Kamen Rider Kuuga (200-2001)

Starring:
Yuusuke Godai/Kamen Rider Kuuga - Joe Odagiri
Kaoru Ichijo - Shingo Katsurayama
Sakurako Sawatari - Kazumi Murata
Oyassan - Kitaro
Minori Godai - Wakana Aoi
Shuichi Tsubaki - Yoshitaka Otsuka
Hikari Enokida - Kaori Mizushima
Nana Asahina - Shio Mizuhara
Jean Michel Sorrel - Serge Vasilov
Mika Natsume - Yuka Takeshima
Sadao Matsukura - Yudai Ishiyama
Morimichi Sugita - Takashi Matsuyama
Go Sakurai - Nobuyuki Yoneyama
Nozomi Sasayama - Eri Tanaka
Hitoshi Kashiwabara - Takashi Kikuchi
Junichi Shiina - Makoto Hatayama
Tatsuhiko Ebisawa - Fujio Mori
Tsurumaru Kameyama - Katsuaki Nishide
Shoji Kanzaki - Takashi Inoue
Keiko Motoshiro - Rie Okada
Atsuko Enokida - Machiko Naka
Sayuru Enokida - Kentaro Niibo
Hiroyuki Yashiro - Yutaro Kamata
Shuto Terashima - Tomoaki Takagi

Long ago, the Grongi Tribe terrorized the Linto until a warrior named Kuuga appeared and defeated the Grongi, sealing their leader within a cave. In present day, a multi-talented man named Yuusuke Godai finds himself linked to the mysterious stoned belt that was found within the escavated cave as the Grongi are ressurected and resume their murderous game on the desandants of the Linto, humanity itself. It is up to Yuusuke, along with the assembled Science Police, to use the various powers of Kuuga in order to stop and defeat the Grongi Tribesmen from their continuous killing and ensure the happiness of others. However, as endgame draws near, Yuusuke learns that there is a horrible revelation behind Kuuga and the Grongis' leader.

OMG! One of the first works from my Joe! He looks so totally different. Actually, the only way I realized who he was..was because of the mole on his chin. After awhile, I got used to looking at him looking so young and different. I'll call him "au naturale". His hair was dark and he actually looked Japanese for the very first time for me. LOL! Is that not weird?

Anyway, on to the review...........

Sad to say, this KR bored the hell out of me until the last 10 episodes....then it started getting interesting. I will say this fell into the KR theory....masked rider on crotch rocket (motorcycle). But the story, which I thought would be interesting....fizzled beyong belief. But I hung on to the end. Why is it that the KR stories don't end with the ultimate happy ending. You know guy gets girl....and they live happily ever after? Damn. I cried at the end. It was "happy" but it didn't fullfill me at all.

I will say the Odagiri Jo, we all know and love, was awesome. The naive and funny Jo is the best. Don't get me wrong. I love him in all of his movies and dramas but when he plays the innocent...well, my heart melts a little bit.

Anyway, this was okay but like I said it bored me. So at this moment, I'm taking a KR break for a while and then will hit Kabuto and Kiva.