Kamen Riders 1 through OOO (and New Den-O). Almost too many to be listed in one caption. *
Starting in the upper-left corner, moving left to right then down: Ryuki, Agito, Kuuga, J, ZO, Shin, RX, Hibiki, Blade, Faiz, Black, ZX, Super-1, Den-O, Kabuto, Sky Rider, Stronger, Amazon, Decade, Kiva, X, Riderman, W, Rider 2, V3, New Den-O, Rider 1, and OOO. That's every main Kamen Rider from every television season and movie (except Kamen Rider G) from 1971 to 2011! Not pictured: Fourze (2012) and Wizard (2013).
"Won't you believe in him? Even if there is no God or Buddha... there is Kamen Rider."
Kamen Rider (also known under the English translated title of Masked Rider in shows prior to Kamen Rider Double*
The switch from MASKED RIDER to KAMEN RIDER being a result of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight keeping the actual Japanese moniker in order to distinguish itself from the earlier Saban's Masked Rider.
) is a franchise of tokusatsu series created by Shotaro Ishinomori and produced by the Toei Company. A brother show to Super Sentai. Typically has a smaller main cast than Sentai (the title of each series refers to a single main Rider instead of Super Sentai's Five-Man Band), but not always. Some series feature huge numbers of Riders, with the most extreme example being Kamen Rider Ryuki and its 13 Riders (although Kamen Rider Hibiki has a lot more if you count all the Riders seen briefly, or even just briefly mentioned).Often involves insect-themed armour (concept partially ditched for the Heisei Riders, in which only a minority is directly insect themed and mainly maintain just the general helmet design reminiscent of insect eyes). And motorcycles. Rather short on Combining Mecha (although Kamen Rider Faiz and Kamen Rider Fourze feature some nice Mini Mecha, and Kamen Rider Den O had artillery-loaded, flying train cars).More recently, the first 10 or so riders have been revived in a manga series: Kamen Rider SPIRITS. As Bad Ass as they originally were, they become even more so. There's a petition to bring the manga to the US (found here )The Kamen Rider franchise is generally divided into two distinct "eras", using the Japanese names for the time period in which they were made. The Showa Era*
Because Hirohito died in 1989, Black RX technically ends as a Heisei series.
In the 1990s, while the series was on hiatus, a trio of movies was made; though produced after the end of the Showa period (1989), English-speaking fans typically place them with the Showa series because of Ishinomori's involvement:
Post-Decade Rider series are often categorized separately from other Heisei series (usually under the Fan Nickname"Neo-Heisei" series), due to a shift in production staff, tone, airing schedule (due to Decade being 31 episodes instead of 50), the switch from "MASKED RIDER" to "KAMEN RIDER" on the romanized logos, and a concerted attempt at creating a Shared Universe:
The first two series were retooled for a Darker and Edgier movie reboot franchise, currently consisting of two films: Kamen Rider The First (2005) and Kamen Rider The Next (2007). The first movie was an action-romance and was received relatively well. The second movie, which traded the romance for horror, was not so well received. Heisei-era series also have their own tie-in films: a Double Feature with Super Sentai in the summer, a Movie Wars film in the winter teaming the current Rider with the recently-finished previous Rider, and now a SuperheroTaisen film in the spring that crosses the Kamen Rider franchise with Toei's other Henshin Heroes.2009 also had Kamen Rider G, a TV special that was an Affectionate Parody of all things Kamen Rider, starring veterans from the show and members of the idol group SMAP. G also served as a teaser for Decade, with Tsukasa and the other nine Heisei Riders showing up to give G a pep talk during the final battle.Namco Bandai has a video game series called Kamen Rider Climax Heroes, which is basically a fighting game featuring all of the Heisei-era protagonists. It started with a PS2 game to tie into the Decade movie and has followed with Updated Rereleases on the Wii each following year; these updates mainly consist of adding that year's new Rider and some others to the roster. In the West, the Climax Heroes engine was Remade for the Export as a Dragon Knight game. More recently, the All Kamen Rider Generations series has launched for Nintendo DS, similar to Climax Heroes but as a Beat 'em Up instead of a fighter. An arcade game also exists, Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride, that works by collecting cards and scanning them into the machine. It was being ported to the Nintendo DS under the name of Kamen Rider Ganbaride: Card Battle Taisen, covering the first ten or so expansion sets. There is also a Playstation 3 Game set to release in May by the name of Kamen Rider Battride War, done in the style of Dynasty Warriors and covering the Heisei-Era riders from Kuuga to Wizard, with Showa Era riders released as Downloadable Content.One series (Black RX) was brought over to the US, Power Rangers-style, as Masked Rider (1995-1996). Although it got fair ratings and good toy sales it ended with many plot points not tied up due to there being no more Rider series to adapt. Another series (Ryuki) has been similarly adapted as Kamen Rider Dragon Knight (2009). While the new adaptation was much closer to the spirit of the original, and quite well-liked by the adult Periphery Demographic, it didn't fare well in the ratings overall but is much more liked than Masked Rider in the Kamen Rider fanbase. Recently Toei has anounced there will be a third attempt to bring Kamen Rider to America. Around the same time, Saban trademarked "Power Rider", which fans speculate to be this third attempt.Among spin-off media is the SIC Hero Saga, a set of stories based on various shows in the Kamen Rider Series, as well as the Super Imaginative Chogokin line of figurines, published in Monthly Hobby Japan magazine.Also see the SH Figuarts action figure line, which has Kamen Rider as the main franchise involved.Universal tropes of the series are:
The Ace - Shigeru Jo and Soji Tendo, Jo perhaps even more
Adaptational Villainy - Several movies include villains that are updated versions of heroes created by Shotaro Ishinomori. At least one movie combined this with Adaptational Heroism by including characters based on villains from the older show, who turn out to be good.
