Nobuhiko Akizuki (Black Sun)

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 was the deuteragonist of Kamen Rider Black Sun. As a child, he was transformed into the using one of the Kingstones. He was an intended candidate to succeed the Creation King, along with Kotaro Minami. In 1972, he and Minami joined Gorgom, but Nobuhiko was imprisoned by the Three Priests after the group split. After escaping in the present, he gathers like-minded Kaijin under him to kill the Creation King and overthrows Gorgom, evolving into .
==History==
===Background===
He was childhood friends with Kotaro Minami, and the son of a head scientist - Professor Akizuki - involved in Michinosuke Donami’s research on the Creation King. On the day of a solar eclipse, Professor Akizuki, along with Kotaro’s father, conducted experiments on their children and implanted the two Kingstones into their bodies, in the hope that they would grow up and either bring an end to the Creation King or replace it.
===Joining Gorgom===
In the 1970s, Nobuhiko and Kotaro together became members of Gorgom, then a small movement aimed at fighting for equal rights for Kaijins. During the time spent there, Nobuhiko would develop feelings for fellow activist Yukari Shinjo, and agreed to follow through with her secret plan to kill the Creation King after Darom had submitted to the government. However, Shinichi Donami, who had been kidnapped earlier to pressure Michinosuke Donami - the Prime Minister at the time, eavesdropped on the scheme and reported it to the other Gorgom members. As a consequence, Yukari was killed by Bilgenia and Nobuhiko was defeated by Baraom, resulting in his imprisonment in the time to come. Gorgom would feed Nobuhiko Heat Heaven in his cell, and only after having eaten it did he know that the meal was made from Yukari’s corpse.
===The present day===
In 2022, Nobuhiko’s childhood friend Kotaro came into contact with the Kingstone held by Aoi Izumi. The stone resonated with Nobuhiko’s Kaijin powers, allowing him to break free from his prison. After stealing several packs of Heat Heaven and killing the warden, Nobuhiko escaped and went to Kotaro’s place to ask for the whereabouts of the Kingstone. Seeing that his former friend had aged considerably, he left behind one pack of Heat Heaven and told him to use it before leaving. Nobuhiko also reminded Kotaro of their old mission to kill the Creation King.
In a Kaijin rally, Nobuhiko made his presence known to the crowds and, with a rousing speech, succeeded in convincing many Kaijins to take up arms against the Gorgom Party affiliated with the government. His followers, which included Shunsuke Komatsu - a meek young boy who was constantly bullied by anti - Kaijin extremists, were taken to his place to train and learn how to use weapons. Nobuhiko would also give them Heat Heaven to strengthen themselves. In one particular training session, he learned from one follower that Aoi Izumi had the Kingstone on her. Acting on this information, Nobuhiko chased after Aoi for the artifact, but was stopped in his tracks by Kotaro. The two battled using their Kaijin forms, but Nobuhiko was unable to defeat his old friend.
Later, Aoi was lured into a trap set by Bilgenia, and Nobuhiko offered his help to Kotaro in finding her, partially to take the Kingstone. Upon meeting Bilgenia, Nobuhiko fought him to resolve old hatreds, but the fight was interrupted by Kotaro’s new transformation into Kamen Rider Black Sun. Despite this new turn of events, Aoi still ended up getting abducted by Bishum, prompting Kotaro to join Nobuhiko in breaking into the Gorgom headquarters to save her.
On the day of the attack, Nobuhiko went into the room of the High Priests alone, trying to find and kill the Creation King, while Kotaro was off looking for Aoi. Nobuhiko ran into Bishum in the room and battled her. In the fight, Nobuhiko unexpectedly developed psychic powers not unlike the Creation King itself, and used this newfound ability to overpower Bishum, though he decided to leave her alive. Nevertheless, once he got to the throne room, Nobuhiko realized that the Creation King had already had its heart torn out by Black Sun. No sooner had he become aware of this than Shinichi Donami’s men barged in and subdued him for his trouble. It was there and then that Shinichi told him the truth: The Creation King was merely an artificial puppet figure meant to enrich Donami and the government, and Kaijins created from it such as Nobuhiko and Kotaro were little more than glorified biological weapons to be used in war. Shinichi even said that Yukari was nothing but a spy working for Michinosuke all along, which sent Nobuhiko into a rage, allowing him to escape.
With nothing left to live for, Nobuhiko wandered on the streets alone. At this point, to his horror and shock, he ran into the corpse of Shunsuke, which had been hanged up to make an example by anti - Kaijin extremists led by Wataru Igaki. The next morning, he unveiled his new transformation as Kamen Rider Shadowmoon and mercilessly killed Igaki.
