Kamen Rider BLACK

1987 saw the return of Rider to the airwaves, in the form of Kamen
Rider BLACK (in Japan, his name is always written either in all
capitals or in Katakana. So no, you don't have to yell it if you're
reading this aloud.)

Minami Kôtarô & Akizuki Nobuhiko were both born on the same
day, the day of a solar eclipse. 3 years later, the mysterious, ancient
cult known as Gorgom killed Kôtarô’s parents, and he was taken in
by the Akizuki family. On their 19th birthday, both of them were
abducted by Gorgom and turned into Kaizô-Ningen. But this isn’t
just your usual “Kidnap innocent dudes and turn them into potential
warriors of evil” story. Gorgom implanted the mystical King Stones
into Minami & Akizuki’s bodies, as they were to become the
Seiki-Ô (Century Kings), “Black Sun” & “Shadow Moon”. The
basic plan is to have these two guys fight it out, and the winner would
become the new Sôsei-Ô (Creation King), who wields ungodly
cosmic powers over the whole universe. Gorgom’s whole purpose is
the find a new Creation King every 50,000 years, as the current
one’s life force grows ever weaker until they ultimately die. Oh yeah,
and they do sorta want to take over the world too.

The bad guys’ carefully laid out plans were abruptly screwed when
Professor Akizuki, Kôtarô’s adopted father and Nobuhiko’s
biological one, not to mention the member of Gorgom who was
responsible for setting all this up, had a change of heart and
intervened.

Name: Kamen Rider
BLACK (Burakku)

Height: 198.7 cm

Weight: 87 kg

Human Identity:
Minami Kôtarô

Rider Machines:
Battle Hopper, Road
Sector

Henshin Belt: n/a (It’s
just called “Henshin
Belt”)

Henshin Phrase:
"Henshin!"

Enemy: Gorgom

Combat Techniques:

-Rider Punch
-Rider Kick
-Rider Chop
-Ryû (Dragon) Shoot
-Kingstone Flash, etc.

Special
Equipment/Weapons
& Powers:

-The Kingstone that
was put in his body
basically allows him to
do some pretty crazy
stuff (aside from
transforming in general)
and it saves him on
more than a few
occasions.

Still craving more
BLACK action? Check
out the definitive site for
all things Kamen Rider
BLACK as well as RX,
Dedicated to Black!

He couldn’t just stand by and watch his sons turn into two mindless killing machines,
so his actions give Kôtarô a chance to escape. Discovering a self-conscious
motorcycle dubbed “Battle Hopper”, Minami evades Gorgom, but with the majority
of the operation complete, he’s already been turned into a human-grasshopper hybrid.
Gorgom’s three Great Priests Darom, Baraom & Beshium corner Minami, but freak
out when he begins to transform, first into the Batta-Otoko (Grasshopper Man), and
then into Kamen Rider BLACK! Yeah, BLACK’s not down with that “Black Sun”
business, even though the villains will still mockingly call him that (perhaps out of
stubbornness, too.) Despite the eventual death of Professor Akizuki, Minami Kôtarô
vows to fight against Gorgom, who are now obsessed with getting back the King
Stone, and to rescue his adopted brother Nobuhiko, no matter the cost.

BLACK’s main attacks are the Rider Punch & Rider Kick, and believe me, he uses
them a lot. Almost every episode has him doing both, in that order, although he does
pull a couple of new moves or variations out on occasion. One is the King Stone
Flash, where his Henshin Belt expels an immense amount of blinding energy. This
usually acts as a fix-all for many messy situations, such as when outnumbered by many
powerful enemies (as BLACK often is).

Speaking of blinding, BLACK has the dubious distinction of possessing the infamous
“seizure-causing Rider Kick”. Don’t sit too close to the screen when watching!

