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 Astroswitches (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 a year ago that they can 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 from Subaruboshi High, concealing his identity as Kamen Rider Meteor.

Kamen Rider Club

 * Main article: Kamen Rider Club


 * Gentaro Kisaragi (如月 弦太朗), Kamen Rider 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), Kamen Rider Meteor
 * Chuta Ohsugi (大杉 忠太)

Horoscopes

 * Main article: Horoscopes


 * Mitsuaki Gamo (我望 光明), Board Director/Sagittarius Zodiarts
 * Sarina Sonoda (園田 紗里奈), Teacher/Scorpion Zodiarts
 * Kouhei Hayami (速水 公平), Principal/Libra Zodiarts
 * Natsuji Kijima (鬼島 夏児 Kijima Natsuji), President of rakugo club/Cancer Zodiarts
 * Tatsumori Yamada (山田 竜守), Transfer student/Aries Zodiarts
 * Kou Tatsugami (立神 吼), Gamou's Bodyguard/Leo Zodiarts
 * Tojiro Goto (五藤 東次郎), Transfer student/Capricorn Zodiarts
 * Erin Suda (エリーヌ須田), Transfer student/Aquarius Zodiarts
 * Yuta Sugiura (杉浦 雄太), Student Body President/Taurus Zodiarts
 * Kuniteru Emoto (江本 州輝), Professor/Virgo Zodiarts
 * Dark Yuki (闇ユウキ), Dark clone/Gemini Zodiarts
 * Ran Kuroki (黒木 蘭 Kuroki Ran), First Year student/Pisces Zodiarts

Amanogawa High

 * Chuta Ohsugi (大杉 忠太), Teacher

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.

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 portrayed 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 × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen
A film to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Super Hero Time, featured a crossover between the characters of the Kamen Rider Series and the Super Sentai Series, that released in 2012. It featured Masahiro Inoue reprising his role from Kamen Rider Decade, Ryota Ozawa reprised his role from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, and Rina Akiyama, Kenjirō Ishimaru, and Toshihiko Seki reprised their roles from Kamen Rider Den-O, in addition to the cast of Kamen Rider Fourze and the cast of the 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！).

Kamen Rider Fourze the Movie: Everyone, Space is Here!
As a tribute to the 1976 tokusatsu series Space Ironmen Kyodain, Grandain, and his younger sister, Skydain, both will appear before the Kamen Rider Club, seemingly wanting to attack the earth. Gentarou finds himself asking OSTO Legacy for help, there he meets the director of OSTO Legacy (played by Kohki Okata), and his secretary (played by Ayumi Kinoshita, who had previously protrayed as Marika Reimon from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger). Kamen Rider Fourze begins to seek for their friendship, for the universe depends on it.

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 (from Ichigo to Black RX) are added as playable characters, while also including Shadow Moon.

Fourze appeared as a bonus character in All Rider Generation and becomes a playable character on All Kamen Rider Generation 2.

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)
 * Natsuji Kijima (鬼島 夏児): Soran Tamoto (タモト 清嵐)
 * Kou Tatsugami (立神 吼): Kazutoshi Yokoyama (横山 一敏)
 * Kuniteru Emoto (江本 州輝): Hajime Yamazaki (山崎 一)
 * Scorpion Zodiarts (スコーピオン・ゾディアーツ): Eiji Takemoto (竹本 英史)
 * Virgo Zodiarts (ヴァルゴ・ゾディアーツ): Rie Tanaka (田中 理恵)
 * 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)
 * Haruka Utsugi (宇津木 遥): Nao Nagasawa (長澤 奈央)
 * Man at Kick Boxing Gym (キックボクシングジムの男): Koji Nakamura (中村 浩二)
 * Yayoi Tokuda (徳田 弥生): Kasumi Suzuki (鈴木 かすみ)
 * Members of Light Music Club (軽音部員): Kamen Rider Girls (仮面ライダーGIRLS)
 * Nao Yasuda (安田 奈央)
 * Erika Yoshizumi (吉住 絵里加)
 * Kaori Nagura (名倉 かおり)
 * Hitomi Isaka (井坂 仁美)
 * Mitsuki Endo (遠藤 三貴)
 * Member of Light Music Club (26): tatsuo (of everset)
 * Member of Light Music Club (26), JK's Father (Young) (ＪＫの父親): Ryo (of defspiral)
 * Member of Light Music Club (26): Masaki (of defspiral)
 * Member of Light Music Club (26): AYANO (of FULL AHEAD)
 * Mei Shirakawa (白川 芽以): Runa Natsui (夏居 瑠奈)
 * Yuki's Father (ユウキの父): Yuu Kamio (神尾 佑)
 * Yuki's Mother (ユウキの母): Mari Takahashi (高橋 麻理)

Suit actors

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

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 the Kamen Rider Series as a child herself.

Ending themes

 * "Giant Step"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: Shuhei Naruse
 * Artist: Astronauts (May'n & Yoshiharu Shiina)
 * Episodes: 6-16, 18, 19, 23-25
 * 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, 21, 22, 26, 29
 * "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 Galveston 19.


 * "Bounce Back"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: Yosuke Yamashita (山下 洋介)
 * Artist: SoutherN (Minami Kuribayashi & Yosuke Yamashita)
 * Episodes: 20-22, 31
 * "Bounce Back" is the theme song for Kamen Rider Fourze's 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" was originally solely the theme song for Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes Fourze. It is a solo performance by Yoshiharu Shiina as "Astronauts feat. SHIINA".
 * "ENDLESS PLAY"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: TAKUYA
 * Arrangement: Yoshiharu Shiina, TAKUYA
 * Artist: Astronauts feat. SHIINA (Yoshiharu Shiina)
 * Episodes: 21, 29

"Evolvin' Storm" is Kamen Rider Meteor Storm's theme song.
 * "Evolvin' Storm"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: tatsuo (of everset)
 * Artist: everset
 * Episodes: 28-30, 37

"Cosmic Mind" is Kamen Rider Fourze's theme song for Cosmic States.
 * "Cosmic Mind"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: Shuhei Naruse
 * Artist: Astronauts (May'n & Yoshiharu Shiina)
 * Episodes: 32-35, 37, 40-44

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.