Of all the defining works that Hideaki Anno has successfully included in his unofficial Shin Japan Heroes universe, Kamen Rider is arguably the most personal. If Shin Evangelion is seen as an ending that reflects Anno's journey as a creator and battles depression, Shin Godzilla reframes the monster's fearsome origins in the specter of 3.11, and Shin Ultraman reinvents the hope the icon offered by being co-opted as a PR boost, Shin Kamen Rider feels different.
Perhaps because Kamen Rider himself is a very different beast in Anno's eyes. The franchise began in 1971 as a relatively obscure tokusatsu hero compared to his contemporaries. Mangaka Shotaro Ishinomori's concept designs envisioned an intentionally darker hero while partially designing the series as a horror story beyond its action-packed, heroic appearance. He was about a hero charting a bright future from a dark beginning, understanding justice along the way as a more morally gray type of hero.
Director: Hideaki Anno
Writers: Hideaki Anno, Shotaro Ishinomori
Stars: Sôsuke Ikematsu, Minami Hamabe, Tasuku Emoto
In the original series, both Kamen Rider and the enemy organization Shocker were even cut from the same cloth, having just escaped brainwashing from the evil organization whose in-universe characters had ties to the Nazis. There was bold action, but there was a heavier theme as the series pontificated on the idea of justice itself, and the bumpy road to understanding it and following that path.
Shin Kamen Rider is with this mind that Anno created the world of this new film. In conversations about this series, he mentioned an anecdote that the horror aspects were part of what fascinated him about the series as a child, and having watched the series on a black and white television, it was the startling images of the insect. . Kamen Rider's mask eyes in the dark he remembers most strongly. This darkness in the midst of struggle, hope and the search for justice is the key to unlocking this film.
With no setup, the film opens with Takeshi Hongo kidnapped by Shocker and transformed into the mutant cyborg we recognize as the titular Kamen Rider. However, before the transformation is complete, he escapes with the help of a woman named Ruriko Midorikawa. As he fights to protect Ruriko and escape Shocker, we see the shocking power of Hongo's new force go into a rather brutal attack on the troops sent against them, pummeling and attacking the group until they are bloodied to death.
It's a moment that instantly shocks an unsuspecting audience as well as our protagonist, and sets in motion a story about how and when to fight for justice when you have the power to do so. Much of the rest of the story is meant not to tell of Shocker's rise and fall, but rather a time for Hongo, as Kamen Rider, to come to terms with and understand his role as someone with the power to strike back and protect those in need.
We see people murdered in cold blood by Shocker, as Hongo is repeatedly both the victim and the perpetrator of the violence inflicted on screen in the name of rebellion against his evil plans. Just as we see blood stain his hand in that first strike against the group's nefarious actions, we see Hongo use those same hands to fight for his idea of justice despite everything. This choice between justice and injustice, about whether to continue fighting, knowing that doing so risks not only physical harm but also the reality of living with the psychological damage of knowing the pain you inflicted on others, is found in the center of Shin Kamen Rider. thesis.
Watch Shin Kamen Rider 2023 Movie Trailer
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