I often get asked a lot of questions, so here are a lot of the answers:
General Kamen Rider QuestionsWho created Kamen Rider?While comic artist Ishinomori Shôtarô is often (correctly) credited as being the “creator” of Kamen Rider, it truly began as a joint effort among Toei staff members, led by Creative Producer Hirayama Tôru, seeking to create a new hero program. Early names included “Maskman K”, “Masked Angel”, and “Cross Fire”. Hirayama sought out Ishinomori to help in designing the new hero. Ishinomori played around with the design of one of his own characters, “Skullman”, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Thus, the official credit of “Original Story” was graciously given to Ishinomori, who contributed a great deal to the final production, including character designs and creating the look for the original Kamen Rider. You could say that Ishinomori was instrumental in creating Kamen Rider as we know it, though it's important to remember the contributions of others (including Hiraya and lead writer Igami Masaru.) Both Hirayama and Ishinomori would continue to work together for many years following this, on Kamen Rider or other productions.
The Kamen Rider franchise is co-owned by Toei & Ishimori Pro, Ishinomori’s estate/company.
Who makes the new Kamen Rider series?It’s still Toei & Ishimori Pro. While Ishinomori passed away in 1998, the Kamen Rider franchise continues to sally forth, with Ishinomori still getting the “Original Story” credit for each successive series (and there is actually some truth to it; prior to his death, Ishinomori worked on the very early initial designs for what would much later become Kamen Rider Kuuga.) His son, Onodera Jô (who appeared as a semi-regular in
Kamen Rider BLACK RX), also oversees the current Rider productions.
Has Kamen Rider ever come to America?It has!
Kamen Rider V3 was shown with English subtitles in Hawaii in the 1970's, and was re-aired there years later. A super-cool DVD box set, loaded with extras and fully subtitled in English, was eventually released, though sadly is now out of print. On a more widespread note, the 2005 revamp film
Kamen Rider THE FIRST saw a DVD release in the US.
In the 90’s
Kamen Rider BLACK RX was also “Sabanized” (ala
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers) simply as
Masked Rider. Most fans agree that the less said about it, the better, although to its credit it did have a pretty cool idea in introducing Masked Rider in the Power Rangers’ show, although it’s pretty funny to see random guys in gas masks (Masked Rider’s alien buddies) hold their own against the Rangers in a fight. Yes, the hero in the show was the prince of some alien planet. The other Riders do all appear (via footage from
BLACK RX’s last few episodes) but their names are all jumbled up, with Skyrider infamously declaring himself to be “AMAZON!”
After a lot of false starts and rumors, 2002’s
Kamen Rider Ryuki was eventually adapted for American television in a similar manner. Noted director & make-up artist Steve Wang oversaw the project, known as
Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, which began properly in January 2009 (after a sneak preview a month before, not to mention a very interesting leaked pilot episode.) The show ended after 40 episodes, and it’s unknown if any further series will be adapted in a similar manner. Overall,
Dragon Knight seems to have split fan opinion almost as much as
Ryuki did (albeit for different reasons) but I thought it was generally pretty good. The production team had their hearts in it, something noticeably lacking in
Masked Rider. The show has been a big hit in Japan, where it began airing in Fall 2009 with an all-star voice cast.
How about other countries?Oh, you betcha. Kamen Rider has a loyal following all around the world. I've gotten mail from places as diverse as Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Kuwait, Italy, Thailand, Brazil, Singapore, and others. So I can't even begin to name all the places it has gained fans.
Site-Specific QuestionsOkay, so why Kamen Rider anyway?For about as far back as I can remember, I have always loved the live-action science-fiction/fantasy films & TV series of Japan. I grew up on the movies & shows of Godzilla, Gamera, Ultraman, and of course, Kamen Rider. My first real exposure to the original
Kamen Rider was a couple episodes of the original series (#5~8); and to the other Riders, the
Ultraman vs. Kamen Rider video special. At the young age I was at, most of it went over my head, and it didn’t make much of an impression until I revisited it a few years later, thanks to bolstered interest as a result of the original series PlayStation game. The fact that my comprehension of Japanese had improved a bit by then probably didn’t hurt either.
