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Kamen Rider ZO

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Icon-krThis article is about a movie & series entry (the 12th) in the Kamen Rider Series.
Red alert WARNING: This movie contains scenes of graphic violence, blood, scary images and nudity. Viewer discretion is advised!

For the series' main character, see Masaru Aso.

Kamen Rider ZO (仮面ライダーZ O（ゼットオー）, Kamen Raidā Zetto Ō) is a Japanese superhero Tokusatsu film serving as the 12th installment of the Kamen Rider Series, triple-billed with both Gosei Sentai Dairanger: The MovieIcon-crosswiki and Tokusou Robo Janperson: The MovieIcon-crosswiki. In the film, a young man must protect the son of the doctor who experimented on him from a monster who threatens to destroy humanity.

Footage of the movie was used in Saban's Masked Rider.

Marketing[]

FakeZOSuit

An older Rider stands in for the unfinished ZO.

In the earliest trailer which was titled "Masked -Rider-", ZO's suit looks completely different from the film version. Many years later, Keita Amemiya finally confirmed it's actually Kamen Rider Black's suit used as a placeholder since at that time they didn't have a final design.[1]

ZO Special title card

Fight! Our Kamen Rider!- The Strongest Rider, ZO is Born!

The film was promoted by the TV special Fight! Our Kamen Rider!- The Strongest Rider, ZO is Born!, broadcast on March 27th 1993.

Plot[]

Masaru Aso was the lab assistant of geneticist Dr. Mochizuki, used as one of his experiments related to the creation of the Neonoid, enabling him to transform into a grasshopper-like being called Kamen Rider ZO. He fled into the mountainside and went into a coma before he was awakened by a telepathic call two years later with an unconscious urge to protect Hiroshi Mochizuki, the son of Dr. Mochizuki.

After an attempt to uncover the meaning of his transformation at Mochizuki Genetics, Masaru senses Hiroshi in danger and saves the boy from Doras as ZO. Weakened after reviving himself following the fight, Doras sends Koumori Man and Kumo Woman to pursue Hiroshi in the meantime. Masaru learns that Dr. Mochizuki mysteriously vanished before he revealed himself after a misunderstanding with Reiko and her karate class. By then, ZO battles Koumori Man to cover Hiroshi and Reiko's escape before they are sucked in a pocket dimension by Kumo Woman, both monsters created by Doras. But ZO saves them and kills Kumo Woman before Koumori Man swoops down and snatches Hiroshi off, with ZO in pursuit.

After saving Hiroshi, Masaru reveals to Seikichi that Dr. Mochizuki used him in his experiments and creating Neonoid to kill his son. Refusing to believe it, Hiroshi ran off before Masaru found him and fixed the watch, recognizing the melody that stirred him out of his rest as he helps Hiroshi cope with this new information. However, Koumori Man assumed Mochizuki's form to lure Hiroshi away and capture him with Doras knocking Masaru out cold. Making his way to a complex, ZO kills Koumori Man before making his way to Hiroshi and Dr. Mochizuki, learning that the geneticist was the one who woke him up and that the Neonoid has been acting on its own whim the entire time to become the perfect being.

ZO attempts to fight Doras, only to be assimilated into the Neonoid. Doras then proceeds to use the boy as bait to force Mochizuki to complete its evolution. However, the watch manages to hold Doras at bay as ZO breaks out of the monster and Mochizuki sacrifices himself to destroy the pool, the Neonoid's life source. The complex then detonates as ZO and Hiroshi escaped with their lives. Dropping Hiroshi off with Seikichi, Masaru leaves to parts unknown.

Characters[]

Kamen Riders[]

Movie[]

Kamen Rider ZO Masaru Aso

Concepts[]

Kamen Rider Gay Kamen Rider Gay

Debatable Riders[]

Neonoid Doras Neonoid
Neonoid JO Shiruma
Shadow Moon General Jark

Allies[]

Villains[]

Neonoid[]

Other media[]

Manga[]

  1. Kamen Rider ZO (Televi-kun manga) (仮面ライダーZO, Kamen Raidā Zetto Ō)
  2. Kamen Rider ZO (Tsukada's manga) (仮面ライダーZO, Kamen Raidā Zetto Ō)
  3. Kamen Rider ZO (manga) (仮面ライダーZO, Kamen Raidā Zetto Ō)

S.I.C. Hero Saga[]

  1. ZO VS J

Novel[]

  1. Kamen Rider ZO: Boy in the Dark (仮面ライダーZO－闇の少年－, Kamen Raidā Zetto Ō Yami no Shōnen)

Video Game[]

  1. The Masked Rider: Kamen Rider ZO

Cast[]

Suit Actors[]

Music[]

Release[]

Theatrical[]

  • Kamen Rider ZO premiered in Japanese theaters on April 17, 1993.

Home Media[]

ZO was released on VHS on October 11, 1993.

ZO was released on Laserdisc on October 11, 1993.

ZO was released on DVD on December 21, 2003.

ZO was released in a Blu-ray Box set alongside Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue, Kamen Rider J and Kamen Rider SD: Strange!? Man Spider.

  • Kamen Rider: Shin · ZO · J Blu-ray Disc BOX, which contains Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue, Kamen Rider ZO, Kamen Rider J and Kamen Rider SD: Strange!? Man Spider was released on December 24th, 2015.

Other releases[]

  • As part of the 40th anniversary of the Kamen Rider Series, ZO was shown on Toei's pay-per-view channel during September 2011.
  • Media Blasters announced on February 16, 2022 that they had acquired the distribution rights to ZO for a home video release in the Region 1 market.[2] There would be no updates until April 26, 2024, when Media Blasters would announce that home video release for Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue, ZO, and J in the US would be releasing in the Summer of 2024. On May 3, 2024, they would put pre-orders up for the Kamen Rider: The Trilogy Elite Kollection exclusively on their storefront which also has the short film Kamen Rider World included. With plans to release a regular version later down the line that doesn't include Kamen Rider World.[3][4]

Notes[]

  • Like the previous film (Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue), this film was labeled as a 20th anniversary event. However, it was released in 1993, the franchise's 22nd year.
    • This mistake would humorously be brought up by ZO himself as one of his many complaints about how he is treated by Toei in one of the Let's Go Kamen Rider Net Movies.
  • In a 2017 interview, the film's director Keita Amemiya confirmed that Kamen Rider ZO was intended to continue into a planned TV series, but due to creative issues and problems, the project never made it past the early planning stages.[5]
  • Some of the music from the movie appeared in the Juukou B-Fighter movie as well as episodes 49-51 & 53 of the series.
  • There was a third song intended to be used by infix called "RIDER FOREVER", however it went unused and was reworked into "WINNERS FOREVER" for the anime Mobile Suit Victory Gundam.

See Also[]

References[]

  1. ↑ Director's interview in Blu-ray disk
  2. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/mediablasters1/status/1494070377785528321
  3. ↑ https://twitter.com/mediablasters1/status/1783883935631499403
  4. ↑ https://twitter.com/mediablasters1/status/1786415641387229643
  5. ↑ http://tokusatsunetwork.com/2017/05/video-tokusatsu-network-interviews-keita-amemiya-garo/

External links[]

Navigation[]

Icon-kamenrider Kamen Rider Series
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Kuuga • Agito • Ryuki • 555 • Blade • Hibiki • Kabuto • Den-O • Kiva • Decade
Heisei Era Phase 2 (2009-2019)
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Reiwa Era (2019-)
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Remakes, Spin-Offs and Other Series
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English Adaptations
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