Happy 54th anniversary or birthday, whatever,
to Kamen Rider, the TV show from 1971 featuring
Takeshi Hongo becoming a grasshopper cyborg man
and fighting against the evil shocker organization.
Yeah, which is incredible. It's been 54 years.
There's been a ton of spinoff shows or sequel
series, whatever. And Kamen Rider has been something
that's captivated me for the last, I don't know,
15 -ish years, 14 to 15 years. I discovered,
I knew about Master Rider and I... You know,
I watched Master Raider as a kid, some of it,
but not all of it. It wasn't that great, but
I tried. You know, I've tried. Anyway, going
back, though, to the original Kamen Rider, I
started watching that about 14 years ago. I saw
that. I saw Black. I saw Forze as it was going,
or as that started. And I watched all of Forze,
and it blew my mind. I watched this, and it blew
my mind. I watched Black, and it blew my mind.
And, yeah, like, Kamen Rider's great. And I want
to talk about the first episode because in light
of the anniversary, I thought, you know, I should
give us another watch. So I went ahead and watched
the first episode and I have lots of thoughts
on it. And then I have some stuff from the Kamen
Rider Wiki that I'd like to discuss real quick
because it's kind of fun and relevant to the
current year. And there's also some news you
could say that might also be relevant as well.
So, yeah, I think. Yes, I think this is going
to be a fun one. So we will talk about all that
in a minute or two. But first, I want to go ahead
and just kind of talk about the show overall.
And here we go. Well, actually, just like kind
of a first impression of the show. Like, do you
think little kids watching Kamen Rider back in
1971 totally had the tragedy and horror elements
of the first episode go over their heads? Or
do you think they really absorbed it? Because...
As much as I love the spectacle and the fighting
and everything, I think there's something really
deep and emotional going on with the show, and
I think that's the real reason that it's persisted
for all these years, because I think it's got
meaning. It has depth to it, and that depth,
I think, stirs people and keeps them watching.
Even if the, you know, body's dissolving into
foam, don't keep them watching. But anyway, like,
I'm sure the Spider -Man, Spider -Kaijin, whatever
he was called, like, was scary. And they could
tell that the scientists were scary with their
painted faces and their weird poses and stuff.
And, like, the Shocker Combatmen, too, are creepy.
And the women, the Shocker Ladies, Shocker...
What do they call them? I think they call them
the Shocker Ladies. But anyway, like, they're
all creepy walking in slowly in a group and giggling
and stuff with their hair covering their faces
and, you know. weird weird vibes um but like
i don't think they picked up on the existential
dread that uh takeshi hongo has to face or does
face and that he's is like dropped on him uh
in this first episode because in very little
screen time they do a lot to his character and
i think that's really interesting um like i don't
think i think it's good that Kids don't necessarily
pick up on the existential thread, but looking
back at it or looking at it as an older person,
you can see as an adult, you can see like, oh,
this is horrible. What's happened to this guy?
But like, I'm sure the kids were wowed by the
spectacle and the fights and the racing and the
cars and the jumping in the motorcycle and all
that stuff. And the crazy monster suits and costumes
for the Shocker guys, including, you know, the
Spider -Man or Man -Spider, whatever you're going
to call them. I'm sure that was all like really
working on them on a base level. But I wonder
like how long it took for kids to go back and
see like. This depth that it had to it, because
it's more than just, you know, monster suits
and stuff and fighting and explosions. Um, in
fact, I think zero explosions in this episode,
if I'm correct. Anyway, um, yeah. So I think
it's interesting that the episode works on like
this basic, you know, kid level where you get
to see writer, you know, destroy shocker. at
least, you know, for now. And you know that he
has an ongoing struggle and you, you know, want
to see him fight the next monster, even if you
don't really care about Takeshi Hongo, you care
about Kamen Rider and watching him fight because
the fighting is beautiful. It's like, it's beautiful
violence. And anyway, that's like one level.
But beyond like just the spectacle and the flash
and like seeing it at the surface level, this
episode has a lot of interesting elements. And
I think there's like horror elements, there's
drama. There's action spectacle, and then there's
pathos, which maybe pathos should be part of
drama, but I'll jump back into that. Something
I thought about as soon as I finished the episode
was it's really interesting that the first image
that we see is a flower, and behind that flower
is the mysterious Spider -Man cyborg. He's stalking
Takeshi Hongo as he races on his motorcycle,
and then the last image that we see in the episode
is Takeshi Hongo. He's riding off on his motorcycle.
