[Shin Henshin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

To be honest, the darker look for me is both Shin's films and maybe Inoue's First and Next. The Amazons and the Black Sun for me are more likely to exploit shock content, like the recent Winnie the Pooh slasher. Actually, that's why I consider them not so much adults as teenage shows.

For Amazons, sure. For Black Sun, though? It's very grounded and gets violent, but there's a legit message behind it.

It's telling a story with very distinct subtext that Kamen Rider has kinda always had in the past, only now updated to modern times. Individuality isn't a sin, it's okay to be different, the government can't do its job so long as it brings in corruption, authority isn't as influential as it thinks it is, nothing will change unless we stand up against injustice, etc.

Amazons did have some stuff there. Amazons were once people and these people deserve to live because they've been dealt an unfortunate hand and are being treated as monsters as a result. The way Haruka and Jin also seem to swap personalities with the wild, uncontrollable one gaining balance and a clear mindset while his "mentor" became more deranged and single-minded. How men can become monsters and vice versa.

That said, it leans so hard into the edginess. Lotta blood. Lotta gore. The dull color filter over everything. S2 onwards only ramping all that up to uncomfortable degrees in ways, even if I do like how bittersweet S2 was. The director (Or writer, can't remember which) condemning modern rider for being too geared to kids only to churn Amazons out just screams overly-edgy.

Amazons is definitely a "This feels geared towards older teens"-feeling sort of series.

Black Sun, and Shin Kamen Rider imo, feel more geared towards older fans who get what Kamen Rider's all about while also being love letters to their source in one way or another.