kamen rider, ranked

kamen rider ooo has shakespeare and the playwrights of ancient greece shaking. 

the protagonists, ankh and eiji, are the most complex characters kamen rider has to offer. this show is driven by their equally complex relationship. the villains and supporting cast won't disappoint you, either. the female characters are some of the most well done in rider (hina in particular), and the relationship between the men who share the kamen rider birth mantle is fun to watch. the meta has a lot to offer, and the pacing is the perfect balance of serialized and episodic. 

is it gay? yes. kobayshi literally admitted to baiting to fujoshis.
did i cry? oh god. yes. and i kept crying, for years.

i haven't rewatched w since i watched for the first time three years ago, but i don't remember having too complaints. the emotional core of this show is the relationship between shotarou and philip, who fuse to form kamen rider double. the show gets a lot of flavor out of its film noir theme, and wanna-be "hard-boiled" detective shotarou is hilarious. the way it treats women leaves a little to be desired (mostly just wakana), and i found the secondary rider (accel) to be bland and charmless. 

is it gay? shoutarou always calls philip his "partner", and its in the theme song, so you tell me.
did i cry? like a little baby!

i put off watching fourze for a while, because the idea of it being a high school drama turned me off. i was so, so wrong... 

fourze is a parody of high school dramas. a funny one. the homages to american high school media and meteor's internal monologues were a riot. i was laughing pretty much constantly... but for a parody, fourze is extremely heartfelt. fourze doesn't hide what it's theme is. friendship! this sounds stupid and cheese-y, but ... it's impossible not to fall in love with gentarou. his character grows a lot a in a way that's both subtle and really touching. the way nothing makes him lose his positive outlook actively makes me feel less jaded... fourze is food for my soul... it's also blessed with a strong ensemble cast. it treats its female ensemble members as well as its male ensemble members, which is nice.  

is it gay? fourze's focus is on platonic bonds, but ......... yes.
did i cry? oh, bitch...  i was not ready...

build was originally intended to be the last show of the heisei era, and that shows in its writing. truly, it's shugo muto's love letter to the franchise. this isn't your typical government conspiracy or alien invasion narrative. build's meta is a thick bone to chew on.  for a kid's show, it offers nuanced political commentary, reflective of themes throughout the kamen rider franchise. the messages of self-determination (another strong franchise theme) and found family in particular resonated with me. the characters' journey makes a motto of "love and peace" feels heartfelt, and not cheese-y.

is it gay? shugo muto pitched this as "a passionate drama between men."
did i cry? yes, but only because i was so touched by it.

riku sanjou had one bottle of respecting women juice, and he drank it all when writing fourze. if drive weren't so awful towards its female characters, it would be higher on this list. that being said, i think riku sanjou is a writer that really understands the kamen rider franchise, and that really shines with drive. gou, the secondary, is one of the best characters in kamen rider. period. heart and banno are some of the best villians (one u will love, and one u will hate). drive is also hilarious, that special investigations unit will always make you laugh. i was mystified by chase's tight pants and ass.

it is gay? it's bisexual!
did i cry? yeah...

if you're in japan, and you ask an adult if they've seen kamen rider, they'll probably answer den-o.  it's by far the most popular. all of japan was charmed by the show's offbeat humor and the perseverance of its clumsy, soft-spoken protagonist, ryoutarou.

den-o is more episodic than most kamen rider, so don't go in expecting much of a plot.  den-o's strength lies in its characters and the comedic ways they play off each other. you will fall in love with the imagin (urataros might be hit or miss), and and root for ryoutarou as he tries his best to be a good den-o. sakurai yuuto will make you cry. 

is it gay? it is if you're gay and have a crush on momotatos.
did i cry (over sakurai yuuto)? yes

there are some days i think ex-aid is a mess, and there are some days i think yuya takahashi is an unrecognized geinus. one thing's for sure, i've never seen anything like kamen rider ex-aid.

ex-aid has characters of varying quality.  parado is one of the most underrated villians in rider, as he grapples with complex feelings for the main character, emu, and fights for his right to self-determinate.  it's easy to see why kujo kiriya is a fan favorite. hiiro and taiga leave a bit to be desired. ex-aid has a lot of nuances that are hard to heard under the garrish sound-mixing. it pits the main villian and main rider as characters foils, the meta is so juicy i could write a book. i appreciate hojo emu a lot as neurodivergent coded character, with parado being his dark alter. however, ex-aid suffers from pacing issues. it's final "boss" is boring, compared to his predecessors, parado and dan kuroto. it is not nice to women, poppy in particular got it bad. she gets beat up, and had more potential as a character than what they used her for. nico saiba? absolutely no notes. perfect. ex-aid is also the video game show, so it has a lot of fun jokes and nods to that. 

also, bright colors taste good. 

is it gay? "there's no point if you don't ride me, emu." - kujo kiriya
did i cry? no but i still went through the five stages of grief.

