The Kagestar

The Kagestar (ザ・カゲスター Za Kagesutā) is a 1976–77 Toei live action tokusatsu television series in which young shadow puppeteer turned salaryman Kageoh Sugata (Naoki Tachibana) gained, thanks to an electric shock received while rescuing his wealthy boss’s daughter from kidnappers, the ability to merge with his shadow and transform into Kagestar (“kage” is Japanese for “shadow”).

An Evel Knievel-inspired red, white and blue-clad, manga-eyed helmet-masked superhero with a swirling star-spangled striped cape he could use like a weapon, he rode a winged white motorcycle called the KageroCar he kept housed in a big and quite bizarre-looking anthropomorphic aircraft called the Kageboosee which he summoned with his flashlight-gun. He could also, as in the later video game and anime Blue Dragon, bring his silhouette-style shadow to life in giant form to battle the forces of evil.