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SHOWA RIDER ! ![]() Produced by Toru Hirayama and designed by Shotaro
Ishinomori, creator of Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider premiered on April 3, 1971.
Initially intended to be an adaptation of his Skull Man, Ishinomori and
Hirayama redesigned the main character to resemble a grasshopper, supposedly
chosen by his son. The hero Takeshi Hongo, portrayed by actor and stuntman
Hiroshi Fujioka, was described as a transformed human, or cyborg. During the
filming of episode 10, Fujioka was thrown off his motorcycle during the filming
of a stunt and shattered both of his legs. His character would be phased out
until the introduction of another transformed human in episode 14, Hayato
Ichimonji as portrayed by Takeshi Sasaki, was introduced. The return of Fujioka
and his character Hongo in episode 53 united the two actors and characters, as
both Kamen Riders 1 and 2 would go on to appear in every show in the first half
of the Shōwa Kamen Rider Series. The continuous run from April 1971 to January
1976 (Kamen Rider, V3, X, Amazon, Stronger) distinguished itself by featuring
the recurrent mentor character, Tobei Tachibana. After a four-year hiatus following the finale of Kamen Rider
Stronger, the series returned to television broadcast in October 1979 for two
years with The New Kamen Rider (featuring Skyrider) and Kamen Rider Super-1. In
these new shows, the role of Tachibana was replaced by a similar character
named Genjiro Tani . The broadcast of yearly new shows ended briefly in the
1980s, punctuated by the airing of the Kamen Rider ZX special, Birth of the
10th! Kamen Riders All Together!! in 1984 which became the last project in the
franchise to be produced by Hirayama. In 1987, Kamen Rider Black premiered and was the first
series that neither indicated nor hinted at any relationship with its
predecessors. Black was also 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. Kamen Rider Black RX was the final show to be
produced during the Shōwa era, with the franchise only resuming production by
the end of the 20th century. A manga of Kamen Rider Black acted as a
novelization and reimagination of the Black/RX series' continuity. |