MASKED RIDER DEN-O
Kamen Rider Den-O
Masked Rider Den-O (Kamen Rider Den-O) is the seventeenth installment in the popular Kamen
Rider Series of tokusatsu programs. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions
and Toei. It premiered January 28, 2007 on TV Asahi, and concluded airing on January 20, 2008.
Its lead actor Takeru Satoh is the first Kamen Rider Series lead born in the Heisei period
of Japanese history.
Along with the usual film adaptation that Heisei Kamen Rider series have released during
the late summer of their broadcast run, Den-O had a second film released in the spring
following its broadcast run which grossed 730 million yen (approximately USD 6.8 million)
and a series of ten OVA shorts, both of which are firsts for any Kamen Rider. Continuing
the trend, Kamen Rider Den-O also had a third film released in October 2008, the first for
any Kamen Rider series and a second series of 12 OVA shorts was released in November 2008.
Takeru Satoh claims that the reason that Den-O has amassed such popularity is because of
its comedic timing. A fourth film was released on May 1, 2009 and three more released in
the summer of 2010.
The catchphrases for the series are "Traveling through time, here I come!" (Toki o koete
ore sanjo !) and "The time train, DenLiner ! Will its next stop be in the past or the future ?"
(Toki no ressha Denraina ! Tsugi no eki wa kako ka ? mirai ka ?)
Story of Masked Rider Den-O
Ryotaro Nogami is a young man with a lot of bad luck. One day, he finds a strange pass and
things got stranger from a mysterious girl and a large time-traveling train to being possessed
by an entity called an Imagin, beings from an alternate future whose kind are attempting to
change the past.
Though slightly confused about the nature of the crisis, Ryotaro, along with the aid of the
hot-headed, violent Imagin, dubbed Momotaros, becomes Kamen Rider Den-O Sword Form (red armor),
traveling to different times on the DenLiner to battle the evil Imagin and prevent them
from altering the past to affect the present and future.
Beside Momotaros, Ryotaro also joined by other Imagin who aid him as well, the lying,
manipulating and womanizing Urataros, the herculean Kintaros, childish yet powerful
Ryutaros and the royal stailed, Sieg in his adventure.
He later meets the mysterious Yuto Sakurai and his bumbling Imagin partner Deneb.
Yuto is not only Kamen Rider Zeronos but is the younger incarnation of Ryotaro's older
sister Airi's fiance, Sakurai, who mysteriously disappeared and is tied to the mysteries
involving the Imagin and a person known as the Junction Point.
Masked Rider Den-O Enemies - Imagin
Imagin are creatures from the future who have come to the year 2007 in hopes of changing
the past to alter their future to their liking. To reach this goal, Imagin grant the wishes
of weak-hearted humans and then go back in time to that individual's most precious memory.
When they lose control of their humanoid forms, Imagin grow into massive proportions known
as Gigandeath.
Plot of Masked Rider Den-O
Welcome to the year 2007, the year when all of time comes under attack. Bodiless creatures
called 'Imagin' have traveled back from the future in an effort to wreck chaos upon the
timeline. By fulfilling a contract, an Imagin is able to not only take on a physical form,
but travel further back in time to the contract holder's most precious memory. Altering the
past has devastating consequences on both the present and the future.
The only thing standing between the Imagin and their goal of total chronological annihilation
is Kamen Rider Den-O, alias Nogami Ryoutarou. But can the weak, know-nothing, bad-luck-cursed
Ryoutarou truly do anything against the Imagin ? If his four best friends have anything to
say about it, sure he can !
Ryotarou Nogami
A physically weak late-teen, who doesn't know much, and has the absolute worst luck.
For Ryoutarou, it's just an average day to ride his bike up into a tree, over a broken
bottle, get his wallet stolen by punks, and get the stuffing beaten out of him as a result.
It's not like he's trying to get into any trouble. But things just happen.
But his bad luck takes a turn for the better
when Ryoutarou is possessed by an Imagin. Later given the name Momotarous, the Imagin is
able to physically control Ryoutarou. With Momotarous help, along with the help of a
handful of other 'good' Imagin, Ryoutarou is able to fight as Den-O.
