You'd be surprised at how minor things can be pretty hated. And Grateful has always been a bit weird on whether or not he can use it against Ganmeizers. Depends on how much the writers want to handicap him

But Himiko appeared in like 5 episodes and is already base breaker worthy. Onari's been actively hated here and is a main character, yet that isn't enough? Makes no sense

The issue is no-one around here really likes him, but in Japan he's popular. Deepsea's got the right trope, but whoever updates it might have just forgotten. Or maybe they love Onari, who knows?

Mana's "Shouichi-kun" from Agito would be up there, although it was usually more of a whine than a yell.

So I'm on episode 20 of Ryuki and I like it quite a bit, especially after I finished Den-O, which was lackluster. Raia's death though... Sad stuff. I'm also starting to see why people say Gaim takes inspiration from this show. Also, I thought I'd put my series rankings to get people angry :D

1.Gaim 2.Blade 3.W 4.Ryuki 5.Agito 6.Faiz 7.Drive 8.OOO 9.Den-O 10.Fourze 11.Ghost 12.Decade

I've gotten a bit further into Kabuto. Gattack showed up, so yay Kagami is now a rider! Also, I wonder if they ever explain how the Zecters pick people, because it seems really odd to me that they're man-made seemingly sentient machines, but their sentience goes unexplained.

Kabuto isn't great at explaining things. It's not Kiva, but it's still frustratingly vague at times.

Last week I watched the first couple episodes of three more shows. No comment on the acronym that happened to form.

Kuuga - the way this is filmed makes it feel more like a J-drama than a tokusatsu show, but so far I liked what Kuuga has going for it. Slow burn, likable main characters, and a pretty intense fight scene in a helicopter (!) in the first episode. I might go forward with more Kuuga later, but it wasn't my favorite of the trio of shows I sampled this time.

Kabuto - you can definitely tell this was the first Kamen Rider filmed in HD, since it looks SO MUCH BETTER than the subs I've downloaded from pre-2006 shows. Anyway I think Tendou is a delightful asshole and the ZECT crew are a bunch of douches. I liked the action and setup in Kabuto; I might watch more of it later after I get bored of...

Kiva - gat damn. Great-looking suit, outstanding design ideas, pretty good action, AWESOME music, an unusual plot device that I really liked (the 1986 vs. 2008 thing), and I a sort of wimpy main character that I at least found tolerable. I really dug Kiva. Definitely going to watch more of this one. I'm on episode 6 or 7.

In addition to those three, I'm up to around episode 35 in Fourze (slow going since I've watched parts of 10+ Kamen Rider shows the past few weeks), in the 25-30 range for both Gaim and Drive, and around episode 17-18 in W. Great stuff all around. Hopefully I can write a Kamen Rider top ten for my blog in a few months.

Glad you liked Kiva! I'm a big fan of it, though it certainly has more than its fair share of weaknesses, it's definitely got the best designs and music of all the Rider shows, imo.

One of the things I love about Kiva is how much Wataru grows throughout the show.

Yep, those early-Heisei shows are ugly as sin. They're good and worth watching and the design work almost makes up for the shitty video stock, but dang... they're hideous.

I fucking looooovvvveeee Kiva, and you have about the same number of series under your belt as I did when I watched it (in fact, you've been watching the exact same series I did when I first started :lol ). I think you're perfectly primed to enjoy it.

A lot of fans really despise Kiva, but if you're 6-7 episodes in and still digging it, I think you'll continue to like it throughout.

It's always such a strange sensation. There seems to be a general consensus that everyone hates Kiva, but once you compliment Kiva, it seems people come out of the woodwork to talk about how much they love Kiva. It's hard to get a beat on things :lol

I think fandom is in the midst of a critical reevaluation of Kiva. Used to be, you couldn't even bring it up without the rabid haters tearing you to shreds. :lol

After the figure was announced I decided to give Kamen Rider J a spin. I went in without any expectations since I didn’t particularly enjoy ZO, which was my reason for ignoring J in the first place. But now that I watched it… I’m glad I gave it a chance. Spoilers ahead as always, but if you haven’t watched J yet I suggest you do! ;)

For one, the suit design, props, sets and effects are top-notch. Like, damn. ZO already had some great stuff going on but J goes even further. It also might’ve helped that I watched the movie in 720p, this way I could really enjoy the details put into this movie.

