In celebration of the landmark series’ 50th anniversary, Shout! Factory™, a multi-platform media company, and Toei Company, Ltd. today announced an exclusive deal to distribute the Kamen Rider series Zero-One and Ryuki in North America. The multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory and its streaming service, Shout! Factory TV, with exclusive TVOD, EST, SVOD, AVOD, and FAST rights in the U.S. and Canada to both series, and physical home entertainment rights to Zero-One. The announcement was made today by Shout! Factory’s Senior Vice President of Digital Enterprises and Shout! Factory TV, Gene Pao; Melissa Boag, Shout! Factory’s Senior Vice President of Kids & Family Entertainment; Jordan Fields, Shout! Factory’s Vice President of Acquisitions and Naoki Shinozaki, Manager of International Sales for Toei Company, Ltd.
Shout! Factory TV plans an aggressive rollout of both series on its TokuSHOUTsu™ streaming channel this year. As excitement builds, Shout! Factory will announce additional release news and activities in forthcoming months.
“We’ve seen a tremendous reaction to the Kamen Rider shows on Shout! Factory TV, so we’re delighted to partner with Toei to build the North American fanbase. And with Zero-One, we’ll now have the premiere series for each of the three eras of the franchise,” said Shout’s Jordan Fields.
“I am so happy to hear that Zero-One will be on Shout! Factory TV,” said Takahito Omori, producer of Kamen Rider Zero-One. “Zero-One is the reflection of our future, of conflicts between humans and artificial intelligence, and a story not only about Kamen Rider, but about human beings. I hope fans enjoy watching the show and thinking about technology and ourselves.”
Originally premiering in 1971, the Japanese television series follows the exploits of a masked, motorcycle-riding hero who fights the forces of evil. The number one kids’ program in Japan for almost 50 years, Kamen Riderhas proved to be beloved through multiple series iterations and generations of fans and Riders.
Zero-One and Ryuki will join Shout! Factory TV and TokuSHOUTsu’s existing lineup of the inaugural 1971 Kamen Rider series, which launched the Showa Era, and Kuuga, the franchise’s first installment in the Heisei Era that premiered in 2000. With the acquisition of Zero-One, the first series of the Reiwa era, Shout! Factory TV and TokuSHOUTsu are now home to the launch of all three eras of the Kamen Rider franchise. The TokuSHOUTsu roster of programming also includes several television series and films from the iconic Ultraman library, as well as several seasons of Super Sentai, the globally popular series that ultimately led to the Power Rangers phenomenon, and the original talk show Let’s Talk Toku.
KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SYNOPSIS
HUMAGEAR (humanoid Robots), created by HIDEN INTELIGENCE, the leading company for AI, serves for humanity’s convenient life.
A cyber-terrorist called Metsu-bou-jin-rai Net has secretly had a conspiracy for their final purpose, 'human extinction', although the human society aims for the coexistence between human and HUMAGEAR.
Aruto Hiden has taken over a CEO’s post at HIDEN INTELIGENCE, because his grandfather, Korenosuke Hiden, suddenly passed away, and along with the CEO's post, he also takes over the responsibility for Kamen Rider Zero-One by using his company's technology.
Aruto tries to keep the peaceful world between human and HUMAGEAR with Izu, his HUMAGEAR secretary, while A.I.M.S., a military squad against HUMAGEAR, chases the terrorist.
KAMEN RIDER RYUKI SYNOPSIS
“Mirror World” exists symmetrically beyond an invisible mirror in space, and an exact copy of our human world, where only monsters can dwell. Evil monsters frequently cross the mirror and attack our world.
Only Kamen Riders who make a contract with a specific monster and obtain special power from the monster can enter “Mirror World” and fight against evil monsters with the help of “Advent Card.”
Shinji Kido, a journalist, contacts with Dragon, and becomes Kamen Rider Ryuki. He fights a fierce battle with evil monsters.
Many Kamen Riders appear one after another, and fight to satisfy their own aims. However, only one Kamen Rider can outlive others. Thus, it is their fate to keep fighting to the last man.