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Renowned Kabuki Actor to Portray Villain in Kamen Rider Gaim Movie

Published on May 23, 2014

More details surface for the Kamen Rider Gaim summer movie regarding the villain as well as the man behind the mask.

The Kabuki actor Ainosuke Kataoka the Sixth will join the Kamen Rider Gaim: The Great Soccer Playoffs! The Golden Fruit Cup! movie as Kamen Rider Malus. Ainosuke Kataoka is a well-renowned Kabuki performer, coming from a long lineage of Kabuki performers dating back to the late 18th century.

In the movie, he’ll be playing the strongest Armored Rider that holds the Golden Fruit under the name Kougane. Kougane is described as a God that holds the power to create a new world. He’ll be an all-new original character for the Gaim movie and, according to the producer Naomi Takebe, it’s very necessary to have a God-like presence in this movie. Kataoka has already portrayed divine-like beings many times in Kabuki, which makes Naomi Takebe think he’s perfect for the role.

Due to the actor’s Kabuki history, Kamen Rider Malus’ transformation scene will be heavily based on Kabuki. This adds an all-new type of transformation pose to the history of Kamen Rider. Kataoka adds,

I tried studying previous transformations, but mine will be different from the other Riders in Kamen Rider Gaim. Kamen Rider Malus will have a rather slow transformation with Kabuki influences.

He further adds that he grew up watching Kamen Rider 1, 2, V3 and Amazon, as well as Kikaider.

I believe all boys have thought at one point that they wanted to transform. Since I did grow up with Kamen Rider, I was very happy when I received this offer. While I’m basically playing an evil God, I think playing the villain is actually fun. At the same time, I hope the children that watch Kabuki with their families will say ‘It’s the Kamen Rider guy!’ when they see me on stage.

This summer movie will feature all the Armored Riders as well as new ones. It will also be a collaboration with the Japanese soccer league, who will be playing in the All Rider Cup in this movie. For some reason, the dead Yūya Sumii and Ryōji Hase appear. A mysterious young man by the name of Lapis appears in Zawame City, which was supposed to be infested with plants from the Helheim forest, and warns of a big threat coming.

Kamen Rider Gaim: The Great Soccer Playoffs! The Golden Fruit Cup! will premiere alongside Ressha Sentai ToQger: The Movie – Galaxy Line SOS on July 19th.

All English translations are accredited to The Tokusatsu Network staff members. Please do not repost without crediting and directly linking back to the original Tokusatsu Network article.
Sources: MyNavi and CinemaToday