Kamen Rider: General Thread

@Drive preview:
Badass girl cop: nice. NOW GET HER A RIDER BELT, TOEI.
Massive monster invasion: cool.
Driver voice: not too keen on that.

Ahahaha, what do you think this is, America?

Are you trying to get this woman killed?

Don't read this Eva Especially since we just took a huge step backwards on that front with Yoko.

I would settle for "Primary Rider+Secondary Rider+Female Rider" formula. They did it with Sentai, they can do it with Rider.

Yeah, Yoko failed to rise to the plot importance level of Mage. But I still have hope!

>Not gonna lie, I never had in issue with the two parters and I wouldn't be upset if they were brought back with Drive.
The problem with two-parters is that they're forced. Even when there is not enough material for two episodes intrigue, they have to stretch, and it results in dumb padding.

edited 16th Sep '14 10:13:43 PM by Adannor

Eh, I don't think the target audience really cares to see a girl Rider that frontline.

Well I recall hearing that there was an outrage when Sentai reduced amount of girls from 2 to 1 in one of the shows, so I think female characters do have some ground in with the fanbase.

Start your engine!

Oh, the Engrish.

A more central female rider could be cool. She's walking around carrying extra shift cars anyway, she may as well get to use them eventually.

edited 17th Sep '14 12:29:38 AM by TenebrousGaze

Who says Amazing Mighty Kuugaa is dangerous? It's his Ultimate Form that's dangerous, his Amazing Mighty is just another upgrade for his Mighty Form, this time AM excels in hand-to-hand combat. Also, that Linto/Grongi character on his hand guard means Lightning, apparently, so I think he can zap people with either punches or blasting 'em.

... Although, I do wonder if it's theoretically possible for his Dragon, Pegasus, and Titan Forms to achieve Amazing Form.

Probably.

Just like Gaim could Raiment with non-Orange locks.

Which reminds me, I saw fanarts from Pixiv where Baron and Ryugen has Kachidoki forms. Ryugen uses missile pods and Baron goes literally medieval on his armor.

Dangit, why do fanarts make non-canon things so cool!? It's like the one fanart where Meteor transforms into his own Fire and Elek States, respectively using dual tonfas and nunchucks.

Yeah, the usual problem I see with Monsters of the Fortnight is that, because of it, the plot usually hangs for a while. This wasn't prevalent in Double or Fourze, who weave plot into their two-parters, but it was in Wizard, where plot development comes to a standstill and you're usually stuck with a dozen filler episodes, some actually remarkable (the divisive Myna Bird story, for one).

Gaim, I theorize, made a new standard for Kamen Rider to stand on, at least as far as I know. It did two-parters as well, but did them in a way that didn't seem like filler. They advanced the story with those two-parters. I remember a lot of comments regarding Gaim's progression, like how #20's plot twist would have been shown in the 40's, or how Gaim might be too good, (a sad curse to have) but hopefully Drive can pull through.

Yeah. I mean, Wizard wasn't perfect, but it had it's good points, but Gaim pretty much blew it out of the water to the point where I see it often getting mocked. I feel like I didn't start appreciating it again until I read Eva's review of it.

Gaim is plotted very tightly though, and while that's made all crossovers non-canon by default, it's also the reason why it's so great.

In fact, it's two biggest flaws are the in-series crossovers since they just don't fit(due to no attempt being made to have a point where they could happen), and the aforementioned thing in my other post. The first one isn't really that big an issue; the second one is more grating since the supposedly inferior show did things much better arguably, so I'm rather frustrated with Urobuchi on that front.

Well, he doesn't lose control or anything, but doesn't it have a Rider Kick powerful enough to destroy multiple city blocks? That's way more power than he needs, and even if he can control it, that power still gets unleashed when he uses the Amazing Mighty Kick doesn't it.

I did say it's danger came from being so damn strong, though perhaps I should say it's dangerous to other people (he had to warn the police to clear the area before he used it, though I haven't got that far in my Kuuga viewing so I'm still unsure of the exact circumstances) due to the power that could be released with his strongest attacks. That's admittedly not quite the same thing as Dogabaki.

So, I just got to thinking: why does Kamen Rider have such an aversion to Female Riders, while Super Sentai has been using females for a long time (even if the suit actors are probably male), and has even used two females to a team on some occasions? Also, when did they start doing two females at a time regularly. My Sentai Fu is poor, so while I know when they've only done one female at a time, I'm not sure when it became a regular thing to have two girls to a team.

Bioman (1984/5) was the first to have two females. It sometimes had two females after that(Fiveman, Jetman, Ohranger, Megaranger) but Dekaranger (2004) was the real boundary, with not only two main females but, counting extra rangers with a single appearance, actually having equal numbers. Despite that, though, Gekiranger only kind of counts (one female in a 3+2 team and then two females once you include the two eleventh hour extra heroes), Go-Onger only had two females once they go up to 7 rangers, Go-Busters only had one female at all, Kyoryuger has one female at first and then eventually goes up to three with extra rangers and Akibaranger, which by its own admission doesn't really count, is the only time there has ever been more females than males.

As for why Kamen Rider doesn't have more girls? No clue. Probably something to do with Japanese beliefs about gender roles.

That or they're just sexist. But I ain't gonna touch that topic.

Good news, is that Tackle has been given the title of Kamen Rider some time ago.

