There’s a lot of shit I could have talked about today. From the reveal of a very important bald man, to a man getting sacked from being a dickhead, even to something Tumblr will lose their rag about. Admittedly, Tumblr will lose their rag about anything, but this time I’m happy about seeing them miserable. Beautiful, beautiful schadenfreuede.
Anyway, pop culture news, video game comment, TV news, music news, comedy in general; all of this is being put aside so I can talk about something that I hold very dear to me:
Armoured bug men.
This article is going to get weird. Prepare for Japan.
Anyway, pop culture news, video game comment, TV news, music news, comedy in general; all of this is being put aside so I can talk about something that I hold very dear to me:
Armoured bug men.
This article is going to get weird. Prepare for Japan.
Image Credit: zerochan.net
Remember the days of yesteryear when you used to get up on a Saturday morning, stroll downstairs in your PJs, eat sugary cereal and watch Power Rangers? There’s a good chance most of you still do this minus the Power Rangers bit. But what made us stop watching?
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that good old Mighty Morphin’ does not hold up nowadays, which does make me more excited for the upcoming movie reboot, and it’s probably what played such a huge part in the success of the Power/Rangers fan movie, which took a dark and gritty angle on the MMPR world. Clearly, the market to bring back costumed heroes on the big screen is back in open season, so I’m here to offer you something new to add to that list.
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that good old Mighty Morphin’ does not hold up nowadays, which does make me more excited for the upcoming movie reboot, and it’s probably what played such a huge part in the success of the Power/Rangers fan movie, which took a dark and gritty angle on the MMPR world. Clearly, the market to bring back costumed heroes on the big screen is back in open season, so I’m here to offer you something new to add to that list.
Image Credit: i.ytimg.com
I have always said “You never stop playing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop playing”. Well, to be honest, I have never said that, but it helps me to prove a point. Anyone who identifies as a 90’s kid should give Kamen Rider a chance.
Hidden History
The thing about Power Rangers, as you may or may not know, is that it was adapted from a Japanese ‘tokusatsu’ show: Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. That should seem pretty obvious given the over the top nature of the suited action. What you probably didn’t know was that this was the 16th series in the Super Sentai franchise, which spans back to 1975. What you almost certainly didn’t know is that, unlike Power Rangers, the Sentai series is not the most popular tokusatsu show in Japan.
Image Credit: SailorGokaiDecade/ morphinlegacy.com
But we’re not here to talk about the Sentai. It’s time to enter the world of Kamen Rider; arguably the most popular entertainment franchise in Japan since 1971.
Much like the Power Rangers, there are a hell of a lot of Kamen Riders. It roughly equates to around 31 series with unique protagonists. Luckily for you, you don’t really need to know about how it all began to start enjoying new Kamen Rider stuff. Just pick a series, watch and enjoy. But for the sake of this article, I am going to give you some primer information about the franchise before we start looking at individual series in the next article.
Battle Basics
Kamen Rider works very much on the same principles that you enjoyed in Power Rangers: People transform into armoured heroes in order to destroy evil monsters. If you enjoy costumed heroes, fights and explosions, you’re in the right place.
Unlike Power Rangers, Kamen Rider relies on fewer people to defend the world. So, instead of your basic team of five Rangers, which would later expand to include a sixth or more, Kamen Rider ordinarily starts out with one Rider, then introduces a second half way through. There are exceptions to the rule, however. A lot like Power Ranger series that feature three Rangers instead of five, you do get Kamen Rider series that starts off with multiple riders from the get go.
Unlike Power Rangers, Kamen Rider relies on fewer people to defend the world. So, instead of your basic team of five Rangers, which would later expand to include a sixth or more, Kamen Rider ordinarily starts out with one Rider, then introduces a second half way through. There are exceptions to the rule, however. A lot like Power Ranger series that feature three Rangers instead of five, you do get Kamen Rider series that starts off with multiple riders from the get go.
Image Credit: tokutoyreview.wordpress.com
The series are normally quick to establish who your small team of heroes are, who the main team of villainous monsters are, and then normally spend around 20 weeks meandering in monster-of-the-week storylines until the overarching plot kicks in a shit gets real.
You may think that would be a detriment to the enjoyment of the show, but the monster-of-the-week stories give you chance to get used to team dynamics, introduce new power ups and finishing moves and even multiple riders. At this point, the main villains normally operate from the shadows until going all out to beat the riders later on. Again, you wouldn’t care about the heroes beating them unless it built it up. It does lead into a nice, steady arc that means when the fights with the big bads come along, you’re insatiably hyped for that moment.
