The Birth of Kamen Rider

[@JBOboe720]

It was slightly glossed over, but Fujioka's injury was BRUTAL. When he crashed the bike, he was still conscious. He could see his left leg over his shoulder from behind, so he moved it back down, checked to see if his big toe still moved, and then passed out. Fujioka recalls that he had to develop a lot of spiritual fortitude to get through his recovery. His left leg ended up healing slightly shorter than his right, which he cites as the source of his long-standing back pain.

[@MercuryFalcon]

Yeah, I originally had a line where I mentioned the injury was so severe they couldn't even get Fujioka to record voice-over lines for the series and he had to be dubbed by voice actor Rokuro Naya, this got cut in the editing process for the video but I did still have the line at the beginning where I mentioned the scene "nearly killing lead actor hiroshi fujioka"

[@DU_hockeygirl40]

Did anything like this ever happen to other toku actors/stuntmen? Just curious because of all the explosions, fighting, vehicle riding, etc associated with the genre. Someone like Kenji Ohba comes to mind because of all the series he acted in/did stunts for but thankfully I can't find anything about him having an injury like this.

[@JBOboe720]

@@DU_hockeygirl40 I don't doubt that injuries have occurred in the years since, but nothing is as publicized as Fujioka's incident. There is one stunt in Kamen Rider Movie War Megamax where a stunt actor was thrown into the air and he landed on his head, which was pretty brutal to watch.

[@哥坤-s7o]

Actually I read before of another version of why Fujioka suddenly went missing in the middle of the series broadcast. It was said that he had received another role in a drama series that will raise his status as a serious actor. But since he already had a contract with making Kamen Rider series, he was so depressed and upset that he didn't turn up for filming and went MIA. But after that, when he received encouragement with fan mails from many kids who loved the kamen rider series and begged for his return, he decided to return to his role again.

[@JBOboe720]

@@哥坤-s7o There are records of Fujioka being injured. That seems like a really mean-spirited rumor.

[@OoziHobo]

John delivering lines like "they were afraid it would destroy the dreams of children" without any inflection or winking always cracks me up.

[@MercuryFalcon]

I like dark humor and all but I would never joke about destroying children's dreams

[@Strike-hopper]

​​@@MercuryFalconlike hangou said human life is more important then justice and peace and kids why do people wanna flip over kids like that what are they bulk and skull or something making a fool of themselves

[@raydhen8840]

This made me realize how similar Kamen Rider & Spider-Man during their pitch days were. Both arthropod-based superheroes, initially disliked by the higher-ups for their "buggy" aspects (SM because spiders are scary, KR because insects are seen as weak), Hirayama reasoning even similar to Spidey usual trait description ("having proportional strength of a spider"/"insects are powerful if they were human sized"). This even fit with what kind of hero they are in the setting, or what they represent. Both are street heroes, they start as regular person who are injected with power outside their control, but decided to do the right thing with that power, willing to fight just to help the little people/dealing with stuff that may go unnoticed from the authority.

[@annoying_HK_guy]

Actually Kamen Rider grasshopper motif is chosen by Ishinomori son due to they are consider scary among boy too And Ishinomori want the Tokusatsu to scare the kids

[@哥坤-s7o]

Not to mention that similar to spider-man sinster six villains, there are also 6 major villains in Kamen Rider V3 series who teamed up together to defeat V3. 😄

[@stinkynoodles8312]

i wouldnt call kamen rider street level, but its also hard to argue theyre not lmao

[@christopherwall2121]

​@@stinkynoodles8312 True, he does dress flashier and fight more outlandish bad guys than most street-level heroes, but at this early stage, before power-ups, sword and beam finishers, or flying, it's kind of the best category to fit him in

[@MrStupidarmy]

And Ishinomori often dubbed as "Stan Lee of Japan". And hilariously they met in 80s and take a photo together.

[@TheArkhamjester]

I don't know how many people here play fighting games but in the Street fighter EX series there's a character named skullomania he's an obvious homage to Kamen Rider watching this video made me realize just how deep a cut at Kamen riders origin he is

[@travisjordan3853]

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow features an enemy named "Kicker Skeleton", a skeleton wearing a red scarf that attacks the player with a dive kick. The enemy also drops an accessory called the Ancient Belt, which has the description "Belt that lends its wearer a positive attitude.", which according to the Castlevania Wiki is a reference to the Arcle, the transformation belt worn by Yusuke Godai, the protagonist of Kamen Rider Kuuga.

