Kamen Rider Fourze


 * This article is about the television series. For the series' main character, Fourze, see Gentaro Kisaragi.

Kamen Rider Fourze (仮面ライダーフォーゼ, Kamen Raidā Fōze) is a Japanese tokusatsu drama in Toei Company's Kamen Rider Series, being the thirteenth series in the Heisei period run and the twenty-second overall. It began airing on September 4, 2011, the week following the conclusion of Kamen Rider OOO, joining Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, later Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, in the Super Hero Time lineup. Trademarks on the title were filed by Toei in April 2011. The series commemorates not only the Kamen Rider Series' 40th anniversary but also the 50th anniversary of spaceflight, which began with Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1 flight in 1961. The show's catchphrase is "Switch on youth 'cause space is here!" (青春スイッチオンで宇宙キター！), referencing the Fourze Driver (フォーゼドライバー) transformation belt which gets its various powers from devices called Astro Switches (アストロスイッチ) to conjure attachments to Fourze's limbs. As with the two previous series, the protagonist of Fourze made his debut in the annual summer film of the show's direct predecessor, appearing in Kamen Rider OOO WONDERFUL: The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals.

Story
Amanogawa High School has become the center of strange happenings, and things only get stranger when the bad boy styled transfer student Gentaro Kisaragi attempts to make friends in his own unique way, reuniting with childhood friend and self-professed space travel otaku Yuki Jojima, all while gaining the ire of loner Kengo Utahoshi and the school's queen bee Miu Kazashiro and her enforcer jock boyfriend Shun Daimonji, as garishly styled social butterfly JK and goth girl Tomoko Nozama watch on.

When monsters called Zodiarts begin to appear on campus, Kengo and Yuki attempt to use the strange devices they have found in the Rabbit Hatch lunar base that they access through a locker on an off-limits part of campus to fight them. However, Gentaro interferes in their plans, in part due to Kengo's body unable to handle the strains of battle, and uses the devices to transform into Kamen Rider Fourze. As times goes on, the group gained a new member for the Kamen Rider Club, Ryusei Sakuta who is an exchange student, concealing his identity as Kamen Rider Meteor.

Kamen Rider Club

 * Main article: Kamen Rider Club


 * Gentaro Kisaragi (如月 弦太朗)/Fourze
 * Kengo Utahoshi (歌星 賢吾)
 * Yuki Jojima (城島 ユウキ)
 * Miu Kazashiro (風城 美羽)
 * Shun Daimonji (大文字 隼)
 * Tomoko Nozama (野座間 友子)
 * JK (ＪＫ（ジェイク）)
 * Ryusei Sakuta (朔田 流星)/Meteor

Zodiarts

 * Main article: Zodiarts


 * Sarina Sonada (園田 紗里奈), Teacher/Scorpion Zodiarts (スコーピオン・ゾディアーツ)
 * Kouhei Hayami (速水 公平), Principal/Libra Zodiarts
 * Natsuji Kijima (速水 公平), Rakugo club leader/Cancer Zodiart

Amanogawa High

 * Chuta Ohsugi (大杉 忠太), teacher
 * Mitsuaki Gamo (我望 光明)
 * Tamae Sakuma (佐久間 珠恵)
 * Jun Shigeno (繁野 ジュン)
 * Reiko Hirota (広田 玲子)
 * Chosuke Ban (番 長介)

Arsenal

 * Fourze Arsenal
 * Meteor Arsenal

Production
The Takasaki University of Commerce in Gunma Prefecture is used for exterior shots of Amanogawa High School in Kamen Rider Fourze.

Fourze is written by Kazuki Nakashima, known for his screenplays of Oh! Edo Rocket and Gurren Lagann. The creature designer is Kia Asamiya, known for his artwork for the manga Martian Successor Nadesico and Silent Möbius. Koichi Sakamoto, known for his work on the American Power Rangers franchise, serves as the series' main director after his work on the Kamen Rider W films and several episodes of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.

