Masamune Dan

Masamune Dan (檀 正宗) was the first CEO of Genm Corp. and the father of Kuroto Dan. He was imprisoned for a period of time after being framed for starting Zero Day by his son. In reality, he had been manipulating a series of events leading to his son's creation of Kamen Rider Chronicle, which he planned to "claim" for his own agenda.

Upon being released from jail after Kuroto was discovered, Masamune immediately resumed his position as the CEO of Genm Corp. and entered the fray of the Riders and Bugsters using the Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashat with the Gashacon Bugvisor II to transform into Kamen Rider Cronus (仮面ライダークロノス).

Early Life
16 years ago, shortly after the, Masamune was alerted by his son Kuroto to the first instance of the Bugster virus, appearing as a glitch on Kuroto's laptop. Unaware to anyone, Masamune would infect himself with the virus, with the goal of developing the ultimate antibody within himself. A few years later, the Bugster Virus was later triggered by Kuroto during Zero Day, while Masamune started his own agenda by accepting the blame Kuroto put onto him for Zero Day, letting himself be imprisoned while Kuroto would continue to further his plan to create Kamen Rider Chronicle, unknowningly becoming his father's pawn.

Incarceration
Masamune was visited by Kiriya Kujo in his prison. He would later give the information about the truth of Zero Day to Kujo, which led to Kujo's death at the hands of Genm Zombie Gamer Level X, who was his own corrupted son.

One day, a cop named Heiji Uesugi went to visit him and talked about that the case of Zero Day has not been solved, and two people (Kuroto Dan and Kiriya Kujo) that have something to do with him have been missing. He told the cop that he had nothing more to say to him, and turned away to go back to his cell. As the cop insisted to find out something, he suddenly gets symptoms of Game Disease and starting to become weak, which caused him to turn around in confusion.

Later on in the same day, Emu Hojo, accompanied with Asuna Karino went to visit him. When Emu introduced himself, Dan was a little bit surprised. He asked Emu what did he come for, which Emu told him about Kiriya's death during last year's Christmas was caused by none other than his son. Hearing this, Dan said he was truly disappointed by his son's doings. Emu then asked Dan about what he said to Kiriya during that day, which Dan not only replied to him about the truth that happened in the past, but also making a request to Emu to stop his son's sinister plans.

Revealing His True Colors
"Kuroto's talents and the Bugsters' powers are nothing more than products of Genm Corp. I was the one who created Genm Corp. Not Kuroto, much less you. I am the CEO."

- Masamune's proclamation to the Riders and Bugsters.

Months later, Masamune was finally released from jail and took over Genm Corp. by force. Ren showed his protest in a gentle manner, which Masamune also took it gently. When the Riders and the Bugsters finally have their final clash, Masamune showed himself using the power of Cronus. He later told everyone that everything had gone according to his plans. He reveals that the manipulation of himself to be jailed, the perfection of Kamen Rider Chronicle, and the succession of Kuroto were part of his plan; making Kuroto his hidden pawn to his son's shock as he assumed he masterminded the events. Masamune then transformed into Kamen Rider Cronus, surprising the Riders as Kuroto had told Emu, Hiro, and Taiga that it is almost impossible even for the Riders with exception of Emu as he had a chance, to control the power of Cronus as the payment is huge for the controller's life especially immediate death for those who didn't receive an operation of Bugster immunity. He told the others that Emu is not the only person who first got infected by the Bugster Virus and revealed that he had infected himself with the Bugster virus sixteen years ago to develop the perfect antibody within himself. Parado, Ren, and Graphite were vexed on this especially because the Riders were defeated single handedly with his power to control time. He also defeated Parado and Graphite, killing Ren permanently as he stopped the time of life of the Bugster whom he eliminated. He left all of them and announced that he is "the true God" of the world of Kamen Rider Chronicle.

Obtaining Hands
To make his plan go smoother, he started to blackmail Hiiro with Proto Drago Knight Hunter Z. Initially, Hiiro wasn't shown to accept the offer, but he showed his decision by betraying Emu and Kuroto when they had the only chance to stop the Pause ability of Cronus. His next phase to continue his plan is by reviving Kiriya entirely. But to make him his underling, he asked Hiiro to steal Kiriya's Gamer Driver which was used by Emu. He later showed to Hiiro that he revived Kiriya and gave Kiriya his Gamer Driver to become a new Lazer, which is Lazer Turbo Level 0. Kiriya rescued him from Parad and Graphite's attack when his Pause ability was stopped by the Gamedeus virus, introducing Kiriya as Lazer Turbo to the doctors and the Bugsters.

