#zecter

2006

Magical Source! Mystic Force! Power Rangers Mystic Force premieres on ABC and Jetix in the west.

After two seasons of the same lead cast, the Pretty Cure franchise introduces fans to a pair of brand new Cures, Cure Bloom and Cure Egret, in Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star. The series airs alongside the new Sentai and Rider series. Super super spark, Splash Star!

After the mild success of creating Garo, Keita Amemiya takes a break from the directors chair to be a character designer on a TV series called Madan Senki Ryukendo. The show was sponsored by Capcom and created by Takara Tomy and We’ve Inc. Ryukendo revolves around a trio of magical heroes who use special keys and talking weapons to defeat an army of demons terrorizing a small city. It also serves as a sort-of-prequel to the Tomica Hero Series as that series is set in the same universe.

Meanwhile, some of the staff of Garo worked on a short adult revival of the 1970s P-Productions TV show Lion Maru, Lion Maru G.

Endless Bouken Spirits! Super Sentai celebrated its 30th anniversary/season with GoGo Sentai Boukenger, a treasure hunting themed Sentai that features special segments at the end of the show highlighting the important milestones and tropes of the franchise as well as teams from each season.

Ultraman celebrates its 40th anniversary year with Ultraman Mebius, a show that pays homage to the entirety of the franchise with some classic monsters reappearing to fight the rookie Ultra and guest appearances by previous Ultramen.

Gamera returns for one last film: Gamera the Brave  (Coke products not included.)

2006 was the 35th anniversary of Kamen Rider.

Since this momentous occasion was so special, the staff of Toei decided to go back to basics with the next series (especially given the staff/writing debacle with Hibiki the previous year). No extreme excess amounts of gimmicks, no strange mashups of motifs, just good old fashioned fightin’ bugmen.

Early Kabuto concept art

A later concept sketch showcasing the overall final look of the main hero. Note that one of these designs would be used for a future Rider in the show. Copyright to PLEX and Ishimori Pro.

One interesting thing about Kabuto is the allusion to the franchise’s roots. The Masked Rider Project began on April 3, 1971 after the Natives landed on Earth. This leads to fan theory that the Kamen Riders, at least the tech-based ones, have their belts, cybernetics (in the case of Showa Riders) and equipment made from reverse engineered alien technology. A bit of expanded universe lore leaned a bit factual weight to that theory outside normal canon, as Kamen Rider Stronger’s Final Form Ride by Decade was a Zecter.

But this was just a date, a fanservice nod in terms of the show.

The insect motif designs for most of the Riders in the series were essentially modernized variants of the Showa Riders: A Japanese Rhino Beetle (Stronger/Kabuto), A member of the Vespa family of insects (Super-1/TheBee), a Dragonfly (V3/Drake) and two Grasshopper themed Riders (1 and 2/Kickhopper and Punchhopper). It also payed homage to the more recent motif of a Stag Beetle (Kuuga/Gatack) for the main supporting Rider.

There were also new additions, including a Scorpion Rider and a trio of new Beetle motif Riders as the annual movie exclusive Riders. (Hercules, Caucasus and Centaurus).

The reboot Takeshi Hongo makes a cameo in one episode (made even stranger since there was no other reboot film in theaters at the time, as The Next was still being filmed.) Given the real Kamen Rider 1 exists as does Kabuto in later continuity, this is best hand waved as just a promotion plug for Kamen Rider: The First’s DVD.

There were also 35th anniversary files building up to the summer movie God Speed Love, which essentially functioned similar to the ones Boukenger showed for Super Sentai’s 30th. (These 45th anniversary files are the unofficial, fanmade sort of successor to this bit.)

During a few of the Super Hero Time closing segments, Souji would interact with Satoru aka BoukenRed. This was no surprise since the two sibling shows were celebrating an anniversary year together, but it was historic as nobody had seen the actors of a main Rider and a Red Ranger interact with one another before in conversations.