Two big things happened around this time: I embarked on the process of watching the entire original series, and I made my first real foray into the internet, which proved to be a useful way in learning more about the series and Kamen Rider as a whole. From there, things just took off, and as cheesy as this sounds, I changed forever. Now, years later, even after watching all the sequels, spin-offs and venturing into the greater depths of the franchise beyond the TV screen, the original series still remains my all-time favorite. Despite, or almost because of the length and the roughness of the production, which has a gritty, visceral feel to it that’s almost unmatched by anything else I’ve ever seen.
But more importantly, the original series has a level of heart that’s almost palpable. Even when the show hit the biggest speed bump of all (losing the main star), it sallied forth, becoming something even bigger and better. The original series to me is Kamen Rider in its purest form; it’s everything the franchise needs to be about. Everything else is just about bringing in its own spin, doing their own cover version of the best song ever written. As I often say, all the other Rider series are very good stories; the original is actually, truly an epic. It changed TV, and (again, this will sound goofy) I guess it changed me. If nothing else, it inspired me creatively in so many ways.
So why make a website devoted to the Kamen Rider franchise? I guess it was sort of accidental— originally, “Igadevil’s Page” was only going to cover some of the Kamen Riders (1 & 2, X-Rider & Amazon, and some Kuuga.) Somewhere along the line, I said “Hey, why not do the others?” A big factor in this decision was my long-suffering
Kamen Rider Sigma fanfic, which to date has seen
numerous rewrites but never gotten beyond 8 or 9 episodes (out of a planned 50+... yeah, I'm hoping to break that trend soon.) After all, it would make it easier for those new to Kamen Rider to read it if they had
some prior knowledge, right?
And along the way, it just sort of hit me: I simply love Kamen Rider that much. In a way, I think my appreciation of the original has helped me appreciate the others that much more— I’m proud of the fact that I can find something to like in virtually all Kamen Rider, because I’ve seen it at its best, and since then I’ve seen it continue to be pretty fantastic.
Even when it gets bad (and it gets pretty bad, especially in the comics) there’s always some good in there as well. While there are some series/movies/Riders/villains/whatever I like more than others, I’ve yet to see a Rider series or movie that totally let me down. And that’s pretty good, because that means there’s more to love. Plus, at least with the worst of the comics, I can laugh at the badness. I guess you could say that while I might not love everything to quite the same degree— I still love 'em all.
So that’s basically it— I love Kamen Rider, and I want to share my enjoyment with all of you. And that’s why there is Igadevil’s Kamen Rider Page. Well, that, and I just love talking about how utterly crazy
New Kamen Rider is.
What exactly does this site cover?Over the years, this has been a bit of a changing matter. After all, the site has gone through more transformations than I can count. But the core idea has always been this: The main focus of all this is to cover all of the official Kamen Rider series, movies, and most of the TV/video specials, with profiles for all the Riders & their various weapons/arsenals (fighting abilities, motorcycles, etc.), as well as the enemies & their Kaijin armies.
Plus episode title guides, movie overviews, and all that good stuff. I will devote a little (okay, a lot) of space to the comic versions, as I love talking about them (even though the vast majority are, as I keep saying, pretty bad.) I’ll also get into some of the video games such as the excellent
Genealogy of Justice. Additionally, I'll be doing a lot of coverage on Kamen Rider merchandise, and have some stuff about the songs & music, and more. In short, a little bit of everything.
Why don’t you ever update?Well, if you’re reading this, I likely have updated! And will hopefully still be updating!
Unfortunately, as much fun as I have writing about Kamen Rider, it’s also a lot of hard work. And moreover, I’ve yet to attain a position where I can actually get paid for writing about it. Thus it’s had to remain as a hobby, albeit one I’m very passionate about. Over the past decade, I’ve had varying bursts of creativity and total dry spells. 2010’s so far shaping up to be a mystery. I’ll be facing some huge changes in the coming months, and yet I’m also reminded of the fact that I’ve been trying to get this thing rolling for ten years. Thus I’m really working hard to fall into some pattern of regular updates. I can’t make any promises, but hopefully 2010 (my anniversary) and 2011 (Kamen Rider’s!) will be productive years.