Ryoutarou is also something called a Singularity Point. In essence, no matter what happens
to the time around him, Ryoutarou will remain unaffected. As a side effect, Ryoutarou is
able to force out any Imagin possessing his body. Even when the Imagin are not
possessing him, they are still connected to him through a bond, allowing them to take
control of Ryoutarou's body whenever he needs them.
Nogami Airi : Ryotaro's Sister
Ryoutarou's older sister whose fiance, Sakurai Yuto, was mysteriously disappeared a month
before the wedding. Non of her customers know this fact-in truth, not even Airi knows her
husband-to-be is missing. For some reason, Airi suffers from selective amnesia and has
forgotten everything about herpast and Sakurai Yuto.
The only person who seems to remember Airi's fiance even exists is Ryoutarou
Airi was very beautiful and gently. Many guys come to her Coffee house just to flirt her.
Among them, there are two guy that always fighting about her, Seigi Ozaki and Isse Miura
Ryutaros, one of the imagin, also fall in love with Airi and jealous with her fiance
Hana : Den-O Asisstant
Another Singularity Point like Ryoutarou, although she does not fight. No family name is
ever given for her. Hana is from a future timeline that was destroyed by the Imagin. She
formed a 'contract' with the Owner of the DenLiner to go back in time, find Den-O and
stop the Imagin. Through the use of her fists of doom, she has gained the respect of
Ryoutarou's Imagin
Hana was start as a teen (Yurika Shiratori) and change to a little girl near the last episodes.
To avoid Airi confusion, her name also changed to Kohana.
After that, the series carry on with the little girl to the end.
Naomi : DenLiner Waitress
The spunky crewwoman of the DenLiner, Naomi runs the DenLiner's diner car. Her coffee
creations are topped with color coded whip-cream so that the color coded patrons
refer to the Imagin so they can tell which cup is whose.
This happy go lucky babe was the one who invite Ryutaro to get on Den Liner.
DenLiner's Owner
DenLiner Owner
The Owner of DenLiner, the train which travels inside time. Throughout the most of the
series, he can be seen enjoying a mound of fried rice or a plate of Jell-O-esk pudding,
that will have a flag stuck in the middle.
He'll try not to drop the flag as long as possible, while eating his foods.
It almost looks as though he's practicing for an eating competition.
Station Master
In the episodes, there're other person that looks like a twin with the DenLiner
Owner and will give a hand in certain situation. One of them was the Station Master They also having an eating competition
among them.
Mystery Man : Sakurai Yuuto
There'll be a mystery man holding a chain watch with his face cover with hat.
He'll be at the scene where the imagin attack and he also can to travel through times
The fact is, he was the lost Airi's fiance, Sakurai Yuto.
Another Sakurai Yuuto
Beside DenLiner, there are other train that travel through time zone including Zero Liner.
The owner of the ZeroLiner is Sakurai Yuuto, but not the same Yuuto that was Airi's fiance.
He also don't even know her and never met Airi before following Ryutaro.
The 2nd Sakurai Yuuto also a Masked Rider called Masked Rider Zeronos and his imagin
is Deneb, a very polite imagin that always be a babysitter to him.
Group of Good Imagins
Ryotaro always be support by the good imagins in his mission as Masked Rider Den-O.
The imagin had a contract with him and even he was looked weak, he was the only human
that can be posses by many imagin at a same times.
That was because Ryotaro got a very strong spirits to help others,
specially to save the world from destroying by the bad imagins.
1st Imagin : Momotaros
With a brash attitude, a determination to be in the best fights possible, and a punk personality,
Momotaros is the perfect foil to shy Ryoutarou. He also the first of four Imagin to posses
Ryoutarou. When posses by Momotaros, Ryotaro'll become Masked Rider Den-O Sword Form.
Both of his appearance and his name, was stem from Ryoutarou's favorite childhood story,
Momotarou the Peach Boy, a classic Japanese folk legend about a young boy born from a
peach who fights demons.
The motif carries over to Momotaros' armor, with his helmet
resembling that of a split peach, and to 'Momotaros' train, the DenLiner drive by
Mask Rider Den-O Sword Form, to become Den-O Sword Form.
