Kamen Rider: General Thread

Yeah, that's the one. I don't remember having seen that level of brutality in any Neo-Heisei series.

Yeah. That's seems to be the one place where that hasn't been a thing. No one gets beaten down Porcupine Grongi style in Neo Heisei.

Episode 16 made me appreciate Sougo and Geiz a lot more. Also, Tsukyomi needs to become a rider, girl ain't doing much but she's trying when the chips are down. There's 14 female riders with their own unique styles so another rider would be cool. Regarding the three new riders, I fully expected them to be the Time Jackers: Heure being surprisingly conniving and cunning with his plans and having the unpredictably (Shinobi) and Oura/Aura/Houra just using mental manipulation of those loved ones she uses to create her Another Riders (Quiz). Not sure about Shwarz but process of elimination for Kikai. But they completely subverted expectations there so I guess we'll see.

I'd say that Kouta being mauled by Invessified Hase was pretty close in intensity, if not in the same way.

Zi-O is gonna PARTY ALL NIGHT

Just came across this:

We've been having a discussion on the SSSS.GRIDMAN thread about Studio TRIGGER doing another animated Tokusatsu series, and this makes me want to see something Rider related.

...By the way, we don't really see Clamshell phones anymore do we?

So, would you have a movie or something about these future Riders?

Watched the Build movie, was fun even if the plot did feel like something that was meant for the series as a whole but never could actually implement so they just crammed it into a movie.

like the other astronauts from the mission getting possessed by the new villains makes sense since they could've come into contact with alien life as well but going "mwahahahaha we were the one actually responsible for one specific bad thing all along and nothing else" is lame since it doesn't actually pay off or carry any relevance anywhere else

I did like that the evil plan amounted to "god evolt why can't you just do things normally and get to planet destroying, fine i guess we'll do it ourselves"

I did like the central narrative conceit of Sento being truly truly alone with only the relics of his past being his main avenue of guidance even if it led to more goddamn science dad angst.

The kid immediately popping back at the end felt contrived BUT WHO CARES IT WAS CUTE and THEMATIC

This isn't quite Kamen Rider-related, but have you guys seen or heard about the UFO Kamen Yakisoban commercials? They're a parody of tokusatsu shows like Kamen Rider and were popular enough to get a game and movie, and the 2017 revival has direct Kamen Rider shout-outs and Segata Sanshiro shout-outs.

Edited by lalalei2001 on Jan 10th 2019 at 2:50:11 AM

Huh, interesting. Might go and watch this series.

Well, lotsa stuff to talk about, so it's gonna be a long post. The first is personal: I returned this week from a trip in Japan and had a curious experience that helped me put things about the fandom into perspective.

You see, back here, most tokusatsu fans I meet (except for Power Rangers fans, of course) tend to be adults or people in their late teens who used to watch these things from when the genre exploded here back in the 80's/ 90's. Although we obviously know that Kamen Rider is a franchise still meant for kids, sometimes the themes or the storytelling lead us to think that these things maybe are mostly for older kids at best, and that little kids would go more towards Super Sentai. So I usually thought that the "little kids" in the movies sounded a bit jarring - ignoring that the same could be said about many Western superheroes, regardless of the very adult stories in which they have participated.

Anyway, I was in this store, checking some Ridewatches, when two very young boys came with their small toku figurines (one was Lupin Red, the other I didn't pay attention to) and started playing there and making noises (y'know, stuff like "DI-DI-DI-DIKEIDO!"). Reality check: this stuff does cater to little kids, yessir. And then their father comes up and points them the Blade Ridewatch - presumably, he watched Blade when he was a teenager.

Then it struck me: when I (and many friends of mine) watched stuff like that for the first time, we were those kids' age. Now most of us are like their dad, still welcome to appreciate the genre through its themes. But we should never lose sight that this is still, most and foremost, for kids like those (and like we were). And there's no shame in admitting that. Kamen Rider is for all of us, young and old. It entertained me when I was a boy, just like it still does to them. And it never forgets about the grown-ups either. That's the beauty of Ishinomori's legacy.

