Kamen Rider Black

 Created by legendary manga-artist Shotaro Ishinomori, the Kamen Rider franchise has been a staple of Japanese popular culture since the early 70s. As for me, my introduction to Kamen Rider came with its 26th series, Kamen Rider Gaim. I remember liking Gaim, but despite my positive opinion of it, it remained my only Kamen Rider series for many years. 

 Until now, that is. A few months ago, I decided, on a whim, to delve deeper into the franchise. For my second Kamen Rider series, I chose one of considerably older vintage: 1987's Kamen Rider Black.

 Directed by Yoshiaki Kobayashi and written by Shozo Uheara (episodes 1-12) and Noboru Sugimura (ep. 13-51), Kamen Rider Black tells the story of Kotaro Minami and Nobuhiko Akazuki, foster-brothers who find themselves on opposite sides in the never-ending battle between good and evil. In this case, evil is represented by Gorgom, a sinister cult bent on world domination. Kotaro is the titular Kamen Rider Black (a.ka. Black Sun) and the only one who can put a stop to Gorgom's plans. Nobuhiko, meanwhile is Gorgom's champion: Shadow Moon.

 I knew going in to Kamen Rider Black that it's one of the most popular and revered entries in the franchise, having received not only a direct sequel series, Kamen Rider Black RX, but a re-imagining called Kamen Rider Black Sun, which came out as recently as 2022. That's not even going into the spinoff movies, or the manga drawn by Ishinomori. 

Ignoring all of that, what did I think of Kamen Rider Black? 

Kamen Rider Black definitely makes a great first impression. Unfortunately, after a stretch of genuinely compelling episodes, the show settles down for a series of monster-of-the-week episodes, most of which aren't terribly interesting, to be honest. In the process, the show also loses the foreboding atmosphere that marked the early episodes and which was one of its strengths. Thankfully, with the appearance of Shadow Moon, Kamen Rider Black begins to regain its initial promise and the series eventually comes to a satisfying (and appropriately somber) conclusion. 

Character-wise, Kotaro is a likable hero, who's easy to root for, while Shadow Moon makes for a really cool and suitably menacing villain. Both are engaging characters, which is fortunate since most of the supporting cast tend to be either bland or underutilized. A notable exception is whale mutant, one of Gorgom's monsters who ends up turning on his masters and becoming an ally of Kotaro's. Sword Saint Bilgenia, although over-shadowed by Shadow Moon still makes for a pretty solid villain in his own right.

At the end of the day, even though its weaknesses are prominent enough that I can't consider Kamen Rider Black a great show as a whole, it has its moments and those moments are enough to make my overall opinion of it, a positive one.

Henshin!

 

Edge of Darkness

I came down with a bit of a sickness recently. It doesnt' happen to me often, in fact, its been several years since the last time I was sick. Anyway, during my convalescence, I took the opportunity to revisist a show I hadn't seen in a long time: Edge of Darkness.
For those of you not in the know, Edge of Darkness is a 1985 British mini-series written by Troy Kennedy Martin and directed by Martin Cambpell. It tells the story of Ronald "Ronnie" Craven, a policeman whose daughter Emma is gunned down right in front of him. As Craven tries to find out the truth about Emma's death, he soon finds himself caught up in a murky conspiracy, that stretches to the highest levels of the British government. A conspiracy which has something to do with the nuclear storage facility in Northmoor. A facility that a group of activists, among them Craven's daughter, broke into.

I won't go into further details regarding the plot, since doing so would risk giving away too much and Edge of Darkness is one of those shows that a first-time viewer is better knowing as little about as possible. Suffice to say that the writing for this show is truly excellent; the British have always had a knack for these type of intelligent conspiracy thrillers and Edge of Darkness may well be the gold standard of the genre. Its plot grows steadily more complex and involving as it progresses and the characterization is top-notch, with even the minor characters coming of as memorable and believable and being well-portrayed by their actors. Mention in particular must go to the Bob Peck, who gives a touching and very intense portrayal of Ronald Craven  and Joe Don Baker, who absolutely steals the show as Darius Jedburgh; the shady, but immensely likable  CIA agent, who becomes Craven's closest ally during the course of the series.

One particular interesting part of Edge of Darkness is the ambiguously supernatural aspect that permeates the plot. Emma Craven, though she dies in the first episode remains as a ghostly presence and the show leaves it open as to whether she's a real ghost or merely a hallucination of her father's. In the end, The viewer is left to decide for themselves which interpretation is the correct one.


Since it first aired, Edge of Darkness has been highly regarded and its easy to see why. Its a true masterpiece, one that deserves to stand among the very best works that the medium has to offer.