History Series / KamenRiderBlackSun

* BrokenAesop: Trying to do a civil rights allegory with mutant monsters who need to eat a cocktail made from [[ToServeMan ground-up human beings]] in order to continue living naturally has some issues. While wanting to kill all Kaijins is a bridge too far, it's entirely rationale to be wary of superpowered beings who are shown to be destructive when provoked. It's also not helped by the fact that being turned into a Kaijin is treated as a terrible fate in and of itself, or that the only practical solution the heroes come up with to end the conflict involves dooming Kaijins to die off as a species, which is not entirely an improvement over anti-kaijin racist Wataru Igaki and his "kaijins should be eradicated" rhetoric.
** There's also the fact that the way the show presents humans unwittingly mirrors the racist beliefs kaijins have directed at them (e.g. [[AlwaysChaoticEvil savage and irredeemable]], save for a few [[TokenHeroicOrc "model" examples]]).

* AdaptationalVillainy: Bilgenia here is a self-serving psychopath. While unlike his original TV show counterpart he's a genuine believer in the Creation King, this Bilgenia is a lot more sadistic and does things that are far nastier than anything his TV counterpart did, such as [[spoiler:tricking Nobuhiko into eating his LoveInterest and forcibly turning Aoi into a Kaijin while forcing Aoi's mother to watch, then forcing Aoi to watch as he murders her mom.]]

* AlternateContinuity: Just like previous reboots of Showa ''Kamen Rider'' entries before, '' BLACK SUN'' takes place in it's own separate continuity, albeit in the style of a socio-political world.

** The long-term consequences of cycles of hatred extend far beyond the immediate conflict and impact the prospects for better coexistence.

* CentralTheme: Discrimination can feed animosity, escalating disputes, and continuing violent cycles. Understanding, acceptance, and the significance of overcoming prejudice in order to establish peace and harmony are all factors that can be used to challenge discriminatory views and work toward a more inclusive and equal society.

* CentralTheme:
** Discrimination can feed animosity, escalating disputes, and continuing violent cycles. Understanding, acceptance, and the significance of overcoming prejudice in order to establish peace and harmony are all factors that can be used to challenge discriminatory views and work toward a more inclusive and equal society.
** As long as evil exists in the world, we have to keep fighting to the end.

** LighterAndSofter: At least relative to the previous adult-oriented [[Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue Kamen Rider]] [[Series/KamenRiderAmazons entries]]. Despite the series has a high level of graphic violence and brutal fights as well as a heavy-handed political allegory and FantasticRacism towards the Kaijin, the series is managed to toned down the BloodierAndGorier aspects of them.

* CentralTheme: Being centered on real-world political allegories and delving into the issues of prejudice and discrimination between humans and Kaijin, this emphasizes that any possibility for both sides to truly co-exist peacefully will be futile so long there is conflict between both sides, while being used as political pawns at the same time.

** LighterAndSofter: Downplayed. Despite the series has a high level of graphic violence and brutal fights as well as a heavy-handed political allegory and FantasticRacism towards the Kaijin, the series is managed to toned down the BloodierAndGorier aspects and bleaker tones of its previous adult-oriented [[Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue Kamen Rider]] [[Series/KamenRiderAmazons entries]].

* AdaptationalContextChange: Some aspects of ''BLACK'''s original lore is shifted towards a more grounded and DoingInTheWizard explanation.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:While Kotaro defeats Nobuhiko, he fails to fully kill off the Creation King resulting in him being forcefully turned into the next Creation King, and is put down by Aoi Izumi to end the threat of the Creation King for good. Even though Shinichi Dounami is killed off ([[KarmicDeath by the very Kaijin he sought to sell off as weapons]]), his right-hand man Isao Nimura takes up the new spot as Prime Minister. Nimura ramps up "extreme measures" such as further increasing discrimination against Kaijin and also encouraging discrimination towards immigrants which could potentially restart an era similar to UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan. However, Aoi takes up Kotaro's mantle of fighting against injustice by starting a resistance movement against the government.]]

** LighterAndSofter: Downplayed. Despite the series has a high level of graphic violence and brutal fights as well as a realistic political allegory and FantasticRacism towards the Kaijin, the series is managed to toned down the BloodierAndGorier aspects and bleaker tones of its previous adult-oriented [[Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue Kamen Rider]] [[Series/KamenRiderAmazons entries]].

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In a fashion reminiscent of some of Ishinomori's works, the series is pretty unsubtle in its usage of Japanese postwar and global politics in its portrayal of the Kaijin's racial history:

* EasilyForgiven: Aoi forgives [[spoiler:Nick]] rather easily even though he [[spoiler:lured her into a trap where she was turned into a kaijin and had to watch her mother die, just so he could become a kaijin and get superpowers.]]