Alternate Continuity - The Heisei-era movies play it straight, but a few (most prominently Den-O's Ore, Tanjou!! and Double's The Gaia Memories of Fate) are in-canon. Kabuto has an interesting twist on this, with movie!Tendou changing the past and bringing the TV series continuity into existence.
Anyone Can Die - The series does not shy any from death. Both main charecters and background ones can and have died. Not every season features this, but on occasion, you will get people dropping like flies within the last ten episodes.
Some of the main Riders don't actually go by the "Kamen Rider" title in-universe at first. Showa Riders like Stronger popularized the practice of 'earning' that title via a crossover with previous Riders; Kuuga and Agito revived this practice in the Heisei era, which got pretty inconsistent after that (Hibiki is the best known aversion), but thanks to Kamen Rider Decade, the title of Kamen Rider would become Insistent Terminology in future seasons.
For a more literal version, some of the Riders don't use their bikes that much and others (like Amazon and Shin) don't even wear masks at all, they physically, as in biologically, transform into their Rider alter-egos.
Ass Kicking Pose - Earlier series usually depend on a series of this in order to transform.
There are some exceptions, though: Hibiki and Ryuga do not pose when they transform, for example.
More visible in the Showa series, where the Riders often fight mooks while untransformed. Minami Kotaro (Kamen Rider Black & Black RX) was notable for going toe-to-toe with monsters of the day while still in human form since that particular series had no mooks. Justified by the fact that they are all cyborgs or enhanced humans (or, in the case of Amazon, Tarzan) who are stronger than the average human. Of course, there are also exception in the Heisei series, such as Hibiki where the Oni are all good fighters even in human form and can fight untransformed.
Badass Biker - It's there in the title, after all. Again, more apparent in the Showa series where more attention was drawn to them.
Badass Normal - Taki Kazuya regularly faces cyborgs hand-to-hand despite being completely human. Riderman (V3's Rival) was, in his original appearance, basically a Mook with a swappable right forearm - he Took a Level in Badass between that and SPIRITS.
Bare Fisted Monk - Most of the Showa Era Kamen Riders with the exception of X, RX, and Riderman didn't use any weapons. Instead, they relied on good old martial arts and some devices embedded in their body. When Kamen Riders 1 and 2 did use weapons, they were usually stolen from enemy soldiers.
BFG - Hyper Kabuto's Perfect Zecter in Kabuto, Zolda's final weapon in Ryuki. Riderman's Machine Gun Arm is literally that., Faiz's Faiz Blaster, Zeronos' Denebick Buster, and Kiva Arrow may count as well.
BFS - Zeronos' ZeroGasher in Den-O, Kabuto's Perfect Zecter in Kabuto, Den-O's DenKamen Sword in Den-O, Blade's King Rouzer in Blade, Kiva's Zanvat Sword in Kiva, Decade's Blade Blade (a sword made from the Kamen Rider Blade) in Decade, Double's Prism Bricker in Double, Fourze's Barizun Sword in Fourze, Wizard's Axcalibur (which doubles as An Axe to Grind) in Wizard, and many many more.
Blessed with Suck - more prominent in Old Generation Riders (almost all of them are transformed into cyborgs, usually against their will); Gills is a prominent New Gen example. Some New Gen Riders get retconned to invoke this for Decade. Then there's Shin...
