 This article is about an episode in Kamen Rider, the original series.
|
The Mysterious Spider Man (怪奇蜘蛛男, Kaiki Kumo Otoko), is the first episode of Kamen Rider, and the first episode of the Kamen Rider franchise overall.
Synopsis
Takeshi Hongo is abducted by the evil organization Shocker. They turn him into a cyborg in order to conquer the world, only for him to escape and turn against his captors.
Plot
Takeshi Hongo practices for an important race with his mentor, Tobee Tachibana. Spider Man is watching from the sidelines looking for a chance to catch his assigned target. In the middle of practice, Hongo is ambushed by Shocker grunts and kidnapped for cyborg conversion. While the physical modification is successful, he is saved by Professor Midorikawa before the brainwashing begin.
Meanwhile, Professor Midorikawa's daughter, Ruriko, feels the presence of a stalker. She goes with a friend to Cafe Amigo, but before they can go, their boss tells Ruriko that her father has been found. Ruriko asks her friend to switch clothes with her, then borrows Tachibana's car to find her father.
Ruriko excitedly mentions her father's hideout along the way there. Unknown to her, a tracking device is attached to the car, allowing Shocker Inhumanoid Spider Man to find Professor Midorikawa.
The professor nervously awaits his daughter at a warehouse with Hongo, who tries to calm him down. Ruriko overhears a conversation between the two, but mistakes it for a heated argument. While Hongo isn't looking, Spider Man kills the professor, and before Hongo can save him, Ruriko arrives and mistakes him for her father's killer. Spider Man then attacks Hongo with a poisoned dart, but it goes instead to the professor, who dissolves in his daughter's full view.
As his cover has been blown, Spider Man attacks the duo head-on and abducts Ruriko. Spider Man uses her as bait to make Hongo follow him. Hongo then transforms into Kamen Rider and defeats Spider Man and his grunts. He later contacts Tachibana so he can take Ruriko home, as he can't face her due to the misunderstanding involved in her father's death.
Cast
- Takeshi Hongo (本郷 猛, Hongō Takeshi): Hiroshi Fujioka (藤岡 弘, Fujioka Hiroshi)
- Tobee Tachibana (立花 藤兵衛, Tachibana Tobee): Akiji Kobayashi (小林 昭二, Kobayashi Akiji)
- Ruriko Midorikawa (緑川 ルリ子, Midorikawa Ruriko): Chieko Morigawa (森川 千恵子, Morigawa Chieko) (Played as Chieko Maki (真樹 千恵子, Maki Chieko))
- Hiromi Nohara (野原 ひろみ, Nohara Hiromi): Yōko Shimada (島田 陽子, Shimada Yōko)
- The Great Leader of Shocker (ショッカー首領, Shokkā Shuryō, Voice): Gorō Naya (納谷 悟朗, Naya Gorō)
- Narrator (ナレーター, Narētā): Shinji Nakae (中江 真司, Nakae Shinji)
Guest Cast
- Spider Man (蜘蛛男, Kumo Otoko, Voice): Ryūji Saikachi (槐 柳二, Saikachi Ryūji)
- Professor Midorikawa (緑川 博士, Midorikawa Hakase): Kiyoshi Nonomura (野々村 潔, Nonomura Kiyoshi)
- Shocker Scientists (ショッカー科学者, Shokkā Kagakusha): Tomotaka Ueda (植田 灯孝, Ueda Tomotaka), Eiji Maruyama (丸山 詠二, Maruyama Eiji), Hiroya Ishimaru (石丸 博也, Ishimaru Hiroya)
Errors
- to be added
Notes
- This is the very first Kamen Rider episode; the 1000th episode aired 40 years after it, coincidentally due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
- In this episode, Hongo is said to have an IQ of above 600 and is physically athletic.
- In real life, such an IQ is impossible as the highest possible IQ a human has supposedly ever attained was American mathematician William Sidis who had an IQ of 300.
- Immediately following the opening sequence is a series of clips featuring the episode's kaijin, Spider Man in this case. This practice would last for the first four episodes before episode 5 introduced the opening narration which accompanied a gallery of kaijin facing off against Kamen Rider.
- Spider Man's grunts' unique facial mark is that of a red diagonal pattern on their faces, usually covering only half of their faces, or in a striped pattern.
- Spider Man would later appear as part of the revived kaijin armies seen in episode 13 and the movie Kamen Rider vs. Shocker. In homage, several monsters in later series, particularly those first fought, would be spider-themed. A revived incarnation of him recently appeared as a Space Shocker general in Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Z
. - Footage from this episode, featuring Hongo's first transformation and battle against Spider Man, is featured as part of Tobei Tachibana's retrospective in episode 27 of Kamen Rider X.
- This episode is revisited among other Kamen Rider Series premieres in the video game Kamen Rider: Battride War Genesis (2016).
.Digital Releases
- Kamen Rider DVD Volume 1 features episodes 1-7.[1]
- Kamen Rider Blu-ray Volume 1 features episodes 1-26.[2]
See Also
- The Invasion of Leawood - counterpart in Saban's Masked Rider. See comparison page. (Kamen Rider Ichigo's First Apperance)