My Top Seven Aspects of My Top Four Kamen Rider Shows: Closing

I’m enjoying Kamen Rider Blade a lot right now. I’m very close to finishing it, and while it had quite a rough start, it’s one of those shows that gets better and better the further in you get. It’s endearing how much of the show’s quality reflects its playing cards motif. The show absolutely had the deck stacked against it from the start, but a combination of perseverance and luck of the draw resulted in a wonderfully engaging experience.

That being said, do I regret writing this series before finishing Blade? No, not at all. Coming right off the heels of Faiz, which was very successful during its time, Blade attempted something that was new for Kamen Rider in the 2000s. Blade, in a sense, is a clean break from Kamen Rider‘s past.

My Top Seven Aspects of My Top Four Kamen Rider Shows: #1, Kamen Rider Faiz

It all comes down to this. For the final entry in this series, I’m going to be writing about one of the most infamous Kamen Rider shows ever. It’s the love it or hate it king of melodrama itself: Kamen Rider Faiz. This show aired primarily in 2003, and once again has its own unique setting and lore. It’s worth nothing, however, that this show has the same lead writer as Agito, Inoue, and therefore features a great deal of similarities to it, primarily subtextual ones. Faiz is one of the most well-regarded Kamen Rider shows in the series’ home country of Japan, but fan reception in the west has been much more uneven. Some people genuinely hate it, while others, like myself, swear by it. That it’s so contentious surely means that it’s not one to miss.

It’s the near future, and the next stage of human evolution is here. Many people have begun turning into superpowered beings named Orphnochs. Some undergo forced evolution, while others, like the friendly but emotional Kiba, evolve naturally. At the same time, a normal girl named Mari comes into possession of the high-tech Faiz belt, which grants one power equal to, if not greater than, the Orphnochs. She can’t wear it, but she soon meets a brash and gruff vagabond named Takumi who can. Gradually, Takumi is dragged into humanity’s silent conflict against the Orphnochs, which eventually results in him crossing paths with Kiba, as well as Kusaka, a childhood friend of Mari’s who dons the Kaixa belt.

With the premise set and major players introduced, let’s get into it one last time. Here are my seven favorite aspects of my absolute favorite Kamen Rider show.

My Top Seven Aspects of My Top Four Kamen Rider Shows: #2, Kamen Rider Ryuki

My apologies for the delay! For the third entry in this series, I’m going to be writing about the wonderous Kamen Rider Ryuki. It ran primarily in 2002, and unlike Agito, which initially began as a direct sequel to Kuuga until eventually morphing into a more thematic sequel, Ryuki contains no explicit references to prior shows. In Kamen Rider‘s English speaking fandom, Ryuki is one of the more popular entries on this list for a few reasons. One has to do with the existence of Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, an American “adaptation” of Ryuki. The other simply has to do with its premise.

While investigating a lead, journalist Shinji stumbles upon a mysterious card deck. Soon, he learns from a woman named Yui that this card deck has granted him the ability to enter the Mirror World, where he can transform into a Kamen Rider. One of Yui’s friends, Ren, is another Kamen Rider, and he informs Shinji of a terrifying truth. Apparently, there are many more Kamen Riders other than Shinji and Ren, and all of them, without exception, are locked in a life or death battle royale… where only one can emerge victorious, and receive a miracle as their prize.

With the stage set, we’re ready to play. Here are my seven favorite aspects of my second favorite Kamen Rider show.

My Top Seven Aspects of My Top Four Kamen Rider Shows: #3, Kamen Rider Agito

For the second entry in this series, I’ll be writing about Kamen Rider Agito. This show began in 2001 right off the heels of Kuuga, and ended in 2002. While it was initially conceived as a sequel to Kuuga that takes place in the same world but focuses on a different cast, Agito quickly branched off and forged an identity all its own. Another interesting aspect about Agito is that its lead writer is Toshiki Inoue, who was also the lead writer for Faiz, the which will be the last (first?) entry I write about on this series.

When an ancient power revives, three men’s lives change forever. The friendly amnesiac Shouichi suddenly gains the power to transform into the mystical Agito, while the brash Ryou is given, or cursed, with the brutal and vicious power of Gills. When monsters begin slaughtering innocent people, the police dispatch the brave but clumsy Hikawa to quell the threat. He operates G3, a mechanical suit that allows him to fight on par with these superpowered beings. Shouichi swears to use his power to protect others, while Ryou investigates the root cause of the matter alone. While each of these characters live in their own plotlines, their paths gradually intertwine and bring them together.