[@chadwickjdillon]

The first Kamen Rider...Isn't that Segata Sanshiro? Pretty sure I've seen that Kamen rider beat the hell out of a family on Christmas. Edit: Yes. Yes it is.

[@silvermoon5583]

But Segata never beat up anyone on Christmas. He just gave them a Saturn and left, subverting the standard formula. It was the whole point of that commercial.

[@chadwickjdillon]

@silvermoon5583 ha, you are right! He only menaces the children, doesn't beat them up! What a switch indeed!

[@silvermoon5583]

@@chadwickjdillon Is it 'menacing' if it's unintentional? Cause he doesn't do anything deliberately threatening in that one. They're mainly just scared of him due to his pre-established reputation and tough demeanor. Which is part of the subversion.

[@LoFFort]

The research is above and beyond, importing and translating JP only sources. As a lifelong Rider fan, even I never knew the behind the scenes production stories. You've done a great service for the English speaking Tokusatsu community. Amazing video!

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Hey I wonder if I’ll recommend you the Toei’s Kenya Boy live action tv show made 23 years before the Kenya Boy anime film? It was a hit that predated Kamen rider by a decade. Both the show and the movie are based on a Sōji Yamakawa picture story of the same name.

[@jamescorvus6709]

Shotaro Ishinomori is a God.

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Sure he was a God of manga alongside Osamu Tezuka and Mitsuteru Yokoyama. Fun fact: he was inspired more by the Late Sōji Yamakawa than any of the latter’s pupils were by him. No wonder why all of the tropes standardised by him are running rampant on theatre and tv!

[@afnanhype624]

There is no God except Allah

[@jamescorvus6709]

@@afnanhype624 go tell that to Japan. They have a lot of them

[@MansMan42069]

​@@jamescorvus6709 Not really. They're just mascots at this point.

[@FoieGras]

@@afnanhype624 Allah is no God. There is no God except Jesus. But Japan follows Jesus so it has real gods. Also Ishinomori Shotaro kicks allah's ass

[@christophergomez2016]

Happy 53nd anniversary Kamen Rider.🎌🇺🇸🏍️🍃

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Hooray!! My brother is also a fan of Kamen Rider.

[@Humoenlaagua1]

Got to go to the Museum and see all the different Kamen Rider suits just outside of Sendai not too long ago. If you all are ever in Japan, it’s pretty cool.

[@KazuyaMithra]

Babe it's 7am, Mercuryfalcon uploaded

[@devinweathers7520]

Well shit bout time

[@JazzyCee]

The behind the scenes politics of old TV shows are always so interesting to hear about! Always a treat to see you upload, great work!

[@jackofallclaws6672]

Not gonna lie, I initially thought this was going to be about the original manga.

[@kelnhide]

the Kamen Rider manga and the TV show ran concurrently. They're both the "original"

[@SlapstickGenius23]

@@kelnhide the original Shotaro Ishinomori manga was like a much edgier (alternate high school universe) tie in to the show, with the titular hero being a teen in the manga instead of an adult like in the show. It was over decade before both concepts got popularised in the 1980s-90s. The Kamen rider manga with teen Takeshi and Hayato (instead of the show’s adult aged counterparts) drawn by Shotaro Ishinomori seems to precede a lot of fellow alternative high school universe spinoffs by over a decade or more.

[@Charlestouchdown]

Oh so thats where Kodaka got the V3 for New Dangan Ronpa V3 from. My only knowledge of the original Kamen Rider actor was he played the main antagonist in the Manaphy Pokemon movie.

[@demothiguillermo2059]

There's no space in Danganronpa

[@Austin_Soares]

A nice treat of a video before I head to work! Thanks Mercury Falcon! :)

[@bryce3603]

Thanks for citing sources here! Outside of it being an academic thing to do for a video essay it also helps us viewers look up sources in case we wanna research more ourselves.

[@TheOneNerd1]

A real interesting story, I never knew they made a tv drama based on the story like Adventures in Space Time. I wonder if anyone has subbed it before. Would love to watch it.

[@LOP4795]

What a great video made even better by knowing you used REAL books and references for it. Please keep doing that. It is in no way pretentious. Most KZbin videos make me feel like I wasted my time because I ask myself, "Is this person qualified to be telling me about this information? Where did they get it? Can I trust them with what they are giving me?" That is not the case with your videos.

