Autistic Goblin

The episode starts off with Hongo riding his motorcycle while some creepy monster watches from a distance. Hongo reaches the finish line but Mr. Tachibana doesn’t think that he will make the Grand Prix with his current times. Hongo laughs saying that he’ll go another lap to cut down some seconds from his time. Hongo starts off again and Mr. Tachibana thinks to himself how childish Hongo is, no one would ever suspect that he’s a leading scientist at Johoku University’s biochemistry lab.

Hongo is riding for a bit when other riders show up behind him, Hongo doesn’t recognize the riders. Hongo views it as a challenge so he rides faster, however further ahead on the road is a line of riders that only started moving when Hongo got closer. It’s clear to Hongo that he is their target.

Hongo uses his bike to jump off the road leading the two groups of riders to almost crash into each other. The riders take off down the road and Hongo is determined to find out what they are up to. That will have to wait however as he gets caught in some kind web. Sometime later, Hongo wakes up to chained to a circular table surrounded by oddly looking people. A voice welcomes Takeshi Hongo to Shocker.

Hongo has no idea what shocker is so we get an a brief explanation. Shocker is a multinational evil organization and for reasons unknown, they decided to kidnap Takeshi Hongo and bring him to their secret base in a remote part of Japan. Shocker plans to experiment on humans in order to take over the world (this seems like a perfect time for evil laughter). Apparently they were looking for a brainiac that also had a nice physique which is how Hongo got chosen.

Hongo tells them that he’ll never join Shocker. The voice from nowhere laughs and says that it’s too late to resist as Hongo is basically a member of Shocker now anyway. Hongo was brought to the secret base a week ago, in that time the Shocker scientists have already altered his body so that Hongo is now a cyborg. The evil voice says that cyborgs are the future and are his to control. Hongo laughs, asking if the evil voice truly expects him to believe that. The evil voice says that if Hongo refuses to believe, then the voice will prove it to him.

Poor Hongo gets gassed, then after a moment of that a scientist says that they are going to electrocute him with enough volts to fry a regular human. The scientist says that because of the alterations they did to Hongo, he’ll survive. The Scientist says that they imbued Hongo’s body with the power of wind and that he won’t suffer a single burn from the electricity. The Scientist goes on to say that the only reason Hongo feels pain is because they haven’t finished altering his mind yet. The Scientist says that once they have finished the alterations to his mind, Hongo will be a slave, following Shocker’s orders. In other words, Hongo will become a true cyborg of Shocker.

Hongo says that he would rather die than serve Shocker. The Scientist laughs, he claims that’s what they all say, but then they all serve Shocker faithfully. The Scientist orders a minion to begin the mind alterations to Hongo. The minion goes to the controls when they start to spark, then the power goes out. Another Shocker minion comes through the door saying that the generation has been destroyed. The Scientist yells at everyone to find the culprit and they all leave the room. Now that Hongo is alone, he pulls at his chains until they break.

Hongo sits up looking at his chains in disbelief when a new person enters the room. Expecting a fight, Hongo gathers the chain to use like a weapon only to discover that the new person is Dr. Midorikawa, a person he thought had disappeared. Dr. Midorikawa says that it’s all Shocker’s fault, then reminds Hongo that they must escape. Hongo asks how, so Dr. Midorikawa tells him about an exit through the ceiling. Hongo says that it’s two high to reach but the Doctor reminds Hongo of his new abilities courtesy of Shocker. Hongo grabs the Doctor and jumps. It’s just in time too as the evil scientists come back into the room a moment later to find their victim gone.

Hongo and the Doctor ride away on a motorcycle but Shocker was ready to ambush them by leaving webs on the road. The bike of course crashes with Hongo falling off a cliff leaving the Doctor alone. Doctor Midorikawa is taken by three women to meet a big creepy spider man (as opposed to the Friendly Neighbourhood guy). Doctor Midorikawa begs them not to kill his daughter.