Episodes
The titles of episodes of Kamen Rider Fourze consist of four kanji that can be read together to form a full statement.

The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals
The character of Gentaro Kisaragi (portrayed by Fukushi) and Kamen Rider Fourze make their debut appearance in Kamen Rider OOO's third film Kamen Rider OOO WONDERFUL: The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals.

Movie War Mega Max
A crossover film between Kamen Rider OOO and Kamen Rider Fourze in the same vein as the Movie War 2010 and Movie War Core films. The guest star for the Fourze portion is Hello! Project member Erina Mano, who will portray Nadeshiko Misaki (美咲 撫子) who transforms into Kamen Rider Nadeshiko (仮面ライダーなでしこ), the first schoolgirl Kamen Rider.

Kamen Rider vs Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen
An upcoming film to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Super Hero Time will feature a crossover between the characters of the Kamen Rider Series and the Super Sentai Series, that will be released in 2012. It will feature Masahiro Inoue reprising his role from Kamen Rider Decade, Ryota Ozawa reprising his role from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, and Rina Akiyama, Kenjirō Ishimaru, and Toshihiko Seki reprising their roles from Kamen Rider Den-O, in addition to the cast of Kamen Rider Fourze and the cast of the upcoming 36th Super Sentai Series Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. The film is tentatively titled Super Hero War (スーパーヒーロー大戦). A teaser for the film was shown after the movie showing all of the Kamen Riders and the 35 Super Sentai with Captain Marvelous announcing "I will destroy all Riders!" (全てのライダーは俺が倒す！).

Video game
A port of Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes titled Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes Fourze (仮面ライダー クライマックスヒーローズ フォーゼ) is planned for release on both the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo Wii during Winter 2011. In addition to adding Kamen Rider Fourze to the game, the Shōwa Riders (e.g., Kamen Rider #1 & Kamen Rider Black RX) are added as playable characters.

Cast

 * Gentaro Kisaragi (如月 弦太朗): Sota Fukushi (福士 蒼汰)
 * Kengo Utahoshi (歌星 賢吾): Ryuki Takahashi (高橋 龍輝)
 * Yuki Jojima (城島 ユウキ): Fumika Shimizu (清水 富美加)
 * Miu Kazashiro (風城 美羽): Rikako Sakata (坂田 梨香子)
 * Shun Daimonji (大文字 隼): Justin Tomimori (冨森 ジャスティン)
 * Tomoko Nozama (野座間 友子): Shiho (志保)
 * JK (ＪＫ（ジェイク）): Shion Tsuchiya (土屋 シオン)
 * Ryusei Sakuta (朔田 流星): Ryo Yoshizawa (吉沢 亮)
 * Sarina Sonoda (園田 紗里奈): Yuka Konan (虎南 有香)
 * Chuta Ohsugi (大杉 忠太): Takushi Tanaka (田中 卓志)
 * Mitsuaki Gamou (我望 光明): Shingo Tsurumi (鶴見 辰吾)
 * Kouhei Hayami (速水 公平): Kousei Amano (天野 浩成)
 * Tamae Sakuma (佐久間 珠恵): Maria Yoshikawa (吉川 まりあ)
 * Jun Shigeno (繁野 ジュン): Arisa Fujisaki (藤嵜 亜莉沙)
 * Reiko Hirota (広田 玲子): Yurika Tachibana (橘 ゆりか)
 * Chosuke Ban (番 長介): Tadao Kuroishi (黒石 高大)
 * Scorpion Zodiarts (スコーピオン・ゾディアーツ): Eiji Takemoto (竹本 英史)
 * Tachibana, Narration (タチバナ、ナレーション): Nobuyuki Hiyama (檜山 修之)