You may think that would be a detriment to the enjoyment of the show, but the monster-of-the-week stories give you chance to get used to team dynamics, introduce new power ups and finishing moves and even multiple riders. At this point, the main villains normally operate from the shadows until going all out to beat the riders later on. Again, you wouldn’t care about the heroes beating them unless it built it up. It does lead into a nice, steady arc that means when the fights with the big bads come along, you’re insatiably hyped for that moment.
Henshin!
In Power Rangers, everyone remembers the morphing scenes: The part where the kick-ass opening theme would kick in and we stop watching a horribly out-dated teen drama and start watching masked men and women kick the shit out of plastic monsters. MMPR has their morphers and horrible green screen, and that was all fine. Kamen Rider takes transformation to another level.
Enter the Drivers: Kamen Riders change into their armoured forms using overly complicated belt buckles loaded with technological gimmicks made to sell overpriced toys. But holy shit are transformations, or ‘henshins’, just fucking cool to watch. No overly zealous roll call nonsense, just pure, badass, 'transforming-and I-know-it' excellence. And you get this or variations on this every episode you watch. Obviously, as the rider count increases, so do the henshins. And they never get old.
Enter the Drivers: Kamen Riders change into their armoured forms using overly complicated belt buckles loaded with technological gimmicks made to sell overpriced toys. But holy shit are transformations, or ‘henshins’, just fucking cool to watch. No overly zealous roll call nonsense, just pure, badass, 'transforming-and I-know-it' excellence. And you get this or variations on this every episode you watch. Obviously, as the rider count increases, so do the henshins. And they never get old.
The drivers are made, and I’ll be completely honest here, to sell toys. You can buy the drivers the the years themed gimmick toy for pence in Japan, but it does make it a collectors market overseas. But here’s the thing: Do you remember how crappy the Power Ranger toys were? They hardly looked or sounded like the show did, they were too small, were made out of shoddy material and were overpriced. Not true of Rider toys.
My four Rider Belts, modelled by an old DVD rack
The attention to detail on pretty much every Rider toy I have seen is impeccable. I own four Rider belts myself and I adore every single one of them. It’s hard to describe without handing you one to try yourself, but they all feel… mechanical. It’s a toy, yes, but their primary functions (make noise and lights) really do evoke the feel of the shows. Every clank of the delicately painted plastic and each sound effect is dead on from what you see on the show. It’s oddly satisfying to play with, in all honesty. It really does make you feel like a kid again.
Strength In Numbers?
To counteract the whole one Rider to five Rangers deal, Riders have multiple form changes throughout their TV show runs. They go under many different names, like styles, states, combos, arms, but they are all variations on the same theme. The rider will use an abundant arsenal of their chosen transforming gimmick to unlock levels of new powers. This almost always includes a mid-season upgrade and an all-powerful final form near the end of the run.
Image Credit: my-shiny-toy-robots.blogspot.com
The cool thing about this is, unlike upgrading the Megazord (Which was cool, don’t get upset Tommy, we love you), the riders go hands-on, mano-e-mano with their fully powered forms. As much as I love me some giant fighting robots, I do love how visceral some of the final form fights can get in Kamen Rider series. The shows individual themes often play into how dangerous it is for their protagonists to use their final form, and that always gives the fight more of an impact with every blow. It does lead to some more zany jumping-the shark moments, but they honestly do get you pumped up.
It probably has a lot to do with how good the choreography is in these shows. Suit actors are highly paid and very technical stunt actors that will make sure the crazy scripts come to life. I’ll put it this way; why don’t you try clambering into a skin-tight plastic suit, then attaching a heavy helmet and armour pieces, then handing a stupidly oversized weapon, THEN doing a fight scene in it which culminates in a huge flying kick. There is art in what these people do for sure.
It probably has a lot to do with how good the choreography is in these shows. Suit actors are highly paid and very technical stunt actors that will make sure the crazy scripts come to life. I’ll put it this way; why don’t you try clambering into a skin-tight plastic suit, then attaching a heavy helmet and armour pieces, then handing a stupidly oversized weapon, THEN doing a fight scene in it which culminates in a huge flying kick. There is art in what these people do for sure.
Remember The Rider
One of the things I personally love about Kamen Rider over Super Sentai/Power Rangers is the unique suit designs multiple riders will get over the utilitarian Ranger suits. Let’s face it, half of the reason you loved Tommy in MMPR was because he was a Ranger who didn’t play into the conformity of the rest of the crew; he had better armour, a different weapon and a dragon robot that could actually hold a fight on its own. Who the fuck would want to be the Blue Ranger when you could literally pilot a dragon robot whilst flipping the bird at your teammates?
