The story begins in the Parallel World controlled by VUDO. The Parallel World is a world that lives in perpetual darkness, where nature does not have a light source like the sun, water, oxygen, and other elements necessary for life. Rasputin (Sutan Simatupang) is the evil and cruel ruler of the villainous organization VUDO. He wants to take over the Earth to seize their natural resources for the sake of all life in the Parallel World. A scientist on Earth managed to create a portal that connects the Earth and other galaxies. VUDO saw this opportunity and wants to get to Earth.
Ray Bramasakti (Christian Loho), gets a red Power Stone from a mysterious man, Mikhail (Adhitya Alkatiri), to stop any attempt by Rasputin to take over the Earth. By getting the red Power Stone, Ray got the power to change into Bima Satria Garuda. Randy Iskandar (Rayhan Febrian) and his sister, Rena (Stella Cornelia) who are Ray's adoptive family become involved in the actions of BIMA against evil Rasputin's schemes.
A sequel series, Satria Garuda Bima X, premiered in 2014.
The hero and his allies:
- Ray Bramasakti/Bima Satria Garuda (Christian Loho), super hero and main character in the series. Nice, quiet, humble, yet having noble principles, Ray was an orphan who lived with a foster family, Randy and Rena. Ray has a job in the workshop "Satria Motors". He has a red Power Stone acquired from Mikhail and uses it to save the Earth from threats by VUDO. The Power Stone can turn him into Bima, who has the power of Garuda: agile, focused, and strong. His weapon is named Helios (the Sun) and his Finishing Move is called Garuda Strike.
- Randy Iskandar (Rayhan Febrian), older brother of Rena, Ray's adopted brother, and the owner of the workshop "Satria Motors". Randy is a fatherly figure for Rena and Ray. He inherited considerable wealth from his parents who disappeared.
- Rena Iskandar (Stella Cornelia), Randy's sister and Ray's adopted sibling who is also a student. Rena behaves naive and innocent, her nature tends to be careless and always unlucky, she wants to help Ray but instead gets often into trouble because of VUDO.
- Iwan Iskandar (Abio Abie), Randy and Rena's uncle. He takes care of them after their parents disappeared.
- Mikhail (Adhitya Alkatiri). His origin is not known to many. Mikhail fled a VUDO warship carrying the red Power Stone. He communicates through telepathy, but does not like to communicate a lot with humans.
VUDO:
- Rasputin (Sutan Simatupang), the leader of the organization VUDO who has the black Power Stone. He comes from the Parallel World and wants to attack Earth by taking over the elements oxygen, sunlight, and water to give life in the Parallel World.
- Iron Mask, a mysterious figure and Rasputin's right-hand warship commander who has the blue Power Stone.
- Azazel, a mysterious figure who fights for Rasputin. He is armed with Taranis (Lightning), similar to Bima's Helios.
Tropes:
- AB Negative: Ray's blood type. Conveniently, it's also Mikhail's blood type. Not surprising, since he is Ray's brother.
- Ancient Artifact: There is a stone tablet that shows evidence about Bima Legend's existence in ancient times, shown in a museum.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing
- Mythical Motifs: A Garuda.
- Animated Armor: Iron Mask turns out to be this.
- Apocalyptic Log: Written by Ray and Randy's fathers.
- All Your Nature Resources Are Belong To Us: Once Rasputin got all of the seven Power Stones, he unleashed his Giant Mecha, Grand Gator, and it utterly destroys Jakarta.
- Back from the Dead: Several monsters defeated by Bima were revived by Velifer to go against Azazel.
- Iron Mask in The Stinger.
- Badass Normal: Randy. He assisted Ray/Bima to invade Vudo's island base, and he even wielded Helios twice to ward off the Kombatans. Rena also gets this treatment in the final episode.
- Badass Cape: Bima Legend sports this one.
- Barehanded Blade Block: Done by Azazel against Helios.
- Bash Brothers: Ray and Randy. Bonus point for them being adoptive brothers. Now it's Ray and Reza.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: When Zacros attempted to take Bima's power stone, what did Bima do? Attempt to take Zacros'. This resulted in Zacros pleading for mercy and released the bus hostages.
- Beautiful Slave Girl: Maya, a runaway slave from the Parallel World. Justified, as she was played by Haruka Nakagawa, a member of AKB48.
- Berserk Button: Never, ever threat or harm Rena in front of Ray. Megalodon Monster found this out the hard way.
- Big Bad: Rasputin.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Bima's Thunder Claw, acquired from Iron Mask.
- Bonding over Missing Parents: Ray and Randy discussed about their missing parents in #5.
