Kamen Rider

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So...the 1971 Kamen Rider manga.

Well, it's even darker than the way the TV show began, for one thing, and even if Ichimonji's introduction does, as in the show, bring some moments of levity, the darker parts are still just as dark. The art, being pretty old, is dated in quite a few panels, with proportions and such, but when Ishinomori wants to draw something detailed for an emphasis or large panel, he does it well. Kind of like a proto-Kurumada (Kurumada is the mangaka of, among other things, Saint Seiya and Ring ni Kakero) in that respect, I guess.

The story (which is entirely separate from ... the TV series; kind of an AU) is very streamlined and fast-paced, and doesn't slow down or stop much at all; which fits the impression they're trying to give of Kamen Rider--he's a very fast-moving, energetic kind of hero. It gives me the same kind of vibe, in that regard, as the early 30s/40s Superman comics. Characterisation is still achieved well within this streamlined frame, though, and while nobody in this manga is going to top your all-time favourite characters list, they're all well-defined and likeable enough. The fast pacing also doesn't cause any problems with plot holes like might potentially occur, with the possible exception that while it's implied, it's very vague about the fact that absorbing wind is what activates the Rider's powers (hence why he transforms by driving/running/falling especially fast) until finally stating it explicitly in volume 3. As in volume 3 of 4. Three-quarters of the way through the story. Ah well, I already knew that was how it worked (at least, in the TV show it worked that way until he got upgraded and used the Henshin pose thing instead), so I don't know if the implications are clear enough or not for someone who isn't already familiar with Kamen Rider.

And building on something I just mentioned--it's only four volumes long, with each volume only containing one to three chapters. With that said, though, another parallel with Kurumada is that these are some long-ass chapters--volume 4 is comprised of a single chapter of over 100 pages. Still, volume-length is about volume-length, consistently, so yeah, it doesn't take long to read at all--it took me just under two hours to blitz through the entire thing.

All in all, I don't know if I'd give it a screaming recommendation, it wasn't one of the all-time greats, but it was overall pretty good. I enjoyed it quite a lot. So...uh...yeah. That's my review.

The original Kamen Rider manga, which shows Shotaro Ishinomori's original vision for the 1971 tokusatsu show, exceeds 70's charm from all of it's pores. With every page, every character design, and every pose, you can tell this man trained Go Nagai. So while clearly being a product of it's time, this does not really fault it in the realm of aesthetics.

The plot, while clearly very simple and not at all difficult to understand, actually tackles some topics that are still very important today. Capitalism, pollution, politics... all while a cybernetic grasshopper man is beating up a spider guy. Ishinomori was clearly very interested in scientific ... progress and what it will do to humanity, and that is seen clearly when Takeshi Hongo (and later, Hayato Ichimonji) gets turned into a cyborg by the evil organization Shocker, who intend to force him to do their bidding. But Kamen Rider manages to escape, and from that day on he fights Shocker and it's evil cyborgs, who are so similar to him in concept, but who have been transformed into mindless monsters only capable of evil. In fact, the theme of both good and evil using the same means for different ends is a reoccurring theme not only in this manga, but in the entirety of the Kamen Rider series as well.

"Science... is neither good nor evil. It all depends on how it's used."

But while the subtext is fantastic, the primary text is again, very simple. Most chapters, while beatiful looking, mostly just amount to "Shocker cyborg attacks humans, someone dies, Kamen Rider intervenes, he wins, everyone is happy". This is not a completely bad thing: this manga was intended to be read by kids, as Ishinomori wanted first and foremost to teach them lessons about humanity, heroism, and evil. So it couldn't be too complicated. And always remember: Simple ≠ not deep.

Still, it could have been better in places. My least favourite thing in the whole story is the character of Ruriko Midorikawa: she only serves as a Damsel-In-Distress who can gush over the hero. At one point she stops appearing altogether. I much prefer what was done with her character in Hideaki Anno's Shin Kamen Rider (a movie which pays homage to this manga in many ways, showing how Anno knows and deeply respects Ishinomori's legacy).

All in all, this is an incredibly important piece, not just to Kamen Rider, but to the whole of tokusatsu and manga as well. And I had lots of fun with it.

RIDER KICK!

[SPOILERS]

For reference: I am reading the 50th Anniversary Edition. YMMV.

Good Lord what a mess. Where do I even start with this?

The art is good... when it is anything but the human body. And don't get me wrong I am not talking about the overly cartoony nature of some of the characters (although that was also very distracting at times). I mean that Ishinomori cannot draw the human form in a believable way. Looking at the panel on page 19: Kamen Rider's chest is comically large. He looks like Bob with bitch tits from Fight Club. If Kamen Rider wasn't wearing his outfit this wouldn't even ... border on parody. It'd be a fucking full scale invasion parody.

However, credit where it is due: the drawings of architecture in this book is amazing. The background of the double page spread on pages 108 & 109 is a stunning example of what I mean. Every drawing of buildings in this book is either that good or better too. In fact one of the things I liked the most was the backgrounds. There are a lot of drawings of secret laboratories that are really fun to look around and imagine what all the buttons and screens are for. And Ishinomori's action staging is really something. There is never a doubt about what the characters are doing or how they are moving and it makes every fight flow naturally. Which is good because they are the meat of the series.

The story on the other hand... Well let's start with what I liked about it: I liked that Kamen Rider dies. It was genuinely the most surprising thing about the entire story. Like; who in their right mind would just kill off their main character and replace them with the villain that was introduced in that same chapter. That might seem like it happens fast but the whole story is at such a breakneck speed that it actually seems to play out... well "naturally" isn't he right word but it just works. His brain washing being undone by being shot in the head might be a bridge too far for some people's suspension of disbelief (there is a suspension bridge joke in here somewhere). But how the old Kamen Rider becomes a brain in a jar that basically serves as Alfred at the Bat-Computer for the next arc or 2 is so smart and cool. It made the consequences feel legitimate. The stakes just feel so much higher when you kill off the protagonist. I know that this only happened because the actor playing Kamen Rider in the show tie-in was injured and they needed to replace him, and the story in the manga needed to reflect that. But I thought it was a stroke of genius, accident or otherwise.

With that out of the way lets shit all over this: Ishinomori is clearly making this up as he goes and he does not have a good memory. Early on it is established Kamen Rider can recover from injury very quickly (page 45) but it never comes up again. In fact at one point he gets shot and seems to not recover at all for the rest of the scene. What is the point of setting up a power if you are never going to make use of it? I don't think Ishinomori was setting anything up at all. He just thought "oh yeah he should be able to do this.". If you are like me and enjoy fictional worlds with consistent rules; I think you will find a lot of this book very groan inducing.

Ishinomori breaks the rules of his own world all the time. He has absolutely no patience for the building of a his own narrative. And he introduces and discards characters so abruptly that it honestly made me feel like their were pages missing from my book (there were not I assure you). He draws a good book and no one can say that it is boring to read. But not only would I not revisit this; I also would not recommend it to anyone with the intention of reading an engaging story. Nor will I seeking anything else from the Kamen Rider franchise.