"and then they were roommates" meets "battle royale." 

kamen rider ryuki is unique in that the plot is a fight to the death between 13 kamen riders. 13 kamen riders, taylor? that sounds like a lot. but trust me, there are no flops in this eccentric cast. kido shinji is the og himbo,  kitaoka is asshole we love to hate.  gorou, his devoted husband.the  women in this show are so good,  it makes me feel kamen rider went backwards after... shinji, ren, and yui's relationship is central relationship  of the show,and  main source of conflict. 

is it gay? shinji is the main character of a dating sim, but every route has a bad ending.
did i cry? yes.

kiva is less like a kamen rider show, and more like a telenovela. this show isn't driven by a heated relationship between men, but by romantic and family drama. wateru goes through a lot on these fronts. too much. a lot of people hate this, but i loved it. the drama kept me engaged. however, kiva is misogynistic to the point of being offensive.  toshiki inoue should be put in jail... otoya is a terrible, terrible man, but if you're anything like me, you'll love him. but not nago, who seems catholic. but i supposed that was needed in a goth show...

kiva is about vampires, which makes it way sexier than the average kamen rider show. wateru is pretty hot. 

is it gay? yes.
did i cry? no.

wizard is in his a bad spot because it aired right after wooourze. it attempts to tackle complex themes such as depression, grief, and chronic illness, but doesn't quite pin them to the ground. still, i'm glad it tried. 

haruto's not as over the top as some other characters, so people don't quite get him.  the civilian ensemble is charming and fun, and nitou kousuke is my favorite secondary, hands down. one of the biggest responsibility haruto has to koyomi, who relies on him for mana. their relationship is one of the driving forces of the show, but because of scheduling conflicts with her actress, koyomi herself doesn't get all the development she could have. there's a female rider, but her arc doesn't get as complete as should. wizard also has a trans supporting character. 

the fight choreography in wizard is some of my favorite in rider.  very flashy and stylish.

is it gay? gay, but homophobic.
did i cry? yes.

this may be an anniversary season, but don't feel like you need to watch all of heisei to understand it. you still won't.

 decade is a good show as long as you don't think about it too hard. tsukasa is a bastard who knows as little about what's going on as we do.  while the nature of decade's world remains elusive, one thing is clear: tsukasa may be a wanderer, but his friends are his home...  this doesn't stop tsukasa from betraying them though. whatever, i like the drama. the ending of this show had to go before a tv ethics review board. 

is it gay? tsukasa and daiki's relationship would not make sense if daiki weren't an angry ex-lover.
did i cry? no. 

this is another one you don't watch for the plot.

 kabuto is one of the earlier shows, but is pretty subversive in that kabuto is not the main character. kagami arata (aka kamen rider gattack) is! his lovablity carries the show.  i can not even describe tendou (kamen rider kabuto) in words. he's not like anyone you'd meet in real life, that's for sure. kabuto has some side characters that are enjoyable (tsurugi in particular is the one i found  to be compelling), and some that are less so. while it does pack some plot twists, it is extremely slow-going.

is it gay? yes
did i cry? no

okay, so now we're getting into shows i did not like territory. 

 gaim throws a lot of shit on the wall, and none of it sticks. for a show trying its hardest to be dark and subversive, the meta leaves a lot to be desired. it's a grim show, written by a grim guy.  people who  like gen urobochi's other work will see classic urobochisms, like taking women's agency. it has a character that's a gay stereotype, which sucks. most of the characters are antagonists on different sides of a "warring states" conflict, so it lacks the same emotional core that makes rider resonate with me so hard.

but the suits are good and the soundtrack fucks...

is it gay? it's homophobic.
did i cry? no.

amazons wasn't released on 7 am on saturdays, it was released on Amazon Prime for streaming. it's rated TV-MA, or whatever the japanese equivalent is.  i don't have a lot to say about amazons, mostly because i repressed it from my memory as an automatic trauma response. in many, kamen rider shows have plots where monsters fight for their right to exist, but kamen rider amazons takes it one step further, because the monsters literally need to eat people to survive...

season 1 is better than season 2. 

is it gay? if squint, very hard.
did i cry? no.

i try to forget this show exists. 

so okuno is so good in his role as tokiwa sougo, to the point where i don't think any other actor could pull off playing him. it's an anniversary season, with cameos from other riders, which range from good, to lackluster, to downright offensive. if you're a fan of kamen rider blade, you should watch that arc. tsukasa and daiki from kamen rider decade are reoccurring characters in this season,  which is fun, but it doesn't really add to to those characters. 

the main issue i have with this show, is that i don't buy its emotional core. sougo's staying true to goal of being king, despite so much discouragement from outside forces, is supposed to be touching, but it's not that admirable of a goal. sougo makes his first friends in tsukuyomi and geiz, but i don't get what they see in him. 

is it gay? daiki's here.
did i cry? of joy, when it was over.