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Kamen Riders
Kotaro Minami / Kamen Rider BLACK RX
Kotaro Minami/Kamen Rider BLACK RX
Portrayed by: Tetsuo Kurata (live), Jiro Okamoto (suit actor)
The Child of the Sun
Our hero, now 20 years old and working as a helicopter pilot for the Sahara family. When the Crisis Empire invades Earth, they capture Kotaro to prevent Kamen Rider Black from posing a threat to them and throw him out into space, only for the sun's radiation to recreate Kotaro's broken Kingstone and grant him the power to transform into the stronger Kamen Rider BLACK RX.To see his tropes applied to his appearance in Kamen Rider BLACK, click here.
Tropes apply to him in general:
- The Ace: Kohtaro's abilities and skills as a Kamen Rider speak for itself. Likewise, he is a trained helicopter pilot, soccer player, and mechanical engineer.
- Badass Biker: His return as Black RX also sees Battle Hopper being revived as Acrobatter, allowing him to become this again.
- Badass Driver: In addition of having Acrobatter already, he rides the Ridoron, an insect-themed super car, making him the first rider to drive car.
- Came Back Strong: The Crisis Empire threw him out into space in an attempt to kill him, but being closer to the sun just makes him come back as the more powerful Black RX.
- Decomposite Character: Black RX is often made a separate character from Kamen Rider Black in Crossover events to justify the two Riders appearing side by side. Whether the other Kotaro is the from an Alternate Universe, Time Travel or by some other means isn't always clear.
- The Determinator: Never gives up his fight against the Crisis Empire. Whenever he's a particularly tight pinch he just wills himself another form to get out of it.
- The Hero: Carrying on the role as the sole person fighting the Crisis Empire's invasion.
- Iconic Outfit: His default outfit is a white jacket with the words "F. Grand Prix" written on its back.
- Iconic Sequel Character: A carry-over from the previous series. He's already the protagonist, but considering he's the only lead Kamen Rider to get to star in his own sequel series he definitely qualifies by Kamen Rider standards. To this day, he's nearly as popular as Takeshi Hongo himself.
- In the Name of the Moon: "I am the child of the sun! Kamen Rider! Black! RX!"
- Lightning Bruiser: To be expected, considering his accumulated prowess from the previous series, alongside the Kingstone's mystical properties. It's honestly no surprise that he can take on an entire alien armada.
- No Kill Like Over Kill: In a sense. Not that he can be blamed for it, but Kohtaro's victory over the Crisis Emperor cause the Crisis Empire's subjects to all die. For reference, the population was over 5 BILLION in total.
- Old Hero, New Pals: Kotaro's new allies consist of a family who runs an airline company, his girlfriend, a chef, a Cyborg Sidekick, a psychic archer, and later, the original ten Kamen Riders.
- Story-Breaker Power: Kohtaro's Kingstone is so powerful that it basically grants him any power needed to solve the plot (human possession, immunity to time paradoxes, and cheating death itself).
- So Last Season: Maribaron implied that if Kohtaro remained as simply Kamen Rider Black, then he'd be much easier to defeat. That said, since Shadow Moon still proved formidable as ever in his reappearance, this was likely a statement born from ignorance.
- Strong as They Need to Be: Not that the Kamen Rider franchise isn't guilty of this from the start, but still. You'd think that with all his accumulated prowess and experience, as well as being upgraded into Black RX, Kohtaro could easily decimate an average Kaijin in seconds. Yet, he tends to struggle against them from time to time, with his Rider Kick rarely dealing the finishing blow.
- Heck, in the time-travel special, past Kohtaro/Black defeated a typical Crisis Empire monster without any difficulty. Remember, Black RX is several times stronger in comparison.
- The Power of the Sun: The sun was responsible for giving him his new form as Kamen Rider Black RX, and can act as an alternate energy source if the Kingstone is damaged.
- This Is Unforgivable!: His reaction to Jark's killing of Shunkichi and Utako.
Tropes exclusive to Kamen Rider BLACK RX:
- Finishing Move:
- RX Kick: An upgraded dropkick version of Black's Rider Kick. Though it normally doesn't outright finish off his opponents, it is powerful enough to stun and weaken them so he could deal the deathblow with his Revolcane.
