Kamen Rider Spotlight: Kamen Rider Den-O

Ore sanjou! It’s time for another instalment of the Kamen Rider Spotlight, and this time we’re riding on the train that travels time with Kamen Rider Den-O!

“Ore sanjou!”

Den-O is a kinda weak kid with horridly bad luck named Ryotaro Nogami. Through a series of events, he learns of the Imagin, humans that lost their physical forms due to their histories being erased and possess other humans to gain new forms from their imaginations, eventually taking the person’s life to travel backward in time in search of the one responsible for the erasure of their history, destroying everything in their path. However, there are some Imagin that are willing to help stop the damage to time, teaming with Ryotaro as he boards a time travelling train and becomes Kamen Rider Den-O.

The Den Liner is Den-O’s time travelling train, made up of eight cars, each also equipped with a varying array of defence mechanisms and weapon systems. The DenLiner can be accessed by anyone with a Rider Pass opening ANY door when time lines up so that the hour, minute, and second are the same (2:02:02, 6:06:06, 12:12:12, etc).

The Den Bird serves both as Den-O’s personal motorcycle and can also plug into the main cockpit for the DenLiner. Once plugged it, it allows Den-O to take manual control of the DenLiner.

The Den-O Belt is Den-O’s Henshin device. By sweeping his Rider Pass past the Set Touch, the scanner in the centre, he transforms into Den-O. His natural form is his Plat Form, but by pressing one of the other four buttons and sweeping the Rider Pass, he transforms into one of his forms, provided one of his ally Imagin are available to possess him. It’s also possible for the Imagin to become their matching Den-O form themselves provided they have a copy of the Den-O Belt and Rider Pass.

Plat Form is the basic form of Den-O. Ryotaro rarely ever uses this form, really only ever appearing in transition between forms. This is due to Ryotaro’s frail physique and lack of any kind of self-defence training. He has access to the weapons of the other forms, but they do him little to any good whatsoever.

“From the start to the finish, I’m at a climax!”

Sword Form is likely Den-O’s best known form, and is assumed while being possessed by the Imagin Momotaros, arguably the most popular character of the Den-O series. Momotaros is a hot-headed and warmongering Oni-like Imagin, but he can be a good and goofy individual to his close friends. As the name suggests, Sword Form provides Den-O with a powerful sword. His standard finisher, the Extreme Slash, sends his blade launching out from the sword, connected by a chain of electricity, which he slashes across the foe. He has multiple variations of this move. He also has a roundhouse Rider Kick he’s utilized on rare occasion.

“Mind if I reel you in?”

Rod Form is accessible by letting the flirtatious turtle-like Urataros possess him. Armed with a long shaft that can also be utilized as a harpoon and a fishing rod. He’s a bit more defensive than Sword Form while lacking a bit of Sword Form’s attacking power. For his finisher, the Solid Attack, he pins the opponent by using the rod as a harpoon and executes a Rider Kick on it.

“My strength has made you cry!”

Axe Form is formed when Ryotaro allows the bear-like sumo/samurai to possess him. He’s armed with a mighty axe that makes him the most powerful short range form and has increased strength, power, and durability. The downside is that he’s slowed insanely down. His finisher is an all-powerful falling slash with the axe known as the Dynamic Chop.

“Mind if I defeat ya? I can’t hear you!”

Gun Form is formed when Ryotaro is possessed by Ryutaros, a dragon-like, childish, reckless risk-taker with a love of break-dancing. Armed with a high-powered gun and able to utilize his break-dancing for ducking and dodging, he should be the superior of all four original forms. The problem is that Ryutaros’ lack of accuracy combined with the power of his ammo can make Gun Form a bit unreliable. His finisher is the Wild Shot, which is a powered up shot that will blow away just about ANYTHING, provided that Ryutaros can get his aim right.

“Advent! To the top!”

Wing Form is a rarely used form brought about by Ryotaro being possessed by Sieg, a swan-like regal-minded individual whose need for the others to treat him in a princely manner can make him something of an annoyance. The special Wing Buckle also must be placed over the Den-O Belt for this form to be achieved, as there is no button for this form. Wing Form is equipped with a hand-axe and a boomerang, and possesses agility surpassing even Gun Form. His finisher, the Royal Smash, is a pincer attack with the twin weapons.

Momo–Ura–Kin–Ryu! CLIMAX FORM!

The Climax Cellphone K-Taros is a cellphone/henshin device. When three of the four Imagin were turned to dust, Ryotaro’s feelings for them turned the dust to the K-Taros and allowed for the Imagin to return later, as the K-Taros kept them connected, both by letting Ryotaro call them from anywhere and by attaching it to the Den-O Belt to allowed him to transform to Climax Form.

“Pile on!”

Climax Form is summoned by using the K-Taros to call Momotaros, Urataros, Kintaros, and Ryutaros together. It’s essentially an improved form of Sword Form, but the combined effort and powers of the four Imagin with Ryotaro grants him power beyond all of his other forms, save for the later further upgrade to Super Climax Form. It has a number of finishers, such as the Boisterous Kick and Boisterous Punch, which lines the masks of the other Imagin along the leg or arm for a devastating blow, the Boisterous Shout, which opens Ryutaros’ mask open to launch a barrage of missiles, and finally the Boisterous Slash, which channels all their power through Sword Form’s sword for a massive Extreme Slash.

Liner Form is powerful upgrade to Plat Form that Ryotaro can use for situations where the Imagin are unable to possess him for whatever reason, be it some outside force keeping them away or in the case of one of the movies where Ryotaro and the Imagin all transformed into the different forms of Den-O. It is accessed by inserting the Rider Pass into the DenKamen Sword. While it is definite improvement to Plat Form, and the DenKamen Sword allows Ryotaro to imitate the fighting styles of the Imagin, it still leaves Ryotaro on his own in the field, and given his bad luck and lack of real fighting skill, this can be a problem at times. His finishing move, the Densha Giri, comes in five variations. The first four are imitations of the main four forms’ finishers, while the final is a massive slash dubbed the Fullthrottle Break, but each attack produces the illusionary form of the matching Imagin’s car from the DenLiner, with the Fullthrottle Break producing all of them at once.

“…What’s with this fluttery thing? Chicken bastard, is that you?!”

Super Climax Form was used once when Wing Form used the K-Taros to bring the other four Imagin together with Sieg. This is generally considered to be Den-O’s ultimate form. It functions much in the same way as Climax Form, only with extra power, likely best demonstrated with the Super Boisterous Kick, wherein Sieg’s mask on the back sprouts into full spectral wings and the power of all five Imagin come together for a massively powerful kick that obliterates the target.

Well that’s all for this edition of the Kamen Rider Spotlight. The next one will be a special Halloween edition wherein we take a look at the Rider who breaks the chains of destiny. Ja né!