Most Super Hero Time segments kept the heroes separate and interacted only with their show’s cast onscreen aside from transformations and dialogue, so this was unheard of at the time. This event would sow the seeds of future crossovers in the Heisei era such as Den-O and Kiva, the Decade crossover with Shinkenger and eventually lead up to the Taisen films and spring crossover specials.

A media trend happening during the mid aughts was The Matrix film franchise, whose “bullet time” visual effect was often duplicated and/or parodied. Kamen Rider was no exception, as the staff and SFX team at Toei decided to experiment with variants of the visual mechanic by giving the heroes of the show a unique form of super speed to counter equally fast enemies.

Another achievement this installment made was Kamen Rider Kabuto has the distinction of being the first main Kamen Rider to go into space!

(Space, the final path of heaven... these are the Hyper Clock Ups of the superhero Kabuto. His continuing mission, to destroy strange new monsters, to seek out new recipes and quote his Grandmother. To boldly kick where no (Rider)man has kicked before! *TNG theme plays*)

Let’s not waste any time, we must talk of the path of Heaven who rules over all!

Mr. Tendou circa 2007 in Paris, France, traveling as the greatest chef humanity has ever been graced with.

Real Name: Souji Tendou (formerly Souji Kusakabe)

In 1971, Earth was visited by aliens called the Natives, who offered to protect humans in secret from the more hostile members of their race: The Worm. They did so by developing and creating the Masked Rider System and ZECT, a tech company/defense force designed to hunt down the Worms. They assume human forms in an attempt to blend in and live peaceful lives among the humans.

In 1998, a shower of meteorites hit the Japanese district of Shibuya, killing countless people and causing massive property damage. Among those killed were the Kusakabes, save for the youngest son, Souji and his cousin Jyuka. While this disaster was tragic, something even worse came with the meteorites: The Worm.

Young Souji received a belt from someone to one day help humanity. Jump ahead to 2006 and he gets his chance after seeing a Worm attacking and a Zecter appears, which comes to him and he transforms into Kabuto to destroy it.  Having lived with his grandmother after the death of his parents, Souji upon first impression comes off as egotistical and eccentric. But he is a caring soul and has a Buddhist monk-like sense of peace. He also really loves his grandmother and both he and Jyuka quote her philosophies often.

Kabuto does not align himself with ZECT and does hero work on his own whims, as he rightfully does not trust them. He investigates the mystery of ZECT and the Worms and sometimes makes hard decisions that make the hero come off as cruel or questionable in motive.

After defeating the rouge members of ZECT and the Worms, Souji becomes a famous world-traveling chef. But should the need arise, he will call upon his Zecter once more to fight evil wherever it may be.

Powers:

As his insert song lyrically describes him, Kabuto is the Lord of Speed. Able to travel faster than the speed of light itself in Hyper Form, Kabuto is one of the fastest Kamen Riders around.

His Clock Up power gives him the ability to move at super speed to the point where everything around him is at a standstill or slowed down considerably. In addition, Kabuto’s armor grants him enhanced defense and the tachyon energy it or combined Zecters absorb can be channeled to execute a finisher or weapon attack. The belt and its systems, being alien tech. have a self repair function that allows Kabuto to restore the Armor or Belt even after heavy damage, the extent of time to repair depends on the damage. (Ex. The ability to use Clock Up again in mere seconds after his Clock Up system was electrocuted by Stronger. )

Kabuto’s Hyper Form can also allow the Rider to break the time barrier and alter history however he sees fit to save someone or immobilize his target for a quick finisher. The exact limit of the length he can go back in time is unknown, but it has been shown he can go back at least 7 years into the past. This also results in some timey-wimey scenarios where Kabutos from alternate timelines can appear and disappear. It also means that the Hyper Zecter cannot be destroyed on a permanent basis, as another can be called upon from a different point in time or an alternate timeline. In Hyper form, Kabuto can fly or jump higher using a tachyon energy powered jetpack which can also be used for space travel. Kabuto also has immense super strength in Hyper form, able to do Superman-like feats with the help of his jetpack such as push a giant meteorite.

