Rewatching Kuuga: What Kamen Rider has lost

[Smilodon]

The first couple of episodes of Kuuga were sensational! You should read Igadevil's review on it. They're great, even though he's only episode 2!

Keep going!

 

[musashi03]

My one real complaint with Kuuga is the CGI. (Maybe the finale is a bit underwhelming too, compared to the bombastic ones of other shows. But I think by doing it quietly they exemplified the themes of the show all the better.)

Yeah man, too much CGI is too flashy and is just there to distract the viewers via shock and awe. The simplicity of Kuuga adds emphasis to its plot.

 

[kibapower]

I recall being more underwhelmed by it from what I've heard here, even though I do appreciate a lot of the aesthetics that went into it. Agtio seemed equal in praise however from what I saw.

 

[The 2nd Evil]

Yeah man, too much CGI is too flashy and is just there to distract the viewers via shock and awe. The simplicity of Kuuga adds emphasis to its plot.

It doesn't help that for the most part the CGI hasn't been all that good.

Seen through 10 now, and is it just me of is Kuuga way too powerful? The green and purple form debuts both took out the Grongis in one hit.

Preview for 11 has me really excited with the woman with the rose tattoo speaking Japanese and not Grongi.

 

[Black Fang]

Seen through 10 now, and is it just me of is Kuuga way too powerful? The green and purple form debuts both took out the Grongis in one hit.

Kind of a strange stance, don't you think, when this year we have a Rider with virtually infinite combos and forms to fight with. >>

 

[The 2nd Evil]

I can't recall any of OOO's new forms defeating a Yummy in just one hit. That's what made me question if perhaps Kuuga is too powerful.

Episode 12 gave me a flashback to Misery with how 11 ended looking like Kuuga got impailed by Rhino Grongi's horn, and 12 beginning with him countering out of the sudden death situation.

That said, 11 and 12 have been my favorite episodes of the show so far. Everything with the teacher was great, and 13 looks to be real intriguing.

 

[big_j_ny]

The simplicity of Kuuga adds emphasis to its plot.

True..........but the low amount of CGI is due to the time period in which the show was produced. All of the flashy stuff wasn't introduced into "Toei toku" until 2-3 years later with Ryuki and Faiz.

If the producers of Kuuga in 1999 had the technology to produce the same CGI-esque effects that the modern Rider shows have been able to utilize, believe me..........they would have done it regardless of the emphasis on the plot. Kuuga's Mighty Kick would have looked a lot more flashier had the resources been there to do such a thing during the time it was produced.

 

[musashi03]

I agree, though I have to say that the lack of CGI for Kuuga worked for me... And I was just a kid back then who'd probably easily fall for awesome SFX.

 

[Smilodon]

I thought they were saving money after destroying the Church and the Helicopter battles from the first couple of episodes. Maybe they decided to tone it down and save money? Or maybe Kuuga was a series where they refused to cut corners.

 

[Scissors]

Seen through 10 now, and is it just me of is Kuuga way too powerful? The green and purple form debuts both took out the Grongis in one hit.

This is actually part of the plot, and you will find out later that having too much power will cause some trouble for Godai.

If you also noticed, the green (Pegasus) form did not work for him right away. It actually made him lose the first battle.
That is one thing I found interesting with Kuuga's form changes. In the beginning they seemed to activate themselves randomly, which was not always a good thing, especially because Godai had no idea how to use them.

Like in Dragon Form's debut. It only activated because Godai wanted to jump high, but for the rest of the battle, he got his ass kicked because that from didn't have the strength of Mighty form.
If I remember correctly, they even addressed it as a problem that Godai could not switch back to Mighty Form again after going into Dragon Form.

It was not until later on that Godai could control his basic forms. With that also came his legendary "Chou Henshin!"
Then came the Rising Forms and everything went to **** again...