For the Love of Kamen Rider

Back in the early days of the internet I discovered wonderful things. Details of tokusatsu and anime from my past. The Japanese versions of the shows I grew up on were, in most cases, far richer and more adult than the “translations” that were aired on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. While I didn’t really go out of my way to catch Saban’s Masked Rider on Fox, I didn’t turn it off whenever it was on. On the contrary, the more I learned about the original counterparts from Japan, the more I would take time to enjoy the programs as they were served up to us in the Americas. Now, Masked Rider was a tough sell, the voice-over acting during the Japanese clips were, indeed, over acted. I took the show with a grain of salt because I knew the target audience of the cut-and-paste shows were not aiming for me. Slowly the internet was able to fill the holes in my knowledge of most of these Tokusatsu shows, but it wasn’t until sites such as YouTube where other fans would upload content was I able to enjoy these shows. Cut to today… I have a tone of Toku on my own personal Plex Server and shows such as Kamen Rider Black Sun are seeing worldwide releases, thanks to sites like Amazon Prime Video. Between Ultraman and Kamen Rider, Ultraman will always win out, but thankfully I don’t have to make that Sophie’s choice. Kamen Rider ZO (Zed-Oh) is still my absolute favorite and only has one 48-minute length film.

Soon, we’ll get Shin Kamen Rider, and if it’s anything like Kamen Rider Black Sun we shall be in for a treat. Where Black Sun was a retelling of Kamen Rider Black, I believe that Shin will be a retelling of the original Kamen Rider.