Movies - Kamen Rider

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	Movies - Kamen Rider

Kamen Rider (仮面ライダー, literally "Masked Rider") was a popular and successful Japanese television series created by Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森章太郎), and the first series in the Kamen Rider franchise. It premiered on TV Asahi (both as a television show and manga in Shonen Magazine) in 1971.

Origin

In 1970, while the series was still in massive development, creator Ishinomori created a one-shot, 100-page manga called Skull Man as his personal version of this series. Published by Shonen Magazine, it was a huge success, selling 1.5 million copies. The producers at Toei Company Ltd. used this manga as the basis for the show but with some changes, as the manga story was too dark and gruesome (even cerebral) for a children show. For the show, Ishinomori played around with Skull Man's design, until he came up with several variants, including a grasshopper version. Since it was supposed to be a show for children, he let his then-5 year old son Jo Onodera (小野寺章 Onodera Jō) pick one of the designs. The child ultimately picked the grasshopper version, which was then called "Masked Rider Hopper King". The "Hopper King" part of the name was excised, and the series was developed

Plot summary

The story takes place in a world plagued by Shocker, a mysterious terrorist organization. To fulfill its plan of world domination, the group recruited its agents through kidnapping, turning them into monstrous cyborgs using advanced technology and, ultimately, performed DNA manipulation. However, one of the victims was rescued just before the final step, and his name was Takeshi Hongo (本郷猛 Hongō Takeshi). With his sanity and moral conscience remaining intact, Hongo assumed the identity of the costumed grasshopper-like kaizouningen (改造人間, roughly translated as "altered human") superhero Kamen Rider and battled Shocker with his newly acquired powers of strength & speed as well as his customized super motorcycle Cyclone.

Live action show

The live action show premiered on TV Asahi in April 1971. Sometime during the shooting of early episodes, an accident happened and caused a severe injury to Hiroshi Fujioka (藤岡弘), the actor playing Hongo. To keep the series going, a second Kamen Rider was introduced in episode 14 to replace Hongo's role as Japan's guardian angel. Hayato Ichimonji (一文字隼人 Ichimonji Hayato), better known as Kamen Rider 2 played by Takeshi Sasaki (佐々木剛 Sasaki Takeshi), did a short sequence of arm-waving motions and uttered "Henshin!" (変身, literally "transform") whenever he wanted to switch from his human guise to the Rider form (Originally the first Kamen Rider had to get enough air to enter his "Typhoon Belt", which he had done by driving his transformable motorcyle ). The stylish pose was immensely popular among the young audience and the show became an immediate sensation.

Ratings were further boosted when Fujioka returned to the stage in episode 40, now known as Kamen Rider 1, (and having gained the ability to use a "henshin" pose). The show spanned 2 years and ended in episode 98 with the Double Riders defeating Shocker and its reincarnation Gel-Shocker.

Manga

Many mangas based on the original Masked Rider series had been published, but only the following few were penned & drawn by Ishinomori himself:

1971: Masked Rider
1971: Masked Rider - a remake
1979: Masked Rider (Motion Pictures Continuity)

The original manga in 1971 (1st run) was quite different from the TV series with respect to its response to the Fujioka accident. In the manga, Hongo was outnumbered by twe;ve Shocker Riders and was killed subsequently. Ichimonji Hayato, initially one of the twelve, received a head injury during the fight & regained conscience as a result. He then turned against Shocker & succeeded Hongo's role as Masked Rider. Hongo was resurrected near the end of the series, nevertheless.

Films

1971: Go Go Kamen Rider: Movie version of Episode 13.
1972: Kamen Rider versus Shocker
1972: Kamen Rider versus Hell Ambassador
2005: Kamen Rider the First: Premiering in November 2005, this movie covers the origin of Hongo and Ichimonji as Riders 1 and 2 respectively with a new story

Main characters

Riders

Takeshi Hongo (本郷猛 Hongō Takeshi) / Kamen Rider 1 - protagonist (episodes 1-13, 53-98)
Hayato Ichimonji (一文字隼人 Ichimonji Hayato) / Kamen Rider 2 - protagonist (episodes 14-52)

Allies

Tobei Tachibana (立花藤兵衛 Tachibana Tōbei) - mentor
Kazuya Taki (滝和也 Taki Kazuya) - FBI agent

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Kamen Rider ]

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