Kamen Rider Series

The is the overall name of a franchise of Japanese tokusatsu. The franchise began in 1971 with a show titled Kamen Rider which followed college student Takeshi Hongo and his quest to defeat Shocker. Over the years, the popularity of the franchise has grown and the original series has spawned many television and theatrical sequels. The cultural impact of the series in Japan resulted in Akimasa Nakamura naming two minor planets in honor of the series: 12408 Fujioka, after actor Hiroshi Fujioka, known for his portrayal of Kamen Rider, and 12796 Kamenrider, after the series, itself.

History

Shōwa era

The Kamen Rider Series originally began under the title "Masked Hero Project". Produced by , the series spent nearly five years on hold while Hirayama worked on other shows and searched for a proper character designer. In 1969, Shotaro Ishinomori, who was a known face in tokusatsu at the time, was approached by Hirayama to have his Skull Man manga adapted for the Masked Hero Project. Originally the project was rejected due to criticisms that it was too violent for the timeslot it was given. After the duo reworked the story and designs, the final Kamen Rider design, a Grasshopper, was chosen by Ishinomori's son. This drawing would go on to become the original Kamen Rider 1, after some modification.

Kamen Rider premiered on April 3 1971, to lower than expected ratings, and verged on the brink of cancellation. During the filming of episode 10, Fujioka Hiroshi, the actor of Kamen Rider, was thrown off his motorcycle during the filming of a stunt. Crashing into a telephone pole, he shattered both his legs. Toei then went through many methods to have Hongo appear less and less until episode 13, when Ichimonji Hayato was introduced. Until episode 52 when Fujioka Hiroshi returned, Ichimonji Hayato was Kamen Rider and the star of the show. Upon his return in episode 53, Hongo became the main character once more. Both Kamen Riders 1 and 2 would go on to appear in every show in the first half of the Shōwa era. The continuous run from April 1971 to January 1976 distinguished itself by featuring the recurrent mentor character, .

After a four year hiatus, the series returned to television broadcast in October 1979 for two years. In these new shows, the role of Tachibana was replaced by a similar character named . Airing in 1984, the Kamen Rider special, Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!!, became the last project in the franchise to be produced by Hirayama.

Kamen Rider was the first series that neither indicated nor hinted at any relationship with its predecessors. Kamen Rider BLACK was the first show in the franchise to feature a direct sequel, Kamen Rider BLACK RX, the basis of Saban's Americanized Masked Rider. RX's finale showed the ten previous Riders return to help BLACK RX defeat the Crisis Empire. This is the last time any Rider from a previous show would appear in another series. Kamen Rider BLACK RX was the final show to be produced during the Shōwa era, its broadcast spanning from the Shōwa era and into the beginning of the Heisei era.

Heisei era

Being completely absent from television during the 1990s, the franchise was kept alive mainly by stage shows, musical CDs, and the Shin, Kamen Rider, and Kamen Rider movies, though many fans classify the movies as part of the Showa series as they treat Ishinomori's passing the pinnacle of the Showa era. Toei announced its new project, Kamen Rider, in May of 1999. Kuuga was part of a Kamen Rider rebirth that Ishinomori had worked on in 1997, planning for a leadup into the 30th anniversary. However, Ishinomori passed away before he could see these shows materialize. During the summer of 1999, Kuuga became publicized through magazine ads and commercials. On January 30, 2000, Kamen Rider Kuuga premiered to high ratings, which would throughout the anniversary series, Kamen Rider Agito. It had three main Riders, Agito, Gills and G3. Agito also began the trend of having the ending theme song play during the climactic scene instead of the end credits (this would be briefly broken in Hibiki).

The third series in the Heisei era was Kamen Rider Ryuki. Using the concept of thirteen Riders, Ryuki took a turn away from previous series, however, resulting in lower than expected ratings. The series and franchise as a whole was helped to continue in large part due to the toy sales of Kamen Rider Ryuki. The next series, Kamen Rider 555(pronounced Phi's), continued with strong toy sales and slightly lower ratings than Ryuki.

The fifth and six series were plagued with behind the scenes problems. Kamen Rider Blade has become the second lowest rated Kamen Rider series as well as being noted for poor toy sales. The Riders transform using Undead Cards to seal more Undead and power up into various forms. During the course of the series, the main writer and director crew were fired to allow franchise veterans to return as main writers. Kamen Rider Hibiki, the sixth series, became one of the most controversial series in the history of the franchise. Introducing new themes and taking on a different look, while the series broke the chain of each series having lower ratings than the last since Agito, its toy sales were relatively low. As with Blade, a new directing and writing team was brought onto the show during the midterm of the series.

Later on in 2005, Kamen Rider The First was produced. The movie was an original reimagining of both the manga and original television series. Various characters from the original series had their storylines altered to fit the time span of the movie. Masaya Kikawada portrays Kamen Rider 1 and Hassei Takano (previously Kamen Rider Raia inRyuki) as Kamen Rider 2.