The reason why he revived Lazer was revealed by Kiriya himself: to become observant for the players of Kamen Rider Chronicle and preventing the doctors to stop the progress. He also graduates Hiiro from Taddle Fantasy into Taddle Legacy.

Cronus Capture Quest
Masamune's next plan to keep the game's value increase was to make a quest to conquer himself. When the opening of his conquest had been made, Emu, Kuroto, and Taiga appeared. Masamune introduced Hiiro as the user of Taddle Legacy, revealing its Level as 100, but Hiiro was shocked when he was unable to use it due to lacking resolve. In the meantime, Kuroto introduced Hyper Muteki as a way to stop Masamune. When Emu failed to use the Hyper Muteki Gashat, Kuroto took it and showed its capability to Masamune by able to move in his Pause space and becoming stronger. But Kuroto's arrogance got him the best as he forgot about the 10 second time limit from Hyper Muteki, leaving a chance for Masamune to steal it from him so the doctors and Kuroto had no hope to stop him.

Masamune later revealed to Kiriya that he will be able to make his plan work 100%, because no player will realize that Masamune puts them into an endless despair, making them believe that they could save their dearest ones and become the world's number one hero, while it was truly impossible, even going as far to say that the lost lives are the treasures of Kamen Rider Chronicle. Masamune however, unaware that reviving Kiriya is truly his biggest mistake, as Kiriya later revealed that his true purpose is to make an opening, so Emu and Kuroto would create a new way to defeat him, and had the Hyper Muteki Gashat given to Kiriya, only to be delivered back to Emu. He was later defeated badly by Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer.

Blackmailing Hiiro Even Further
"Taddle Legacy! It's time to make your resolve. Use your Level 100 powers to make Ex-Aid out of print once and for all! If you can't respond to my expectations...then I'll delete this woman's data!"

- Masamune finally snaps and blackmailing Hiiro even further.

After being defeated, Masamune finally let all of his anger out, and he forced Hiiro to be able to control Taddle Legacy, or Saki will die for good.

Ultimately, Cronus moved to terminate Parado and Graphite personally. Though his pause ability was neutralized through the Gamedeus virus that Graphite had incubated within himself, Cronus retained the advantage by seizing control of the Energy Items which he used to easily defeat the Bugsters. However, he was stopped short of eliminating them by Genm and Lazer Turbo, who fought to perserve Parado. Revealing that he had infact ordered Hiiro intentionally fail to save Taiga's life in his operation, Masamune would fight his son one-on-one as Kiriya returned to Seito Hospital. Held off by Genm, Cronus reduced his lives to 70 before being confronted by Emu. Forcing him to withold from transforming with Saki's data at stake, Masamune gloated to Emu that Hiiro would fail for the first time on his order only to be met by the genius surgeon, who had returned from saving Taiga's life. Immensely disappointed of Hiiro's betrayal, Masamune terminated Saki before facing Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer joined by Brave Legacy Gamer. Outmatched by the two Riders, Cronus was defeated and forced to used the Bugvisor II to cover his escape.

End Game
"Masamune Dan's life as a human is already over..."

- Masamune's first words after injecting himself with the Gamedeus virus

"Now that I have acquired the powers of both Cronus and Gamedeus...I manage Kamen Rider Chronicle...as the true last boss!"

- G-Masamune, stating his intention

"The Ministry of Health will not be the one to deliver the judgment, it's me! You defied me, the keeper of lives...and gave up on restoring the lives of those who vanished! You call yourself a live savior...but you destroyed their fates! You are a defier of life itself!"

- Masamune's last words before his suicide

"The final judgment has been passed."