* FinalSolution: Wataru Igaki and his protestors want to see all Kaijins exterminated. Later on, [[spoiler:after [[FaceHeelTurn fully turning evil]], Nobuhiko begins plotting to exterminate humans so only Kaijins will be in the world.]] In contrast, while [[TheHero Kotaro]] effectively wants to do this in the long term (by killing the Creation King and allowing the remaining Kaijins to die peacefully of natural causes), it is technically the least distasteful option. (See TheHorseshoeEffect below for details.)

* KarmaHoudini: What contributes to the bleakness of the BittersweetEnding (despite some very key {{Karmic Death}}s) is that there are still people that get away with everything they want.

* NoPartyGiven: The ruling party that Dounami is part of, which implicitly forms a coalition with the Gorgom Party, is unnamed in the show[[note]]In [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental material]] it's [[https://twitter.com/MakoMattari/status/1656476648269660162 referred to]] as "Min no Tou" or "Party of the People"[[/note]], but is an obvious stand-in for the real-life Liberal Democratic Party.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The biggest {{Hate Sink}}s in the story are Prime Minister Shinichi Dounami (who, in addition to his Kaijin exploitation, is a sociopath who thinks [[TheSocialDarwinist poor, homeless, old, infirm and LGBTQ+ people]] are [[HumanResources only good for farming into the Heat Heaven substance]]) and Wataru Igaki, who perpetuate VanHelsingHateCrimes and provoke the peaceful Kaijin with his gangs to justify their actions. The unsettling bit is that much of their beliefs are TruthInTelevision, baked into [[https://apjjf.org/2022/2/Schfer.html the modern political prejudices of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party]], even [[https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220823/p2a/00m/0na/026000c as of the same year]] of the series' release.

** LighterAndSofter: Downplayed. Despite the series has a high level of graphic violence and brutal fights as well as a realistic political allegory and FantasticRacism towards the Kaijin, the series is managed to toned down the BloodierandGorier aspects and tragic tones of its previous adult-oriented [[Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue Kamen Rider]] [[Series/KamenRiderAmazons entries]].

** LighterAndSofter: Downplayed. Despite the series has a high level of graphic violence and brutal fights as well as a realistic political allegory and FantasticRacism towards the Kaijin, the series is managed to toned down the bleaker tone of its previous adult-oriented adult-oriented [[Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue Kamen Rider]] [[Series/KamenRiderAmazons entries]].

* BloodierAndGorier: Downplayed. While it still applies compared to the generally light-hearted (if still dark) 1987 series, Black Sun is relatively light on blood compared to other adult-oriented [[Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue Kamen Rider]][[Series/KamenRiderAmazons entries]], instead focusing more on its bleak and politically-driven themes.

** LighterandSofter: Downplayed. Despite the series has a high level of graphic violence and brutal fights as well as a realistic political allegory and FantasticRacism towards the Kaijin, the series is managed to toned down the bleaker tone of its previous adult-oriented Kamen Rider entires Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue and Series/KamenRiderAmazons.

* BloodierAndGorier: Downplayed. While it still applies compared to the generally light-hearted (if still dark) 1987 series, Black Sun is relatively light on blood compared to other adult-oriented [[Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue Kamen]] [[Film/KamenRiderTheFirst Rider]] [[Series/KamenRiderAmazons entries]], instead focusing more on its bleak and politically-driven themes.

** Kyoko Akizuki and Katsumi Kida are not present in this reboot series, with Aoi Izumi being their equivalent instead.

** The entire assault of Nobuhiko/Shadow Moon's militia of young Kaijin activists ends up about as is realistically expected for the young men. [[spoiler:Despite nominally having better stamina and strength, not having any sufficient combat experience or weapons beyond rudimentary training meant they were easy pickings for the heavily-armed Gorgom personnel--who are also supported by Japanese armed forces. They, and the human prisoners that Gorgom either turn into Kaijin or kill in order to produce Heat Heaven, were slaughtered wholesale. Shunsuke and Aoi only manage to escape out of sheer luck and quick-witted improvisation, and the SoleSurvivor of the attack was a cowardly boy who ran away]].
** Despite the scandal of Aoi's expose of [[spoiler:Kaijin human experimentation at the UN damaging Dounami's premiership--not to mention his killing by Nick--the long partnership between Gorgom and the ruling politicians simply led to the ascent of another prime minister. The new prime minister just became more subtle in his imposition of discrimination. A weak political opposition remains unable to dislodge them, which understandably drives Aoi's turn to underground radical politics--in addition to her series-long BreakTheCutie]].