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Spoilers for all Showa Kamen Rider entries preceding this one, including Kamen Rider Stronger, will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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RIDER BREAK!
"Kamen Rider, Hiroshi Tsukuba, is a cyborg. He fights to defend mankind's freedom from the nefarious secret organization Neo-Shocker!"
Kamen Rider (also known as Kamen Rider: Skyrider and New Kamen Rider) is the sixth program in the Kamen Rider franchise, airing from 1979 to 1980.

While on a camping trip, aerial photographer and hangliding enthusiast Hiroshi Tsukuba rescues Professor Keitaro Shido, who was a prisoner of Neo Shocker, a new version of the old Shocker group. Recaptured after Tsukuba helps him, Professor Shido tricks Neo Shocker into experimenting on Tsukuba, claiming that he will turn Tsukuba into a mighty warrior of evil.

Professor Shido's plan changes Tsukuba into a Kamen Rider, who manages to use his powers to escape and destroy the group who changed him. His father, a prominent scientist, and his mother are kidnapped and kept as slaves, as he attempts to rescue them and tries to have a normal life.

Produced four years after the end of Kamen Rider Stronger, the show was originally just titled Kamen Rider and intended to be a Continuity Reboot for the franchise. When this idea fell through, fans took to calling it New Kamen Rider (and later Skyrider) in order to distinguish it from the original. Similarly, the hero himself was just called "Kamen Rider" until Shigeru Jou gave him the sobriquet "Skyrider" in Episode 21. Skyrider would then team up with all his predecessors in the film tie-in Eight Riders vs. GingaOh.note 


Recurring Kamen Rider tropes include:

This series provides examples of:

