Ryo Murasame

"If you are unable to atone yourself, then you just have to keep on fighting!"

- Dr. Kaido to ZX

Ryo Murasame (村雨 良) is Kamen Rider ZX (仮面ライダーZX［ゼクロス］), the tenth fictional superhero in the Kamen Rider franchise to bear the eponymous title. ZX holds the distinction of being the first Rider who did not star in his own television series. The character debuted in an eponymous manga series which began serialization on the July 1982 issue of the Japanese publication Television Magazine. ZX was then featured in a short radio drama broadcast during a special episode of All Night Nippon hosted by Shotaro Ishinomori on August 14, 1982 commemorating the character's official debut, before making his live-action television debut in the special Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!!.

Personality
Although not too much of his personality is revealed because of his limited screen time, Murasame Ryo seemed to be a caring brother towards his sister. He also learned what it means to be a Kamen Rider through his predecessors and was unwilling to sacrifice others to defeat Badan. As serious and single-minded as he first appeared to be, Murasame also seems to be sociable as shown through his interaction with V3 and others.

History
Ryo and his sister were shot down while flying in the Amazon jungle by a terrorist organization known as the Badan Empire and had both of them captured. Later, Badan kills his sister and turns Murasame into a warrior named ZX and brainwashes him; however, an accident enables him to regain his memory. Murasame decided to fight to avenge his sister. His first encounter with the past Kamen Riders is when he mistakes both Kamen Rider Super-1 and Riderman as soldiers of Badan. V3 arrived and stopped ZX, telling him that they're all enemies of Badan and want to destroy the Space Break System. Along with Riderman and Super-1, they explain to ZX, the history and meaning of being a Kamen Rider, and, finally, he decides to join them, as the 10th Rider, Kamen Rider ZX. Later he fight and successfully defeat Eisuke Mikage (Tiger-Roid).

Afterwards, Badan's base was located, and all 10 Riders went towards it. Ambassador Darkness welcomed them and sent all of Badan's troops against the Riders. V3 faced Dokuga-Roid and his Combat-Roids again, and after a long battle managed to destroy him by throwing him onto a fallen Yamaarashi-Roid. Afterwards, V3 and Rider 2 teamed up against Jūjin Ōmukade, a revived Geddon monster. however, before the battle could be finished, Ambassador Darkness attempted to use hostages to make the Riders surrender. His plan fail due to Super-1's interference and Ambassador Darkness decides to use the Space Break System, only to destroy Badan's remaining troops. After V3's call, the ten Riders gather their power with Rider Syncro, weakening Ambassador Darkness and allowing ZX to finish him off with his ZX Kick. After Darkness is defeated, evil energy gathers in the shape of a giant skull, The Generalissimo of Badan, giving farewell to the Riders and laughing at them.

V3 bestows upon ZX the official name Kamen Rider 10 (仮面ライダー10号) and soon all Riders part ways again to continue their battle against evil around the world.

It's assumed that ZX was able to defeat Badan at some point before RX`s series.

Black RX
Kamen Rider ZX, alongside the other Nine veteran Riders, fought against the secret forces of the Crisis Empire spread throughout the world, defeating them in each country. However, Crisis' main forces, in Japan, still remained and they prepared a final offensive. Rider 1 called all Riders to a meeting in a secret facility in Arizona, to prepare for the upcoming battle, where they'd go to help Kamen Rider Black RX, the Kamen Rider that was defending Japan at the time.

The 10 Riders split into two groups, which sparred with each other. Group 1: Riders 1, 2, V3, Riderman and X; and Group 2: Amazon, Stronger, Skyrider, Super-1 and ZX. Before Crisis makes a public announcement regarding its invasion of Japan, the 10 Riders finally leave for the final battle.

After Crisis' war declaration, they immediately sent Gran Zairus, which landed on Earth like a meteor, destroying an entire island. Naval Commander Bosgun moved to attack Black RX, soon receiving help from Gran Zairus, who could resist all of RX's attacks. When Bosgun is about to finish him off, Rider 1 arrives, blocking his attack and kicking him away. The 9 Riders arrive shortly afterwards, rescuing RX and quickly escaping. ZX and the others introduce themselves to Kohtaro Minami. Bosgun finds them, and meeting Kohtaro and Rider 1, proposes a duel against Black RX. However, Kohtaro's friend, Kyoko Matoba soon notices a Chap hiding behind some crates to prepare an ambush and flushes it out. As the 10 veterans fight them off, Black RX faces Bosgun in a fair match and destroys him.

