Victoria’s Guide to Kamen Rider

Okategoriserade 9 minuter

Kamen Rider is a japanese tokusatsu series. It is pretty popular amongst toku fans. But alas there are many that have not even heard of Kamen Rider so I decided to put together this guide for the newcomers to the Kamen Rider fandom

What the eff is Kamen Rider anyway?


Kamen Rider is a japanese tokusatsu series that started airing April 3, 1971 to  February 10, 1973. The main character is always a masked hero riding a bike hence the name Kamen Rider which translates to Masked Rider. The series are split up in two eras. Showa and Hesei.

A excerpt about the Showa era from the Wikipedia Kamen Rider page:

“Produced by Toru Hirayama (平山 亨 Hirayama Tōru?) and designed by Shotaro Ishinomori, creator of Cyborg 009, Kamen Riderpremiered on April 3, 1971. Initially intended to be an adaptation of his Skull Man, Ishinomori and Hirayama redesigned the main character to resemble a grasshopper, supposedly chosen by his son. The hero Takeshi Hongo, portrayed by actor and stuntmanHiroshi Fujioka, was described as a transformed human (改造人間 kaizō ningen?), or cyborg. During the filming of episode 10, Fujioka was thrown off his motorcycle during the filming of a stunt and shattered both of his legs. His character would be phased out until the introduction of another transformed human in episode 14, Hayato Ichimonji as portrayed by Takeshi Sasaki, was introduced. The return of Fujioka and his character Hongo in episode 53 united the two actors and characters, as both Kamen Riders 1 and 2 would go on to appear in every show in the first half of the Shōwa Kamen Rider Series. The continuous run from April 1971 to January 1976 (Kamen Rider, V3, X, Amazon, Stronger) distinguished itself by featuring the recurrent mentor character, Tobei Tachibana.

After a four-year hiatus following the finale of Kamen Rider Stronger, the series returned to television broadcast in October 1979 for two years with The New Kamen Rider (featuringSkyrider) and Kamen Rider Super-1. In these new shows, the role of Tachibana was replaced by a similar character named Genjiro Tani (谷 源次郎 Tani Genjirō?). The broadcast of yearly new shows ended briefly in the 1980s, punctuated by the airing of the Kamen Rider ZX special, Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!! in 1984 which became the last project in the franchise to be produced by Hirayama.

In 1987, Kamen Rider Black premiered and was the first series that neither indicated nor hinted at any relationship with its predecessors. Black was also the first show in the franchise to feature a direct sequel, Kamen Rider Black RX, the basis of Saban’s Americanized Masked Rider. RX’s finale showed the ten previous Riders return to help Black RX defeat the Crisis Empire. Kamen Rider Black RX was the final show to be produced during the Shōwa era, with the franchise only resuming production by the end of the 20th century. The manga Kamen Rider Black acted as a novelization and reimagination of the Black/RX series’ continuity.”

A excerpt about the Hesei era from the Wikipedia Kamen Rider page:

Being completely absent from television during the 1990s, the franchise was kept alive mainly by stage shows, musical CDs, and the Shin, ZO, and J movies, though many fans classify the movies as part of the Showa series as they treat Ishinomori’s passing the pinnacle of the Showa era. Toei announced its new project, Kamen Rider Kuuga, in May 1999. Kuuga was part of a Kamen Rider rebirth that Ishinomori had worked on in 1997, planning for a leadup into the 30th anniversary. However, Ishinomori died before he could see these shows materialize. During the summer of 1999, Kuuga became publicized through magazine ads and commercials. On January 30, 2000, Kamen Rider Kuuga premiered, introducing rookie actor Joe Odagiri. Kuuga was followed by the anniversary series, Kamen Rider Agito, which began several trends throughout the Heisei Series: multiple Kamen Riders (Agito featured 4: Agito, Gills, G3, and Another Agito); the ending theme playing during the climactic scene instead of the end credits (this would be briefly broken in Hibikiwith Akira Fuse’s songs); and the relationship to Honda for the Kamen Riders’ motorcycles and other motor vehicles.[1] Following Agito, Kamen Rider Ryuki began the relationship with the record label Avex Group and its artists to perform theme songs for the series, such as ISSA of DA PUMP for 555, Nanase Aikawa for Blade, YU-KI of TRF for Kabuto, andAAA for Den-O, as well as the introduction of the group RIDER CHIPS, deemed the official band of Kamen Rider.

In 2005, Kamen Rider The First was produced. Written by Toshiki Inoue, the film is an original reimagining of both the manga and original television series. Various characters from the original series had their storylines altered to fit the time span of the movie. Masaya Kikawada portrays Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider 1 and Hassei Takano (previously Miyuki Tezuka/Kamen Rider Raia in Kamen Rider Ryuki) as Hayato Ichimonji/Kamen Rider 2. This was followed in 2007 by Kamen Rider The Next, an adaptation of Kamen Rider V3, starring Kazuki Kato (previously Daisuke Kazama/Kamen Rider Drake in Kamen Rider Kabuto) as Shiro Kazami/Kamen Rider V3 with Kikawada and Takano reprising their roles.

