 This article is about an episode in Kamen Rider, the original series.
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The Eerie Man Spider (怪奇蜘蛛男, Kaiki Kumo Otoko), is the first episode of Kamen Rider, and the first episode of the Kamen Rider franchise overall.
Synopsis[]
Takeshi Hongo is abducted by the evil organization Shocker. They turn him into a cyborg in order to conquer the world, only for him to escape and turn against his captors.
Plot[]
Takeshi Hongo practices for an important race with his mentor, Tobee Tachibana. Man Spider is watching from the sidelines looking for a chance to catch his assigned target. In the middle of practice, Takeshi is ambushed by Shocker Combatmen and kidnapped for cyborg conversion. While the physical modification is successful, he is saved by Professor Hiroshi Midorikawa before the brainwashing begins. Man Spider ambushes them, threatening both Midorikawa's and his daughter's life, but Takeshi, now wearing the whole Kamen Rider suit, fights off the Combatmen and helps the professor escape.
Meanwhile, Midorikawa daughter, Ruriko, feels the presence of a stalker. She goes with a friend to Snack Amigo, but before they can go, their boss tells Ruriko that her father has been found. Ruriko asks her friend to switch clothes with her, then borrows Tachibana's car to find her father.
Ruriko excitedly mentions her father's hideout along the way there. Unknown to her, a tracking device is attached to the car, allowing the Shocker Kaijin Man Spider to find Professor Midorikawa.
The professor nervously awaits his daughter at a warehouse with Takeshi, to whom he tearfully apologizes for recommending him to Shocker in the first place. Ruriko overhears a conversation between the two but mistakes it for a heated argument. While Takeshi isn't looking, Man Spider kills the professor, and before Takeshi can save him, Ruriko arrives and mistakes him for her father's killer. Man Spider then attacks Takeshi with a poisoned dart, but it goes instead to the professor, who dissolves in his daughter's full view.
As his cover has been blown, Man Spider attacks the duo head-on and abducts Ruriko. Man Spider uses her as bait to make Takeshi follow him. Takeshi then transforms into Kamen Rider and defeats Man Spider and his grunts, destroying Man Spider with a Rider Kick. He later contacts Tachibana so he can take Ruriko home, as he can't face her due to the misunderstanding involved in her father's death.
Cast[]
- Takeshi Hongo (本郷 猛, Hongō Takeshi): Hiroshi Fujioka (藤岡 弘, Fujioka Hiroshi)
- Tobee Tachibana (立花 藤兵衛, Tachibana Tobee): 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): Goro Naya (納谷 悟朗, Naya Gorō)
- Narrator (ナレーター, Narētā): Shinji Nakae (中江 真司, Nakae Shinji)
Guest Cast[]
- Man Spider (蜘蛛男, Kumo Otoko, Voice): Ryuji Saikachi (槐 柳二, Saikachi Ryūji)
- Professor Midorikawa (緑川 博士, Midorikawa Hakase): Kiyoshi Nonomura (野々村 潔, Nonomura Kiyoshi)
- Shocker Scientists (ショッカー科学者, Shokkā Kagakusha): Tomotaka Ueda (植田 灯孝, Ueda Tomotaka), Eiji Maruyama (丸山 詠二, Maruyama Eiji), Hiroya Ishimaru (石丸 博也, Ishimaru Hiroya)
- Shocker Operatives (ショッカー工作員, Shokkā kōsaku-in): Bun'ya Nakamura (中村文弥 Nakamura Bun'ya), Rikiya Ikeda (池田力也 Ikeda Rikiya)
Errors[]
- to be added
Notes[]
- This is the very first Kamen Rider episode; the 1000th episode aired 40 years after it to the day, coincidentally due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
- In this episode, Hongo is said to have an IQ of above 600 and is physically athletic.
- Immediately following the opening sequence is a series of clips featuring the episode's monster, Man Spider in this case. This practice would last for the first four episodes before episode 5 introduced the opening narration which accompanied a gallery of monsters facing off against Kamen Rider.
- Man Spider's grunts' unique facial mark is that of a red diagonal pattern on their faces, usually covering only half of their faces, or in a striped pattern.
- Man Spider would later appear as part of the revived monster armies seen in episode 13 and the movie Kamen Rider vs. Shocker. In homage, several monsters in later series, particularly those first fought, would be spider-themed. A revived incarnation of him recently appeared as a Space Shocker general in Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Z
. - Footage from this episode, featuring Hongo's first transformation and battle against Man Spider, is featured as part of Tobee Tachibana's retrospective in episode 27 of Kamen Rider X.
- This episode is revisited among other Kamen Rider Series premieres in the video game Kamen Rider: Battride War Genesis (2016).
Digital Releases[]
- Kamen Rider DVD Volume 1 features episodes 1-7.[1]
- Kamen Rider Blu-ray Volume 1 features episodes 1-26.[2]
- Kamen Rider 4K Remaster Box 1 features episodes 1-26.
