I am Tachibana Tobei

my bf and I recently finished watching Kamen Rider Black RX, the last of the seasons before the big hiatus (and consequently, being the last of the showa-era seasons), so we thought we’d be in for some early 2000s goodness up next with Kamen Rider Kuuga – until I remembered, we’d actually skipped the 4th chronological season, Kamen Rider Amazon, from back in 1974. honestly, we skipped it because it seemed too, uh, offensive – especially for the timeslot we watch these things in (first thing with breakfast, baby!!!), and I hadn’t felt equipped to deal with the whiplash of 1970s primitivism so early in the morning – and then eventually we just forgot about it. but now, after a quick u-turn, we’re making our way through it as well.

one of my favorite parts about the early seasons that I’d forgotten was the holdover character who crossed multiple riders/seasons as a “recurring mentor”, Tachibana Tobei – is he a racing coach? owner of a motorcycle shop? cafe proprietor? itinerant, jeep-dwelling eccentric, desperate for any kind of kamen rider contact? all of the above, of course! and zipping back to season 4, we’ve been delighted to have our fill of ol’ oyassan again.

in trying to look up more about the character, I did find one interesting thing – an old fan site that can only be viewed on the wayback machine circa 2006 – and which presented me with this tasty morsel:

fuck off, riderman

don’t worry, they provided the lyrics too:

a quick youtube search brought me to the song itself, which isn’t quite as jaunty as I thought it would be!