He's a cyborg now. He's one of Shocker's cyborgs
specifically. He's riding through the mountainside,
which is a natural. And we see he's on this machine,
his motorcycle, and then we see his face and
his face is sad. He's almost crying because of
what he's lost and the loneliness that he feels
because of it. But the camera cuts away from
his face as he rides towards his destiny to continue
fighting Shocker. And I feel like that's really
profound and really deep. And I feel like that,
like those two, like the opening and closing
image kind of like. They encapsulate the whole
episode and the whole story, really. And they
also kind of fit with that horror, drama, action
spectacle, and pathos kind of, I don't know,
breakdown or whatever that I saw when I watched
this episode this time. So on the horror, we
get a lot of POV shots that are very voyeuristic,
and we see also very voyeuristic aspects of scenes
where... one of the shocker people, whether it's
the Spider -Man or one of his goons, is watching
Hongo, he's watching Ruriko, watching Tobe Tachibana,
or whatever. He's watching different people.
They're watching different people at different
times. And also, we get these really interesting...
So we get those shots of them spying on people.
And then even, like, there's a little spider
tracker thing, camera microphone that's on the
back of Tachibana and Tobe's car that signals
the Spider -Man and tells him where to go and
what to do and whatever. So... And that's a cool
little bit of tech and, like, an interesting
thing that this cyborg spider guy has little
cyborg spider things that he can throw out and
use for spying and stuff. Like, that's a really
cool, like, world -building aspect that I didn't
even think about to touch on. Because the world
-building here is pretty cool, too. And that's
more of a bookish term, but I think it works
for shows like this. Anyway, we have all this
voyeuristic spying stuff going on. And then we
also get, beyond that, seeing characters spy.
We get to see characters through, like, spying.
on stuff through their own eyes so the camera
is acting as the person who's watching this go
on this creeper this villain this evil who's
stalking and waiting to kill somebody and i wouldn't
say it really puts the viewer in their shoes
but it feels creepy it feels unsettling because
we know that they're like hiding somewhere and
watching and then we also get a lot of scenes
where the camera is right like behind like the
spider -man's hand is here and he's wiggling
his fingers and stuff and being creepy and at
one point it's cool he's wiggling his fingers
then he like gestures out and then fog appears
and then within that fog ropes appear or webs
appear and those stop hongo so like that's a
cool mixture of like it's it's a cool old school
tokusatsu technique it's just using uh like the
cutting of the camera from one image to another
and it makes your mind think that's the way film
works that these two things are linked to each
other that one causes the other the smoke comes
out then the webs come out in the next cut and
it's just it's really interesting how like tokusatsu
really uh leans into a lot of cool filmmaking
stuff which obviously you probably already know
um And it's just kind of fun to talk about. And
it's fun to watch in action to know, like, okay,
I'm watching a 1970s Sokosatsu. This thing's
54 years old. And they either couldn't afford
to do things a certain way or they hadn't figured
out ways to do them or, you know, whatever you
want to say. They had limitations that they were
working within. And within those limitations,
you get to see. And you get to kind of, like,
play along and have fun with them and, like,
engage your own imagination on purpose to say,
like, oh, I see what they're doing. When he does
this, he's standing on his web. There's fog first
for some reason. Then there's the webbing and
the rope and it stops Hongo. And then Hongo falls
off the cliff or whatever. And, like, oh, how's
that work? And how does he survive? And Midori
-kawa's all sad. And, like, you get to see this
little drama play out in this little scene. And
it's, you know, ridiculous on the surface. This,
you know, guy in this kind of ridiculous... I
mean, the head is... I actually like the suit.
I think the spider suit... The web cape is not
good. I think stripping away the web cape is
a good decision. But other than that, I think
it's a really solid design. And we get to see
this, you know, kind of outlandish design for
sure. I'll say it's outlandish. And I don't think
that's saying it looks cheap. It's just, it's
crazy. Why would you wear that? But if that's
what you've been turned into, that's another
story. Anyway, it takes this outlandish design
and then it puts it through, you know, this physical
motion. And then we see the effect of the fog
and the ropes and everything, the web coming
out. And it just, it all works together. You
get to play along and you get to participate
in the storytelling kind of with tokusatsu, I
feel like, especially the older stuff with the
lower budget or the greater limitations, I'll
say. But it all works and it all feels really
good and it's really enjoyable to watch unfold.
