Nearly ten years since it began, the ongoing Kamen Rider Kuuga manga will finally receive an official Western release.
As revealed by Team Kamen Rider, Bandai’s official Kamen Rider outreach group, and Shout! Factory, the home media company behind a number of Western toku releases including the upcoming Blu-ray collection of Kamen Rider Zero-One – otherwise known as the first ever official Western release of a Kamen Rider series – during their November 27th San Diego Comic Con 2021 Special Edition joint panel, the Kamen Rider Kuuga manga will begin English localization sometime in 2022 courtesy of Buenos Aires-based publisher, Stonebot Comics.
An ongoing series penned by Toshiki Inoue (Kamen Rider Agito, Kamen Rider 555) and illustrated by Hitotsu Yokoshima (Bateren XX), the eponymously named Kamen Rider Kuuga series serves as a manga adaptation of both the Kuuga and Kamen Rider Agito television shows, albeit with some slight changes made to the story’s presentation.
First beginning publication in 2014, the series is set to release its 18th volume next month on December 7th.
The first Rider series of the Heisei Era, Kamen Rider Kuuga followed the adventures of the carefree Yusuke Godai, a young man with a mysterious connection to an ancient race known as the Rinto as he harnessed the power of the Rinto warrior Kuuga to protect humanity from the murderous Gurongi, who routinely killed humans for fun and sport.
A direct quasi-sequel to Kuuga (a classification extremely dependent on who you’re talking to), Agito told the story of Shoichi Tsugami, an amnesiac who forcibly transforms into the powerful being known as Agito whenever in the presence of a deadly race of monsters appropriately referred to as the Unknown, as he sought to uncover the mystery of his lost memories.
As of writing, an official release date for Stonebot Comics’ English translation has not been announced.
In addition to translating Kamen Rider Kuuga, Stonebot Comics will also be producing a series of new comic books and graphic novels set within the world of Kamen Rider Zero-One.
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