[@jackofallclaws6672]

12:35 Hey look, Kamen Rider’s doing the Akira pose…quite a few years before Akira was even published…WAIT, does that mean the Akira pose has been a secret Kamen Rider reference THIS WHOLE TIME?

[@SlapstickGenius23]

That was Hilarious! No wonder why it’s called the Kamen Rider bike pose in Japan and the Akira bike pose outside of it!

[@Azmodeus87]

It was definitely around since before Akira, since it appears very quickly in Lupin the 3rd Mystery of Mamo, which predates Akira by a whole decade.

[@DeanieWeenie1]

That manga was made years after tye original

[@travisjordan3853]

Possibly, Akira was heavily inspired by Tetsujin 28-go a.k.a. Gigantor and included a whole bunch of references in it due to Katsuhiro Otomo being a huge fan of the series, so its not that far-fetched that Otomo could have also been influenced by Kamen Rider as well and homaged it in Akira. I can't find any direct confirmation of Kamen Rider being an influence on Akira unlike Tetsujin 28-go, however Otomo has cited Shotaro Ishinomori as one of the three manga artists he respected the most with the other two being Mitsuteru Yokoyama and Osamu Tezuka. So Shotaro Ishinomori has had at least some influence on Otomo, its just a question of how much of that influence seeped its way into Akira.

[@VexX6]

Kamen Rider is my favorite show, thx for covering its origins

[@KuWota2k]

Amazing video! Great in depth look at the classic that started it all. The Hayato segment surprised me as he's my favorite Rider but I never really knew that his era of the show was quite popular. Sure he allowed the franchise to continue forward and practically saved it (as well as establishing many tropes that the later shows would follow), but it's amazing to know he had quite the impact.

[@miamipastel]

Kamen Rider is my favorite series, but I never knew the production history. Thank you for your hard work in researching this for English-speaking fans!

[@DanishHadi-xn6mq]

Shotaro Ishinomori Is A Legend

[@P1Gman]

The Masked Rider on Fox Kids in the 90's was my favorite show.

[@otaking3582]

Kamen Rider did the Peace Conference long before Power Rangers was a twinkle in Stan Lee's eye.

[@genyakozlov1316]

While Toei's Spiderman did the whole using the mecha stock footage attacking the screen because they can't use the suit way before Power Rangers season 2 tried to incorporate Thunder Megazord into the Zyu2 footage.

[@Gossamer24]

I can tell a ton of work was put into the research for this video, thank you for making such an in-depth look at this slice of tokusatsu history!

[@EbullientSMP]

Amazing video. I love the research done for this recapping the legacy of one of my favorite franchises of all time, especially all the different iterations of the franchise before it reached the Kamen Rider we all know and love.

[@tobormax]

Citing your sources actually makes me appreciate the video more since I know you aren’t just reading from some random wiki. Thanks for your hard work and thanks for the great video!

[@ashlynbrown3728]

Kamen rider is awesome, this series been always my favourite ever since i discovered dragon knight

[@scorpionjacket3129]

I was so curious about the manga panels in between. That’s amazing they made a manga autobiography. Thanks for citing your sources! Great video

[@lkhoe23]

Thanks for the video. Now I understand how some cues from the past had inspired Shin Masked Rider movie. The proposed killing off rider 1 is one example. Keep it Up and happy henshin!

[@Raycheetah]

12:35 I was part of Hawai'i's Generation Kikaida, and enjoyed a lot of subbed early tokusatsu on the local Japanese language TV station, then KIKU, including Kamen Rider V3. Schools had to enact rules against kids playing Kikaida or Kamen Rider, as those kicks and chops could do serious damage if they actually landed! Thanks, at any rate, for this informative video! =^[.]^=

[@DU_hockeygirl40]

I started watching the original Kamen Rider before Shin came out in US theaters. It was so weird to have the abrupt change of the main character. To learn about the accident he had was shocking. I'm glad Hongo does make his way back into the series. What happened to the actress that played Ruriko? Was it a contract dispute or something? I know the Rider crew turned into the club with more female members but Ruriko never even came back to make a cameo.

[@therandomcarguy77]

Mercury Falcon is back!

[@KamenRider1]

Being a fan of Kamen Rider (as my username suggests) this makes me very pleased. Thank you so much for this. Looking forward to more! Happy 53rd Anniversary for Kamen Rider!

[@shady8868]

I'm new to Kamen Rider and just can't stop getting excited of how amazing and unique this frachize is! I just found this channel and already has respect for this informative video. Really, so many interesting facts in just 22 minutes - that deserves a subscribe.