Meanwhile, Gran Zairus easily rips through the Japanese defense forces and brings down the city with his unmatched power. Kohtaro decides to fight, but Riders 1 and 2 argue that even Black RX's attacks are ineffective against Gran Zairus and they need a strategy before facing it again. Kohtaro decides to fight anyway, even if he dies trying. He leaves to fight again, and ZX and the other Riders follow him.

The 11 Riders face Gran Zairus, but even a combined Rider Punch with the power of the 11 Riders is useless against him. Gran Zairus transforms into a flaming rock, burning above 1000°C, and easily knocks out ZX and the others. In the end, Black RX becomes Biorider and manages to destroy Gran Zairus from the inside out, but seemingly explodes with it.

Afterwards, ZX and the other Riders help evacuate the city's population and start to plan defensive measures for the next battle. However, a second Rider 1 appears during their meeting. The real Rider 1 accuses the impostor and punches it, making it reveal its true form, Harmful Nimp. The 10 Riders face Spirit World Demons, resurrected Crisis warriors. Unfortunately when the monsters knocked down, they quickly get up again. When the battle seems hopeless, Colonel Maribaron, the one behind this attack, reveals that the monsters don't die as long as she keeps a set of golden feathers with her, but Biorider returns, alive, stealing the feathers. Rider 1 receives one of the golden feathers, and V3 holds Harmful Nimp while he uses the feather to stop it. Biorider then destroys the monsters all by himself.

With Kohtaro alive, the 10 Riders decide to spread themselves to observe and take on the Crisis forces, while Black RX protects his friends.

Wanting revenge against Black RX, a powered up General Jark, commander of the Crisis forces, gains a new form called Jark Midler, kills Sunkichi and Utako Sahara and faces V3 and Riderman while X And Amazon bring their kids to Kohtaro. Meanwhile, Crisis' forces start a human hunt. Riders 1 and 2 arrive to help Kohtaro face the Chaps' troops. Stronger, Skyrider, Super-1 and ZX soon follow. X And Amazon show up with the kids and Inform Kotaro on what happened. V3 and Riderman are launched through the air, falling downtown, near the combat zone where ZX, alongside the other Riders, were helping Kohtaro. Jark challenges Kohtaro to a duel, and he accepts, rejecting the help of the other Riders. Black RX ends up victorious over Jark, destroying him while the other Riders watch in amazement.

Emperor Crisis calls Kohtaro for a personal meeting. However, Rider 1 tells Amazon to follow them, and all the other Riders go too. The emperor offers Kohtaro the chance of becoming the commander of Crisis' invasion forces, however, after Kohtaro refuses, General Dasmader appears alongside a group of Chaps and attacks Kohtaro. ZX and the other Riders arrive and face the Chaps, but soon the entire cave is destroyed by the Crisis Fortress called by Dasmader. Black RX boards the fortress and destroys Dasmader, the Emperor and even Crisis itself. Meanwhile, the other Riders survive the attack and meet RX after the battle is over. Following Rider 1's words, they all decide to part ways and fight evil around the world.

Kamen Rider Spirits
In the Kamen Rider Spirits manga, Murasame is an evil rider of Badan Empire. Having his memory erased by Badan, Murasame becomes emotionless and fights against the 9 Kamen Riders and humanity. When Murasame regains his memory and realizes that his sister Shizuka was killed by Badan, he turns against them and eventually joining forces with other riders to destroy Badan and its evil leader Judo. However, he refuses the title of Kamen Rider initially, later he starts to call himself Kamen Rider ZX, although not considering himself official yet.

All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker
To stop the fusion and destruction of the worlds, Tsukasa Kadoya (Kamen Rider Decade) announced a tournament gathering all Riders to find who was the strongest. ZX participated in the tournament and fought against Kamen Rider Ryuki, though he did not make it to the final round where Decade emerged victorious. ZX and the other defeated Riders disappeared into a dimensional wall and were believed to be dead, leading Dai-Shocker to initiate its offensive.

Eventually, Decade turned against Dai-Shocker and faced its troops alone. However, a large dimensional wall appeared in the battlefield, and from it, all Riders thought to be dead reappeared. ZX marched on foot with the other Riders as #1, #2 and V3 rode in on their motorcycles. United, all the Riders proceeded to face off against Dai-Shocker's army. When Shadow Moon was thrown onto the Dai-Shocker Castle, ZX participated in the All Rider Kick, using his standard kick alongside the other Riders to destroy Shadow Moon and the Dai-Shocker castle.

