Kamen rider kuugu vol 1 by Toshiki Inoue

Illustrated by Hitotsu Yokoshima
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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.

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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

Publisher: Titan Manga
Publication Date: November 22, 2022
ISBN: 9781787739550 (Paperback)

This review was made possible with a digital reader copy from the publisher through Net Galley.

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Action Adventure, Science Fiction, Titan