Kamen Rider ZO

Following the previous year's straight-to-video release of Shin
Kamen Rider: Prologue, 1993's Rider production was on the big
screen as part of the first annual Toei Super Hero Fair, a sort of
successor to the old Toei Manga Festivals (where the older Rider
movies appeared) and forerunner to today's Rider/Sentai summer
movie combos. Appearing alongside fellow yearly heroes Dairanger
& Janperson, the newest Rider took a more back-to-basics
approach while still pushing ahead into new, darker territory.

Once upon a time, Asô Masaru was a regular, everyday genetics
researcher and assistant to one Doctor Mochizuki. The latter meant
well enough, but being a scientist on the verge of a major
breakthrough in creating a new form of life, you better believe he
started to act a little crazy. Using Asô as a guinea pig for his
experiments, he spliced our hero's genes with those of an insect's,
turning him into an grasshopper/human hybrid cyborg. Horrified at his
new state of being, Asô fled into the woods and vanished.

Jump to the present (well, 1993, but you know what I mean.) Asô,
who has spent the last 4 years in what is nearly a state of suspended
animation (not aging at all) is awakened telepathically by the good
Doctor. As it turns out, Mochizuki's latest creation, which Asô had
served as a prototype for, is out of control and after the scientist's
son. It's now up to Asô, as Kamen Rider ZO, to protect the kid.
And that's basically the plot in a nutshell.

Name: Kamen Rider
ZO (Zettoo)

Height: 193 cm

Weight: 83 kg

Human Identity: Asô
Masaru

Rider Machine: Z
Bringer

Henshin Belt: n/a

Henshin Phrase:
"Henshin!"

Enemy: Neo-Lifeform
Doras

Combat Techniques:

-ZO Kick
-ZO Punch
-ZO Chop
-ZO Power
-Kaiten (Revolving)
Kick, etc.

Special
Equipment/Weapons
& Powers:

-Telepathic powers that
allow him to talk to
giant grasshoppers.
Hey, how many other
Riders have that!?

Well, there's a few twists along the way, of course. Mochizuki's son Hiroshi, who
currently lives with his inventor grampa, has some daddy issues. Given that his father
was nutty enough to turn his own assistant into a grasshopper/human hybrid (they
were all the rage in the 90's) against his will, he really started to go off the deep end
when he created the 2.0 version, the Neo-Lifeform Doras. As a result, he started to
neglect his son, and then went missing soon after, leaving Hiroshi with a musical
pocket watch, a gift from a time when he wasn't nuts (this is important later on.)

It doesn't take Asô long to find Hiroshi, but he's somewhat preoccupied with being
chased by Doras, a sort of battle-form manifestation of the Neo-Lifeform. ZO and
Doras engage in a brutal fight that ends with the bio-mechanical beast getting impaled
after getting knocked out of a building on the front end of ZO's motorcycle. Whee!

As Asô tries to convince Hiroshi he's a friend and not another enemy, Doras spawns
a couple of other Neo-Lifeforms, aptly named Kumo-Onna and Kômori-Otoko, to
help track the kid down. ZO battles them when they attack Hiroshi and some of the
guest stars, and manages to beat the super-freaky Kumo-Onna. But the bat dude
manages to lure Hiroshi to apparent doom with a little trickery.

With a little help from a big grasshopper (who quite literally comes out of nowhere), ZO mounts a final assault on the enemy base,
this cool... well, I'm not sure what it is exactly, it's this castle thing, but it's cool. Defeating Kômori-Otoko, our hero learns the
tragic truth: even Mochizuki was shocked to his senses by Neo-Lifeform's mad plan of wiping out the inferior human race, but
before he could do anything it took control and now he's plugged into the creature's life-support systems himself. The
Neo-Organism (which appears as a grotesque-looking stop-motion kid thing) wants him to "complete" it, making it the perfect
life-form, and to that end sought to capture Hiroshi. It manifests as Doras and engages ZO in a fight to the finish, but before our
main man can lay the final blow, Doras absorbs him (since they're DNA buddies and all that) and becomes the all-powerful Red
Doras, who may very well be the perfect form the Neo-Lifeform wanted to achieve in the first place. I should bring up that at this
point in the movie, this really catchy evil organ music comes on, and every time I see it, I seriously think Red Doras should've
started moonwalking around and it still would have totally worked with the scene.

But anyways, that musical pocket watch comes into play, as the tune awakens Asô from within Doras, and he busts out.

ZO gives Doras a taste of the ol' Rider Kick, and the twisted villain dies
dramatically, reverting to creepy kid form right before turning into so much
Lime Kool-Aid. Doctor Mochizuki, who earlier had nearly been strangled by
a power-trippin' Red Doras, dies, but not without repenting and seeing the
error of his ways. ZO & Hiroshi escape as the entire place blows up (and I
mean it blows up), and the requisite bittersweet ending soon follows.

ZO marks the second of the 90's triumvirate, along with Shin & J, and is
arguably the most successful at hitting just the right balance. This is due in part
to following closely to the original story (director & designer Amemiya Keita
initially conceived it as being a near-retelling) but also having a feel of its own.
It also nicely combines a fast-paced, action-packed plot with some of the
grittiest and creepiest monsters in Kamen Rider to date, and the cybernetic
surgery scene is downright nightmarish. While the movie doesn't take as many
risks as Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue did, it sticks to closer to the usual
"Rider Formula" that Kamen Rider J and the later TV series would.

Movies/Specials & Guest Appearances/Cameos

~Movies/Specials/Other~

Fight! Our Kamen Rider: The Strongest Rider ZO is Born! (1993): A TV special that introduced ZO, who in 1993 was
considered "The Strongest Rider Of All", a title which is now changed on a yearly basis. *Domon Kô appears!

Kamen Rider Z0 (1993): The titular star's big screen adventure that I just summarized above, in case you already forgot.
*Domon Kô appears!

Kamen Rider World (1994): ZO teams up with Kamen Rider J for a little 90's style Double Rider action against what might be
the oddest collection of revived Kaijin ever, under the command of Shadow Moon, of all people. *Domon Kô's voice
appears!

The end result is a highly enjoyable little film which still holds up after all these years. ZO returned the next year after Kamen
Rider J to team up with that film's star in Kamen Rider World, and go up against Shadow Moon & company.

On the side, the Kamen Rider ZO comic has the distinction of being one of the most unusual screen-to-page adaptations I've ever
read, as it sticks a bit closer to the "re-telling of the original" idea, and grows increasingly more surreal as the story progresses. ZO
goes from fairly grim and serious to outright absurdist, spending much of the latter half of the comic constantly transformed (he
even trains wearing a Karate Gi) and he inexplicably has a mouth at one point. It otherwise sticks to the overall story, and the
roles of some side characters, like Reiko (yay!) are greatly expanded upon, which is pretty cool.

Weird Trivia: ZO's name supposedly comes from the number 20! The 20th Anniversary was still just 2 years back, so someone at
Toei thought "ZO" looked kind of like "20", and history was made. Yeah, I don't know about that one either.