- Masamune's last words before dying

After his plans to allow Gamedeus to instigate a worldwide pandemic similar to Zero Day failed miserably, Masamune loses all traces of sanity as he prevents Ex-Aid and Para-DX from delivering the killing blow on Gamedeus and does the deed himself instead. Then, in a fit of desperation, Masamune forcibly injects Gamedeus's remains into his body. This not only gets him a Game Over and turns him into a Bugster, but removed all traces of his humanity as a result. Unleashing a more deadly form of the Gamedeus virus, Masamune targets Nico to remove the only opposition to him as the only player who can face the end boss he has become. But Taiga fights in her place as Cronus against Gamedeus Cronus, losing against him as Emu and Hiiro arrive. Though the three Kamen Riders managed to overwhelm him, Masamune reveal the pandemic he caused as he transforms into Super Gamedeus. But the sacrifice by Poppy to fortify the Doctor Mighty XX Gashat's anti-virus, with Parado using it as the Doctor Riders and Genm destroy Super Gamedeus with Masamune separated from the Gamedeus data which reconstitutes. But before Masamune could re-absorb Gamedeus, Parado uses the Doctor Mighty XX Gashat to destroy Gamedeus for good at the cost of himself. This delights Masamune who, knowing Emu no longer can use the Hyper Muteki Gashat with Parado gone, intends to give the Doctor Riders and his son a well-deserved "Bad End", by slaughtering all of them, starting with Emu. While he originally had the upper hand, the battle unexpectedly turned against him: Not only did enough of Parado's Bugster Virus remain in Emu to grant him immunity to Pause, Parado's sacrifice had suppressed the virus inside Cronus as well, severely weakening Masamune as a result. The Riders transformed into their Level 2 forms and overwhelmed Cronus, with Ex-Aid delivering the final strike. However, in a final act of defiance, Masamune injected himself with the Kamen Rider Chronicle Master Gashat. The deranged CEO dissolved into data shortly after, taking away any chance of saving the eliminated players with him.

A victim of Zero Day, Masamune was acknowledged by Dr. Emu Hojo as he spoke at a televised press conference by the Ministry of Health following his demise, seemingly striking a chord with Kuroto who was also listed among the deceased with his mother.

Kamen Rider Brave & Snipe
Masamune was seen placed in a facility affiliate to Next Genome Institute.

Kamen Rider Genm vs. Lazer
"You're mad! I'll make your luck out of print with my own hands!"

- Masamune gets upset about Kuroto's Zombie Chronicle madness

Masamune was revealed to possess the Black Parado which is the reason behind his Cronus' power. He was revived as a Bugster and tied with Level 0 program so he couldn't escape. Kuroto revealed his plan and it drove him mad. Kuroto was so satisfied to be able to humiliate his father, and invited him to join his Zombie Chronicle. Masamune was able to break out as his power burst out and off screen, defeated a Zombie Gamer.

After Lazer Turbo was defeated, Masamune teleport him and transformed to defeat Genm as God Maximum Gamer Level 1000000000. But he was overpowered even his Pause unable to stop him. Kuroto defeated Masamune and left him to die, but before he died, he asked Kiriya to trust him again. He was serious this time and gave his reset power to Kiriya and told him that Kuroto was not supposed to be born and it was his Ultimate Sin.

Kamen Rider Zi-O
Due to alterations in timeline made by the interference of Time Jacker Heure, Masamune died by his son's hands in 2016, thus making Kuroto the sole president of Dan Foundation.

Family

 * Kuroto Dan - Son, Kamen Rider Genm
 * Sakurako Dan - Wife

Personality
While a cunning and charming businessman, Masamune actually is a far worse person than his son Kuroto. He is a manipulative and remorseless control freak with a severe god complex who has no qualms of murdering others and committing underhanded deeds to get his way. His ultimate goal is to become the god and rule of the world, even going as far as committing mass genocide on all life on Earth to achieve this, although it is unknown what motivated him towards this goal in the very first place. For the first half of the series, claiming to be a devoted father towards Kuroto while hiding his anticipation for Kamen Rider Chronicle, Masamune feigns disappointment in his son after allowing himself to be arrested. But Masamune allowed his son to believe that he was calling the shots while indirectly removing threats to his own agenda.