Body Horror - Implied in any season where the Rider is created on the Big Bad's operating table. Played completely straight with Shin Kamen Rider, in ways that Amazon and Gills can only hope to accomplish. His face broke open!
Only modified with Amazon, whose transformation cry is his own name: "A-MA-ZOOON!"
Averted with the Riders (actually Oni) in Hibiki, who don't have transformation calls.
The lone exception to this aversion is in the second to last episode of Decade, where the alternate reality version of Hibiki uses the familiar "Henshin" cry while transforming.
Catch Phrase - several characters; by far much more prevalent in the newer series. A fine example is Momotaros' Ore, Sanjo! (I, have Arrived!)
Den-O as a series, while not the first to have catchphrases, was the most well known for them, and started a trend of just about every rider after it having a catchphrase (though not always stated by the rider himself, as is the case with "Kivatte Ikuze" (Let's go Kiva!) wherein Kivat says the phrase instead)
Most Showa Riders have "Rider ______" as their attacks.
Character Tic - Most of the Riders have at least one, especially if Seiji Takaiwa is in the suit. For example, it distinguishes who's using the Faiz gear: a hand flick for Takumi and adjusting the collar for Kusaka.
Conflict Ball/Let's You and Him Fight - When it comes to Rider-versus-Rider battles. The original happened back in V3. Taken Up to Eleven with Decade, which has pretty much everyone fighting everyone else. Largely rolled back in recent series like Double and OOO, though.
Cosmic Retcon: Of a complicated sort. The parallel universe premise of Decade has since disappeared, while a new unified continuity has started from Double onward. The ReBoot is cemented by Movie War Megamax, which states the Showa era are Urban Legend, while Double to Fourze are the "new" Kamen Riders, with nary a mention of any Heisei series prior to Decade.
Cliffhanger - Rider series are notorious for showing something cool and unexpected in the next episode previews, and then not revealing said cool thing until the last 30 seconds of the episode.
The original series (and especially V3) would sometimes show the Rider mere moments from death at the end of the episode... then be doubly awesome in the next one.
Kamen Rider Decade ends the last episode on a cliffhanger, with the finale only being available in theaters months year later.
And even then, it wasn't a very good finale due to a whole heaping bunch of Executive Meddling...More than the rest of the series, anyway.
He also played the fisherman who tells Kotaro Minami about Onigashima in the Kamen Rider Black movie "Hurry to Onigashima". And he made an appearance in episode 84 of the original Kamen Rider series, playing yet another fisherman who encounters Isogin Jaguar, that episode's Monster of the Week. Though he looks different from how people might remember him because he doesn't have the Funny Afro or glasses.
There's even an entire darker and edgier toyline, S.I.C., which reimagines the Riders in a more organic form. More recent entries are tamer, but the initial figures in the line were somewhat twisted.
Very rarely does a Kamen Rider Series get to be Lighter and Softer. The only known ones at the moment are Black RX, Den-O and Fourze (though OOO can be a contender for this sometimes).
Kamen Rider Black, already at the dark and gritty end of the spectrum for the series, has a manga adaptation drawn and written by Ishinomori himself that's straight-up terror.
Deadly Upgrade - Stronger's Charge Up, Kuuga Ultimate Form, the first version of G3X, the G4 Armour, Gills Exceed (subversion), the Kaixa and Delta Gear in 555, Blade King Form in Blade, the Hopper Riders in Kabuto, and OOO PuToTyra Combo in OOO.
Though the series itself has other examples and can vary sometimes. Ryuki while not as brutal as Shin really tears into the concept of Mons and what is a Kamen Rider, and Kuuga itself is a Deconstructor Fleet by being a more realistic take on the genre.
Diving Kick: the Rider Kick, easily the Trope Codifier (If not the outright Trope Maker) in all of Japanese Media, and any other that shouts out to it (Like in the Shout Out section below) usually is a reference to the Rider Kick.
Early-Bird Cameo: It's become tradition for the tie-in movies to have these; the upcoming Rider will make a cameo in the summer movie, and the secondary Rider will make an appearance in the following Movie War installment.
Elemental Powers - some Riders have them, and here's a notable list.
Evil Twin - Shocker Riders, Shadow Moon in Black, Ryuga in Ryuki, Dark Kabuto in Kabuto, Dark Kiva is arguably an inversion, as regular Kiva could be considered his good twin. Rider 2 was this, in the original manga.
