Kohtaro Minami

"Kamen Rider! Black!"

- announcing his transformation to Black

"I am the child of the sun! Kamen Rider! Black! RX! (Ore wa taiyou no ko, Kamen Rider Black! RX!)"

- announcing his transformation to RX

Kotaro Minami (南 光太郎) is the main character of Kamen Rider Black and Kamen Rider Black RX. He has appeared as the title character in both series. Starting with Kamen Rider Decade and continuing onto the later crossover movies, there are two Kotaro Minamis who are independently Black and RX.

Black
Kotaro was born on the day of a solar eclipse, along with his stepbrother Nobuhiko Akizuki, within the same hospital. Gorgom noticed this, and both brothers were entitled heirs to their leader, the Creation King's throne. After Kotaro's parents both died as a result of an apparent accident, Prof. Akizuki then adopted Kotaro alongside Nobuhiko as if they were brothers. On the night of their 19th birthday, they were captured by Gorgom and were remade into cyborgs and infused with Kingstones. Kotaro received the "Stone of the Sun" to become Century King Black Sun (世紀王ブラックサン). However before the final brainwashing Soichiro Akizuki interrupted the final stage of the process with Kotaro barely escaping.

Having been pursued by Gorgom after his escape, Kotaro discovers his newfound ability to turn into the a grasshopper humanoid as a result of their surgery, along with his newfound super strength and cyborg abilities.

After receiving a letter from Soichiro, Kotaro secretly meets with his foster father and learns the truth about his childhood. Soichiro reveals to Kotaro that he agreed to join Gorgom in order to receive funding for his archaeological research in exchange for Kotaro and Nobuhiko to be operated on during their 19th birthdays. When Kotaro's father had refused to join the organization, Gorgom had he and Kotaro's mother assassinated. After Prof. Akizuki is killed by five of Gorgom's Spider Mutants, Kotaro transforms once again and takes the title of "Kamen Rider Black." He then vows vengeance against Gorgom and seeks to rescue Nobuhiko from their clutches. As Black, Kotaro gains support from Nobuhiko's younger sister, Kyoko, as well as Nobuhiko's girlfriend Katsumi. He would often be found working part-time with the two girls at the Capitola café. He would also gain allies in fight against Gorgom, such as Interpol officer Ryusuke Taki and Gorgom's own Whale Mutant.

Eventually Kotaro reunites with Nobuhiko; however, Nobuhiko was converted into the perfected Century King, Shadow Moon. In their fight, Black was killed and his family had to evacuate from Gorgom's reign over Japan. Eventually Black was resurrected and fought his way through hordes of monsters until fighting Shadow Moon and presumably killing him.

Using the Satan Sabre used by Shadow Moon, Black fought against the Creation King of Gorgom and destroys him. With the Gorgom defeated, Kotaro visits the Capitola bar before leaving for unknown parts.

RX
Half a year after the defeat of Gorgom, Kotaro is left homeless until he is adopted into the Sahara family. He became a helicopter pilot for his new family's business due to their connections, beginning a new life for himself. Unfortunately, five years later Kotaro was abducted into the Crisis Empire mothership. The Crisis Empire was aware of his identity as Black and gave him an offer to join them. Kotaro refused and fought back but was incapacitated with the Kingstone damaged. He was ejected into space floating aimlessly until the sun's radiation altered his Kingstone. When his pod entered Earth's atmosphere, Kotaro miraculously survived and had gained a new power. His rider form evolved into Kamen Rider Black RX. With his new form and power he fought against the Crisis Empire.

When his adoptive sister Hitomi is kidnapped by Maribaron to assume the identity of the Crisis Empire's only living heir, Kotaro uses Deathgaron to enter the Desert of Death after them. By the time he finds Hitomi, Kotaro falls into a trap set up by Maribaron to do away with him and Deathgaron. When it looked as if Death Gron had actually killed Hitomi, RX was in a state of sorrow and sadness over the death of Hitomi invokes a new power, RoboRider. Using his power, RoboRider fatally wounds Deathgaron before learning that the Hitomi killed was a fake and the real one was being taken to the Miraculous Valley. On his way, he meets Joe the Haze who is under the control of Nexticker, freeing him before they and Shigeru are captured by Maribaron and the Princess Karuoriya. It was after they break free that Kotaro realizes the princess is Hitomi, who was abducted to replace the real princess who died and was force grown by the nearby waterfall. When he attempts to restore Hitomi's memory, Kotaro is forced to surrender when the Triplon captured Shigeru and Joe. Kotaro was then placed into a room for a hole designed to counter his abilities as both RX and RoboRider for a slow painful death. His rage to save those he love invokes another new form, Bio Rider. After killing Triplon, with Shigeru's help, Kotaro succeeded in having Hitomi regain his memory as she and the others are return to their original ages by the people who originally resided in the valley. With only Joe and Shigeru knowing his identity, Kotaro returns to Earth.