You know, if Kamen Rider has an Akibaranger equivalent (a proper parody like them, I mean), I want the protagonist to be a woman. I mean, why not, Akibaranger does thing differently, with only one guy among a lot of women than the other way around as the protagonists.

Could be related to gender roles, though I don't know enough about that area to comfortably speculate. Personally, I think it's mostly just a difference in the male-to-female character ratio than it is an outright aversion to including them at all. Or possibly just a smaller pool of female stuntswomen for the female riders compared to the guys. The ones that've played the female riders almost always worked on Super Sentai or another toku show before KR. Remember how Malika caused an excited buzz because Yoko Minato was both the stuntwork actor and unsuited actor?

I'd sure as hell like to see more female riders. But that's mainly because I like seeing more riders in general.

So you want a Kamen Rider Girl show, just with more henshins?

edited 17th Sep '14 11:26:36 AM by Raidouthe21st

Sort of yeah.

But I want her to be as nerdy as Akagi Nobuo/Akiba Red. Otherwise, the idea may not work well.

Hell, maybe the secondary Rider would parody the usual Secondary Riders trope; they try to be the aloof jerk with a gold heart, but they're too nice to do so, something like that.

To contrast with Nobuo's senseless hatred of Power Rangers, the Rider counterpart should secretly love Masked Rider as a Guilty Pleasure.

"It's complete and total garbage, but it still makes me smile anyway."

Gaim 27: Aaaaaand Ryugen's about to put Kouta out of [Micchy's] misery permanently, up until Baron of all people bails out our Intrepid Hero.

Kaito: "[Kouta] may be a nuisance, but he isn't my enemy. My enemies... are those who'd shoot the strong in the back!"

Aaaand Takatora gets a shower scene. The fangirls, I can hear them screaming for miles.

Aaaaaand Ryouma actually appears to have been a cool enough guy before he went all power-obsessed from his research on Helheim. Aaaand it seems as if Ryouma is the Micchy to Takatora's Kouta. Wonderful. <scene continues> Okay, no, Ryouma was still a power-hungry douchebag, he just hadn't realized that Takatora wasn't a bird of his feather.

Y'know what? Screw Kiritsugu, Takatora is the true best Pragmatic Hero, by virtue that he can actually treat potential allies like people and communicate with them, instead of trying to be an inhuman justice machine.

Oh, hey, Bravo isn't dead.

Aaaaaaand it appears there's a white Overlord too, to go with the Red and Green ones.

<Kouta and Takatora handshake>

Gaim 28: Takatora is hopeful, but Micchy does not approve.

Kaito has quite a solid grasp on Kouta's character, and plans on taking Micchy out of the picture, who seems to have a lot of trouble understanding that his behavior pisses off the local Übermensch.

Bandou is very much a BRO. He's almost as cool as the other guy I know by that name, but for the opposite reasons.

Micchy: "Kouta ruins everyone he comes into contact with. He's a problem."

What? Er, no. Kouta ups the awesome of everyone he comes into contact with. Which in your case, is quite problematic indeed.

<Sigurd commences with the backstabbing>

ONORE SID!!!

<Shin Zangetsu commences with PWNAGE>

<Malika joins in the backstabbing>

ONORE YOKO!!!

<Ryouma shows up wearing Genesis Driver>

SZ: "No... not you too..."

<Takatora, anticipating his death, attempts to pass on his last will to Micchy>

I don't know why, but I'm starting to have Lion King flashbacks. ONORE Scar MICCHY!!!

<Micchy picks up his brother's henshin gear, Kouta finds that Takatora has been Unperson'd>

Aaaaaand Micchy's attacking Kouta, using the Shin Zangetsu suit. Wonderful.

<BIG. DAMN. ANTIHERO.>

Kouta decides he's had enough of this bullshit, and goes straight into Triumphant Arms.

Aaaaaaaand in the middle of Ryouma's gloating, Sid wrecks everything and runs off into Helheim. Great.

This makes me happy, despite actually liking Kiritsugu, or at least his combat methods. Probably because I've never liked how Saber was treated in Zero.

Saber herself wasn't much better during her reign in life, though.

This is true.

Though she was also surrounded by people with ridiculous standards as well, if I recall.

I've always thought the aversion to female Riders might be because of the fact that Kamen Rider shows have a smaller number of main characters than Super Sentai or Power Rangers shows. In Sentai and Ranger shows, there's usually two female heroes at max, so even if the audience doesn't like them, they've still got 3-4 "marketable" male heroes to bring in that toy cash. But they might be worried about a female Rider since Kamen Rider shows tend to usually only have around 2-3 main Riders depending on the season, so if for whatever reason a female Rider isn't successful, there's less chance to make up for lost profits.

Of course that doesn't exactly excuse shows like Gaim and Ryuki, which had Loads And Loads Of Characters.

edited 17th Sep '14 1:30:10 PM by comicwriter

I appear to have found a new place to get entire episodes of V3 now. Still don't want to watch it until after I do The First, but at least I found a place.

Might manage to do some more Gaim later, or I might take a minor break from it and watch God Speed Love. Not sure yet.

I've only at most ever watched one scene from God Speed Love......

I'm sure most of you can guess what that scene is.

I do know what the movie is about, and what it means for the series, but beyond that, I've never watched it.