Review by Frank Plowright

Kamen Rider Kuuga is Yusuki Godai, inheritor of powers enabling him to single-handed delay the Gurongi invasion of Earth. Rather than attacking directly, they’re spreading terror via a series of threatening monster attacks. So far Kuuga has managed to stop them, but each is more powerful than the last.

After the clever twist that saw Police Inspector Ichijo suspended from duty in Kamen Rider Kuuga 03, it’s revealed early here as a convenient contrivance, presumably Toshini Inoue just taking his lead from Shotaro Ishinomori’s work on the original TV serial. Acknowledging the coincidence a few pages later doesn’t make it better. However, Ichijo remains a good character, locked to upholding justice, even if that means occasionally turning a blind eye. In the opening chapter he comes closer to understanding what Kuuga is.

While there’s a full complement of action toward the end, the first third of Kamen Rider Kuuga 04 concerns Godai and Ichijo’s work attempting to figure out how people are dying. It’s not a mystery for readers who see the Gurongi’s latest creation and what he’s up to. He’s designed by Hitotsu Yokoshima as a creepy guy with filed metal teeth who’s killing high school students. The difference between him and the villains from previous volumes is the ingeniously provided and utterly hateful go-between, which is an inventive touch.

Yokoshima is undoubtedly a dynamic artist, but there are places where his storytelling can be difficult to follow. This occurs most often during fight scenes, but can also occur with sudden shifts to viewing people from different angles. Where it counts, though, he delivers.

Previous volumes have very much concentrated on action, and if not, either on the police investigations resulting from it or the villains plotting. This volume broadens the writing with a greater focus on ordinary people who are caught up in the ongoing madness, and that’s a feature continuing into Kamen Rider Kuuga 05.