During the middle of the series, Shadow Moon mysteriously returns to seek revenge against him, shortly after, Shadow Moon was finally defeated when RX thrusted the Revolcane through Shadow Moon's Kingstone, effectively turning him good shortly before he died and finally reverting to Nobuhiko. In the finale, he was helped by the 10 veteran Kamen Riders to destroy the Crisis Empire.

Kamen Rider: Run All Over the World
to be added

Kamen Rider Decade
In Kamen Rider Decade, a two episode arc features two different Kotaro Minamis - one from a world where he is Black RX, and one where he remains Black. The two even encounter each other. In Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker, Black and Black RX appear together again, both portrayed by Tetsuo Kurata. After the battle, RX is one of the few past Riders shown to demorph into his human form, looking identical to the Kotaro Minami from the World of Black RX; Black never appears in his civilian form in the film. Official material related to the movie, like the pamphlet distributed alongside its theatrical showing, make it clear that Black RX is the original character, but Black is another Kotaro Minami who never became Black RX.

In the manga adaptation of All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker'', based on the original script when the movie was planned to be the original ending of the TV series, Black, with V3 and Super-1 fight Decade, Diend and Kuuga in the final round of the Rider Battle as in the movie. When defeated Black, V3, and Super-1 expresses sadness that he "erased the Riders and can't meet them any more." ''

''Later, also like in the movie, All Riders return to fight Dai-Shocker. Bishum/Sayo Kadoya zaps Yuusuke into Kamen Rider Kuuga Rising Ultimate and he fights Decade. The other Riders stand back and BLACK says Decade needs to fight this one alone. After Tsukasa gets through to Sayo, Black RX comes to save her from Nobuhiko Tsukikage/Shadow Moon and it is he who destroys the Stone of the Earth. Shadow Moon knows who Black RX is.''

After this appearance, all following crossovers which featured All Riders would go on to feature Black and Black RX as separate independent characters, even while both continue to be the original Kotaro Minami, with the difference that one seemingly didn't go through the events of Black RX, without giving any specific explanation regarding it, not even in official extra materials.

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 Black and RX, 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, Black and most other riders got on their motorcycles and performed the "All Rider Break", while RX hopped into his Ridron, together all Riders rammed into the Rock Great Leader and defeating it once and for all with the All Rider Break.

Super Hero Taisen
Kamen Rider Black appeared in a flashback where he was part of the group of Riders defeated by GokaiRed along with Hibiki, G3-X, Knight, Zolda, and Gatack. Both Black and RX, as separate heroes, were among the "All Rider" force during the "Super Hero Taisen" incident which resulted in the Kamen Riders and Super Sentai joining forces to defeat both Dai-Shocker and Dai-Zangyack. During the battle, Black RX is shown defeating a Gormin. Afterwards, a separate Kamen Rider Black joined forces with the, as they protected Earth in the same year, and launched an attack against the revived Shadow Moon and General Jark.

Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Z
to be added

Rider Forms
After being transformed into a cyborg and having the holy Kingstone called the "Stone of the Sun" implanted into him, Kotaro became Kamen Rider Black who used the power of the Kingstone to transform and charge his attacks.

After being ejected into space by the Crisis Empire, Kotaro's Kingstone evolved giving him the power to use the more powerful and versatile Black RX form.

Black
Kamen Ride Black (カメンライドBlack) is the Kamen Ride Card which contains the power of Black. In Black×Black RX, Diend snatches the card from Decade following its awakening in the World of Black RX, claiming that Tsukasa can't use it yet, then used the card to summon the Kotaro Minami from the World of Black. 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 Black, 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 Black.

Black RX
Kamen Ride Black RX (カメンライドBlack RX) is the Kamen Ride Card which contains the power of RX.

Kamen Rider Diend first used the card in the World of Decade, summoning Agito alongside Super-1 and Agito to fight Doctor Shinigami and the Dai-Shocker Soldiers in the 7-Eleven promotional campaign.

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 RX, 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 RX.

Kamen Rider SD (OVA)
Black RX: The newest Kamen Rider and star of the animated short Kamen Rider SD: Strange!? Kumo Otoko. Black RX is still new to being a Kamen Rider and often leaps before he looks. In the movie, he has fallen in love with an instructor at a local sports club, which GranShocker kidnaps in a plan to destroy the Kamen Riders once and for all. He has been paired up in a team with Kamen Rider #1 and Kamen Rider ZX, the latter of which has taken a liking to teasing the young Rider. His finishing move is slashing his enemies with his Revolcane sword. He rides in a modified version of the Acrobatter motorcycle.