Kamen Rider understands that. You’ll want to be one Rider for one reason and another Rider for completely different reasons. And you’ll know your Riders apart. For example, take a look at the current Kamen Riders, Kamen Rider Drive and Kamen Rider Mach.
Kamen Rider understands that. You’ll want to be one Rider for one reason and another Rider for completely different reasons. And you’ll know your Riders apart. For example, take a look at the current Kamen Riders, Kamen Rider Drive and Kamen Rider Mach.
Drive is themed around cars whilst Mach is themed around bikes. Instantly, you can tell that these guys are going to differ greatly when it comes to personality, fighting styles and weapon choice, and you would be right in thinking so. Drive is your save-the-day, obstacle overcoming, never-give-up maverick and Mach is your egotistical ‘stand back and watch me kick the shit out of this guy whilst I pose like a badass’ prick. And yet, you love them both.
Sentai Shunned?!
If you love Power Rangers, you’ll be wondering why I’m not telling you to watch Super Sentai instead. It is, after all, more of what you love, right? Well…
The Sentai series is consistently playing second fiddle to the Rider series and with good reasons. Firstly, Sentai is aimed at much younger children on the whole. You need only take a look at the ToQgers, last years Sentai, to know that. Hey kiddies, come on board the fun train to fun town!
The Sentai series is consistently playing second fiddle to the Rider series and with good reasons. Firstly, Sentai is aimed at much younger children on the whole. You need only take a look at the ToQgers, last years Sentai, to know that. Hey kiddies, come on board the fun train to fun town!
Image Credit: deviantart.net
Comparatively, last years Rider, Gaim, was all about a war between a plethora of Kamen Riders all vowing to save, change of destroy the world using fruit padlocks from a literal forest of Hell, whilst the raw fruit of the forest will turn people irreversibly into mindless killing machines. Much more metal.
Image Credit: all-fiction.net
That’s not to say that the Rider’s aren’t for kids. There are still some painfully childish moments in any rider series, but this shit still has to appeal to children. My argument is that there is more for a nostalgic audience in the Riders because they can afford to go a little edgier or ball-to-the-wall bonkers, because anything they do tends to print money anyway. This is why in the past the Rider series have been able to run more complex plotlines, like running horrific scientific experiments on your son, effectively killing him and turning him into the embodiment of a huge data library. Yeah, there is a lot of times when the culmination of a plot line is a cast member straight-up dying in a pretty gruesome way. Like being crushed to death in a moving wall. That has happened.
The Sentai shows tend to play it a lot safer. Again, there are exceptions, but it’s normally the same old friendship beats all, ‘Heart of the Cards’ bullshit and it can get stale easily.
The Sentai shows tend to play it a lot safer. Again, there are exceptions, but it’s normally the same old friendship beats all, ‘Heart of the Cards’ bullshit and it can get stale easily.
Where Do You Want To Start?
Now you know how these series work, you might be asking where a good place to start is. Truth be told, it’s possible to enjoy most rider series just by jumping in and seeing if it’s for you. However, I’m not done talking about Riders just yet.
Over the next few articles, I want to talk about some of the Rider series that I’ve watched and my thoughts on them. This will include series recommendations, toy collection overlooks and highlight reels. If your interest has even been slightly piqued by this, I’d fully recommend trying out a series or having a butchers at what I have to say in future articles. Rider series are still airing up to today and even if you don’t like the current one, there’s over fourty years of history to choose from.
Over the next few articles, I want to talk about some of the Rider series that I’ve watched and my thoughts on them. This will include series recommendations, toy collection overlooks and highlight reels. If your interest has even been slightly piqued by this, I’d fully recommend trying out a series or having a butchers at what I have to say in future articles. Rider series are still airing up to today and even if you don’t like the current one, there’s over fourty years of history to choose from.
Image Credit: soundonsight.org
I’ll leave you with a link to a great subbing page, Over-Time, who have subtitled a lot of the more recent Rider series, and a link to the CCCP, a codec pack with a built in media player that is perfect for watching subtitled-encoded videos on. It’s how I’ve been enjoying Kamen Rider for the past six years now.
Join me next time for the two-in-one Rider detective who counts up criminals sins…
Join me next time for the two-in-one Rider detective who counts up criminals sins…
By Mike Owen
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games.
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games.