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Kamen Rider: 50 Years Of Space With A Rocket To The Face
Owenashi
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
A new live-action series started over in Japan this weekend, one of monsters, mecha and cosmic energy. Penned by Kazuki Nakashima, the guy behind a little known anime called Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and directed by Koichi Sakamoto, a man known for his work in Super Sentai and it's American counterpart, the tale's set in a frightful world everyone's been through: high school.
Amanogawa (Milky Way) High School to be exact. Here, the students are given the freedom to express themselves more then the typical Japanese school...
...which in this case means wrapping themselves within the covers of stereotypical American school cliques. Jocks, nerds, goths and the beautiful people all attend Amanogawa's classes.
The attendance roll also include Kengo Utahoshi and Yuki Jojima, a pair of friends who share a few secrets from the rest of the school.
The first being the existance of the Switches, mysterious items the size of inkjet-printer cartridges. Four of them used with a special belt-creating device called a Driver can give an individual incredible abilities and the power to use them...
...which is handy due to the second secret; the threat of Zodiarts. These monsters bear the marks of the constellations up high and a danger to anyone in their way. When one of these finally attack the school, Kengo realizes it's time to use the Switches. However, Kengo's too weak physically to handle the Driver's power. Luckily, he's not the main character of the story.
Rather, that role belongs to new student Gentaro Kisaragi. While fitting in well within Amanogawa visually with his cliche Japanese-delinquent look, the only rules he wants to break are the unspoken ones protecting the school's social ranks, declaring his intent to become friends with the entire school body. Among the first to run across the Zodiart, Gentaro 'borrows' the Driver and needed Switches from Kengo...
...becoming the latest in a long line of Japan's bug-eyed, bike-riding, jump-kicking heroes known as Kamen Riders, Kamen Rider Fourze.
Now Gentaro, Kengo and Yuki have to work together to protect the school and surronding town from the Zodiarts as well as keep the Switches and more importantly Fourze's actual identity a secret.
Whiiiich isn't going to be easy thanks to the new school club Gentaro decides to create. Hey, Peter Parker would have done the same thing if it weren't for that whole burglar thing.
For those wondering about his bizarre look, the show is paying tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of man's first trip to space. As for his name, 'Fourze' (which is pronounced on the show as four-say) is being used thanks to the show acting also as an anniversary series for the entire franchise, celebrating forty years of it. Much like the show about a certain time-traveler in a blue box though, the show was given a vacation from regularly airing on television.
1971 to 1989 houses the first grouping of shows, said group falling under the label of the Showa Era (due to the Japanese time period they aired in). Most of the Kamen Rider series then used the same formula with the Riders being cyborgs fighting against Cobra-like criminal organizations. As for the kind of monsters they had on the shows...well, take a look.
Yep. Starfish Hitler.
The modern era of Kamen Rider kicked in at the beginning of 2000, known at the moment as the Heisei Era (based on the current Japanese time period). For those not sold on Fourze, the box below lists the past thirteen Kamen Rider series which may have something more appealing.
Kamen Rider Kuuga (2000 - 2001) / Kamen Rider Agito (2001 - 2002)
The first modern-day Kamen Rider series starts with a group of archeologists discovering a tomb of an ancient warrior, taking a peculiar belt from it's mummified corpse. This however also releases a group of unidentified monsters which quickly slaughter all the archeologists who were there before running off to start unusual killing sprees. Enter Yuusuke Godai, who's a friend of the only member of the dig group who wasn't there and who finds himself drawn to the belt for some reason. When he and his friend are attacked at a police station while retrieving the belt, he impulsively puts it on, the belt slowly transforming him into something the police call Unidentified Monster #2 (and 4) and the monsters identify as Kuuga.
The second series is an indirect sequal of sorts as it starts a year or so after the events of Kuuga. In that time, the police have created a battlesuit modeled after UM #4 called G3, worn by police officer Makoto Hikawa. Makoto has his chance to use G3 when bizzare murders begin once again, only to find out that the monsters behind them are a step above the Unidentified of before. G3 nearly gets killed by one of these new unknown beings only to be saved by someone simular in appearance to UM #4 but colored in gold and called Agito by the Unknown. Matters get even more complicated by the eventual apperance of a third, more monster-ish looking Rider named Gills
Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002 - 2003)
Shinji Kido, an intern for the online news-site 'ORE Journal', investigates a series of disapperances across the city. They lead to an appartment with a weird deck of cards and every reflective surface newspapered over. He soon discovers the reason behind the latter when he's pulled through a mirror with the cards, discovering himself in a duplicate version of the city filled with wild monsters and the only humans wearing weird suits. It's not until he uses the power of the deck and connects with one of those monsters to turn himself into a Kamen Rider that he learn the full truth: a war between other Riders is being held in the mirror world, the last one standing having their one wish granted as the prize. Meanwhile, the monsters not associated with the Riders are using the distraction of the battles to kidnap and eat humans from the real world. With the other Riders too wrapped up in the war to stop the monsters, Shinji decides to use his powers as Kamen Rider Ryuki to stop both the monsters and any Riders who target him along the way.