Den-O had the rare monster version with Momotaros and Negataros. Of course, he also gets to be Nega Den-O.
Decade travels to an entire world of evil counterparts.
In the Double movie the Cyclone, Heat, Luna, Metal, and Trigger Dopants.
Who are evil counterparts to both Double, and then Kamen Rider Joker when Phillip is absent.
Genre Motif - Starting with Kiva, each show's background music has a distinctive genre. This also shows up in the releases of the opening and ending songs, which usually get a remix in the style specific to the show. Kiva has violins, Decade has both a full orchestra and hard rock, Double throws in some jazz, OOO's seems to be ska and Fourze uses both techno and classic rock.
Heroes Prefer Swords - Virtually every Heisei Kamen Rider either uses a sword as one of their weapons, or has a primary/ultimate form where a sword is the main weapon. Though how often they utilize said sword is sometimes a matter of contention (such as in Kamen Rider OOO).
Hey, It's That Place! - Some locations are not only repeated in the same season, but occasionally will repeat in multiple seasons.
This might as well as be called "Hey! It's that Gravel Pit!", as it applies to Tokusatsu, Because both Kamen Rider AND it's sibling Super Sentai have, for the past few years, made use of the same gravel pit for every big mass battle they have, to the point where Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger, a parody of Super Sentai intended for the adult Periphery who grew up watching Sentai as kids, made use of it in their first episode.
There is also a particular rooftop that has seen use in basically every Heisei-era Rider series.
In the Showa era, Shocker's Great Leader turned out to be behind any number of evil organizations.
In the current post-Decade era, Foundation X, which first appeared in Kamen Rider Double, has gone on to hijack OOO and Fourze. It has yet to establish a presence in Kamen Rider Wizard however.
Made egregious by how Foundation X had little to no presence in OOO's series (despite foreshadowing in The Movie of Double). In Movie Wars MegaMax, the Big Bad of OOO's segment is not related to Foundation X in any way, until the very end.
In the Name of the Moon - Most of the original series does this, but Kamen Rider Stronger took it to the next level by giving the main character a tell-tale whistle whenever he wanted to drop in on the bad guy, and an entire speech - from higher ground! Later, he does this while handing out beatings.
Decade also does this when he's about to take down the Big Bad of each world he visits.
Kiai: Many of the Showa Riders tend to say "TOH!" while fighting, while Kamen Rider Amazon instead has a high-pitched "KIIIII!" Kamen Rider Blade has "UEEI!"
Last Villain Stand: Many of the Generals/Commandants/Warlords, whatever they were called in their specific organization, would face down their Rider after he'd slaughtered their armies and ruined their plans enough, transform into a monstrous form with incredible power behind it, and fight the Riders one on one.
Long Runner: As the trailers for the ''Let's Go Kamen Riders" film point out, 2011 is the franchise's 40th anniversary. Like another popular science fiction franchise, there was a lengthy gap in the middle, but Shin, RX and J kept the franchise going.
Literally in Kamen Rider X, where the titular character originates after being gunned down by his fiance, a spy for GOD...and later lost another love interest.
Masquerade - most seasons include enhanced humans or monsters trying to pass themselves off as normal people until the hero uncovers them. Also the whole point of the Riders needing to transform.
Which gives meaning to the title, Kamen (Masked) Rider.
Averted with Kamen Rider Double, however. The whole city knows about Dopants (but not who's responsible for them) and Shotaro's willing to transform in front of people, though never in a large group.
Additional: There is a Masquerade-type Dopant. Instant faceless henchmen.
Actually, it seems that most Riders are OK with transforming in front of people, just as long as there's not a lot of them.
Also averted in Kamen Rider OOO. The monsters of the day don't even bother with a human disguise unless they happen to be the type that walk around IN humans first and Eiji is perfectly willing to transform in public.
And subverted in Kamen Rider Kuuga, what with the police realizing that covering up the Grongi incidents would be too impractical.
Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Decade was a series devoted to this, but the All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker and Let's Go Kamen Riders films reunite all of the Riders. The latter featured other Ishinomori creations, including Inazuman, Kikaider (both of them) and Zubat. There's also Super Hero Taisen which crosses over with Super Sentai, and there are plans for more crossovers between the two.
Meaningful Titles: Kamen Rider. Some use it right, some use it wrong. It has been an important plot point in several series, most notably the entire Showa Era, W and Fourze.
Merchandise Driven - anything from multiple Riders to multiple power-ups, season depending. Much more pervasive in the newer series.
Many series will have the official toys as their props.
