A Walk Through the Original Showa-Era Kamen Rider Series

The original Kamen Rider, which premiered April 3, 1971 on the Mainichi Broadcasting System and NET TV (now TV Asahi), set the template the franchise would follow for decades: the terrorist organization Shocker kidnaps people to turn into brainwashed cyborg soldiers, only for one intended victim, Takeshi Hongo, to escape before the brainwashing takes hold and become the grasshopper-themed hero Kamen Rider. Shocker’s retaliatory attempt to convert photographer Hayato Ichimonji backfires the same way, giving the series its two original Riders, Kamen Rider 1 and Kamen Rider 2, and running until February 1973.

Kamen Rider V3 followed directly after, airing from February 1973 to February 1974. Shiro Kazami becomes entangled with the evil organization Destron after witnessing a murder and sheltering a target of his own, Junko Tama; when Destron kills his family and nearly kills him in turn, the original Riders save his life the only way they can: turning him into V3, the franchise’s first legacy successor.

Kamen Rider X, running February to October 1974, introduced Keitaro Jin’s son Keisuke, transformed into a cyborg with his father’s dying effort after the shadowy Government of Darkness (“GOD”) steals Jin’s research and kills him. As Kamen Rider X, Keisuke fights with a signature spear-like weapon called the Ridol.

Kamen Rider Amazon, which aired from October 1974 to March 1975, took a different origin path entirely: the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Amazon rainforest, Daisuke Yamamoto, is raised by a local tribe until the demon Gorgos wipes out his adopted village while hunting the legendary GiGi Bracelet. A tribal witch doctor entrusts the bracelet to Daisuke instead, using Incan science and magic to transform him into Kamen Rider Amazon.