Soon after, Dai-Shocker's final weapon, King Dark, emerged from the ruins of the Dai-Shocker Castle and attacked. Decade was transformed into Final Form Ride Jumbo Decadriver and merged with Kamen Rider J summoned by Diend to face it. To help Decade, ZX, alongside the other Riders, turned into giant Kamen Ride Cards to power up the giant Decade's Final Dimension Kick, destroying King Dark. After the battle was over, ZX and the other past Riders bid goodbye to Decade and his friends before leaving through a dimensional wall.

Let's Go Kamen Riders
A mishap caused by the Greeed Ankh unintentionally altered the timeline which enabled Shocker to utilize a Cell Medal to create the Shocker Greeed which defeated the Double Riders and seemingly erased the legacy of the Kamen Riders from history. In 2011, after Kamen Rider New Den-O's attempt to repair the damage, he along with Kamen Rider OOO and M-Ankh awaited execution. However, it was revealed the Double Riders had their brainwashing removed by a Shocker scientist.

The Double Riders joined with New Den-O and OOO to fight Shocker's forces, but were eventually defeated. When the order was given to kill everyone, V3 suddenly appeared, asserting that there were more than four riders. V3 was soon followed by all the other revived riders that came after him, including ZX, as even though Rider history was changed, the people's memories haven't changed.

After the riders were united, they faced off against Shocker's Great Leader. Later, when joined by a force of extra riders, ZX and all the other riders got on their motorcycles and performed the "All Rider Break", ramming into the Rock Great Leader and defeating it once and for all.

Super Hero Taisen
ZX was among the Kamen Riders caught up in the 'Super Hero Taisen' incident. He was presumably sent to the dimensional rift, under the pretense of being defeated, by Captain Marvelous while he was apparently hunting the Riders. When his and Tsukasa's ruse was revealed, ZX and the other Riders appeared through the dimensional wall. ZX then fought alongside all the other Kamen Riders and Super Sentai against Dai-Shocker and Dai-Zangyack's Shocker-Zangyack Alliance. He is seen during the final battle fighting Grand Beast Rei with GoseiRed, and the Hurricangers, and later seen grabbing Zangyack Commander Daiyarl.

Kamen Rider Taisen
Under the direct order of Takeshi Hongo, Ryo Murasame disguises himself as his archenemy, Ambassador Darkness, in order to investigate the Badan Empire's plan, as well as make sure Gaim is the last surviving Rider from Rider Battle and to revert all the Riders out of their Lockseed forms. All the Riders are defeated and turned into Lockseeds, leaving Gaim alone and outnumbered by the Empire. Ryo finally made his move to expose his cover to the Empire that he was spying on the Empire's plan. He transformed into ZX and helped Gaim release all of the primary Riders from their Lockseed forms to defeat Kamen Rider Fifteen and the Badan Empire once and for all.

In the conclusion, he fights Tsukasa when Takeshi reveals that their feelings toward Heisei Riders was not a lie. However, he and the other Riders stop fighting after Rider 1's defeat against Gaim, making both Rider sides settle their differences.

Due to the timeline alteration caused by Shocker, ZX became one of the brainwashed Riders in that timeline, donning the name of Shocker Rider ZX. Alongside Skyrider, Super-1 and the Shocker Combatmen, ZX attacked the rebel Kamen Rider Zeronos and double agent Kamen Rider 3, bombarding the pair with his Cross Shurikens. Joined by Decade, Hibiki and Agito Burning, the Shocker Riders overwhelmed Rider 3 as he allowed Mach to escape.

The next day, following the Rider Grand Prix in which Drive emerged victorious over Rider 3, who was promptly integrated into the Great Leader of Shocker's Rider Robo form, ZX was among the Riders who attacked Drive while being caught in the crossfire as the Rider Robo joined the fray. Ultimately, the Double Riders 1 and 2 made their appearance having survived their apparent demise from within the Rider Robo, and broke Shocker's brainwashing on the fallen Riders, enabling all Riders to unite in a final battle against Shocker.

Unfortunately, ZX was among the Riders whose existence was erased by the Rider Robo. This fate, however, was rendered moot when the Rider Robo was finally destroyed by, restoring ZX's place in history.

Kamen Rider SD
ZX: A relatively new Kamen Rider. In a sharp contrast to his original television counterpart, the animated version of ZX is very lighthearted, and quite eccentric. He has taken a liking to messing with Black RX, as well as gambling with him for money he doesn't have. His fighting style is similar to a ninja, including the art of instant disguise (he turns into a gangster and a female tennis player) and high agility. He finds Black RX's problem with love very hilarious, although he does his best to help, which only makes things worse. His team squad includes Black RX and Rider 1. He rides on a modified version of the Helldiver Motorcycle.

