By FilmCombatSyndicate

It was back in December of last year that Anime News Network forward the news of a new website launch for Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider War feat. Super Sentai, the third installment in producer Shinichiro Shirakura’s Super Hero Taisen Series as of late. This week, we now have reports that longtime legendary suit actor, voice actor and action star Hiroshi Fujioka is making his return to the fray for the new film, now written by Shoji Yonemura and directed by Takayuki Shibasaki.

Based on the work of late manga author and character purveyor Shotaro Ishinomori, the film marks Fujioka’s reprisal of the role of Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider 1 since first donning the costume on television back in 1971 wherein for the first ten episodes, the 25-year old ambitious suit actor did his own stunts for the show until fracturing his leg in a motorcycle stunt gone wrong, thus leading him to voice the character instead through 1976. For the new film, Fujioka will be joined by an array of Heisei-era and previous Showa-era Riders, thirty in total, including Kamen Rider Faiz actors Kento Handa and Kohei Murakami, Kamen Rider X actor Ryo Hayami, Kamen Rider Decade actor Masahiro Inoue and Kamen Rider W actor Renn Kiriyama.

The film is expected to open in Japan on March 29, 2014.

As a noteworthy mention, having cut my teeth in martial arts movies, I’m not too familiar with the classic Super Sentai TV shows, on top of only having gotten my first stab at seeing Fujioka in the Arthur Wong and Brandy Yuen-directed 1988 Hong Kong action classic, In The Line Of Duty 3. So if you need a little warming-up in light of this week’s news, check out the television show opening credits featuring a little bit of Fujioka as the original Kamen Rider from forty-three years ago, and share your thoughts in the comment section below.