Kamen Rider Faiz / 555 (2003-2004)
In the world of this series, the mega-corp known as Smart Brain has just conquered the electronic market. Now Smart Brain wants to take the next logical step by conquering the world, using beings that they feel are the next step in human evolution called Orphnochs. However, their plans hit a snag when three special transformation belts called Rider Gears are stolen from their labs, one of them landing in the hands of a girl named Mari Sonoda. Running from Smart Brain, she almost gets killed by an pursuing Orphnoch when a biker named Takumi Inui also finds her, looking for the bag Mari accidently took from him. As the Gear she has won't work for her, she has Takumi use it, transforming him into Kamen Rider Faiz. Now Takumi finds himself unwillingly dragged deeper and deeper into protecting both Mari and the rest of humanity from Smart Brain, Orphnochs and those who get their hands on the other two Gears..
Kamen Rider Blade (2004 - 2005)
Much like Kuuga, problems start with a group of archeologists poking around and opening the wrong tomb. In this case it's a group of monsters known collectively as the Undead that escape. Ten thousand years ago, humanity was numbered among the 52 species of Undead, representatives from each fighting in a Battle Royal over who'd be the dominant species of Earth with the losers sealed away. With Undead now roaming free again, the Battle Royal has started again which leaves humanity quite screwed. A secret orginzation known as BOARD creates a pair of transformation belts called the Rouse Card System, which allow Kazuma Kenzaki and Sakuya Tachibana to become Kamen Rider Blade and Garren in order to reseal the free Undead. However, Sakuya allows the Undead to destroy BOARD's HQ, leaving Kazuma to fight the Undead with no support. Complicating matters are the arrival of two individuals who can become the Riders known as Chalice and Leangle, despite BOARD's destruction.
Kamen Rider Hibiki (2005 - 2006)
A series known to be not like others of it's franchise, the setting is in the forests of Japan. There, monsters known as the Makamou roam. To keep them from threatening innocents in and out of the forests, the Takeshi orginization employ special agents known as Oni to exterminate them, using the special power of 'pure sound' to transform and fight. While the conflict has been kept mostly secret for years, that changes when a directionless high-school boy named Adachi Asumu ends up witnessing a fight between a Makamou and one of the Oni known as Hibiki. The two soon develop a teacher-apprentice bond, Adachi's training happening just as the Makamou's population begins to abnormally grow.
Kamen Rider Kabuto (2006 - 2007)
No 'The World Ends With You' game here as the Shibuya district of Tokyo is wrecked by a meteor in 1999. Seven years later finds humanity secretly under attack by aliens who hitched a ride with the meteor named Worms. Killing anyone who's apperance and memories they copy, the only ones that know and can fight the Worms is a group called ZECT. But the Worms can evolve into a second form that grants them a super-speed ability called Clock Up which wreck ZECT's troops easy. To counter this, ZECT creates the Masked Rider System, one that rookie member Kagami Arata is eager to try. During a fight, Kagami tries to summon the key component to the MR-System, a sentient little robot known as the Kabuto Zecter...only for it to fly instead into the hands of super-smug Tendou Souji who happens to have his own belt for the Zector despite not working for ZECT. The series thus follows Kagami trying to keep an eye on Tendou for his bosses while Tendou fights against both Worms and others who obtain Zectors of their own.
Kamen Rider Den-O (2007 - 2008)
A beacon of bad luck, Ryotaro Nogami's day gets downright 'Twilight Zone'. First by finding an unusual electric train-pass holder, one that allows him access to a time-traveling train known as the Den-Liner whenever he enters a doorway at certain times. Then he ends up possessed by a sand monster from an alternate future known as an Imagin. Keeping the monster from using his body to kill someone marks Ryo as a Singularity Point, which makes him the perfect person to use the train-pass he found to become Kamen Rider Den-O. The suit however is dependent on Ryo's fighting spirit of which he has none, sticking him in the lame Plat Form when a hostile Imagin attacks. Only by letting the same monster from before, Momotaros, possess him as Den-O can he (or they) access to the much better Sword Form. Now Ryo finds himself working with both the Den-Liner crew alongside Momotaros and other 'friendly' Imagin as Den-O in order to keep the timeline safe. That is, when his Imagin partners aren't borrowing his body for their own fun.