In their defense, they make the transformation devices too awesome to resist.
Mons - Noticeably embraced by the Heisei Riders from Ryuki onwards (though Gouram in Kuuga can also count). Ranging from Deconstructions (Ryuki, Kiva), played straight (Blade, Hibiki, mechanical ones in Faiz) and parodied (Den-O). Since Double this has shifted somewhat to Robot Buddies instead.
Monster of the Week - In the case of Kuuga and from Den-O onwards, Monster of the Fortnight (thanks to two-week mini-arcs).
Multiform Balance - First started with Black RX. Since then, it was codified by Kuuga and has become a tradition for Heisei-era Kamen Riders.
Mythology Gag - The first Monster of the Week in nearly every season is based on a spider, the second is just as likely to be based on a bat. Blade turned its one spider-based MotW into a recurring villain of sorts, while the first episode's monster was based on a grasshopper, much like the first Kamen Rider was. And the first use of a Giant Spider in Hibiki paved the way for more massive CGI monsters, after the one in Kamen Rider J had been all but forgotten.
Kamen Rider Kiva had both the spider and bat. The spider was technically the first monster to appear, but wasn't the first MOTW and in fact managed to survive for almost half the series. Being vampire-themed, the bat motif was used for Kiva, Kivat, and the King Fangire.
Kamen Rider Blade actually has Kamen Rider Leangle, a spider-themed Rider. We are through the looking glass.
Kamen Rider Double has gadgets based on a spider, a bat, and a stag beetle. The spider and bat are both Shout Outs to the MOTW, whereas quite a few Riders have been beetle-themed.
Movie War Core shows that when Sokichi Narumi first became Kamen Rider Skull, his first opponents were indeed the Bat and Spider Dopants.
Kamen Rider Den O, on the other hand, had a bat monster first, and didn't have a spider monster until much later on. Instead, the first few monsters parallel the Contract Monsters of several Riders from Ryuki (bat for Knight, chameleon for Verde, crustacean for Scissors, crow for Odin, and rhino for Gai).
Ryuki also had an example: The first monster was a spider while the first Rider, Knight, was a bat.
Thinking about it; if Shinji had used his Contract Card on the spider, he and Knight would have become the first (anti-)heroic example of the spider & bat combo.
Kamen Rider G3/G3-X doesn't transform. He's a Badass Normal in a suit of Power Armor, similar to Riderman being a Badass Normal who fights monsters using gadgets instead of superpowers.
After running the gamut of belt designs in the Showa era, the Heisei era begins with Kuuga and Agito, whose belts may have been all about the bells and whistles, but in fact maintained design elements from the iconic No. 1 belt - a horizontal oval structure with a spinning circular hub, and two boxy units at the side with some important function built in. In addition to this, the silver straps on Kuuga's belt were a parallel to Hongo Takeshi's original white belt while Agito's red straps similarly mirrored Hayato Ichimonji's belt.
See Ass Kicking Pose above. Rider-1's right-arm-thrust-to-the-upper-left pose is so iconic that it's been reused several times - every other Showa rider, and Kuuga, Ryuki, Blade, Den-O in concept art, even Double to a small degree (just Shotaro). That's not counting the examples under Shout Out.
Names to Know in Anime - Shotaro Ishinomori - actually, a pretty good name to know in general. He's pretty much Japan's Stan Lee.
Non-Serial Movie - Most Heisei series have one; Agito, Den-O, Decade, and Double avert it.
Subverted in Kabuto. 99% of the movie is set in an After the End alternate universe, but at the end Tendou goes back in time and alters history, creating the T.V series timeline. Rather than creating a Timey Wimey Ball, this time travel actually explains some of the plot points of the series (i.e. how Tendou got the Rider Belt and Hiyori's obsession with drawing bug-winged people).
Movie Wars Core averts this trope and plays it straight simultaneously, being a crossover between Kamen Rider Double and Kamen Rider OOO. While it fits neatly into Double's continuity, trying too hard to work it into OOO's chronology will just give you a migraine. This is due to very little of the OOO series having been etched in stone as the movie was being written - imagine a decent fanfic taking place after episode thirty... of a series you've only seen episode one of. That's what the author of Core had to do and there was no way for it to work out better than it did; Toshiki Inoue gets Mis-blamed for it, however.
Not Using the Z Word - Most of the Heisei era shows tend to avoid using the term "Kamen Rider" in series, except for the purpose of crossovers.
