Shigeru Jo

Kamen Rider Stronger (仮面ライダーストロンガー, Kamen Raidā Sutorongā) is the protagonist and eponymous character of the 1975 Kamen Rider Series Kamen Rider Stronger. Stronger's primary motif was that of electricity. All his attacks were based on electricity, and the cyborg aspect of his body is much more prominent than in the previous series; for instance, his hands were metal coils that had to be covered when he was not transformed.

Shigeru Jo
Shigeru Jō (城 茂, Jō Shigeru) joins the evil organization Black Satan after the death of a close friend, one whom he considered his mentor. Promised power, and fueled by a desire for revenge, he undergoes surgery to become one of Black Satan's super warriors. However, Shigeru knows that Black Satan were in fact the murderers of his friend; he was using Black Satan in order to gain new powers. The newly powered up Shigeru escapes from the Black Satan headquarters before they can brainwash him into following their campaign of evil.

Fictional character biography
Frustrated, Black Satan scientists devise a plan to capture and kill the warrior they have just created, along with continuing the goal they've had all along: world domination. Shigeru plans on fighting back in his new form, called Kamen Rider Stronger. While escaping from Black Satan, Stronger meets Yuriko Misaki another cyborg warrior created by Black Satan. They team up, with Yuriko now becoming Electro-Wave Human Tackle. The two eventually meet Tōbei Tachibana as well.

Stronger, Tackle, and Tōbei fight valiantly against the evil cyborg forces of Black Satan, continually meeting the head agents General Shadow, and the One-Eyed Titan. The Titan is defeated in episode 13, but manages to return in episode 17 as the One-Hundred Eyed Titan, posing an even greater threat than before. Despite sharing the similar goals of defeating Stronger and conquering the world, General Shadow and the Titan cannot seem to agree on a few other issues—for instance, which one of them gets to kill Stronger. Often, their bickering inadvertently allows him to escape their wrath.

In episode 26, Stronger is able to topple Black Satan once and for all. With his former organization in ruins, General Shadow forms the "Delza Army" to continue his malicious goals. There were two further defining moments for the series: first, in episode 30, Tackle sacrifices herself to save Stronger from Doctor Kate, a Delza Army general. Her death affects Stronger greatly, and he vows to keep fighting until evil is defeated. Tackles' death is sometimes compared to Riderman's sacrifice in Kamen Rider V3. In the following episode, Stronger's fight against evil is greatly assisted when he undergoes surgery and gains a devastating new power—the ability to power up into a new, stronger, form—"Charge Up!".

Ultimately, all the former Riders, Kamen Riders 1, 2 from the original Kamen Rider, V3, Riderman from Kamen Rider V3, X from Kamen Rider X, and Amazon from Kamen Rider Amazon, all appear in the final few episodes to help Stronger finally defeat the Delza Army and General Shadow. This sequence of episodes has attracted some praise from fans.

Gorenger Stage Show at Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Gorengers are seen fighting Black Cross Army/Black Crusaders, Kamen Rider Stronger arrive assist the Gorengers

Battle Fever J Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Battle Fever J are seen fighting Secret Society Egos, Kamen Rider Stronger, Kamen Rider V3, Japanese Spider-Man, Ultraman Jonias & Doreman arrive asisst the Battle Fever J

Goggle V Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Goggle V are seen fighting Dark Science Empire Deathdark, Vul Panther, Denji Red, Denji Green, Kamen Rider V3, Kamen Rider Stronger, Gavan, & Ultraman Taro arrive assist the Goggle V

Dynaman Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Dynaman are seen fighting Tailed People Clan Jashinka Empire, Goggle Red, Goggle Black, Goggle Pink, Ultraman Taro, Gavan, Sharivan, & Kamen Rider Stronger arrive assist the Dynaman

Bioman Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Bioman are seen fighting Neo Empire Gear, & Bio Hunter Silva, Kamen Rider Stronger, Shaider, Kamen Machineman, Dyna Red, Dyna Blue, Goggle Black, Denji Green, & Vul Panther arrive assist the Bioman

Skyrider
The evil organization Neo-Shocker moved ahead with its plans of global genocide. Shigeru Jo, Kamen Rider Stronger, alongside the other Seven Legendary Riders fought around the world against it, leaving Japan's protecting to the new Kamen Rider, Hiroshi Tsukuba, Skyrider.