Kamen Rider Kiva (2008 - 2009)
The second series in a row with it's own time shenanigans, the story's split into two time periods. In 1986, part-time violinist and full-time 'Leisure Suit Larry' Otoya Kurenai ends up witnessing a fight between Yuri Aso and a member of the vampiric race known as Fangires. Smitten with Yuri, Otoya eventually makes himself part of the Fangire-hunting group known as the Wonderful Blue Eyes Orginization. The hunters however are pretty outclassed by the Fangire's power, their only hope lying in a prototype transformation belt. 2008 meanwhile focuses on the anti-social Wataru Kurenai who wishes to make the ultimate violin. His attempts to do so keep getting waylayed by Fangire attacks on humanity, forcing him to use the bat-like Kivat The 3rd to transform into Kamen Rider Kiva. Wataru's efforts aren't seen as helpful however by the modern-day version of the WBE Orginization, both it and the wearer of their now-perfected Rider belt seeing Kiva in the same light as the Fangires if not worse.
Kamen Rider Decade (2009)
A short-lived series and the ten year anniversery of the modern Kamen Rider series, it features an anmesiatic young man named Tsukasa Kadoya. Living with Natsumi Hikari and her grandfather at their photo studio, all three lives are turned upside down when monsters from multiple Kamen Rider shows invade the city. Before and during the chaos, Tsukasa meets with a certain Rider who explains that the attack is a result of the multiverse collapsing on itself. He charges Tsukasa to fix the mess as Kamen Rider Decade who has the special ability to change and use the abilities of past Riders. One hitch though as Tsukasa's told the only way to fix the multiverse is to destroy the realities he visits. Adding to his problems is an unusual man named Narutaki who believes Decade's the devil and uses lies, monsters and other Riders against him. Decade also has to deal with Kamen Rider Diend, a Rider with powers simular to his own and who makes trouble for all sides while robbing each reality of what he sees as their greatest treasure.
Kamen Rider Double / W (2009 - 2010)
Futo, the OTHER Windy City Here, the biggest narcotic problem for the police isn't crack, heroin or PCP but rather USB-drive-like sticks called Gaia Memories. Distributed by the mysterious Museum, using one causes the owner to turn into a monster called a Dopant. Repeated use of the Gaia Memory causes the user's mind to become addicted to it's chaotic power to the point of insanity. The only ones capable of handling Dopants successfully are hard-boiled-wannabe private detective Shotaro Hidari and his research partner, Philip. Armed with a special set of Gaia Memories and a pair of transformation belts to safely use them, the two don't both become Riders physically. Instead, Philip's consciousness and Gaia Memories are transfered to Shotaro's body, the pair thus becoming the two-in-one Kamen Rider known as Double. Along with their 'chief', Akiko Narumi, the pair defend Futo while hoping one of their cases will finally lead to the identities and end of Museum.
Kamen Rider OOO (2010 - 2011)
At an art museum's storage room, an 800 year-old stone coffin dissolves into a mass of magical coins called Medals, reforming into five beings of physical desire known as the Greeed. The Greeed find themselves incomplete however due to missing some of their special Core Medals. This is most notable with Ankh, who's left with just one and thus exists only as a floating forearm and hand. Discovering that another of his Cores is with world traveler and full-time odd-jobber Eiji Hino, the Greeed chases him down only for the two to be confronted by one of the other Greeeds' Medal-making monsters called a Yummy. With both their lives at stake, Ankh gives Eiji the stone coffin's seal as well as two Cores he 'borrowed', letting the human use the three he now has to become Kamen Rider OOO. Entering the tug-of-war battle between OOO, Ankh and the other Greeed over over the Medals is the owner of the art museum, the Kougami Foundation, who's eccentric CEO see both the Medals and OOO as the gateway to an unlimited energy utopia.
Anyone have any questions, love or hate for these foreign heroes, express it right here. And I guess seeing he's connected to the new series, we can chat about this guy too.
I dunno about you guys, but I can see him riding on a Harley if not the Russian equivalent of it.
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Guess I have to actually reserve judgment until I see it.
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I watched an episode of the new Power Rangers Samurai and it was terribad. Wonder if Id like the Japanese version better. And Double looked pretty interesting.
Well if you want to see it in action, here's the fight from Episode 1. Spoilish visually at most unless you happen to understand Japanese, so it goes in the box.
Double is a pretty good KR series to start on as long as you don't mind that one of the more important parts of the story is part of a crossover movie with the previous KR series, Decade.
As for PR: Samurai, fans who've seen it and it's Super Sentai counterpart, Shinkenger, tend to like the latter a lot more. Mainly due to a mix of it following Shinkenger's scripts a little too much as well as dumbing the story down for potential younger viewers. Hopefully this won't carry over for the next PR series. Even more so for the next Kamen Rider American adaptation if that's where Saban's trademarking of 'Power Rider' along with registering PowerRider.org is leading to. At least it should be closer to Adness' Dragon Knight then Saban's first attempt.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
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