Kamen Rider

• 1. Introduction

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  Kamen Rider almost lost its hero during the filming of its tenth episode. Actor and stuntman Hiroshi Fujioka was thrown from his motorcycle during a stunt and broke both legs. Fujioka played Takeshi Hongo, the masked rider at the heart of the Japanese television series. Most of the staff wanted Hongo killed off. Toei producer Toru Hirayama said no. His argument fit in a single line: "We can't destroy the children's dreams of being almighty."

  That decision kept alive a franchise created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. Its heroes ride motorcycles, carry an insect motif, and fight supervillains whom the series calls kaijin. It grew into television programs, films, manga and anime. Why does a hero with a grasshopper's face keep returning, decade after decade? What does he fight, and what does the fight cost him? How did a Japanese program reach Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States, and what did it leave behind in other people's stories?

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• 2. The Masked Hero Project

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  In 1970, Hirayama proposed something he called the Masked Hero Project, and he asked Shotaro Ishinomori to provide the character designs. The result premiered on the 3rd of April 1971. It began as an adaptation of Ishinomori's Skull Man manga. Hirayama and Ishinomori then redesigned the lead character so that he resembled a grasshopper.

  Takeshi Hongo was a college student who became a transformed human, a cyborg. His enemy was Shocker, an organization that wanted to conquer the world.

  Episode 14 brought a second transformed human, Hayato Ichimonji, who became Kamen Rider 2 and was played by Takeshi Sasaki. Hongo had been phased out, and Hayato filled the gap. Hongo returned in episode 40. By episode 53 he had fully taken over from Hayato. The two heroes appeared together in episodes 72, 73, 93 and 94, and again in the finale, episode 98.

  Five series ran from April 1971 to January 1976: Kamen Rider, V3, X, Amazon and Stronger. A recurring mentor, Tobei Tachibana, supported the heroes. Each new protagonist also teamed up with earlier ones, except Amazon. Hirayama explained why: "I was planning to save it until the next development, so I thought it was not necessary for a while, but the cancellation was decided."

  The original series also set off what Japanese television called the Second Kaiju Boom, or Henshin Boom, in the early 1970s. That wave shaped Japan's superhero and action-adventure programs for years afterward.

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• 3. Belts and Kicks

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  The word "Henshin!" is the cry that starts a transformation in almost every Kamen Rider series. In Japanese, henshin means metamorphosis. Apart from a few entries, the hero straps on a transformation belt, usually called a Driver, and shouts the phrase to become a Rider. Each Rider has several combat forms, a large range of abilities and a set of weapons.

  Most episodes follow a monster-of-the-week rhythm. A new kaijin appears, and the Rider must beat it.

  The Rider Machine, a motorcycle, is the signature ride. A few series swap it out. Kamen Rider Drive uses a sports car called the Tridoron. Kamen Rider Revice has a hoverbike that comes from one of the forms of Revi and Vice. Kamen Rider Gavv conjures a candy-themed buggy.

  A fight usually ends with the Rider Kick, a flying dive kick. Riders use it only when the enemy is weak enough to be destroyed, and the result is an explosion.

  Each series takes place in its own continuity inside one shared universe. Decade, Build, Zi-O and Gotchard are the exceptions to that rule. Series still meet in summer movies, which fall before or after their own stories. The yearly film series is called Kamen Rider Movie War, and the crossovers with the Super Sentai franchise go by the name Super Hero Taisen.

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• 4. Heroes Who Hurt

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  Look at the helmet of a Kamen Rider and you will find tear lines. They stand for the painful sacrifices the hero makes in choosing this fight. A recurring theme explains the pain. The Rider's power comes from technology or a power source that was put to a less noble use, and protecting people by violence leaves the hero in turmoil.

  Monsters in this world are not simply monsters. Kaijin, cyborgs and other strange beings sometimes show a measure of humanity when they deal with people. Human villains sometimes show the opposite. Their cruelty makes them look radically evil by comparison, and some of them express their hatred of humanity by turning into monsters themselves.

  Most Riders are also morally grey, which sets them apart from their Super Sentai counterparts. They have their own reasons for fighting. They often clash with other Riders over ideals and over whether the power is worth accepting.