Averted in Double. In the beginning the titular Rider/Riders were just called "Double", but the public eventually started referring to the mask-wearing, motorcycle riding hero as a "Kamen Rider" and since then all the Riders in the show introduced themselves as Kamen Rider so-and-so. However, Shotaro and Philip are quite protective of the term the people gave them; you have to uphold the ideal to earn the right to call yourself a Rider.
Also averted in Fourze, where past Riders are an urban legend. Fourze is called just Fourze until Tomoko points and says "A Kamen Rider!" Gentaro adopts the name, and they and their friends become the Kamen Rider Club. (Tomoko is also so far the only one to call Wizard a Kamen Rider thus far; in his own series, Wizard is right back to the new-gen series norm of never using the phrase.)
Since teamups use the term and Kamen Rider Decade is about teamups, this trope never stood a chance. Decade and company always call other Riders Riders, and his Catch Phrase is to refer to himself as a Kamen Rider who is 'just passing through'. Diend also refers to himself as a Kamen Rider throughout. This series is the only time you'll ever hear the words "Kamen Rider Kuuga" and "Kamen Rider Faiz" in-show.
Even Kamen Rider The First and Kamen Rider The Next don't use it. Riders 1, 2, and V3 are Hopper Version 1, 2, and 3 respectively (the V in V3, whose meaning is never addressed in the Kamen Rider V3 series, actually stands for 'version,' even.)
Painful Transformation - Averted in almost all cases - including the organic Riders like Amazon and Gills, the latter of which suffered from aftereffects. Played very straight, however, with Shin Kamen Rider.
Palette Swap - For budget reasons, monsters in the new-gen series are sometimes given repaints or differently colored wardrobes to make "new" monsters. Sometimes happens with Riders too, particularly the movie-only Riders. Justified on occasion, where the monsters are representatives of the same type or species - an example being that the first three monsters Agito fights are essentially siblings.
People in Rubber Suits - The extent to which they are rubbery depends on the series and design, not so much on the era. Played straight with the Mooks from The First and The Next. they wear gas masks and corresponding uniforms, being quite creepy, until you find that they still shout "yee!" a lot.
Product Placement - Honda makes all the bikes in the Heisei era since Kamen Rider Agito (Gas Gas made the bikes in Kamen Rider Kuuga) and Suzuki in the Showa era, but it's nowhere as obvious as the Shoei helmets that all Riders tend to wear. Not averted till the Heisei era - Shinji of Ryuki uses a moped, and Ryotaro of Den-O use a bicycle, both of which do not require the full face helmet.
Averted in Kamen Rider Double, where while main rider Shotaro/W rides a Honda, second rider Ryu Terui AKA Accel rides a red Ducati named Diablossa.
Prop Recycling: Being a long runner, it's to be expected.
Real Time - While the episodes aren't filmed in a real time format, dates in the Kamen Rider universe sync up with the broadcast dates. (For example, when Japan is celebrating New Year's, the Kamen Rider characters are celebrating New Year's too. The same with Christmas, often with ...amusing... results.)
Completely inverted in Kamen Rider Hibiki, where the Mooks are the ones wearing the scarves.
Ryotaro Nogami, the protagonist of Den-O, occasionally wears a red scarf(though really a muffler) as part of his street clothes in what is assuredly a Shout Out to his precursors; however, he doesn't really do any ass-kicking while wearing it. When Momotaros possesses people during the Den-O arc of Decade, they gain a ridiculously long red scarf.
Returned with Kamen Rider W/Double, who has a silver scarf while the Cyclone GaiaMemory is active, but the subsequent series haven't used it as of yet.
Along with the Nazca Dopant, who sports V3-style double scarves.
In fact, the scarf is a part of W's suit - we just don't always see it because it isn't tied around his (their?) neck(s); instead, it sticks out through an opening at the back of the suit.
Shout Out - Kamen Rider is a prolific franchise, and a lot of other Japanese-based creations occasionally do shout outs to it, usually in the form of Scarf of Asskicking. One example is the Kicker Skeleton enemy in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for Game Boy Advance, who's entire shtick is jumping in the air and Rider Kicking you. It drops the Red Scarf and Ancient Belt items, and if you absorb its soul, you can learn said kick ability.
The manga Change 123 features the Lawyer-Friendly CameoKamen Raider as a recurring background element. The series represented by Raider seem to draw more from the Old-Gen than the New-Gen, possibly due to Small Reference Pools.
Detective Conan has Kamen Yaiba/Masked Yaiba, which is the favorite show of the Detective Boys.
