Kamen Rider Black or mostly known as ‘Kesatria Bajak Hitam’
in Malaysia. This series was broadcasted in Japan on 1987 for 51 episodes. It
was broadcasted in Malaysia during early 90’s. This series was hailed as the
best tokusatsu series in 80’s. There was an advertisement for its ‘henshin’
belt in Japan. The belt didn’t have gimmick like today’s ‘henshin’ belts.
Wear it and you can act like you are the Kamen Rider.
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The infamous ‘Kamen
Rider Black’ and his battle horse, ‘Battle Hopper’
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I
got to know this show not from the TV broadcast but from VHS tape. My father
often borrowed VHS tape from a rental store in Kota Bharu, Malaysia. At that time, it was
common for people to borrow tapes instead of bought a new one. New VHS tape was
pretty expensive at that time.
Why is this series my favourite show? Well,
this series holds many sentimental values to me and it made my childhood.
Before the DVD era arrived in Malaysia, to get this series on my hand was
pretty hard. I cannot find its VCD boxset anywhere. Luckily, during Form 1, my
friend had a VCD of this series. It contains two episodes. That was the first
time in 8 years I watched Kamen Rider Black in action (the last time I watched
Kamen Rider Black was before I started primary school). Today, you can purchase
its DVD which contains all 51 episodes or you can just download it for free.
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| Kamen Rider Black DVD in Malaysia. Yeah, it's a bootleg |
What is the story all about? What makes it different from
other Kamen Rider series before it? The story was about a young man named Minami
Kotaro. He was kidnapped together with his adoptive brother, Akizuki Nobuhiko
by an evil organisation called Gorgom. Unlike previous Kamen Rider series, both
brothers were kidnapped and went an operation to be genetically modified not to
be as one of Gorgom’s soldiers or monsters, but to be candidates of Gorgom’s new
king called Creation King. The life of the current Creation King was about to
end.
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| Minami Kotaro a.k.a Kamen Rider Black |
Both brothers were given powers and both of them were supposed to fight a
deathmatch. The winner of the deathmatch will be the new Creation King and rule
over the world. Unfortunately, Minami Kotaro managed to escape from Gorgom’s hand with his
adoptive father’s help who was a scientist sponsored by Gorgom.
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| Deathmatch that was supposed to happen between Kotaro and Nobuhiko |
His adoptive
father was killed by Gorgom’s monster as punishment for his betrayal. Long
story short, Kotaro killed the monster and announced himself as ‘Kamen Rider
Black’. His title in Gorgom was ‘Black Sun’.
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| Kamen Rider Black's HENSHIN Sequences |
His brother, Nobuhiko was wounded during his escape and the deathmatch
was postponed until his brother or known as ‘Shadow Moon’ healed and ready for
battle.
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| Nobuhiko was healed in crystal ball |
The
first half of the series was about our Kamen Rider Black
fought against Monster-Of-The-Week sent by Gorgom’s Three High Priests
(Darom, Baraom, Bishium) and Gorgom’s best swordmaster, Sword Saint
Birugenia.
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| From left: Bishium, Darom, Baraom |
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| Birugenia, Gorgom's swordmaster |
In the second half, ‘Shadow Moon’ was healed
and revived. His memories as Akitsuki Nobuhiko was remained and not erased but
his personality was totally changed to pure evil. He took over as Gorgom’s
leader with the three Priests as his right-hand man and started the world
domination.
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| The revival of Shadow Moon with his Satan Saber, a gift from Creation King |
The climax of this series witnessed the deathmatch between Kamen
Rider Black and Shadow Moon to determine who will be the Creation King. Black
wanted to defeat Shadow Moon to save the world and Shadow Moon had defeat Black
and retrieve the King Stone in Black’s belt to claim the throne as Creation
King. During the first deathmatch, Shadow Moon won and killed Kamen Rider Black but he didn't manage to get Black's King Stone. Kamen Rider Black was revived by a Gorgom's monster who defected the organization. After revival, Kamen Rider Black became stronger.
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| A stab from Shadow Moon which resulted his win over Kamen Rider Black |
In the second deathmatch, our hero managed to defeat Shadow Moon and killed the current
Creation King which ultimately save the world. During the deathmatch, Shadow Moon hijacked Black's motorcycle, Battle Hopper. Battle Hopper sacrificed itself to give a fatal blow to Shadow Moon after it received grave injuries from him because of its resistance towards Shadow Moon.
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| Shadow Moon rode Battle Hopper to fight Black |
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| A fatal blow from Shadow Moon after Battle Hopper rebelled against him |
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| Kamen Rider Black delivered finisher to Shadow Moon using Satan Saber |
Toei should consider Shadow Moon as Kamen
Rider already. There are many evil Kamen Riders in heisei Rider series and
Shadow Moon was the coolest evil Kamen Rider you can get. He also rode Battle
Hopper during his deathmatch with Kamen Rider Black.
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| Both of them is a pretty good match, right. |
There is a sequel of Kamen Rider Black called Kamen Rider
Black RX. Minami Kotaro was evolved to a new form to fight a new enemy. That
will be for another time perhaps.
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| Kotaro's evolved form, Kamen Rider Black RX |
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