Kamen Rider V3 Review.

It's time.

Kazami Shiro.
By in large Shiro is what makes this show so enjoyable, which in turn has a lot to do with his actor; Takayuki Miyauchi. I enjoy just about anything Miyauchi is in as the man brings a presence and a level of charisma that can make otherwise ludicrous concepts be believable. I think the best example of that is Zubat, no one else could pull that off with such sincerity. His performance is no different here- though admittedly V3 is more down to earth than the later Zubat.
As for the character of Kazami Shiro, he embodies much of the same his predecessors did and is even affiliated with Takeshi Hongo and Hayato Ichimonji through Tachibana. This is only the second series after all, so similarities are to be expected, but they also are willing to try new things out. There's a lot more personal loss as Shiro's family is killed by the main organization of the series; Destron, resulting in Shiro wanting to become a Cyborg. Contrasting with Hongo and Hayato whose personal loss was a sense of self/humanity by becoming cyborgs. Additionally, Shiro wants this power simply to take revenge- understandable, but not exactly noble, and in Hongo's eyes an ignorant ill-thought request.

However, Shiro becomes mortally injured and can only be saved by being converted into a cyborg, resulting in Riders 1 & 2 to perform the operation. Despite finally getting his wish, Shiro's hatred was partly calmed when in the second episode Riders 1 & 2 sacrifice their selves to stop a missile from hitting Tokyo. With their supposed deaths and severity of the attempted attack by Destron, Shiro realizes more is at stake than his own personal vendetta, set along the path to protect others and prevent the same loss from happening to anyone else.
As the series progresses, Shiro trains to overcome the abilities of certain monsters and learns more about his own abilities, strengths and weaknesses. This leads to the 26 secrets of V3 and V3's 3 fatal weaknesses. Only 15 of Shiro's secret abilities are actually featured in the series proper, the rest are mentioned in the supplemental material. The same holds true to some extent for his weaknesses.
All three are shown, but only one is done so explicitly. (Ironically the narrator informs the audience several episodes prior to Shiro learning about it.) The rest are shown visually, which was rather innovative of the time.

Tōbei Tachibana.

Tachibana returns for V3, filling in much of the same role he did in the original series by being a mentor and to some extent father figure to the titular hero. Tachibana will often dote on Shiro whenever he pushes himself too far or asks for assistance in training under severe circumstances. Yet Tachibana assists none the less, and in cases when Shiro feels weary, he will snap him out of it. Additionally, he runs a communications HQ hidden within his sports shop and trains the Junior Rider Scouts. He also is shown to be resourceful, even rescuing Shiro from Destron.

Junko Tama.

Junko is a friend of Shiro's who has quite the crush on him, though Shiro keeps his distance in an attempt to keep her safe. Ultimately it really doesn't do a whole lot as she still works very closely with him; running communications out of Tachibana's sports shop, gets kidnapped once in while, usually with Tachibana or her younger brother.
Frustratingly, Shiro keeps his identity a secret from her because of his own (ironic) shame of being a cyborg. I do believe this has some good possibilities, but it never really goes anywhere aside from being the focus in one or two episodes. Shiro even goes as far to pull tricks so she thinks he and V3 are in two different places. Even Tachibana lies to her about it and what makes it all the more puzzling is the point of it all, because on several occasions before and after this incident, the Monsters call V3 Kazami Shiro, right in front of her, and it's never brought up.

Shigeru Tama.
Junko's little brother and first of the Shonen Rider Club, a group of children that have special communicators to contact Rider HQ and report mutants or other suspicious activity believed to be Destron.

Ken Sakuma.

Ken is a very odd character that I'm not entirely sure as to why he's here. He was part of a group of Interpol agents that have gathered intel and sabotaged various Destron plans, but when he remains the only surviving member of his team, he decides to help Shiro. Although he does help out, he appears very sporadically and at one point I even had to look up just who the hell this "new" character was because I simply could not remember him. It almost feels like he's in the role a secondary rider would normally fill, yet isn't.



