- Apr 17, 2022
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I just got through watching the new "Kamen Rider Black Sun" miniseries and as a long time fan of the classic Japanese "Kamen Rider" ("Masked Rider") franchise, I enjoyed it rather a lot. It's a reboot of sorts of the classic 1987 series "Kamen Rider Black" and while you don't have to be a fan to follow what's going on? It made the experience more fun for me because I caught a lot of references that fans will certainly catch. For example, the main protagonist walks with a limp, and it hit me that back in 1971, when the OG "Kamen Rider" series was being made? When they were finishing up the tenth episode, the star, Hiroshi Fujioka, crashed his motorcycle while filming and broke his leg badly. A little tip of the hat to that, maybe?
That aside? Like the reboot of "Kamen Rider Amazon" Toei made some years back, this is a much more adult oriented series than the original. No sexual content, to be clear, but in general it gets far more serious, darker, and fair warning, there's a lot of violence and gore. If you can get past that aspect of things, it actually gets deep into a story of civil rights for nonhumans ("kaijins" or "strange people") in modern Japan, or an alternate version thereof, of course. Believe it or not, there's often a tragic element to the violence and bloodshed, as often times it's because it needs doing and whoever is doing it is only doing it because they've no other option (or so they think at the time). The main female character is a 14-year-old girl who starts off naive and idealistic, and goes through a profound arc of education and growth AKA getting a metric ton of reality slammed into her face that challenges her perceptions of life. Her changing drastically by the end of the series is earned, it didn't feel gratuitous in that department, to me.
There is a good amount of commentary on events of the last couple of years, with one overt reference at the end of the series that did make me wince because it felt heavy handed and shoved in there. But for the most part they don't blast you with that kind of thing and it works pretty well. It also frequently toggles back and forth between 2022 and 1972, and unreels the story a bit at at time to keep you interested, as you get to see the various characters grow and develop. I even felt sympathy for some of the villains due to their often being victims of circumstance and manipulation both subtle and overt. A lot of them are deliberately deceived and misled, and you can't help but feel sorry for them at times. There's a black guy whose character ends up playing a sizable role in events as they unfurl and while he does get his share of comedic moments, he's far from the token "silly black man" stereotype embodied in modern American cinema and TV these days. In fact, he turns out to be a really good character in the end.
Among other things, issues tackled involve commitment (and how far you'll go to prove that commitment), friendship and trust, betrayal and why people betray each other, how causes can spiral out of control in the blink of an eye, and one thing in particular I really liked was how they point out that extremity exists on both sides of the spectrum (contrary to what American media tells us). There's a moment where a human rights activist who is an obnoxious bully that likes to yell at people through a bullhorn is dealt with in a comedic manner that makes him run away in embarrassment. (That being said, let's just say it's a well timed instance of potty humor, literally) There is a lot going on in this series and my commentary just touches on the beginnings of it.
Long story short, if you can handle blood & guts and violence--the Japanese do not go halfway in that realm, fair warning--and get past that? This is definitely a thought provoking miniseries with excellent SPFX and suits, and it balances out pretty well in the end, IMO. If you're so inclined, it's available on Amazon Prime Video and worth a try.
That aside? Like the reboot of "Kamen Rider Amazon" Toei made some years back, this is a much more adult oriented series than the original. No sexual content, to be clear, but in general it gets far more serious, darker, and fair warning, there's a lot of violence and gore. If you can get past that aspect of things, it actually gets deep into a story of civil rights for nonhumans ("kaijins" or "strange people") in modern Japan, or an alternate version thereof, of course. Believe it or not, there's often a tragic element to the violence and bloodshed, as often times it's because it needs doing and whoever is doing it is only doing it because they've no other option (or so they think at the time). The main female character is a 14-year-old girl who starts off naive and idealistic, and goes through a profound arc of education and growth AKA getting a metric ton of reality slammed into her face that challenges her perceptions of life. Her changing drastically by the end of the series is earned, it didn't feel gratuitous in that department, to me.
There is a good amount of commentary on events of the last couple of years, with one overt reference at the end of the series that did make me wince because it felt heavy handed and shoved in there. But for the most part they don't blast you with that kind of thing and it works pretty well. It also frequently toggles back and forth between 2022 and 1972, and unreels the story a bit at at time to keep you interested, as you get to see the various characters grow and develop. I even felt sympathy for some of the villains due to their often being victims of circumstance and manipulation both subtle and overt. A lot of them are deliberately deceived and misled, and you can't help but feel sorry for them at times. There's a black guy whose character ends up playing a sizable role in events as they unfurl and while he does get his share of comedic moments, he's far from the token "silly black man" stereotype embodied in modern American cinema and TV these days. In fact, he turns out to be a really good character in the end.
Among other things, issues tackled involve commitment (and how far you'll go to prove that commitment), friendship and trust, betrayal and why people betray each other, how causes can spiral out of control in the blink of an eye, and one thing in particular I really liked was how they point out that extremity exists on both sides of the spectrum (contrary to what American media tells us). There's a moment where a human rights activist who is an obnoxious bully that likes to yell at people through a bullhorn is dealt with in a comedic manner that makes him run away in embarrassment. (That being said, let's just say it's a well timed instance of potty humor, literally) There is a lot going on in this series and my commentary just touches on the beginnings of it.
Long story short, if you can handle blood & guts and violence--the Japanese do not go halfway in that realm, fair warning--and get past that? This is definitely a thought provoking miniseries with excellent SPFX and suits, and it balances out pretty well in the end, IMO. If you're so inclined, it's available on Amazon Prime Video and worth a try.
