Kamen Rider Black Sun (S5E14)

Why are we connecting Dragon Ball to a show from 2022 about anarcho leftists fighting back against a corrupt conservative government? Probably no reason that's fitting with the current sociopolitical times.

Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular!

In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney break down the 2022 Japanese television series, Kamen Rider Black Sun. It's part of our October/Halloween Festivities where we're taking a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon and delving into times our franchise's creators have "put on a costume" and worked on other shows and movies. In this case, it's a little bit different. We have a long list of reasons for looking at this show, but you'll have to listen to the episode to find them out.

 

In this episode:

• Jelli and Bekinney say hello to Halloween...and a special guest!
• A couple of content warnings: political discussion, detailing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and mentions of assassination
• We discuss why we chose to look at Kamen Rider Black Sun
• A reminder that Kamen Rider ties into the Ginyu Force via Super Sentai, as well as people like Toshiki Inoue, Shunsuke Kikuchi, Riku Sanjo, and characters like Android 16
• A primer on Kamen Rider in general
• Why Toei chose to aim for a more adult-oriented Kamen Rider show
• A bit about some of the show's creators including showrunner Kazuya Shiraishi, Shinji Higuchi (Shin Godzilla, Attack on Titan, the Heisei Gamera trilogy), and Kiyotaka Taguchi (Neo Ultra Q, Ultraman X, Ultraman Blazar, Gemstone Godzilla shorts)
• Unit 731, Japan's secret military scientific research station that experimented on people throughout World War II
• The history of Marxism (socialism and communism) in Japan
• The Freedom and People's Rights Movement
• The Meiji Constitution
• The Japan Socialist Party
• Post-War socialism in Japan as American Occupation forces rebuilt the country literally and philosophically
• The rise of the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party)
• The Shimoyama Incident, and terror attacks on Japan's railway system that led to a mistrust of Japanese leftists
• The rise of the Japan Red Army or JRA and its attack on Lod Airport near Tel Aviv
• Shinzo Abe and his rise to power, politics, and beliefs that led to his assassination
• Japan's history with regards to its treatment of minorities including people of color, foreigners, and the LGBTQIA+ Community
• ...and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual 

Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise....or in this case, the Halo trans-media franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event! And of course, special thanks to our friend, Lux Edwards, for helping us with this episode!

Lux Edwards: https://bsky.app/profile/soulmass218.bsky.social

 

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