Storywise the show is very episodic with two-parters near the beginning first quarter or so. It is 70s Showa after all, so one can't expect large over-arching stories. But there is continuity and the show can be segmented into loose arcs via the villains. For the first 13 episodes, there isn't a commander calling the shots outside of Destron's leader who is only ever shown as a speaker shaped like the villains' logo, much like with Shocker in the original Kamen Rider. By episode 13 we get one of my favourite Generals; Doktor G.

Portrayed by Jōtarō Senba.

Of all the Generals I think G makes the biggest impact. Being first does count for a lot, but his personality manages to stick out to me, even the way he says V3's name as "Kamen Raaaaaida V3" is memorable. His introduction is handled well too, with a bit of build-up to this mysterious new character Destron has called in to take care of Shiro. He also has the most appearances of any of the Generals in V3, with a total of 18.
The mutant MOTW under G's command was the same motif as before his introduction, which would be a type of animal combined with a machine or object of some kind. Machinegun Snake, Blowfish-Apache, Toad Boiler, Heater-Cicada, etc.

As with any general, he eventually had to meet his end. Holding Tachibana, Junko, and Shigeru captive, he lures V3 out and turns into Laser Crab. V3 makes Crab cakes and we're introduced to a new villain.

With episode 31 we have a new commander taking G's place; Baron Tusk, and he has one hell of an entrance.
He has his own monster; Skull Warthog, which he awakens by offering a human sacrifice.
They do not pull any punches with this. No one comes to save the victim, she isn't just having a bit of blood spilt but left alive, none of that. The girl they have gets her shirt torn as she's stabbed with tusks, blood spurts out as the monster drinks, and then she's covered with acid leaving only a skeleton. Goddamn.

Shock value and the unique change is largely what Baron Tusk has going for his episodes, and it's a good thing too because he's only around for five episodes. Seriously, just five. Tusk is a practitioner of Doovoo[sic] and this made me a bit uneasy at first, I really thought this was going to get egregious and possibly even offensive. Thankfully it never gets that bad and really comes off more as sort of a generic cult, which I do think works well for Destron. Cult-like activity is something that was around for Destron before,  even in the first episode with weird funeral rituals, but not like this. The mystical nature that Baron Tusk brings is a nice change, as most of his plots involve sacrifices, curses and things of that nature. His monsters are also all themed around having tusks or fangs (his name is Kiba which can be tusk or fang). So you get mutants like Fireball-Walrus, Snow-Wolf, Witch Smilodon(The only Female mutant in V3) and the aforementioned Skull Warthog. Then there's Baron Tusk himself who turns into Vampire Mammoth.

We also see him in this hilarious getup as Baron Tux.

Archbishop Wing.

Wing sadly never stuck out to me much. He has a neat wizard vibe going on and his voice is unusually quiet. But the most notable thing about his episodes is that four of his six episodes are mostly callbacks to episodes of the original Kamen Rider(4,31,3,2) This results in the episodes being significantly more memorable than the character of Archbishop, who is easily the most disposable of the villains.
His theme is also a little iffy due to one of the callbacks. Obviously, the motif is supposed to be winged animals, so there are things like Dryad-Flying Squirrel, Poison Mothla[sic], and the Bishop is Deadman-Bat; the usual reoccurring bat monster. However, one of their members is of all things a plant mutant; Plantaingan, a callback to Sarracenian. Easily the most bizarre and random of choices.

Despite my lukewarm feelings towards the character, his episodes are some of the most significant in development for Shiro. While Shiro did ultimately save people from Destron and was never blinded by his hatred towards the organization, it ate away at him. Episodes 39-42 written by producer Hirayama Tohru, elaborate on this inner conflict leading to a more manageable and focused resolve. If Shiro was set on the right starting path by Ichigo and Nigo, then these episodes are him coming to the conclusion. Episode 38, in particular, is quite possibly my favourite of the series for being such a good character piece. The episode consists of a little boy being stranded after his sister- the only family he has- is kidnapped by Destron. Kazami feels a personal connection given what happened to his own sister and takes the case very seriously. He goes to some dark places here, including torturing a Destron soldier for the location of their base.

But my favourite part is at the end when Shiro reflects upon all that has happened up to this point, finally coming full circle in a beautifully executed scene.

Even with me usually against a narrator telling us how someone feels, this works for me. This is the reason I love Kazami Shiro as a character and why V3 is one of my favourite series.
But Shiro's journey was not yet over. With episode 41 We enter our new and final general for the series; Marshal Armor.

