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!