Well, with that said, Zi-O 17 decides to royally screw up with the timeline even more: Kamen Rider Woz is from a future where Geiz seemingly got his way (and his upgrade, strangely sharing Ryuki's Super Mode name) and the Bad Future got averted. And now we also have a deadline: the Day of Oma, where the future will probably be set (and the Riders will presumably fight against each other, and all that stuff Hora had already spoiled for us long ago). So yeah, we have like... 4 or 5 different timelines fighting for dominance now?

Zi-O 17 was stupid but in a fun way with how increasingly batshit these futures are getting

hopefully the writers have some kind of explanation for why White Woz doesn't just instantly change the future to his because reality-warping book is waaayyyyyyy too op

so when does tsukuyomi get her own woz

My opinion is that Tsukuyomi IS her own Woz. She's essentially working for a future where Zi-O and Geiz don't need to kill each other, Sougo doesn't become Oma Zi-O and nobody has an overlord boner.

Are there no more .5 episodes? Because those were lots of fun.

Finished with 16. I did like them but given that a fair few referenced things that apply to most of Rider as opposed to just that specific episode, they probably would run out if they went the whole series.

Also I haven't actually watched the most recent episode but I looked at excerpts because I don't care about spoilers and I'm loving Shinobi's henshin and suit

Phew.

So yeah, the timeline is essentially soup right now. It could come out as anything depending on what you put in it.

Oddly enough, this is actually a very good thing. Sure, alternate Woz wanting to kill Zi-O is bad, but the fact that now they know it's possible to prevent Oma Zi-O's rise is a very good thing. They just have to steer it in the direction they want.

Big problem is: the direction our protagonists want to steer the timeline to is quite complicated: Geiz doesn't really want to kill Sougo and needs him to help protect Tsukuyomi (though he might rethink that idea, given the revelations and the extra help from the new Woz). Sougo wants to be a good king and was open to quit being a Rider to avoid becoming Oma Zi-O, but circumstances just won't allow it. Tsukuyomi, as I said before, is just trying to stop Oma Zi-O without getting anyone killed. They have to negotiate among themselves while holding off both Woz-es and the Time Jackers. It won't be easy.

Speaking of which, how are we gonna call the new Woz? G-Woz (as in "good Woz" or "Geiz's Woz")? Just "New Woz"? 'Shin Woz'?

I've seen Another Woz or White Woz (Sougo's Woz being black Woz)

The issue with the plot direction is really just an extension of the difficulty of time travel stories. There isn't just one event they can change to set right what went wrong, and if killing people is off the table there's still a very long length of time for the bad future to just happen a slightly different way. Getting rid of Oma Zi-O requires getting rid of Zi-O far enough in the past (either way), while also getting rid of the Another Riders requires getting rid of (or, unlikely, winning over) the Time Jackers. And Geiz and Tsukuyomi don't have a lot of knowledge so kind of have to brute force changing the future. I guess the solution is probably along the lines of defeat every Time Jacker so the Zi-O Riders aren't needed anymore, then destroy every Ziku Driver, though Woz would probably still get in the way

Edited by HalfFaust on Jan 12th 2019 at 8:30:58 AM

Oh hey, Kamen Rider Quiz is played by Red Buster!

That probably confirms the 'toku alumni' theory then.

Also, Shinobi is getting a TTFC special.

Kamen Rider Shinobi will get a Spin-Off Net series.

Separate from Shinobi's Net Series, Toei has announced that they'll be doing "Rider Time" Spin-Off Movies. While the first will of course focus on Shinobi, a second has been teased to be fully announced at the "Kamen Rider X Super Sentai The Live" Event this year on January 23rd.

I think they're the same thing actually. Quiz and Kikai are obvious ones for other episodes, though I don't know if they're as popular.

All I gather from this is that Ex-Aid must be a huge sensation in Another Woz/Geiz Revive's timeline (sorry about my previous mistake)...

Woz does reminds me of Enter.

Take that back. Woz is a gorgeous man with a regal bearing. Enter, is not.