- Revolcrash: Black RX draws out his Revolcane to stab his opponents, unleashing a torrent of energy until they are fatally wounded. Kinda makes you feel sorry for them.
- Fragile Speedster: As Biorider, RX is super fast at the cost of losing defense. However, this is almost never an issue, due to having the ability to become intangible as Gel-Form, with Shadow Moon being the only one in the series to bypass this.
- Jack of All Stats: His base Black RX form. He doesn't have the Super-Strength of Roborider or the Super-Speed of Biorider, but he's still super strong and agile enough to surpass Black. Heck, when pushed, said form even DEFEATED an enhanced Shadow Moon, the latter previously outdoing Roborider and Biorider in their respective strengths.
- Laser Blade: The Revolcane.
- Mighty Glacier: Roborider grants RX intense durability and strength at the cost of moving super slow, barring his shooting reflexes.
- Swiss-Army Hero: Can switch between his base form, Roborider form and Biorider form.
- Worf Effect: Like the rest of the Showa Riders, he is heavily subjected to this in sequels. To note, he was once swiftly defeated by Decade in a Rider tournament, while Shadow Moon (A.R.) easily trounced the latter later on.
Ten Legendary Kamen Riders
Ten Legendary Kamen Riders
The ten Kamen Riders which came before RX: Kamen Riders 1, 2, V3, Riderman, X, Amazon, Stronger, Skyrider, Super-1 and ZX. They show up late into the series to help Kotaro in his fight against the Crisis Empire.- Big Damn Heroes: Show up to rescue Kotaro after he's been felled by a particularly strong Monster of the Week.
- Worf Effect: They pretty much have no meaningful presence in the story after their introduction, other than to make Black RX appear stronger in comparison. Heck, even with their combined powers, all ten were outmatched by Strongest Monster Gran Zairus. Not to mention V3 and Riderman's very one-sided fight against General Jark.
Allies
Sahara Family
Shunkichi, Utako, Shigeru and Hitomi Sahara
Portrayed by: Makoto Akatsuka (Shunkichi), Eri Tsuruma (Utako), Go Inoue (Shigeru), Shoko Imura (Hitomi), Maho Maruyama (Teenage Hitomi)
A family which takes Kotaro in and gives him a job as a helicopter pilot after the events of Kamen Rider BLACK.- Character Death: Shunkichi and Utako are both killed by Jark during his final assault on Black RX.
- Kid Sidekick: Shigeru and Hitomi to Kotaro.
- No Accounting for Taste: Shunkichi and Utako Sahara argue so much, you sometimes wonder how did they even manage to have two kids.
Reiko Shiratori
Reiko Shiratori
Portrayed by: Makoto Sumikawanote
Kotaro's girlfriend.- Camera Fiend: She's a photographer.
- Took a Level in Badass: Downplayed, but Reiko starts to get herself more involved in Kotaro's fight against Crisis.
Joe the Haze
Joe the Haze
Portrayed by: Rikiya Koyama
A close friend of Kotaro's. He was brainwashed into being a cyborg by the Crisis Empire and used to attack Kotaro, but later joined him after being freed from the Empire's control.- Good Counterpart: Joe is what Nobuhiko/Shadow Moon would've been if he was a good guy and doesn't have Century King powers.
- Heel–Face Turn: Quickly turned against Crisis after his introduction.
- Put on a Bus: Got hospitalized by Bosgan for ten episodes.
- Sidekick: Of The Reliable One and Best Friend variety to Kotaro, whom he addresses as "big bro".
Crisis Empire
An Evil Empire from space seeking to invade Earth. Coming from a world wrecked by pollution and other factors, they seek to turn Earth into their new home planet. General Tropes
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Unlike Gorgom, who are a group of mutants, cultists, and terrorists that seeked a new boss and to rule Earth, the Crisis Empire are supernatural invaders who sought to Take Over the World due to their homeworld dying and believing that humanity has no regard for the Earth and kept on polluting it.
- Create Your Own Hero: They inadvertently caused Kotaro's transformation into Black RX by capturing him from Earth before he escapes from their fortress in space, exposing him to more radiation in the sun and giving him an upgraded form.
- The Empire: They were supposedly once a peaceful society, but a change in leadership led to them becoming aggressively expansionist.
- Mecha-Mooks: The Chaps, robotic soldiers who serve as the Crisis Empire's main Mook force.