Out of all the generals, Marshal Armor probably has the greatest successes in his schemes and comes the closest to defeating V3, if albeit indirectly or through his mutants (All shell based creatures btw). Over the course of several episodes, Shiro is assaulted by a gunman, is framed for murder, is captured and almost suffocates. They really ramp up the dramatic stuff from 41 onward and it's top notch. Even the Christmas two-parter is cranked to 11, with children getting kidnapped, a police officer killed in front of them, and then the kids are made into Destron soldiers and beaten.

Happy Christmas kids!

If nothing else the episodes under Marshal's rein provide an amazing build up and climax to the show. Armor himself is portrayed by Bunya Nakamura, who played a large variety of monsters and Riders(most notably #2) from 1971 until the final episode of 1975's Stronger, as well as many other heroes for Toei productions such as Inazuman, Ninja Arashi and Gorenger. He does a great job, making the Marshal seem intimidating and brilliant, yet arrogant and blinded by an incredible rage. The latter half would prove his undoing.

Yuki Joji.
Yuki Joji was a brilliant and loyal scientist to Destron, having great admiration within the organisation. This drew the attention of Marshal Armor, who felt threatened by Joji's influence and sought to have him removed. Framing Joji with leaking Destron secrets, and with permission from the council of commanders and Great Leader himself, Marshal Armor has him arrested and sentenced to death. Of course, we have to go all supervillain, so Joji is slowly lowered into a vat of sulfuric acid, his right arm lost in the process.

Or rather he just shoves his arm into the pool.

Before any more harm can be done, several Destron scientists rescue Joji, taking him away to a hideout and performing an operation to replace his missing arm with a cybernetic one they had been working on, in addition to a few other improvements...

With Riderman we have our first antagonistic rider, and Yuki Joji would remain such for a good while. What's interesting about this is he still believes in Destron and continues to do so even when presented with horrifying evidence of their misdeeds, as Joji rationalises it as all being Marshal Armor's fault. If he could just kill him, if he could just talk to the great leader directly, all this would be solved and Destron would be the benevolent force he believes in. Most of his episodes typically feature an uneasy alliance with V3, or selfishly trying to prevent V3 from killing a mutant because he wants to. Other times he just outright works with a mutant to try and get on Destron's good side.
As time goes on, Joji starts to realize it's not just Marshal Armor that's the source of Destron's ills. But even with this acknowledgement comes growing pains. When Destron's leader makes an appearance in Japan and V3 confronts him, Riderman protects the Great Leader, taking the full force of V3's kick. By the end of the episode, even Joji isn't sure why he protected the leader, it was simply instinctive, likely due to their personal connection. The Leader took in a young, depressed, suicidal, and orphaned Joji. Even with Joji fully understanding the nature of Destron, he couldn't allow the man who saved him to be killed. A gut reaction, but an awful one none the less, and one Joji would not repeat again.

Finally, in episode 51, Joji makes the heroic decision to take control of a Destron missile, defying Destron and its leader once in for all, saving thousands, if not millions by making the ultimate sacrifice. Thus truly understanding and earning the title of Kamen Rider.

Surprisingly, despite how note worth the character is, Joji is in very few episodes. He's not introduced until episode 43, only appearing in a total of 10 episodes. Despite his brief time on the show, his impact was felt for years. By in large every antagonistic Rider comes from Riderman, the best examples possibly being Ryu Terui from Kamen Rider W and even Ryuuga in the currently airing Build. When you really get down to it, all share a similar build; A person blinded by rage via personal loss, until performing an act of redemption, finally realizing that power, great or meek, should not be used for selfish goals, but to save others.


Finally, we come to the end. The last episode really ramps things up keeping the momentum of Riderman's sacrifice going. Destron's leader opting for an all-out open attack. Dams burst, cities burn, and the Rider HQ is completely laid waste to, with Tachibana and Juko nearly killed in the process.

However, V3 is able to track down the Leader's location by tracing the signal used to broadcast his orders. V3 confronts Destron's leader and it's rather hilarious because the leader is just a skeleton with a cybernetic heart. The effect here is probably one of the shoddiest in the series, it's William Castle levels of cheese. Which that is an apt comparison because it looks like V3 is fighting the skeleton from House on Haunted Hill.