Guest cast

 * Toshiya Miura (三浦 俊也): Masanori Mizuno (水野 真典)
 * Takashi Satake (佐竹 剛): Satoshi Jinbo (神保 悟志)
 * Takato Daimonji (大文字 高人): Ryo Kamon (加門 良)
 * Ritsuko Usaka (鵜坂 律子): Hikari Kajiwara (梶原 ひかり)
 * Junta Abe (阿部 純太): Tokimasa Tanabe (田辺 季正)
 * Kamen Rider Girls (仮面ライダーGIRLS Kamen Raidā Gāruzu?, 26)
 * Nao Yasuda (安田 奈央 Yasuda Nao?): Kamen Rider Blade
 * Erika Yoshizumi (吉住 絵里加 Yoshizumi Erika?): Kamen Rider Den-O
 * Kaori Nagura (名倉 かおり Nagura Kaori?): Kamen Rider Kiva
 * Hitomi Isaka (井坂 仁美 Isaka Hitomi?): Kamen Rider OOO
 * Miki Endo (遠藤 三貴 Endō Miki?): Kamen Rider Fourze
 * tatsuo (of everset, 26)
 * Ryo (of defspiral, 26)
 * Masaki (of defspiral, 26)
 * AYANO (of FULL AHEAD, 26)

Suit actors

 * Kamen Rider Fourze: Seiji Takaiwa (高岩 成二)
 * Kamen Rider Meteor: Eitoku (永徳)
 * Libra Zodiarts: Jun Watanabe (渡辺 淳)
 * Pegasus Zodiarts, Cancer Zodiarts: Yugo Fujii (藤井 祐伍)

Songs

 * Opening theme
 * "Switch On!"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: tatsuo (of everset)
 * Artist: Anna Tsuchiya (土屋 アンナ)
 * Anna Tsuchiya decided to perform the opening theme for Kamen Rider Fourze after her young son became a fan of Kamen Rider OOO and because of her own fond memories of watching Kamen Rider Series shows as a child herself.


 * Ending theme
 * "Giant Step"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: Shuhei Naruse
 * Artist: Astronauts (May'n & Yoshiharu Shiina)
 * Episodes: 6-16, 18, 19
 * Astronauts is a special band formed by May'n and former Surface vocalist Yoshiharu Shiina for Kamen Rider Fourze. The single was initially scheduled for release on December 28, 2011, but it has since been postponed to January 25, 2012.


 * "Shooting Star"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: tatsuo
 * Artist: everset
 * Episodes: 16-18
 * "Shooting Star" is Kamen Rider Meteor's theme song. The band everset previously contributed to the Kamen Rider Series as being Kamen Rider W's fictional Galveston 19.


 * "Bounce back"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: Yosuke Yamashita (山下 洋介)
 * Artist: SoutherN (Minami Kuribayashi & Yosuke Yamashita)
 * Episodes: 20
 * "Bounce Back" is the theme song for Kamen Rider Fourze Magnet States. SoutherN is a special band formed by Minami Kuribayashi and former NovaQuorb vocalist Yosuke Yamashita. The single for "Bounce Back" is scheduled for release on March 21, 2012.


 * "ENDLESS PLAY"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: TAKUYA
 * Arrangement: Yoshiharu Shiina, TAKUYA
 * Artist: Astronauts feat. SHIINA (Yoshiharu Shiina)
 * Episodes: 21
 * "ENDLESS PLAY" was originally solely the theme song for Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes Fourze. It is a solo performance by Yoshiharu Shiina as "Astronauts feat. SHIINA".


 * "Evolvin' Storm"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: tatsuo (of everset)
 * Artist: everset
 * Episodes: 28
 * "Evolvin' Storm" is Kamen Rider Meteor Storm's theme song.


 * Other songs
 * "Saite" (咲いて)
 * Lyrics: Tsuyoshi Himura & Tenji Nagano
 * Composition: Tenji Nagano
 * Arrangement: Shuhei Naruse
 * Artist: Kamen Rider Girls
 * Episodes: 26
 * The Kamen Rider Girls make a guest appearance in episode 26 where they perform their cover of everset's "Saite".

The first soundtrack for Kamen Rider Fourze was released on December 21, 2011.