Amagamis Sae Nakata is a fan of Inago Mask ("The Masked Locust"). We also see Ai Nanasaki putting on a belt, then placing a blue grasshopper on it. The TV series version of this belt, from the same brand, speaks like a Zecter and has a logo that resembles Smart Brain's.
In King of Fighters, one of Leona's supers makes her impale her opponent on her claws, everyone freezes as sparks fly out of the enemy, and then Leona pulls out her claws and poses while the opponent blows up, all done in a fashion that suspiciously resembles Kamen Rider Black RX's finishing attack (although RX does it with a sword instead of claws). Also notable is that her jumping CD attack is identical to the iconic Rider Kick, right down to the inexplicably glowing foot.
Mashiro from Bleach. The mask, the scarf, the kicking techniques...
Two of the Lucky Star live-action EDs involve Minoru Shiraishi playing with a Den-O belt ("Shi-kaaaaaaideeeeerr!!") and mimicking Rider-1's transformation pose on a hillock (the sped-up Motteke! Serafuku).
Don't forget about Konata's father (playing with static electricity). "STUROOONGAAAAA!!!"
Crayon Shin Chan has a character called "Action Kamen" (called "Action Bastard" in the dub) who is basically a Kamen Rider clone. Humorously enough, it comes full circle with Shin Chan having crossovers with both Den-O and Fourze.
The Great Saiyaman from Dragon Ball Z downright parodies Kamen Riders yet still manages to be awesome
Miyo Hatoyama of Cahe Detective Club is a huge fan of Toku in general and Kamen Rider in particular, so any scene with her usually contains at least one Shout Out.
Eureka Seven : New Wave, the video game of the franchise has a move called Rider Kick, usable by the protagonist and the last melee move you can learn in the game.
Asura's Wrath: Along with wearing a mask (Though not beetle like) Yasha from Asuras wrath uses the Mother of all Rider Kicks to Deflect a giant DEATH STAR LIKE LASER CANNON forming from the Karma Fortresses giganticly huge head bigger than THE MOON!
Mirai Nikki has one in Episode 4 about one of the Diary users hilariously attempting to do a transformation in front of the Ninth user. He even has a Transformation belt. Watch this
Digimon character Justimon is a pair of bug-eyes away from looking like an official Rider: he has the outfit, the poses, the kick as a signature move, and even a red scarf. However, Stingmon, being an actual insect, has a bug-eyed body and especially head that makes him extremely Rider-esque. Sadly, that's the extent of the homage, if indeed homage is intended.
Signature Move: RIDER KICK! Also RIDER PUNCH! and RIDER CHOP!, but these tend to get dropped in the newer series.
Sixth Ranger - or in this case, Second Rider. Kamen Rider 2 from the original series, but more often done in the Heisei series with, among others, Gatack, Zeronos, IXA, Diend, and Accel. (for that matter, every Heisei series except Kuuga has a second rider... and in some cases, a third, fourth, or even tenth.)
Slice of Life - The first half of Hibiki in particular has elements of this, as does Kuuga.
It's gotten so bad that someone spawned thisinsanely catchy mv, with almost every single New Gen transformation voice or phrase.
This not only takes the transformation sounds, but other voices from the various Kamen Rider shows.
OOO's officialImage Songs are these; their names are homophones for his combos ("ShaUTa" becomes "Shout Out", for example), and the belt's transformation announcements are worked into the songs themselves.
Wizard's belt is just asking for a dance mix, please. When it's primed, it sings out a catchy little tune on a loop until it activates a ring.
Super Drowning Skills - Falling into a large body of water is almost always a KO, whether you're a monster or a Rider. The exceptions to the rule are Drake, Den-O Rod Form, and OOO ShaUTa Combo - and Kamen Rider X, who's built for underwater combat.
Basically, it's become a Running Gag for the first enemy who's badder than a normal Monster of the Week to beat the crap out of the Rider and then send him flying into the drink. It's not the water that keeps them down, it's the Curb-Stomp Battle that ended with the dip.
Super Mode - Started with Stronger's charged-up form, but doesn't become a staple until the Heisei series, where it's commonly referred to as an 'Ultimate Form' in honor of Kuuga's final form. While some Riders, Kuuga in particular, went through several intermediate forms, the Super Mode is the bare minimum (eg. Ryuki and Decade).
In an interesting twist, Decade's Super Mode has the power of summoning duplicates of the other Riders' Super Modes to fight alongside him.
Teamups or The Movie even give a Super Modeon top of the Super Mode. Rising Ultimate Kuuga, Den-O Super Climax, Double Gold X Treme, Fourze Meteor Fusion States, and OOO Super Tatoba Combo.
