Kamen Rider Ranked

Gnostic Rider Agito. The addicting plot-driven story is refreshing after Kuuga's episodic two-parter format. I heard a lot of mixed opinions on this show (mostly negative) before watching, and I'm curious as to why that is.  This show worked beautifully for me.

One barrier to entry could be the religious subtext of the show, which is very clearly based on Christian Gnosticism. If you don't see the parallels between the Overlord and the Demiurge, the Unknown and the Archons, the Agito power and the divine spark, etc, then a lot of the "fighting God" stuff towards the end could be frustrating or go over one's head. I've seen people complain about the inconclusiveness of the ending- something that I was extremely satisfied with. If the dualistic nature between the Agito and the Unknown were upset, and Inoue tried to "solve" the dilemma with any finality, the ending could have been a complete mess.

Overall, I love the cast. Shouichi is aloof and loveable, and makes a great comedic duo with Hikawa, the man-made secondary rider. Mana-chan (Akiyama Rina) is adorable and sympathetic. Houjou's antics are fascinating to watch. Tetsuya Sawaki oozes charisma. Same goes for the aptly named Kaoru Kino.

Addicting, inspiring, and easy to recommend. 9/10

Best Rider: Kamen Rider Agito (Shouichi)

The ultimate zero-to-hero story — not the story of Kamiyama Touma, but Kamen Rider Saber itself.

I vividly remember watching the first episode of this series when it came out and being underwhelmed. The concept just seemed incredibly generic and uninspired. "Books are supposed to make children smile!" The first 15 episodes carried on like this, while also introducing way too many characters to keep track of. I remember towards the end of that first arc, when a major character had a prolonged death scene, and I could not bring myself to care one bit.

Then something happened. It's like someone hit a switch and decided to really care about making the show good. This starts with some interesting interpersonal conflict within the Kamen Rider team, as Touma loses all his friendships and has to win them back over one by one. This really strengthened the theme of friendship going forward, and I suddenly cared for all these characters a bit more. And then you have the final confrontation arc, which is seriously one of the hypest, and most endearing endings in Kamen Rider.

It's baffling, because the core of the show did not change from episode 1 to episode 48. All that changed was the amount of heart and soul put into it. It's truly 'the little show that could.' By the end, when Touma gave a speech about books being people's dreams, I was actually touched.

Just as Touma wins over people by making them believe in him, this show won me over as well, and showed me the infinite potential of Kamen Rider. 9/10

Best Rider: All of them

An ode to Early Heisei, in particular to Kamen Rider Ryuki and Faiz. I'm not the biggest fan of Gen Urobuchi's anime, so this was a pleasant surprise. For how much people stress that it's one of the "darker" Rider series, it's ironically one of the most colorful.

The theming of this series already puts it in a different category from many other rider series; whereas most seasons are themed rather broadly ("space" or "magic," etc), Gaim's theme is Sengoku Basara and forbidden fruit. The alternate dimension is trippy and just a treat to look at. Halfway through the show, the stakes ramp up dramatically, and the race to the bottom begins. Things get wonky towards the end and the finale walks things back a bit, but there's nothing too offensive.

The cast is fun and memorable- Kaito and Micchi in particular steal the show. What makes the show work for me, where Ryuki doesn't, is the tone and aesthetic. Gaim is bombastic, flamboyant, goofy, dark, and ridiculous, making for a wild ride. Kaito, the ultimate objectivist anti-villain, hams it up and leans into the role, making for a more over-the-top version of a character like Ren in Ryuki. Likewise, Micchi is even more of an underhanded scumbag weakling than Ryuki's Kitaoka, which makes him more likeable and memorable to me. 

The best thing Urobuchi's ever made (besides Saya no Uta). A thoroughly entertaining rollercoaster. 8/10

Best Rider: Kamen Rider Ryugen (Micchi)

Toshiki Inoue's wild ride. In the same way that everyone has a complicated love/hate relationship with the infamous secondary rider Kusaka Masato, my feelings on this show are also complicated.