But anyway, getting back to my point about...
the horror aspect, like this POV kind of camera
where like he's watching stuff happen. Um, and
like you get in that perspective of the monsters
is really interesting. And there's even like
a psychological horror going on where like the,
when Hong goes, uh, chained down to the table,
the operating table, um, the scientist is going
on about how, like he's making these people into
cyborgs and these cyborgs will be slaves to,
um, To whoever this mysterious voice that's speaking
and he almost feels like he's like The envoy
of that person or like he's speaking in his stead
and he's not because we realized that there's
something beyond him but it's just like it's
like creepy how cold it is how inhuman it is
how Inhumane it is and how like it's all just
about power for these guys And they're gonna
do whatever they have to to whoever they have
to and hurt them no matter how much they have
to in order to get what they want it's just really
like very effective uh casting of the villain
and it shows the horror of that ambition that
greed for power that lust for power at any cost
and it's really horrible anyway and then we have
all this drama going on with um Hango, it looks
like he murdered Professor Midorikawa to Ruriko,
Midorikawa's daughter. And so it's kind of like
a tragedy and he's been framed kind of for the
murder and she blames him, holds it against him.
And she's, you know, frightened of him and hateful
towards him. And Midorikawa is one of the two
people in the world who could. understand him
and know what he's going through partially because
he caused that to happen which is another tragic
twist type element um and you know it's a more
dramatic thing to happen other than he just gets
turned into stuff by a random happenstance um
instead it's somebody who he should have trusted
or did trust for a while and was trusting again
who had betrayed him and hongo got over that
and then uh this guy's murdered right in front
of him and then he gets blamed for the murder
which is horrible uh and then tobi tachibana
is still left for him to to trust in and confide
in and you know nothing's happened to him so
far in the show um but then you have that conflict
with midori kawa with ruriko um and that's interesting
and uh there's even like uh you know when ruriko
finds out that her father's alive she's so hopeful
she can go see him because he's been missing
for a long time so like you kind of feel for
her because oh she's gonna see her father again
um he's kind of haunted by what he's done he
feels haunted when hongo seems to have died later
on so like You know, these people took their
job seriously, it seems to me. And I'm perceiving
that they tried really hard and they really emoted
and they really made this stuff real. They really
sold these scenes of the drama. Midori Kawa,
Ruriko, and then Takeshi Hongo as well. the actors
who are portraying these characters really did
a great job of, like, just leaving it all on
the screen, on the page, whatever, on the field.
Like, they really put it out there. And, like,
I really believe in this little drama that's
going on between them. And it's a lot of fun.
Let's see. Yeah, the action spectacle is just
fantastic. I mean, you've got Hongo throwing
people down a cliff. You've got him falling down
a cliff. You've got this, you know, man spider
throwing a web rope thing up and hopping up the
wall. And it's really weird. And, like, the...
camera like the changing of the the speed being
adjusted and tweaked as they're doing stuff and
like these far away distance shots these close
-up shots these dynamic cuts to make it look
like hongo's lifting him and two other guys up
in the air on a staff or like a recorder stuff
type thing and then throwing them down to the
ground and so it's just like it's all really
fantastic it's very energetic it feels very visceral
um and like i would imagine people might have
gotten hurt doing this like the stunt team really
is like They're laudable for what they did. It's
amazing the depth or the length they were willing
to go to make this feel real and to be really
dynamic and super exciting to watch. Like, I
could just watch these. I have just watched these
fight scenes before, just for fun. And, like,
it's no wonder that in the, what was that, the
2022 Hiyaki Anno Shin Kamen Rider? Like, no wonder
he reshot some of this stuff shot for shot and
wanted to pull the stuff. It's iconic. It's creepy.
It's weird. It's wonderful. Well, yeah, it's,
it's very exciting. Um, something that I, uh,
want to talk about a lot. Well, I kind of touched
on a little bit when I was talking about, um,
Hongo being alone. Uh, and I have a short that
I'll link to that talks about that a lot more.
Um, the pathos, the pain, the, like the sorrow
that our hero has to bear is really interesting.
And, you know, in Ultraman, you know, he effectively
dies in the first episode, but then he comes
back, but then he gets better. And then he is
just kind of like, yeah, I'm alive. I defeated
that monster. I don't want to let people know
that I'm Ultraman, but I think I'll call him
Ultraman. And, you know, then he proceeds to
do whatever. And there's nothing wrong with Hayata.
