Kamen Rider (1971 TV series)
Kamen Rider (Japanese: 仮面ライダー, Hepburn: Kamen Raidā, lit. 'Masked Rider') is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series and weekly science fiction manga created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. The original airing consisted of a total of 98 episodes and were broadcast from April 3, 1971, to February 10, 1973, on Mainichi Broadcasting System and NET (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.
| Kamen Rider | |
|---|---|
Original Japanese title card | |
| Genre | Tokusatsu Superhero Horror Science fiction |
| Created by | Shotaro Ishinomori |
| Developed by | Masaru Igami |
| Directed by | Koichi Takemoto |
| Starring | Hiroshi Fujioka Takeshi Sasaki Jirō Chiba Akiji Kobayashi Wakako Oki |
| Voices of | Gorō Naya |
| Narrated by | Shinji Nakae |
| Opening theme | "Let's Go!! Rider Kick!" by Hiroshi Fujioka (#1–13) and Masato Shimon (#14–88) "Rider Action" by Masato Shimon (#89–98) |
| Ending theme | "Kamen Rider no Uta" by Masato Shimon (#1–71) "Rider Action" by Masato Shimon (#72–88) "Lonely Kamen Rider" by Masato Shimon (#89–98) |
| Composer | Shunsuke Kikuchi |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| No. of episodes | 98 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production companies | Toei Company Ishimori Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | MBS TV NET |
| Release | April 3, 1971 – February 10, 1973 |
| Related | |
| Kamen Rider V3 | |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Shotaro Ishinomori |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Magazine |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | 1971 – 1973 |
| Volumes | 4 |
The series spawned a second boom in tokusatsu shows, and was Toei's first commercialised series. During its run the brand sold 620 million bags of popcorn (branded Kamen Rider Snack), 3.8 million transformation belts and 300,000 bikes.