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Cactus based Shocker monster Sabotegron (voiced by Toshiaki Suzuki) has been wildly successful with its cactus mines, which means that Shocker is flying it to Japan to finally take over that country, too, which has been prevented so far by Kamen Rider. And exactly there's a bit of a problem, as Kamen Rider has gone abroad to fight Shocker there, with his trusted sidekick Ruriko in tow. But he has left his motorbike behind, which has somehow been adopted by bumbling photographer Hayato (Takeshi Sasaki). Anyways, things look rather grim at Tachibana's (Akiji Kobayashi) motorcycle club, Kamen Rider's secret headquarters, especially when three girls, Mari (Linda Yamamoto), Yuri (Wakako Oki) and Michi (Katsumi Nakajima), who have no experience with motorbike, join. So ultimately it's up to Tachibana himself and FBI agent Kazuya (Jiro Chiba) to find Shocker's new headquarters - which they manage to do, to only stumble upon Hayato along the way. Ultimately though, Shocker has set a trap with its - suitably Aztec-styled - headquarters and Tachibana and Kazuya are captured - and it's Kamen Rider to the rescue, only this Kamen Rider is actually Kazuya, who has been turned into a cyborg specifically to fight Kamen Rider, but then the original Kamen Rider has rescued him and now he has become Kamen Rider - or something like that. Later Kamen Rider manages to take one of Sabotegron's men captive, but that one's of course rescued by Sabotegron who can't spare any men as he's to blow up a dam and take over the flooded areas as a bridgehead into Japan. Kazuya manage to sneak into Shocker headquarters disguised as one of Sabotegron's men, and he listens in on the planning session but is ultimately found out. But then it's Kamen Rider to the rescue yet again, and ultimately they blow up the Shocker base.

After Hiroshi Fujioka, original lead of Kamen Rider, had suffered an accident and consequently been curiously absent from a couple of episodes, a new Kamen Rider is finally introduced in this double episode - but frankly, the introduction is rather clumsily handled, as the new lead's origin is actually explained away with a few words with little dramatic impact. Also, this episode omits Ruriko from the series, replacing her with a trio of girls aparently in charge of comedy relief, while recently introduced ersatz-hero Kazuya is kept for continuity purposes.

That all said, while it's not a very good revamp of the series, it's still fun: The cactus monster that even carries a cactus sword around is just hilarious, as are the Aztec-themed secret Shocker headquarters. And even if the story is basically business as usual, it's at least entertaining for sure.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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