Secret Origins, Part 3

Previously in this overview of Oda Katsumi & Muraeda Kenichi's "The Men Who Made Kamen Rider", we were introduced to Toei creative producer Hirayama Tôru, the man who, for all intents and purposes, is as important in the creation of Kamen Rider as Ishinomori is. The task of creating a new super hero/action/fantasy series for kids was placed on Hirayama's shoulders, and after laying the initial groundwork himself, he sought out someone to design the program's titular hero.

That someone was Ishinomori Shôtarô (then just "Ishimori", I'll refer to him by his more recent name) a comic artist who by this point had already gathered critical acclaim and commerical success from his legendary Cyborg 009 comic, which had spawned two film adaptations and a short-lived TV series (the latter of which had future Rider series writer Igami Masaru onboard.) Of course, it would go on to have future series and films, and you might have seen some of the more recent on dubbed in English (or maybe you didn't, but if not, it's worth checking out.) So even here, he's hit the big time (and more than earned his "sensei" title.)

Hirayama was aware of 009's success and knew Ishinomori would definitely be the go-to guy for this project. All the same, he is humbled in the other man's presence and surprised by their close age. He has some good reason to be humbled though: while Hirayama may be a bigshot TV producer, Ishinomori is literally above even him in demand; a guy from Ishinomori's circle (his agent, if I had to guess) keeps reminding him that he's only got 30 minutes; Ishinomori has other deadlines to meet; he was a busy man for much of his life.

Hirayama caves in and says he'll come back next week, but Ishinomori tells him to wait. The flunkie starts to freak, but Ishinomori assures him it'll be quick. Hirayama is surprised that he's already made up his mind on the design (he only just read the "Maskman K" outline.) And Ishinomori, who had it forming in his head from the moment he picked up the script, delivers the goods:

And lo, there shall come a hero...

CrossFire!

Well okay, jumping back for a moment; prior to coming up with this name "Maskman K" became "Masked Angel", and eventually "CrossFire" as a result of the cross-like design of the helmet (which will come back one day, after a fashion...) Hirayama runs this version by Toei TV Vice-Director Watanabe Yoshinori, who eats it up. He takes it to the folks at Mainichi Broadcasting Corp., who also love it to bits. Hirayama wins much praise for the design and concept, and he humbly defers the credit to Ishinomori. This is an extremely important point to note; when Kamen Rider finally became the Kamen Rider we know and love, Hirayama was content to take only "Producer" credit; he gratefully bestowed the title of "Original Work" on Ishinomori, a fact which remains consistent to this day. As a result, it is often believed that Ishinomori created the Kamen Rider franchise; while this is half-right, we can't forget about Hirayama's contributions (nor those other other people like co-producer Abe Seiji, etc.)

So things are looking good... until that evening.

Hirayama gets a phone call, and maybe it's just Muraeda's art idealizing her, but Mrs. Hirayama? Must've been pretty smokin' back in the day.

It's from Ishinomori, and it ain't good.

He's decided he wants to change the design. Hirayama explains that the bosses and Mainichi (which will be the channel running the upcoming program) think it's great as it is. They think it's stylish, good-looking, cool... which is exactly Ishinomori's problem with it.

He wants something more... "grotesque...and fantastic"...

Next Time: A legendary hero is born... but it isn't Kamen Rider!

***