Series / Super Hero Time

Super Hero Time; READY, GO! (2012-2013 season shown)

Super Hero Time is a programming block on the Japanese television network TV Asahi, featuring new episodes of tokusatsu television series from the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series. Both series have decades of history and have been intertwined in the public imagination for some time, not least of all because the driving creative force behind both was mangaka Shotaro Ishinomori and they were both produced by the same production company, Toei Company. However, they did not air together until 2000 with Kamen Rider Kuuga and the last few episodes of Kyūkyū Sentai GoGoV, though at the time they were not acknowledged together; even before 2000, the slot Kamen Rider ended up in featured the Metal Heroes and Robocon going back to 1989, while Super Sentai had only moved to Sunday mornings part-way through Denji Sentai Megaranger.

From 2007 to 2012, Super Hero Time was branded as part of a larger "Nichi Asa Kids Time"^note Translates to "Sunday Morning Kids Time" or "Sunday TV Asahi Kids Time" programming block which was on from 7 am to 9 am JST, with all shows generally sponsored (and merchandised) by Bandai. Even before this branding, the general lineup of Sunday morning kids TV on TV Asahi was more or less formulaic, even sort of extending into 6:30 am starting in 2011:

• 6:30 am: A Shounen anime: Digimon Fusion, Saint Seiya Omega, Notari Matsutarou, and World Trigger. From 2000 to 2003, reruns of Sailor Moon aired in this slot to promote the Sailor Moon World toyline.
• 7 am: A Shounen anime from Nagoya Broadcasting Network (Mẽtele) and Sunrise: Bomberman B-Daman Bakugaiden, Mighty Cat Masked Niyandar, Crush Gear Turbo, Kaiketsu Zorori, Dinosaur King, the many Battle Spirits anime series, Tribe Cool Crew, Brave Beats, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096, and Heybot!
• 7:30 am: Super Sentai
• 8 am: Kamen Rider
• 8:30 am: An anime from Toei Animation, leaning towards Shoujo, which had been part of TV Asahi's schedule since 1984. By the time Kamen Rider Kuuga premiered TV Asahi had already gone through a whole series of Ojamajo Doremi, and when "Super Hero Time" officially started the show that followed it in the schedule was Ashita no Nadja (which ended 4 months after the block's introduction). As of 2004, the latest Pretty Cure series airs at this time.

The "Nichi Asa Kids Time" branding was discontinued in 2012, but the line-up remained consistent for another 5 years until the entire schedule was changed in late 2017. A news program called Sunday Live! replaced all morning programming up until 8:30, when Pretty Cure begins. After Pretty Cure is now the Super Hero Time block... with Kamen Rider first at 9 am and Super Sentai at 9:30.

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Series that aired in this kids' block:

