Kamen Rider Black Sun (2022) episode 1 “Episode 1”
After my adverse reaction to Kamen Rider Amazons and seeing the very bad reviews, I was dreading checking out Kamen Rider Black Sun—the second web series that takes an old Kamen Rider show and recreates it as a grotesque and violent adult-oriented drama. This time, the much-loved Kamen Rider Black is coming under the reconstructive scalpel, and given that (just as with Amazon) Black was one of my favorites of the shows I taste-tested, I became even warier of what the new version might become. But surprisingly, despite my fears, Black Sun avoided many of the areas that most frustrated me about Amazons, and the resultant drama (based on the first episode anyway) is creative, scary, emotional, and resonant with me as a foreigner living in Japan. Plus very bloody and nasty.
This time, our main character is Kotaro Minami, a grungy middle-aged man who does odd jobs (flashback to Kamen Rider 000)—but Minami’s work tends to be the disreputable sort, like shaking down hapless people for money. In the world of this Rider series, monster people are an open part of society. Called “Kaijin,” they are of mysterious origin, outwardly human, but with an ability to transform into animal-people of all sorts—and they don’t receive recognition for human rights. When schoolgirl activist Aoi Izumi gives a speech to the UN about why Kaijin should be accepted and treated as equals with human beings, Minami is given a job to hunt her down and kill her—which he accepts. But at the same time, another group dispatches a spider-man to capture Aoi, and a gory battle erupts when they both descend upon the poor girl at the same time, and it turns out Minami is the titular Black Sun—a Kamen Rider with a very bad attitude.
A big part of the lore from Black Sun also features this massive bug called the Creation King, which has something to do with the origins of the Kaijin, and all that stuff is also tied into the origins of Black Sun and a second Kamen Rider. Kaijin can also slurp a substance called “Heaven” to power up and maintain eternal youth.
And along with all the above there are various machinations and an evil government and endless intrigue. Yet even with all the moving parts, I found myself connecting with Black Sun far more than I expected, and I think there were two overall reasons.
One was Aoi Izumi and her caring family. Izumi seems to be modeled after a Greta Thunberg or especially Mulala type, and it’s hard not to get behind her and care about her well-being.
The second reason is that the show could be interpreted as speaking to issues about foreigners in Japan and the discrimination we face. The word “Kaijin” is just one letter away from “Gaijin,” which is a rude or informal way to say “foreigner” in Japanese. The show also features extensive scenes with protests and speeches against Kaijin… and I have seen such demonstrations in Japan against foreigners. I have seen trucks outside of train stations in Japan with far-right activists loudly proclaiming that foreigners should leave, that foreigners have no place in Japan, and of course I have experienced mild racism at various points while living here as well. Making the Kaijin animal themed is a familiar Kamen Rider trope—but it also ties uncomfortably into the Tama-Chan incident from 2003, in which a sea lion was given an honorary entry into the city juminhyo (or resident registry)… something foreigners were not allowed at the time. Foreigners protested, marching the streets with sea lion whiskers sketched on their faces. The Kaijin in Black Sun transform into animals of all sorts, and the connection feels deliberate.
I also really like that Black Sun has organic monsters and Riders. They don’t look like robots or men in armor or origami (like in Revice), but actual animals with fur and scales and carapaces. The transformation sequences are less a light show than a squish of tentacles and shifting body parts. It reminded me most of Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue (1992) and The Guyver, which was a manga meant to take themes from Kamen Rider and make them even darker and more extreme.
I am intrigued by this show. It has a lot going on, and while it has apparently been criticized for its use of Black Lives Matter police battery imagery, the fact that it’s trying to say something important I think is laudable. I’d be curious to see more.