Kamen Rider is a tokusatsu series created by Shotaro Ishinomori and produced by Toei in 1971. It primarily features people in armored suits fighting against monsters.
Necessary Tropes
- Obviously, the first trope you must have is the Henshin Hero. The Kamen Riders all are normal civillians who uses a Transformation Trinket to transforms into their superhero personas. They are also phlebotinum rebels as their source of power usually are the same as the enemies they fight.
- Another important trope is the Monster of the Week. Kamen Riders (and Toku series in general) deal with various monsters on a weekly basis. Some series even have mooks for the heroes to deal with.
- One more trope that is needed is the Evil Counterpart. The main villain(s) usually have something in common with the heroes, and may or may not be riders themselves. They are usually foils of the heroes.
Choices, Choices
- First and formost, do you want your rider to be tech based or magic based? Tech based riders typically use equipment created by humans. For example, Kamen Rider Build is a tech based rider as the equipment are all man-made, utilize gasses from walls generated from an alien device and are constantly evolving in a tech-race fashion. Magic based riders typically come from a more fantastical source, be it an ancient civilization or an alternate dimension. An example of a magic based rider is Kamen Rider Wizard where the equipment is primarily composed of rings studded with magical stones that use a power known as "mana" to function, generated via Phantoms in the Riders' souls.
- Something to note, however, is that one doesn't need to be strict with this distinction. Kamen Rider Fourze is themed around outer space and the protagonists use high tech devices, but the Astro Switches the riders utilize and the Zodiarts are both powered by nebula energy, which acts in a decidedly magical fashion. Kamen Rider Blade has the riders take part in a battle royale among various Undead, where the winner of the battle determines the dominant lifeform on the planet, which falls into a magic based setting, but where the riders use technology to allow themselves to utilize the powers of defeated Undead. Even Build and Wizard have aspects that can fall into the other field.
- How many riders do you want in your series, and do they use the same belt/system as your main hero? Discounting villainous/evil riders, it's common for series to have between three to upwards of thirteen recurring riders by the end of the story, though simply having a single rider is not without precedent (Kamen Rider Kuuga only had a single rider throughout its entire run). It is also quite common for secondary riders in the series to use a different belt from the main protagonist, even if they all use the same sources for their respective powers, and for at least one of them to be antagonistic towards the main hero. It's plausible to even have figures in the story who are rider-like but aren't true Kamen Riders in their own regard.
- You also need to decide the theme of your riders. It can be based on anything such as movies, dinosaurs, mythological animals, insects, etc. You can even combine multiple themes like Kamen Rider Ex-Aid combining video games and doctors, or Kamen Rider Den-O combining time travel and trains. So long as you can string it to have an internal logic to it the audience can understand, you're free to go wild with this.
- Something of note is that the visual theme of the riders and the themes of the story don't necessarily need to go hand in hand, but there is a lot of flexibility in this regard. Kamen Rider OOO has a story exploring greed and desire, while OOO and the Greeeed are themed around various animals. Both sides have coins as a theme as well, being that they both use the medals that comprise the Greeed's bodies and grant OOO to use their powers as well as a resource both sides covet for their own mutually exclusive ends.
- After you have decided a theme, time to decide whether or not you want a gimmick, and if so what would it be. Ever since Kamen Rider Ryuki, the series typically have some form of collectible gimmick that are used by different riders or grant new forms/abilities. For example, Kamen Rider Double have the Gaia Memories, USB like devices that allow Double to switch between various forms while Kamen Rider Kabuto have the Zecters that are the Transformation Trinket of the riders of that series. Do note it is fine for your rider to not have a gimmick, if you can't work it into the series, don't force it.
Pitfalls
- Be mindful of what stunts can be done safely, be it for the actors or the stunt crew. Hiroshi Fujioka famously landed in the hospital doing one of his own stunts on a motorcycle in the original Kamen Rider series, requiring Takeshi Sasaki to step in as the new protagonist. While Hiroshi ultimately recovered and came back, resulting in the series having the now iconic duo, there's no guarantee your own series will be so lucky for anyone involved.
- Relatedly, be aware of what your local laws are for stunts on the road and vehicle modifications. While having a heavily modified motorcycle may make sense in the story, it (or its visual representation) may not fit regulations for what is considered road safe.
- Design the costumes with practicality and fashion in mind. Having bulky suits can make stunts and fight choreography awkward to perform, and making them too heavy will make them hazardous for the suit actors to utilize. Kamen Rider Kiva used real chains in most of the titular hero's forms, resulting in the suits becoming too heavy for suit actor Seiji Takaiwa to safely act in them and an over-reliance on the chain-free Super Mode simply for being much lighter by comparison.
- Avoid bringing too many new forms in to your show. While it may sound exciting to give a series of more powerful forms for the main hero, it runs a number of risks, from Power Creep (making it seem strange that the villains have an ever escalating series of mooks to meaningfully fight these increasing odds and not just bring out their strongest weapon to stymy their losses) to budget inflation (it's not cheap to keep making new assets, even if you recycle suits that aren't used anymore). It can also diminish the impact these forms may have on the audience if they are reduced to being redundant within a few episodes or, worse, the audience simply becomes bored of watching the hero simply get more and more powerful without it having any meaning. If you're going to introduce a form, use it effectively.
Potential Subversions
- The rider series usually have a All-Loving Hero as the protagonist, but what if the hero isn't morally righteous?
- The series usually take place in the modern day, but what if a series takes place in a different time period?
- The main rider usually is a human who transforms into the rider, and often has an ally empower them to do so. What if the ally was the rider and the hero is the entity that allows them to transform?
- Most series have only a singular person (or a pair) bear the name of the titular hero, but what if that wasn't the case? What if multiple people are trying to be the hero, each of them having to live up to the ideal once they get their hands on the transformation device?