The setup is very simple, but I think it works better than ZO did. For one we skip the boring character introductions entirely and go into the action almost right away, and the amount of characters is effectively reduced to two human protagonists and three / four antagonists, I think that’s perfect.

Yes they are all very bland but as far as characters for a 40 minute movie go? Not bad.

I like J as a Rider. "J Power" is a silly name but he has everything a classic Rider needs. And I think this more mystical approach works better than ZO’s "homo superior" thingy. The Rider suit is also better than ZO’s IMO. And Berry is really cute, even though he looks hideous and even scary at times :lol

But the monster design is what takes the cake for me. "Agito" (heh) looks almost real at times. In the full shots it’s easy to break the illusion since a human on four legs in suit still moves like a human on four legs would, but in the close-up shots? This thing looks like a real dragon, holy shit. The other two aren’t bad either, although I already forgot their names. The woman one looks kinda cool with the mouth exposed in her monster form (I had to think about the Mouth of Sauron all the time) and the Cobra Commander (how could you not make this joke?) is pretty imposing. Especially in the close-ups with his moving eyelids and mouthpiece, that reminded me of Gills from Agito, in a good way. And all those little monster babies? Wow. I’m glad I grew out of my fear of puppets; this shit would’ve given me nightmares as a kid. Fog Mother herself or rather her ship is very cool too, I dig it.

Story is okay, it’s your basic "rescue the girl" kinda story with an environmental message through in, J is basically the Captain Planet of the Rider universe (I'm terribly sorry about all those shitty comparisons, I stop now), but it’s not too bad. The protagonist is enjoyable, and I believe the actor is the same who played the Red Ranger in Zyuranger? It kinda damned on me once they explained how the dinosaurs were extinguished by Fog Mother :D

And the action is awesome. Especially since we get both regular Rider-action and some delicious Kaiju segments, because as we all know, J can grow into a giant. I think this was executed very well, and J’s final giant Rider kick was awesome! :thumb:

Music is good, sets the mood well without standing out too much. Except the song for the ending credits which I count as J’s theme, it’s very Showa and I love it because of that.

So all in all a very enjoyable movie. Again, I’m glad I gave it a chance; I can now fully understand why so many people in this fandom cherish it as their favorite among the three movies which closed the Showa era, it is really good. I’m thinking about going back to ZO and giving it another chance, but for now? J is fantastic and I love it. Good stuff!

How can you tell the difference? :p

Yeah, I don't understand the fanfare for ZO. I personally enjoyed J a whole lot more.

Ha! Strangely enough I only now realized how ZO & J are obvious homage’s to the Double Riders who also look similar and are not easy to tell apart in fight scenes.

Agreed.

Exactly

Glad to see someone else giving J a chance. For some reason it always seems like the overlooked 90s movie in comparison to Shin and ZO. I think it's my favorite of the three, though. ZO was a lot more ambitious and had cooler visuals, but suffered a bit from trying to cram 20 pounds of plot into a 5-pound bag. J is much more straightforward as a story - a bit basic, but everything is clear and relatively developed.

Watch the Kamen Rider World short film. Once you see the two of them together, it becomes a lot easier to tell them apart.The main thing is that J has thick green lines and ZO has thin gold lines.

Geez. I have trouble watching two shows at once.

I actually felt all three of those Kamen Rider movies from the 90s were down right terrible. I was bored and didn't think any of them are worth even buying the Figuarts too, especially if I have to go out of my way to get the likes of J and Shin.

We've had this discussion before :) I typically watch at least two or three at once. I'm watching Double by appointment with a friend, so I'm really only switching between Fourze, Gaim, and Drive at once. I binged on Kiva last week, but I think I may wait until I'm done with one other series before going at it hard.