• Super Sentai
  • Pre-Super Hero Time
    • Denji Sentai Megaranger (April 1997 - February 1998)^note Megaranger began in February 1997, but until April the series aired on Friday nights, rather than Sunday mornings.
    • Seijuu Sentai Gingaman (February 1998 - February 1999)
    • Kyūkyū Sentai GoGoV (February 1999 - February 2000)
    • Mirai Sentai Timeranger (February 2000 - February 2001)
    • Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger (February 2001 - February 2002)
    • Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger (February 2002 - February 2003)
  • Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger (February 2003 - February 2004)
  • Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (February 2004 - February 2005)
  • Mahou Sentai Magiranger (February 2005 - February 2006)
  • GoGo Sentai Boukenger (February 2006 - February 2007)
  • Juken Sentai Gekiranger (February 2007 - February 2008)
  • Engine Sentai Go-onger (February 2008 - February 2009)
  • Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (February 2009 - February 2010)
  • Tensou Sentai Goseiger (February 2010 - February 2011)
  • Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (February 2011 - February 2012)
  • Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters (February 2012 - February 2013)
  • Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (February 2013 - February 2014)
  • Ressha Sentai ToQger (February 2014 - February 2015)
  • Shuriken Sentai Ninninger (February 2015 - February 2016)
  • Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger (February 2016 - February 2017)
  • Uchu Sentai Kyuranger (February 2017 - February 2018)
  • Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger (February 2018 - February 2019)
  • Four Week Continuous Super Sentai Strongest Battle (February 2019 - March 2019)
  • Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger (March 2019 - February 2020)
  • Mashin Sentai Kiramager (March 2020 - February 2021)
  • Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger (March 2021 - February 2022)
  • Avataro Sentai Donbrothers (March 2022 - February 2023)
  • Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger (March 2023 - Present)
• Kamen Rider
  • Pre-Super Hero Time
    • Metal Heroes from Kidou Keiji Jiban to Tetsuwan Tantei Robotack (April 1989 - January 1999)^note Not Kamen Rider but another Toei toku production
    • Moero!! Robocon (January 1999 - January 2000)^note Still not Kamen Rider, but another Ishinomori toku creation
    • Kamen Rider Kuuga (January 2000 - January 2001)
    • Kamen Rider Agito (January 2001 - January 2002)
    • Kamen Rider Ryuki (February 2002 - January 2003)
  • Kamen Rider Faiz (January 2003 - January 2004)
  • Kamen Rider Blade (January 2004 - January 2005)
  • Kamen Rider Hibiki (January 2005 - January 2006)
  • Kamen Rider Kabuto (January 2006 - January 2007)
  • Kamen Rider Den-O (January 2007 - January 2008)
  • Kamen Rider Kiva (January 2008 - January 2009)
  • Kamen Rider Decade (January 2009 - August 2009)
  • Kamen Rider Double (September 2009 - August 2010)
  • Kamen Rider OOO (September 2010 - August 2011)
  • Kamen Rider Fourze (September 2011 - August 2012)
  • Kamen Rider Wizard (September 2012 - September 2013)
  • Kamen Rider Gaim (October 2013 - September 2014)
  • Kamen Rider Drive (October 2014 - October 2015)
  • Kamen Rider Ghost (October 2015 - September 2016)
  • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (October 2016 - August 2017)
  • Kamen Rider Build (September 2017 - August 2018)
  • Kamen Rider Zi-O (September 2018 - August 2019)
  • Kamen Rider Zero-One (September 2019 - August 2020)
  • Kamen Rider Saber (September 2020 - August 2021)
  • Kamen Rider Revice (September 2021 - August 2022)
  • Kamen Rider Geats (September 2022 - Present)

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The two Super Hero Time series share the following tropes:

