Kamen Rider ZO

, translated Masked Rider ZO, is a 1993 Japanese tokusatsu biopunk superhero movie produced by the Toei Company as part of their Kamen Rider Series. Directed by Keita Amemiya, it was the first joint production of Toei and Bandai. A Sega CD interactive movie was released for ZO in 1994, and was distributed in the United States as The Masked Rider: Kamen Rider ZO. To commemorate the series' 40th anniversary, ZO was shown on Toei's pay-per-view channel in September 2011. The film's protagonist, Kamen Rider ZO, appears in the later Kamen Rider Decade television series and is a playable character in the 2011 Nintendo DS video game All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation. Plot Masaru Aso is the laboratory assistant of geneticist Doctor Mochizuki. He is used in one of Mochizuki's experiments related to the creation of the Neo-Lifeform, enabling him to transform into the grasshopper-like Kamen Rider ZO. He flees to the mountains and lapses into a two-year coma before he is awakened by a telepathic call to protect Hiroshi Mochizuki, the doctor's son. After an attempt to discover the meaning of his transformation at Mochizuki Genetics, Masaru senses that Hiroshi is in danger and saves the boy from Doras as ZO. Masaru then reveals himself to Reiko and her karate class. ZO battles Koumori Man (created by Doras) to cover Hiroshi and Reiko's escape, but they are sucked into a pocket dimension by Kumo Woman (which was also created by Doras). ZO saves them and kills Kumo Woman; Koumori Man snatches Hiroshi, with ZO in pursuit. After he saves Hiroshi, Masaru tells Seikichi (Hiroshi's grandfather) that Mochizuki used him in his experiments. Refusing to believe it, Hiroshi runs off. Masaru finds him and fixes his watch, recognizing the melody which awakened him as he helps Hiroshi cope with the revelation. Koumori Man assumes Mochizuki's form to lure Hiroshi away, and Doras knocks Masaru unconscious. Masaru awakens when a grasshopper shows him where Hiroshi has been taken. Making his way to a complex, ZO kills Koumori Man. He finds Hiroshi and Dr. Mochizuki, learning that the geneticist was the one who woke him up and that the Neo-Lifeform has been acting independently to become a perfect being. When ZO tries to fight Doras, he is absorbed by the Neo-Lifeform and Doras uses Hiroshi to force Mochizuki to complete its evolution.