 This article is about an episode in Kamen Rider, the original series.
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WARNING: This episode contains scenes of blood and graphic violence. Viewer discretion is advised! |
The Terrifying Bat Man (恐怖蝙蝠男, Kyōfu Kōmori Otoko), is the second episode of the original Kamen Rider series.
Synopsis
Takeshi Hongo continues participating in races even after being transformed into a cyborg with the hopes of winning world races.
In order to increase the number of people in the Shocker organization, the Bat Man is sent out to infect the world with its virus which turns people into mindless vampires.
Plot
A woman named Miho Yamada, upon being dropped off at her apartment complex, hears a maniacal laugh, then a voice proclaiming that she has been "chosen". She immediately rushes into her apartment, to find her bedroom window open. She then finds Bat Man perched at the corner of the room, who then bites her.
Takeshi Hongo, despite his cyborg conversion, is still practicing motocross racing. After winning, Miho arrives to present him with a bouquet and a kiss. Hongo then notices fangs protruding from her mouth, and struggles with her before she dies.
Meanwhile, another woman has been infected by Bat Man's virus at Miho's building. Before she can infect her husband, Hongo arrives to hold her off. Unknown to him, several other infected people are also at the building. Hongo finds Bat Man in Miho's apartment, who reveals to him that the building is actually Shocker's laboratory for human experimentation, used for testing a virus to be propagated in humans. Bat Man escapes, then sics his subjects on Hongo, who jumps out of the apartment to transform and battle Bat Man at the rooftop. While they battle, the Great Leader of Shocker announces to his grunts that Bat Man's signal has fizzled away, due to his defensive self-hypnosis.
Ruriko Midorikawa is questioning Tobei Tachibana at Snack Amigo. He claims to not know where Hongo is, and upon receiving a call from him, promptly hangs up. After Ruriko leaves, Tachibana calls him again while Ruriko overhears, revealing that Hongo is at Jounan University. There, Hongo analyzes a blood sample from one of the victims, where he and his colleague Kishimori find out that Bat Man's virus is sentient and responds to infrasonic waves upon reaching the brain. Hongo asks Kishimori to make an antidote, but he calls the matter "out of the question".
Upon leaving Jounan, Hongo is pursued by Ruriko and Hiromi on his way to Snack Amigo, but by the time they get there, he has already gotten away. Ruriko then follows Hongo's trail.
At Shocker's lab, Hongo and Tachibana investigate the scene, where Hongo declares his intent to save the victims and leaves Tachibana to look after them. Ruriko, still believing that Hongo is in the room, accidentally knocks Tachibana out with a glass vase, awakening one of the infected. Ruriko questions him, who claims to have evidence that Hongo killed her father. After she sets him free, the infected bites her, making her scream and alerting Hongo to her presence.
As Tachibana awakens, Hongo finds Bat Man holding Ruriko hostage while he reveals the truth about Professor Midorikawa's death. Hongo questions him about a cure to the virus, to which Bat Man demonstrates the cure lies in his wing's claw.
Bat Man flies to the rooftops, where, with a few Shocker Combatmen, he battles a transformed Hongo. At the end of the battle, Hongo kills Bat Man with a Rider Throw. Back at the apartment complex, Hongo cures the victims by piercing them with Bat Man's torn-off claw. Now forgiven by Ruriko, he rides off on the Cyclone to carry on his fight against Shocker.
Cast
- Takeshi Hongo (本郷 猛, Hongō Takeshi): Hiroshi Fujioka (藤岡 弘, Fujioka Hiroshi)
- Tōbei Tachibana (立花 藤兵衛, Tachibana Tōbei): 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
- Bat Man (蝙蝠男, Kōmori Otoko): Yoshinobu Sano (佐野 房信, Sano Yoshinobu)
- Bat Man (Voice): Eken Mine (峰 恵研, Mine Eken)
- Assistant Kishimori (岸森 助手, Kishimori Joshu): Jiro Tatsumi (巽 治郎, Tatsumi Jirō)
- Miho Yamano (山野 美穂, Yamano Miho): Chie Kobayashi (小林 千枝, Kobayashi Chie)
- Husband: Joji Nagai (永井 譲滋, Nagai Jōji)
- Woman: Kyoko Ōmori (大森 京子, Ōmori Kyōko)
- Victim: Kimiko Horikawa (堀川 貴美子, Horikawa Kimiko)
Errors
- to be added
Notes
- Bat 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 would be bat-themed.
- This episode would later be adapted as episode 42 of Kamen Rider V3, The Snail-Man's Human Experiments!.
Digital Releases
- Kamen Rider DVD Volume 1 features episodes 1-7.[1]
- Kamen Rider Blu-ray Volume 1 features episodes 1-26.[2]