- Boss Subtitles: The monsters of the week are introduced this way.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: In #13, it was revealed that Mikhail was given the black power stone by Rasputin, which causes him to become evil and allows him to transform into Azazel.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: In his Troll moment, Zacros whistled the show's theme song.
- Brought Down to Badass: Rasputin managed to take Bima and Azazel's Power Stones. While it stopped them from transforming, it didn't stop them from being badass.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: "Berubah!", meaning change, or transform. It's basically the Indonesian translation of the usual "Henshin!"
- Calling Your Attacks: Bima.
- Catapult Nightmare: Happened to Ray in two occasions. The second is followed by Ray accidentally attacking Randy.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Rena has a crush on Ray. However, she has yet to tell her feelings towards him, and it's still unknown whether Ray will or will not reciprocate, although there's some Ship Tease between them.
- Chekhov's Gun: Ray and Reza's parents used their dimensional portal to catch Grand Gator's punch.
- Cliffhanger Copout: The eighth episode of the first season ends with Bima trapped in a crate with the doors rapidly closing. The next episode opens with him getting out with no real difficulty.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Bima against the Monster of the Week one-on-one? Two episodes. Azazel against all of the Monster of the Week at once? Doesn't take a full minute.
- Content Warnings: Following Japan's tradition of inserting these before a show starts. Although to be fair, only a few are actually content warnings (e.g. Don't Try This at Home). The rest are more like An Aesop or some sort.
- Cool Airship: VUDO's airship. It looks like a crossover between an oriental sailboat and a dragon, complete with the tail.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Azazel briefly pulls this on Iron Mask.
- Iron Mask also pulled this off on Bima, going as far as performing his Self-Duplication powers. But once Bima does the same in the early minutes of #17, it was Iron Mask who received a brutal and swift beating by Bima, going as far as being destroyed BEFORE THE OPENING TITLE EVEN STARTED!
- Rasputin pulls this to both Bima and Azazel in #25
- Curiosity Killed the Cast: Ray's father, driven by scientific curiosity, opens a portal to a parallel world. Too bad the inhabitants of the other world now want to invade our Earth for its natural resources and kill Ray's parents first.
- George too. He was curious about the multiverse portal. Too bad his curiosity led him to his death in the hands of Valcus Monster.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Azazel after he betrayed VUDO.
- Determinator: Ray. See Heroic Spirit below.
- Distressed Dude: Mikhail at the end of #11.
- The Dog Bites Back: Iron Mask turns against Rasputin and delivered the final blow in The Stinger.
- Dual Wielding: Azazel used both Taranis and Helios to defeat Bima in #17.
- Embarrassing Nickname: When they were little, Ray nicknamed Rena 'mochi gembul', which translates to 'plump mochi'. Suffice to say, Rena wasn't amused at all.
- Affectionate Nickname: Ray thought that it was cute, though.
- Emotion Eater/Living MacGuffin: It was revealed that all of Power Stones are this, although Red, Blue, and Black doesn't seem to be the Emotion Eater type.
- The Empire: VUDO.
- Enigmatic Empowering Entity: Mikhail, in a way.
- Evil Costume Switch: After being brainwashed, Mikhail added a pair of sunglasses to his wardrobe. He also no longer puts on his hood.
- Paint It Black: Iron Mask, after being revived by Black Priest, now wears a black cape instead of a red one.
- Evil Counterpart: Azazel.
- Evil Is Hammy: Rasputin, oh so very much.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: Iron Mask.
- Evil Versus Evil/Enemy Civil War: Iron Mask vs. Azazel.
- Eye Catch: Nothing special, though. Just the show's logo.
- Finishing Move: He has several:
- Diving Kick: Garuda Crusher. Add in Azazel's own and it becomes Double Garuda Crusher.
- Power Fist: Garuda Strike.
- Sword Beam: The signature move of Helios when being folded. Comes in two flavors, Bima Blue Storm and Bima Red Fire. Azazel has his own version as well, Taranis Black Thunder. Also with Bima's Thunder Claw, he can unleash Garuda Blue Thunderstorm.
- The Straight and Arrow Path: Helios Blaster and Taranis Blaster.
- General Failure: Iron Mask. Rasputin said he doesn't deserve to be his commander.
- Giant Mecha: The Grand Gator, empowered by the seven Power Stones.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The first monster victim to die was George, and we didn't even see him die. The only things shown were Valcus Monster's tail rising up before falling down, and George's scream.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Several, due to GACKT's nationality. There's Gratuitous English, Gratuitous Japanese, and Gratuitous Indonesian.
