I finished KR V3

[Glamador]

There sure is a lot of praise for this show in this thread. Maybe that's why it's the only one that's been officially licensed. It's really hard for me to invest $150 into a show that, based on X and Amazon, I may not like at all.

X and Amazon were chores to watch for me, even watching them 1 episode at a time, days apart. They were just SO repetitive and dragged SO much (8-part fetch quests ho...).

Can anyone tell me if V3 is at all similar to its successors? Because I'm going to watch all of Masked Rider eventually, but given the pricetag it's pretty sure that V3 will be the very last one I get around to unless it's something truly special.

 

[Ivanhobe]

I will say this, on the technical side, V3 is a well balanced show, it basically took everything the original series did and refined it. The action is very good, the writing is quite solid, there is a good use of characters and the show did some groundbreaking work when it comes to 2-parters and and story arcs. It is a well rounded show and i would even dare to say that modern KR shows (or Toku in general) owe a lot to V3, it set the groundwork for many things in Toku that nowadays we take for granted.

That said, V3 is a product of its time, so given your experience with the genre you might not like it. But of course, you also have to account for the Miyaushi Factor.

Hiroshi Miyaushi is the actor who portrayed Kazami Shiro/V3, the man is quite legendary in toku for being a founding member of KR and SS, but also because he is a charisma powerhouse, maybe V3 as a shows was well balanced, but Miyaushi´s performance pulled everything to an entirely different level.

There hasn´t really been anything quite like him in toku, and really, you need to watch it for yourself to understand. If you want, you can track down a few episodes of Kaiketsu Zubat (basically his Magnum Opus, or as Igadevil once described it, Hiroshi Miyaushi: The Series) to give you an idea of what exactly we are dealing with.

There is a lot of goodness on V3, and Miyaushi is certainly one of the reasons why the show is such an enjoyable experience.

 

[NeonZ]

There sure is a lot of praise for this show in this thread. Maybe that's why it's the only one that's been officially licensed. It's really hard for me to invest $150 into a show that, based on X and Amazon, I may not like at all.

X and Amazon were chores to watch for me, even watching them 1 episode at a time, days apart. They were just SO repetitive and dragged SO much (8-part fetch quests ho...).

Can anyone tell me if V3 is at all similar to its successors? Because I'm going to watch all of Masked Rider eventually, but given the pricetag it's pretty sure that V3 will be the very last one I get around to unless it's something truly special.

If you thought that X dragged in spite of the subplot with his fiancee in the first 8 episodes, Apollogeist's build up afterwards and the RS device plot in the last 12 episodes or so, then you likely won't enjoy most of V3.

V3 used two part stories in the first half of the series, which might help rushing through it, but they were mostly standalone stories, with little plot movement most of the time. V3 only really starts moving consistently after Riderman debuts in the last 10 or so episodes.

(Also, an OOO fan complaining about fetch quests? Really?)

 

[Burkion]

The best thing I can say about V3 is that it isn't awesome BECAUSE of the actor who played Shiro. That's something that's very true about stuff like Zuvatt, but V3 stands out even without him as paradoxical as that sounds.

The villains are fantastic all around, with Doktor G being my all time favorite Kamen Rider villain "Kamen RAIIIIIIIIDAH V3" and he does not overstay his welcome in the slightest. Baron Wing is the only villain of the show, as mentioned on the previous page, that feels a bit flat, but that's only because he's surrounded by some very fantastic personalities and his portion was taken up by a multitude of remakes, some of which having nothing to do with his gimmick.

Rider Man himself is a fantastic addition to the latter half of the series, boosting it to the epic heights it needs. V3 doesn't have a real ending, per-say, but that's because it's pretty symbolic of the Riders themselves-at least the old school ones. They are the lonely men who ride onwards to fight evil.

And he does get proper closure in Stronger a few years later.

 

[Glamador]

And he does get proper closure in Stronger a few years later.

The thing about riders from that era is that they all had cameos in later shows. X and Amazon didn't get a lick of closure either. Just "Well the bad guy is dead so I'm gonna wander around and do what I can as the crazy isolated cyborg/Jungleman I am that belongs nowhere in society so...I GO."

That doesn't bother me at all though. Because it means past riders aren't all gone for good....well, until Super-1. No continuity in Black!

Even though it seems like most of these mashup movies have been getting bad reviews it's hard for me to imagine disliking them completely for the pure fun of seeing the older riders in a movie with modern effects. (Igadevil's Stronger GIF comes to mind)

 

[Ivanhobe]

The thing about riders from that era is that they all had cameos in later shows. X and Amazon didn't get a lick of closure either. Just "Well the bad guy is dead so I'm gonna wander around and do what I can as the crazy isolated cyborg/Jungleman I am that belongs nowhere in society so...I GO."

While that is true, you have to keep in mind that V3´s case is different from X and Amazon´s.

At the end all riders ride into sunset leaving everything behind, but if you read the conversations we had about V3 ending, you´ll realize that V3 is inconclusive for more than just that. In comparison, Amazon was quite conclusive, he defeated Gedon, the Garanda Empire and Emperor Zero so his mission had effectively ended, in V3´s case he did defeated Destron, but it was clear that the threat was not over, so him getting clossure in Stronger is far more poignant.

 

[Mr G]

There sure is a lot of praise for this show in this thread. Maybe that's why it's the only one that's been officially licensed. It's really hard for me to invest $150 into a show that, based on X and Amazon, I may not like at all.

X and Amazon were chores to watch for me, even watching them 1 episode at a time, days apart. They were just SO repetitive and dragged SO much (8-part fetch quests ho...).

Can anyone tell me if V3 is at all similar to its successors? Because I'm going to watch all of Masked Rider eventually, but given the pricetag it's pretty sure that V3 will be the very last one I get around to unless it's something truly special.

Well, I can't say how similar it is to X or Amazon because I've not have the opportunity to see either. I can say, however, that I thoroughly enjoyed V3. As I've said earlier, I found some of the episodes in the Archbishop Wing arc to drag a bit but the rest was stellar. Epic does not even begin to describe seeing the Double Riders team up with V3. Also, the kaijin designs are just fantastic. And when it comes to fighting, V3 throws down. There's no subtlety in the fight sequences. V3 swings with reckless abandon. So there's absolutely great action, an engrossing story, perfect music, and lots of stuff going for it. Sure, it shows its age here and there, but that just adds to the experience IMO.

As far as the price, I say save up and get it. There's nothing like owning an official release and supporting the people willing to license toku domestically. Plus, it's jammed with extras.

The best thing I can say about V3 is that it isn't awesome BECAUSE of the actor who played Shiro. That's something that's very true about stuff like Zuvatt, but V3 stands out even without him as paradoxical as that sounds.

The villains are fantastic all around, with Doktor G being my all time favorite Kamen Rider villain "Kamen RAIIIIIIIIDAH V3" and he does not overstay his welcome in the slightest. Baron Wing is the only villain of the show, as mentioned on the previous page, that feels a bit flat, but that's only because he's surrounded by some very fantastic personalities and his portion was taken up by a multitude of remakes, some of which having nothing to do with his gimmick.

Rider Man himself is a fantastic addition to the latter half of the series, boosting it to the epic heights it needs. V3 doesn't have a real ending, per-say, but that's because it's pretty symbolic of the Riders themselves-at least the old school ones. They are the lonely men who ride onwards to fight evil.

And he does get proper closure in Stronger a few years later.

Doktor G is also my favorite villain. I also agree that Riderman boosts the show to an even more awesome level. The one thing I would have liked to have seen was a big fight involving the Double Riders, V3, and Rider Man. That would have been the proverbial bee's knees.

 

[Scissors]

I sometimes wish that they would have brought Riderman in a little bit earlier.
You can say what you want about his design, but he is one of the most interesting Riders of the Showa era.
In the beginning, he was the reflection of V3. He was what V3 would have become if he had continued fighting for revenge, and I think that his redemption was incredible.

I don't know what it is about this show, but you just want to keep watching.

Oh, and am I the only one who thinks that the Destron grunts were some of the best foot-soldiers of the Showa era?
Their design was so perfect. I don't get why the All Riders movies didn't use them more.
Were they not supposed to be upgraded Shocker soldiers anyway?

 

[NeonZ]

Their design was so perfect. I don't get why the All Riders movies didn't use them more.
Were they not supposed to be upgraded Shocker soldiers anyway?

They use the Shocker name and Shocker grunts because Shocker itself is iconic. When the idea of an "evil organization" is mentioned in Japan, they immediately associate it with Shocker. Even Sentai parodies still often end up going with Shocker rip-offs if they're superficial due to how strongly they're remembered. It's not the quality of their designs or anything like that, they receive the spotlight because they're "Shocker".

The soldiers in All Riders vs Dai-Shocker actually weren't supposed to be just Shocker soldiers and had that new suicide missile ability, at least, but they still used the old design exactly as it was just for recognition.

 

[Khaiden]

I will never be able to identify with the people who felt V3's ending fell short, because first time I ever saw it it was the reinterpretation of the PS1 videogame in which the Great Leader is more ominous, there's no recording device, explosions are longer, and Junko has a small, yet significant IMO, scene in the end.

Yeah, if anyone loved the series I recommend that videogame if you can get it.

All 4 generals were great to me, and the only reason the Archbishop Wing episodes never felt like they dragged on was out of their sheer action and insanity. That priest they introduce in the first episode is a lovely nutcase, there's another episode in that arc that's remembered as being one of V3's biggest trolls to Destron, and episode 39 (another remake episode) has magnificent action.
Archbishop Wing's last episode is excellent too. As Igadevil said, despite being a remake, it really stands on it's own. V3's Mach Kick is an overlooked attack that I really wish would be another finisher for him in Climax Heroes.

Which reminds me, I wish they would use some of his 26 secrets for Rider Arts in the game.

Something else I recommend watching is the 2000 stage show where the Triple Riders and Kuuga fight against some of Shocker and Shadow Moon. It's hard to find these days but if you can definitely watch it. They actually introduce one of the 26 secrets there, V3 Thunder. Oh, and Miyauchi is there, along with Fujioka and Nakae Shinji, the narrator.

Their design was so perfect. I don't get why the All Riders movies didn't use them more.

But they are! First, in the All Riders movie, there were some spread out here and there between the Shocker grunts, in fact, in Riderman's fight scene at the big battle, he is fighting a lot of them and you can clearly see them.
There were some here and there among Super Shocker too.
There were much less in LGKR due to the emphasis that it's the original Shocker they're fighting there.

HOWEVER, in Super Hero Taisen there were LOTS of them, and part of it I attribute to Narutaki. It was awesome to see so many of them, and makes me think Toei does want to use their suits a lot.