Writer's Lounge
- There are a few styles of writing various series of Kamen Rider, both in approaching the overall narrative and the episode-by-episode structure.
- In terms of the overall narrative, some series have opted to have the story take a slow burn, having an overall story that is handled in the background while the protagonists grow and develop over time while occasionally dealing with a pertinent monster. Other series have the plot take front and center, every episode bringing up elements and complications that are dealt with as they arise. This isn't a hard divide, and some have shifted approach mid-series due to outside events complicating things.
- For the episode by episode basis, there have been two general approaches to storytelling - having each episode be their own general story, while following a general arc, or the two-episode arc that deals with a unique monster each time. Both these approaches have their benefits and drawbacks, as the singular episode approach generally means more events happen while the two-episode arc approach gives more time for the characters to interact and the individual plots to breath. This is, again, not a hard divide, as many series which adopted the two episode arc method would have the occasional solo episode, and solo episode series have introduced two parters for moments that need expansion. Kamen Rider Geats even went with an entirely different method by having several mini arcs with between five to seven episodes dedicated per arc, with some elements of both methods being mixed in.
Suggested Themes and Aesops
- Friendship is a common subject that appears across Kamen Rider, from befriending enemies to repairing bonds across estranged allies. Exploring why people have broken apart or haven't come together and how bridges can be mended (or burned) is bountiful topic to pull from.
- What it means to be a worthy bearer of the name Kamen Rider is another common subject across series, as is why people take up the belts and buckles. What separates the various users from the monsters they fight, given both sides tend to derive their powers from the same sources?
Potential Motifs
Departments
Set Designer/ Location Scout
- The riders typically have a home base where they hang out when not in battle. So make it feel homely. Give your characters their own personalized areas so it feels like they actually live there.
Props Department
- The Transformation Trinket the riders use to transform are among the most iconic aspects of your rider, and the suit design should draw from it in turn. Consider making it modular, allowing for additional trinkets to be attached and detached to allow it to effectively be customized between riders. Depending on the electronics inside, one could even use a single base belt as the basis for multiple different belts simply by putting different faceplates on. Further, while traditionally the device the riders use are belts, not all of them are so - belts featured in the designs, but sometimes are mere holsters for the actual device the Riders use. Kamen Rider Hibiki had tuning forks as a common device used to transform, while many other series (such as DiEnd, Vulcan and Valkyrie) had guns as their devices.
- On that note, consider making the suits modular in turn, with an undersuit and armor pieces that are attached but can be swapped out. This allows various riders to share forms and makes it easier to recycle pieces for new forms that turn up. This can save costs and keep a distinct visual motif for particular characters.
- The riders usually use weapons such as swords or guns. But that doesn't mean you have to restrict yourself, go crazy. You can give your riders exotic weapons like a whip or a cane. If that doesn't work out, don't be afraid to make your character a Bare-Fisted Monk.
- The riders also have little gadgets as well like phones or Robot Buddies, so think of creative gadgets for your characters.
- Now on to one of the most important thing, the Rider Machines. Kamen Rider are called that because they ride bikes, and in almost every series, the riders have a bike they can ride into battle. The bikes can be dirt bikes, sports bikes or even choppers. Do note they don't HAVE to ride a normal bike, you can have them drive cars if you want like Kamen Rider Drive or a train like Kamen Rider Den-O.
Costume Design
- Have fun! Simply choose a motif and base the rider suit around that motif. If you have multiple riders, make sure there is a throughline that connects them to each other.
- Try to incorporate a "teardrop" design to the riders' masks. Many riders have designs on their faces that look like they're crying, to symbolise their suffering.
- Most riders have a bug-eye motif to the suits to harken back to the original insect themed riders of the Showa era. Feel free to be creative in how you utilize this though.
- The monsters are usually People in Rubber Suits, but sometimes there are big CGI monsters as well. There have been a few riders themselves portrayed entirely in CGI.
Casting Director
Stunt Department
- The fight scenes in Kamen Rider are usually intricately cheoreographed. So make each fight scene count.
- Be sure to have the obligatory vehicle chase in the first 10 episodes.
Extra Credit
The Greats
- Kamen Rider Gaim, Kamen Rider Kabuto and Kamen Rider Kuuga for brilliantly deconstructing various tropes used in the series.
- Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Kamen Rider Build and Kamen Rider Den-O for their excellently written and likeable characters to the point that people will watch anything with these characters in them regardless of the quality of the plot.
- Kamen Rider Amazons season 1 for being a master class in how to do a Darker and Edgier adaptation.
- Kamen Rider Geats for not only subverting many aspects of the franchise that had been taken as read, but also analyzing aspects of the series as a whole and its strong, consistent writing, characters and effects.
The Epic Fails
- Kamen Rider Hibiki had a strong start and a unique concept (partially from the fact it wasn't originally a Kamen Rider series at all), but mismanagement behind the scenes caused the series to crash and burn.
- Kamen Rider Ghost while not horrible, is infamous for having a protagonist that many find annoying due to his idiotic moments and long winded friendship speeches. Not only that, the show seems to like killing him off. They did it so much that any emotional investment in the character has completely evaporated by the 3rd death. Also infamous for the secondary and tertiary riders being worfed. A good deal of these problems also fall to Executive Meddling, as funds and efforts were diverted to Kamen Rider Amazons.
- Kamen Rider Amazons season 2 due to the Romantic Plot Tumor between the new leads ruining the pacing.
- Kamen Rider Decade due to the main arc being an Excuse Plot to get the characters from one location to the other. It doesn't help that the actual finale of the series was in a movie that was aired months after the series finished its run on television.