Once cleared of all charges and released, intending to distribute Kamen Rider Chronicle worldwide, Masamune shows his true colors as he uses his charm to win the loyalty of Genm Corp employees upon reclaiming his position as CEO. He also sees the Kamen Riders and Bugsters as nothing more than Genm Corp property, referring to them by the names of the games they drew their powers from. He even refers to killing them off as simply "discontinuing a product". Despite being a skilled manipulator and schemer, manipulating Hiiro using Saki's data for extortion and forcing Emu to destroy Parado, most of Masamune's actions in furthering his goals to preserve Kamen Rider Chronicle usually backfire on himself. Such examples include reviving Kiriya (Who feigns loyalty before stealing back all the Proto Gashats), keeping Energy Items for himself (Causing a humiliating defeat after Para-DX Puzzle Gamer used them.) Since his first defeat by Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer, Masamune is prone to violent outbursts to the point of being paranoid. Masamune uses his Reset to negate the Hyper Muteki Gashat's creation, only for it to fail while giving his opponents an added advantage with Kuroto's life points back to 94, Hiiro, Taiga, and Kiriya regaining their stolen gear, and Nico no longer infected as she collects the final Gashatrophy needed to summon Gamedeus. As Ex-Aid and Para-DX nearly succeed in defeating Gamedeus, Masamune loses the last traces of his sanity and injects Gamedeus's virus into himself to not only remove all traces of his humanity, but also to become the "True Last Boss" of Kamen Rider Chronicle to prevent it from being completed. After being defeated for the final time, Masamune rejects Emu's offer to turn himself in, and kills himself by stabbing the Rider Chronicle Gashat into his chest in an act of spite, not only rendering the Doctor Riders' efforts to bring back those who died in the Bugster infection moot, it shows that not only he is not much different than his son was, he considers himself to be the only one deserving to pass judgement, and that no one else has the right to do so onto him.
 * Emu Hojo - Maximum Mighty X, then Hyper Muteki
 * Hiiro Kagami - Taddle Fantasy, then Taddle Legacy
 * Taiga Hanaya - Bang Bang Simulations
 * Kiriya Kujo - uniquely referred to by his Rider name Lazer Turbo, sometimes referred to as Bakusou Bike
 * Kuroto Dan - Dangerous Zombie, then calls his given name
 * Parado - Perfect Knock Out
 * Lovelica Bugster - Toki Meki Crisis
 * Graphite - Drago Knight Hunter Z
 * Asuna Karino/Poppy Pipopapo - DoReMiFa Beat

In Another Ending, it's also revealed that Masamune genuinely loved his wife, as her getting infected with the Bugster virus serving as the catalyst to his and Kuroto's villainy. He also expresses his remorse following his resurrection and is horrified to see his son going off the deep end when the latter instigated Zombie Chronicle.

Powers and Abilities

 * Original Bugster Virus: Being another Patient Zero, one of the two first persons to be infected of the Bugster virus before Zero Day, Masamune had hosted the virus for a prolonged period of time, causing the virus to fuse with and alter his DNA, thus granting him Rider and possibly even Bugster-like powers and abilities that by standard, requires external intervention to acquire.
 * Natural Game Disease Immunity: Like Emu, Masamune can utilize any Gashat accessed Drivers like the Buggle Driver II and Rider Gashats without the need of the compatibility surgery. Also, his immunity is absolute, unlike the other Riders' acquired immunity which can still be overwhelmed by a large dose of Bugster virus, as explained by Ren/Lovrica that normal humans with compatibility surgery would have lost their lives should they try to use the Buggle Driver II.
 * Data Restore: He can enter Game World (Originally, only Bugster could), and retrieve the data of patients, who had been taken over completely by the virus by inserting the respective Proto Gashat used to infect them into the Buggle Driver II. He can wipe out the revived data as well.
 * Circadian/Weather Manipulation: He can easily turn day into night (or vice versa) in his civilian form. He can also control various weathers, but the reason behind this ability is unknown, possibly a variant of the Stage Select function.
 * Security Bypass: Through unknown means, Masamune was able to slip through tight security and steal a briefcase of Proto Gashats that the Ministry of Health had kept.
 * Time Manipulation: As Cronus, the Sanctions Effector on Masamune's Lung Lifeguard breastplate has a built-in Time Executor which allows him to manipulate time within a Game Area. The Cronoblade Shoulder armor enables Cronus to be unaffected by his own temporal manipulation. However, it is possible to render this ability ineffective by destroying the large clock that often appears around Masamune, thus cancelling the ability.
 * Pause and Restart: Using the Buggle Driver II, Cronus presses both A and B buttons to pause time for his advantage. Any being killed during a time freeze, even a perfected Bugster, cannot be revived through any means.
 * Reset: By utilizing the power of the Bugster virus within him at maximum, Masamune can initiate a "Reset" by seperating the Bugvisor II from the Bugster Buckle II, pressing and holding the B button like a remote, reversing the game's progress to an earlier point. In the sole instance where he used this ability successfully, the following took effect:
 * Kamen Rider Chronicle Master Gashat was fixed.
 * Hyper Muteki Gashat was erased from existence.
 * Nico's Game Illness was undone.
 * New Kuroto Dan's remaining Continues were restored to 94.
 * The Gamer Drivers and Gashats he had stolen earlier were returned to their owners, while Proto Gashats stolen from him are returned to him.
 * Graphite's adaptation to the Gamedeus Virus was weakened.
 * Saki's data was recovered.
 * Teleportation: As Cronus, Masamune is capable of teleportation as means of quick retreat. This ability is simillar with Bugster's teleportation.