  • The Ace: Stronger returns in this series making his usual flashy entrance, training Skyrider and rescuing him several times. He stands out even more in some aspects due to the more down to Earth way that Skyrider himself is written compared to previous Riders. Rider 2 too is in later episodes of the series, when his actor returned, would fit into this.
    • Although V3 doesn't get an impressive entrance in this series, he shines as the leader of the 8 Riders in their first team up in this show. Rider 1 takes the leadership role in the movie and in later TV episodes, but in those episodes he's generally overshadowed by Skyrider himself and even Stronger and Rider 2, whose actors actually return, while Rider 1 was just a Fake Shemp throughout Skyrider's series and movie.
  • Back from the Dead
    • The Movie has an army of "Second Generation" monsters.note 
    • #27-28 has Gurand Bazarmy leading an army of "Second Generation" monsters to face the Eight Riders, distinguished by their yellow scarves.note 
  • Bad Boss:
    • In episode 2, Kumonjin kills an Ari Commando in front of Shinichi Takamori for seemingly no reason.
    • In episode 18, Admiral Majin executes Professor Doc after he is sentenced to death for alleged incompetence. He also executes a member of the panel who sentenced Professor Doc to death for hesitating to vote to kill Doc
    • In episode 52, the Great Leader crushes two Ari Commandos just to make a point to Admiral Majin. He eventually kills Admiral Majin himself in the next episode after failing too many times.
    • Gurand Bazarmy is not above executing lesser monsters for disrespecting him, as he does to Okamijin.
  • Big Good: V3 is the one who takes charge of the Riders most of the time, although he usually defers to Riders 1 and 2 whenever they show up.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Neo-Shocker is defeated, but Hiroshi loses his mother after only just reuniting with her and the eight Kamen Riders seemingly had to sacrifice themselves to kill the Great Leader (although the next series shows they survived).
  • Canon Welding: While the series starts with Skyrider fighting the Great Leader's Neo-Shocker, this series was originally conceived as a Continuity Reboot. It is when Stronger is reintroduced that the series is firmly tied to its predecessors.
  • Motorcycle Fu: Skyrider fights using his motorcycle often. The Rider Break attack his Sky Turbo can pull off is something of a series trademark.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Like the original series, a number of supporting characters disappear without a trace.
    • Michi Sugimura, a member of Shido's club, last appears in #15.
    • Comic relief Imata Tonda last appears in #16.
    • Midori Kano, originally Shido's aide, last appears in #17.
  • Continuity Reboot: What the series started out as. It didn't take.
  • Crisis Crossover: The series eventually becomes this once it brings back every previous Kamen Rider, culminating in them all coming together for a final showdown against Neo-Shocker.
  • Degraded Boss: After General Monster, the first main antagonist, transformed into Yamorijin and was killed by Skyrider, Neo-Shocker made two "second generation" Yamorijin, who fought as Mooks alongside other minor second generation kaijin and were easily destroyed by the previous Riders.
  • Emergency Transformation: Professor Shido turns Hiroshi into a Kamen Rider after Neo-Shocker fatally wounds him.
  • Fake Shemp: New Kamen Rider was the first Rider TV show since the accident with Rider 1's actor in the first series to feature the transformed Riders with different actors voicing them. The original actors appeared in some episodes, aside from Rider 1's and Amazon's, but, whenever there was a large gathering of Riders, they were all voiced by assorted voice actors of the time and never appeared untransformed, aside from two returning Riders in the final battle.
  • Forced into Evil: Episode 4’s monster is an innocent victim transformed into a monster against her will.
  • Gratuitous English: Unlike other Showa Kamen Rider generals, General Monster's title is English.
  • Heroic Wannabe: Kanji Yada puts on a suit of metallic armor and attempts to be Japan's super hero, GanGan G! Usually, he just gets in the way of the Riders.
  • Hero of Another Story: All the previous Riders are continuously fighting off screen against Neo Shocker's troops throughout the world, but that's only mentioned, and they're only actually shown when they visit Japan and help Skyrider directly.
  • In the Name of the Moon: Although he had stopped giving his full introductory speech after Tackle's death in his own show, Stronger's entrance speech returned in this series.
  • Legacy Character: Both the original concept of the show, with the new hero called just Kamen Rider, and later, when the previous Riders return and enthrust the mission of defending Japan to Skyrider while they go to face Neo Shocker around the world.
  • Lighter and Softer: Compared to the original show's dark beginnings, Skyrider started fairly lighthearted as Hiroshi maintained his optimism despite the implications of his post-transformation as a cyborg and the Reluctant Mad Scientist Keitaro managed to survived from Neo-Shocker's clutches.
  • The Man Behind the Man: The Great Leader yet again. Somehow, the one in Kamen Rider Stronger was just another fake.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: Skyrider gets one from the previous 7 Riders powering up his suit after passing the test of surviving all of their Rider Kicks.
  • Mythology Gag
    • Though the first MOTW being a chameleon shakes things up, he is followed by a spider, a bat and a scorpion, reflecting the first three monsters in the original series.
    • The Fake Skyriders are distinguished for wearing a yellow scarf rather than a red one, which was also the distinguishing feature of Shocker Rider Number 1.
  • Next Tier Power-Up: Skyrider receives a harsh training from all seven previous Riders, gaining a power up and his more well known colors.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: General Monster is activating the explosives planted within his body and charging towards our hero in a last-ditch effort to take Hiroshi with him. Then he gets blasted before he can make good on this by Admiral Majin, who had decided General Monster had failed once too often and it wasn't worth letting him live even until the end of one fight. If the Admiral had waited ten seconds longer, the world might be run by Shocker to this day.
  • No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: In Episode 30, one of Neo Shocker's monsters “invites” Hiroshi to a birthday party, which is a trap meant for him.
  • Off with His Head!: Gurand Bazarmy beheads the revived Okamijin for disrespecting him.
  • One-Winged Angel: General Monster not only looks monstrous in his human form, he has a hidden form too. That gecko design on his eyepatch, there from the beginning, is there for a reason.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: GanGan G.
    • Also there is Tonda Kondo, a hapless reporter whose only purpose is to get scared and faint when a Monster of the Week shows up.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Keitaro Shido suddenly was said to have left for the USA in episode 14 of the show due to his actor's health problems. His replacement was originally meant to be the old recurring character Tobei Tachibana, but his actor refused to return, so a new character called Genjiro Tani was created to take a role similar to Tachibana's.
    • This trope is also where the creators got the idea of the Rider Break attack, after Skyrider's actor crashed his bike into a wall (he didn't know how to drive a motorcycle at the time).
  • Retool: What happened after (New) Kamen Rider didn't find immediate success as a reboot of the original. The heavily Colonel Zol inspired General Monster was replaced by the more original Admiral Majin and, from a show heavily based on its predecessors, but out of continuity with them, it became a follow up to the previous series, featuring the previous Riders in more than half of the episodes after Stronger's sudden return (His actual actor hadn't even returned to the show yet, resulting in Stronger sticking around during two episodes transformed all the time and with an unrelated VA. See Fake Shemp above too).
  • Retronym: The main hero was simply called "Kamen Rider" until the previous Riders appeared as guest stars, forcing him to adopt the new moniker of Skyrider to distinguish himself from his predecessors.
  • Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Bongo in episode 25. Justified, due to being the son of a Neo-Shocker Inhumanoid.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Genjiro Tani to Tachibana Tobei, even though Tachibana himself was never in Skyrider. Especially obvious in some later episodes, when the Riders from previous series interact with him in a similar way to how they interacted with Tobei, in spite of not knowing him nearly as well.
  • Training from Hell: The previous Riders imbue Skyrider with their combined powers after basically hazing him out of costume.
  • Up, Up and Away!: Skyrider's method of flying sees him essentially levitating up in the air.
  • Wham Line: Episode 20. After being defeated by two monsters, Hiroshi sees the mysterious onlooker up close and he says a familiar line, accompanied by a familiar tune.
  • The Worf Effect: Skyrider, despite having the powers of all 7 of his predecessors, is often taken out fairly quickly in crossovers.
    • Internal to the show itself, episode 20’s monsters both survive the Sky Kick. Luckily, Stronger was in town.
  • You Have Failed Me: An extreme example. Admiral Majin kills General Monster’s scientist despite the fact he’s barely guilty of anything.
    • Admiral Majin himself would suffer this fate in episode 53, courtesy of the Great Leader.

Alternative Title(s): Kamen Rider 1979

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