Eight Riders vs. GingaOh

A movie for Kamen Rider (Skyrider)

## Episode Guide

***Kamen Rider: Eight Riders vs. GingaOh*** (仮面ライダー 8人ライダーVS銀河王, *Kamen Raidā: Hachi'nin Raidā tai Gingaō*) is the movie of *Kamen Rider (Skyrider)*. It unites the first eight Kamen Riders as Skyrider joins with the Seven Legendary Riders before him.

## Overview

*Eight Riders vs. GingaOh* is the first original theatrical production in six years, following the 1974 film *Five Riders vs. King Dark*, which accompanied the TV series *Kamen Rider X*. In the interim, theatrical releases of *Kamen Rider Amazon* and *Kamen Rider Stronger* had been screened as part of the Toei Manga Festival in spring and summer of 1975, having been respectfully "blown-up" from *Amazon's* sixteenth episode and *Stronger's* seventh episode.

A the first time for the *Kamen Rider Series*, this film was produced with a running time of 40 minutes, ranked as a "class A" production: The cost of production was twice the average Toei Manga Festival production. Initially, it was considered to release the film in its own right beyond the children's box office.

It was the first tokusatsu superhero feature screened at Toei Manga Festival since *Spider-Man* and *Message From Space: Galactic Wars*, both screened in 1978. This release would begin a revival of tokusatsu features incorporated into the festival.

Led by Skyrider, this film featured the debut of the hero's new "Powered Skyrider" form, prior to its debut in the twenty-eighth episode of the *Kamen Rider* TV series. While an action-oriented work with less drama, the film was managed by creator Shotaro Ishinomori, who oversaw large-scale action and special effects scenes.

### Planning

In the original story draft by Shotaro Ishinomori, Kamen Rider was to confront Neo-Shocker's Vampire Army (吸血鬼軍団, *Kyūketsuki Gundan*), which intended to use the gravity-controlling artillery developed by Dr. Ramon (羅門博士, *Ramon Hakase*). Air fighting sequences were to fully demonstrate the Skyrider's flight capability. Dr. Ramon and Neo-Shocker's base at Mt. Fuji, the latter of which also appears in the finished work, were created at this stage, with Dr. Ramon envisioned as a mastermind manipulating both Kamen Rider and Neo-Shocker. Additional enemy characters were Neo-Shocker's executive, Count Dracula (ドラキュラ伯爵, *Dorakyura Hakushaku*), accompanied by a subordinate monster, the Pteranodon-based Teranodojin (テラノドジン, *Teranodojin*), who was represented by rough design drawn by Ishinomori.

## Characters

### Villains

* Silver King Army
	+ GingaOh
	+ Suddendas
	+ Space Crew
* Neo-Shocker
	+ Jaguar Van
	+ Armadig
	+ Second Generation Cyborg Corps
		- Kumonjin
		- Sasoranjin
		- Gokiburijin
		- Yamorijin
		- Shibirayjin
		- Okamijin
		- Sai Dump
		- Kogoensky
		- Musasabader Brothers
		- Madarakajin

## Cast

* Skyrider (Hiroshi Tsukuba) (筑波　洋, *Skyrider (Tsukuba Hiroshi)*) - Hiroaki Murakami (村上 弘明, *Murakami Hiroaki*)
* Takeshi Hongo (本郷 猛, *Hongō Takeshi*): Hiroshi Fujioka (藤岡 弘, *Fujioka Hiroshi*)
* Hayato Ichimonji (一文字 隼人, *Ichimonji Hayato*): Takeshi Sasaki (佐々木 剛, *Sasaki Takeshi*)
* Shiro Kazami (風見 志郎, *Kazami Shirō*): Hiroshi Miyauchi (宮内 洋, *Miyauchi Hiroshi*)
* Joji Yuki (結城 丈二, *Yūki Jōji*): Takehisa Yamaguchi (山口 豪久, *Yamaguchi Takehisa*)
* Keisuke Jin (神 敬介, *Jin Keisuke*): Ryo Hayami (速水 亮, *Hayami Ryō*)
* Daisuke Yamamoto (山本 大介, *Yamamoto Daisuke*): Tōru Okazaki (岡崎 徹, *Okazaki Tōru*)
* Shigeru Jō (城 茂, *Jō Shigeru*): Shigeru Araki (荒木 茂, *Araki Shigeru*)

## Theme song

* "Kagayake! Hachinin Rider" (輝け! 8人ライダー, *Kagayake! Hachinin Raidā*, "Shine! Eight Riders")
	+ Lyrics: Saburō Yatsude
	+ Composition & Arrangement: Shunsuke Kikuchi
	+ Artist: Ichirou Mizuki and The Chirps

This theme would later be used as the second ending theme of the series starting from episode 29 to the end of the series.
## Errors

* Skyrider has his new suit rather than his old one.

## Notes

* *Eight Riders vs. GingaOh* was originally released on VHS and Laserdisc on August 4th, 2000.

 File:Neo-Heisei Eight Riders.jpg
* *Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie War Mega Max* featured homages to this movie in the form of Super GingaOh and Suddendath, who were based on GingaOh and Suddendas from this movie.
	+ The next *Movie War*, *Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Wizard & Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum*, despite featuring a total of nine riders, actually features a teamup between eight riders, the current four primary riders of the Neo-Heisei era with the secondaries, with Kamen Rider Beast (who only appears at the end of the movie) traded for Kamen Rider Nadeshiko from *Movie War Mega Max*. As noted in promotional material, the union of eight riders is reminiscent of *Eight Riders vs. GingaOh*, which in a similar vein united the first eight Kamen Riders of the Showa era.
* Shotaro Ishinomori has a cameo appearance at the beginning of the movie.
* The opening sequence of this movie, featuring a line-up of the eight Riders, was directly recycled for the TV special *Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!!* (1984), with Super-1 and ZX added at the end.
* Footage from this movie was featured in the 1988 TV special *Kamen Rider 1 Through RX: Big Gathering*, which served as a recap of the ten veteran Kamen Riders up to *Kamen Rider Black RX*.

## Digital Releases

* *Kamen Rider: The Movie* DVD Volume 3 features *Kamen Rider Amazon* (film), *Kamen Rider Stronger* (film) and *Eight Riders vs. GingaOh*.
* The Blu-ray Release of *Kamen Rider: The Movie* Volume 2 features *Eight Riders vs. GingaOh*, *Kamen Rider Super-1: The Movie*, *Kamen Rider Black: Hurry to Onigashima* & *Kamen Rider Black: Terrifying! The Phantom House of Devil Pass*.
* *Eight Riders vs. GingaOh* is included in *Kamen Rider: The Movie* Blu-ray Box 1972-1988, a Blu-ray compilation boxset of Showa Rider movies.

Kamen Rider The Movie Vol 3.jpg*Kamen Rider: The Movie*, DVD Volume 3 cover.Rider Movies Volume 2.jpg*Kamen Rider: The Movie* Volume 2, Blu-ray cover.Kamen Rider The Movie Blu-ray Box.jpg1972-88 Boxset.
## References

1. ↑ 仮面ライダー1971-1984 2014, pp. 404-405, 「石ノ森章太郎氏劇場用直筆アイデアメモ」
2. ↑ http://www.toei-video.co.jp/DVD/ridermovie.html
3. ↑ http://www.toei-video.co.jp/BD/maskedridermovbdbox.html