Kamen Rider V3

仮面ライダーV3 ‧ Drama ‧ 1973 - 1974
Kamen Rider V3 poster
7.3
Your Rating: 0/10
Ratings: 7.3/10 from 172 users
# of Watchers: 649
Reviews: 1 user
Ranked #67119
Popularity #12287
Watchers 172

One night, Shirou Kazami accidentally witnesses a murder by the evil organization Destron, making him their next target. In their first attempt, they planted a bomb pebble into his coffee, but the attempt was foiled when Shirou's sister, Yukiko, surprised him, causing him to spill his coffee. In their second attempt, they attacked him while practicing motorcycle racing with Tobei Tachibana. In their third attempt, a Destron soldier, disguised as a doctor, tried to put a poison shot in Shirou, while he was being transported to the hospital (after Destron's second attempt), but Shirou regains consciousness and kills the soldier. Meanwhile, a young woman named Junko Tama stumbled upon Destron's base. Suddenly, she was attacked by Destron. While trying to escape, she ran into Shirou, who was heading home on his motorcycle, but Shirou didn't see the Destron soldiers. Surprised, Junko fainted and Shirou took her home. While Junko was being taken care of by Shirou's family, Shiro reported her story to the police. When he returned home, he found his family being murdered by the Hasami Jaguar, a jaguar monster with blades for hands. Hasami Jaguar then prepares to kill Junko and Shirou but is stopped by Shirou's high school teacher, Takeshi Hongo, who transformed into Kamen Rider 1. Shortly after he drove off the Destron forces, Kamen Rider 2 shows up, but too late. A vengeance-fueled Shiro asked the Riders to turn him into a cyborg, but the Riders refused, explaining to Shirou what would happen if he did get turned into a cyborg: he wouldn't be able to live up to his family. Then the Riders asked Junko for the location of the Destron base she stumbled upon earlier. The next day, the Riders infiltrate the base, only to get caught in a trap. Shirou shows up and saves their lives, but gets injured in the process. The Riders had no choice but to turn Shirou into a cyborg. When the Riders were attacked, and almost killed, by Kame Bazooka, Shirou shows up as Kamen Rider V3. Now, Shirou uses his new power to protect mankind against Destron. (Source: Wikipedia) Edit Translation

  • English
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Español
  • Country: Japan
  • Type: Drama
  • Episodes: 52
  • Aired: Feb 17, 1973 - Feb 9, 1974
  • Aired On: Saturday
  • Original Network: TV Asahi
  • Duration: 25 min.
  • Score: 7.3 (scored by 172 users)
  • Ranked: #67119
  • Popularity: #12287
  • Content Rating: G - All Ages

Cast & Credits

Photos

Kamen Rider V3 Japanese Drama photo
Kamen Rider V3 Japanese Drama photo
Kamen Rider V3 Japanese Drama photo

Reviews

Completed
A_Fine_Egg
1 people found this review helpful
May 16, 2025
52 of 52 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 4.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 6.5
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 2.0
This review may contain spoilers

It's no Secret this series is flawed

Kamen Rider V3 has a lot of problems. The plot itself is essentially a carbon copy of the 71 Kamen Rider - the main Rider is turned into a cyborg and put up against an evil team known as Destrom. Nothing special here. The main gimmick of the series, Kamen Rider V3's 26 Secrets, are utterly ridiculous deus ex machinas that come out of nowhere and he never really uses them again. He gets one that literally can make him impervious to attacks and he doesn't use it. And not to mention he doesn't even find out all 26 during the course of the series. I feel like that could be a mildly interesting thing about him if the story was written in a way where it felt purposeful. Instead, V3 feels like a story about writers struggling to continue to make Kamen Rider V3 seem interesting.

And it's not like they always fail at doing so. Especially in the latter half of the series, the story has more exploration of the isolation, fear, and turmoil that Shirou has as Kamen Rider V3. Legitimately beautiful shots are here. He gets a foil in Riderman, a character also fueled by revenge, like Kamen Rider 1, 2, and V3 himself. This has potential to be really great writing that explores the ways that stewing in revenge and hatred can be detrimental to your life, and that by overcoming these things you can be stronger. Riderman is also originally loyal to Destrom, giving him what seems to be the template for other heelturn Kamen Riders that will come afterwards. Unfortunately, Riderman was added in solely to make V3 seem stronger, as he's a constant jobber and only gets about 9 episodes where he exists before he bows out of the story. Most of the time he's doing something mildly supportive in order to help V3, or in need of being saved by V3.

Overall, it really feels like the story has a lot of potential behind it, a lot of interesting ideas, and the potential to explore things like revenge. Unfortunately it stumbles near constantly. It's hard for me to give it points for being the OG like I could for 71. This is just an uninteresting story.

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Details

  • Title: Kamen Rider V3
  • Type: Drama
  • Format: Standard Series
  • Country: Japan
  • Episodes: 52
  • Aired: Feb 17, 1973 - Feb 9, 1974
  • Aired On: Saturday
  • Original Network: TV Asahi
  • Duration: 25 min.
  • Content Rating: G - All Ages

Statistics

  • Score: 7.3 (scored by 172 users)
  • Ranked: #67119
  • Popularity: #12287
  • Watchers: 649

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