Super-1
Kazuya Oki, Kamen Rider Super-1, fought against the Dogma Kingdom to stop them from awakening an ancient weapon. However, in his way stood the Dogma Revenge Corps, troops of rebuilt cyborgs from Dogma Kingdom and Neo-Shocker. When he seemed overwhelmed by his enemies, Rider 1 suddenly reappeared, followed by the other 8 previous Riders, all alive. V3 tells Super-1 to let that battle in their hands, and soon they fight against Dogma's troops to open way for Super-1. V3 briefly faces Dogma Fighters, Gyosutoma, ArigiThunder. Fighting alongside Riderman, V3 finishes off Zombieda with a throw while his partner does the same to Ganigannii. V3, Riderman and X go on to use a triple Revolving Kick to finish off, respectively, Kamagirigan, Snakecobran and ArigiThunder. Thanks to the help of the Riders, Super-1 reaches Dogma's troops on time and stops them. After the battle, the Riders show themselves to Super-1 and his friends, and promise to fight for humanity's future together.

ZX
The Badan Empire, led by Ambassador Darkness, spread its claws around the world, and, to face it, the nine Riders came together. When Badan initiated its Space Break System, a destructive dimensional weapon, all 9 Riders gathered in Japan to stop them.

Badan's base was located, and all 10 Riders went towards it. Ambassador Darkness welcomed them and sent all of Badan's troops against the Riders. V3 faced Dokuga-Roid and his Combat-Roids again, and after a long battle managed to destroy him by throwing him onto a fallen Yamaarashi-Roid. Afterwards, V3 and Rider 2 teamed up against Jūjin Ōmukade, a revived Geddon monster. however, before the battle could be finished, Ambassador Darkness attempted to use hostages to make the Riders surrender. His plan fail due to Super-1's interference and Ambassador Darkness decides to use the Space Break System, only to destroy Badan's remaining troops. After V3's call, the ten Riders gather their power with Rider Syncro, weakening Ambassador Darkness and allowing ZX to finish him off. After Darkness is defeated, evil energy gathers in the shape of a giant skull, The Generalissimo of Badan, giving farewell to the Riders and laughing at them.

V3 bestows upon ZX the official name Kamen Rider 10 and soon all Riders part ways again to continue their battle against evil around the world.

BLACK RX
Kamen Rider Stronger, alongside the other Ten veteran Kamen Riders, fought against secret forces of the Crisis Empire spread throughout the world, defeating them in each country. However, Crisis' main forces, in Japan, still remained and they prepared a final offensive. Rider 1 called all Riders to a meeting in a secret facility in Arizona in the United States, to prepare for the upcoming battle, where they'd go to help Kamen Rider Black RX, the Kamen Rider that was defending Japan at the time. The 10 Riders split into two groups, which fought against each other. Group 1: Rider 1, Rider 2, V3, Riderman and X; and Group 2: Amazon, Stronger, Skyrider, Super-1 and ZX. During the training, V3 and Riderman often could be seen fighting together. After Crisis made a public announcement regarding its invasion of Japan, the 10 Riders finally left to the final battle.

After Crisis' war declaration, they immediately sent Gran Zairus, which landed on Earth like a meteor, destroying an entire island. Naval Commander Bosgun moved to attack Black RX, soon receiving help from Gran Zairus, who could resist all of RX's attacks. When Gran Zairus is about to finish him off, the 10 Riders finally arrive, rescuing RX and quickly escaping. Rider 1 and the others introduce themselves to Kotaro Minami, Black RX. Bosgun finds them, and proposes a duel against Black RX, however, Kotaro's friend, Kyoko Matoba, V3, Skyrider and Super-1 soon notice Chaps hiding around the area to prepare an ambush, finishing them off. Following Rider 1's words, Kotaro decides to face Bosgun in a fair match while the other Riders watch, and finishes him off.

Meanwhile, Gran Zairus easily rips through the Japanese defense forces and brings down the city with his unmatched power. Kotaro leaves to fight him again, and, after some hesitation, Stronger and the other Riders follow him.

