The Masker World Report

The 70th Anniversary of Ishinomori Shôtarô's birthday is wrapping up, so the longtime Rider supporters at Kodansha (publisher of Terebi-Magazine) helped put together a special event, featuring the work of Oshima Yasuji.

Wait, who? Oshima became an official photographer for Kodansha in 1964 (working on Weekly Boy's Magazine) and then in 1965 became one of the pioneer cameraman for Tokusatsu. His lens has captured everything from Ultra Q all the way up to most recent programs. His wide assortment of publicity and still photos have appeared in Terebi-Magazine (which is nearly as old as Kamen Rider itself), Kodansha-published guide books, the immortal Kamen Rider Snack trading cards, and whatnot. So yeah, he's a name you should get to know. In the future, I'd like to do a more in-depth look into some his most famous shots.

The aforementioned event is called Masker World (仮面の世界, Kamen no Sekai), which takes its name from the final chapter of the original series comic by Ishinomori (a long-running column in Toei Hero MAX also uses it.) As you might have guessed, "Masker" is a portmanteau of Masked Rider.

It's going on in Akihabara, Tokyo, at Akihabara Square (near the JR station) from today until January 4th. And guess who went on opening day? That's right, me! :D It's been ages since I've been able to get out and do much Kamen Rider-related stuff, so this was a welcome break from the stress of work and such. I arrived early, having to make the long trek down from where I live to that wonderful place known as Akiba. After standing in the same spot in line for over an hour (in Japan, people take this sort of thing in stride) we were allowed in.

Unfortunately, on account of all the brand-new not-yet-public stuff on display, as well as the fact that basically all the photos were being sold in a hardcover book at the end of the exhibit, I couldn't take many pictures. Believe me, if I could, I would've brought a crew to videotape the entire thing and me walking through it, but alas, sometimes the suits are stricter than others. Past events I've been to usually don't care as much, but this one was a bit more high-strung based on what was there. I was able to at least snap a few photos at the beginning of the exhibit, since 1) everybody else was doing it and 2) there weren't any "No Photos" signs at that point. So here you go:







That's basically what it looked like. By now, I've seen the Rider 1 suit and New Cyclone costume enough to... aw, who am I kidding? I freaked out as usual. Going to this thing also proved the longstanding myth that I can listen to "Let's Go!! Rider Kick" on a continuous loop for well over 2 hours and never get tired of it.

The entrance area had another line for collecting/selling tickets, as well as purchasing the event-exclusive figure, S.I.C. Kamen Rider X (Original Work version). Y'see, before they settled on the color palette for X-Rider that we know and love, Ishinomori's sketches have him looking a biy different. An early NG (No Good) version of the costume was also made, and like the artwork gave the X-man a shiny silvery suit with blue gloves and red boots.

While it's an interesting look, I prefer what we actually got, because the red/gray/black/silver scheme works a bit better for me. Also, it leads into one of Kamen Rider's deepest-ever philosophical messages: consider that the predominantly gray X-Rider's arch-nemesis is the mostly black and white Apollo Geist. Whereas the gray is representative of free will and balance (where everything has a "shade of gray" and works on multiple levels); black & white are representing a more rigid, narrow-minded world of extremes, absolute rights and wrongs- you play by our rules, or don't play at all. And that's completely true to the characters themselves. And that? That's cooler than ice.

*Ahem.* Anyway, the figure's basically just a repaint of the S.I.C. X-Rider from earlier this year, but I loved that one, so I snapped this up (as did seemingly everyone else. Every member of some families got one!) He comes with all his accessories, save for S.I.C. Apollo Geist and his stuff, but that's okay (I guess they got him right the first time.) I usually don't go for variant color figures*, but this one's got some history to it so I bought in.

*Unless they've got something to do with Rider 1 or 2, of course.

Check out the cool box:




I think I read it will be sold via Toei Hero Net as well.

Following this, it's onto the main event, which I photographed up above. Oshima's work runs the gauntlet from Ultraman to Kamen Rider and nearly everything in between, although this exhibit focused on Ishinomori-related characters. Which is mostly the Riders, of course, although a handful of other classics like Henshin Ninja Arashi, Daitetsujin 17, Robot Keji (Detective), and the every-lovable Kaiketsu Zubat were represented. Even ByCrosser/BiCrosser/ByClosser/BiClosser/BHoweveryouwanttospellitosser.