[@annoying_HK_guy]

I doubt we would ever get a lot of anime heroes soon loved by the world, without Ishinmori Shotaro and his mentor Osamu Tezuka Also, highly recommend reading Skullman manga by sensei, and then it'manga sequel by Kazuhikio Shinamoto, requested by the former, it's good

[@genesismultiverse4896]

A guy in a bug custom they all laughed at the idea well WHO'S LAUGHING NOW!!!!??!!!!!

[@oliverklinton7164]

Great video my friend! I haven’t watched a Kamen Rider series in over two years now so maybe it’s time for me to start watching it again.

[@lordtoademort8124]

This is really good information and came at the perfect time! Right now I'm putting together a presentation on the tokusatsu genera and kamen rider for my Japanese class this information will be invaluable.

[@gemssanga4059]

After Skull Man and Cyborg 009, Shotaro Ishinomori, a manga writer and illustrator of the Tokusatsu Heroes after Ultraman, thus the Kamen Rider was born in 1971

[@ELDuderino415]

Thanks for doing the research and uploading this video! My first exposure to Kamen Rider was a Sega CD title.

[@himwo.]

Finally, your own KZbin avatar lore video

[@ajdynon]

America: A spider-based superhero won’t work because people hate spiders. Japan: An insect-based superhero won’t work because kids crush insects.

[@dianueva]

Appreciate that you got the books translated! There's a lot of Japanese history, like this, that's hard to find in the states because it's in Japanese!

[@jamesmoss3424]

Kamen Rider is a legend in Japan. 😀👍🇯🇵

[@joshtoten]

Oh wow, this is really nicely produced for a mini documentary. Great work!

[@elroberto4051]

Great video! I love Hongo and Ichimonji Kamen Rider. It is one of my favorite series.

[@stankovicf]

Fantastic video, man!

[@jamcalx]

Toei and Money...

[@masakikuwana5879]

Thank you for the video! ❤ It is the most detailed video about the origin of the kamen rider franchise I have ever seen! 🎉

[@Deadwolf27]

First time viewer here but holy moly man tagging your footage and pictures so people can find the cool stuff youre showing off is so underrated.

[@NekoValtz]

Honestly legit happy to see the sources for this because I was REALLY curious about that manga that seemed to have the behind the scenes history of kamen rider. Now I wonder if there's any kind of english translation.

[@chrisobee9005]

Thank you, a great deal of information I did not know. Kamen rider is one of my all time favorite series

[@rickytoddbotelho9555]

Excellent job ❤😂🛵🏍

[@tokumillennium5162]

I been waiting for this for 84 years

[@phil4863]

😂😂😂

[@hawleygriffon9290]

A well done mini documentary. Lots of things I did not know. Keep up the good work...

[@Hobbies305]

Amazing. I am a bit of a newbie at tokusatsu and so far I feel biased towards Toei Company with Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and other Henshin Heroes. Obviously, Toei Company had rough starts in tokusatsu because it isn't Toho or Tsubaraya. All in all I still enjoy the content from Toei Company because they deliver action and quality action which sets them apart from the competition

[@zerothebear]

Really appreciate the research and quality of these videos 👍

[@technodude458]

i remember reading that Hiroshi Fujioka compared being in the hospital and healing up as being on the operating table for Shocker he truly felt like he was fighting against Shocker at every moment be it on the show or otherwise the man’s dedication is insane

[@kalvingoodlaxson]

Love the history of this, I myself was impressed by your in-depth research and interesting facts from this legendary series. I am wondering why there was no mention of Super Sentai since it became a big staple in 1975 as a passing mention from the tokusatsu series that Shotaro Ishnomori created.

[@zangetsu2612]

The best 22 minutes 14 seconds invested of my life

[@DokoGaTV]

Excellent video! Many thanks!

[@MementoMorituri]

Showa Kamen Rider has more heart than any shows that you can find these days.

[@jasonblalock4429]

So, I recently saw Shin Kamen Rider, and ended up enjoying it more than I'd expected. So now I'm curious about exploring some of the older stuff. Are there any agreed good starting points with the franchise? (That maybe don't involve going all the way back to the beginning?)

[@toku-punk]

Build

[@rinzler2012]

Kamen Rider Black or Kuuga are good starting points tbh

[@Ironsharp]

Beginning-of-era series are never a bad choice. Kamen Rider, Kuuga, and Zero-One. Black/Black RX and Build are also highly regarded.

