Ken Hayakawa |
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- "Zubat on the scene! Zubat solves the case! People call me the wandering hero: The Magnificent Zubat!"
- ―Kaiketsu Zubat
Ken Hayakawa (早川 健, Hayakawa Ken) is the protagonist of Kaiketsu Zubat. He is a traveling private detective who also fights crime as the superhero, The Magnificent Zubat.
Appearance[]
Ken Hayakawa is 179 cm (5 ft 10in) and wears a black and red gringo cowboy attire as he travels Japan. For the majority of the series, he's seen wearing black leather pants, vest, and jacket over top a red shirt and white neckerchief. Later in the series, his outfit inexplicably changes, instead of a black vest and pants, to a white vest and pants, though he keeps the black jacket.
He is always seen wearing a black leather cowboy hat and carrying a white guitar.
Biography[]
Past[]
At the age of four, Ken Hayakawa was abandoned by his mother, Chiyo Tsuruma. What happened to his father is unknown, but it is clear that he was not involved in Ken's life. Before she left him, Ken is shown to be a happy child who dearly loved his mother. His greatest memory of her is walking at her side and the two of them smiling. Even after having been abandoned, Ken firmly believed that she was "the kindest mother in the world" (Episode 21).
At some point in his youth, Ken met and befriended Goro Asuka. They became quite close throughout the years, though Ken was unaware of Goro's family life until he was 26 years old.
Before the start of the show, he'd already started making a living as a wandering private detective.
Before the Journey for Revenge[]
Ken is first introduced by shooting Hell Dragon's Hired Hand Lankirk's gun out of his hand before the gunslinger could shoot Goro through the heart. While still unseen, he begins to laugh, taunting Hell Dragon's gang members. Ken further taunts Lankirk by telling him he's only the second best gunslinger in all of Japan, with Ken being the best.
Infuriated, Lankirk challenges Hayakawa to a contest to prove who is better. Lankirk sets up the match, in which they would both shoot at a rabbit that is holding two flowers in its mouth. Whoever shot their flower would win the match. In the end, neither flower was hit by the correct shooter and the rabbit survived. Lankirk expresses that no one won the match, but Ken corrects him saying that he won. Ken reveals he had aimed his bullets to hit Lankirks, shattering them and taking them off their course. Osamu Terada, a young boy, confirmed to Lankirk the truth behind Ken's statement, by gathering the shattered remains of his bullets. Lankirk could only withdraw from the scene in his loss.
After the incident, Ken and Goro reunited and boarded the bus upon which Midori Asuka and her students were riding that day before being attacked by Hell Dragon and his gang. It wasn't long into the bus ride that Ken heard the ticking of a time bomb and silenced everyone to confirm his suspicions. They then rushed to get everyone off the bus. Ken was about to get back onto the vehicle to drive it a safe distance away, but was stopped by Goro punching him in the gut.
Out of concern for Goro, Ken latched himself onto the bus, trying to get him to stop, but was unable to hold on for long. The bus exploded and Goro was severely injured in the process.
At the hospital, Ken, along with Midori and Osamu, greet Goro as he awakens, covered in bandages. It's not long after that the hospital erupts into chaos. Both Ken and Goro leave the room to find Shingou Toujou, a police officer and friend to Ken, telling them the situation: that the hospital will be bombed if the Mayor didn't give Hell Dragon 3 billion Yen by 1:00pm. However, the time limit had expired and the hospital was attacked.
Both Ken and Goro began rushing to get people out of the hospital. At the same time, Ken spotted Hell Dragon leaving through a door in the hospital and was about to chase after him. It was in that moment that he heard gun shots and turned to see Gorou be shot multiple times from an unknown source. Rushing to Goro's side as he fell, a distraught Ken encouraged Gorou to hang on to life. Goro, in his dying moments, promised that he would recover from his wounds and they would fight together against the ones who performed the terrorist attack on the hospital. He died just seconds later in Ken's arms, with Ken calling out his name.
Finishing the Zubat Suit and Zubatcar[]

Hayakawa is wearing the Zubat Suit.
After the funeral for Gorou, Midori reveals to Ken that she blames him for her brother's death. Despite this, she hands Ken Gorou's guitar, saying she can't even bring herself to look at it anymore. Hurt by her accusation, Ken doesn't look at her as he takes the guitar and leaves. He then vows to find Gorou's murderer no matter at what cost.
To do this, he goes to Gorou's secret laboratory in which Gorou was developing a suit and other equipment for space exploration. Ken works day and night to finish it to the best of his abilities. Once ready, he deemed the Zubat suit and Zubacar as finished and again promises Gorou that he will use these tools to find the killer.
The Journey Begins[]
After defeating the Hell Dragon gang and discovering that Hell Dragon and Lankirk were not the ones who shot and killed Gorou.
Encountering a Doppelgänger[]
to be added
Finding his Mother[]
to be added
The Journey Ends[]
to be added
OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders[]