Weakness

 * Gamedeus: As the archenemy of Cronus, Gamedeus can suppress certain abilities of Cronus', such as nullifying his time manipulation ability. However, if it is in a form of a small portion of virus, it can be easily neutralized with a Level 0 Gashat.
 * Graphite: Due to him (as a Bugster) having a sample of Gamedeus's virus in his body, Graphite can bypass Cronus' time manipulation ability.
 * New Kuroto Dan: Since Kuroto was revived as a Bugster, he could enter his Buggle Driver II at his own free will and manage to manually cancel Cronus's 'Pause' ability. Though this requires Kuroto to receive a Game Over first in order to do so, and this plan was eventually ruined by a blackmailed Hiiro.
 * God Maximum Mighty X: Kamen Rider Genm can resist Cronus' time manipulation while using this Gashat, a feature that was previously unique to Hyper Muteki.
 * Hyper Muteki: The Hyper Muteki Gashat, whether it is being used in the Gamer Driver's second slot or by Ex-Aid as Muteki Gamer, can resist Cronus' time manipulation.
 * Save Item: If anyone uses this item, their progress of the game won't be affected by Cronus's Reset function. In fact, the function won't even work entirely if someone uses it.

Devices

 * Bugster Buckle II
 * Buggle Driver II - Transformation device. Combined from Bugster Buckle and Gashacon Bugvisor II.
 * Rider Gashat - Transformation trinkets.
 * Unnamed Holder Case - Used to hold all the Energy Items, only letting himself use them.

Weapons

 * Gashacon Bugvisor II - Transformation device and primary weapon.
 * Gashacon Breaker - Briefly stolen from Genm Zombie Action Gamer Level X-0.
 * Deus Rusher and Deus Rampart - Sword and shield with extendable whip arm, primary weapons of Gamedeus Cronus. Gained when Cronus fused with Gamedeus, and used even after being split again.

Relationship

 * Kuroto Dan - Masamune's son, and Kamen Rider Genm. He originally had high hopes for him up until he was framed for the Bugster Virus outbreak. His son was killed by Parado after Ex-Aid rendered Kuroto powerless from becoming a Rider, until Poppy managed to find the way to revive Kuroto during the Kamen Rider Chronicle incident. However, Masamune actually planned all of this in order to become the 'True God' of Kamen Rider Chronicle, even calling his son by his most used Gashat, 'Dangerous Zombie' and sarcastically saying that his talents are merely products of Genm Corp. Kuroto, in return, became determined to stop his father, since he believes his genius abilities are nothing beyond compare.
 * Emu Hojo - Masamune appears to know about Emu since their first meeting 16 years ago during Emu's special surgery led by Kyotaro, though how much is unknown, as he expressed surprise after hearing his name for a long time. It is currently unknown how exactly he knew him 16 years ago. Later, he revealed that there's actually two Patient Zeros, one is Emu and the other one is himself, thus was explained why Masamune's able to transform, despite never receiving a compability surgery, just like Emu. Later on, after Masamune explained his plans about Kamen Rider Chronicle, Emu swore to stop him at all cost.
 * Sakurako Dan - Masamune's wife. He deeply cared about her after she was infected by the DoReMiFa Beat virus courtesy his son Kuroto to give birth to a Bugster aptly named Poppy Pipopapo.
 * Hiiro Kagami - Masamune's former right hand man. Masamune blackmailed Hiiro to betray CR in return to revive Hiiro's late girlfriend, Saki Momose, while the latter felt rather uneasy on him in return.
 * Kiriya Kujo - After Masamune revives him, Kiriya became his left hand man. Unlike Hiiro who was blackmailed by Masamune, Kiriya followed Masamune by his own free will, thereby explaining why Kiriya is still on Masamune's side even after being reprogrammed by Emu. It is unknown if Masamune is aware of this, however. All of this turned out to be a big mistake for Masamune, as Kiriya later revealed that his "true purpose" is to make an opening so Emu and Kuroto would create a new way to defeat him and had Emu successfully getting back the Hyper Muteki Gashat that he had given to Kiriya before.

Rider Gashat
A special Kamen Rider Chronicle Rider Gashat (Memorial Finish Ver.) was released in 2017.

Portrayal
Masamune Dan is portrayed by Hiroyuki Takami (貴水 博之). As Kamen Rider Cronus and Gamedeus Cronus, his suit actor is Kosuke Asai (浅井 宏輔) with Yuji Nakata acting as his substitute.