Rider Change! Wait a minute...
In this episode, Kotaro Minami tries to escape the clutches of the Gorgom cult only to end up discovering that he not anymore human.
The first episode of Kamen Rider BLACK is similar to thefirst episodeof the 1971 Kamen Rider series. For starters, we have the following elements with some minor twists: protagonist escapes from evil organization thanks to some scientist that is sort of related to him, scientist dies because of said organization, a scene where we see the protagonist struggling to keep up with his new abilities as a modified human and lastly, a spider monster as the first monster the protagonist will face.
Going into detail of the similar elements the show has with the 1971 Kamen Rider series' first episode, unlike Takeshi where we saw Shocker abduct him, we never see Kotaro's abduction scene (if he has one), but we only saw a scene wherein one of the cult leaders (?) will try to remove his memories so that he can be the cult's Black Sun while his "brother" will become the cult's Shadow Moon. These titles are names of the Century Kings, the leaders of the Gorgom cult. That's the twist in the original Kamen Rider story, we have two guys who will soon undergo the brainwashing process and thankfully, a scientist named Professor Akizuki stopped it because "it is not part of their agreement."
The next thing we know is that Kotaro is now out of Gorgom's hideout and he is now running away from the three Gorgom cult leaders (?) who are chasing him to finish the operation. This part of the episode made my scratch my head for a bit since how the heck Kotaro escaped from that place and found some clothes along the way? Hopefully, they can explain his escape in detail in the next episode. BLACK's origin story is not the main part of the episode, but what happened after the origin story. This reminded me a bit of Kamen Rider Stronger'sfirst episodeless the long roll call, Shigeru thwarting another of Black Satan's plans and Tackle.
One thing that I liked about the episode is the focus on the chase and how the Gorgom cult works. The chase part of the episode shows that even if Kotaro tries his best to hide away from them, the cult will still find him. By find him, you can see them walk on buildings and eve fly just to find you and finish the operation. The three Gorgom cult leaders (?) is one of the best creature designs the franchise has to offer. Their humanoid appearance and the fact that they are wearing robes add up the mystery of these beings that will cause you to feel fear every time you see them. It didn't help that every time we see them in this episode, most of their close up shots can give someone an impression that they are looking for you and turn you into one of their creatures.
Since Kotaro can run but he can't hide, he ends up getting thrown at an electronic billboard to show him that he is no longer human and that his body can withstand any pain. But that didn't stop Kotaro to run away from them. He was continuously tortured by Gorgom before he was thrown in a warehouse. I am not sure if it is because of the torture or for them to continue with the plot but we saw Kotaro's first transformation as the Black Sun. His initial appearance is similar to Kamen Rider BLACK's appearance in the original manga. He is more monster and less Rider-like, he is kinda like Kamen Rider Shin less the close up shots and the ripping and tearing of human flesh.
But this monster-like form didn't last as the monster morphed into a more Rider-like appearance. When I first saw the Kamen Rider BLACK suit, it took me quite some time for me to get used to it due to how organic the suit like in the first place. Organic in a sense that we saw some brown muscles underneath the black armor and that the armor is more rounded. What's more, for the first time in the history of the franchise, they ditched the heroic scarf, which is the trademark of the franchise for years now. I find the idea of ditching the scarf to lean more on a darker and edgier take on a modified grasshopper man refreshing as it gave the Black Sun an impression that he is supposed to be a monster and not a hero of justice.
His first fight as Black Sun against the cult leaders (?) is really refreshing as we saw signs that he is struggling with his new abilities and not automatically master it in one day. Though he barely managed to survive, at least he was able to fend off the ones chasing him. After the retreat of the leaders (?) we saw Black Sun's personal bike, the Battle Hopper. The bike reminded me of Kamen Rider Amazon's Jungler as it looked more of an organic being under the disguise of a bike and less like the bike of you average cool biker.
One thing I noticed about Battle Hopper is that once Kotaro reverts back to normal, he uses a different bike for his transportation and not use the Battle Hopper as his means of transportation as regular Kotaro. I find this change really refreshing as most bikes can transform or in Shigeru's case and most of the Heisei Riders used their Rider bikes as their main mode of transportation. Speaking of the bike, he returned home and saw a letter coming from his father, the same scientist that helped him escape Gorgom to go to Camp Diablo because he will tell him the plot, I mean, important matters.
He proceeds to Camp Diablo after an incident wherein he destroyed a bottle of juice by accident thanks to his monstrous strength. He meets up with his father, Professor Akizuki and explained how he got involved with Gorgom. To cut long story short, Akizuki joined Gorgom to fund some research, his friend, Minami doesn't agree with him and was killed by the cult. Their sons, Nobuhiko and Kotaro were born on the same day, during a solar eclipse. Considering the solar eclipse factor and that Gorgom approached their parents, I guess it has something to do on Kotaro's new found abilities.
Unlike Professor Midorikawa who bravely opposed Shocker's plan, Professor Akizuki showed fear on the cult and that he can't escape from them. What's more, based on how he speak, it seems like he sold his son and adopted son to the same cult that is making him suffer! I am not sure if what he did is the right thing but it feels like the reason why he gave his sons to the cult is for him to save himself and not the future of his sons. Even if he showed fear towards the cult, his execution has been planned from the very beginning.
The professor was killed by a spider monster as he dropped the professor from a tower. The impact of the fall caused his death and much to my surprise, we saw a date tattooed on his wrist. It can only mean one thing, his death is planned from the day he joined the organization. His death caused Kotaro to transform into Black Sun, no, he transformed into Kamen Rider BLACK! His transformation pose is quite similar to Kamen Rider 1's later transformation pose except that he utilized cool stock footage transformation effects.
BLACK's first fight with the spider monsters (!) is really fun to watch as he fights each creature one by one and during the time he is in big trouble, he just calls the Battle Hopper to aide him in battle! So aside from looking to organic, BLACK can call the Battle Hopper in battle as well! The best thing about Battle Hopper in battle is that BLACK uses this not just a means of transport, but to combat the spider monsters before facing them in a large, empty area where he finished them with a Rider Punch and a Rider Kick. One thing I noticed with the Rider Punch is that he used it more than once to destroy most of the spider monsters while he just used a single Rider Kick in finishing one monster.
Though the use of real time footage (!) and multiple Rider Punches is cool, my only disappointment is that the explosions exploded inwards, not outwards like most tokusatsu explosions are. At the end, the girls found out the dead Professor Akizuki and Kotaro's fight as Kamen Rider BLACK is only beginning.
