Kamen Rider

Kamen Rider
A statue of Kamen Rider #1 outside of Bandai corporate headquarters.
Genre	Tokusatsu Superhero fiction
Created by	Shotaro Ishinomori
Starring	Hiroshi Fujioka Takeshi Sasaki Akiji Kobayashi Jirō Chiba
Narrated by	Shinji Nakae
Opening theme	"Let's Go! Rider Kick!" by Hiroshi Fujioka (1–13) and Masato Shimon (14-88) (first) "Rider Action" by Masato Shimon (89–98) (second)
Ending theme	"The Song of Masked Rider" by Masato Shimon (1–71) (first) "Rider Action" by Masato Shimon (72–88) (second) "Lonely Masked Rider" by Masato Shimon (89–98) (third)
Composer(s)	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Country of origin	Japan
No. of episodes	98
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	MBS NET
Original release	April 3, 1971 – February 10, 1973
Chronology
Followed by	Kamen Rider V3

Kamen Rider (仮面ライダー, Kamen Raidā^?, Masked Rider) is a tokusatsu superhero television series and weekly science fiction manga created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. It debuted on television on April 3, 1971, and ran until February 10, 1973, airing on the Mainichi Broadcasting System and NET TV (now TV Asahi). The manga adaptation was also featured in Shōnen Magazine around the same period. The series has evolved into a franchise with many subsequent annual iterations. The cultural impact of the series in Japan resulted in astronomer Akimasa Nakamura naming two minor planets in honor of the series: 12408 Fujioka, after actor Hiroshi Fujioka, known for his portrayal of Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider 1, and 12796 Kamenrider, after the series itself.

The series takes place in a world plagued by Shocker, a mysterious world-wide terrorist organization. To further its plans for world domination, Shocker recruited its agents through kidnapping, turning their victims into mutant cyborgs and, ultimately, brainwashing them. However, one victim named Takeshi Hongo escaped just before the final brainwashing. With his sanity and moral conscience intact, Hongo battled Shocker's minions as the grasshopper-themed altered human (改造人間, kaizō ningen^?) superhero Kamen Rider. Another victim of the altered human process, freelance photographer Hayato Ichimonji, became Kamen Rider 2 after Kamen Rider, who renamed himself as "Kamen Rider 1", saved him from Shocker's brainwashing. Assisted by motorcycle race team manager Tobei Tachibana and FBI agent Kazuya Taki, the Kamen Riders fought in both solo and partnered missions against Shocker and its successor organization, Gel-Shocker.