Kamen Rider: The Bike Race
ZX appears riding the Helldiver in Kamen Rider: The Bike Race, a racing game featuring the majority of Kamen Riders and Rider Machines up to Kamen Rider Agito.

All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation
ZX appears as a playable Rider in the portable action beat em' up game, All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation.

Kamen Rider: Battride War Genesis
Kamen Rider ZX appeared as an unplayable character in Kamen Rider: Battride War Genesis

Fighting skill
As ZX, Murasame typically seems to fight in a similar way of a ninja, using his Micro Chain to reel in his opponents while using the Cross Shuriken and Focus Bomb as long ranged attacks.

Kamen Rider ZX
ZX has the most cybernetic body out of any Kamen Rider created thus far. His body has many hidden abilities reminiscent of a ninja, including shurikens and chain-sickles. His finishing attack is a Rider Kick called the ZX Kick (ZX (ゼクロス) キック), in which ZX's body glows red before delivering a devastating kick. Interestingly, it does not always cause the target to explode like other Rider Kick finishers.

The Kamen Rider Spirits story also made changes to the original film's description of ZX's power. While the original story only describes ZX's abilities as similar to a ninja, in the manga ZX also has a regeneration ability, a smokescreen, jet boots, a Virtual Image Projection Unit in his belt buckle that creates illusionary copies of him, a katana, and a dagger called Electro-Knife that he stores in his right thigh. This difference in ZX's abilities left some fans confused. It has been officially confirmed that ZX's true abilities are exclusively the ones shown in Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!!.

ZX Belt


The ZX Belt (ZX (ゼクロス)ベルト) is Ryo's transformation belt that allows him to transform into ZX. The belt is equipped with a holographic projector that allows Ryo to disguise himself and impersonate others. An example of this being his guise of Ambassador Darkness in the film Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai.

Helldiver


The Helldiver is ZX's personal motorcycle.

Cross Shuriken
A shuriken pulled from ZX's forearm guard. Functions as a normal shuriken. First used against Riderman and Super-1. Later used to destroy a dummy of the Mega Reversal Machine in Kamen Rider Taisen.

Focus Bomb
A hand-grenade pulled from ZX's shin guard. When it is thrown, it will explode upon contact. He shown first used against Tiger Roid in the special, and later shown used against Ryuki in Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker.

Micro Chain
A small black kusarigama with a long, thin chain attached to it. This may be thrown to lasso enemies and to send an electrical shockwave through the chain, stunning the foe in preparation for a finisher. First used against Tiger Roid. Later used to release the Rider Lockseeds in Kamen Rider Taisen.

Electro-Magnet Knife
A blade hidden in ZX's left leg. Only appeared in Kamen Rider Spirits manga.

Portrayal
In Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!!, Ryo Murasame was portrayed by Shun Sugata (菅田 俊), who would reprise the role thirty years later in Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai. As Kamen Rider ZX, his suit actor was Mitsutoshi Shiroya. He was previously voiced by Akira Kamiya (神谷 明) when ZX, then known only as the "Tenth Rider", was featured in a short radio drama broadcast during a special episode of  hosted by Shotaro Ishinomori on August 14, 1982 commemorating the character's official debut.

Rider No.
As the leading Rider protagonist of Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!!, Ryo Murasame (Kamen Rider ZX) is labeled Kamen Rider #10 (仮面ライダー10号), as he was christened in the special, and Showa Rider #10 (昭和ライダー10号).

Recognition
Kamen Rider ZX is featured as #37 in the 1986 archive compilation video .

Appearances

 * Icon-zx.png Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!!
 * Icon-rx.png Kamen Rider 1 Through RX: Big Gathering
 * Icon-rx.png Kamen Rider Black RX
 * Episode 41: Terror of the 100 Eyed Hag
 * Episode 42: The Four Commanders Are Banished
 * Episode 43: Defeated!! RX
 * Episode 44: Fight! All Riders
 * Episode 45: False Rider's Last Days
 * Episode 46: The Riders' All Out Charge
 * Episode 47/Finale: A Shining Tomorrow!
 * Icon-decade.png Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker
 * Icon-ooo.png OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders
 * Icon-fourze.png Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen
 * Icon-gaim.png Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai
 * Icon-drive.png Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider 3