Haha you're right, we did. But right now, I'm trying to balance four shows (including anime). Of the four, three are still airing. I'm only caught up on one of the airing ones (Ghost). I think that explains how I am haha

We watched episodes 22-30 of Blade tonight and god damn I love the episodes with the Wolf Undead. I also love the way they introduce the Elephant Undead and how everything has played out. Then of course, 29 and 30 were those out of place comedy duo episodes. God I hate them. They aren't bad by Toku standards, they just don't fit in with Blade's tone for the last 28 episodes.

I took a long break after watching Begins Night (mostly to finish Dekaranger, which I was pretty close to doing at the time), but now I'm back with Kamen Rider W.

While the opening of Episode 15 didn't interest me at all (the frame-up), it certainly picked up with the escalation of the enemy threat at the end in Episode 16.

Same thing happened with Episode 17--a ho-hum premise with poor Dopant design--but the change in status quo with regard to the show's characters in Episode 18 seems like a good set-up. And the increasing complexity of the relationships among the villains was certainly welcome.

Preview for Episode 19 shows the appearance of Accel. I don't quite like the suit design, and from what little I've seen, the handlebar thing worked better when it was on Tetsu's fist in Dekaranger, but we'll see. I'm hooked on Kamen Rider W again, and I can't wait to take a break from work to watch the next episode.

I love W so much! I hope you end up enjoying it, it really starts to pick up around the point you are at.

Oh, I am already enjoying it. I just got distracted and couldn't seem to get back on track for some reason (other than the show itself). It may have to do with the Dekaranger situation--that I was nearly finished with it and so felt compelled to binge-watch.

Just like W himself, I like Philip and Shoutarou interacting with each other. Each by himself is just so-so, but together? They form one excellent character-pair.

Akiko is funny at times, at others not so much--I'm hoping to like her more as the series progresses, though I don't quite dislike her at the moment...she just falls flat at times, in terms of humor.

Supporting cast characters (the cops, Santa Claus, the fella with weird hair, etc.) are a bit unnecessary, but I love the villains in this one, even when they're not yet transformed.

And the W suit is nicely-designed, and I like its power-ups, even weird ones like Luna.

I watched episodes 28 through 31 of Drive last night. REALLY enjoying its interpretation of the episode 25 twist. This is a status quo that I think most Kamen Rider shows don't address. I liked Drive before, but now I think it's gotten a little better.

I really liked episode 25 of Drive, but I think it would have been a bit better if they had focused more on Shinnosuke trying to hide his identity throughout the series (not much of a spoiler, but you never know).

I liked Drive more than I thought I would.

I can agree that would've been cool but I think I'm way happier they did what they did. It really spices things up if you maybe thought they were getting dull (I sure didn't), and it really differentiates Drive from pretty much every other Kamen Rider out there to have a publicly known identity.

There's a moment at the end of Surprise Future where you see Drive doing a little photo-shoot for "Crime Prevention Week" or something like that, and he's wearing a little sash over his existing tire-sash that says "Let's get rid of crime, at top gear!!!" It basically epitomizes what makes me love Drive so much. No other Rider would make the time to do something like that, and I always loved how Drive emphasized how Kamen Riders are Superheroes, and not just "dudes who happen to fight monsters in spandex".

Amazon Episode 7: I love the Mole Beastman here in the beginning not sure what to do anymore and how to handle these complex feelings. Still loving Amazon and how he is understand different things about the culture of humans. With how Gedon's Snake Beastman showed him how manipulating people worked. Also thankful for Masahiko for proving that a little kid can be amazing in a Toku show. The action was great as Amazon fought through an amusement park that was really fun. Well I can't wait for more, I am loving this more than I thought I would.

I'm up to episode 35 of Drive, and absolutely loving it. The series was solid / pretty good for the first 25 episodes, then really picks up afterwards. I know that's a common opinion (heh, "kamen"), but I feel it's an apt assessment so far. Excited to continue.

I'm also up to episode 24 of Kiva, and after a few awkward two-parters in the 10-20 range this story is getting pretty good. Still love the designs of Kiva and the Fangires, Wataru is growing on me, and Otoya is one of the all-time great Kamen Rider side characters.