- Monster of the Week: The "Strange Demon Soldiers", a diverse array of monsters under the Crisis Empire's belt whom they send out Once an Episode.
- Mook Lieutenant: Each of the four officers under General Jark heads a different Monster of the Week division.
- No Kill Like Over Kill: To be expected from their desire to exterminate humanity. Fittingly, they are all indirectly slaughtered by Black RX in the end.
- Standard Evil Empire Hierarchy:
- The Emperor: Emperor Crisis.
- The Right Hand / Security Officer: Inspector Colonel Dasmader.
- The General: General Jark, commander-in-chief of the Crisis military, and underneath him the commanders of the Crisis Empire's three army divisions, Armored Captain Gatezone, Naval Commander Bosgun and Fanged Captain Gedorian.
- The Guard: General Jark again, as commander of the Crisis Fortress.
- The Oddball: Intelligence Staff Officer Maribaron.
Emperor Crisis
Emperor Crisis
Portrayed by: Gorō Naya
The ruler of the Crisis Empire.- Ambiguous Situation: Whether or not he's another incarnation of the Great Leader. He's played by Gorō Naya, whose voice was usually the Great Leader's calling card, but besides that there's no confirmation in series if the two are one and the same, or even if Crisis is in any way related to him.
- As Long as There Is Evil: Though Black RX fells him in the end, Crisis claims that he and his empire will be reborn as long as humanity's evil continues to exist.
- Big Bad: The ruler of the Crisis Empire and the one behind their invasion of Earth.
- The Emperor: of the Crisis Empire.
- Load-Bearing Boss: The Crisis Empire's home world disappears after Grand Lord Crisis is destroyed.
- Lord Country: His name is Lord Crisis and he's the ruler of the Crisis Empire.
- No One Sees the Boss: He's The Ghost until the final few episodes, where he finally decides to get directly involved in the invasion.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: The Demon World was apparently peaceful until he rose to power and turned it into an industrialized, expansionist society.
- We Can Rule Together: Attempted this on Kotaro in the finale. Unsurprisingly, Kotaro shot it down.
General Jark
General Jark/Jark Midler
Portrayed by: Seizō Katō (voice, 1-44), Hidekatsu Shibata (voice, 45-46), Toshimichi Takahashi (suit actor)
The military leader of the Crisis Empire and the one in charge of their Earth invasion.- A Father to His Men: Jark does care about his subordinates, and sought to avenge them after they were felled by Black RX.
- Bling of War: Wears bright golden armor.
- The Dragon: He's the Emperor's Number Two and military commander.
- Eye Scream: His left eye got busted by Black RX (as Biorider) during their final duel.
- The Heavy: Since Crisis himself rarely appears, it's Jark who spearheads the invasion of Earth and carries the plot each episode.
- Killed Off for Real: Is finally killed by Black RX after a long and hard fought battle between the two.
- One-Winged Angel: After his repeated failures to defeat RX, he gets mutated into Jark Midler by Crisis and sent out in a final mission to kill RX.
Maribaron
Intelligence Staff Officer Maribaron
Portrayed by: Atsuko Takahata
The intelligence officer of the Crisis Empire and head of their "Supernatural Demon" division, who has a crush on General Jark.- Beautiful All Along: The manga reveals that she has a fine long hair under her headdress.
- Blue Blood: Is the daughter of a noble family within the Demon World.
- Cute Monster Girl: In the Iwata Kazuhisa manga, she turns into a bat-girl in a leotard.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: One Monster of the Week is her aunt, and she's outraged when RX destroys her.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: In the manga adaptation by Iwata Kazuhisa, she is
violently torn in half by Kotaro and her naked corpse is cruelly tossed aside. The story was published on Comic Bombom, a magazine targeted at children. - Red and Black and Evil All Over: Her costume is predominantly black with red highlights.
- Subordinate Excuse: Her main reason for joining the military is due to her feelings for General Jark.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Crisis kills her for attacking Kotaro in the middle of his We Can Rule Together attempt.
Bosgun
Naval Commander Bosgun
Voiced by: Shōzō Iizuka
The head of the Crisis Empire's "Beast-Men" division.- Cool Sword: Wields a sword as his primary weapon.
- Hypocrite: Bosgun outright tells Gran Zairus that he'll kill Black RX by himself and yet he has some Chaps on standby.