What’s up with all these funny words like “Kamen”, “Henshin” and “Kaijin”?While I generally provide a translation for most every Japanese term used on this site, for various reasons, I like to keep some of Japanese words used on this site in
romaji all the time. The above three are good examples of these.
When written in English, “Kamen Rider” is usually written in as “Masked Rider” in Japan. I like to stick with “Kamen Rider” to avoid confusion with the Americanized version of
Kamen Rider BLACK RX, and just cuz it sounds cooler to me. In any case, Kamen means “Masked”. I sometimes slip up and use Masked, mainly for dramatic emphasis, as it's taken on that meaning in
Japan as well. Humorously, in recent years, Japan has been using both “Kamen” and “Masked”, sometimes right next to each other (i.e. “
Kamen Rider W &
Masked Rider Decade”.)
Ditto with “Henshin!”, which I like better than “Transform!”, “Metamorphosis!”, etc.
And as for “Kaijin”, it’s just less clunky than “Strange/Mysterious Person” (the literal meaning.)
How about the italics? And the accented vowels? Or the all caps for Kamen Rider BLACK?I generally use italics for the following things:
1. Specific series & movie titles (
Kamen Rider refers to the original series, Kamen Rider for the franchise as a whole.)
2. Japanese words and spellings (aside from the ones mentioned above, among others, which have kind of become part of my own little English lexicon and are used so much it’d just get annoying. Also, words like "anime" and "manga" are so commonplace in English now anyway, I just take the lazy route with them.)
3. Emphasis on occasion (when I
really want you to get it!)
The accented vowels (like “ô”) are usually the equivalent of a lengthened sound (i.e. the “ô” is read as “ou”.) I do this mostly because I like to, and it looks better than “Hongou” and “Shoutarou” to me. Of course, I break my own rules in a few places— but “Tokyo” is so commonly written that way in English, I don’t see the need to write it as Tôkyô all the time. Same with Toei, which is would be “Tôei” if you want to get technical about it. And trust me, you probably don’t want to get technical about that.
And the all caps for BLACK & BLACK RX, as I explain elsewhere, is because in Japan the series title is always written that way (that, or as Burakku when in Katakana), and I just kind of like doing it too.
Why do I do any of these things? Because I can!
What the heck are "Shôwa" and "Heisei"?In general, I see Kamen Rider as being one big thing, and freely associate series from any given era with each other. But if we have to get specific, Kamen Rider can be divided into two eras: the Shôwa (roughly pre-1989) & Heisei (1989~present.) In other words, the original series up to
BLACK RX, and then
Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue onward (with
Kuuga being considered the first Heisei TV series) These era names are used in Japan to distinguish between the reigns of different Emperors. So in other words, the reign of Hirohito is now known as Shôwa, and Akihito's is Heisei. Accordingly, each successive year from the start gets a number attached to it. For instance, 2010 is Heisei 22, 2011 will be Heisei 23, and so on.
I use these names because that's how it's done in Japan, not merely with Kamen Rider but with many, many things. The Japanese era name system is used as commonly as the Gregorian calendar, and I use it for a lot of things in every day life, so it makes sense to me. I don't much care for the English fan terms "Old Gen" and "New Gen" because they're fluctuating; in 30 years the "New Gen" won't be so new anymore, and I dunno about you, but 2000 doesn’t exactly feel new anymore. By contrast, the Japanese names will never change; they're set in stone.
Of course, there are problems, even in Japan. The airing of
BLACK RX coincided with the changeover, so the majority of the series actually aired in the Heisei era, thus it is sometimes referred to as the first Heisei series. Moreover, Toei likes grouping Shin, ZO & J with the older Riders, and marking Kuuga’s show out as the beginning of the Heisei era for Kamen Rider (on TV.)
