Going back a little bit on KAMEN RIDER... In 1969, Toei creative producer, Tohru Hirayama (who had produced all of the tokusatsu series since 1966), gathered together a team of writers to come up with a modern "masked" hero. This group consisted or Shinichi Ichikawa (ULTRA SEVEN), Shozo Uehara (OPERATION: MYSTERY) and Masaru Igami (THE SAMURAI). Together, they developed a proposal called "Fugitive from Hell." As they continued to developed the story into 1970, the plan began to take shape and many of the elements of what we think of KAMEN RIDER were established in relation to the characters and the villains.
Ishimori, who had worked on several animated series at Toei Animation, was called in to help them visualize the look of the series, and he also began contributing story and character ideas. Ishimori was especially impressed with Ichikawa̢۪s ideas, since Ichikawa was himself the individual to really have the greatest interest in the concept of a hero who hides and alter ego behind a mask. Also because Ichikawa wanted to create science fiction dramas that maintained a great level of quality. Ichikawa was also especially interested in the persona of this hero.
As this process continued during 1970, a number of elements were proposed and dropped, as well as different superhero designs, such as "Maskman K," "Masked Angel," "Cross Mask," "Cross Fire," etc. Some of the elements that were dropped, such as the hero being a fugitive of the law, would wind up being recycled into KIKAIDA and ZUBAT. Ishimori's hero designs failed to be approved for production, and he kept drafting under the direction of Hirayama and Toei TV's think tank. Even the design and manga of "Skullman" (based on Masaru Igami's first draft teleplay), which actually wound up being published in Shonen Magazine as a test marketing plan by Toei and MBS, was met with lukewarm reception by readers.
Going back to the drawing board, Ishimori decided to design something radical, and came up with several different, and very disparate designs, and let his little son, pick the final design he would bring into Toei. He called it, "Hopper King." Hirayama loved it, while others thought that it was too grotesque for a superhero, but it was Hirayama that thought it was a stroke of genius and pushed it through, becoming "Hopper King, the Masked Rider." When the series started shooting on February 7, 1971, the series was shorted to KAMEN RIDER.
Of course, when star Hiroshi Fujioka was injured while filming Episode 9, and doctors told them that it would take nine months before Fujioka could return to work, they quickly had to come up with some ideas to replace him, and improve the show, since the ratings were poor. These included having Takeshi Hongo mutate (DOCTOR WHO was especially popular in Japan at this point, so producers looked at it for a model of this idea) and being transformed into a giant hero and Shocker would create giant monsters, since SPECTREMAN and RETURN OF ULTRAMAN both had solid ratings.
But, it despite the network's wishes, producer Hirayama lobbied for the introduction of a new Kamen Rider to replace Hongo, who it would be explained, went to Europe to fight Shocker there. The network's idea of killing off Hongo or making him a giant were nixed at the insistence of Hirayama who said that it would "destroy children's dreams."
Here are some quotes from Hirayama's notes for the new phase of KAMEN RIDER, which illustrate that Ishimori is not the sole creator of KAMEN RIDER (in Japan, the official Kamen Rider Fan Club recognizes Hirayama as the "Father of Kamen Rider"):
Kamen Rider No. 2: The costume should be more vibrantly colored, and excessive night scenes should be avoided.
Too many of the mutants simply decomposed when finished off. How about exploding them instead?
The frightening, occult atmosphere is fine, but more technology should be featured.
Reconsidering the Audience: Ages 11-13. Male. While actor Takeshi Sasaki may attract female viewers, we have to remember that the base audience consists of young male viewers.
Organizing Rider̢۪s Sidekicks: The portrayal of the snack bar [Amigo] is unconvincing, and technically difficult to shoot. How about having lots of children hanging out at the snack bar?
How about an organization for the hero? What kind? No, it̢۪s not appropriate for him. But not a large organization, imagine a small group assisting a lone wolf. So, what̢۪s the nature of this organization? It̢۪s usually being attacked, a passive type. Tobei will be in charge of the Tachibana Racing Club instead of the snack bar, how about that?
How about regular young ladies, "The Rider Girls"? In order to bring out more humor, etc.
Motorcycle battles would be exciting, in which case Shocker would need motorcycles, too.
His ideas for the continuation of KAMEN RIDER were intuitive and once they were in place, started to grab media attention (thanks to a more aggressive advertising campaign by MBS and Toei), and the series started to catch on with viewers for the reasons that Hirayama proposed. The rest, as they say, is history.
So, while it was Ishimori's designs and the team's original story proposals, that brought KAMEN RIDER to life, it was Hirayama's inspiration, creative imagination, storytelling abilities, and power as a producer, that saved KAMEN RIDER and really ignited the Henshin Boom.
