Tanzaburo Tojima

Tanzaburo Tojima is a man who was abandoned by his father in childhood and grew up lonely, eventually becoming a 40‑year‑old, unmarried, part‑time worker.

He spends his days doing temporary jobs, most notably at construction sites, and his free time is devoted to training and Kamen Rider‑related hobbies.

From a very young age, he watched Kamen Rider on VHS tapes so obsessively that he practically chewed on the cassettes.

He developed a genuine, lifelong dream of becoming a Kamen Rider, not as a game or cosplay, but as his true purpose in life.

Because he idolized Kamen Rider No. 1, he used the money earned from part‑time jobs to travel between mountains and train his body.

Over the years, this self‑imposed training gave him such extreme physical strength that he could fight a bear on equal terms and drive it away with his bare hands.

His catchphrase‑like attitude can be summed up by his declaration that what he is doing is not “just playing pretend,” but something he is “dead serious” about.

When he confronts enemies, he does so with full emotional intensity, screaming at the “Shocker” villains as if he were a real TV hero.

Tanzaburo is earnest to a fault, passionate, and almost painfully straightforward.

He treats the idea of being a hero with absolute seriousness, even when everyone else sees it as childish fantasy.

He is emotionally intense and easily moved to tears, especially when he feels he is finally living as “the real Kamen Rider” he always dreamed of.

At the same time, his life is tinged with melancholy: he faces loneliness, aging, and the gap between fantasy and reality head‑on.

Although he is a hardcore Kamen Rider fan, he is not delusional about the world.

He clearly understands that, in reality, there are no official Kamen Riders or Shocker organizations that kidnap people and turn them into cyborgs.

This sober awareness clashes with his pure desire to become a hero, creating an emotional tension that defines his character.

When he finally finds a way to act as “a Kamen Rider” in the real world, he pours all his pent‑up longing into that role.

Tanzaburo’s father was described as a deeply irresponsible man.

He abandoned Tanzaburo when he was still a child, leaving him to grow up essentially alone.

Later, it is revealed through his half‑brother Yumesaburo (another child of their father) that their father got involved with an underground loan business run by the real Shocker organization.

Unable to repay his debts, the father was killed, encased in concrete, and dumped into the sea, becoming a literal victim of the criminal underworld he had entangled himself with.

Growing up with this kind of paternal legacy, Tanzaburo had little stability in his life.

Instead, he found emotional support and identity in the world of Kamen Rider, which became his moral compass and source of hope.

In high school, thanks to his relentless training, he was already capable of defeating more than ten delinquents by himself.

After leaving school, he continued his ascetic regimen of mountain training while working as a part‑timer.

He remained single and childless, and when he reached the age of forty—traditionally called the age of “no more confusion” or “unshakable resolve”—he was forced to confront reality.

He could no longer easily ignore the fact that no Shocker would ever abduct him and no secret society would ever remodel him into a cyborg hero.

Tanzaburo is a dedicated Kamen Rider otaku, especially obsessed with the original, first Kamen Rider series.

Even though his actual childhood years line up more naturally with shows like “Kamen Rider Black” or “Kamen Rider Black RX,” he remains a hardcore fan of the very first incarnation.

He spent years collecting Kamen Rider merchandise, filling seventeen boxes with figures, memorabilia, and various goods.

In his mind, these items were symbols of his dreams and proof of his identity as a true Kamen Rider believer.

Despite this obsession, the realization that he would never become a real, remodeled Kamen Rider kept gnawing at him as he grew older.

He also became haunted by a very practical fear: that if he died alone, all of his treasured Kamen Rider goods would simply be thrown away as garbage.

Unable to bear that thought, he made a painful, decisive choice.

He sold all seventeen boxes of his Kamen Rider merchandise with his own hands, so that his beloved items would not end their existence as trash after his lonely death.

Even after selling everything, his love for Kamen Rider did not disappear.

Instead, it transformed into a burning resolve to become a “real” hero in his own way, without relying on fantasy organizations or cyborg enhancements.

Tanzaburo has no formal martial arts training and is completely self‑taught.

His fighting style is rough, direct, and unrefined, relying far more on raw power and willpower than on technique.

He has two “named techniques” that he uses with pride.

The first is a straight punch he calls “Rider Punch,” and the second is a flying kick known as “Rider Kick.”

Aside from these two signature moves, most of his attacks are simple, brute‑force strikes.

However, whenever his blows connect, they carry an astonishing weight and impact, enough to seriously damage monsters and powerful opponents.

The sound of his hits is described as being as heavy as an artillery cannon.

This overwhelming power compensates for his lack of refined form or textbook technique.

His guard is full of openings and he does not fight in a defensively sound manner.

Yet he has extraordinary toughness, allowing him to get knocked down and then stand back up almost immediately.

Even when his attacks are dodged and he is open to counterattacks, his sheer fighting spirit is so intense that the opponent who lands a counter can end up being the one sent flying.

This almost supernatural pressure and mental force make him extremely dangerous in close combat.

In the early stages, he is said to fight more or less on equal terms with a single Shocker combatant, who is canonically three times stronger than a normal human.

But through real combat experience and continued training, he becomes strong enough to defeat multiple Shocker combatants at once with little difficulty.

By that point, his strength is comparable to supporting human characters from the original Kamen Rider series such as Kazuya Taki or Tobei Tachibana, who are known for being exceptionally capable fighters despite not being cyborgs.

Tanzaburo attains this level purely through will, training, and his obsession with being worthy of the name “Rider.”