While it makes sense in one way (grouping together the Riders made while Ishinomori was still with us) it doesn’t in others (you can’t just classify something as Shôwa because it “feels like it”.) So it’s not really so cut and dry, although the best way to approach it is the realistic way:
Kamen Rider ~
Kamen Rider BLACK RX = Shôwa,
Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue ~ Present = Heisei, with
Kamen Rider Kuuga marking the first Heisei TV series.
But really? It's all Kamen Rider to me! Just ignore all the dating stuff and look at it that way. It’s definitely the easiest.
More Boring Stuff About The WebmasterWho is Igadevil?That would be me! Formerly a student of Japanese, I have since graduated and am now living out at least one of my dream jobs: teaching English in Japan. It's often a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it’s also ending soon, as my contract was always going to be limited. So what’s next? I really don’t know. Not yet, although I hope to continue pursuing a career here. This is currently my 5th time in Japan and I have spent a combined total of maybe not-quite 4 ½ years. I love it here, as you can tell.
I am also a sometimes film maker, aspiring artist, crazed Rider toy collector, and the webmaster of this very site. In addition to Kamen Rider and other Tokusatsu, I enjoy...well, too much to list right here, so I'll just say "a lot."
Wait, I thought it was “Ikadevil”?It is! Ikadevil is the name of the Kaijin in
Kamen Rider episode #68, and the mutated form of Doctor Shinigami (who also recently returned in the
All Riders vs. Daishocker movie!) So where’d Igadevil come from?
I usually tell people that it’s either a pun (since k’s & g’s are often switched around in Japanese. For instance, Gamera is derived from Kame, or turtle) or that it’s the “Iga” from “Iga Ninja”. I sometimes wheel out the story of how it was a typo that became gospel and eventually turned into an in-joke. Hell, it’s even a nod to my favorite Kamen Rider writer,
Igami Masaru. Honestly though?
I have no clue. It just kinda happened, it stuck, and there you go. I am now Igadevil, Iga to my friends. Hey, my nickname at one point was going to be “Hell Chameleon”, so be happy with what you get.
Also, it’s pronounced “Eee-gah”, in case you ever have me on your podcast. (^_^)
What other stuff have you done?Unfortunately, most of my writing for other people tends to have a finite lifespan.
I wrote a Henshin! Online article on
Kamen Rider Ryuki waaaay back in 2002, though that site is sadly closed. I also penned an episode of
Ultra Theresa (the original story featured on the now sadly-defunct Absolute! Ultraman website, which was a big inspiration for this one) and did artwork for several monsters and aliens featured in that story. Again, also an MIA site.
As for stuff that you can actually still see...I have a couple Kamen Rider movie reviews over at Japan Hero, though it’s since stopped updating. Most recently, I helped write some of the bonus material featured on the subtitled
Kamen Rider V3 DVD box set released by JN Productions in Hawaii. Check out my name in the credits, just mere pixels away from Miyauchi Hiroshi's! Well, assuming you can find a set, since it’s now sold out and JNP apparently won’t be able to renew the rights to distribute it.
Although I used to be more of a forum regular, lately I've been cutting down, due to work, although I do occasionally pop into some of the ones listed on the Links page. I am most active on Henshin Justice Unlimited, where I’m also a semi-regular on the HJU Radio podcast! I’ve also appeared on an episode of my good buddy Mike Dent’s podcast show, R5 Central.
What are your top 5 favorite Rider series?A surprisingly hard question, as I like them all quite a bit. I generally don’t think there’s any truly “bad” Rider series. And compared to some of the comics, even the worst of televised Rider is award-winning stuff. But if I had to make a list, the top 5 are:
1.
Kamen Rider2.
Kamen Rider X3.
New Kamen Rider4.
Kamen Rider V35.
Kamen Rider Agito /
Kamen Rider Blade (tie, they’ve both got equally strong points.)
Decade, Amazon &
Stronger would be next. Then
BLACK &
Kuuga too, and actually, I’ve grown to quite like
Super-1 in recent years.
But as I said, I love ‘em all.