Similar to Gaim, this has a driving story that makes the show addicting to watch. The theming is bold and unique. The suits are beautiful- and not just Faiz, which is my favorite base suit, but the creature designs as well. The Orphenochs look like bosses straight out of Shadow of the Colossus. And the directing is fantastic, leading to great visuals, perfect casting, and unforgettable moments like in episode 8, when Takumi and Kiba give speeches about dreams while Kaido plays guitar for Yuka.

Two-thirds of the way into the show, there is a MAJOR plot twist involving the main character. Now, having seen the whole show, I guess it makes sense and was more-or-less necessary. But at the time it really felt like it came out of nowhere. I hate how Japanese writers feel this need to make everybody's backstories intertwined because they're all tied together by the "red string of fate." I really related to Takumi when I started it, but in retrospect the things in him that I saw myself in were never really there.

Nevertheless, I still love Inui Takumi and most of the cast. I kept waiting for the Delta belt to fall into Kiba Yuji's hands, but it never did. Instead it went to Ryusei School kid #9, extremely boring character. Kusaka's antics are at least fun to watch.

I see reviews from millennials saying they "hated" Kusaka Masato. If you actually cheered when he met his end, you should not be giving your opinions on Kamen Rider, or media in general. Just play with the belts or something. 8/10

Best Rider: Kamen Rider Kaixa (Kusaka)

The beginning of Heisei Rider: a calm, soothing detective show. It didn't really live up to the hype for me though.

 Godai Yusuke is a fantastic protagonist, but I can't be carried through 50 episodes of Kamen Rider on the strength of one character alone. Not to say the other characters are weak per se, but there is no other strong, likeable character to balance things out. Everything revolves around the charisma and likeability of Godai. What surrounds him is a slow, placid detective show, albeit one with a rather warm and comforting atmosphere.

What also hurts my enjoyment is the two-parter format. The predictability gets to me when, every time I start up an odd-numbered episode, I know that nothing of real consequence is going to happen. And towards the end, I started to feel the repetition in how the fights ended; Godai beats the monster, Ichijou looks on with a worried look, Godai gives him the thumbs up, Ichijou's expression softens and he returns the thumbs up. Rinse and repeat. Nothing wrong with repetition in itself, it's a Kamen Rider show after all, but things like that start to get to me when I'm not totally invested in the show.

I was expecting more of a twist at the end, but looking back I can appreciate the melancholic, wintery atmosphere of the show overall. The second half does get a bit dreary for my tastes though. 6/10

Best Rider: Kamen Rider Kuuga (Godai)

Kamen Rider Guren Lagann? Not really. I watched this because I'm a fan of Kazuki Nakashima's other works and I was expecting something with a little more depth. What I got was fine though.

My complaints with this show are actually similar to mine with Kuuga: two-parter format, and a main character who outshines the rest of the cast. Gentarou is a loveable main character, the perfect protagonist for a more light-hearted entry like this. As for the rest of the cast, there's no one else who balances out or competes with the energy Gentarou puts out. But for a show with this type of tone, I think it's nice when everyone gets to partake in silly situations and wacky episodes because you can tell that everyone is having fun. It's a high school comedy Kamen Rider series with genuine heart. I can't really dislike it, although my enjoyment was lukewarm.

Don't go into this expecting the adrenaline-pumping shounen action of TTGL or KLK. But if you want a light-hearted monster-of-the-(two)-weeks show set in a high school from a John Hughes movie, then you'll enjoy this. 6/10

Best Rider: Kamen Rider Fourze (Gentarou)

Thirteen riders face off in a kill-or-be-killed battle — sexual tensions flare as these angsty homosexuals fight to be the last one standing.