With that setup, we’re ready to get into it. Here are my seven favorite aspects of my third favorite Kamen Rider show.

My Top Seven Aspects of My Top Four Kamen Rider Shows: #4, Kamen Rider Kuuga

First up for this series is Kamen Rider Kuuga. As mentioned before, this show aired from 2000 to 2001, and was the first Kamen Rider show to air on television since the series’ hiatus after Black RX finished in 1989. Kuuga actively sought to bring Kamen Rider to a new generation of fans while maintaining the old ones, doing so by distilling the series down to its bare essentials, then modernizing and maturing its formula. This admittedly makes Kuuga one of the more simple and straightforward Kamen Rider shows (certainly the most straightforward one on this list), but if you ask me, that’s one of its greatest strengths.

Kuuga is about a young man named Yusuke who suddenly happens upon a great, ancient, and mystical power. When monsters begin slaughtering the people of Japan without remorse, Yusuke takes it upon himself to use these powers to stop them. Along the way, he’s assisted by a policeman, Ichijo, who he develops a deep bond with.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get into it. Here are my seven favorite aspects of my fourth favorite Kamen Rider show.

My Top Seven Aspects of My Top Four Kamen Rider Shows: Table of Contents

Here is the table of contents for my series on Kamen Rider, where I wrote about my seven favorite aspects of my four favorite shows.

Please, enjoy!

Opening

Read the introductory post to this series here.

My Top Seven Aspects of My Top Four Kamen Rider Shows: Introduction

September of last year, I began a journey that would change my life. This journey is both unrelated and deeply intertwined with the fact that this September marked the beginning of my final semester of university, which has culminated in me currently being mere weeks from attaining a master’s degree. Indeed, the fact that this is my final school year as a student before I begin working full-time is a frightening one. All my conscious life I have been a student. The prospect of being a real adult with a full-time job, full-time responsibilities, and full-time expenses is frightening.

I didn’t want this to end. Part of me, truthfully, wants to stay a student forever. I know that’s not possible, and yet… I was depressed. I needed something to believe in. I needed hope. I needed…

Kamen Rider.

Two Men on the Edge: An Analysis of Ronnie Craven and Darius Jedburgh

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of watching the 1985 TV miniseries Edge of Darkness. A few people might recognize that name from the 2010 Hollywood remake starring Mel Gibson, but that’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is the series that received eleven nominations at the 1986 BAFTA Awards, for which it won six. I’m talking about the series that ranked third on Channel 4’s list of the Greatest TV Dramas, behind The Sopranos and Boys From the Blackstuff.

Nonetheless, it is not lost on me that this show, while critically acclaimed and quite popular when it came out, was nonetheless released over thirty-five years ago. As such, I will try to go as long as I can without giving away any spoilers. This post is intended for people who have not seen the show, to hopefully encourage them to remedy that.

Chaos;Head, the Anti-Eroge

In the world of Japanese visual novels, there are few titles so popular as Steins;Gate. Its anime adaptation is wildly successful, and is often heralded as one of the greatest sci-fi anime ever, right up there with the likes of Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, and others.

But this post isn’t about Steins;Gate. Actually, what is often forgotten about this story is that it’s the second in a series of loosely connected visual novels, titled Science Adventure. Thanks to its successful anime adaptation, Steins;Gate is surely the most popular entry of its relatives. But it wouldn’t exist without its sole predecessor, Chaos;Head.

External Conflict and Internal Conflict: Short-term Interest and Long-term Investment

What drives a story? The obvious answer is conflict, which simply defined, is when a desire is opposed by another, contradictory desire. Almost always, this initial desire is a part of a character, the protagonist, and as such, their desire drives the story. That which opposes them may be another character, society, nature, technology, the supernatural, or themselves. These six classifications comprise the usual categories of literary conflict, and while they may vary depending on who you ask, they are nonetheless useful categories, indeed.

However, they specifically refer to the conflict as it functions in the literal plot, as opposed to how it affects the larger story. In other words, while they tell readers what comprises a story on a surface level, they don’t do quite as much to specify the story’s themes.