Super Tokusatsu Taisen 2001
Kotaro Minami/Black/Black RX is a playable character in the Sony PlayStation crossover strategy game Super Tokusatsu Taisen 2001 along with Takeshi Hongo, Hayato Ichimonji, Shiro Kazami, and Joji Yuki.

Kamen Rider: The Bike Race
Black RX appears riding the Acro Batter (Kamen Rider Black is absent) in Kamen Rider: The Bike Race, a racing game featuring the majority of Kamen Riders and Rider Machines up to Kamen Rider Agito.

Kamen Rider: Seigi no Keifu
"To be added"

Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride
"To be added"

All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation 1 & 2
"To be added"

Climax Heroes series
"To be added"

Maskman Stage Show at 3 Heroes Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Maskman are seen fighting usual foes, Armored Army, and Gorgom show up and wind up defeating them. Kamen Rider Black & Metalder arrive to assist the Maskman.

Maskman Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where maskman are seen fighting Underground Empire Tube, Kamen Rider Black, Metalder, Speilban, Shaider, Red Flash, Blue Flash, Change Dragon, Change Phoenix, Green Two, & Dyna Black arrive to assist the Maskman.

Liveman Stage Show at 3 Heroes Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Liveman are seen fighting their usual foes, the sorcerers clan show up and wind up defeating them. Jiraiya & Kamen Rider Black arrive to assist the Liveman.

Liveman Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Liveman are seen fighting the usual foes, Great Star League Gozma, Reconstructive Experiment Empire Mess, Underground Empire Tube, Armored Army, & The Sorcerers Clan show up and wind up defeating them. Kamen Rider Black, Kamen Rider Black RX, Jiraiya, Princess Ninja Emiha, Red Mask, Pink Mask, Metalder, Red Flash, Yellow Flash, & Change Dragon arrive to assist the Liveman.

Turboranger Stage Show at 3 Heroes Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Turborangers are seen fighting Hundred Boma Tribes, Kamen Rider Black RX & Jiban arrive to assist the Turborangers.

Turboranger Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Turborangers are seen fighting Hundred Boma Tribes, Kamen Rider Black, Kamen Rider Black RX, Jiban, Jiraiya, Red Falcon, Yellow Lion, Red Mask, Pink Mask, Green Flash & Change Dragon assist the Turborangers.

Fivemen Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Fivemen are seen fighting Silver Imperial Army Zone, Fire, Bycle, Walter, Kamen Rider Black RX, Red Turbo, Pink Turbo, Red Falcon, Blue Dolphin, & Red Mask arrive to assist the Fivemen.

Jetman Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Jetman are seen fighting Dimensional War Party Vyram, SolBraver, Knight Fire, Kamen Rider Black RX, Five Red, Five Blue, Red Turbo, Pink Turbo, Yellow Lion, & Red Mask arrive to assist the Jetman.

Dairanger Stage Show at Super Hero Korakuen Yuenchi
In a stage show where the Dairangers are seeing fighting their usual foes, the Bandora Gang, Dimensional War Party Vyram, & Takewaki Kanzern show up and wind up defeating them. Janperson, Kamen Rider Black RX, Kiba Ranger, Tyranno Ranger, Dragon Ranger, Red Hawk & Black Condor arrive to assist the Dairangers.

Portrayal and Casting
Kotaro Minami is played by Tetsuo Kurata (倉田 てつを). Kurata auditioned for the role of Kotaro Minami in January 1987, when he had just graduated from high school. In a 2006 interview, Kurata had stated that, during the audition, he hadn't been able to portray the character appropriately, and did not think he would get the role. To his surprise, he was chosen by Shōtarō Ishinomori himself to play the lead role, beating some 8,000 other contestants. During this period, Kurata underwent intense training that included stage combat techniques, physical exercise sessions and acting and singing lessons.

On October 4, 1987, Kamen Rider Black premiered on TBS to public and critical acclaim. The success of the series, which ran for 51 episodes, generated enough interest from Toei Company executives to persuade them to produce a sequel, something unprecedented in the Kamen Rider Series franchise. After finishing his work on Black, Kurata was approached by Toei and renewed his contract for one more year in exchange for a salary raise to work on Black's sequel, Kamen Rider Black RX, this resulted in him becoming the only actor to be the star of two shows in the Kamen Rider Series. In a 1989 magazine interview, Kurata said he preferred Black over Black RX, quoting the comedy from the latter as "excessive". It is rumored that Kurata declined later invitations to reprise his role as Kotaro in fear of being typecasted, but such rumors were never confirmed.