In 2006, Kamen Rider Kabuto, the seventh series, celebrated the 35th anniversary of the show. The series brought back many conventional aesthetic conventions of the Kamen Rider legacy with bug-themed designs. The main Riders were Kabuto, Gatack, TheBee, Sasword, Drake, Kick Hopper and Punch Hopper. Kabuto was one of the most successful Heisei-era Kamen Rider series.

The year 2007 brought Kamen Rider Den-O, the eighth series, taking a turn from past Kamen Rider series, introducing a Kamen Rider that is completely unsure of himself. The series marks the first time a mecha has been used in the franchise, the Den-Liner; a bullet train that can travel through time that also houses weaponry designed to combat the giant versions of Imagin (this series' kaijin) called Gigandeaths. This series only had two Riders, Den-O and Zeronos, but they had multiple forms that they could switch between, similar to BLACK RX, Kuuga, and Agito. Due to the large popularity of Den-O, a second theatrical production, crossing over with the 2008 seriesKamen Rider Kiva was released in theaters April 12, 2008. In addition, Animate is producing an OVA tentatively titled Imagin Anime that features SD versions of the Imagin that are contracted to Den-O and Zeronos that have been featured in the company's other Den-O products. The actor who played the protagonist role claimed it was because of the series' comedy.

There was also a sequel to Kamen Rider The First in 2007, entitled Kamen Rider The Next, based on the events ofKamen Rider V3. It featured Kazuki Kato (previously Kamen Rider Drake in Kabuto) portraying Kamen Rider V3. Kikawada and Takano reprise their roles as Hongo/Kamen Rider 1 and Ichimonji/Kamen Rider 2.

In 2009, Kamen Rider Decade, was introduced as a tenth anniversery for the Heisei Era, featuring the title character traveling to other worlds to save them and recover his memories. There are two movies that serve as an epilouge: Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker and Kamen Rider Decade: Final Chapter. This series is noted for having the shortest running time as a television series, running for only 31 episodes compared to other series, who have run generally for over 40 episodes.

In late 2009, Kamen Rider W was introduced as the eleventh addition of the Heisei Era, featuring the title characters star as detectives investigating crime waves about kaijin known as Dopants in the fictional city of Futo. Like much of the previous entries of the Heisei Era, the titular Rider, Kamen Rider Double, can transformed into multiple forms, using devices shaped like USB hard drives called Gaia Memories. The Dopants that they fight are really people that use unrefined Gaia Memories for their own purposes. Double is also the first Kamen Rider to transform from two people at once. This series is also the first instance where the show airs on the same day it's predecessor (in this case, Decade) airs it's finale.

In late 2010, Kamen Rider OOO was introduced as the twelvth addition of the Heisei Era Kamen Rider Series. The title character is a world traveler that is pulled into a fight with kaijin called the Greeed that was resurrected from a 800-year sleep to find themselves incomplete by such a Greeed, reduced to the status of a forearm, who gives him the means to transform into Kamen Rider OOO. Like Kamen Riders BLACK RX to Agito, and Den-O to Double, Kamen Rider OOO can change forms, but unlike the others, OOO can transform using three Core Medals, special coin-based artifacts based on animals that make up a Greeed's ability to stay alive without falling apart. There are nine Core Medals for each set, three each designated for Head, Arms, or Legs. As so far, OOO has the most transformations in Kamen Rider history, having able to use a possible 125 different combinations of Core Medals.

Series Overview

Although each entry in the series is different, each one shares similar traits with one and another. All generally involve at least one young adult male transforming into a Kamen Rider to fight various monsters and organizations linked to that specific Kamen Rider's origin. As the series progresses, the Rider often learns more about the monsters in the series, other Kamen Riders or the origin of his powers. Early Kamen Riders were generally based on Grasshoppers, but this practice has only been done twice in the newer set of shows. Usually referred to asRider Machines, motorcycles are an integral part of the series. Since 1971, Suzuki originally provided motorcycles for the series until Kamen Rider Agito when Honda became involved and the single Ducati featured in Kamen Rider Double. Early Kamen Riders wore scarfs along with their costumes, but this practice was dropped after Kamen Rider Black until the appearance of Double.

A trait shared among recent Kamen Riders is their ability to change forms and become stronger versions of themselves. The first power up appeared in Kamen Rider Stronger which was used by the title character. Kamen Rider BLACK RX had multiple forms, Roborider and Biorider. Since then, every title Kamen Rider in the Heisei era has had at least one power up with Double having the most at 14 throught his media appearances.

All Shōwa era Riders gained their powers through some form of surgical alteration to their bodies, a practice seen only a few times. The Heisei era of Kamen Rider varies greatly in its use of Kamen Riders. Whereas all early Kamen Riders fought on the side of justice and peace, there have been numerous Kamen Riders in the Heisei era that have fought for personal reasons such as greed, revenge and the personal enjoyment of battle. Because of this, recent Kamen Riders have become less eager to immediately join the battle of justice.

Rider Finishers

Combat techniques generally remain somewhat consistent between series. The "Rider Kick" has become known as the signature attack for Kamen Riders. Although no Heisei era Kamen Rider before Kamen Rider named their Rider Kick, it has still been a staple for every Kamen Rider series. Other variations include the Rider Chop andRider Punch.