  Those arguments reach their sharpest in series such as Gaim, whose heroes are rivals as well as allies.

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• 5. The Long Pause

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  In October 1979, after four years away, Kamen Rider returned to broadcast television for two years. The New Kamen Rider, featuring Skyrider, came first. Kamen Rider Super-1 followed. Hirayama had studied the recent trend in science fiction productions and talked ideas over with fans. A character named Genjiro Tani took over the mentor role in these shows.

  The yearly new shows then stopped for a while. A 1984 special, Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!!, was Hirayama's last project for the franchise.

  Kamen Rider Black premiered in 1987. It was the first series since Amazon that did not hint at any link to its predecessors. It was also the first to get a direct sequel, Kamen Rider Black RX. In the RX finale, the ten earlier Riders came back to help the hero defeat the Crisis Empire. Black RX was the last show made in the Shōwa era.

  The franchise resumed production by the end of the 20th century. In the meantime it stayed absent from television throughout the 1990s. Stage shows and musical CDs kept it going, along with three films named Shin, ZO and J.

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• 6. The Heisei Revival

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  Toei announced Kamen Rider Kuuga in May 1999. The series belonged to a revival that Ishinomori had started in 1997, ahead of the franchise's 30th anniversary. He died before the new shows reached the screen. Magazine advertisements and television commercials promoted Kuuga through the summer of 1999. It premiered on the 30th of January 2000 with newcomer Joe Odagiri. Kamen Rider Agito followed in 2001 as a sequel. From Kamen Rider Ryuki in 2002 to Kamen Rider Kabuto in 2006, each series told an unconnected story.

  The 2005 film Kamen Rider: The First, written by Toshiki Inoue, reimagined the manga and the original television series. Masaya Kikawada played Takeshi Hongo. Hassei Takano, who had played Miyuki Tezuka in Ryuki, played Hayato Ichimonji. In 2007 came Kamen Rider The Next, an adaptation of V3. Kazuki Kato, formerly Daisuke Kazama in Kabuto, starred as Shiro Kazami.

  The eighth series, Kamen Rider Den-O, also arrived in 2007. Its hero was unsure of himself, and he rode the DenLiner, a time-traveling bullet train. There were only two Riders, Den-O and Zeronos, but each had several forms. A film crossover with Kamen Rider Kiva opened on the 12th of April 2008. It topped the weekend box office and earned ¥730 million. Animate produced an animated video called Imagin Anime. A third film, Saraba Kamen Rider Den-O: Final Countdown, served as the epilogue. Takeru Satoh, the lead actor, credited the humor for the show's success.

  Kamen Rider Decade marked the Heisei run's 10th anniversary in 2009. Its hero could take on the forms of his predecessors. The recording artist Gackt sang the opening theme, "Journey through the Decade," and the film theme, "The Next Decade." He joked that he would like to play a villain. In the March 2009 issue of Kindai magazine, star Masahiro Inoue said only 30 episodes were scheduled.

  Advertisements in May, June and July 2009 promoted Kamen Rider W. The staff planned ten more years of Rider shows and wanted them to look different from the Kuuga to Decade period. The broadcast season now ran from September to about August. W was the first Rider to transform from two people at once. It premiered on the 6th of September 2009 and ran until September 2010.

  On the 20th of May 2013, Toei filed several trademarks for Kamen Rider Gaim. A preview on the 25th of July 2013 revealed a Sengoku period and fruit-themed motif, with Gen Urobuchi as main writer. The third Super Hero Taisen film marked the 15th anniversary of the Heisei era. It pitted 15 Heisei Riders against 15 Shōwa Riders, with a Kamen Rider Fifteen and cameos by the ToQgers and Kyoryugers. It also began a yearly Spring Break Combined Special, in which each year's Rider teamed up with the current Super Sentai team.

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• 7. The Reiwa Years

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  On the 13th of May 2019, Toei filed a trademark for Kamen Rider Zero-One. The series premiered on the 1st of September 2019. Kamen Rider Saber followed on the 6th of September 2020, and Kamen Rider Revice on the 5th of September 2021.