The 11 Riders face Gran Zairus, but even a combined Rider Punch with the power of the 11 Riders is useless against him. Gran Zairus transforms into a flaming rock, burning above 1000ºC, and easily knocks out Stronger and the other Riders. In the end, Black RX takes the battle and manages to destroy Gran Zairus, forcing it to self-destruct, but seemingly explodes with it.

Afterwards, Rider 1 and the other Riders helped evacuate the city's population and started to plan defensive measures for the next battles. However, soon the 10 Riders saw themselves facing Spirit World Demons, resurrected Crisis warriors. V3 faced the Harmful Imp and Ant Runt alongside Rider 1, successfully counter attacking, and later defeated Erigitron by himself, but they soon recovered from their attacks with no damage. When the battle seemed hopeless, Colonel Maribaron, the one behind this attack, revealed that the monsters wouldn't die as long as she kept a set of golden feathers with her, but Black RX returned, alive, stealing the feathers, stopping and destroying the monsters by himself.

After Black RX returned, the 10 Riders decided to spread themselves to observe and take on the Crisis forces, while Black RX protected his friends. Like usual, V3 and Riderman left together.

Wanting revenge against Black RX, a powered up General Jark, commander of the Crisis forces, Jark Midler, kills Sunkichi and Utako Sahara, who had helped Kotaro in the past, while taking their children as hostages. However, Kamen Rider Amazon saves the children and is quickly followed by V3, Riderman and X. V3 orders Amazon and X to take the children to Kotaro, while V3 himself and Riderman face Jark Midler. However, there's an overwhelming difference in power between them, and V3 can't even damage him. Some time later, V3 and Riderman are launched through the air, falling downtown, near a combat zone where Kotaro was helping. In a fair duel, Black RX ends up victorious over Jark, destroying him while the other Riders watch in amazement.

The Emperor Crisis calls Kotaro for a personal meeting. However, Stronger and the others decide to follow him too. The emperor offers Kotaro the chance of becoming the commander of Crisis' invasion forces, however, after Kotaro refuses, General Dasmader appears alongside a group of Chaps and attacks Kotaro. Stronger and the other Riders arrive and face the Chaps troops, but soon the entire cave is destroyed by the Crisis Fortress called by Dasmader. Black RX boards the fortress and destroys Dasmader, the Emperor and even Crisis itself. Meanwhile, the other Riders managed to survive the attack and meet RX after the battle was over. Following Rider 1's words, they all decide to part ways and fight evil around the world.

OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders
A mishap caused by the Greeed Ankh unintentionally altered the timeline which enabled Shocker to utilize the Core Medal to create the Shocker Greeed which defeated the Double Riders and seemingly erased the legacy of the Kamen Riders from history. In 2011, after Kamen Rider New Den-O's attempt to repair the damage, he along with Kamen Rider OOO and M-Ankh awaited execution. However, it was revealed the Double Riders had their brainwashing removed by a Shocker scientist.

The Double Riders joined with New Den-O and OOO to fight Shocker's forces, but were eventually defeated. When the order was given to kill everyone, V3 suddenly appeared, asserting that there were more than four riders. V3 was soon followed by all the other revived riders that came after him, including Stronger, as even though Rider history was changed, the people's memories haven't changed.

After the riders were united, they faced off against Shocker's Great Leader. Later, when joined by a force of extra riders, Stronger and all the other riders got on their motorcycles and performed the "All Rider Break", ramming into the Rock Great Leader and defeating it once and for all.

Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie War Mega Max
A meteor shower hit various points of Earth, bringing with it time anomalies, monsters and the interest of the shadowy organization Foundation X. In the Middle East, holding off all three grunt types, Stronger fails to stop Foundation X from retrieving the SOLU.

Afterwards, Stronger gathered with the other Seven Legendary Riders in Japan and infiltrated a Foundation X secret airport to stop Lem Kannagi, who was leading a plan to control energy sources around the globe and also their operation regarding the meteors. However, they're all taken by a trap and Stronger is sealed in a Core Medal.

