I miss the days when Kamen rider shows had only one rider.

[MattComix]

I more or less agree with the one Rider thing. I guess maybe it's that my instinct is to see it somewhat in comicbook terms. If Sentai is a team book then Rider in contrast should be a solo hero title.

If you want character dynamics involving multiple super powered heroes that's what the team book is for. But then again even solo hero books will have some other characters that are kind of like the main hero but not exactly. Batman for instance. Though even that can get out of control. I prefer the Batman Family to be a very small group rather than damn near it's own superhero universe concentrated in Gotham.

I also just enjoy a certain degree of contrast. In the shows I don't want everybody and their mother having a henshin belt or for their to be cheap excuses for Rider vs. Rider stuff. If it were up to me I'd probably have either just the one Rider or handle it like W did and have 2 max (Not counting Eternal).

3 is probably the absolute limit for me and that's if it's something like Agito where they each have Rider powers but in very different ways (mystic, science, monster). Guess it also comes from Black and Kuuga being my first shows. I'm sure if you came in with Ryuki or Kabuto the idea of one Rider would seem really odd to you.

 

[aphroboy]

I wouldn't mind a single rider...but I would want to see him supported by multiple helpers

Female Senshi...ie Tackle
Kid Group...ie Rider Scouts
Infantry Troops...ie ZECTroopers
Special Humans...ie Joe the Haze
A Wannabe Warrior...ie Gan Gan G or Taiyaki Ultimate Form
A Warrior similar to a rider...Victory One, Alternative, Oni no Yoroi
Ally Kaijin...ie Moguera Juujin or Kujira Kaijin

This. I would have preferred if they made a distinction between Kamen Rider and their allies like tackle or shadowmoon instead.

For example in the series you would have Shinji declaring himself Kamen Rider Ryuki and Ren is just referred to as Knight or give him an official name like Mirror Warrior Knight or something. I just wonder if Black was made in the 2000s, would shadowmoon be called Kamen Rider Shadow?

You can see how when there are rider team ups only the main riders get all the glory and screen time anyway and the secondary riders are just an after thought. Either way I don't mind having more than 1 rider per show.

 

[Scissors]

Agito did something, which I have yet to see any other Rider show do.
We were presented to all the Riders right from the beginning (though Ryu didn't get to transform until episode 8 or so)

But the point is. Agito had 3 Riders, who in the first many episodes were doing their own thing.
Gills and G3 never felt like secondary Riders. They were main characters with their own supporting cast, who gave us different perspectives of the story.
It was not until very late in the show that they actually got to know each other and work together. They didn't even consider Gills to be a Rider at first.

I personally thought that this was a very good way to handle the multiple Rider thing, because it felt like seeing 3 Rider shows at once, and you kept wondering what would happen when they started to cross each others paths.
I know there was also Another Agito, but he had so few episodes that I won't count him in.

 

[Midori Ken]

Gills and G3 never felt like secondary Riders. They were main characters with their own supporting cast, who gave us different perspectives of the story.
It was not until very late in the show that they actually got to know each other and work together. They didn't even consider Gills to be a Rider at first.

My thoughts exactly. Hopefully we'll get something like this again eventually.

 

[Psychotime]

I feel weird saying this, but I wished Kabuto had only one Rider in it. If it had been just him kicking Worms assses, I think thatd have been a better and easier story to tell. But instead we had to have arcs after arcs of the other Riders that are just really lame.

I haven't finished Kabuto as of yet, but I gotta say that that show NEEDED more than one rider, because Tendou was an insufferable character.

Now eight may have been overdoing it, but I'll leave my judgement for that whenever I actually finish that show.

I just wonder if Black was made in the 2000s, would shadowmoon be called Kamen Rider Shadow?

My money's on yes.

 

[Galaxian]

I haven't finished Kabuto as of yet, but I gotta say that that show NEEDED more than one rider, because Tendou was an insufferable character.

Now eight may have been overdoing it, but I'll leave my judgement for that whenever I actually finish that show.

I agree, Kaubto needed other Riders. Tendou gets old really fast.

Blade on the other hand, could have done without out one of its Riders at least.

I'm on episode 14 of Hibiki and I was about to give up on the series until Ibuki was introduced and now it started to pick up.

 

[Black Fang]

Blade on the other hand, could have done without out one of its Riders at least.

But with the Riders' motifs based on card suites, you're going to need four minimum.

I would definitely eliminate Lance and L'arc from the movie though. Glaive was created from the Cerberus Ace card so making copies of said card to create two more Riders and creating more Cerberus cards to give them their own attacks was unnecessary. Let Glaive be the "do it all" Rider that replaces the other four in their absence and can use any card regardless of suite.

 

[Galaxian]

But with the Riders' motifs based on card suites, you're going to need four minimum.

Not really. Both Blade and Chalice sealed Undeads that were not their type.

 

[Psychotime]

Not really. Both Blade and Chalice sealed Undeads that were not their type.

That doesn't make sense. But for a show with a playing card theme, you're required to have one hero for each suite. You can't have spades, hearts, and diamonds and outright remove clubs.

And there has to be a Joker character.

 

[Sentaifan'07 Xman]

I think it all depends on how the supporting cast is written. If we get someone like Ichijou then we could do without a secondary rider, but now a days we just get a new rider to help the main one, and they've generally been written pretty well (There are a few exceptions of course). I do miss the days we had quite the amount of riders. I think 4 riders works exceptionally well, considering how Agito and Hibiki developed them properly. But I don't have an issue with the system today. Not every series can have an awesome character like Ichijou.

Sure, it could be good needless to say, plenty of great shows out there with one hero, whether they be anime or whatnot.

While we're talking, I hope we go back to a more dark, serious, adult Kamen Rider series. For one thing to give it that classic Kamen Rider feel, and for the sake of being different from Super Sentai for variety. With Superhero Time, it feels like they've become more similar in tone lately.

Well, I would most certainly concur with your opinions as well you too. But yeah, I do miss those days when it was just either 1 or 4 Riders.