V3 destroys the Destron Leader with but a single kick, and in doing so causes a tape recorder in the Leader's skull to play, congratulating Shiro, but that he is also coming with him, the entire base exploding. Tachibana, Junko, and Shigeru are left looking at a sunset, wondering where Shiro is. Though he never appears to them, Tachibana is sure that when the world is threatened again, Shiro will return.

Visuals/SFX.

Okay, first things first, this is a Showa Kamen Rider series, there is a lot of hokey looking shit here. If you've seen the original series, or hell even just a gif of Nigo bumping his head into a plane, then you know what to expect.

Then V3 isn't much different. There are moments where they use a sofubi figure or the like in very silly looking but still charming (and admittedly funny) scenes.

In addition to that, they occasionally will use a dummy... although they didn't actually have one so I think they just stuffed some newspaper and cardboard into the V3 costume. It looks rather horrifying.

Certain concepts and other effects are also on the more questionable side. Doktor G's adorable man-eating crabs and an extremely shoddy decapitation scene being among the more notable offenders.

That being said, the stunts and other effects are topnotch. A rather infamous scene involves V3 atop a smokestack, and it is the actual actor, Tetsuya Nakayashiki. No models, no dummy, and no safety equipment. It is a very scary looking image and also incredible.

Also incredible are the pyrotechnics done by the great Kikichi Kiyoshi. Right from the first opening title, there's an impressive 30-meter high explosion and V3 has plenty more throughout the series, some of which get surprisingly close to the performers. I think the only series right off hand that loved explosions this much (if not more) is Dynaman.

Another favourite thing of mine is how much hell Shiro goes through, this being shown with cuts, bruises, and harsh remedies. It can get quite gruesome at times and they use this very well from a story perspective. Shiro, for the most part, cannot go to a hospital because of his very nature, they even mention that a blood transfusion is impossible because he is no longer human.

Sometimes he even performs crude medical practices such as pulling a bullet out, sewing stitches or cauterizing a wound with a heated utensil. The way these scenes are shot is beautiful and disturbing. There's something about Showa lighting in general from Kamen Rider that is very attractive to me. It's almost like some scenes are lit only by a single light. I want to describe it as like an in-between of Film Noir and German expressionist but filtered through a Japanese lens.

Speaking of, the cinematography is for the most part very good. I will say some of the fights probably could have been shot better- specifically there are times when Shiro is punching and blatantly missing the enemy. There are moments when it looks either intentional or improvised on the spot to look like it was dodged. But there are other times when he is clearly meant to be hitting something yet isn't. Still, there are fun fights, including a lot of ambitious fights in the water, which we don't really get nowadays.

Not to mention Shiro just murdering the hell out of Destron soldiers.

Morbid as it is, I do enjoy Shiro throwing guys off hight places. I also guess they did have a dummy, they just broke it in these scenes.

As for the general designs, I think they're for the most part pretty damn good. V3's outfit looks really good for the time, with a much more colourful appearance than his predecessors. I will admit I honestly had no clue what the motif was until looking it up because Dragonfly isn't exactly easy to get across. Only the double mufflers give an indication of wings and maybe the redbone the idea of a segmented body.

Riderman I think is fine, if a little bare on the back side. I know not a lot of people are fond of the open face, but I'm fine with it. Part of me does wish they would have toyed around with a faceplate that could retract, maybe looking like a moulded version of the Destron mask, but I'm good with this. Joji is supposed to look less impressive than Shiro because he isn't as powerful and has to rely on tricks and skills more than any other rider.

Speaking of Destron, I really love these outfits, they're way better than the Shocker Combatmen. I think it's the covered nose and mouth that helps a lot. They don't look quite as silly, instead appearing more cult-like in a way.

When it comes to the monsters thing are dicier. That's not a bad thing, it just comes with the territory. Rarely does a Monster of the Week formate have outstanding monsters, they can't because it has to be new every week, the bar is "Good enough" on most days. Tsuburaya is an exception to that rule, but they also had a bigger budget back in the day. Though if I had to pick- not counting the generals- Machinegun Snake and Toad Boiler are personal favourites.