Ken in OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders
Zubat (who created another Zubat suit) made a cameo in OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders where he teams up with Kikaider, Kikaider 01 and Inazuman to destroy General Shadow as he attempted to escape from the riders.
Kamen Rider OOO: OOZ[]
Ken made a cameo in Eiji Hino's dream.
Personality[]
to be added
Skills[]
One of Ken's most notable qualities is his wide array of skills. In each episode, he encounters a mercenary hired by Dakker, who believes themselves to be the best in Japan at their specialty. However, Ken proceeds to prove himself better. Skills displayed by Ken over the course of the series include:
Note: episodes in which they are made apparent are found within brackets
- Piloting airplanes (including the Zubacar in flight mode) [opening-32]
- Gunslinging [episode 1]
- Hand-to-hand combat [episode 1-32]
- Welding [episode 1]
- Engineering [episode 1]
- Use of the Whip [episode 1-32]
- Guitar playing [episode 1-32]
- The art of drawing a sword [episode 2]
- Knife throwing [episode 3]
- Kung fu [episode 4]
- Billiards [episode 5]
- Tomahawk-throwing [episode 6]
- Strength and Endurance [episode 7]
- Use of the canesword (blindfolded) [episode 8]
- Fishing [episode 9]
- Trumpet playing (as well as use of a modified dart-shooting trumpet) [episode 10]
- Golfing [episode 11]
- Use of the boomerang [episode 12]
- Use of a bamboo-flute crossbow [episode 13]
- Carpentry [episode 14]
- Spinning tops [episode 15]
- Rolling dice [episode 16]
- Throwing table knives and forks [episode 17]
- American football [episode 18]
- Use of the chain-sickle [episode 19]
- Chinese Martial Art Ba Gua Zhang [episode 20]
- Throwing plates [episode 21]
- Boxing [episode 22]
- Sleight-of-hand [episode 23]
- Throwing yarrow sticks [episode 24]
- Dual Wield Fencing [episode 25]
- Throwing scalpels [episode 26]
- Archery [episode 27]
- Darts [episode 28]
- Tennis [episode 29]
- Spears [episode 30]
- Machine Gun [episode 31-32]
Kaiketsu Zubat[]

Kaiketsu Zubat
Ability Parameters
- Jumping Power: 400 meters
- Running Power: Mach 7
Kaiketsu Zubat is a warrior transform by Ken Hayakawa after wearing Zubat Suit.
It is hidden in his guitar, and with the push of a secret button, the suit springs out of the guitar which Ken puts on like a regular costume. However, the suit can only be worn for 5 minutes as the circuits in the suit would overload after that period of time and the suit would explode. As a result, every time Ken puts on the suit he risks killing himself.
- Skills
- Zubat Attack (ズバットアタック, Zubatto Atakku): Zubat's specialty. Jump while twisting his body and lose the opponent's fighting spirit with a swooping kick. In episodes 1 to 4, 6, and 7, instead of kicking, the technique was decided by sandwiching the opponent while descending.
- Tenchi Gaeshi (天地返し lit. "Upside Down Throw"): Smash the opponent to the ground several times while still wrapped around the whip.
Arsenal[]
- Zubat Suit
- Whip
- ZubaCar
Relationships[]
Allies[]
Enemies[]
Behind the scenes[]
Etymology[]
- Zubat's name is based on the sound effect "zubatto," which is the sound of something being hit right on target.
Recognition[]
Zubat is featured as #75 in the 1986 archive compilation video Toei 100 Great Heroes Super Fight.
Notes[]

- In some early illustration, Zubat is a white colored hero instead of red.
- "Zubat" is alternatively romanized as "Zvatt".
Appearances[]
Kaiketsu Zubat
- Episode 1: After the Explosion, the Wandering Begins
- Episode 2: The Bird Migrates into Flames
- Episode 3: The Golden Angel of Sorrow
- Episode 4: A Critical Strike, Through Tears
- Episode 5: The Flower Girl and the White Powder
- Episode 6: Machine Guns Over the Ocean's Roar
- Episode 7: A Bad Wind in a Harbor Town
- Episode 8: Propane Explosion of Sorrow
- Episode 9: Turn Back to the River of Tears
- Episode 10: Knock Baseball's Enemies Out of the Park
- Episode 11: Don't Die, Dear Friend! One Second to Execution!
- Episode 12: Ten Seconds to Execution
- Episode 13: The Ballad of the Young Killer
- Episode 14: White-Fletched Arrows and a Tearful Parting
- Episode 15: The Sad Mother's Lullaby
- Episode 16: Falsely Accused, Ken Falls into Sorrow
- Episode 17: The Grief-Stricken Sister and a Pair of Kens
- Episode 18: Bubble Love in Peril!
- Episode 19: Blighted Love: The Torn Love Letter
- Episode 20: The Lady Dragon and a Tearful Vow
- Episode 21: Farewell, My Long-Lost Mother
- Episode 22: The Young Boxer and Tears for a Father
- Episode 23: The Three Oogami Sisters and Brother Tenichi
- Episode 24: Ken's Tears and Love in a Strange Town
- Episode 25: A Tearful Departure on Mt. Koujin
- Episode 26: Forgive Me, My Son!
- Episode 27: Surprising Purpetrator! Asuka Killed?!
- Episode 28
- Episode 29
- Episode 30
- Episode 31
- Episode 32
- OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders