Humanoid villains in Heisei Rider: Which approach do you prefer?

[lazycoconut]

A thought I had while discussing the Zodiarts:

Earlier Heisei Rider series tended to have human-looking villains that were really an evil race in disguise (such as the Worms, Fangire, Undead, etc.) and at the conclusion of each mini-arc, each one would be destroyed by the Rider. But in more recent years, W and Fourze have taken the approach of having the monster of the week be a normal human who chooses to do something evil, by using a Memory/Switch. They are defeated by having the Memory/Switch destroyed, the person lives, and is usually given a chance at redemption. Which approach do you like better, and why?

 

[Galaxian]

I like KR villains to have an actual hierarchy where the monster of the week answers to someone else, and the Riders are force to become stronger in order to match them. That was my problem with series like Blade and Kabuto where, for the most part, they monsters were just out by themselves attacking random humans at random times, they tried to add some for of authoritative figure to both, but it was to late IMO. Series like Den-O and Kiva added "leaders" a little earlier, but their first half was still filled with random encounters. W and Foruze on the other hand introduced bosses and generals early (W doing a much better job IMO).

So I prefer the Memory/Switch approach because it requires a more powerful force that's behind it to be present from early on.

 

[Shynilyte]

OOO had a different approach: The Yummies were created from humans, but they were just monsters, with no human forms.

 

[Sentaifan'07 Xman]

Me?! I actually missed the old days where the Riders would get stronger after defeating each MoTW because it somewhat build up strong characteristics in the hero's evolution and it provides a lot of creative ideals to make way for an even powerful enemy that the Riders would have to deal with in the later arcs.

 

[lazycoconut]

OOO had a different approach: The Yummies were created from humans, but they were just monsters, with no human forms.

OOO seemed to take the approach that anyone can become a monster if they let desire overtake them. I think that was an interesting theme of the show

 

[rising7]

.

I like the current approach for its variety, but there is a curiosity to how within the narrative of a few shows a monster is destroyed without remorse. An example is 555 where the Orphnochs that get killed by Riders are considered to have forfeited their humanity (it is my understanding that a similar thing is used to contrast the Riders with kaijin in Showa series).

I also second the like of a hierarchy of villains, since I definitely like having bad guys on par with the Riders. It's kind of disappointing when you eventually get a sense coming into each episode that the monsters' presence is negligible.