Not sure what in this would be considered spoiler or not, so I'm just gonna tag the whole thing

I meant beforehand. It would have made the reveal a lot more potent if they showed him trying to hide it more. There were only like one or two episodes where "oh no, nobody can find out" even seemed to cross his mind. Sure, there were a lot of times where there wasn't anybody around so it didn't come up, but I feel like he hardly ever mentioned or put any thought into whether or not he was going to be found out aside from the couple of times I mentioned earlier (eugh, run-on sentence. Can't figure out a better way to phrase it though...) Also, did the fact that he always wore the shift car stuff not raise any questions with other people? It just seemed like he wasn't being overly careful, and if it wasn't for the two or so times it was mentioned I wouldn't have even realized that his identity WAS a secret. All of this led to me being severely underwhelmed by the reveal, even though it was still a good episode.

I think with the whole Shift car thing, you didn't see it as anything more then a black brace kinda thing on his wrist UNTIL he inserted a Shift Car. You never saw him put on the belt except when he had to henshin.

Oh, I got you then. Yeah, I try not to focus on the what-ifs but they really could've played it up a bit more. Although I still maintain it's decently explicable nobody notices the seemingly blatant Drive gear. They rub in that the SCU thinks the Shift Cars are just more of the toys you can see on Shinnosuke's desk, relating to another underdeveloped part of the show, the idea that he's supposed to be a gear head. The Shift Brace takes some imagination on the viewers part but I always thought people just assumed it was a really weird watch. Keep in mind also that Kyu and Otta are the only ones who don't know from the start he's Drive. As for the public at large, they don't focus on the details? Again, you kind of have to meet the show halfway, but I think they could have done WAY worse with it.

I'm dropping Den-O.

I'm in the late 20's but I just had to admit to myself, I didn't like the show much at all. It just wasn't clicking with me.

So on the weekend I'm going right to Kiva.

Aw... as a big Den-O fan I'm really sad to hear that, but if you're halfway through and you still aren't feeling it, you're probably making the right choice.

I'll be really surprised if Kiva ends up doing anything for you. I don't know what your problems with Den-O were, but I doubt Kiva will be much of an improvement. I like it, but I'm crazy, so that doesn't say much.

Kamen Rider Ichigou The Movie: This movie was excellent. Hongou definitely stole the show with the presence he just brings to his scenes. I loved his chemistry with Takeru and I thought they played well off each other. Especially that they both care about life a lot. This was Shocker Civil War here and I thought that was an intriguing angle having two different Shockers with different goals fight each other. That Ambassador Hell joined up with Ichigou, Ghost, and Spectre was a surprise but was awesome I really enjoyed his character and the connection with Ichigou. Mayu was intriguing and I liked how they tied into Eyecons with her and why she was acting weird. The fight scenes were great and Ichigou Powered Up is an amazing form, I loved every moment he was in with that suit. It did have some flaws but with the movies I've seen this year that I don't even care. This was about seeing The original Kamen Rider have an intriguing story and kick ass and he did just that. Also seeing that Takeru and Takeshi were awesome together and that it felt a bit like he got his blessing as a Kamen Rider. Also Ichigou rising from the flames was so badass and one of the best scenes of the movie. Also I enjoyed seeing the other Rider Forms of Ghost and Spectre that was awesome. Also the message at the end was perfect. One of my favorite Kamen Rider movies, maybe not my favorite one of all time but definitely up there.

I'll give Kiva a go, then I'll find out.

I do give some aspects of Den-O a lot of credit, though: the different personalities of the imagin in Ryoutarou really come through convincingly both in and out of the suit, so props to Ryoutarou's actor and Den-O's suit actor for that. The time travel aspect is cool (although they never go back more than a few years - I'm guessing budget put the brakes on that outside of movies) and how imagin use memories.

Because of that stuff I can't just unashamedly bash Den-O as there's clearly plenty of work going into it, but it just isn't my cup of tea. I can get why others would like it though.