I like him. He's fun. Super Sentai, I don't have
a good basis for looking back on it, like early
on, like GoRanger. So I won't say too much about
that. I do think, though, that like... Aka Ranger
in the Go Ranger manga has a lot of pathos that
he's dealing with. He's a very emotionally young
man, very sad about the things that have happened
in his life, and he wants to defeat the Black
Cross Army because of that. Cyborg 009, again,
I'm not as familiar as I could be, and I'm not
saying Takeshi Hongo in Kamen Rider is unique,
but he's definitely a very potent and powerful
version of this story, of this suffering hero,
of this burdened hero, this person who's weighed
down by what's happened to them. The wonderful
thing about him is that before we see things
get to be their worst for Hongo, we get to see
what a great person Hongo is. He doesn't blame
Midori Kawa for having referred Shocker to him
or suggested that Shocker kidnap him. He seems
like he's totally forgiven him and it's not even
an issue anymore. And he wants to help the professor
and join him in fighting against Shocker. He
also has a positive attitude and he's encouraging
the professor to... like calm down and not blame
himself and to you know be positive basically
and that they're gonna somehow work things out
together and um he like kind of not naively but
just like he brazenly continues to push uh ruriko
and tell her i am innocent and i didn't you know
kill your father i was trying to save him and
i think that's a little bit of his optimism as
well um You could argue that it's not and that
I'm grasping at straws here, but like his portrayal,
Hiroshi Fujioka's portrayal of Hongo in these
scenes, he's very earnest and he's very, I don't
know, he's just like extremely positive and optimistic
despite what's happened to him. And I find that
really endearing and really wonderful and really
inspiring. And I think it's a really interesting
take on this kind of character. He's not dark
and brooding. He's sad sometimes. He's mostly
sad when he's riding his motorcycle. But I feel
like he's processing things as he's doing that.
And he's doing, you know, the one thing that
they weren't able to take from him was his ability
to ride the motorcycle. I don't know if he can
still feel the wind or not in the same way, which
would be an interesting thing to explore and
get into. But like without being overly, you
know, emotionally overwrought, like it sells
to you and it tells you, it makes you feel and
understand Hongo's pain and what he's going through
and what he's lost. And yet he persists. Nevertheless,
he persists. And it's really beautiful and awesome.
I think that positive spirit, that spirit of
perseverance, is part of what makes Kamen Rider
so special. I do think it is the redemption aspect.
Like, Hongo wants to redeem himself or be redeemed
from what's happened to him, and he fights for
that. And I think those two things together make
Kamen Rider lasting and beautiful and an important
story, I would argue. Okay, now, real quick,
I just want to talk about who's doing what here
in the credits. We've got, because the direction
was so fantastic, I just want to talk about Koichi
Takamoto was the director for these two episodes
only. I guess just the first two episodes, the
eerie man spider and the monstrous scorpion man,
which seems wild because it was such a fantastic
dynamic style and that style continues. So I
guess just all the directors were really amazing
at this time. Everybody who worked on the show,
anyway. It was episodes one and three, I'm sorry.
Episode two was directed by somebody else. And
I'll just check and see if I can find out. Yeah,
somebody definitely else. An Orita. But the writer
for this episode was Masaru Igami. And Masaru
Igami is... Oh, hold on. Where did I... Masaru
Igami is the father of Toshiki Inoue. and the
grandfather of Akiko Inoue, and Akiko Inoue is
currently writing, um, number one Sentai Goju
-ger, uh, which people seem to be loving, and,
uh, Toshiki Inoue, uh, wrote, he wrote Kuga,
right? He wrote Jetman, and, hold on, I gotta
find this, he's got a lot of Super Sentai credits.
Okay, hold on. I know he wrote Faiz, but what
else did he write? Well, he wrote a decent amount
of Kuga. He was the head writer for Agito. That's
what it was. He wrote a decent amount of Ryuki.
I did not realize that. And he's the head writer
for Faiz. And there's a moment in this episode
where, like, basically, Takeshi and... and ruriko
have a misunderstanding and they don't get to
talk about it and clear it up and that's like
kind of a joke or a shtick from fives that nobody
talks about things and clears things up and like
all the problems of the show could be solved
people say who don't like fives by the people
just sitting down having a conversation instead
of fighting and i find it hilarious that that
started with his father in episode one of common
writer anyway that's pretty much it um Check
out my show notes. Go to mjwinners .com to find
out more about what I'm doing. I'm going to be
getting back to Gov as far as Comrade is concerned,
and I will continue to cover the original Comrade
because I love it and it makes me happy. So,
yeah, that's what I'm going to be doing. Yeah,
oh, I'm also working on getting my book published.
It's called Mockwing Mayhem. It's about magical
bugs who battle monsters, and those monsters
find out where they live, and they go there to
kill them all. And two of the in -training bugs
have to, magical bugs, have to figure out a way
to survive, to defeat a monster, to save their
master, and then hopefully not die to the rest
of the flock that is attacking their fort where
they live. It's pretty cool. You can get a free
chapter, or no, you can get a free short story,
and you can get... information about when it's
going to come out and other bonus feature type
stuff in the show notes or go to mjmunoz.com
you can find all the links there until next time
folks take care and be well