Riders ruled all though, as Oshima has been covering them all the way from the beginning, up until now. With one notable exception: Kamen Rider BLACK. No, I don't know why. I'd like to know, I really would. But for some reason, BLACK wasn't covered by Terebi-Magazine back in '87~88, so he's left out. BLACK RX, no problem, he's there. But not the original incarnation. It's baffling, but then the magazines are funny like that; one of the others (there's also Terebi-Kun and the now-defunct Terebi-Land) had no coverage of the Ultra series when it started up again in the mid/late 90's. Like, nothing. Strange, but true.

That said, everybody else from Clan Rider was represented by an assortment of old photographs. Now, if I may take a moment to pat myself on the back: being some kind of "Kamen Rider Expert" (a title I take with a mix of humbleness and secret evil glee), I probably take an above-average interest in the off-screen parts of the Riderverse, more than the average fan anyway. I willingly suffer through the worst of the comics (and believe me, some of the comics make the TV series' low points look like Oscar-worthy material.)

I covet the behind-the-scenes materials and Hirayama books loaded with great stuff that you never even see hinted at on TV (like Doctor Shinigami's family.) And I go out of my way to accumulate as many reference books and guides as possible. You're looking at (well, reading about) a man who spent the dough to get a V3 guide book which, honestly, wasn't anything that other books didn't already cover, and they did it better. But I didn't have it, so it was worth the pick-up. Being dirt-cheap helped as well.

So of course, the vast majority of the pictures (on display in over-sized prints of various shapes) were stuff I'd seen before. After all, I do own Oshima's Kamen Rider-related photobooks, including the Terebi Magazine-offshoot two-volume hardcovers which are entirely about the original series.

But there were still a few gems, which is why I picked up the new hardcover they were selling at the event. Yes, it's just stuff like a shot of Tsukuba Hiroshi talking to Stronger and V3 (wearing the wrong-colored gloves. Oh how I love you, New Kamen Rider episode #28.) But y'know what? I live for that stuff, so I enjoyed the heck out of this all the same.

Of course, there was a lot more there than just photos. The entrance area (where we waited in line after waiting in line) had a giant 16-screen monitor display showing off the Opening sequences to every Kamen Rider series (plus ZX's special.) Talk about a nostalgia trip! I had forgotten just how good Kuuga's original OP is (before it starts getting all artsy later on.) It's simple, it's kinda cheap, using footage right out of the show and random battle scenes we never actually see happen, but hey: that's what the best old Rider OPs were! And that shot of Godai behind the barb wire = classic. If you want to really read into it, it's summing up his place in the Kuugaverse in about 2 seconds, but maybe that's just crazy-talk.

The Ryuki opening was also an old favorite too, and it's funny to think back to it now that Dragon Knight is a reality. And then there's the Hibiki OPs (they showed 'em both, as with the other two-OP-song Rider shows.) They're really good, aren't they? Putting aside the fact that it's a bit hard to watch the first one without thinking of dear Kanbe Miyuki (R.I.P.), as well as thinking about how I'll never be able to look at Hitomi the same way again, it's good stuff. The editing, the timing to the music, etc. The bit where Hibiki flies/falls face-first into the camera right before the title is a bit weird, but hey- it makes me smile. The second one though... now that's really a masterpiece. It helps that it was set to a great song too.

But before this turns into me talking about OPs, let's get back to the thing most people will be reading this for. Besides, you don't want me to get started on how *damn* good the Stronger OP really is.

Okay, here's where the real big news comes in: following the Kiva opening was an extended trailer for 2009's upcoming Kamen Rider Decade. All the stuff we've seen in the short TV spots was there, plus a lot, lot more. The (spoilerific) highlights:

-We see more of the main guy, Kadoya Tsukasa, fumbling about with a camera (he's a cameraman. I already like him.) In nearly every scene he seems to have gotten his butt just kicked; he's got blood around his mouth a lot of the time (and no, I don't think he's a vampire.) As with Wataru, a lot of the pre-show pics of the actor just left me wondering "Wait, who?", but he looks to be pretty cool in the clips. And again, the cameraman bit. Ichimonji kicked ass, and Segawa was a tree-huggin' hippie, but he can step on people, and not many Riders can say they can do that. So bring it on!