2nd Imagin : Urataros
The Casanova of the group, Urataros is the second of the four Imagin to posses Ryoutarou.
His appearance is based off of a snapping turtle, supposedly the same who ferried the
fisherman Urashima Tarou to the undersea palace of the dragon god of the sea in the legend
of Urashima Tarou. While Momotaros' weapon was his physical strength, Urataros turns the
tables against friend and foe just using words. He's so good at lying he's charming to
almost anyone and get Ryoutarou out of trouble as fast as he gets the boy in trouble.
But that's not mean Urataros can't fight. In a battle, Urataros can hold his own easily.
His own personal train can launch a turtle-shaped flying platform for air and sea battles.
Urataros possesses Den-O will become Masked Rider Den-O Rod Form.
3rd Imagin : Kintaros
The third Imagin of the foursome, Kintaros is physically the strongest of the group.
So strong, in fact, he misjudges his strength on occasion, leading to property damage.
His physical appearance mirrors that of a yellow bear, he also drops off into deep sleep
spells just like a bear dropping into hibernation. However, whenever he hears the word
'cry' (naku) or any word that even vaguely sounds like 'cry', Kintaros snaps into action.
His preferred fighting style is a blend of sumo and bad karate. Kintaros' personal train
is armed with six axes, three on either side, and a single ax at the head of the train
used for special finishers.
Kintaros possesses Den-O to become Den-O Ax Form.
4th Imagin : Ryutaros
The purple bouncing dragon with a thing for break dancing is one of the more enigmatic of
the Imagin. Ryuutaros is constantly in motion, just like a young child. If he's not hiding
in Ryoutarou, he's playing with his toy bubble gun or drawing pictures. He also has a
childish fondness for kittens, puppies and strange birds.
In addition to his break dancing skills, Ryuutaros can control other people by simply
snapping his fingers. Normally, he
just makes people dance. He is also strong enough to keep the other three Imagin out of
Ryoutarou.
Mentally, Ryuutaros is the youngest of the group, with the attitude of a spoiled three or
five year old. And he'll only really listen to Airi. His personal train is made up of two
cars, the first forms the head and neck of a dragon, the rear extends to form the tail.
Ryuutaros possesses Den-O to become Masked Rider Den-O Gun Form.
5th Imagin : Sieg
Sieg is an Imagin who enables Den-O's transformation into Wing Form. He arrives in the
current timeline six months prior to Ryotaro becoming Den-O, originally intending to
forge a contract with a young rich pregnant lady named Shiori Takayama, but possesses her
unborn son in the process.
After the child is born and subsequently kidnapped, Sieg comes into being and seeks to
reunite his 'brother' with their 'mother', crossing paths with Ryutaros and gaining access
to the DenLiner. Due to his 'privileged' upbringing and his already princely mannerisms,
Sieg becomes easily infuriated when treated with disrespect. Because he was 'born' in 2007,
he also possesses extraordinary unique abilities. Aside from shrinking the Taros to 4
inches tall with the phrase "Kneel down to me !", he also can't be forcibly removed from
Ryotaro's body as he doesn't need a contract to possess humans.
When possessing Ryotaro, Sieg says "Descending, yet above it all" He almost vanishes due
to his contract holder being a newborn child and unable to form proper memories, but
Ryotaro is able to discover that Sieg actually made a contract with the mom to ensure her
then unborn son's safety, saving Sieg's life in the process.
As his contract has been fulfilled, the DenLiner takes
Sieg to the date of his Shiori's greatest memory and lives in the past freely. He later
pesters Tsukasa's group until brought to the climatic battle to join the Taros in forming
Super Climax Form. During his first time on the DenLiner, he demanded that the others call
him 'Prince' and asked for Hana to be his 'Princess', and was punched for each time he called her that.
After his return, Sieg refers to the Taros as his 'family' instead of his 'friend'
phrasing. In the Imagin Anime OVA, Sieg had an additional power "Super-Ultra Kneel down
to me !" that allows him to shrink everything in sight, even an entire planet. Sieg's
physical form and name are based on swan and Prince Siegfried from the story Swan Lake.
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