Zu-Gumun-Ba

**Zu-Gumun-Ba**(ズ・グムン・バ *Zu gumun ba*) is a spider-based Gurongi from Episodes 1 and 2 of Kamen Rider Kuuga.

He is voiced by **Tetsuo Sakaguchi**.

## Personality

Zu-Gumun-Ba is a self-confident brute who will attack and kill anyone he comes across and won’t hesitate to overpower weaker enemies. He will join in fights alongside his allies but doesn’t seem to mind if he’s left to fight alone as he’ll focus only on his enemies.
He will also show hatred for any enemy stronger than him.

## Appearance

Zu-Gumun-Ba has a slim, dark green-colored body with exposed abs and pecs. He has claws on his hands and feet and has dual extendable claws sticking out on top of his hands. He is wearing bandages around his forearms, copper cuffs around his ankles, a dull white mawashi, a dark green belt with a large copper buckle, black rope around his shins and upper arms, and a copper bib necklace with a web-like design. He also has a dark green-colored head with a spider-like mouth that can open vertically, blank yellow eyes, six black spider eyes above the yellow eyes, a short mohawk, and copper spider legs on each side of the head.

## Biography

### Revival

After an excavation team discovered a tomb holding a body wearing a belt, they’re suddenly attacked and killed by an unseen assailant. The assailant then makes his way to an area in the woods and uses his power to awaken other creatures from their slumber in the ground, making them rise up.
Later, as the police are investigating the attack, they discover the belt and the detective, Ichijo, brings it to it the excavation team’s researcher, Sakurako Sawatari, to analyze as its believed to be a clue.
After he shows her and her friend, Yusuke Godai, he’s suddenly alerted about an incident happening at Minami-Nagano.
At the place, one of the creatures awakened by the attacker, named Zu-Gumun-Ba, has made a giant spider web between the buildings. As the police arrive at the scene, Zu-Gumun-Ba comes down by a web string and grabs two of the policemen to bring them up to his web.
He then jumps back down on one of the police cars where the police start shooting at him, only to find the bullets having no effect. Zu-Gumun-Ba then proceeds to beat and kill the rest of the cops until one of them tries to escape in one of the police cars. However, Zu-Gumun-Ba shoots a web out of his mouth through the car’s windshield and gets a hold of the policeman’s neck as he’s driving away with Zu-Gumun-Ba pulling himself into the car.
During this, Godai and Sakurako are leaving the building with the belt in the briefcase until the police car crashes through the doors and Zu-Gumun-Ba crawls out, where he spots the belt spilled out of the briefcase and recognizes it as Kuuga’s belt.
Zu-Gumun-Ba starts fighting off all the guards in the building as they try to shoot at him. Seeing all the harm Zu-Gumun-Ba is causing, Godai grabs the belt, as it has been giving him visions, and places it on his waist where it enters into his body. With the belt inside Godai’s body, Zu-Gumun-Ba focuses his attention on him and takes him outside to continually beat him up. Godai lays a punch on Zu-Gumun-Ba’s stomach, where it makes his arm transform. Godai starts fighting back where he each blow he gives transforms his body parts until he’s completely transformed into Kuuga’s Growing Form.
The two begin to fight each other where it leads to the top of a building. Zu-Gumun-Ba manages to overpower Kuuga and tries to kill him with his Webs and Hand Claws.
Fortunately, Detective Ichijo arrives in a helicopter and shoots at them, getting Zu-Gumun-Ba’s attention and he changes his focus on the helicopter.
Using his web to climb into the helicopter, Zu-Gumun-Ba tries to kill Detective Ichijo with his claws, but Kuuga manages to get onboard the helicopter and continues to fight with Zu-Gumun-Ba while they’re hanging outside the helicopter.
Zu-Gumun-Ba gets to the other side of the helicopter to grab Detective Ichijo, but Kuuga manages to save him and gets grabbed by Zu-Gumun-Ba next. Once freeing himself from Zu-Gumun-Ba’s grasp, Kuuga kicks him off the helicopter and he falls down and crashes through a roof.

### Transformation

During an investigation of murders where the victims’ bodies have been drained of blood, Detective Ichijo manages to find the creature behind the attacks, Zu-Gooma-Gu, at a church at night but he gets attacked until Godai arrives and transforms into Kuuga’s Mighty Form.
As Zu-Gooma-Gu and Kuuga fight each other, they end up in a different building where Kuuga manages to get the upper-hand in the fight.
However, Zu-Gumun-Ba appears swinging by a web and knocks Kuuga down. He then joins with Zu-Gooma-Gu to fight against Kuuga and he pins him down for Zu-Gooma-Gu to finish him off.
Fortunately, Detective Ichijo arrives and shoots at the two Gurongis to get their attention, allowing Kuuga to break free from their grip.
Before Zu-Gooma-Gu could fight some more, it suddenly turns into daylight outside. Unable to stand the sunlight, Zu-Gooma-Gu flies away, leaving Zu-Gumun-Ba alone in the fight.
Kuuga and Zu-Gumun-Ba arrive on the roof of the building where Zu-Gumun-Ba wraps Kuuga up with his web and pins him to the ground. Zu-Gumun-Ba then thrusts his hand claw at Kuuga to kill him, but he manages to break free from the web and grabs Zu-Gumun-Ba’s arm while dodging it.
Getting back up, Kuuga delivers a kick on Zu-Gumun-Ba’s chest. Upon being kicked, one of the belt’s symbols appears on Zu-Gumun-Ba’s chest and he’s suddenly engulfed in flames before blowing up, finally destroyed.

## Powers/Abilities

**Webs**: Zu-Gumun-Ba can shoot spider webs from out of his mouth to grab distance victims and to create a spider net. It’s strong enough to break through windshields with ease.

**Bullet Resistant**: Zu-Gumun-Ba’s body is impenetrable against bullets, allowing him to bounce them off.

**Super Strength**: Zu-Gumun-Ba has enough strength to send his enemies flying away and to push back a car by just his hands.

**High Jumping**: Zu-Gumun-Ba is able to jump up at an extraordinary height.

**Wall Crawling**: Zu-Gumun-Ba is able to crawl up on a wall with ease.

**Hand Claws**: On the back of each hand, Zu-Gumun-Ba has a pair of claws that he can extend out to stab his enemies.

## Trivia

* Zu-Gumun-Ba is the first Heisei Kamen Rider Kaijin in the show’s history.
	+ He’s also a homage to Spider Man as they’re both the first Kamen Rider Kaijin to be spiders of a new era.
* Zu-Gumun-Ba fight alongside Zu-Gooma-Gu is referencing on how the first two Kamen Rider Kaijin are based off a spider and a bat.
* The designer, Takuya Abe, originally drew a line underneath Zu-Gumun-Ba’s monocular on the concept sketch to give the impression of long-slit eyes. However, he thought it made the design look “warm”.
* Takuya Abe stated that he was unknowingly influenced with the designs of the dark heroes from American Comics such as the mask of Todd McFarlane’s Spawn.
* Takuya Bade felt the design challenge with Zu-Gumun-Ba was to express the elements of the spider motif with body ornaments instead of living body parts. So he added the spider leg decorations on the head and the spider web decoration around the neck.