Kamen Rider Kuuga Vol. 1

仮面ライダークウガ [Kamen Rider Kuuga] #1

by Shōtarō Ishinomori, Toshiki Inoue, Hitotsu Yokoshima (Illustrator)

Kamen Rider Kuuga marks the return of a classic manga character adapted for the 21st century, that’s sure to surprise both new and veteran fans alike. An epic action series about a defender of justice with a twist!

Based on the original concept and story by Tokusatsu legend Shotaro Ishinomori.

Perfect for fans of Power Rangers and Sci-Fi and mecha manga!

Genres: Manga, Superheroes, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Japan

224 pages, Paperback

Published December 6, 2022

About the author

Shōtarō Ishinomori (石ノ森章太郎) was a Japanese manga artist and cartoonist. Known as the "King of Manga", he is regarded as one of the most influential manga artists of all time.

Reviews

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a comic that had very little Kamen Rider, I still quite enjoyed it. The new origin for Kamen Rider was very different than the origin but it was still a cool change.

[AltLovesBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The law is the judge. Not your God."

I love Kamen Rider in specific and tokusatsu in general. That said, I'll be 100% completely honest and say I haven't yet watched the season this is adapted from (I'm currently working my way through Kamen Rider Ryuki). But I'm a sucker for manga and Ishinomori's work, so this was an easy purchase.

The beginning was a bit confusing, not gonna sugar coat it. But once things started kicking off around chapter 3 or 4 or so, I got incredibly invested in the story. It's a bit bloody and creepy, very much an early Kamen Rider in story and tone. It's really good!

[Liam Luke Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the book and TV show

[Moco’s Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saya adalah penggemar fanatik Kamen Rider di era akhir Showa dan era awal Heisei. Masih terekam jelas dalam ingatan dulu sudah siap menunggu depan televisi menunggu Kuuga yang pada masa itu masih dianggap "Satria Baja Hitam". Buat saya, Kamen Rider Kugga merupakan serial yang lumayan revolusioner.

Di masanya, Kuuga mengenalkan berbagai konsep baru di genre tokusatsu. Misalnya, Rider dengan banyak forms sekaligus power-ups yang kini disebut sebagai "super form" dan "final form", Kuuga juga mulai banyak memasukkan unsur-unsur konten yang lebih sadis dan cocok untuk penonton lebih dewasa. Tapi hal yang paling menarik dalam serial Kuuga adalah interaksi tokoh-tokohnya! Kalau Anda perhatikan, di Kuuga itu adegan henshin sampai fighting dengan monster paling cuma sekitar 5 menit per episode. Tapi, penonton itu diajak untuk melihat banyak pengembangan karakter seperti orang-orang kepolisian, orang-orang medis, sampai juga para researcher yang ada di universe-nya Kuuga! Tiap episode rasanya penasaran dengan progres penyelidikan Ichigo dan Sugita, temuan baru risetnya Sawatari, sampai dengan bagaimana kemunculan Mikakuni Seimeitai (unindentified lifeforms atau Grongi) memengaruhi kehidupan orang biasa di sekitar Godai, Sang tokoh utama.

Nah, manga Kamen Rider Kuuga ini untungnya juga pakai formula yang sama. Dari segi cerita sih intinya relatif masih sama seperti di live action-nya, tapi detailnya lebih di-expand. Tentu saja, ada perbedaan di sana sini dengan seriesnya yang dipublikasikan pada tahun 2.000. Paling kentara, penampilan karakter yang cukup beda banget. Godai Yusuke, misalnya, di versi manganya berambut mohawk dan benar-benar nggak seperti aktor Odagiri Joe di masa mudanya. Awal bagaimana Godai mendapatkan kekuatan Kuuga juga beda banget di manga yang mana bukan dia yang sebenarnya diincar oleh Riku sebagai penerus.

Di versi manga, saya kira panel-panelnya juga lebih bisa mengakomodasi pembaca dewasa. Pas kecil dulu, saya cukup kaget sebenarnya dengan adegan-adegan sadis di LA-nya. Setelah baca manganya, ternyata lebih sadis lagi para Grongi-nya pas melakukan "gegeru". Sedikit spoiler, universe Kuuga ini akan lebih di-expand. Dan yang paling bikin excited, Kuuga hidup di universe yang sama dengan Agito! Jadi, buat kamu yang dulu sempat nonton Kuuga dijamin akan dapat banyak hal yang baru kalau mau mengikuti manganya.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ichijo is a disciplined detective working for the Metropolitan Police Department. He and his entire squad are stumped when a full train of 300+ passengers is killed by mysterious circumstances - all of their vital organs and bones have been taken from their bodies, and what’s left is a leaky shell of flesh. As he and his partners investigate, he comes face-to-face with a supernatural creature that is twice as tall as him and behaves like an insect. Ichijo is saved from being killed by a humanoid in a powerful suit. Away from all this fighting and murdering, a young man named Yusuke has returned home for a moment before it’s off to traveling again. He crosses paths with Detective Ichijo several times — the last being at the scene of yet another murder. Yusuke wants nothing more than to save his college friend from becoming the next victim of these powerful beings, but he’ll need more than his vagabond ways to best the super-human strength of the unidentified life form.

There is quite a bit of action in this manga, and not all of it is fully detailed. The illustrations are pretty sparse and don’t live up to the amount of stuff the mangaka want to have happen in each panel. That said, this is a great slow-burn build-up to the main point of the series. This entire volume could serve as a prologue for the main storyline and hero, as I suspect Ichijo isn't really the star of the series. Kamen Rider has been produced since the 1970s with limited exposure in North America, but this installment is a good jumping-in point for new fans. This will definitely appeal to fans of Power Rangers, Ultraman, and other tokusatsu storylines.

This is a fairly violent story with people murdered on the page. There are also characters who drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. Overall, this would be better for older readers.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

Read more graphic novel reviews at The Graphic Library.

[Rockito · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kamen Rider Kuuga es una reimaginación de la serie de TV homónima. Éste tomo reimagina lo que serían los primeros 5 episodios (aprox.) presentando un poco de más de terror y gore aunque encajando algunas carecterizaciones bastante estereotipicas de los personajes (Trigger-Warning: Incluye dialogos sobre proteger sonrisas).
El arte esta bastante bien salvo por un par de secuencias donde pareciera que falta un panel. También hay páginas donde se produce la transición de escenas en el último recoveco de la hoja, lo cual puede molestar un poco.
Redondeando todo es un inicio bastante sólido y genera ganas de volver a ver la serie.

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Takes a little while to get going, there is a lot of set up for this detective guy but halfway through it's revealed he's not the protagonist, just seems like a lot of time was wasted setting him up. The Kamen Rider isn't actually present until about halfway through and even then it's only the suits as there is no host yet, which again is introduced halfway through. I liked it but it just felt a bit long, the villain with spider powers turning people into husks was fun, the first villain, the serial killer had the same problem as the detective a lot of time setting up only for it to go nowhere.

Saying that the second half of this is really good, if you're into Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Ultraman You'll love this.

[RobinLikesReading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty slow start but once I was at chapter 3 I was sold!

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what I expected but it wasn't this. Not enough Kamen Rider.

[Kamen Rider Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Justo cuando creí que Godai Yusuke no me podría gustar mas llega este manga

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The manga itself isn’t bad but the obvious machine translation sure is.