is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero-drama television series. It is the eighth installment in the Kamen Rider series and a co-production between Mainichi Broadcasting System and Toei. The series aired on all Japan News Network affiliates from October 4, 1987, to October 9, 1988. For distribution purposes, Toei refers to this television series as Masked Rider Black.
The series has spawned a manga adaptation that ran in Shōnen Sunday during its broadcast; a direct sequel, Kamen Rider Black RX, in 1988; and a reboot, Kamen Rider Black Sun, in 2022.
Synopsis
The Creation King is the pinnacle of the evil cult Gorgom. As his life begins to extinguish, the elected Creation King will inherit his power. On the night of their 19th birthday, stepbrothers Kotaro Minami and Nobuhiko Akizuki were kidnapped by Gorgom and submitted to a mutant cyborg surgery to become the candidates for the next Gorgom Creation King. Both of them are called Century Kings and are destined to best each other in a final battle - whoever wins will become the next Creation King. Kotaro escaped before getting brainwashed (which is the final step in the surgery), with help from his foster father, and turned against Gorgom. He soon finds out the horrific truth from his stepfather: Gorgom originally killed his true parents and, since both Kotaro and Nobuhiko were born on the day of a solar eclipse, are referred to as "Black Sun" and "Shadow Moon". Kotaro, taking on the name of Kamen Rider Black, was determined to rescue his stepbrother from Gorgom while protecting Japan. However, later in the series, Nobuhiko emerged as Shadow Moon to fight Kotaro with the survivor becoming the next Creation King.
Episodes (Original Airdate: October 4, 1987) (Original Airdate: October 11, 1987) (Original Airdate: October 18, 1987) (Original Airdate: October 25, 1987) (Original Airdate: November 1, 1987) (Original Airdate: November 8, 1987) (Original Airdate: November 15, 1987) (Original Airdate: November 22, 1987) (Original Airdate: November 29, 1987) (Original Airdate: December 6, 1987) (Original Airdate: December 13, 1987) (Original Airdate: December 20, 1987) (Original Airdate: December 27, 1987) (Original Airdate: January 10, 1988) (Original Airdate: January 17, 1988) (Original Airdate: January 24, 1988) (Original Airdate: January 31, 1988) (Original Airdate: February 7, 1988) (Original Airdate: February 14, 1988) (Original Airdate: February 21, 1988) (Original Airdate: February 28, 1988) (Original Airdate: March 6, 1988) (Original Airdate: March 13, 1988) (Original Airdate: March 20, 1988) (Original Airdate: April 3, 1988) (Original Airdate: April 10, 1988) (Original Airdate: April 17, 1988) (Original Airdate: April 24, 1988) (Original Airdate: May 1, 1988) (Original Airdate: May 8, 1988) (Original Airdate: May 15, 1988) (Original Airdate: May 22, 1988) (Original Airdate: May 29, 1988) (Original Airdate: June 5, 1988) (Original Airdate: June 12, 1988) (Original Airdate: June 19, 1988) (Original Airdate: June 26, 1988) (Original Airdate: July 3, 1988) (Original Airdate: July 10, 1988) (Original Airdate: July 17, 1988) (Original Airdate: July 24, 1988) (Original Airdate: July 31, 1988) (Original Airdate: August 7, 1988) (Original Airdate: August 14, 1988) (Original Airdate: August 21, 1988) (Original Airdate: August 28, 1988) (Original Airdate: September 4, 1988) (Original Airdate: September 11, 1988) (Original Airdate: September 18, 1988) (Original Airdate: October 2, 1988) (Original Airdate: October 9, 1988)
Related media TV specials 1987: - It was broadcast one week before the first episode, and introduces the character Kamen Rider Black. 1988: - It covers all the heroes, from Kamen Rider 1 until ZX, and introduces Kamen Rider Black RX.
Films
Released on March 12, 1988 (between episodes 22 and 23) as part of the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival. Originally known simply as Kamen Rider Black during its theatrical release. Children all over Tokyo mysteriously disappear without warning. Kotaro suspects that the Gorgom are behind the abductions and follows a suspicious-looking tour bus with children on it, only to lose its trail off a cliff. With the help of a fisherman (played by Ishinomori himself), Kotaro travels to a remote island and uses his abilities as Kamen Rider Black to save the kids and foil Gorgom's latest evil scheme.
Released on July 9, 1988 (between episodes 38 and 39) as part of the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival. The city of Yūbari, Hokkaidō has become a ghost town following the presence of Shadow Moon and his minions of Gorgom. Makino, a scientist working on Gorgom's top-secret robot experiment, escapes from the evil organization and returns to Tokyo, only to find out that his wife and daughter have been abducted. As Kamen Rider Black, Kotaro travels to Yubari to save Makino's family and liberate the town from Shadow Moon's evil grasp.
Tetsuo Kurata reprised his role as Kotaro Minami in 2009's Kamen Rider Decade The Movie: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker.
Kurata also returned as Kotaro Minami in 2015's Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider 3.
Video games
A side-scrolling action game released by Bandai for the Family Computer Disk System on April 15, 1988. The player takes control of Kamen Rider Black, who must defeat numerous Gorgom mutants. The player got to ride Battle Hopper in addition to controlling Black on foot.
