Shin Kamen Rider Prologue



If you think this is a run of the mill take on good and evil, go elsewhere.

If not, read on.

Shin Kamen Rider Prologue is a Darker and Edgier ~direct-to-video~ incarnation of the Kamen Rider franchise released in 1992.

It is the story of Shin Kazamatsuri, a simple young man who's experimented on by his father, Dr. Kazamatsuri, and his father's partner, Dr. Onizuka. Rather than contributing to a possible cure for diseases, Shin is instead gene-spliced with Grasshopper DNA. This results in him getting the power to become a Grasshopper-monster himself. This secret puts him and his loved ones in danger from the Syndicate funding the experiment, the CIA, and Onizuka, who himself can change into a Grasshopper-monster.

Often shunned by Kamen Rider fans due to its Deconstruction nature.

This work features examples of:

 * Artifact Title: Shin doesn't wear a mask, he physically transforms into Kamen Rider, nor does he ride his bike (a Suzuki Bandi 250) in his transformed state.
 * Badass: Sarah Fukumachi, the CIA operative. Over the course of the film she orders a raid on Onizuka's lab (and is the only survivor), saves Shin from a sniping attempt, bursts in on the Nebulous Evil Organization's transport of with a rocket launcher, and most likely would have killed Shin in the climax had an organization helicopter not gotten in the way.
 * For bonus points, she's constantly wearing a Scarf of Asskicking.
 * The Berserker: Shin, Dr. Onizuka
 * Bittersweet Ending
 * Bloodier and Gorier: Shin's "finishing move" is to cut a monster's head and pull it off complete with part of the spine and dripping neon green blood (Eat your heart out, Sub-Zero.) Yes, there actually is a Rider with a more violent attack style than Kamen Rider Amazon.
 * Body Horror
 * Creator Cameo: Shotaro Ishinomori is the guy with the Funny Afro at the beginning of the movie.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Shin killing the Big Bad who just killed his Love Interest. The former is a grasshopper-monster complete with super-strength, sharp claws and ultraregeneration powers, the latter is a normal human with a gun...yeah.
 * Cut Short: Despite the fact that the title calls it a prologue, Shin never went any further than the one movie. Kamen Rider Decade's comedy net spinoff has Shin asking the Decade cast to help his petition for a sequel, and subsequently finding success and fame
 * Darker and Edgier: No shit. This film is the darkest and grittiest interpretation of Kamen Rider to date. Rather than a tranditional super-suited human, the Rider is genetically altered and undergoes a horrifying transformation. The fight scenes are visceral and bloody. And if that weren't bad enough, almost everybody in the film dies. Considering that the Kamen Rider fanbase is normally very supportive of darker installments (Kamen Rider Black, Kamen Rider Faiz, etc.), the controversial nature of this film amongst the fandom is quite the indicator of what this film is like.
 * Deconstruction
 * Did Not Do the Research: Apparently the reason for Shin and Onizuka's Psychic Link is that it is a mutation of an insect Hive Mind. Putting aside the fact that social insects do not work that way (a fact which wasn't really all that well known at the time), grasshoppers are not even social insects to begin with.
 * Fan Service (oddly enough... or not): We get a completely nude scene of the female lead in the shower and swimming naked with Shin, who's also naked.
 * Gray and Gray Morality: While we do have a Big Bad, the CIA will not hesitate to dispose of Shin if he proves uncooperative.
 * Involuntary Shapeshifting: Shin, at least initially, has no control over how or when he transforms.
 * Kill Em All: By the end of the movie, pretty much every named character except Shin and his gym buddy, who was nowhere near the scene of carnage, is dead. Including Shin's girlfriend, who was pregnant with his child.
 * Milestone Celebration: 20th anniversary production.
 * Painful Transformation: And HOW!
 * Psychic Link: Shin and Onizuka have one.
 * Thirteen Is Unlucky: Meta example: Kamen Rider Decade acknowledges Shin as the thirteenth Kamen Rider (counting Black and RX separately, who are technically the same character). Guess which one was the scariest and deconstructed the entire concept.