Souji is a very skilled combatant, as part of his fighting style utilizes evading his opponent to read their movement before finding tells and countering with rapid punches or slashes. He also utilizes his super speed and surroundings to his advantage. Souji is also very skilled at many things with examples including cooking, martial arts, and remaining cool under pressure even in the most tense of situations.

Weaknesses:

Kabuto is a difficult opponent to defeat, as he can simply time jump to take his foes out before they can even plan an attack or just mow them down with Clock Up/Hyper Clock Up. But there are ways to defeat him, some superheroes such as Kamen Rider Faiz Axel form or Red Buster from Go-Busters can match regular Kabuto’s speed. So it stands to reason a foe with powerful super speed and attack power could defeat him.

Another way is to create a “Clock Down” wave, creating a subspace field of energy that disrupts Kabuto’s tachyon absorption and thus forces him out of Clock Up. Without his signature ability, a more skilled combatant could overpower him.

Decade is shown to be more than a match for Kabuto by copying his Clock Up  and utilizing other Rider powers in tandem with that ability to crush him. If another ZECT Rider gains a Hyper Zecter, such as Kamen Rider Caucasus in God Speed Love, Kabuto would have trouble defeating them unless he used his own or formed a strategy to take them down.

Gear:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Kabuto_Zecter

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Rider_Belt

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Kabuto_Kunai_Gun

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Kabuto_Extender

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/ZECT_Mizer

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Hyper_Zecter

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Perfect_Zecter

Signature Finishers

Rider Kick: By pressing the three buttons on his Zecter and flipping the horn lever back and forth, Kabuto charges tachyon energy into his feet to execute a powerful kick. Kabuto’s kick comes in three variations: A normal 180 degree roundhouse kick, a counter kick (360 degree roundhouse kick, which is used to surprise opponents who attempt to attack him from behind), and a flying side kick. The Hyper Version is way more powerful and utilizes the tachyon jetpack to rocket jump higher to land the kick with even greater force.

Avalanche attacks (Kunai Gun): The Kunai Gun multipurpose weapon can execute a Rider Shooting attack, a Rider Thrust stab or a Rider Slash.

Maximum Hyper Cyclone: Kabuto’s most powerful attack. By summoning the Drake, TheBee, Sasword and Perfect Zecter in Gun Mode and combining them, Kabuto channels the maximum output of tachyons into a powerful energy burst that annihilates anything in its path. The recoil from this powerful gun blast is so rough that Kabuto either needs to use his jetpack to keep himself steady or use Hyper Clock Up to stop time to slow his inertia from the recoil or do both.

Maximum Hyper Typhoon: A powerful Rider Slash that channels the maximum output of tachyons into either an enhanced sword cut to kill one foe or a powerful swordbeam that destroys multiple targets.

Enemies:

ZECT

A tech/defense organization founded by the Natives and humanity, ZECT itself is kind of dubious at times. This is not helped by the fact that Worms who are not Natives and harbor schemes of their own are lurking in ZECT. ZECT often has problems among its ranks, so it is hard to trust some of the personnel as some of them could backstab, be a Worm or go under orders to kill or detain a Rider. Things get worse in an alternate timeline where infighting causes ZECT to split into two warring factions with the main version of ZECT’s leader plotting to end Humanity by bringing more of....

The Worm

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Worm

Worms are a mimetic humanoid insect alien species from an unknown region of space who arrived on Earth on a Meteorite that crashed in Shibuya back in 1998. They commonly possesses the ability to move at unbelievable speed after shedding their pupa stage, fire energy blasts and can mimic a human right down to their memories ala Invasion of the Body Snatchers, usually killing the original or mimicking a recently dead person.  Worms have a variety of insectoid or arthropod forms they can take on and powers, ranging from the ability to stop time completely to attack unseen to shooting webs covered in acid.

There are good Worms called the Natives who wish to help humans and some who are even close to the main characters and get a happy ending. But I’ll leave that as a surprise....