Kamen Rider G



""Now, my vintage is at its luxurious… …Transform!""

Kamen Rider G was a 20 minute short episode released in 2009. It's an Affectionate Parody of all things Kamen Rider.

In the year 2009 following the events of The War On Terror, a black ops anti-terrorist organization called Shade was created. After the Japanese government uncover some human-rights violations connected to their Super Soldier project, they shut Shade down and imprison their leader, Tokugawa Seizan.

At the TV Asahi building, members of the now-rogue Shade organization take everyone inside hostage. They interrupt filming of a show about wine, hosted by one Hinata Eri, and one of them, called "Number 5", comes to deliver their demands for the release of their leader. Eri recognizes Number 5 as Goro, the man who had promised to marry her three years before but had then disappeared. He didn't seem to remember her at all, however. After finishing the speech on-air he drinks some of the wine left behind by Eri, and his memories of his former life, and the brainwashing and modifications done to him by Shade to make him "remodeled human code G". He begins to fight against Shade for the sake of his love, as the lonely warrior of love, Kamen Rider G.

Kamen Rider G contains examples of ...

 * Affectionate Parody: G is essentially a Showa-style (Reconstructed Human) Rider in a heavily themed Heisei Rider show.
 * Brought to You By The Letter S: "G" is for Kamen Rider G, obviously.
 * The Danza: Goro Inagaki as Goro, the titular hero.
 * Early Bird Cameo:
 * Everything's Better With Spinning: Swirling Rider Kick
 * Hey It's That Guy: One of the Shade agents is Kenji Matsuda, a.k.a Zanki and Garuru.
 * Improbable Weapon User: G's obligatory rider sword is actually a giant sommelier knife with corkscrew.
 * Large Ham
 * Mood Dissonance: The short episode itself played the tropes straight, but being broadcast during SMAP's variety program meant that SMAP was viewing it live, MST3K style. Says it all, really.
 * Mythology Gag: The short version is "everything" (even the recycled music is used under the same circumstances as in the original series) but they went the extra mile with the transformation. First, he lands, imprinting his symbol into the ground a la Kiva. Then, he does Kamen Rider 1's arm-fling, then rotates it with his arm leaving behind an afterimage just like Skyrider. He inserts the wine bottle from the side just like Ryuki's Advent Deck insert, and pulls the bottle opener handle back much like Gatack's Cast Off. The suit's red lines appear first and trace around him exactly like Faiz, and then there's a sort of liquid explosion effect just like Chalice. The helmet is last to appear (X-Rider homage, or is that a stretch?) after which the eyepieces light up and there's a ripple of heatwaves, similar to Ixa when his mask opens.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "What would you like for your pre-meal drink?"
 * Production Posse: An official SMAP-sanctioned outing, it stars band member Goro Inagaki and his real-life girlfriend Yumiko Shaku. Fellow member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi appears on a poster.
 * The End or Is It:
 * Theme Tune Cameo: Not only does some Prop Recycling take place, but the music is taken from Kamen Rider Kabuto and other series.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: G's Kamen Rider theme is...wine. His henshin belt is effectively a buckle-mounted wine opener, activated by slotting a bottle of wine into it — resulting in one of the most pyrotechnically flashy Transformation Sequences in the Rider franchise.
 * What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Wine?: Seeing what this Kamen Rider was themed after, it most likely was.
 * What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Wine?: Seeing what this Kamen Rider was themed after, it most likely was.