Kamen Rider Black appears as the main character of the 1988 storyline in this 3D action game for the PlayStation 2. Black's timeline takes place in August, two months after Shadow Moon's resurgence. Lead to an old Shocker hideout believing it to be Gorgom, Kotaro is forced to fight various kaijin and Gel-Shocker soldiers, only to learn the game's true villain is after the King Stone inside of him. Eventually, Kamen Rider 1, Kamen Rider V3 and Kamen Rider Agito travel to 1988 to assist him in the game's final battle. Tetsuo Kurata returns to voice the character. Shadow Moon makes a brief cameo as a non-playable character as well.
Kamen Rider Black Sun is a political drama reboot of Kamen Rider Black, broadcast as part of the Kamen Rider 50th Anniversary Project.
The reboot was announced at a press conference on April 3, 2021, with Kazuya Shiraishi heading the project as director. The series was announced to release in spring 2022, with a worldwide release being considered. The show's staff was confirmed in October 2021, with Izumi Takahashi as a screenwriter, Shinji Higuchi as a concept designer, and Kiyotaka Taguchi as special effects director. The first visual of the show was slated to be revealed the following month. The show's two leading actors were confirmed in November 2021, with Hidetoshi Nishijima as Kotaro Minami/Kamen Rider Black Sun and Tomoya Nakamura as Nobuhiko Akizuki/Kamen Rider Shadow Moon.
In other media Kamen Rider Black is pictured on the cover art of Powerman 5000's 1994 EP, True Force.
Cast Tetsuo Kurata as Takahito Horiuchi as Akemi Inoue as Ayumi Taguchi as Hitomi Yoshii as Susumu Kurobe as Jun Yoshida as
Voice cast Masaki Terasoma as Takeshi Watabe as Shōzō Iizuka as Toshimichi Takahashi as Kiyoshi Kobayashi (1–39) and Issei Masamune (40–51) as Narrator
Guest cast Kantarō Suga as Soichiro Akizuki Sent Hoshi as Yutaka Hirose as Hayami Ryōsuke Sakamoto as Morita Miyuki Nagato as Gorgom Henchwoman Jōji Nakata as Shigeru Sugiyama Masaki Kyomoto as Kouji Unogi as Buffalo Mutant (Human Form) Hiroko Nishimoto as Kimie Tadokoro
Masashi Ishibashi as Saburo Takasugi Shun Ueda as Kuwagata Mutant (Human Form) Eisuke Yoda as
Suit cast Jiro Okamoto as Kamen Rider Black Tokio Iwata as Century King Shadow Moon
Songs Opening theme
Lyrics: Composition: Arrangement: Artist: Tetsuo Kurata
Ending theme "Long Long Ago, 20th Century" Lyrics: Yoko Aki Composition: Ryudo Uzaki Arrangement: Eiji Kawamura Artist: Norio Sakai
International Broadcast, Home Video and Streaming In its home country of Japan from August 1992 to August 1993, the full series was released on VHS by Toei Video and spread across 13 volumes with four episodes on each tape, with the last volume containing only three episodes. Then from December 10, 2004, to April 21, 2005, the series was released in full on DVD in five volumes. Each volume contains 2 discs (1 disc for Vol.5) and 12 episodes (11 episodes for Vol.1, 6 episodes for Vol.5). Then from December 5, 2014, to April 8, 2015, the series was released on Blu-Ray and spread in three volumes. Each release containing three discs with 17 episodes. The Official Toei Tokusatsu YouTube channel also broadcast the series online from August 1, 2011, to January 22, 2012, then December 23, 2013 to June 15, 2014, then May 6, - November 4, 2017 and June 16, 2021. The Toei Tokusatsu Nico Nico Official Channel also broadcast it online from May 6, 2012 – April 14, 2013. Re-runs of the series aired on the Toei Channel during the frames of June–December 2001, January–April 2004, February–August 2013 and February–August 2015. It aired in Thailand in 1990 on Saturday before noon on Channel 3, dubbed as weera burut nakak dam. ("วีรบุรุษหน้ากากดำ", ). In the Chinese-speaking world, Cantonese, Mandarin (Taiwan dialect) and Hmong dubs were produced and aired in Hong Kong, Taiwan and in the Hmong-speaking regions and respectively. In Hong Kong, the series aired with a Cantonese Chinese dub aired from July 2, 1990, and finished on September 5, 1991. Originally, it aired from July 2 to October 1990 at first on Asia Television. At the time, it was titled: "Kamen Rider 1990." (幪面超人1990) The broadcast time was initially at 8:00pm every Monday to Friday, about half an hour, and later changed to an irregular time slot. Later on, the same channel premiered the sequel series, Kamen Rider Black RX from July 1 to August 1, 1991, and then renamed this series, Kamen Rider Black (假面騎士BLACK) for re-runs from August 2 to September 6, 1991, which was the only time this happened. After the re-run, the channel combined both shows into naming it Kamen Rider 1991. (幪面超人1991) In Taiwan, the series aired from December 1996 to December 1997 as Masked Rider Black (假面超人BLACK) on the Star Chinese Channel with a Taiwanese Mandarin dub, along with its sequel series, Kamen Rider Black RX. This was the very first Kamen Rider series to air in Taiwan. For the Hmong-speaking regions, A Hmong dub was produced and titled under Ntsaum Nab and was released direct to video.