Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider

Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider (東島丹三郎は仮面ライダーになりたい) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yokusaru Shibata, with cooperation by Toei Company and Ishimori Productions. A spinoff of the Kamen Rider franchise, it began serialization in Hero's Inc.'s manga magazine Monthly Hero's in May 2018. After the magazine's disbandment in October 2020, it was transferred to the Comiplex website in November of the same year. An anime television series adaptation produced by Liden Films aired from October 2025 to March 2026.

Plot

As a child, Tanzaburo Tojima was an ardent fan of the Kamen Rider show and aspired to not just emulate Kamen Rider, but to actually become one. Despite realizing the show is fictional and that Kamen Rider and the villain organization Shocker doesn't exist, Tojima continues his physical training in seclusion, but ends up as single, 40 year old construction worker. However, Tojima learns of a recent crime wave where criminals are acting like Shocker, once more reviving his desire to become Kamen Rider.

Characters

• Tanzaburo Tojima (東島 丹三郎) / "Kamen Rider"
• A 40-year-old man who is a lifelong fan of Kamen Rider, obsessively training since childhood and dedicating himself to living by the heroic values he learned from the show in the hopes that he could one day become a Kamen Rider himself. Despite being an ordinary human, his training has given him superhuman strength and durability to the point that his "Rider Punch" can stagger a Shocker kaijin. He "transforms" by donning a cheap plastic Kamen Rider #1 mask he bought at a festival.
• Yuriko Okada (岡田 ユリコ) / "Electro-Wave Human Tackle"
• A 24-year-old high school teacher who, as a child, became enamored by Kamen Rider Stronger's Electro-Wave Human Tackle, the franchise's first female hero, when her father showed her the series. Devastated by Tackle's death in the show's 30th episode and wanting to honor her, Yuriko began intense physical training and made her own costume to become Tackle.
• Ichiyo Shimamura (島村 一葉) / "Kamen Rider V3"
• Chris Hackney (English)
• A 32-year-old man who, as a child, witnessed the Bat Man murdering his grandparents, vowing revenge against Shocker and using Kamen Rider V3 as inspiration. He insists V3 is the strongest Rider and has trained himself in multiple martial arts to embody V3 as deeply as possible. Unlike the others, he does not don any kind of costume to "transform," claiming that he does not need to because his "soul is V3." He rides a bicycle resembling the ones ridden by the members of the Kamen Rider Scouts of Kamen Rider V3.
• Mitsuba Shimamura (島村 三葉) / "Riderman"
• Jonathan Lim (English)
• Ichiyo's 27-year-old younger brother and the manager of a family restaurant who also witnessed his grandparents' murder at the hands of the Bat Man. He and Ichiyo fought multiple times to decide who would be Kamen Rider V3, with Ichiyo ultimately winning and dubbing Mitsuba Riderman, V3's partner. Originally resentful, Mitsuba later came to admire Riderman's wits and determination. Mitsuba dons a replica Riderman helmet and utilizes both aikido and a functional Rope Arm of his own creation, which can also fire nets and smoke.
• Yukarisu (ユカリス)
• Laura Faverty (English)
• Mitsuba's possessive girlfriend who is in truth a Shocker Combatant originally sent to spy on him, though she soon genuinely falls deeply in love with Mistuba, which allows her to break Shocker's brainwashing. Despite no longer being brainwashed, she is still able to receive psychic signals from other Combatants. She does not remember anything of her life before becoming a Combatant, but is sure the Bat Man was the one who converted her. Like all Combatants, she transforms into her Combatant form by performing the Shocker salute and shouting "Yeee!" (イーッ).
• Futaba Shimamura (島村 二葉)
• Robin Clayton (English)
• The middle Shimamura sibling who owns an izakaya. She is deeply resentful of Ichiyo because his fanatical V3 obsession drove people away, causing Futaba to grow up bitter and friendless. Her loneliness and hatred drives her to learn martial arts under Tiger Master with the goal of one day killing Ichiyo. She does not care for Kamen Rider and refuses to involve herself in the group's antics. She initially believes the group to just be immature kidults playing pretend and threatens them not to cause trouble in her bar. A later encounter with the Spider Man makes her realize her siblings' frequent claims of Shocker being real were true, which allows her to reconcile with Mitsuba. However, she maintains her deep resentment of Ichiyo, insisting that knowing the truth does not excuse his behavior.
