Forever Knight said:
Plus I don't think it was ever explained why or how he returned. So it must have not been that important to Toei, just team up value.
To a degree, yes. Riderman came back mostly due to popularity, but they did have an idea of how he could have survived even back then, when they allude to him coming back to Japan from around Tahiti in one of the later shows (either the X-Rider movie or Stronger). Later, after Yamaguchi Akira passed away, Ishinomori actually put the ideas down to paper intending to do a tribute to him, but it didn't get to see the light until
Kamen Rider Spirits came around. Muraeda (artist/writer of the comic) got a to use a lot of ideas Ishinomori developed but never got to utilize, like the Machine Gun Arm (which was used in the non-Ishinomori V3 comics back when the show was actually on) and the fact that Riderman's belt does have typhoon fans like the first 3- four of them in fact.
So even though
Spirits is a retelling (mostly of ZX's story), I think it's generally accepted that what happens in the Riderman chapter could be seen as the off-screen, "cannon" explanation for how he survived. I'd like to see it (and really, the rest of the comic) adapted for TV some day, maybe as a cartoon or something.
That said, at the time, Riderman's death was pretty amazing, and tragic as hell. When the Double Riders seem to go down, we find out they'll eventually be back soon after. But with Riderman...nada. Well, they really did intend to kill him, but history has a funny way of working out.
Other notable hero deaths to me:
-Tackle: I wouldn't say I really loved Tackle or anything, and her actual death is sorta ho-hum...but for most of the episode up until it, it's positively depressing. She knows it's coming, Tachibana knows it's coming, and yet they don't tell Shigeru. Not until the time comes, and it's already too late.
-Kamen Rider BLACK: I know he was back on his feet soon after, but c'mon..."Kamen Rider is dead!" Chilling words.
[HIDE]Edit: saw Shougo's post, probably a good idea to hide these two.
-Another Agito: There's a lot I could say about this one, but in short it's one of the biggest reasons Agito ranks so highly with me. Him acting like he's fine during the battle, dying peacefully in front of Ryou, the whole "flashback" scene turning out differently...seriously good stuff.
-Kamen Rider Raia: Raia was such a cool character, he died far too soon. And he seemed to have it all figured out, but alas...
[/HIDE]
-Kamen Rider Zanki: I thought Zanki getting beat up by rehased monsters and then winding up buck naked was kind of silly...but the next episode made up for it in spades. That last moment with the leaf analogy...woah.
-Kamen Rider Kabuki: Ha! How many other people will pick this one? Kabuki was really more of a villain, but to me, he was just so misguided, more than anything else, and you can't totally blame him for ending up the way he did. That last look Hibiki gives him before turning away speaks volumes.