  The 50th anniversary brought a surprising director. Hideaki Anno, known for Neon Genesis Evangelion, was announced as writer and director of Shin Kamen Rider, a reimagining of the 1971 series. It was released on the 17th of March 2023.

  Kamen Rider Geats, the fourth Reiwa entry, debuted in September 2022 after Revice ended. It finished in 2023, when Kamen Rider Gotchard took over as that year's series. Kamen Rider Gavv aired as the 2024 series. In September 2025, Kamen Rider ZEZTZ replaced it. ZEZTZ was Toei's first attempt to launch the franchise on a global scale, and the first Rider series with an official simulcast from launch.

  On the 3rd of April 2026, Toei held a press conference to celebrate the 55th anniversary. It announced major changes to production and marketing, mostly aimed at expanding abroad. Films outside the main series will now come under three labels. Kamen Rider Chronicle will tell stories about legacy Riders, as the anniversary movies do. Kamen Rider Premium will carry high-budget blockbusters made for theaters. Kamen Rider Animated will cover all animated works, and its first project is a coproduction between Aniplex and Shirogumi. At the same event, Toei announced the eighth Reiwa series, Kamen Rider MY-TH.

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• 8. Beyond Japan

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  In Taiwan between 1975 and 1976, Tong Hsing Film Co., Ltd. produced its own Super Riders series based on the Japanese version. The Super Rider V3 came out in 1975. In 1976 came The Five Of Super Rider and The Super Riders, drawn from X and from the films Kamen Rider vs. Shocker and Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell. In Hong Kong, Omni Productions dubbed several Kamen Rider shows between 2001 and 2012.

  A stranger case came from Thailand in 1975. Chaiyo Productions made Hanuman and the Five Riders, which spliced footage of its own Hanuman character into the Japanese film Five Riders vs. King Dark. Toei had refused permission for an official movie. Chaiyo went ahead without authorization, so the film's legality is questionable.

  In the United States, Saban produced the first American Masked Rider in 1995. It was adapted from Kamen Rider Black RX, after Saban's success with Power Rangers and with VR Troopers and Beetleborgs. Critics and fans of the original panned it. It lasted a single 40-episode season, with the first 27 episodes on Fox Kids and the other 13 in syndication. In 2009, Michael and Steve Wang produced Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, adapted from Ryuki. It was canceled before it finished its syndicated run. It still won the first Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Stunt Coordination at the 37th Daytime Emmy Awards. In 2025, Shout Studios announced that ZEZTZ would be simulcast on its TokuSHOUTsu YouTube channel.

  Bandai owns the toy rights in Japan and other Asian regions. Bandai Namco Toys and Collectibles America, a Bandai subsidiary, distributes merchandise in North America. As of March 2021, Bandai Namco had sold 14.50 million transformation belts since February 2000.

  The franchise has been parodied in Japan and elsewhere, often through the henshin pose. Skullomania from Street Fighter EX and May Lee from The King of Fighters are Rider parodies. According to character designer Kumiko Suekane, Viewtiful Joe is modeled on Kamen Rider and other tokusatsu heroes of the 1960s and 1970s. The grasshopper-based Pokémon Lokix seems to borrow from the original Rider's grasshopper motif.

  Anime also plays along. Examples include My-HiME, Dragon Ball Z, Bleach and Franken Fran. In Crayon Shin-chan, the title character meets Kamen Riders in crossover specials. The detective boys of Case Closed love a show called Kamen Yaiba. One-Punch Man has Mumen Rider, an ordinary man on a bicycle in a world of superhumans, who proves heroic anyway. The Disney Channel series Amphibia references Kamen Rider 1, Kuuga and V3's Riderman.

  Live-action parodies include Kamen Renaider by SMAP's Takuya Kimura and Shingo Katori, which sends up Ryuki. The Tunnels made Kamen Norider, and Hard Gay made Kamen Rider HG.

  The astronomer Akimasa Nakamura named two minor planets after the series. One is 12796 Kamenrider, named for the franchise itself. The other is 12408 Fujioka, named for the actor who first played Takeshi Hongo.

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