- Made of Iron: A mild example, but he is the only villain who takes two stabs from the Revolcane to die.
- The Starscream: Once plotted to usurp Jark.
- Theme Naming: His Crisis Kaijin have the prefix "Gyna" in their names.
- Two-Faced: He has a second face on the forehead of his helmet, which is actually his real face. When he dies, presumably that's the face we see rise out of his explosion and dissolve.
Gatezone
Armored Captain Gatezone
Voiced by: Toshimichi Takahashi
The head of the Crisis Empire's "Demon Robot" division.- Androids Are People, Too: Despite being a robot, he's treated as an equal to the other commanders.
- Badass Biker: Rides a Cool Bike called the Storm Dagger.
- Cyber Cyclops: He has a single robotic eye in the center of his head.
- Losing Your Head: He can detach his head from his body at will, allowing his head to fly around while at the same time being able to still move his body.
- Taking You with Me: After being defeated by RX a final time he attempts a Suicide Bomb. It fails.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Wears a jacket that's undone to show his chest.
Gedorian
Fanged Captain Gedorian
Voiced by: Kazunori Arai
The head of the Crisis Empire's "Alien Lifeform" division.- Dirty Coward: Often flees battles before they're even over.
- I Owe You My Life: Serves Jark because he saved his life in the past.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: The other Crisis commanders don't really like him and find him annoying.
- Small, Annoying Creature: A short alien who hops around bugging the other villains.
- Synchronization: In his Last Stand, he feeds his energy to a monster to empower it. Unfortunately this means that when the monster dies, so does he.
- Reduced to Dust: A pile of sand is all that's left of him after the above happens.
Dasmader
Dasmader
Portrayed by: Tatsuya Matsui
An inspector set by Grand Lord Crisis himself to check up on the Earth invasion due to Jark's lack of progress.- Colonel Badass: He's a colonel in the Crisis military and a skilled swordsman.
- Mouth of Sauron: He's Grand Lord Crisis' messenger and is in fact possessed by Crisis himself.
Chakram
Chakram
Voiced by: Atsuo Mori
A floating robot whose purpose is to announce General Jark's arrival.Other Villains
Shadow Moon
Century King Shadow Moon
Portrayed by: Masaki Terasoma (voice)
Thought to have perished from the collapse of Gorgom's headquarters at the end of BLACK, it is later revealed that Shadow Moon survived and spent the next six months looking for Kotaro out of vengeance.- Amnesiac Villain: Besides his name and vengeance towards Kotaro, he doesn't remember anything about his past.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Angered by Shadow Moon's cruelty, Kohtaro ultimately used his Revolcrash attack on his Shadow Charger belt. In doing so, Kohtaro somehow brought some of Nobuhiko's remaining humanity back.
- Demonic Possession: He made himself known to Kotaro by possessing Joe, and later does this to a Crisis Kaijin.
- Demoted to Extra: He only appears for three episodes.
- Discard and Draw: Wields the Shadow Sabers as replacements for his Satan Saber.
- Ex-Big Bad: He's one of the main villain of the previous series alongside the Creation King, he shows up as The Rival for a brief arc in this one.
- Graceful Loser: Unlike last time, Shadow Moon takes his loss to Black RX very well.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: In a sense. Despite stating to Kohtaro that he's still Shadow Moon, his final act before dying was saving two children in distress. Kohtaro ultimately decides to believe that Nobuhiko regained himself in the end
- One-Winged Angel: Shadow Moon is so powerful that Kohtaro outright considered him as great a threat as the Crisis Empire itself. He can even best Kohtaro's alternate forms in their respective fields, if partly via studying their moves beforehand.
- Power at a Price: By losing almost all memories of his past, Shadow Moon cheated death and was empowered, now rivaling Black RX in prowess.
- Revenge Before Reason: He has unfinished business with Kotaro, outright ignoring the Crisis Empire at times.
- So Last Season: Subverted. He can fight Black RX without undergoing the same changes as him. Doubles with Power at a Price.
- Sole Survivor: Of Gorgom, though he cannot recall any memories of the organization.
- Unwitting Pawn: Jark was just using him in an attempt to finish off Kotaro.
- Wild Card: To Crisis, who doesn't like his guts.
- Worthy Opponent: Admits Black RX as this at the end of their final duel.
