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The series was adapted by Saban in North America as Saban's Masked Rider. The Americanization featured a heavily altered story and all new characters, in an attempt to fit the series in as a spin-off of 'the Power Rangers series.
This was the last installment of the Kamen Rider Series to be produced in the Shōwa period and the first to be produced in the Heisei period—Episode 11 was delayed by one week following Emperor Shōwa's death.
Tetsuo Kurata As Kotaro Minami
Kotaro was born on the day of a solar eclipse along with his stepbrother Nobuhiko Akizuki. The Gorgom
noticed this, both brothers were heirs to their leader's throne. Once
the two were of age, they were captured by the Gorgom and were infused
with Kingstones,
Kotaro was infused with the Stone of the Sun to become Century King
Black Sun. However before the final brainwashing, Kotaro's legal
guardian and Nobuhiko's father, Soichiro Akizuki interrupted the final
stage with Kotaro barely escaping.
Soichiro reveals to Kotaro that his real parents were killed by the Gorgom when he was a baby, before he himself was killed by five of Gorgom's Spider Mutants. Kotaro transformed and after defeating the mutants took the identity Kamen Rider BLACK to fight Gorgom. As BLACK, Kotaro gains friends from Nobuhiko's family as well as a friendly Gorgom mutant. Eventually Kotaro reunites with Nobuhiko; however, Nobuhiko was converted into the perfected Century King, Shadow Moon. In their fight, BLACK was killed and his family had to evacuate from Gorgom's reign over Japan. Eventually BLACK was resurrected and fought his way through hoards of monsters until fighting Shadow Moon and presumably killing him. Using the Satan Sabre used by Shadow Moon, BLACK fought against the Creation King of Gorgom and destroys him. With the Gorgom defeated, Kotaro visits the Capitola bar before leaving for unknown partsHalf a year after the defeat of Gorgom, Kotaro is left homeless until he is adopted into the Sahara family. He became a helicopter pilot for his new family's business due to their connections, beginning a new life for himself. Unfortunately, five years later Kotaro was abducted into the Crisis Empire mothership. The empire was aware of his identity as BLACK and gave him an offer to join them. Kotaro refused and fought back but was incapacitated with the Kingstone damaged. He was ejected into space floating aimlessly until the sun's radiation altered his Kingstone. When his pod entered Earth's atmosphere, Kotaro miraculously survived and had gained new power. His rider form evolved into Kamen Rider BLACK RX. With his new form and power he fought against the Crisis Empire.
When his adoptive sister Hitomi is kidnapped by Maribaron to assume the identity of the Crisis Empire's only living heir, Kotaro uses Deathgaron to enter the Desert of Death after them. By the time he finds Hitomi, Kotaro falls into a trap set up by Maribaron to do away with him and Deathgaron. When it looked as if Death Gron had actually killed Hitomi, RX was in a state of sorrow and sadness over the death of Hitomi invokes a new power, RoboRider. Using his power, RoboRider fatally wounds Deathgaron before learning that the Hitomi killed was a fake and the real one is being taken to the Miraculous Valley. On his way, he meets Joe the Haze who is under the control of Nexticker, freeing him before they and Shigeru are captured by Maribaron and the Princess Karuoriya. It was after they break free that Kotaro realizes the princess is Hitomi, who was abducted to replace the real princess who died and was force grown by the nearby waterfall. When he attempts to restore Hitomi's memory, Kotaro is forced to surrender when the Triplon captured Shigeru and Joe. Kotaro was then placed into a room for a hole designed to counter his abilities as both RX and RoboRider for a slow painful death. His rage to save those he love invokes another new form, Bio Rider. After killing Triplon, with Shigeru's help, Kotaros in having Hitomi regain his memory as she and the others are return to their original ages by the people who originally resided in the valley. With only Joe and Shigeru knowing his identity, Kotaro returns to Earth.
During the middle of the series, Shadow Moon mysteriously returns to seek revenge against him, shortly after, Shadow Moon was finally defeated when RX thrusted the Revolcane through Shadow Moon's Kingstone, effectively turning him good shortly before he died and finally reverting to Nobuhiko. In the finale, he was helped by the 10 veteran Kamen Riders to destroy the Crisis Empire.
(1988 - 1989)
| Gender: | Male |
| Series: | Kamen Rider BLACK Kamen Rider Black RX |
| Motif: | Black Grasshopper |
| Rider Type: | Hero |
| Homeworld: | Earth (Black/Black RX World) |
| First Appearance: | Black!! Transformation |
| Last Appearance: | A Shining Tomorrow! |
| Number of Episode Appearances: | 98 (2 seasons) |
| Actor: | Tetsuo Kurata |
Equipment
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