BLACK has two motorcycles, Battle Hopper & later Road Sector. They don't
transform but rather just drive to him when he needs them to (he drives a normal
motorcycle when not transformed.) Battle Hopper is literally BLACK’s best buddy,
and saves his butt many times. It can self-repair damage sustained to its bio-
mechanical body, and even “talks” (well, it’s a distorted electronic kind of voice,
although Battle Hopper does have one clear line near the end of the series, as I’ll get
to later.) Like Battle Hopper, Road Sector was originally Gorgom property, but
BLACK gets a hold of it thanks to its creator, Daimon Akira, and turns it against the
bad guys as well. Road Sector is the more rugged of the two bikes, and with its
“Attack Shield” raised, BLACK can smash through things ala Skyrider. Both
motorcycles have distinctive attack maneuvers, “Dynamic Smash” and “Sparkling
Attack” respectively.

Minami Kôtarô is joined in his quest for justice by Nobuhiko’s sister Kyôko, and
Nobuhiko’s girlfriend Kida Katsumi, both of whom dread the possibility of an
eventual confrontation between their two best friends.

BLACK also gets occasional help from Taki Ryûsuke, a dandy Interpol agent (and nod to the original show's Taki Kazuya) who
teaches him the Ryû Shoot. There's also a sort of Shônen Riders-on-acid group of kids, the Young Warriors, who are actually
much older than they look. They’re in fact Gorgom experiments who rebelled, and now fight their one-time masters. These tykes
pack last pistols (!) and lend our hero a hand a couple of times, including a very amusing episode where they all get sucked into
the video game world of the late 80's.

BLACK’s main rival for the first half of the show is Birugenia, who is revived by Gorgom in episode #18. A 30,000-year old
sword master and Century King-wannabe, Birugenia manages to be a pain for both our hero and the Gorgom Great Priests. But
in episode #35, Gorgom’s long, agonizing wait is over, and Nobuhiko finally emerges from his cocoon-like state as Shadow
Moon. The cost is great though, as the Priests must sacrifice their lives to finalize the process, and while all this is going on,
Birugenia is raising hell thanks to the Satan Saber, a sword reserved for use by the Creation King, and him alone. But once the big
bad Shadow man is on his feet, he takes back the Saber and promptly whups Birugenia good. His awakening also causes the
Priests to regenerate, and all three transform into fearsome Kaijin forms.

Shadow Moon then begins a campaign of terror against BLACK & friends, not to mention Japan as a whole. Our hero, of
course, is not exactly keen on fighting his best friend and adopted brother, who has since gone completely to the dark– er, the
bad side. For a while, BLACK manages to keep things in control, avoiding that pivotal fight with Shadow Moon and still halting
Gorgom’s evil scheme-of-the-week.

But a final showdown soon becomes inevitable. The Creation King, who for
most of the series is mentioned, but neither seen nor heard, speaks to both
Century Kings and tells them to get on with it– he’s nearing the end of his life,
and things are only going to keep getting worse until one of them succeeds him
as the new Creation King. This is all cool with Shadow Moon, who has been
egging on Minami all this time to fight him. He just wants the Creation King to
be patient and not butt into his plans. Things look increasingly grim for
BLACK, and as Gorgom’s attacks grow more and more public, all Japan is
soon plunged into total chaos. Kyôko & Katsumi, at Minami’s request, leave
in a mass exodus of refugees. BLACK does battle with and defeats all three
of the former High Priests, and at one point gets some help from Kujira
(Whale) Kaijin, a Gorgom traitor who saves our hero’s bacon after Shadow
Moon kills him. Yep, this Kamen Rider’s dead for an episode! He’s back in
time for the apocalyptic finale, where we find out that, being a Century King,
Shadow Moon is able to control Battle Hopper and turn it against BLACK.

But the trusty Rider Machine is able overcome Shadow Moon’s power and nobly sacrifices itself to save its longtime friend and
partner. It also speaks, for the first and only time, in perfect Japanese!