• Beast Man: Accounts for a great many villains and a bunch of heroes as well.
• Calling Your Attacks
• Combining Mecha: Super Sentai in general, though recent iterations of Kamen Rider have had their vehicles fuse with other beings to make mecha.
• Crossover: Commonly among their own series and sometimes with each other. For nearly 20 years Super Sentai has had the Vs. movies, teaming up the current Super Sentai series with the previous one, they were originally direct-to-video (then DVD) but changed to theatrical releases for the 15th anniversary of the Vs. series. More recently, Kamen Rider has the Movie War series. The crossover only happens at the start and the end of the block.
  • Super Hero Taisen was a Crossover between the two franchises that are used in Super Hero Time. This later became a yearly tradition for a while; from 2011 to 2017, there was one film per year (except for 2016's Kamen Rider 1, which didn't feature Super Sentai at all). After Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Chou Super Hero Taisen, Toei announced that they won't make any more.
  • Additionally, there are often crossover bumpers done for the Super Hero Time that will feature the characters interacting with one another (like Den-O fighting alongside the Gekirangers, or Gaim doing the ToQger team pose), but some feature more direct crossovers (the Kabuto/Boukenger era had some, like Tendou making a meal for Akashi).
  • Starting with Gaim and ToQger, the current Kamen Rider and Super Sentai series will do a crossover, either in an hourlong special or having the titular Kamen Rider appear in an episode of the Super Sentai series and one of the Super Sentai members (so far it's only been the red) appearing in the Kamen Rider series.^note The first official crossover was between Decade and Shinkenger; however, starting with ToQger vs Gaim, it became a yearly event.
  • The final crossover between the two would be Kamen Rider Saber + Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger Super Hero Senki.
• Crossover Punchline: Super Hero Time idents of recent years have Rider and Sentai casts meeting and interacting in their respective hang-outs and Hilarity Ensues.
• Dramatic Hour Long: Super Hero Time itself, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai on their own last just under 25 minutes.
• Elemental Powers: Several Kamen Riders and Super Sentai teams use the power of the elements.
• Evil Twin: There have been many instances where the Kamen Rider faces a evil copy of himself, as do the Super Sentai teams face an evil Sentai. The nature of these evil duplicates vary.
• Fake Crossover: Most Super Hero Time idents have the contemporary Riders and Sentai posing side-by-side, while recent years have the casts interacting in their respective hide-outs, giving the impression that they are all good friends. Of course, this has no canonical bearing on their proper crossovers, if they have them.
• Finishing Move
  • Kamen Rider is famous for the Rider Kick, others include Rider Punch, Chop, and Slash.
  • Super Sentai has the Team Bazooka. Alternatively, they just set their weapons to finish.
• Henshin Hero: All of the shows in the block have heroes the power to transform into stronger hero forms.
• Long Runner: The year 2020 marks 49 years of Kamen Rider (Kamen Rider premiered in 1971) and 45 years of Super Sentai (Himitsu Sentai Gorenger premiered in 1975^note The 45th anniversary will be celebrated in 2021, as that will be the year of the 45th show's premiere). A Super Sentai show has consistently been on Japanese television for the past 41 years (1978 saw Spider-Man and his giant robot Leopardon instead), while Kamen Rider has had several more, and much longer, gaps in its broadcast history (1976-1979, 1981-1987 if you ignore the TV special Birth of the Tenth! Gather All Kamen Riders!! featuring Kamen Rider ZX in 1984, and 1989-2000 when instead the films Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue, Kamen Rider ZO, and Kamen Rider J were released in this timeframe). It wasn't until the year 2000 with the premiere of Kamen Rider Kuuga that both shows have been consistently on Japanese TV with new heroes annually.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: A few intra-franchise and a few inter-franchise:
  • Kamen Rider Decade was celebrated as the 10th Heisei Kamen Rider show, and he travelled through dimensions visiting alternate realities featuring his 9 precedessors (or rather alternate versions of said predecessors), and then later expanding to the Showa era Riders (actual and alternate) before having him come in contact with the real deals in the season finale and the Grand Finale film Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider W & Decade: Movie War 2010.
  • Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger was celebrated as the 35th Super Sentai show and the heroes gained and used the powers of every one of their 34 predecessor teams, including characters who weren't even Rangers but were heroic and iconic enough to be represented.
  • Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen took this to the ultimate extreme, as a crossover between every Kamen Rider and Super Sentai team up until that point in early 2012. A year later they did it again with Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Z, this time bringing in the rebooted Space Sheriffs from Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie. A year after that came Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai, which was more of a battle of the generations between the two eras of Kamen Rider, with the cast of Ressha Sentai ToQger and one of the Kyoryugers showing up as well.
  • Kamen Rider Zi-O serves as the Heisei Kamen Rider era's 20th anniversary, with the hero and his allies travelling through time to visit his predecessors (the real ones when cameos allow it) and use their powers to stop the villains from messing up the timeline by stealing the same powers. Kamen Rider Decade shows up again as one of the villains (or is he?).
  • Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger serves as the 45th Super Sentai season with the plot involving the worlds of every previous team being trapped by multiversal conquerors. The designs of all Rangers are based around previous mecha in the series, and they can use Sentai Gears to summon the powers of their predecessors.
  • Several of Shotaro Ishinomori's creations show up in some of the later Heisei Kamen Rider shows, particularly their already big crossover films:
    • Space Ironmen Kyodain in Kamen Rider Fourze the Movie: Everyone, Space Is Here!
    • Akumaizer 3, Inazuman, and Bishoujo Kamen Poitrine in Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Wizard & Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum
    • Kikaider in an episode arc of Kamen Rider Gaim
• Merchandise-Driven: To the point that Bandai is the block's main sponsor. Individual shows of both franchises are made to be broadcast across a year, financially divided into quarters of about 12 episodes, each accompanied by a new wave of toys.
• Monster of the Week: The standard in both Sentai and Rider, though in the latter its more "Monster of the Fortnight" thanks to two-week mini-arcs.
• Passing the Torch: There's a tradition of the current Sentai's Red Ranger passing the time slot over to his successor as seen in this video.
• Red Is Heroic: In Sentai, the Red hero is almost always the leader, and even when he isn't, he is still the central protagonist. As well as that, the majority of leading Kamen Riders have some element of red on their suits, no matter how minor it is.
• Sixth Ranger: Super Sentai has Sixth Rangers, Kamen Rider has Second Riders.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: Generally, the villains send forth the MOTW with an Evil Plan Once an Episode, with our heroes then arriving on the scene to stop them.

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