Kamen Rider ("HENSHIN") and other Toku Shows

[EcoHound]

Kamen Rider was basically my first true hyperfixation (and during my edgy teen phase at that!)
Extremely varied so there will always be something for anyone
And most importantly, extremely earnest about itself.

It's people in rubber suits and shoestring TV show special effects. On the surface it's silly, but it takes itself and the story its telling so seriously that it drags you in and you take it seriously too and it becomes unironically cool. Seriously, I think that live action adaptations of anime should go the Tokusatsu route for their fight choreography, they have stylish live action fights down to a science.

Plus unlike the West's attempts at adapting Toku (Power Rangers), the writers behind Kamen Rider actually care about telling a good and proper story. Each entry is about 45-50 episodes, enough time to tell a full and fleshed out story while keeping filler to a minimum.
For example, from the current entry (Kamen Rider Gavv)

Hidden text.

If you're burnt out on how irony filled and self referential a lot of Super Hero media has become in recent years (cough Marvel cough), I say give Tokusatsu a shot.

My recommendation for beginners is Kamen Rider W as it has an excellent balance of seriousness and humor (it made my friend ugly cry in the end).

[Enbyeon]

So many of my friends are into Kamen Rider and Toku Shows and for me it's really just a matter of not setting aside time for shows that much. But I absolutely adore the vibe and themes of these shows. Heroes of Justice who fight despite overwhelming odds are always the best.

Tell me you don't get hyped up from a scene like this:

[RueAzure]

I love tokusatsu so much, and Kamen Rider is just best in slot for me.

I've seen, in no particular order...

Faiz, Ex-Aid, Double, OOO, Drive, Build, Geats, Zero-One, Gavv, Revice, Kuuga, Decade, Zi-O, Gotchard, Ryuki, Kabuto, Den-O, Gaim, Saber...

My favorite is either of Faiz, Ex-Aid or OOO, honestly. It's hard to pick from those three.

Gavv is a close contender, and I can't decide until after it finishes airing. Just a few more weeks...

[gardevoir]

If you're burnt out on how irony filled and self referential a lot of Super Hero media has become in recent years (cough Marvel cough), I say give Tokusatsu a shot.

This is absolutely why I love Kamen Rider. It’s so genuine and earnest and optimistic, without being saccharine. It’s such a break from lots of other TV being really cynical and dark-for-shock-value.

I keep being impressed at how well-written the shows are, too—-how themes echo and develop over a show’s runtime, how characters evolve and bounce off each other. I’ve seriously learned a lot about how to write compelling fiction from watching a million seasons of Kamen Rider. At its best, it gets so much deeper and more philosophical than I ever expected a show about jump-kicking rubber monsters to be.

(Even an episode that I thought was just a bunch of absurdist bits, a friend of mine pointed out “hey, this entire episode is based on wordplay that doesn’t translate,” adding a whole new layer to it!)

…which is not to say that there aren’t a few seasons that are some real stinkers, but… y’know. Nobody makes a banger 30 times in a row.

I’m really in love with Gavv at the moment—-it’s so cool how it almost forms a mirror image of Faiz, and how those two make each other better despite being completely unconnected. But then, of course, leave it to the pokégirl to like the ones where the monsters are so well-developed.

[EcoHound]

…which is not to say that there aren’t a few seasons that are some real stinkers, but… y’know. Nobody makes a banger 30 times in a row.

I’m really in love with Gavv at the moment—-it’s so cool how it almost forms a mirror image of Faiz, and how those two make each other better despite being completely unconnected. But then, of course, leave it to the pokégirl to like the ones where the monsters are so well-developed.

Like I said, there's something for everyone.
For example, I do not like Inuoe Toshiki's style (writer behind Agito, Faiz, second half of Hibiki, and Kiva), at all. To me he's repetitive and frustrating as he keeps killing of women to make the men do drastic things and makes everyone try to kill each other over tiny misunderstandings.

