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Japanese schoolgirl struggles to comprehend the shocking truth that her mom is Kamen Rider

Casey Baseel Sep 7, 2020
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Sometimes, the glory of our greatest accomplishments is lost on our kids.

Japanese Twitter user and mom @natsuki_lo_ol_’s daughter is four years old, and being enrolled in preschool means she has social interactions her mom isn’t around for. That’s OK, though, because that time apart gives them stuff to talk about when they are together, and the two were having a light conversation on a recent morning as @natsuki_lo_ol_ took her daughter to school on the back of her bicycle.

“The kids at school are really into Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba,” her daughter said, referencing the hit anime/manga series set in a supernatural version of Japan’s Taisho period.

“What about Kamen Rider?” @natsuki_lo_ol_ asked. But @natsuki_lo_ol_’s daughter informed her that she and her friends weren’t all that big of fans of the ongoing tokusatsu action franchise that debuted in 1971. “I think some of the boys like it,” her daughter said dismissively.

But @natsuki_lo_ol_ wasn’t asking about the show in a clumsy way to bridge the generation gap. She had a reason for bringing up Kamen Rider, a secret she’d been keeping from her daughter for years, and now she felt that it was finally time to tell her child the truth. So with her pride clearly showing on her face, @natsuki_lo_ol_ told her daughter:

“You know, Mommy is Kamen Rider.”

To which her daughter reacted by going right back to talking about Demon Slayer.

“I really like Nezuko,” the child explained, professing her admiration for the anime’s female lead. But @natsuki_lo_ol_ wasn’t going to let her offspring change the subject so quickly.

“I’m telling you, Mommy used to be Kamen Rider,” she asserted, still flushed with pride, but once again the declaration failed to make much of an impact on her daughter. “You mean you wish you were Kamen Rider?” her daughter quickly paraphrased, finally deflating @natsuki_lo_ol_’s confidence as she said “No no, that’s not….”

▼ The original tweet with the back-and-forth conversation.

娘「園では鬼滅の刃が流行ってるんだよ〜」
私「仮面ライダーは流行ってないの？」
娘「男の子で好きな子はいるみたい」
私「ママ仮面ライダーなんだよ(ドヤ顔)」
娘「ねづこが好きー」
私「ママ、仮面ライダーだったんだよ〜(再度ドヤ顔)」
娘「ママは仮面ライダーになりたいの？」
私「ち、ちがっ」

— 加藤夏希 (@natsuki_lo_ol_) September 2, 2020

If you’ve ever told a joke or make-believe story that you thought a kid was going to absolutely love, only to have their reaction be some combination of “don’t understand/don’t care,” you’ll be able to sympathize. But in @natsuki_lo_ol_’s case, the awkwardness must have been all the more acute, since what she was saying was neither fib nor fairy tale. She really did use to be Kamen Rider.

@iayaka52
仮面ライダーファム
龍騎で加藤夏希がやってた。 pic.twitter.com/7so2hUeXPZ

— 🐸💋がまぶんた🌛🐸 (@00yDVXHrphR9cab) May 6, 2020

That’s because @natsuki_lo_ol_ is the Twitter account of actress Natsuki Kato, whose roles include Miho Kirishima, the secret identity of Kamen Rider Femme. She wasn’t just any Kamen Rider either, as she was the very first female character to bear the title, after 30-plus years of only male Riders.

▼ And yes, of course she has a cool “Henshin!” sequence.

https://twitter.com/9U2wtcOsjXrnbYo/status/1301681711403597829

初の女性仮面ライダーだったのよ‼️
でも最後のシーンはお子さんには見せないほうがいいかも😭 pic.twitter.com/M8ZHfAVg23

— 耶摩【やま】🌈ユキマニ&オペラー🌃 (@obangya_yama) September 3, 2020

Kamen Rider Femme appears in the Kamen Rider Ryuki: Episode Final theatrical feature, but since that came out in 2002, about 14 years before Kato’s daughter was born, she obviously has no memories of seeing Mommy riding motorcycles and fighting evil on the big screen.

Many other Twitter users do though, and they chimed in to say that even if Kato’s daughter was unimpressed or unconvinced by her landmark role (which has been followed by other female Kamen Riders appearing later in the franchise), Kamen Rider Femme still means a lot to them.

“You were the original female Rider, a position of great honor!”
“Kamen Rider Femme is a legendary woman.”
“I’d be so happy if I found out my parent was a Kamen Rider.”
“I loved Kamen Rider Femme! She never gave up on her beliefs, no matter how tough the fight got.”
“Kamen Rider’s two biggest fan bases these days are little boys and adult women, so when your daughter grows up, I think she’ll get really into it.”

Regarding that last comment, in recent years the Kamen Rider franchise has been seeing a swell in grown-up female fans as the producers continually cast handsome men in the lead roles, since they figure moms who are also in the room while their kids are watching TV will appreciate the eye candy.

Odds are Kato still has several more years until that’s an aspect of the show her daughter will find appealing though, so for now she’s staking her hopes on her second child, a one-year-old boy, being a little more impressed when he learns about her part in the Kamen Rider legacy.

Source: Twitter/@natsuki_lo_ol_ via IT Media
Top image: Pakutaso
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