Live action TV
Description
Puranodon, also romanized as Pranodon, is a kaijin, or mutant monster, created by the villainous organization Shocker and based on a pteranodon. In the 1972 film Kamen Rider tai Jigoku Taishi, he appears as one of the revived monsters that Shocker deploys against Kamen Rider 1 and his ally Kazuya Taki. Standing 210 centimeters tall and weighing 85 kilograms, he was originally introduced in the original Kamen Rider television series, where he served Shocker as an assassin.
His original mission was to kill Dr. Namikawa, a leading authority on rocket engineering whom Shocker regarded as a dangerous obstacle to its plans. To carry this out, he kidnapped a young woman named Emi and implanted an ultrasonic receiver in her, allowing Puranodon to control her using sound waves emitted from the antennae on his head and to inflict severe pain on her through the same device. Under this control, she was made to plant a small rocket inside the camera of Hayato Ichimonji, but that attempt failed. Puranodon then forced Emi to lure Kazuya Taki into a trap and abducted him, intending to control Taki in the same manner and make him shoot Dr. Namikawa. Kamen Rider 2 traced Puranodon's location through the implanted receiver, disrupted the scheme, and defeated him in combat, sending him off a cliff with a Rider Kick.
In Kamen Rider tai Jigoku Taishi, Puranodon is brought back as a revived kaijin under the command of the film's central villain, Jigoku Taishi, who leads an army of newly created and resurrected Shocker monsters in an offensive against the Kamen Riders. Puranodon had already been revived once for the earlier theatrical film Kamen Rider tai Shocker, and he is revived again here as part of the same practice of recycling defeated monsters. His role in the story is that of a subordinate soldier: he joins the assembled monster forces in their attacks on the heroes rather than pursuing the independent assassination plot from his television appearance.
His personality and motivations are defined by his loyalty to Shocker. He acts as an obedient weapon of the organization, showing cunning in devising ways to manipulate innocent humans but never questioning his orders. He prefers indirect schemes, such as turning victims into unwitting tools, yet he is also willing to engage in direct combat when his plans fail. In the film, this same obedience transfers to Jigoku Taishi, and he fights as part of a coordinated monster assault without any individual goals of his own.
His abilities reflect his pteranodon design. He can fly, which enables him to launch aerial surprise attacks. His large wings can produce powerful gusts of wind strong enough to blow opponents away. From his mouth he can fire projectiles capable of shattering concrete, sometimes described as small rockets. His most distinctive power is the emission of ultrasonic or hypnotic waves from the antennae on his head, which allow him to mentally dominate people fitted with receivers, forcing obedience and instilling overwhelming fear or pain. Despite these capabilities, he remains a disposable asset of Shocker, and his character undergoes no growth or change; his appearances are defined entirely by the missions his masters assign him.
His original mission was to kill Dr. Namikawa, a leading authority on rocket engineering whom Shocker regarded as a dangerous obstacle to its plans. To carry this out, he kidnapped a young woman named Emi and implanted an ultrasonic receiver in her, allowing Puranodon to control her using sound waves emitted from the antennae on his head and to inflict severe pain on her through the same device. Under this control, she was made to plant a small rocket inside the camera of Hayato Ichimonji, but that attempt failed. Puranodon then forced Emi to lure Kazuya Taki into a trap and abducted him, intending to control Taki in the same manner and make him shoot Dr. Namikawa. Kamen Rider 2 traced Puranodon's location through the implanted receiver, disrupted the scheme, and defeated him in combat, sending him off a cliff with a Rider Kick.
In Kamen Rider tai Jigoku Taishi, Puranodon is brought back as a revived kaijin under the command of the film's central villain, Jigoku Taishi, who leads an army of newly created and resurrected Shocker monsters in an offensive against the Kamen Riders. Puranodon had already been revived once for the earlier theatrical film Kamen Rider tai Shocker, and he is revived again here as part of the same practice of recycling defeated monsters. His role in the story is that of a subordinate soldier: he joins the assembled monster forces in their attacks on the heroes rather than pursuing the independent assassination plot from his television appearance.
His personality and motivations are defined by his loyalty to Shocker. He acts as an obedient weapon of the organization, showing cunning in devising ways to manipulate innocent humans but never questioning his orders. He prefers indirect schemes, such as turning victims into unwitting tools, yet he is also willing to engage in direct combat when his plans fail. In the film, this same obedience transfers to Jigoku Taishi, and he fights as part of a coordinated monster assault without any individual goals of his own.
His abilities reflect his pteranodon design. He can fly, which enables him to launch aerial surprise attacks. His large wings can produce powerful gusts of wind strong enough to blow opponents away. From his mouth he can fire projectiles capable of shattering concrete, sometimes described as small rockets. His most distinctive power is the emission of ultrasonic or hypnotic waves from the antennae on his head, which allow him to mentally dominate people fitted with receivers, forcing obedience and instilling overwhelming fear or pain. Despite these capabilities, he remains a disposable asset of Shocker, and his character undergoes no growth or change; his appearances are defined entirely by the missions his masters assign him.