-We see all the Rider cards Decade gets, but with ghostly images, like the pictures are missing. Sorta like the Blank cards from Blade. I assume as he meets each Rider/"borrows" their powers, the images will be filled in with the complete versions (which, BTW, have the Riders' faces over their respective symbols. Just puttin' that out there.)

-There's a lot of stuff from the dream-sequence "Great Rider War", which is all witnessed by some girl (probably having the dream, natch.) A couple guys I didn't see before (Ibuki & Ketaros) are there too, but I think just about everybody's probably there. This is The Great Rider War, after all! Even the Daleks probably show up.

-During this, Kuuga tries to attack someone (Decade?) on his bike and then gets knocked off, and we see him rising up to face Decade's back. Also some of Decade vs. Kuuga Ultimate Form battle that's probably going to prove highly controversial, because I have a feeling Decade comes out of that one the victor. Well either that, or Kamen Rider Decade is about 2 1/2 minutes long.

-It looks like just about everyone gets blown up real good too. Caucasus & some of the guys are shown running through explosions in slow-motion, and there's nothing about that sentence I don't like.

-Then there's scenes of Decade in the Kuugaverse, appearing before the new Kuuga, Onodera Yuusuke, and a woman in a long coat who almost looks like an Ichijô equivalent. I dunno about new Yuusuke yet, but we see him grabbing Tsukasa and yelling at him. He'll be a very different kind of character than Godai I think; less of a replacement than a reinterpretation. I'd call him Mirror Kuuga (with a goatee) but we already have the Rider Mirrorverse, so maybe I'll just start calling him Kamen Rider Kuuga 2 or New Kamen Rider Kuuga. Or Kamen Rider Kuuga Onodera Form.

-We see new the new Grongi King, and then a ton of old Grongi surrounding Tsukasa, ready to tear him to shreds. I even see the Bean Counter in there! But then Kuuga drives down stairs on Try Chaser to save him!

-Speaking of which, there's LOTS of bikes in this promo. Decade's bike, Kuuga's, and a bunch of others.

-Next we see Wataru, albeit acting similar to Tendô, finger-pointing to the sky and very calm. He meets with Tsukasa. Then it cuts to Kabuto holding a card, and Kabuto fighting. I don't want to make any pre-judgments on this, but I wonder if Wataru is somehow now connected to Kabuto. Possibly because of the whole world-merging business, so reality is getting torn a new one and things are beginning to mush together. It could just be the editing though, but I noticed we don't see Kiva, just Wataru. Probably just the editing. We'll find out soon!

-The most crowd-pleasing moment: We see the Hoppers! Both of 'em, looking up to no good. I'd be really surprised if we don't see Tokuyama (Yaguruma) and Uchiyama (Kageyama) back, cuz they're uber-geeks and loved their roles in Kabuto.

-Next wee see "Decade Faiz" (Faiz with Decade's belt) running up to Auto-Vajin and a girl in a helmet. Mari? If it is her, let's hope Wataru doesn't see her! Kusaka's probably stalking them all.

-Decade Hibiki is shown, wielding his drumsticks and preparing to sling a fireball at something or someone. Probably the people who are still denying that Hibiki is a Kamen Rider.

-Decade is seen driving through a crowd of monsters. See, I told you there were lots of bikes!

-And the final shot is a photo-montage of the main 10, and an announcement of when the show starts (1/25/2009.)

I think that's just about everything. Agito, Ryuki, Blade & Den-O didn't appear, but you know they're going to show up. I expect we'll be seeing this trailer, in full or in part, after the next episode of Kiva airs, or the week after.

