Kamen Rider The Next

A movie for *Kamen Rider Series*

## Episode Guide

**Kamen Rider The Next** (仮面ライダー THE NEXT, *Kamen Raidā Za Nekusuto*?, translated as **Masked Rider The Next**) is a movie for the *Kamen Rider Series*, directed by Ryuta Tasaki and written by Toshiki Inoue. The film was released on October 27, 2007.

The film borrows elements from the *Kamen Rider V3* television series and is a sequel to the *Kamen Rider: The First* movie (which was a film adaptation of the original *Kamen Rider* series).

Actor Kazuki Kato, who had previously portrayed Daisuke Kazama/Kamen Rider Drake in *Kamen Rider Kabuto*, portrayed Shiro Kazami/Kamen Rider V3. Both Masaya Kikawada and Hassei Takano reprise their roles as Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider 1 and Hayato Ichimonji/Kamen Rider 2, respectively.

It was given a PG-12 rating for its brief nudity and violence.

## Plot

Two years after the events of *Kamen Rider the First*, a strange series of bizarre murders occur with the victims mutilated in a most gruesome fashion while pop star Chiharu's "Platinum Smile" is being played, becoming an urban legend. Meanwhile, Takeshi Hongo has become a high school science teacher with a troublesome class with one student catching his attention; a troubled girl named Kotomi Kikuma who was best friends with Chiharu and is worried about her.

By the time Hongo and her find a dying "Chiharu", they learn she's actually an imposter as the Shocker Inhumanoid Chainsaw Lizard arrives with the six Shocker Riders to carry out the task of executing Hongo, forcing him to reveal himself in as Kamen Rider 1 to Kotomi before escaping his hunters. At around the same time, Hayato Ichimonji is shown still alive but slowly weakening due to his body's rejection of the cybernetic changes which made him Kamen Rider 2.

The next day, after saving Kotomi from some punks by exposing his physical ability, Hongo accepts Kotomi's offer to help in finding Chiharu by finding her older brother Shiro Kazami, who is the former president of the rising IT enterprise ExaStream, which is tied to the mysterious disappearance of its staff two months prior. Making their way to his holiday home to meet Kazami, Hongo and Kotomi soon learn that he is in league with Shocker as Chainsaw Lizard and the Shocker Riders battle Kamen Rider 1 on as Kazami joins the fray as a Shocker Inhumanoid code-named "V3".

After chasing down Rider 1 in a high speed chase across the countryside, V3 and the Shocker Riders take down Rider 1 until Kamen Rider 2 re-appears to cover Rider 1's escape. But after realizing his "sister" was another imposter, Kazami reveals the incident at ExaStream was a Shocker experiment of Nanobots designed to convert all humans in Japan into cyborgs, with him being a survivor of the experiment.

The three riders later learn that Kotomi found the other girl, revealing the gruesome fate the real Chiharu suffered as she and her predecessor were involved, horrifying Kazami as Kotomi is telepathically shown the truth of the real Chiharu's final moments as "Chiharu" runs off and eventually is brutally murdered with the manager and the record dealer who were covering up her death as Kotomi uses Platinum Smile to communicate with Chiharu, learning that she's still alive as the "ghost" takes its leave.

After Kazami reveals to Hongo that Shocker's foreign branch brought a shipment of nanobots to spread them across the nation, Rider 1 arrives to intercept the convoy while battling Scissors Jaguar, the mastermind behind the nanobot operation, with Rider 2 arriving to back him up as the battle ends up in the "Legend of Gathering" restaurant in an all out fight for the nanobots. Though the Double Riders are overwhelmed, the tables are turned as V3 arrives to support them.

While the Double Riders kill Scissors Jaguar, V3 manages to destroy Chainsaw Lizard and the nanobots before coming face to face with Chiharu, horrifically mutated by the nanobots into a monster as she pleas her brother to put her out of her misery. Though reluctant to do it, Kazami kills Chiharu, honoring her wish to die rather than live as a monster.

With Chiharu's death, the Platinum Smile incidents end. After the three Riders escape the burning restaurant, Ichimonji takes his leave to spend his final moments in bliss at a Ginza bar he regulars, while Kazami decides to start a new life for himself. Hongo is forced to quit his job after complaints made for his earlier stunt. The film ends with Kotomi and Hongo walking home together. A post-credits scene reveals that the curse of Platinum Smile may not have truly ended.