• Hachirō Nakao (中尾 八郎)
• A 44-year-old yakuza member who is also a Kamen Rider fan, but admires the villainous Shocker rather than the heroic Riders. His father was an ambitious taiyaki stand owner who fell deep into debt and disappeared when Hachirō was young, which made him lose faith in heroes like Kamen Rider. His adoration of Shocker inspires him to lead a series of robberies where he forces his underlings to dress and act like Shocker Combatants. He is eventually killed by the Spider Man and begs to join Shocker with his dying breaths. He wakes up later as a Shocker Combatant, but finds he is free from brainwashing simply because the Spider Man forgot. Hachirō later allies himself with the heroes and begs them for training when the Bat Man targets and seemingly kills his underlings. Like all Combatants, he transforms into his Combatant form by performing the Shocker salute and shouting "Yeee!" His training allows him to develop his own special move, a punch he dubs ".44 Magnum."
• Satoshi Itō (伊藤 さとし), Fukushi Ishige (石毛 ふくし), Daisuke Sato (佐藤 だいすけ)
• Satoshi Itō
• Fukushi Ishige
• Daisuke Sato
• Hachirō Nakao's "boys," young henchmen who loyally follow their aniki even after their yakuza family is slaughtered by the Spider Man. They are dedicated fans of the pop idol group Combat Girls and take up part time jobs as security guards both to get closer to their idols and to help support Hachirō. They are converted into Shocker Combatants after being captured by the Bat Man's idol Combatants, but Hachirō's love-filled .44 Magnum punches break their brainwashing.
• Su Kumota (雲田 巣) / "Spider Man" (蜘蛛男)
• Landon McDonald (English)
• A Shocker monster whose human disguise is a thin, pale man with silver hair. In his kaijin form, Kumota is able to spit webbing and darts that are able to dissolve the bodies of fallen Combatants. Disturbed and fascinated by the strength humans seem to have, he befriends and starts living with Sena Seta and develops a rivalry with Hachiro Hakkyoku, seeking to understand the "core" that allows humans to develop seemingly superhuman abilities.
• Kouda Morio (幸田 森男) / "Bat Man" (蝙蝠男)
• Van Barr Jr. (English)
• A Shocker monster and the murderer of the Shimamura siblings' grandparents. In his human form, he resembles a man with pointed ears and sharp teeth. He becomes the owner/manager of several idol groups, particularly Combat Girls, using their popularity to indoctrinate their fans into Shocker. He is able to fly and convert humans into Shocker Combatants under his control by biting them as well as power up Shocker converts by feeding them his blood.
• "Thunder Raiko" (サンダーライコ)
• A former professional wrestler who was converted into a Shocker Combatant and tasked with hunting down Combatants who have been marked as traitors to the organization because their brainwashing has worn off. She believes that if she kills enough traitors, she will be rewarded with the opportunity to become a kaijin.
• Maki Aikawa (相川 摩季) / "Tiger Master" (虎師匠)
• A former gymnast, street fighter, and police officer who owns a dojo and wears a mask. While working as a police officer, she violently took down several yakuza members, which made her a target and forced her to adopt the Tiger Master identity. She later opened the dojo so children could hone their bodies and martial arts skills, eventually becoming Futaba's teacher. Her true identity is Maki Aikawa, the protagonist of Air Master.
• Sena Seta (瀬田 セナ) / "Heavy Chop" (ヘビーチョップ)
• Ariel Graham (English)
• A former member of an idol group whose gluttonous addiction to ramen and resulting obesity frequently frustrated her group mates. She encounters Kumota by chance and they begin living together after she becomes infatuated with his apparent chūnibyō personality. She posts internet videos under the masked idol persona Heavy Chop where she dances and gorges herself on ramen.
• Hachiro Hakkyoku (八極 八郎)
• Dio Garner (English)
• A bajiquan practitioner who met and fell in love with Sena. Recognizing her love for ramen above all things, he promises to one day create the ultimate ramen for her, which leads him on a two year journey across Japan learning ramen techniques. He develops something of a rivalry with Kumota, with the two frequently sparring to quench Hachiro's urge to fight a strong opponent.

Media

See also

• 81diver, another manga series by the same author
• Air Master, another manga series by the same author

External links