The turning point of Tanzaburo’s life comes during a summer festival that he visits as part of his hobby of going around to street fairs and festival stalls.

At this event, he encounters a group of three thugs, underlings of the Shocker maniac Hachirō Nakao, who are wearing Shocker combatant masks and causing chaos and violence.

For Tanzaburo, seeing criminals dressed as his beloved series’ enemies is both infuriating and electrifying.

In that instant, he seizes the chance to align his lifelong dream with reality.

He goes to a mask stall at the festival and buys a Kamen Rider No. 1 mask for 1,000 yen.

Then and there, he puts on the mask, declares himself to be Kamen Rider, and charges into the fray to stop the “Shocker” criminals.

As he fights, he is overwhelmed with emotion.

He sheds tears of joy because, in that moment, he feels he has finally become the true hero of justice, the Kamen Rider he always dreamed of being.

After that incident, he continues to act as a vigilante hero.

Whenever “Shocker robberies” occur—criminals imitating Shocker combatants—he appears as the so‑called “Mask Rider” and works to stop them.

When he wears the Kamen Rider No. 1 mask, his physical abilities are said to become even higher than in his unmasked state.

The mask functions less as a power‑granting artifact and more as a psychological trigger that allows him to go all‑out without self‑doubt or hesitation.

He is fully aware that this is not an official transformation sequence like in the TV series.

However, in his mind, it is not mere make‑believe; putting on the mask is a solemn act by which he commits his whole being to the role of Kamen Rider.

Initially, Tanzaburo believes he is only dealing with copycat criminals and enthusiasts using Shocker imagery.

These early foes are dangerous but ultimately human thugs playing at being Shocker combatants.

However, his vigilantism eventually leads him into contact with actual Shocker combatants and real monsters.

At first, he is shocked to discover that the organization he thought was purely fictional is in fact operating in the shadows of the real world.

Despite his astonishment, he does not retreat.

He fights a genuine Shocker combatant, defeats him, and gets pulled deeper and deeper into the war against the true Shocker organization.

From then on, Tanzaburo becomes involved in battles against authentic Shocker soldiers and fully fledged monsters, not just masked imitators.

His self‑taught techniques and hardened body, combined with his unwavering conviction, allow him to keep up with enemies who should be far beyond an ordinary human’s capacity.

His earlier dream of being abducted and remodeled by Shocker never comes true in the way he imagined.

Instead, he becomes a Kamen Rider‑like figure by standing up against the real Shocker as a human being, driven only by his beliefs.

Tanzaburo Tojima is the main character and emotional core of “Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider.”

The story follows his journey from delusional yet self‑aware fan to a genuine defender of justice acting in the real world.

The manga began serialization in 2018, while the anime adaptation is scheduled for broadcast in 2025.

This means that in the original manga continuity his birth year would be around 1978, while in the anime version it would be around 1985.

In either case, his childhood years would have coincided more naturally with shows such as “Kamen Rider Black” and “Kamen Rider Black RX.”

Nevertheless, the narrative consistently portrays him as a deeply devoted fan of the original, first Kamen Rider, emphasizing his purist and old‑school nature.

The story uses Tanzaburo’s life to explore themes of late adulthood, unrealized dreams, and the idea of becoming a hero without superpowers or official backing.

His struggles with loneliness, aging, and the fear of dying forgotten add emotional depth to what might otherwise be a simple action comedy.

Despite the serious undercurrent, Tanzaburo’s over‑the‑top passion, explosive fighting style, and earnest declarations give the series a lively, sometimes humorous tone.

He is depicted as an almost embarrassingly hot‑blooded man, but one whose sincerity makes it hard not to root for him.

In the anime adaptation, Tanzaburo Tojima is voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi.

Konishi previously appeared in the Kamen Rider franchise through his work on “Kamen Rider Gotchard,” where he handled narration, the voice of the Gotchardriver, some of the Chemies, and voiced the Dark King in the movie “The Future Daybreak.”

Tanzaburo’s childhood self is voiced by Yuko Sanpei.

For Sanpei, this marks her first role in the Kamen Rider franchise.

Sanpei is also well known in the broader Sunday morning anime slot for playing Nozomi Yumehara, also known as Cure Dream, in “Yes! Precure 5,” its sequel “Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!,” and the later parallel‑continuity sequel “The Power of Hope: Precure Full Bloom.”

These connections further link Tanzaburo’s story to the long tradition of Japanese transforming hero and heroine series, even as his tale focuses on a middle‑aged man chasing a childhood dream.

The name “Tanzaburo Tojima” is believed to be a reference to Matazaburo Niwa, the actor who played the original Black General in the classic Kamen Rider series.

This naming choice reinforces the character’s deep ties to the earliest era of the franchise he idolizes.

Tanzaburo’s situation highlights a somewhat darkly comedic yet relatable fear among passionate collectors: what happens to one’s treasured items after death.

His decision to sell all his Kamen Rider goods before they could be thrown away reflects both his practicality and his lingering sadness about growing old alone.

Within the universe of the story, his strength evolves to the point where he reaches the level of famous human allies from the original Kamen Rider.

His punch and kick are repeatedly depicted with such force that the very sound effects evoke artillery fire, visually underlining his status as a “human Kamen Rider” in all but official name.

He is often summarized as “a man whose incredible effort is slightly misdirected,” training like a cyborg hero despite being an ordinary human.

Yet it is precisely this misguided but unwavering effort that allows him to rise to meet real monsters when they finally appear.