The Decade coverage didn't end there though; after going through the main photo gallery there was a special section set up by Bandai. On display was the massive Tamashii Collectors Super Real Heroes Vol. 2 Kamen Rider 1 (Kamen Rider THE NEXT version), which is the follow-up to that super-duper Faiz statue that lit up and stuff. Based on a body scan of the real suit actor, the figure (well, statue) has light-up eyes, a spinning belt fan, and Henshin sound effects. And it's like, $800. And BIG. I think I'll pass on that one, unless I see it really cheap (the Faiz is already down to about half-price at some places) and I suddenly decide I really need a big unmoving NEXTy Rider 1 (classic Rider 1 though, and I'm helpless to resist.) There was also the S.I.C. Hero Saga Vol. 3 DARK SIDE diorama scene, featuring Kuuga Ultimate Form. It's big, it lights up, and it doesn't so much else, but it looks cool.

In the nearby display cases were things of more immediate interest to me. It's here where I curse the no-pictures rule, cuz there was a lot of nice stuff. I'll try to talk you through it though.

All the Den-O S.I.C. figures released so far were set up, including the soon-to-be-released Vol. 44 Kamen Rider Zeronos & Deneb Imagin, next month's Vol. 45 Kamen Rider Den-O Liner Form & Kamen Rider Zeronos Zero Form, and the unpainted prototype of February's Vol. 46 Kamen Rider 1 & Cyclone (Kamen Rider THE FIRST). The event-special X-Rider was on display too.

Okay, I gotta say: While this year's X-Rider/Apollo Geist will be my favorite S.I.C. release of the year, as for the best S.I.C. set, well, hard to say. Because Vol. 44 looks AWESOME. Deneb's face, which looked a bit funky in the photos, is actually great in person. In fact, the S.I.C. figure highlights just how mask-like the golden upper part of his face is. It's almost Phantom of the Opera-ish. Zeronos looks badass too, and the accessories will practically be worth the price of admission alone.

The final forms set ain't half bad either; Liner Form looks pretty close to what was on TV, and Zero Form is a bit more stylized, but in a good way. The Den-Kamen Sword looks cooler here than ever before. As for the Rider 1/Bike combo... whoa. I've seen painted pics by now, but even without the paint it looks like a definite pick-up. I won't care too much if we don't get the others (although they are welcome); Kamen Rider 1 was so iconic by his lonesome in the movie, I can live with just this. It looks like a great set.

They also had every FiguArts figure released thus far, including the brand-new (just out this weekend) Kamen Rider Ketaros and Kamen Rider Hercus. They look rad, and I should have mine to review soon.

The upcoming Twist Action figures (Kuuga, Den-O Sword Form, and unpainted Ryuki) were on display. And now, having seen them in person... hmmm. I think I might get one and see how it is, because based on looks, they aren't so hot. From the waist up, they're pretty good, but the legs are a different story. The material's a bit too loose, and would probably fit some Riders better than others (Blade would be good in this style, with his heavy leathery suit.) It'll really depend on how poseable they are; in a standing neutral pose they look pretty iffy but in an action pose they might fly. I'll probably get Kuuga because he looked to be the better of the two. I don't want to judge 'em too hard yet, but they're not exactly Medicom-quality.

More promising were the upcoming Ganbaride tie-in toys; the Legend Rider Series figures (Wave 1 of which I've gotten, and they're great), as well as next month's HG Gallery Series Heisei Rider Gachapon figure sets. Since they're a mix of new and rehashed figures, Bandai did a bit of tinkering so everyone has painted eyes rather than the clear eyes H.G.C.O.R.E. has been doing (although the most recent Kiva figures have painted eyes.) They still look cool though, and Decade (our first HG Decade) looks really nice.

Lastly, there was the upcoming online exclusive Rider Mask Collection Display Stage, which will feature space for all Riders up to J, and comes with the special exclusive Shin Kamen Rider "mask" (well, head.) It lights up too, so if you didn't get the rare light-up versions of the masks originally, you can give everybody the juice with this. The only real downside is you had to get all the individual masks in the first place to complete the scene, and since the Kamen Rider 2 (New) mask was a Magazine Z exclusive from years ago... I don't have that one. Time to go hunting! The (also) upcoming Complete Selection Henshin Onsa (from Kamen Rider Hibiki) was there too. It's 1/1 scale, comes with 3 (non-transforming) Disc Animals, and looks cool. I assume it'll be electronic too, which will make it worth a pick-up.

