With his brilliant Shin Godzilla turning five this year, and the upcoming Shin Ultraman looking to premiere later in 2021, anime and film icon Hideaki Anno has confirmed he’ll be writing and directing Shin Kamen Rider for a 2023 release. Naturally the title hints at a similar reimagining (“shin” meaning “new”) on Anno’s part, this time taking to the Japanese pop culturural phenomenon Kamen Rider.
The Kamen Rider franchise premiered in 1971, following the exploits of its titular cyborg and his high-octane, motorcyle-riding adventures fighting evil organizations and biomutant monstrosities. Created by legendary mangaka Shotaro Ishinomori, Kamen Rider would spin off into dozens of subsequent seasons, TV movies, video games, lunch boxes… You get the picture; Kamen Rider is a big deal.
In the announcement of Shin Kamen Rider, Anno made it clear just how big a deal Rider was for him, saying how big the show was in the ’70s when he was growing up. “I got a lot out of the TV show fifty years ago, and fifty years later, I started this project with the feeling that I’d like to return the favor in a small way.”
Perhaps best known for pioneering in the ’90s with anime sensation Neon Genesis Evangelion, Anno was an understudy of Hayao Miyazaki’s at Studio Ghibli before creating the Evangelion franchise at animation studio Gainax. Largely devoted to the series since then, Anno recently released the hotly-anticipated final film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time.
Shin Kamen Rider isn’t due until 2023, with Anno mentioning the initial desire to release in-sync with the franchise’s 50th anniversary, though scheduling and the pandemic interfered. His current project Shin Ultraman, which he produces and co-writes, is set to release later this year. It’s directed by Shin Godzilla co-director Shinji Higuchi.
Though the wait is ahead of us, take a look at the teaser (though it’s exclusively in Japanese!) and poster released for Shin Kamen Rider.
Source: Kotaku