Later, Kamen Rider Fourze finds the seven sealed Riders, and with Kamen Rider OOO's help, releases all of them at once. V3 warns them that Kannagi will receive a full charge of cosmic energy if he reaches space, which would make him invincible according to Riderman, and he needs to be stopped now. Meanwhile copies of the Greeeds and Sonozaki Family Dopants approach the group, standing in their way. The Seven Riders stay behind facing them, while Fourze and OOO head to stop Lem Kannagi. Stronger fights against a copy Terror Dopant and finished him off with his Stronger Electro Kick. Meanwhile, OOO and Fourze managed to stop Lem Kannagi in space. Afterwards, in a scene added to the movie's Director's Cut, the young Riders, and also another Rider from the future, Aqua, gave goodbye to each other and to the veterans, everyone parting ways afterwards.

Catchphrase
The other primary characteristic of the series is Shigeru's bravado and eccentric personality. For instance, in the first episode, he instructs some Black Satan henchmen he encounters to call him Jō-san or Shigeru-san, the informal forms of his name because he'd already introduced himself. He wears various t-shirts emblazoned with the letter "S", along with numerous other items of clothing, including a denim jacket with a rose emblem. Stronger's entrance is also a hallmark of the series, with his opening serifu and accompanying whistle a particular highlight. This recurring sequence has been compared to a similar one in Kikaider.

Indeed, Kabuto was greatly influenced by Stronger. Not only are both Stronger and Kabuto based on the same type of beetle, Stronger's Rider Machine is named "Kabutoroh". Beyond these superficial similarities, Kabuto and Stronger, or, more accurately, Shigeru and Tendō Souji, the title character of Kabuto, share a similar philosophical outlook and eccentric attitudes toward life and others, often commenting wrly on combat as it occurs.

Forms
Additionally, the "form changer" motif makes its first appearance in Stronger. Stronger's "Charge-Up!" mode predates Robo Rider and Bio Rider of Kamen Rider Black RX, and the primary themes of Kamen Rider Kuuga, Kamen Rider Agito, Kamen Rider Den-O, and Kamen Rider Kiva where the main characters' ability is to change forms during battle to adjust varying situations. Kamen Rider Kabuto, where each Rider character can shift between a bulky armoured form and a lightly covered, fast form, also features this concept prominently.

Earlier Kamen Riders had "charge up" modes but without a change in appearance. Riders 1, 2 and V3 simply had a charge up sound effect. Kamen Rider X had smoke pour out of his body.

Electrer
The Electrer (エレクトラー) is Stronger's transformation belt which is powered by electricity.

Kabutolaw
The Kabutolaw (カブトロー) is Stronger's motorcycle and can perform the Kabutolaw Thunder (カブトローサンダー).

Kamen Ride Card
Kamen Ride Stronger (カメンライドストロンガー) is the Rider Card which contains the power of Kamen Rider Stronger. In All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker, Decade Complete Form Jumbo Formation performed the Final Dimension Kick, a variation of the Dimension Kick, transforming the Shōwa Riders, including Kamen Rider Stronger, and Heisei Riders into Kamen Ride cards for Decade to travel through as opposed to Final Attack Ride cards before hitting the target.

In theory, this card would allow Kamen Rider Decade to transform into Stronger.

Portrayal
Shigeru Jo was portrayed by Shigeru Araki. Araki was originally given the offer of either playing Stronger or Tsuyoshi Kaijou/AkaRenger in the other major 1975 Toei Tokusatsu production, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, which would become the first Super Sentai series. Araki ultimately went with Stronger due to the established nature of the Kamen Rider franchise at the time. The role of Kaijou ultimately went to Naoya Makoto. Shigeru Araki died on April 14, 2012 of pneumonia, making him the first first actor who played a leading Kamen Rider to pass away.

As Kamen Rider Stronger, his suit actor was Tetsuya Nakayashiki.
 * In Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker, his suit actor was Eitoku (永徳) and Jiro Okamoto (岡元 次郎).
 * Stronger was voiced by Tomokazu Seki (関 智一) in OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders and Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen, although in Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie War Mega Max (which was released between those two movies), he was voiced by Hideo Ishikawa (石川 英郎).

Trivia

 * Stronger was not based on a grasshopper or grasshopper-like insect as with the previous Riders; he is based on the Japanese rhinoceros beetle.
 * In April 2012, Shigeru Jo's actor, Shigeru Araki passed away.