Finally, I should mention that V3 has two directors of photography; Kawasaki Ryuji, and Hara Hideo, who took over with episode 29. The transition is flawless and I had no idea there had even been a change. V3 is very consistent in that regard.

Music.

I really do not have a whole lot to say about this. Early Kamen Rider music really isn't my thing. That said I do like the opening title theme performed by Hiroshi Miyauchi and The Swingers. The latter half really do carry the song, though. As much as I like Miyauchi, the one thing he isn't good at is singing. I also suggest looking up the Ichiro Mizuki cover, which is really good. Speaking of Mizuki, he performs a few more songs on the soundtrack; such as V3 no March, Hitori Uta, and the first ending theme Shounen Shoujo Rider Tai no Uta.(Which also doubles as the theme to the Boy's Rider Club) With episode 29 would have a new op and ed. While the opening theme remained the same the visuals were different, and the ending was new all together with the track Hashire Hurricane.

But again, not a whole lot sticks out to me in terms of music within the main show, with the one exception being V3 Action which is used often. Part of the reason I'm not into Showa Rider music is just that most of it doesn't appeal a great deal to me, the other is that V3's more memorable- or at least most used tracks, tend to be instrumental, even instrumental versions of aforementioned songs tend to be used more. As for everything else, they're fine, very 70s cop show feel, which I do dig but it's mostly atmospheric and not the sort of thing I would find myself humming like from Black onward.

DVD Presentation.

Right from the start, I love the package art, no silly looking cover like Shout Factory's Zyuranger and Dairanger. The only thing that's a little funny is how often Kazami appears on the cover and sides.

Again, very nice and clear what it is. I like the little double Typhoon next to the DVD logo.

Next, we have the back which gives a quick synopsis and details on the special features- which I will be getting to shortly, but we still have a few things to go over with the packaging. The case itself is nothing special, just a simple black multi-disc holder which is a bit on the stiff side and was originally difficult to open, but became less strenuous after a few uses. The same holds true for removing the DVDs, aside from the first and last discs, the releases are all fairly stiff- though I was never worried about snapping anything, so it's not too bad.

The inside is plain with no interior art, but it does include a piece of paper listing the episodes found on each DVD along with the bonus features.

While the inside does not contain art, each DVD has a unique image; mainly Kazami and V3, with the final two discs showing Riderman.


Each DVD also gets its own unique opening for the Generation Kickaider logo, and each menu starts up with an instrumental version of 'V3 Action' along with V3 punching and flipping before the main menu appears. The visual look of the Menus is also different for each disc.

NOTE: If you're using VLC, it will skip the intro to the menu.

The options are pretty simple with the usual Play all, episode selection, subs, etc. The thing that is interesting is the episode selection, which not only contains 5 chapters for each(Opening, Title card, Eye-catch, Preview, and Credits) but also shows moving thumbnails for each and every one, giving you a little preview. This is perfect if you ever need to check back on something or are looking for a specific part, especially since all the episodes are considered one large file.

Subs.

I've said this before, but I don't speak Japanese so there's only so much I can say here. For the most part, the subs appear fine and I've only encountered a few questionable instances, such as ep, 42 which does not feature subs when a woman collapses and people react with various shock and excitement.

There's also this weird line.

And that's basically all I have to say about it.

Bonus Features.

The factoids on this set are just incredible. There is so much hard to find and obscure information loaded into each and every one. The most random one-off character will have entries for the actors that played them, people that did pyrotechnics, information on shooting locations, people who wrote under aliases, people who only wrote and/or directed as little as one episode; will have an entree somewhere on one of these DVDs. It's incredible and I can only imagine how much work went into obtaining all this information, and for a relative niche show as well. I know Special features like this aren't everyone's cup of tea. But I gotta say this makes the DVD for me. I think the show itself is wonderful and I would have been happy with my purchase anyway, but this goes the extra mile. It's not just V3, it's tokusatsu information in general and things I never knew. I never knew who designed the Shocker logo, but I do now. Riderman having an unused Octopus arm? The Gun arm I knew but had no idea there were more never used.
I've picked out some of my favourites just to give you the idea of what's included.