But I love Yasuko Kobayashi's (writer behind Ryuki, Den-O, and OOO) style as she also focuses on strong character interactions and dynamics, but avoids the frustrating pitfalls that Inuoe dives headfirst into

And I love Gavv for similar reasons and I hope Junko Komura does more work as a main writer in Kamen Rider (she normally does Super Sentai)

[gardevoir]

For example, I do not like Inuoe Toshiki's style (writer behind Agito, Faiz, second half of Hibiki, and Kiva), at all. To me he's repetitive and frustrating as he keeps killing of women to make the men do drastic things and makes everyone try to kill each other over tiny misunderstandings.

But I love Yasuko Kobayashi's (writer behind Ryuki, Den-O, and OOO) style as she also focuses on strong character interactions and dynamics, but avoids the frustrating pitfalls that Inuoe dives headfirst into

And I love Gavv for similar reasons and I hope Junko Komura does more work as a main writer in Kamen Rider (she normally does Super Sentai)

Oh, ABSOLUTELY fair—-I was half-joking with a friend that it took them until about Zi-O to figure out how to be normal about women, I’m just a sucker for the romantic tragedy styling of Faiz. And I don’t think it’s controversial to say OOO is absolutely an all-timer (if for no other reason than Ankh is just a blast to watch every time he’s on screen).

Y’know, this raises a good point—-I don’t actually know much about the team and production context. I should fix that.

[EcoHound]

Oh, ABSOLUTELY fair—-I was half-joking with a friend that it took them until about Zi-O to figure out how to be normal about women, I’m just a sucker for the romantic tragedy styling of Faiz. And I don’t think it’s controversial to say OOO is absolutely an all-timer (if for no other reason than Ankh is just a blast to watch every time he’s on screen).

Y’know, this raises a good point—-I don’t actually know much about the team and production context. I should fix that.

Kobayashi and Komura both have advantages in the "being normal around women" scene since they are women

And the production side is another reason why Kobayashi is my all time favorite because the woman is insane. Shows normally have a head writer and multiple secondary writers, with writing credits for each episode spread between them

Kobayashi near solo writes her shows, if you look at who wrote the episodes in her seasons, she writes 95% of the episodes. As a result, character development is consistent and nobody backslides on it and there's foreshadowing going FAR back
For example, in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger which Kobayashi wrote, there's literally end game foreshadowing going back to episode 1

And the production side is another reason why I don't like Inuoe. Kobayashi makes sure to organically integrate the toy side of things into the story, giving proper build up and reason for upgrade trinkets to appear
Inuoe does not care and just shoves them in because it feels like he does not care about the fighting part of Kamen Rider, which makes me question why he's in Toku when he does that. Just make a normal J-Drama then

[Ragepyro]

Kamen Rider absolutely fuckin rules and I have made many of my friends exhausted with how into it I am. Managed to get the household in by watching Geats, persuaded them to stay in by staying current with Gavv & I'm gonna be dragging them all the way back to the W/OOO/Fourze trifecta instead of watching Zeztz.

Have seen W, OOO, Fourze, Ex-Aid, Geats and Gavv, have started watching Kuuga, Kabuto, Den-O, Wizard and Build at various times.

In my eyes the primary thesis of the series is "You may not be entirely human anymore, you may not have been entirely human ever, but that doesn't mean you aren't a person." and I think Gavv is doing an incredible job of playing with this. I would do literally anything for the pudding man, I think he might actually just be my favourite rider now.

Just the way he fights, the way he's done with everything, the surprisingly heartfelt backstory, he's just perfect.

[EcoHound]

What I'd give for a good and proper Kamen Rider game...
Either stylish action like Devil May Cry or a Fighting Game

[Ragepyro]

What I'd give for a good and proper Kamen Rider game...
Either stylish action like Devil May Cry or a Fighting Game

I'd really like a new Battride War that actually gets translated tbh. But I'm a sucker for Dynasty warriors style stuff.

[EcoHound]

As I've been doing watch parties with a friend to introduce her into Kamen Rider, I wonder if it's possible to do it on a larger stage with more people.