Returning to Gorgom, Nobuhiko announced his new goal: To make Kaijins the master race at the expense of humanity. In a show of might, he overpowered Darom using psychic abilities, which impressed most of the Kaijins present, including Bishum, and they all decided to follow his cause. Amongst the few detractors were Baraom and Bilgenia. Nobuhiko dealt with the former by torturing him to death and the latter by sending him away and never to return again.
To complete his plan, Nobuhiko needed the other half of the Kingstone in Kotaro’s possession. To that end, he tracked down his old friend, who was still recovering from injuries resulting from the fight against the Creation King earlier. Nobuhiko revealed his Kamen Rider form and overwhelmed Black Sun, but he still failed to get his hand on the stone, as Koumori and Kujira helped Kotaro get away with it. He deduced that Kotaro would eventually come to him, so he went back to the Gorgom headquarters and waited.
True to his prediction, a revived Kotaro showed up at his door, bringing the Kingstone with him. After exchanging a few words, the two transformed into their Kamen Rider forms and engaged in one final battle. Shadowmoon, using his telekinesis, initially gained the upper hand by stabbing his sword into Black Sun’s abdomen. Despite this, Kotaro’s resolve managed to overcome his power, and Nobuhiko was defeated by a Rider Punch. In his final moments, Nobuhiko tearfully expressed his desire for things to go back to the good old days, where he and everyone were happy. He entrusted his half of the Kingstone to Kotaro before drawing his last breath. Nobuhiko's corpse was then assimilated with Kotaro after he turned himself into the new Creation King.https://www.kamen-rider-official.com/zukan/phantoms/1582
==Personality==
Another candidate for King Genesis born on the same day and at the same time as Kotaro. He grew up with Kotaro as his best friend and has a noble heart. In his childhood, Nobuhiko was rather timid, acting as the voice of reason for Kotaro. As a young adult, Nobuhiko grew quite violent in personality, jaded from the discrimination he received as a Kaijin. 
While openly competitive against Kotaro. Nobuhiko genuinely saw him and the members of Gorgom as friends, with Yukari reigning in his darker side. Once captured by his foes though, Nobuhiko was forced to act as their prisoner for 50 years, significantly twisting his sanity. When freed from captivity, Nobuhiko sought to complete his crusade against humanity's discrimination, disgusted with how his brethren were being treated. 
Initially, Nobuhiko still retained some sense of morality, harbouring no real hatred for innocent humans. In fact, his objective upon being freed after 50 years was more or less the same: Killing the Creation King, even though he had chosen to be more thorough and ruthless in the means of fulfilling it (I.e. targeting a young girl like Aoi or training young militias in acts of war and violence to dismantle Gorgom). Banding with a group of Kaijin, Nobuhiko attacked Gorgom's headquarters, bent on saving the captives and defeating the Creation King. In addition, despite coming to blows with Kotaro over the Kingstone, Nobuhiko remained civil to his old friend, even allowing him to join his troops in the plot to overthrow Gorgom. Furthermore, he was shown concerned about Kotaro's aging body, offering him a pack of Heat Heaven as an act of goodwill. 
Upon the failure of his mission and being presented the truth about Kaijins and Yukari from Shinichi, coupled with witnessing the tragic death of Shunsuke, Nobuhiko became even more consumed by guilt, resulting in his disillusionment regarding humanity. Consequently, he grew into a vengeful, vindictive individual, which was exemplified when he violently murdered Wataru Igaki as revenge for Shunsuke as the first step towards his plan to subjugate all humans before Kaijins. His sadism had also taken a turn for the worse, considering how he subjected Baraom to cold blooded torture to the death because the latter disagreed with his rule. 
Nevertheless, in the moments of his death, Nobuhiko was revealed to be fundamentally a man who had been stuck in a decades - long struggle without any meaningful means of resolution. This had made him too tired, physically and mentally, to keep going. He yearned for the way things were, when everybody was happy together in peace.
==Powers and Abilities==
===Powers===
*Kaijin Physiology: As a candidate to become the next Creation King, Nobuhiko possesses immense psychic powers and physical prowess on par with Kotaro.
**Psychic Powers: Nobuhiko's psychic powers, which are also possessed by the Creation King, allow him to grab people and freeze them in place. He can apply this force around a specific part of whoever he uses it on, preferring to go for the throat to strangle them. In addition, he can use this ability without transforming.
**Superhuman Strength: As a Century King, Nobuhiko is considered to be vastly stronger than most of the Kaijin, possibly even more powerful than the Creation King thanks to being equals with Black Sun. He is strong enough to gruesomely rip a Kaijin in half with his bare hands (Albeit with some effort). After evolving into his Kamen Rider Form, Nobuhiko would become even stronger, being able to crush Wataru Igaki's head without any problem.