- The stone tablet has Javanese script (also known as Hanacaraka, Caraka, or Aksara Jawa) writings. Conveniently, only Maya can translate them.
- Happily Adopted: Ray, doubly. First, he was adopted by Randy's parents. Then, he, along with Randy and Rena, were adopted by Iwan. As of #24, Reza also got this treatment.
- Heel–Face Turn: Reza.
- Henshin Hero
- Heroic Spirit: Demonstrated by Ray in #11. Although he only just woke up from his coma while his wounds hadn't healed yet, he challenged Valcus Monster, took down the surrounding Kombatans, went toe-to-toe with the twin sword-wielding monster with only his fists, and destroyed the monster with two shots from Helios Blaster.
- Again in #15. He infiltrated VUDO's base along with Randy, and opened a can of kickass against the Kombatans, all while untransformed.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: We're only told that Rasputin needs the seven Power Stones. Whatever he wants to do with them is not revealed to anyone, even to his dragon, Iron Mask.
- It was finally revealed. See Wham Episode below.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Twice in #17. First, Bima used the blue Power Stone, which originally belong to Iron Mask, to finish him off. Secondly, Azazel used both Taranis and Bima's weapon, Helios, to defeat him.
- Honor Before Reason: Azazel refused to fight Bima if the latter isn't in shape. Rasputin isn't amused.
- Human Alien: Mikhail. Technically a human from a parallel Earth, but he has telepathy, so he should qualify.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Ray told Mikhail that he doesn't want to be Bima if it endangers his family.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Bima/Ray vs Azazel/Reza.
- Intrepid Reporter: George. His partner, Cecil, takes up his mantle after his death.
- Legacy Character: Bima Legend. It seems that Bima isn't the only Garuda Knight.
- Littlest Cancer Patient: In #20, although it's heart surgery patient to be exact. The kid also inspired Bima's Mid-Season Upgrade by a drawing of him with wings.
- Living Battery: What happens to the Victim of the Week. This is how the monsters gain power; by absorbing humans, and it is implied that if Bima destroys the monster without weakening it first so that the human can be rescued, the human will die along with the monster.
- Long-Lost Relative: Reza, as well as Ray and Reza's parents.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Mikhail, you're actually Reza, Ray's little brother.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Iron Mask. It turns out that he is an Animated Armor.
- Mass Hypnosis: The reason why Gremontis Monster is created is to spread a massive hypnosis wave through television to drive people into committing suicide.
- Merchandise-Driven: Bandai produces the toys of the show.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Bima God Helios Form. Bima formed this by fusing Helios with the Red and Blue Power Stones' powers.
- Mind Rape: Zacros attempted to do this on Bima, but Bima snaps out of it, thanks to Rena and Randy's interference.
- Mineral MacGuffin: The Power Stones. There are seven of them, and VUDO needs all of them to accomplish their goal, which is why Iron Mask is tasked with retrieving Bima's Red Power Stone.
- Mook: The Kombatans.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Rasputin, Azazel...
- Nephewism: Randy and Rena. They are adopted by their uncle, Iwan.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Where the hell did Garuda Shield come from?
- Non-Actor Vehicle: Bima Satria Garuda was the first major starring role for Christian Loho (Ray), Rayhan Febrian (Randy), Stella Cornelia (Rena), and Adhitya Alkatiri (Mikhail). Christian and Rayhan were models who ran in the 2011 iteration of L-Men
of the Year, Alkatiri was also a model, while Stella was a former member of JKT48. Aside from Rayhan (who only had two other acting credits unrelated to the franchise), they would eventually broke through as actors. - Non-Indicative Name: One wouldn't really think of snakes when they hear the name 'Gills'.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Rasputin once pointed out that humans are no less evil than him, if not moreso.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Iron Mask went as far as ignoring Rasputin's orders to attack earth discreetly so that he can lure Bima out and kill him personally.
- And now Azazel takes the mantle.
- Orcus on His Throne: Throughout the show, Rasputin only sits on his throne, barking orders to his underlings. However, once he got off the throne and directly confronts the heroes, he managed to take their Power Stones.
- Parental Abandonment: Ray, Reza, Randy, and Rena. It's the reason why they live together with Iwan.
- Patriotic Fervor: Meta example. The Garuda to Indonesia is like the bald eagle to America. Guess what Bima's motif is.
- Planet Looters: VUDO's method of attacking earth. They don't attack for the hell of it. Rather, they attack so that they can take earth's resources, led by the Monster of the Week.
- Playing with Fire: Bima's overall motif. He can launch a fire projectile from his fist à la Captain Falcon, a flaming rider kick, a fiery Sword Beam, and a flaming arrow.
