. The only reason we even know about it is because the characters tell us. Godai is otherwise fine.

And yeah, that final fight was incredible if extremely brief

Edit: Reply ninja'd.

 

[musashi03]

That was all fine, I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about the possibility of Godai becoming the ultimate darkness. The only reason we even know about it is because the characters tell us. Godai is otherwise fine.

And yeah, that final fight was incredible if extremely brief

Edit: Reply ninja'd.

Because Godai turning into the Ultimate Form was thought to be the Ultimate Darkness, but they realized after they discovered that the Gouram was still intact when it was said in the characters that Gouram is supposed to turn into sand as a failsafe when Kuuga turned into the Ultimate Darkness. It was always hinted starting at the end of the Porcupine Grongi arc that the black Kuuga with four horns might be the Ultimate Darkness the Grongi were talking about, because it only manifested itself when Godai lost his cool and went berserk on the Porcupine Grongi.

He wasn't fine at all, he was always struggling to keep his usual personality, not letting anyone be scared of him turning berserk. That was the very purpose of it, and you believing he was otherwise fine means that you have bought into what Godai was selling, even though deep within him, he knows every single punch is a step closer to what he doesn't want to be. That's why in the end, he just suddenly took a very long vacation to get back the peace in him that was lost.

They didn't even show Amazing Mighty.

Huh? He used Amazing Mighty Form to defeat Go-Gadoru-Ba, the Kabutomushi Grongi. He even had his visors light up before the drop kick.

 

[Smilodon]

Sorry, worded that funny. What I meant was Amazing Mighty was never foreshadowed. Not in scans at the time or spoilers, it's appearance was practically kept secret until episode 47.

Granted, this is from second hand accounts. I might need confirmation from people like MattComix, Shougo or Lynxara. I was too young to remember at that time.

 

[RaiDK]

Yeah I dunno, I just felt like I needed a bit of visual evidence and not just characters telling me that's how it is. Like, actually show Godai losing control some way that's a little more impactful than killing a Grongi in a slightly more forceful way.

Actually someone remind me - that time he turned to Amazing Mighty form I thought he just did a regular Rider Kick and nothing too horrible or terrible?