Kamen Rider J
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Kamen Rider J is a very unique member of the rider family, although one that not a lot of fans seem to welcome easily. When this movie first came out it surprised a lot of people in the fan base because it featured a Kamen Rider who could grow in size to Ultraman-like proportions (although it should be noted that Kamen Rider did grow to giant proportions in the Kamen Rider VS Ultraman special, albeit it should be noted that this was not part of either hero's continuity). This, it seems somehow took away from what makes Kamen Riders as unique group in the tokusatsu genre.

I became interested in this film a while back, but have not had a chance to view it until recenty. Needless to say that it was a very interesting movie to watch, but ultimately I found it to be one of the weaker (if not weakest) entries in the Kamen Rider saga.

Story Overview

The film starts off by introducing us to the Fog, alien life forms that seek to destroy our world and the human race. We learn that they have visited planet Earth in the past and were the cause of the dinosaurs' demise. Flash-forward; we now get to meet our hero Segawa Kouji, an enviromentalist reporter/photographer, who is currently in a forest with his younger sister Kana.

After some additional exposition we learn that the Fog need a human sacrifice for the hatching of the Fog Mother and thus they end up kidnapping Kouji's sister and killing Kouji, who is then revived by a giant, speaking Grasshopper (!). This grasshopper and his two comrades also grant our hero with J-Powers, which he must use to fight the Fog and rescue his sister.

Will Kamen Rider J be able to defeat the three eldest members of the Fog family and rescue his sister?

My Opinion

Kamen Rider J is in many ways a typical movie from the 1990's with many dark scenes, monster designs that strive to be organically realistic, and a very serious tone and as such it really doens't do much to stand out from the crowd of other sci-fi movies from its time.

The major problem I found with this movie is that it lacks the elements that made the Kamen Riders such a staple of Japanese TV and cinema: colorful heroics, exciting battle scenes, heroic music and a story that made us care about whether the character triumphed of failed in his quest for justice.

There are four major battles in this movie, but for the most part they are not very exciting. Even the final confrontation in which Kamen Rider grows to Ultraman-like proportions was a dissappointment. Everything just slows down to a halt when Kamen Rider J grapples with the giant Mother Fog in slow motion.

Does this mean that there is nothing noteworthy in this film? Not at all, it just meansthat there's not a lot of it. There are some good special effects that fans should check out and also the final Kamen Rider kick was fun to watch as our hero jumps so high he goes past several clouds before coming down to perform his ultimated kick.

Conclusion

If you seen a lot of Kamen Rider shows/movies and have not seen this one yet then by all means check it out, it will make for an interesting viewing, however, if you are currently looking for a good place to start checking out the Kamen Rider series avoid this one and go for some of the other entries in the series like the original Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider V3, Kamen Rider Black, Kamen Rider Agito or Kamen Rider Ryuki.

Jeffrey Couto