The year 2007 brought Kamen Rider Den-O, the eighth series, taking a turn from past Kamen Rider series, introducing a Kamen Rider that is completely unsure of himself. The series makes use of a large vehicle, the DenLiner; a bullet train that can travel through time. This series only had two Riders, Den-O and Zeronos, but they had multiple forms that they could switch between, similar to Black RX, Kuuga, and Agito. Due to the large popularity of Den-O, a second theatrical production, crossing over with the 2008 series Kamen Rider Kiva, was released in theaters April 12, 2008, becoming the top film in its opening weekend[2] and grossing 730 million yen.[3] In addition, Animate produced an OVA titledImagin Anime that features SD versions of the Imagin that are contracted to Den-O and Zeronos that have been featured in the company’s other Den-O products. Finally, a third movie, called Saraba Kamen Rider Den-O: Final Countdown with two more new Riders serves as an epilogue to the series. The third original film was the first for any series.[3]Takeru Satoh, the actor who portrayed the lead character of Den-O for the television series and first three films, claims that this is because of the series’ comedy.[4]

The 2009 series Kamen Rider Decade serves as an anniversary series being the 10th of the Heisei run. To commemorate this milestone, Japanese recording artist Gackt was brought onto the project to perform the series’ opening theme “Journey through the Decade”, and later the film’s theme song “The Next Decade”. Gackt also jokingly expressed interest in portraying a villain in the show.[5] Also announced in 2009 was a fourth film for Den-O,[6] later revealed to be the beginning of the Cho-Den-O Series of films,[7] starting with the film Cho Kamen Rider Den-O & Decade Neo Generations: The Onigashima Warship. In the March 2009 issue of Kindai magazine, Decade’s lead actor Masahiro Inouestated that Decade was only slated to run for 30 episodes.

Advertisements throughout the months of May, June, and July 2009 built up to the debut of Kamen Rider W,[8] who first appeared at the 10th Anniversary Project MASKED RIDER LIVE & SHOW event,[9] and was featured in Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker. Its hero Kamen Rider Double is the first Kamen Rider to transform from two people at once.[8] The series premiered on September 6, 2009.[10] Continuing into 2010 with Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider W & Decade: Movie War 2010, W ran for a full year from September 2009 to September 2010, instead of January to January. Also in 2010 were the second, third, and fourth films of the Cho-Den-O Series, collectively known as Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider The Movie: Cho-Den-O Trilogy.[11] Late 2010 brought the series Kamen Rider OOO to television after W’s finale, and the year 2011 celebrated the 40th anniversary of the franchise. The festivities included the Kamen Rider Girls idol group, the film OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let’s Go Kamen Riders, released on April 1, 2011, andOOO’s successor Kamen Rider Fourze, which references the previous heroes in its characters’ names and within the plot. A special crossover film titled Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen was released in 2012, featuring the main heroes from all Kamen Rider and Super Sentai series produced until then.[12] With Fourze’s run complete in 2012, Kamen Rider Wizard premiered, with its protagonist becoming the first Kamen Rider to use magic as his powers.[13] Wizard is also noted to have the first homosexual character and cast member, with Kaba-chan a regular member of the cast.[14] The year 2013 also sees the release of Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Z, a sequel to 2012’s Super Hero Taisen that adds the revived Metal Hero Series characters from Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie and other characters created by Shotaro Ishinomori that appeared in Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Wizard & Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum to the cast. On May 20, 2013, Toei filed for several trademarks on the phraseKamen Raidā Gaimu (仮面ライダー鎧武（ガイム）?). The official reveal of Kamen Rider Gaim took place on July 25, 2013, revealing a Sengoku period and fruit-themed motif to the series’ five rival Kamen Riders and Gen Urobuchi as the series’ main writer.


Ok now I understand what Kamen Rider is all about. But the term tokusatsu ocurred what is it?

Tokusatsu is a genre where a lot of special effects are used. Tokusatsu literally means special filming in japanese. 

Could you list all the Kamen Rider seasons from both the Showa and Hesei Era? Including the specials.

Shōwa era series

Heisei era series

  • Kamen Rider Kuuga (仮面ライダークウガ Kamen Raidā Kūga?): 2000
  • Kamen Rider Agito (仮面ライダーアギト Kamen Raidā Agito?, Masked Rider ΑGITΩ): 2001
  • Kamen Rider Ryuki (仮面ライダー龍騎 Kamen Raidā Ryūki?): 2002
  • Kamen Rider 555 (仮面ライダー555（ファイズ） Kamen Raidā Faizu?, Masked Rider Φ’s): 2003
  • Kamen Rider Blade (仮面ライダー剣（ブレイド） Kamen Raidā Bureido?, Masked Rider ♠): 2004
  • Kamen Rider Hibiki (仮面ライダー響鬼（ヒビキ） Kamen Raidā Hibiki?): 2005
  • Kamen Rider Kabuto (仮面ライダーカブト Kamen Raidā Kabuto?): 2006
  • Kamen Rider Den-O (仮面ライダー電王 Kamen Raidā Den’ō?): 2007
  • Kamen Rider Kiva (仮面ライダーキバ Kamen Raidā Kiba?): 2008
  • Kamen Rider Decade (仮面ライダーディケイド Kamen Raidā Dikeido?, Masked Rider DCD): 2009
  • Kamen Rider W (仮面ライダーＷ（ダブル） Kamen Raidā Daburu?): 2009-2010
  • Kamen Rider OOO (仮面ライダーＯＯＯ（オーズ） Kamen Raidā Ōzu?): 2010-2011
  • Kamen Rider Fourze (仮面ライダーフォーゼ Kamen Raidā Fōze?): 2011-2012
  • Kamen Rider Wizard (仮面ライダーウィザード Kamen Raidā Wizādo?): 2012-2013
  • Kamen Rider Gaim (仮面ライダー鎧武（ガイム） Kamen Raidā Gaimu?): 2013-

Television specials[edit source | editbeta]

Shōwa era

Heisei era

Theatrical releases[edit source | editbeta]

Shōwa era

Heisei era


Does it really matter which series I watch?

No in my opinion it doesn’t matter which Kamen Rider Season you watch.

Can we get a recommendation from you?


Sure I recommensd wtaching OOO,  Double, Den-O and Wizard.

Well I hope this guide will help you into the world of Kamen Rider.

Source of information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamen_Rider_Series#Sh.C5.8Dwa_era

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