Either just a few episodes since an entire entry would be impractical, or maybe the Shin Kamen Rider movie by Hideaki Anno, the product of a true super fan of the original Showa entry

[Twonny]

I haven't indulged in Kamen Rider in forever until recently. My friends and I have been watching Gavv, but the last series I finished was Fourze.

Gavv has been a pretty fun watch, but I am looking forward to the series being finished.

[EmmyPup]

Kamen Rider and Super Sentai are two of my favorite series, my faves are W, Fourze, Ex-Aid, and Build for Rider, and Shinkenger, Gokaiger, Zenkaiger, Donbrothers, and Gozyuger for Sentai :3

[EcoHound]

Kamen Rider and Super Sentai are two of my favorite series, my faves are W, Fourze, Ex-Aid, and Build for Rider, and Shinkenger, Gokaiger, Zenkaiger, Donbrothers, and Gozyuger for Sentai :3

Excellent choices for Kamen Rider, what about OOO since it's kinda part of a trio with W and Fourze?
Shinkenger is one of my all time favorites and will always what I'll recommend to a newcomer since it hits an excellent balance of seriousness and silliness. Though admittedly I fell of Sentai (I watched most of King-Ohger and loved it but now my ADHD won't let me finish it for some reason AAAAAAAA)

Donbrothers... So many people say it's peak but I just cannot find any appeal in it. Infact it made me genuinely angry and reinforced my dislike of Toshiki Inuoe, I made it 14 episodes before quitting because trying to watch it ruined my day. Gozyuger is written by Inuoe's daughter so I'm having a hard time trying to work up the effort to give it a chance since from what I've seen it follows a similar tone and pattern to Donbrothers.

[EmmyPup]

Kamen Rider and Super Sentai are two of my favorite series, my faves are W, Fourze, Ex-Aid, and Build for Rider, and Shinkenger, Gokaiger, Zenkaiger, Donbrothers, and Gozyuger for Sentai :3

Excellent choices for Kamen Rider, what about OOO since it's kinda part of a trio with W and Fourze?
Shinkenger is one of my all time favorites and will always what I'll recommend to a newcomer since it hits an excellent balance of seriousness and silliness. Though admittedly I fell of Sentai (I watched most of King-Ohger and loved it but now my ADHD won't let me finish it for some reason AAAAAAAA)

Donbrothers... So many people say it's peak but I just cannot find any appeal in it. Infact it made me genuinely angry and reinforced my dislike of Toshiki Inuoe, I made it 14 episodes before quitting because trying to watch it ruined my day. Gozyuger is written by Inuoe's daughter so I'm having a hard time trying to work up the effort to give it a chance since from what I've seen it follows a similar tone and pattern to Donbrothers.

OOO is another great series!

And yeah, I can see your point about Donbrothers, it's def an acquired taste. Part of the appeal for me was just seeing how batshit things got in the later half.

Gozyuger so far seems pretty different than Donbrothers, at least to me. It's more light-hearted, the anniversary series aspect of it helps in that regard, and there's less drama between the main members.

[RueAzure]

What I'd give for a good and proper Kamen Rider game...
Either stylish action like Devil May Cry or a Fighting Game

Have you tried Memory of Heroez by any chance? It's about as close as they've gotten, really, and I enjoyed the heck out of it.

It's writing is no substitute for the actual writing of a KR show, but they play with their source material in a fun way.

Plus, they just chose three really fun series to bounce off one another. OOO, Double and Build? Heck yeah, i'm in.

They even brought Aya Kamiki back to make a new opening in the style of Double, and I super appreciate it.

[EcoHound]

Been rewatching Den-O by watching it with a friend to introduce them to the franchise.
Now I chose Den-O because they're plural and as I started to learn more about DID from them, the more I noticed parallels with Den-O.

The most surprising thing is how well the show works as a DID metaphor. Granted it's most likely completely accidental so that praise and analysis goes right into Death of the Author territory. Still though, she's been enjoying it so much and learning about this angle has made me love Den-O more myself.

What is going on in that head of yours Yasuko Kobayashi to be able to do this so well?
She's my favorite Toku writer for a reason