Super Speed - seen in several seasons, but taken to ridiculous extremes in Kabuto - expected extremes, if you know your Ishinomori.
Swiss Army Hero: Started with Black RX and has been a series staple since.
Theme Music Power-Up - When the current Ending Theme kicks in, you know the battle is on. That, and older series had actual ass-kicking battle themes - several of them - which gets used to magnificent effect in the SPIRITS manga.
There's actually a number of battle themes in the recent series, as well. Kamen Rider Double has three of them, for example.
Kamen Rider Den O had about 6 by the series end, and a few more for the movies.
Kamen Rider OOO gives a full, awesome song to every full combo, plus Tatoba, plus Birth, and all of them take on a deeper meaning when you know the characters: they're Image Songs as well!
Similar same goes for Kamen Rider Kiva. When the main actor is also a singer, you get ass-kicking music based on all the heroes, the Arms Monsters, a couple villains, and your Super Mode. You know who's coming by the first few notes.
Numerical Theme Naming: The Kamen Riders after Kiva all took on number-related names. Decade (10), Double (2), OOO (3) and Fourze (40; "four-zero"). Wizard continues the theme, just not in his name (unless you spell it V-zard).
Several other riders took numerical names as well, like ZO (which is shaped like 20, signifying the 20th anniversary of Kamen Rider) and Faiz (which sounds like Fives, as in 555, though it's also based on the greek letter Phi.)
The Movie - double-featured with the current year's Super Sentai movie in a "summer roadshow" (aka Super Hero Time: The Movie (insert year here)).
Starting with Decade and Double, have been annual Christmas-time "Movie War" movies as well. And now, Super Hero Wars films that combine KR, Super Sentai, and other series have arrived.
The Musical - There's been a few, including a 2010 show simply called Masked Rider Live & Show 2010 which is a Decade themed show, but actually focuses on Decade!Kuuga and a Not So Evil member of Dai Shocker who eventually does a Heel Face Turn. It also features gratuitous appearances by Riders from just about every possible show, from both eras.
The Name's The Same: There is slight difference in how the names are punctuated but the first enemies Kamen Rider fights are called Spider Man and Bat Man. (Less so in Japan, where the monster names are in Japanese, but the comic book heroes' names are in English.)
There Can Be Only One - The central concept of Ryuki. Also featured in Kuuga and Blade, interestingly between the bad guys. Kabuto forced this point somewhat with its BFS, and Agito... erm, suggested it would happen. Decade does this with entire worlds.
Time Travel - Den-O (one of the series' main themes), Kabuto and Kiva to an extent. Riders 1 and 2, V3, Black, and Agito also meet up in the game Seigi no Keifu, sorta. It appears to some degree in many series; Kamen Rider OOO managed to get into time shenanigans with nary a time train in sight in their summer movie.
Trademark Favorite Food: Seems to be a recurring theme in recent years; Tendou liked tofu and both he and Kagami loved Hiyori's mackrel miso, Otoya in Kiva liked Yuri's Omurice and Megumi liked seafood, Owner and his fried rice and pudding in Den-O, Akiko liked takoyaki and everyone loved ramen in Double, in OOO there's Ankh and his ice pops, Kougami and his birthday cake and Date with his oden, and in Wizard we have Haruto's sugar donuts and Kosuke's mayonaise. It's inverted in Decade because Tsukasa hates sea cucumber. Kougami could be a subversion since he's never shown eating them himself.
Transformation Trinket - While its gimmicks may vary from year to year, the transformation belt is an important part of any Rider's arsenal. Heisei series varies pretty widely in what they actually do.
Kamen Rider Hibiki ditches the traditional belts in favor of using handheld items and braces to transform. Some of their weaponry is belt-worn, though.
TheBee, Drake, Sasword, Hercus, Ketaros and Caucasus from Kamen Rider Kabuto, as well as Diend use different kind of trinket other than the traditional buckle.
Sole exception from Showa series is Kamen Rider Amazon who's trinket is actually a bracelet (later two bracelets) on his forearm.
True Companions: Eventually. But this ain't Super Sentai; the Riders almost never begin on the same page, and often even come to blows when neither is "evil" in the working-for-the-villains sense. Even Kamen Rider Blade, where we've got a Heroes R Us organization, managed to have four agendas for four Riders. However, sometimes the main Rider and his supporting cast are this from the start.
)The Kamen Rider franchise is generally divided into two distinct "eras", using the Japanese names for the time period in which they were made. The Showa Era* consists of:
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