Eventually, BLACK & Shadow Moon have their final duel in the lair of the Creation King. Despite every fiber of his soul wishing
against it, BLACK defeats his archenemy, who dies laughing that he has also, by due process, killed Nobuhiko. The Creation
King, who turns out to be a giant, mutant heart, confronts the still-standing Century King and orders him to take his place as the
new ruler of the universe. Of course, BLACK’s been through too much to suddenly turn his back on the world, and tries in vain to
defeat the giant evil organ. The Creation King threatens to destroy the entire Earth by plunging into its core, but before he can do
that, Shadow Moon seems to have a posthumous change of heart, and allows BLACK to summon the Satan Saber, which he
uses to utterly destroy the Creation King. A bittersweet ending soon follows, as Minami fondly remembers Kyôko, Katsumi, and
Nobuhiko. But the story of Minami Kôtarô isn't over just yet folks– he’ll be back in the next Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider
BLACK RX!

Conceived as yet another restart for the franchise, there’s no reference to the previous Riders in Kamen Rider BLACK. But of
course they get to meet him eventually, in the next show. Kamen Rider BLACK proved to be one of the most successful Rider
series, and remains a favorite among fans both in and outside of Japan for its intense drama & action scenes, not to mention an
amazing soundtrack, which is one of my personal favorites.

Movies/Specials & Guest Appearances/Cameos

~Movies/Specials/Other~

This is Kamen Rider BLACK!! (1987): Originally airing the week before the first episode of Kamen Rider BLACK
premiered, this TV special features an interview with Ishinomori himself, rare footage of Kurata Tetsuo's selection for the role, and
even our main man recording the theme song! Also look for an appearance by Onodera Jô (that would be Ishinomori's son for
those who are still wondering.) *Kurata Tetsuo appears!

Kamen Rider BLACK: Hurry to Demon’s Island (1988): The first of BLACK’s big screen adventures. This time around,
he's got to save a bunch of kids from Gorgom’s evil Chameleon Kaijin. Birugenia also shows up to join the fun. Look for a quick
cameo by Ishinomori himself! *Kurata Tetsuo appears!

Kamen Rider BLACK: Fearsome! The Kaijin Mansion of Devil’s Pass (1988): In the second theatrical BLACK
extravaganza, our hero has to contend with Shadow Moon, Tsunozame (Dogfish) Kaijin, an army of revived Gorgom mutants,
and even the elusive Gorgom henchmen! BLACK takes the latter guys down in about 3 seconds. *Kurata Tetsuo appears!

Kamen Rider 1 ~ RX Great Assembly (1988): Premiering between the end of Kamen Rider BLACK and beginning of Kamen
Rider BLACK RX, this short special is sometimes considered episode #52 of Kamen Rider BLACK (such as on the official DVD
release), and sometimes it isn't (such as still-recent books and magazines.) In any case, it's basically a clip show covering
everything from the beginning up to the end of BLACK, before giving us a preview of what's in store for our hero next. *Kurata
Tetsuo appears!

Kamen Rider: Running around the World (1989): Oh Snap! BLACK RX gets thrown back in time/into an alternate
universe/someplace, and reverts to BLACK. Fortunately, BLACK RX shows up (huh?) to save his own rear end, and before
long Roborider & Biorider (who are also the same guy) show up to help defeat a bunch of revived Crisis Empire monsters. So in
essence, ol' Kôtarô teams up with himself four times in this short little flick. *Kurata Tetsuo appears!

Kamen Rider: Genealogy Of Justice (Sony Playstation 2, 2003): Yeah, so it's just a game, but it may as well be cannon, it's
THAT good. Kurata himself voices Minami/BLACK in this exciting, dramatic mystery-adventure, and gets to meet Kamen Rider
1, Kamen Rider V3 & Kamen Rider Agito via a complex time-travel plot. BLACK figures prominently into the game's story, and
you'll get to learn a bit more about the whole Creation King deal. He also gets to tango down with some of the toughest bosses.
It's an awesome game, and truly captures the kind of Rider adventure I've always wanted. Oh yeah, and Shadow Moon shows up
briefly as well! *Kurata Tetsuo’s voice appears!