- Poison Is Evil: As expected from monsters based on poisonous animals, such as Valcus Monster and Gills Monster.
- P.O.V. Cam: Done gratuitously in #14.
- Power Copying: Bima took Iron Mask's blue Power Stone and it granted him a new weapon, Thunder Claw, which he used to finish off Iron Mask.
- Previously on…/On the Next: Done in conjunction.
- Product Placement: Quite a lot by Top 1 Motor Oil, Suzuki Motors, MNC Group, Sindo Newspapers, and even RCTI (the channel this show runs on). At least justified for MNC and Sindo Newspapers, since this show is co-created by MNC, while Sindo Newspapers is owned by RCTI. As for the first two, they are regular sponsors for RCTI.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Shadow Crisis, a group of four monsters empowered with the remaining four Power Stones tasked specifically to kill Bima. They are:
- Bat Out of Hell: Velifer Monster.
- Dirty Coward: He interrupts Bima/Ray and Azazel/Reza's fight by shooting Azazel/Reza In the Back.
- Necromancer: His special power. Not only he brings back the monsters that Bima defeated, but also the Shadow Crisis members.
- Psychopathic Manchild: His personality.
- Shock and Awe: Another of his abilities, granted by the Yellow Power Stone.
- Savage Wolves: Vargulf Monster.
- The Berserker: His fighting style.
- Dishing Out Dirt: While it's not shown explicitly, he carries the Green Power Stone which grants him earth powers.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Easily become the most violent of all Shadow Crisis, since his debut.
- Fauns and Satyrs: Zacros Monster.
- Cool Gate: He has the ability to conjure these to transport himself or other things elsewhere, or into his dimension.
- Faux Affably Evil: Speaks calmly and mannerfully...while beating the snot out of Azazel, and later, Bima.
- Graceful Loser: He acknowledges Bima's strength and even bows down before exploding.
- Squishy Wizard: He's stated to be the weakest of the four, which is why he mostly uses magic.
- Troll: His trolliness is up there with Basco and Enter.
- Winged Humanoid: Karax Monster, based on a crow.
- An Ice Person: Has ice powers due to the White Power Stone he carried.
- Arrow Catch: Does this to Helios Blaster.
- Feather Flechettes: Combined with his ice powers.
- You Fight Like a Cow: Insults Bima to no end, calling him a Garuda who can't fly.
- Bat Out of Hell: Velifer Monster.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: A minor one. The reason why Rena didn't appear in #16 was because her actor, Stella Cornelia, was sick.
- Recap Episode: #17.
- Red Is Heroic
- Redemption Promotion/Redemption Demotion: Azazel aka Reza, now turns against VUDO with his Black Power Stone.
- Secret Identity: Averted. Ray transforms into Bima right in front of his adoptive brother, Randy.
- He also transformed once in front of a monster victim.
- It appears that Ray has no problems transforming in public. It just so happens that whenever he transforms, nobody is around to see it.
- As of #15, Rena also found out.
- Secret-Keeper: Randy acknowledges Ray's status as Bima, and he even helps Ray to cover up his identity from Rena. Although as of #15, he probably doesn't need to so anymore.
- Self-Duplication/Doppelgänger Attack: Iron Mask. Bima gains this ability in episode 17.
- Ship Tease: It's subtle, but when Bima grabbed Rena's hand in #15, their fingers are interlocking with each other. So it seems that Ray does reciprocate Rena's feelings to a degree.
- Shout-Out: Garuda Crusher is basically a Rider Kick with a different name.
- Valcus Monster looks supiciously like a monstrous version of Kamen Rider Sasword. The fact that it's also a sword wielder (albeit a dual one) doesn't help.
- Probably unintentional, but there's already another character who can do a flaming punch (complete with the fiery avian effects) and a flaming Diving Kick.
- Gills Monster's design might have taken some liberties from the Snake Lord and the Snake Orpenoch.
- Also, a Monstrous Humanoid named Gills. Hmm...
- One would easily think of Megalodon Monster as a humanoid version of Kamen Rider Abyss' contract monster.
- The way Azazel fights reminds some of Kamen Rider Ouja. It doesn't help that he reverse grips his sword and does the neck-cracking.
- Color scheme wise, Bima and Azazel are similar to Ryuki and Ryuga.
- The whole 'brothers who were separated in their childhood, only to meet up later as super-powered beings that fight each other' plot. Not a first time in the toku genre. It helps that Kamen Rider BLACK (as well as its sequel, Kamen Rider BLACK RX) is Indonesia's
Gateway Series not only to Kamen Rider, but also the Toku genre in general. - Karax Monster's design may remind some of the Crow Lord.