What are your top 5 favorite Rider movies?Again, it’s pretty hard. I generally find the movies are more hit-and-miss than the TV stuff, though again, even at their worst I can find something in them to like. I’m infamously critical of
Kamen Rider THE NEXT, but I still love the action, the soundtrack, the cinematography and the designs. The actors playing the 3 Riders and Shocker villains all put in good, even great performances. It’s just everything else about the movie that falls on its face. Likewise, I find a lot of the Heisei Rider movies to be very good, but often undermined by their own attempts to be “important”; the fact that so many of them get relegated to “AU/Non-canon” status then just makes it all feel a bit pointless. Still, they’re always entertaining. In any case:
1.
Kamen Rider vs. Shocker2.
8 Riders vs. Milky Way King3.
Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell4.
Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Daishocker5.
Kamen Rider Hibiki & The Seven Fighting DemonsKamen Rider V3 vs. Destron Kaijin, 5 Riders vs. King Dark, Kamen Rider Super-1, Kamen Rider ZO, and
Kamen Rider Blade: Missing Ace all rank highly. Those
BLACK movies too, they’re good. As for the
Den-O movies, they’re almost in a class of their own now; it’s one of those series I’m just alright with, but I always love the movies. It’s hard to pick among them.
If one was to count TV specials, I generally find those all very good, with ZX's one and only spectacular at the front of the pack.
Who are your top 5 favorite Riders?Not surprisingly, if I like the show, I probably like the Rider that much too. You’ll notice I pick all older guys here... it’s not really a problem on the newer one’s part, it’s just that I love the old Riders that much.
1. Kamen Rider 1 / Kamen Rider 2 (I cannot choose between 'em!)
2. Skyrider
3. Kamen Rider X
4. Kamen Rider Amazon
5. Kamen Rider V3 / Riderman (Riderman’s the Dark Horse, but it would feel wrong to put the show’s lead man after him)
Kamen Rider Stronger, Super-1, and ZX usually come next. Okay, as for the new guys: Kuuga, the Agito trio, Ryuki, Femme, the Blade team… Decade, I really like him. Again, it’s tough to list them out like this.
If you were to include “evil” Riders, Kamen Rider Scissors and Verde would be near the top.
Who are your top 5 favorite major villains?This is really not easy, so I’m going to cheat again.
1. Doctor Shinigami / Apollo Geist (Like
Agito &
Blade, great in different ways.)
2. Black Shôgun
3. Colonel Zol
4. Baron Fang
5. Ambassador Hell
Doktor G, Marshal Armor, and General Shadow come next. Of course the big guy himself, the Great Leader, is in there somewhere too. Some newer favorites include La Dorudo Gu and Isaka/Peacock Undead.
Who are your top 5 favorite Kaijin?Yeah, not gonna happen. It'd be impossible to pick just 5, as the monsters are practically half of why I love Kamen Rider to begin with. Ikadevil is #1 though.
Other StuffWhere can I buy Kamen Rider on video/DVD/Blu-Ray?Check out my Links page for some places to buy Kamen Rider videos & DVDs!
Where can I buy Kamen Rider toys?Also check out my Links page for some places to buy Kamen Rider toys!
Where can I download Kamen Rider episodes? (Raw or Subtitled)I don't know much about the whole fansub thing, so I'm not the guy to ask, but from what I've read groups such as TV-Nihon do the recent Riders. The one-man (?) Century Kings operation is also doing
Kamen Rider BLACK, and a group called Hi No Tori has completed all of
Kamen Rider Amazon!
As for "Raw" (original Japanese with no subtitles) episodes, there's a number of programs out there, but once again, I'm no expert, so try some of the forums found on my Links page. Ditto on that for better information about finding fansubs.
Hey, don't look at me. I just buy the DVDs. :P
Are the comics really that bad? I read Kamen Rider Spirits and it's awesome!
Kamen Rider Spirits is an exception rather than the rule. Okay, there are plenty of good Rider comics out there. Ishinomori's rock, I love the
ZO comic like a brother and the recent movie adaptation comics are good continuity-busting fun. There are some good old ones too... but by and large, there is
a lot of hilariously awful stuff. But seriously you guys? I wouldn't have it any other way.
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