[@mervish0]

There are no starting points. There are barely any direct sequels in Kamen Rider, so you can just pick whatever show you might want to watch. My picks are: Kuuga, Ryuki, Faiz, Den O and W.

[@chinmay_r_sharma]

Heisei Era is a good place (Any of the 20 series is fine as all of them are bangers. I would tell you to start from ryuki)

[@garyshaller8294]

Excellent video! Keep them coming!

[@HaydenTheHistorian]

very cool very epic liked and subscribed

[@MercuryFalcon]

Holy shit you're Hayden from youtube!

[@giffica]

Fantastic video, great history.

[@Krerart]

Great video.

[@patrickjohnson1649]

Takeshi Hongo and Segata Sanshiro have the Same Actor… What?! 🤯

[@avaranabraham8507]

Fun fact Jiro Chiba is the uncle of Mackenyu who played zoro from one piece and seiya from saint seiya

[@primusvsunicron1]

Goranger next?

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Yeah!! Goranger is probably the first live action Sentai type show that most Japanese people know and love. But here’s the catch, the first Gatchaman anime predated it by 2 years, which likely makes it the first known Sentai type show in the world.

[@astrangerontheinternet5500]

The birth of PEAK

[@prideofclouds]

Great video although my main question is for your comment at the end. Why would citing your sources be pretentious? That doesn't make sense. If you used someone else's work in your own then it's good practice to give credit and also show you aren't pulling it out of nowhere.

[@LatitudeSky]

And it's such a great show. 100% awesome.

[@CapybaraEnjoyer95]

Really interesting! Where's a good place to jump on with Kamen Rider? I've only seen the Anno movie

[@armoredvistitor2197]

try the birth of 10th kamen rider zx movie. it's how I got into the showa era riders. you can find it on the toei tokusatsu channel

[@zarizzler]

A rider fan myself but im suprised there's a lot i didn't know apparently, very interesting video🦗🏍

[@RicoClauYan]

Masked Rider Series 1971 to Present Created By Shotaro Ishinomori Ishimori Productions Toei Company ❤

[@mobsta163]

What manga is that manga that is about the creation of kamen rider

[@MercuryFalcon]

The Men Who Made Kamen Rider 1971-2011

[@randyryry6656]

HES BAAAAACK

[@PinkyJustice]

How am I just finding this channel?

[@CCootauco]

Holy shit. I didnt know MBS created Kamen Rider. I always thoguht the manga came first

[@Caine7ify]

Back when KR DIDN'T talk down to its audience.

[@KKAkuoku]

You ever gonna do Tsuburaya-focused videos in the future?

[@darrenclements6028]

Way much better than the so called marvel comedians and Disney pantomime clowns of Hollywood

[@sodokami6347]

Uh ok then? 💀

[@Mitch93]

Mr. Falcon!

[@zyrkugilgamesh]

0:34 Oooh, Rocksteady

[@Hurtle885hu8bu]

8:07 “The 7:30 pm time slot was popular with families since it was common for families to watch TV while eating dinner.” Bro writing like he’s trying to reach a certain word count with this video lol.

[@D0Gdidthemath]

3:15 what is the name of this series? I like the visual style

[@Dealortruth]

Do you think Might Be Guy's Dynamic Entry was a reference to the Rider Kick? They both have the same pose and they're both kicks.

[@doc_multiverse]

So nice, I watched it twice! ✌

[@rfhextra]

That is good.

[@maxpierce8414]

i have a question about how you do the research for these videos, do you read the books in Japanese and get parts translated or do translate all of the books ?

[@MercuryFalcon]

Just the parts I need.

[@maxpierce8414]

​@@MercuryFalcon but how do you find those parts? Do you have a basic understanding of Japanese to find them? Just asking as the research for these videos sound like a nightmare.

[@603lopai9]

​An interesting fact is that in the latest Kamen Rider Gotchard， the design prototype of the villain rider Kamen Rider Dread is none other than the skeleton man

[@pablogarcia6188]

When are you releasing part for if robotech

[@goldengamer-b2z]

You know i wish you did a tokusasu look back you know like animation look back web serie

[@apex2000]

Puppies!!!

[@tomo8940]

Why is holding Astroboy's dad?

[@eggmath200]

wow!

[@3L_B4R7O]

Nice

[@VexX6]

Is it true that Sailor Moon was created in a similar way? Toei approching a Mangaka for a new show since the Anime seems to intentionally be very different from the Manga