I was disappointed with this one. Every character has the bare minimum amount of characterization. Shinji, the protagonist, is an idiot and frustratingly indecisive. Yui, the heroine, doesn't really do anything. The character with the most to say about them is Kitaoka; he has a memorable real life persona, an underhanded fighting style, and he has a simple, selfish reason for fighting: to cure his terminal illness. That being said, the actor doesn't bring much more to the part. Conversely, Takashi Hagino brings so much life and charisma to the extremely one-note character Asakura, and every time he's on screen it's a treat. But most of the cast fall in the middle between these two extremes: minimal characterization and minimal charisma.

Watching this after Agito, I noticed lots of similarities and I don't think that's a coincidence. The whole cast seems to fit into a lot of the same roles established in Agito. Shinji plays an aloof airhead like Shouichi. Kitaoka's rider form looks a lot like G3 for no particular reason (isn't he supposed to be a bull?). And the mystery box of the Kanzaki House, which is rushed through at the end, feels really underwhelming in comparison to the Akatsuki Incident in Agito.

I thought the ending was decent, but there was a lot of wheel-spinning before getting there. Although the show seems to be about riders fighting tooth and nail in an epic battle, most of the time they just stare each other down and talk like gachimuchi actors. 5/10

Best Rider: Kamen Rider Ouja (Asakura)

Kamen Rider Bleach... but only the Don Kanonji arc. At first I was waiting for this show to go full Hueco Mundo, and deliver some really cool shit, but it became apparent pretty quickly that this was not that kind of show.

I've seen opinions from a lot of people who either love this show or hate it (mostly hate) and I guess I fall somewhere in the middle; this show didn't make me feel anything. I don't hate it, and I enjoy watching the actors have a good time and everything, but it's not really what I watch Kamen Rider for. My biggest criticism of the show would probably be that it has a bit of the Macross '82 problem. It feels like they weren't confident in taking the concept too seriously, but were hesitant to go the full comedic cartoony route, so it ends up being just "blah." The best example is the relationship between Makoto and his little sister Kanon. 

Is Makoto's devotion to his sister something deep and serious, or is it more of just a funny attribute? It's only ever played for laughs a small handful of times. As a true, red-blooded, hardcore siscon, I would have enjoyed if they really leaned into the goofy anime stuff, and had Makoto constantly breaking his cold demeanor to fawn over his adorable little sister... Ah, my heart is starting to hurt.

There were some interesting ideas for sure, like how Takeru becomes more like the Great Eye than a human by the end. But looking back, I can't point to any moment I really loved or hated. 5/10 

(also Omori stole the show)

Best Rider: Omori

An unmitigated disaster and a schizophrenic, thoroughly anti-human story.

I love the sleek, simple design of Kamen Rider Zero One. And the final form is one of my favorites in the series; nothing too over-the-top. I also love the "2.5D" anime-esque editing of the fight scenes. But from the beginning, Aruto's motivation never grabbed me. He wants to protect humagears because... why? His dad was a robot? Seems to me like they're just machines that can get easily hacked into and turned into mass murderers, which happens every episode. I know that it's a metaphor for prejudice or whatever, but if the foundation of the show is that weak, it's destined to fall apart by the end (and it did).

After Aruto loses possession of Hiden Tech, the tone shifts to a bone-dry, dour, morose slog. Then soon after, the story just descends into madness. Characters die and come back left and right, key character details get changed or deleted from the story, and no character is safe from being transformed into an embarrassing charicature of their former self. I was in disbelief at some of the writing decisions made in the final third of the show. And through all of this, every single episode, you have to suffer through multiple slow, drawn-out monologues, delivered by characters ugly-crying, set to dramatic orchestral music. I just felt bad for the actors involved.

This show is embarrassing at best, evil at worst. I can't get over the straight-up psychopathic "drama" from that final arc. Remember when Izu literally exploded in a comical ball of flame, and then Aruto just built a new one in the end and he was fine? What happened to Humagears being real people and not fetishist playthings? 

This show simply does not understand human emotions. I think it was written by AI. 2/10

Best Rider: None of them.