**Enhanced Biteforce: Like Black Sun, Shadow Moon possesses powerful jaws in his Kaijin Form that can surpass those of other Kaijin, as shown when he would use them to violently tear into the Anemone Kaijin's flesh.
**Extra Limbs: In kaijin form, the grasshopper legs on Nohubiko's back can be used to propel him from the ground and to hit enemies who attack him from behind. In rider form, he can rip off his grasshopper legs to form them into the Century King Shadow Blade. However, they do not regenerate under normal conditions, making them one-time weapons.
===Abilities===
*Skilled Combatant: Being trained in combat by Bilgenia, Nobuhiko is an experienced fighter, being able to fight toe to toe with Kotaro on several occasions. 
==Kamen Rider Shadowmoon==
==Equipment==
===Devices===
*Century King Moon Driver
===Weapons===
*Century King Shadow Blade - Personal weapon
===Vehicles===
*Road Sector
==Relationships==
===Allies===
*Yukari Shinjo: During his stay with Gorgom, he developed feelings for Yukari and followed her lead to kill the Creation King. Many decades after her death, Nobuhiko still took her words to heart, and wished to honor her desire no matter what. Due to his aforementioned feelings for her, hearing that she was a spy for the government from Shinichi was a devastating blow, sending him further into despair.
*Shunsuke Komatsu: As Nobuhiko had saved him using Heat Heaven during his encounter with the Anemone Kaijin, Shunsuke willingly followed Nobuhiko in his quest to overthrow the Gorgom Party. His death was the trigger for Nobuhiko to transform into Kamen Rider Shadowmoon, which indicates that he is special in some way to Nobuhiko.
*Bishum (Black Sun): At first, Bishum was enemies with Nobuhiko due to the latter's desire to kill the Creation King. However, once Nobuhiko returned to take over Gorgom, she was the only high ranking member to obey him without question, even killing Darom for insubordination.
*Koumori: The two had had a good relationship since the 70s. After his escape, Koumori would serve as Nobuhiko's eyes and ears, informing him of current events every now and them. Despite this, Koumori was on Kotaro's side when Nobuhiko demanded the Kingstone.
===Enemies===
*Kotaro Minami: Kotaro was his friend from childhood, and joined Gorgom with him in the 70s. While he disagreed with Kotaro over how to handle the Kingstone, he still cared about his old friend's health. This lasted until he lost his faith and became Kamen Rider Shadowmoon, as he viciously beat an injured Kotaro to near death for the Kingstone. Ultimately, Kotaro was able to reconcile with Nobuhiko in the latter's death.
*Shinichi Donami: In the past, he was kidnapped by Nobuhiko and Kotaro as part of Gorgom's scheme to pressure the government. During his time as a captive, Nobuhiko would often beat him for his attitude towards Kaijins. At present, as the new Prime Minister, he personally broke Nobuhiko's spirit by saying that Yukari had been a government spy all along, which was one of the things that drove Nobuhiko to despair.
*Baraom (Black Sun): Baraom was the one who captured and imprisoned Nobuhiko when the latter's scheme was revealed. When Nobuhiko took over Gorgom, Baraom was one of the few Kaijins to not submit. Because of this, Nobuhiko had his old captor subjected to torture by having every Gorgom Kaijin stab him in the back to death.
*Darom (Black Sun): Nobuhiko resented Darom for having given the Creation King to the government, and broke away from him with the others so that the Creation King could escape that fate.
*Bilgenia (Black Sun): Nobuhiko disliked him because he was prone to violence. This dislike eventually grew into a deep hatred and grudge upon finding out that Bilgenia had murdered Yukari, even requesting Bishum that Yukari's corpse be turned into Heat Heaven and fed to Nobuhiko. Upon meeting him again, Nobuhiko immediately transformed to settle with Bilgenia.
==Behind the Scenes==
===Portrayal===
Nobuhiko Akizuki is portrayed by . https://twitter.com/KR_BLACKSUN/status/1462240947530436609As Kamen Rider Shadowmoon, his suit actor is .Uchusen Vol.180
==Notes==
*This iteration of Shadowmoon is explicitly confirmed and referred to as a Kamen Rider, unlike the original Shadow Moon whose status as a Rider is considered debatable.
*Nakamura's performance was influenced by the original Shadow Moon's appearance in Kamen Rider Black RX, whom he cites to be his favorite character from the show.
*A suit of Kamen Rider Shadowmoon with both the grasshopper legs is used in most of the promotional material. However, due to continuity reasons, a suit with only one of the legs intact appears when he first assumes the form.
==Appearances==
==See also==
*Nobuhiko Akizuki
==External links==
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