Live action TV
Description
In the original Kamen Rider series from 1971, the character known as Arikimedes appears as a formidable monster created by the evil organization Shocker. The name is a clear reference to the ancient Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes, cleverly combined with the Japanese word for ant, ari. Arikimedes is a queen ant kaijin, a type of transformed humanoid monster, and is notable for being a female villain in a franchise predominantly filled with male monsters.
The background of Arikimedes is tied directly to Shocker's scientific ambitions. She was not born naturally but was artificially created from a giant, iron-hard, fire-resistant ant egg developed by Shocker's scientific corps. Following her birth, she was immediately put to the test, attacking a bank to demonstrate her destructive capabilities by melting the security guards and incinerating the money within the vault. Shocker planned to mass-produce these queen ant eggs and distribute them across Japan to unleash chaos.
Arikimedes possesses several notable and dangerous abilities. Her primary weapon is a powerful red formic acid that she can spray from the tips of her antennae. This acid is incredibly corrosive, capable of dissolving human beings, metal, and even causing objects to catch fire, and it can inflict severe burning pain on Kamen Rider. In addition to her own acidic spray, she commands legions of killer ants, using them to swarm and devour her enemies. She also has the ability to transform into a human woman, allowing her to deceive her targets and move through society unnoticed. However, she has a critical weakness to fire, which her opponents exploit during their encounters.
The character's primary motivation is loyalty to Shocker and the protection of her progeny. After the heroes infiltrate her base and steal one of her precious eggs, her personal mission becomes the retrieval of that egg at all costs. She even swears to reclaim it, even if it costs her her own life. Her role in the story is that of a direct antagonist. She first battles Kamen Rider No. 2 (Hayato Ichimonji) and the assistant Kazuya Taki. After a confrontation where her stolen egg is ultimately melted by her own acid in the heat of battle, she is defeated by Kamen Rider No. 2's signature Rider Kick, which sends her falling into a pond that has become filled with her own acid, causing her to dissolve and explode. With her destruction, the other queen ant eggs in Shocker's base also self-destruct, ending the threat. She makes a brief, non-combat reappearance as a member of a monster army in the 1972 film Kamen Rider vs. Shocker.
It is important to distinguish Arikimedes from a later character with a similar name, Archimedel, who appears in the 2022 series Kamen Rider Geats. While their names share a root in Archimedes, they are entirely separate entities. Archimedel is an elderly gardener who cultivates the Jyamato monsters for the Desire Grand Prix, and his motivations are quite different, as he eventually grows to care for his creations and wishes to create a paradise for them, a stark contrast to Arikimedes's role as a more straightforward agent of Shocker.
The background of Arikimedes is tied directly to Shocker's scientific ambitions. She was not born naturally but was artificially created from a giant, iron-hard, fire-resistant ant egg developed by Shocker's scientific corps. Following her birth, she was immediately put to the test, attacking a bank to demonstrate her destructive capabilities by melting the security guards and incinerating the money within the vault. Shocker planned to mass-produce these queen ant eggs and distribute them across Japan to unleash chaos.
Arikimedes possesses several notable and dangerous abilities. Her primary weapon is a powerful red formic acid that she can spray from the tips of her antennae. This acid is incredibly corrosive, capable of dissolving human beings, metal, and even causing objects to catch fire, and it can inflict severe burning pain on Kamen Rider. In addition to her own acidic spray, she commands legions of killer ants, using them to swarm and devour her enemies. She also has the ability to transform into a human woman, allowing her to deceive her targets and move through society unnoticed. However, she has a critical weakness to fire, which her opponents exploit during their encounters.
The character's primary motivation is loyalty to Shocker and the protection of her progeny. After the heroes infiltrate her base and steal one of her precious eggs, her personal mission becomes the retrieval of that egg at all costs. She even swears to reclaim it, even if it costs her her own life. Her role in the story is that of a direct antagonist. She first battles Kamen Rider No. 2 (Hayato Ichimonji) and the assistant Kazuya Taki. After a confrontation where her stolen egg is ultimately melted by her own acid in the heat of battle, she is defeated by Kamen Rider No. 2's signature Rider Kick, which sends her falling into a pond that has become filled with her own acid, causing her to dissolve and explode. With her destruction, the other queen ant eggs in Shocker's base also self-destruct, ending the threat. She makes a brief, non-combat reappearance as a member of a monster army in the 1972 film Kamen Rider vs. Shocker.
It is important to distinguish Arikimedes from a later character with a similar name, Archimedel, who appears in the 2022 series Kamen Rider Geats. While their names share a root in Archimedes, they are entirely separate entities. Archimedel is an elderly gardener who cultivates the Jyamato monsters for the Desire Grand Prix, and his motivations are quite different, as he eventually grows to care for his creations and wishes to create a paradise for them, a stark contrast to Arikimedes's role as a more straightforward agent of Shocker.