We're almost at the end, but before the exit there were three more things of interest: one was the Gift Shop, which had numerous items (both exclusive to the event and available at online retailers like Bandai Fashion & Toei Hero Net.) I got some photo post cards, a clear file set (containing both an original of Rider 1 & the Decade line-up pic) and the hardcover book. You could also get framed prints of some of Oshima's photos, but the price was a bit too steep for me. There was some Fujioka fanclub stuff, but I vowed to wait on those since you get a lot of them free by joining up (something I, shamefully, keep putting off. 2009 resolution!)

There were a couple display cases set up with some very special items pulled from the archives. One contained the original script, storyboard and artwork for Kamen Rider episode #84. Also known as the one Ishinomori wrote and directed (and appears in it in a cameo.) A lot of people tend to think Ishinomori somehow created Kamen Rider with just his own two hands. That he wrote every script, directed every episode, played background guy #3, and even handled all the catering.

Surprise! They're wrong. It took 84 episodes just to get him to do one, but we they did, they got it. This is Ishinomori Unleashed, as true an example of his vision for Kamen Rider as you're gonna get. More than Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue, more than the drug-fueled theory where he planned out Kuuga, Agito and Hibiki (but nothing else.) Possibly even more than his own comics! This is the real deal, baby. And how is it?

Well, it's pretty crazy. But considering the preview for the episode had a more meta-than-meta scene where Black Shôgun talks about (in-character, mind you) how Ishinomori is writing and directing, and we see him getting pointers from Ishinomori while stagehands bustle about, well... it's to be expected. God, I love this stuff.

Anyways, another case featured some of the original Kamen Rider Snack cards (re-released and re-printed umpteen times) and for a Rider fan, seeing them is roughly akin to seeing one of Shakespere's original manuscripts. Lastly, there was a collection of classic Terebi-Magazines, going all the way back to 1971. I learned a couple things from seeing these, namely that 1) 1980 was a pretty awesome year to be in Japan, and 2) it really was called New Kamen Rider back then too. And yes, poor BLACK was nowhere to be seen. Kids reading Terebi-Magazine must've been confused as hell when suddenly this RX guy shows up one month.

And finally, the much-anticipated, long-awaited Ganbaride card game. The machines are going to be appearing nationwide soon (if not already) and they had three set up on "Free Play" mode (usually it costs 100 Yen, and you're "guaranteed at least one card". These were free, and the only cards were on sleeves attached to the machine.) After watching some other people try it, with varying degrees of success (including a poor kid who got his IXA/Rod Form team utterly destroyed by the Double Riders) I gave it a shot.

It's all a bit confusing, but quite fun. You basically have a two-on-two battle with the second character acting as a sort of support guy who gives you bonuses depending on the combination (and cards used.) In this particular case, the opponents were Kiva & IXA. Good team, right? So who did I choose to go up against them?

Who else?

Sadly, there was no Rider 2 card at my machine, so it ended up being Rider 1 & BLACK Not bad though. Kivat liked it (he does A LOT of gabbing away during the game.) I think I got some bonus for awesomeness, or something. To be honest, it all goes by so fast. It's kind of like time travel or being launched into orbit; you get used to it, but it takes a few times (...wait, what?) From what I could gather, it's largely down to timing and luck, although there are multiple modes to play on and I went with "Easy", so for all I know it could've been on auto-pilot.

Needless to say that after three rounds (in which Rider 1 & Kiva kicked the crap out of each other while BLACK and IXA stood around looking cool) I was given the choice to either insert another card or try for a Hissatsu Waza. And who am I to argue with Momotaros logic?

The resulting Rider Kick sent Kiva flying. And then he, um, kind of exploded. So I won! I now plan to collect the cards and build a deck based around the Shôwa Riders. And then go around dispensing a little pre-1989 justice.

And that's basically it. All in all it was an action-packed day, and considering this all took place in like, one lobby outside a cafe divided by black drapes, that's pretty incredible. Decade looks like it's gonna be great, Ganbaride's pretty awesome, there's a lot of great toys on the way, and all things considered, 2008 was a good year for Kamen Rider. And 2009 looks like it'll be too. Even if Ishinomori sadly isn't around to enjoy it, at least we've still got people like Oshima carrying on the legacy. And I don't think he'd ask for much more than that.

***