- Zacros Monster wields a staff that resembles that of Gigazelle's, a.k.a. Kamen Rider Imperer's contract monster.
- The fight in Zacros' dimension is pretty much this show's version of Makuu Space. Heck, the fight even happened in a bus, the sky was purple, and the monster peeked out of a newspaper.
- The name Shadow Crisis is a combination of Shadow Moon and Crisis Empire.
- After defeating Zacros, Bima performed Kuuga's thumbs-up pose.
- Zacros' ability to create magic portals is not something Ishimori hadn't done before.
- Bima God Helios' finisher is very similar to Icarus Haken's.
- Him leaving the sword impaled on his enemy before exploding may also remind some of SRX's TK Exploding Sword.
- After Azazel's Heel–Face Turn, he and Bima finished off Velifer Monster with what practically is a double rider kick.
- Part of Azazel's heroic pose looks like Kamen Rider Blade's pre-finisher pose.
- Bima God Helios has wings, a sword, and a bird's head for a gauntlet. Haven't we seen this combination before as a battlizer?
- Sibling Team: Ray/Bima and Reza/Azazel forming this one after reunite.
- Sinister Scythe: The weapons for the Kombatans.
- Sky Surfing: Bima needs a powerup to be able to fly. Azazel? Pfft. He surfs on his weapon.
- Something Only They Would Say: This is how Rena found out that Ray is Bima; he called her by her Embarrassing Nickname.
- The Stinger: Iron Mask is Back from the Dead, raised by the Parallel World's new deity, the Black Priest.
- Subspace or Hyperspace: The Limbo, where Mikhail is hiding in.
- Theme Initials: Ray, Reza, Randy, Rena, Rudy, Risha, Rasputin, Reino...
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Those stung by Valcus Monster will see another person as the monster itself.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Subverted epically. Even though Helios can transform into a bird and fly, it still doesn't guarantee a hit. Azazel made sure of it by catching Helios and used it against Bima.
- Transformation Name Announcement: Naturally for a Henshin Hero show.
- Bima's is, "Garuda Knight! Bima!"
- Azazel's is, "VUDO's dark knight! Azazel!". The 'dark' is replacable with 'proud'. After he broke his belt, he follows his brother's roll call.
- Transformation Trinket: The Garuda Changer.
- Tracking Device: This is how Ray and his friend, Belinda, located her kidnapped father.
- Two Guys and a Girl: Ray, Reza, Randy, and Rena.
- Victim of the Week: This show is co-created by the people behind the Kamen Rider series. What would you expect? Even Randy and Rena got to become a victim.
- Asshole Victim: The one basketball player in #3, and an entire street gang in #4.
- Villainous Rescue: Pulled off by Gills Monster in #13, although it was under Iron Mask's order. Apparently, he was angry at Azazel being Rasputin's new dragon.
- Wave-Motion Gun: The MacGuffin for #14, the ZU Formula Gun.
- Weakened by the Light: Lizarion Monster's weakness is sunlight.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: VUDO wants to bring life to the Parallel World, which would be a good goal in itself, the problem being they want to accomplish this by the invasion of Earth.
- Wham Episode: Several:
- At the end of #11, Mikhail got captured by Iron Mask. It was followed by Rasputin implanting him with the black Power Stone, causing him to become Azazel.
- At the end of #15, just when things seem to get better, Iron Mask's airship blows up with Azazel still in it, and Iron Mask...watching from below.
- And finally, during #16, Mikhail finally remembers that he is Ray's younger brother.
- At the end of #22, Rasputin finally revealed his plans regarding the Power Stones. He built a Giant Mecha and will use the Power Stones as the power source.
- At the end of #23, Bima dies. In front of Reza. Seasoned toku watchers might expect Bima to have an Unexplained Recovery per Toku standards, but the preview for the next episode only showed Azazel fighting against VUDO's ressurected Monster of the Week, without Bima in sight.
- In #25, the Giant Mecha Grand Gator utterly destroyed Jakarta.
- At the end of final episode, #26, Iron Mask is revived by Black Priest and kills Rasputin.
- Xanatos Gambit: The reason why the Shadow Crisis exists. If they managed to kill Bima, then Rasputin will take over the world. However, if Bima managed to destroy them, then the Power Stones will absorb enough hatred to empower it even more, which will be used by Rasputin to power up his Giant Mecha and take over the world.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Rasputin put a hit on Azazel after he refused to kill Bima while he's exhausted from the last battle.
- Your Size May Vary: God Helios' size increased when it carries the main 4 to infiltrate Grand Gator.