It’s then that we finally get to see the Kamen Rider, which looks like a giant bug. (Really cool bug but still buggy). Of course it wouldn’t be a show unless there was a fight between our hero and the bad guys.. (the fight that brings back memories of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.)

At Johoku University School of Literature, Ruriko walks out of the campus gate to get startled by her friend Hiromi jumping out. Hiromi asks Ruriko if something is wrong because she seems to be distracted. Ruriko asks Hiromi if she sees someone following behind her. Hiromi says no and accuses Ruriko of acting weird. Ruriko says that she feels like someone has been watching her these last three days. It turns out that Ruriko is Dr. Midorikawa’s daughter and she’s being followed by Shocker. A Shocker minion radios in her location to his boss. The Shocker boss tells the minion to use Ruriko to lure out her father.

The Boss shocker tells them to strike either at the cafe where Ruriko works or on her route there. The minions decide to try and grab her while she’s walking, the two girls are quickly surrounded by thugs. A car drives up to them and it turns out to be the cafe boss. The girls are grateful for his arrival and tell him of the strange men but of course those men seem to have disappeared so the cafe boss thinks the girls are teasing him. The girls get into the car to leave the area. The cafe boss hands Ruriko a note saying that her father has been found. The note contains her father’s location.

The car arrives at the cafe and the boss and a girl get out, saying goodbye to the remaining occupant of the car. The two enter the cafe which is named Amigo. A moment after entering the boss is attacked, the girl stands in a corner doing absolutely nothing to help her boss. Once Shocker thugs are done beating up the boss they grab the girl only to discover that it’s Ruriko but Hiromi! Ruriko actually stayed in the car and they tricked Shocker!

Ruriko drives away in the car delighting in the fact that her father is still alive. She reads the note aloud saying that Dr. Midorikawa is at Toura Pier, Warehouse 50. Little does she know that there’s this giant spider on her back window listening in for the bad guys. (SERIOUSLY?! How the hell do you miss that?)

At the warehouse Dr. Midorikawa worries that he might have done something wrong and put his daughter in danger. Hongo reminds Dr. Midorikawa that he’s the only one that can testify to the world about Shocker’s terrible plan. Hongo gives the doctor a bit of pep talk while they wait for Ruriko. Doctor Midorikawa lets it slip that he is the reason that Hongo was chosen by Shocker. Ruriko is outside and can hear the two argue although she doesn’t know it’s Hongo that her father is talking to. Hongo leaves the doctor alone, walking away to contemplate the changes that make him seem like an alien from a different planet to anyone that doesn’t know him.

While Hongo is thinking to himself, web is creeping into the warehouse close to the doctor. The web eventually starts to strangle the doctor but not before he can yell for help. Hongo comes running over to try and get the web off Dr. Midorikawa but when Ruriko runs in.. it looks like Hongo is strangling the doctor. Ruriko yells at Hongo to stop strangling her father, while he argues that he’s trying to help. A dart flys in the air but Hongo manages to get Ruriko and himself safely away. The dart hits Dr. Midorikawa’s body and liquefied it. Afterwards, Ruriko calls Hongo a murderer and is about to leave when the weird creepy spider dude takes her hostage. The Spider takes her outside and jumps on top of a truck to get away. Hongo follows behind on his motorcycle.

The spider jumps off the roof of the truck with an unconscious Ruriko and summons his minions to fight Kamen Rider. When Hongo beats the spider, the body liquifies as well leaving no evidence behind. The cafe owner drives up in his car (how did he know?) and asks Hongo if Ruriko is okay. Hongo says that she’ll be fine and puts her in the car so that the two can drive off.

Hongo himself takes his motorcycle home. As it stands now Doctor Midorikawa is dead, Ruriko thinks Hongo is a murderer, Hongo is a cyborg still learning to control his strength and there are more monsters waiting for him in the wings. Takeshi Hongo is putting is life on the line to fight Shocker.

Roll those end credits! That’d the end of Kamen Rider: Episode 1.