Kamen Rider is a masterpiece. Amazing story, action, and characters plus the amount of changes pact in to only 98 episodes. It changed Tokusatsu forever and will never be forgotten. Why? You ask. Well I'm going to tell you. For starters, the concept that a motorcycle rider and a scientist is turned into a monster with super powers by a terrorist organization and fights them and their monsters with his friends ( one of which got her father killed by them) is just a brilliant yet simple idea. Next, the characters are very entertaining with new ones being added every 15 episodes or so. My favorite is Ruriko who's actress (Chieko Morikawa) strangely left the show in episode 14 to join SWEET POTATOS. What the heck is Sweet Potatos? There is no information about it. Can someone tell me what this is? While I love Ruriko I hate Taki. He is some FBI agent who joins the show in episode 13. He is SO annoying. Takeshi who is the first Kamen Rider is pretty cool and has a good character plot as he tries to except that he is a monster. Hayato is the other Kamen Rider. He replaces Takashi in episode 14 and is a photographer. From episodes 40-52 Takashi makes guest appearances. In episode 53 he comes back and remains there for the rest of the show with Hayato guest appearing every so often including the finale. I do prefer Takashi over Hayato as he seems like a kinder person. The location of the heroes changes over time. Episodes 1-13 have Snack Amigo, a restaurant, 14-73 Tachibana Racing Club, and 74-98 Rider Kid Corps HQ. The owner of the club Tobei is also the Kamen Riders' trainer. He has a funny running joke about him being old. The club members include Ruriko's friend Hiromi, Michi, Yuri, the oddly funny Mari, Emi, the fortune teller Mika, the food loving Choco, Yokko, and the hilarious kid character Goro. The Rider Kid Corps members Naoki and Mitsuru are very annoying and boring. Some disappear into thin air. Others make it to the end of the show. Now to the villans. Shocker is a huge organization with many members. The combatman which are the soldiers and the scientists are in every episode. The Kaijin are the monsters who come in many forms. They are humans fused with animals and are very weird but awesome in look and power. Each episode having it's own monster. My favorite is Gillzames from episode 67. He is a saw shark monster who was killed by Kamen Rider 1's Drill Shoot. His design and episode are what makes him my favorite. My second favorite is Haotori Bachi from episode 92. He is a venus fly trap/ bee monster with acid spit who is killed when Kamen Rider 1 pulls him off a cliff with him. I like him for his design and how close he gets to killing Kamen Rider. My third favorite is Siomonking from episode 73. He is a fiddler crab monster who is killed by the Double Rider Kick. He has a good episode and design. Over the course of the show Shocker commanders are introduced. Colonel Zol 26-39, Dr. Shinigami 40-52, 61, 63, and 68, Jigoku Taishi 53-62, 64-67,and 69-79, and finally Gelshocker's commander General Black 80-98. Gelshocker is a fusion between Shocker and the mysterious Geldam in the last quarter of the show. They all have a Kaijin form Colonel Zol- Golden Wolf Man, Dr. Shinigami- Ika Devil, Jigoku Taishi-Garaganda, and General Black-Hilchamelion. These are all used in the same episode they die in. Jigoku Taishi is my favorite because of his episodes and death episode. Then I'd go with Dr. Shinigami with is creepy nature and supernatural abilities. Next Colonel Zol with his very over the top acting. Finally General Black because he has NO personality. Now it's time to talk about the worst and best episodes. I don't have a least favorite episode but the worst episodes are 51,56,70, and 84 just for being boring. There is a recurring theme of a scientist making something and shocker tries to steal it. 12,23,45,51,57, and 58. The best episodes include 5,13,16-17,19,26,27,34,39,40-41,45,50,53,55,62,65,67,68,72-73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80-81,87,91-94,97-98. The best being 79 where Jigoku Taishi who is suspected to have leaked the rattle snake monster Garaganda's plan to Kamen Rider is supposed to be executed but Takashi who wants to know why he became a traitor saves him and learns that the shocker Leader created a Kaijin without telling Jigoku Taishi, Ganikomoru. Jigoku Taishi who in a very well done scene is revealed to be Garaganda who capture Kamen Rider's friends revealing that the whole thing was staged. Kamen Rider and him fight and he is defeated by the Rider Kick exclaiming "Long live the Shocker army!" before exploding. The Shocker leader dismantles shocker continuing the wonderful mystery of episodes 78-80. With all of that I hope that you understand why Kamen Rider is my favorite show of all time. I think that it will live on forever as a classic. And as Jigoku Taishi once said, Long Live The Shocker Army!!!!!!
Review of Kamen Rider