I haven't even made it through a quarter of these things yet, I'm still finding out tons of information. The only downside about this is that you can't go to a specific number, which is rather annoying when there can be as many as 73 and you have to cycle one at a time. Some information is also duplicated, but it's fairly rare and minor, and it's only when something occurs multiple times such as a location being used in say episode 7 and then it shows up again in 35.
A plus is that some Facts will inform you of other discs if there is more information about a particular person or subject that is somehow related.
Also not sure if this is a mistake or not, but on the final disc facts, 22 & 23 are both the same, with only the corner photo changing.

The other big special feature is a very nice 22 minutes interview with Hiroshi Miyauchi. There's not much to say about the interview itself- in fact, it's fairly easy to find on youtube if you want to watch. But it is insightful and heartwarming to see Miyauchi appreciate how much people love V3.

I'm not giving any context for this.

One thing I will mention is that this interview was done in around late 2004 or maybe 2005 which is when the DVD released in Hawaii, so one of the questions relating to "current" Rider Series like Faiz and Blade through me for a loop. I mainly only mention this because Miyauchi had no idea who they were and that just paints a funny picture of V3 not knowing or caring about current Riders.


Other special features are either fine or not that special. Who's that Bug Man and Destron are probably the next best because they're very much like the Factoids and also written by August Ragone. But aside from that, everything else is just kinda there. You got Karaoke, it's karaoke. There are character profiles, and not so special things listed like scene selection and subtitles. The subs do actually have the option to block expletives which I think is a neat feature but there also isn't really a use for it. This isn't like some edgy fansub, in fact, it was so innocuous I checked to make sure it wasn't on by default. I think the worst thing said was 'Bastard' in maybe two or three episodes.

Finally, the last special feature listed is remastered video and audio. I really question this legitimacy- or at least the context. Granted I am by no means an expert on this, for the longest time I had no idea Kamen Rider Stronger footage was taken from LaserDisc copies or that Timeranger was actually shot on film but looked so awkward because the release came from VHS masters. It's common practice for Toei to release DVDs that use LaserDisc or videotape masters instead of the original film. Toei does that a lot until they do a Blu-ray release. The Original Kamen Rider got a proper remaster using the original film, cleaning it all up, and it looks gorgeous on Bluray. Anyway, my point is I'm not sure Toei would allow Generation Kikiader access to actual film, and even if they did, they clearly did not clean it up because while the majority of episodes look decent enough, there are parts in certain episodes where the film has clearly degraded and the colors are off, or the film itself is jumping.

Now, this only happens a handful of times for very brief scenes in maybe five episodes tops. But they are there and it's bizarre.
Episode 40, in particular, has a lot of black lines flickering down at the bottom of the screen. I didn't notice it on my first time watching, but upon gathering scenes for this review, the black line thing happens a lot, pretty much every episode has it, but not as bad as 40 and it's just for a sec or two. One other thing I did notice is that all these jumps and off colours are during fight scenes, with exception to the black lines which can happen anywhere but are more active in fights. I don't know why. So yeah there's a good chance these are just copied from the laserdiscs or tapes and maybe tweaked a bit. It is hardly what I would call a remaster. Thankfully V3 is a Bluray in Japan so maybe we'll see how gorgeous the show really can be.

Final thoughts.

I really enjoyed V3, even if you've not seen the original Kamen Rider it's a great watch and it has become one of my favourites from the era, second only to Black. I really cannot praise this enough for what an impact it had on later shows. It's well written and holds up very well all things considered.
There is the matter of cost, and it's a hard pill to swallow. The retail cost is 150 USD, that's a lot of freaking money. Now, I got mine on sale for about 120, but that's still really high. I do wish they could get it down to at least 80, but I also understand this is a very small company that by in large made this set for a niche market in Hawaii and that was that only goal in mind, the fact that this even got released is amazing to me. Plus side is thanks to Amazon you don't have to pay for shipping now, and as I stated the bonus features to help a lot if you're into that. Had this been bare as the majority of Shout's Sentai releases have been I might feel differently. But much like the show, this set clearly had a lot of love and effort put into it. Do try to get it on sale if you can, I've even seen it go as low as 112 back in December, which is a first. If you can spare it, I highly suggest picking it up.

You all work for Deadpool, now!