## Characters

### Allies

* Kotomi Kikuma
* Yamazaki
* Shindo
* Vice-Principal

### Shocker

* Great Leader of Shocker
* Hopper V3
* Scissors Jaguar
* Chainsaw Lizard
* Shocker Combatmen
* Shocker Riders

* Chiharu

## Cast

* Takeshi Hongo (本郷 猛, *Hongō Takeshi*?): Masaya Kikawada (黄川田 将也, *Kikawada Masaya*?)
* Hayato Ichimonji (一文字 隼人, *Ichimonji Hayato*?): Hassei Takano (高野 八誠, *Takano Hassei*?)
* Shiro Kazami (風見 志郎, *Kazami Shirō*?): Kazuki Kato (加藤 和樹, *Katō Kazuki*?)
* Kotomi Kikuma (菊間 琴美, *Kikuma Kotomi*?): Miku Ishida (石田 未来, *Ishida Miku*?)
* Chiharu Kazami (風見 ちはる, *Kazami Chiharu*?): Erika Mori (森 絵梨佳, *Mori Erika*?)
* The Great Leader of Shocker (ショッカー首領, *Shokkā Shuryō*?, Voice): Goro Naya (納谷 悟朗, *Naya Gorō*?)
* Scissors Jaguar (シザースジャガー, *Shizāsu Jagā*?): Tomorowo Taguchi (田口 トモロヲ, *Taguchi Tomorowo*?)
* Chainsaw Lizard (チェーンソーリザード, *Chēnsō Rizādo*?): Rie Mashiko (益子 梨恵, *Mashiko Rie*?)
* Yamazaki (山崎, *Yamazaki*?): Shinji Rokkaku (六角 慎司, *Rokkaku Shinji*?)
* Takako Miki (未來 貴子, *Miki Takako*?)
* Shindo (進藤, *Shindō*?): Kyusaku Shimada (嶋田 久作, *Shimada Kyūsaku*?)
* Vice-Principal (教頭, *Kyōtō*?): Yosuke Saito (斎藤 洋介, *Saitō Yōsuke*?)
* Shocker Combatmen/Shocker Riders (ショッカー戦闘員／ショッカーライダー, *Shokkā Sentōin/Shokkā Raidā*?, Voice): Katsumi Shiono (塩野 勝美, *Shiono Katsumi*?)

### Suit actors

* Kamen Rider 1: Hiroshi Maeda (前田 浩, *Maeda Hiroshi*?)
* Kamen Rider 2: Tomohiko Akiyama (秋山 智彦, *Akiyama Tomohiko*?)
* Kamen Rider V3: Makoto Ito (伊藤 慎, *Itō Makoto*?)
* Scissors Jaguar: Tomotaka Watanabe (渡辺 智隆, *Watanabe Tomotaka*?)
* Chainsaw Lizard: Ayako Hino (日野 綾子, *Hino Ayako*?)

## Songs

Theme song
* "Chosen Soldier"
	+ Lyrics & Artist: ISSA
	+ Composition: Daisuke Imai (今井 大介, *Imai Daisuke*?)

Insert song
* "Platinum Smile"
	+ Lyrics & Artist: Riyu Kosaka
	+ Composition: LOVE+HATE

## Notes

* Like the first film, The Riders' transformation movement is different from the actual series. In the series, Hongo, Ichimonji, and Kazami perform stylish movements from the series, later in the movie, the three Riders perform the classic hand movements as battle poses before their confrontation with Chiharu, but have no connection to their transformation, but Hongo simply does the iconic Ichigo pose, and Ichimonji does the full hand gestures of Kamen Rider 2 while Kazami does the pose of the original Kazami. Hongo and Ichimonji transform in the classic transformation style, for instance, in one small moment in the movie, when Hongo is surrounded by Shocker Riders, he does the Rider jump to transform. Like the Heisei-Era Kamen Riders, the eyes flash to end the transformation. but Kazami's transformation is more in line to the first film; Kazami's belt simply appears on his waist, it whirs, transforming him into his suit, he then snaps on his helmet and faceplate on his head to transform.
* This movie features a cameo appearance by Yuki Kubota (久保田 悠来, *Kubota Yūki*?) (appearing in a post credit scene), who would later portray Takatora Kureshima (Kamen Rider Zangetsu(-Shin)) in *Kamen Rider Gaim*.

* The ending features an odd continuity error, before the victim is killed by the curse of Chiharu, he is clearly seen playing a Kamen Rider pachinko game featuring the original Kamen Riders from the TV series. This does not make sense in context as this world is where Kamen Rider is real and an urban myth, thus a pachinko game of the TV series incarnations would not exist. This can most likely be seen as forced product placement for the adults in the audience to play said pachinko game.

## References

1. ↑ "今秋公開の映画「仮面ライダー THE NEXT」はPG-12". http://news.ameba.jp/2007/07/5571.php. Retrieved 2007-07-15.

## External links

* *Kamen Rider The Next* at Wikipedia
* *Kamen Rider The Next* at Japanese Wikipedia
* MaskedRiderNext.jp - Official website