Review by Frank Plowright
A simplification is Kamen Rider being a Japanese multimedia presence that began with a live action TV show in 1971 about a guy in an insect costume on a motorbike battling super-villain crime. By the turn of the 21st century the tenth series focussed on Kamen Rider Kuuga, and that series was adapted for comics in 2104, and presented in English translations from 2022. However, those familiar with the anime shouldn’t expect an exact transfer as the comics were apparently based on early scripts, to which modifications were later made.
However, that’s explanations for hardcore fans, and anyone else can pick up Kamen Rider Kuuga and enjoy the action without concerning themselves with differences. It’s a long time before we see any costumed action, or indeed Kuuga himself in any form and what’s supplied before then is gruesome criminal horror at an adult level. Police officer Kauru Ichijo is shown sucking the bitten-off tongue from the mouth of a captive serial killer to prevent him choking himself, and a train full of people found with passengers’ skin intact, but their innards sucked out somehow. Thankfully, the stomach-turning content is toned down for the remainder.
Toshini Inoue scripts plots provided by Shotaro Ishinomori, which are then drawn by Hitotsu Yokoshima. He’s great with people, and with monsters, but only as long as they’re standing still. Once any action starts it can be difficult to follow, although it’s a real surprise to see pages switch from black and white linework to painted grey wash. These pages were colour when originally serialised, but the wash works well.
There’s a brief appearance by a guy in an insect costume saving Ichigo from a monster around a quarter of the way through, dispelling any thoughts of Ichigo actually being the title character, and Yusuke Godai appears shortly after. He’s a resolutely cheerful and positive personality, almost joyous at being jailed, which he treats as a new experience to be savoured. Eccentric isn’t the half of it. His aim is to fly around the world as a dandelion seed and befriend all 7.1 billion people. Not your traditional Spider-Man by any account.
Presuming it’s not a translation quirk, Inoue has those altered by a demon speaking their own makey-up language, but translated to English in the same dialogue balloon. It reads very awkwardly at first and by the end is moving from irritating to frustrating. Wouldn’t some form of English in demonic font have been a better choice? What’s definitely down to the translation is the stiff and unrealistic dialogue, so often just not the way people would talk to each other.
As is the case for so many Japanese comics translated into English, this is a long form serial, and even at 200 pages Kamen Rider 01 is just the introduction. By the end we’ve come to know the primary cast, been introduced to a pants-wetting abomination considering itself a god, and those it’s transformed into doing its will, also very powerful, but with a fatal weakness that’s also their salvation.
With this volume just setting things up, it may later prove entirely wrong-minded to claim there’s not a great deal of originality here beyond Godai’s bizarre personality. Japanese comics thrive on poor humans as the playthings of capricious monsters, and so far there’s little to elevate Kamen Rider above the pack. Perhaps Kamen Rider 02 will provide the difference.