As Kamen Rider Black, his suit actor was Jiro Okamoto (岡元 次郎) who also did work for RX along with Robo Rider and Bio Rider. Other suit actors were Tokio Iwata (岩田 時男), who did Robo Rider and Bio Rider, and Toshiyuki Kikuchi (菊地 寿幸) who did work for Robo Rider.

Tetsuo came back to voice Kotaro Minami/Kamen Rider Black in Kamen Rider: Seigi No Keifu. In 2009, Kurata returned as Kotaro Minami in Kamen Rider Decade where he played both his Black and Black RX incarnations at the same time. The alternate RX appeared first appeared in episode 26, ''RX! Dai-Shocker Attack, then joining forces with the A.R. Black in the next, Black × Black RX''. That same year, he had a cameo as the original Kotaro Minami, untransformed from Black RX, in the movie, Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker. In All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker, Jun Watanabe (渡辺 淳) did suitwork for RX, Robo Rider, and Bio Rider while Jiro Okamoto also did work for RX and Black.

In OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders, Kamen Rider Black was voiced by Ibuki (勇吹輝) while Jiro Okamoto acted as suit actor for RX.

In Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen, Jiro Okamoto again acted as suit actor for RX, while Hirofumi Tanaka (田中 大文) provided the voice for Kamen Rider Black.

Two Kotaro Minamis

 * There have been five instances where Kamen Rider Black and Kamen Rider Black RX have existed independently from each other.
 * The first was in Kamen Rider: Run All Over the World where a time warp causes Kotaro to meet his past self. He also meets himself in his other forms, Robo Rider and Bio Rider, who also arrived due to a time warp.
 * The second was in the two episode arc (RX! Dai-Shocker Attack/Black × Black RX) of Kamen Rider Decade, in which the World of Black and the World of Black RX were treated as separate dimensions.
 * The third was in Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker. All returning Riders in this movie were stated to be the originals by the producers and assorted official material, like official site bios, but two Kotaro Minamis still coexisted, both portrayed by Tetsuo Kurata, similarly to the Decade TV show appearance, meaning one or both of them could have been the Kotaro Minamis from either the World of Black or World of Black RX.
 * The fourth was in OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders, where there wasn't a proper explanation for their combined appearance. However it can be assumed that they are both Kotaro from different points in time similar to the aforementioned Run All Over the World.
 * The fifth was Super Hero Taisen, which yet again features both side by side, but only in the final battle, without any specific explanation for their combined appearance. The movie pamphlet distributed alongside theatrical showings of the movie references how Black's destined battle against Shadow Moon continues even 25 years later. However, since Kamen Rider Decade is involved, it can be assumed that the Kamen Rider Black in the movie is the one from the World of Black, where Kotaro never lost his powers.

Dub names

 * Kotaro is renamed as Robert Akizuki in the Filipino dub and as Isamu in Brazil.

Rider notes

 * Kotaro is the only Rider to be the leading protagonist of two shows in the Kamen Rider Series. Because of this he also has these distinctions.
 * Kotaro currently holds the record of the Rider with the most appearances.
 * Kotaro is currently the only Rider to get a completely new set of powers at the cost of his old ones. This would happen several times in the early seasons of Power Rangers, the American franchise which is adapted from the Super Sentai series. Ironically, as only Black RX was adapted into Saban's Masked Rider, Masked Rider's first form was RX (along with Super Gold (Robo Rider) and Super Blue (Bio Rider)), while the original Kamen Rider Black costume was never used in the series.
 * As Black RX's Bio Rider form, Kotaro is the first Kamen Rider who has the ability to turn into liquid via an alternate form, this power would be repeated by future Kamen Riders OOO and Wizard who can become liquid via Shauta Combo and Water Style respectively.
 * Both Black and RX are homaged by Leona Heidern, a character from SNK's King of Fighters series of video games. Her Rebel Spark desperation move is almost an exact copy of the Revolcrash, including the leaping stab, shower of sparks, and elaborate pose before the opponent explodes. However, Leona performs the move with her bare hands, and the explosion is caused by her planting an explosive on her opponent. Additionally, Leona's jumping Strike Attack (Hard Punch + Hard Kick together) is identical to Black's Rider Kick, even featuring a red energy aura around her feet.
 * Black RX's Revolcane and Bio Blade is similar to the Lightsabers from the original Star Wars trilogy as the movies were popular in Japan during the 1980s.
 * Kotaro is the only Rider to get a new name upon Form Changing (going from Kamen Rider Black RX to just Robo Rider/Bio Rider).