Kamen Rider (1971) Episode 13 Review/New Series Review Added!

This episode’s Kajin is Lizardron, a nasty Shocker Cyborg with a sweet kick. This episode is meant to be the penultimate close to the Hongo chapter for now, so everyone is on their “A” Game as Shocker resurrects all of the previous Kajin in order to destroy Kamen Rider once and for all! This is a nice episode that leads to the introduction of Kamen Rider 2, and it also closes out many methods and characters as the show “reboots” with Episode 14.

We begin with an Atomic Facility at night, where two guards are doing their routine walk around the place when they are assualted by Bat Man and Scorpion Man, who are trying to break into the facility. Upon ending up failing due to a mysterious electromagnetic barrier, Shocker devises a plan to first use a special bomb that can destroy the barrier, then build a powerful enough Kajin to kick it. They nab the human host of said Kajin via a despot soccer player who we basically can tell isn’t a great guy so we won’t mind him becoming Lizardron.

Meanwhile Taki finally joins the crew as the gang decides to investigate the break-in at the lab. Taki does breathe a hint of fresh air as he can do a lot of the investigation scenes a lot better than the others, plus his physical abilities are top notch to take on the Shocker Grunts easily. Taki does run into the human form of Lizardron, along with the other Shocker Kajin, leading to a pretty hilarious moment when Lizardron talks down the others for not being able to defeat Kamen Rider:

"Alright everyone, first we're going to look at how smashing I am in this robe and talk about it, then we'll kill the Kamen Rider." "Fabulous!"

Lizardron and the Grunts chase down Taki and Ruriko until Kamen Rider saves the day….only to be defeated by Lizardron’s fabulous shot. What then follows is a Rocky-style moment of training for Kamen Rider with Tachibana, of which I do have to commend the voice actor for Hongo at this point for trying to come somewhat close to match Fujioka’s speaking tone, if not the distinct gravel in his voice. Kamen Rider develops the Lightning Rider Kick, which is powerful to smash boulders and be able to take care of Lizardron with no problem. When Tachibana tries to tell Taki about Kamen Rider’s success, he finds Taki gone and then discovers his profession as an F.B.I. agent. Needless to say, all paths cross at the lab area, and it’s up to Kamen Rider to defeat the resurrected Kajin and Lizardron.

The fight sequences here were nicely put together, from the training montage to the final fight of the episode. Kamen Rider ends up dealing with the other Kajin very quickly using many of their trait against them, which does show that he hadn’t forgotten how to defeat them beforehand. For some that may be bothersome as it took an entire episode to deal with a Kajin for them to now be quick cannon fodder, but the way that they and Lizardron are destroyed is good thinking and makes sense while utilizing the Lightning Rider Kick. Only thing that really got to me, and this was more of a funny aspect than anything else, was that over the last 3 episodes (including this one), they would occasionally try to throw on a wig on the stunt actor as Hiroshi Fujioka had an impressive mane that stuck out of the Kamen Rider helmet. Only thing is, they were never consistent which would lead to some continuity issues, with the worst offender being this pic here as Kamen Rider catches the Wave-Destroying Bomb:

I wonder if they had that wig feathered before throwing it on the stuntman.

As the arc comes to a close with Hongo, one can see how far the crew has come, not only in special effects and fight choreography, but also in storytelling and building the overall narrative. My final judgement is to catch this episode, as it is a great technical means of judging what is to come as far as what to expect from the debut of Kamen Rider 2……

And now for a word. As this particular arc finishes itself out, we’re going to change gears and start taking a look at another old-school Toku show from the East. From here on out, we’ll be adding different shows often, so expect a blend of Kamen Rider, Sentai, and other assorted goodies. As for our next show, well, here’s a hint: