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Kamen Raida - Majin Saboteguron no Shurai / Kamen Rider - Gyakushu Saboteguron
episode 14 & 15 / Kamen Rider - Raid of the Demon Sabotegron / Kamen Rider - Counterattack, Sabotegron
Kamen Rider - The Devilish Saboteguron Attacks / Kamen Rider - Saboteguron Strikes Back
Japan 1971
produced by Seiji Abe, Toru Hirayama for Ishinomori Productions, Toei/TV Asahi
directed by Itaru Orita
starring Akiji Kobayashi, Takeshi Sasaki, Jiro Chiba (= Jiro Yabuki), Linda Yamamoto, Wakako Oki, Katsumi Nakajima, Jo Honda, John Ayers, Yasuharu Miura, Yoko Shimada, and the voices of Goro Naya, Toshiaki Suzuki, Shinji Nakae
written by Masaru Igami, created by Shotaro Ishinomori, music by Shunsuke Kikuchi
TV-series Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider (original TV show)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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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.
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