Brace yourselves, this is gonna be a long one.
I think most people probably know that as much of a classic nutcase as I am, I have enjoyed all the more recent series as well. Some, like Agito & Blade, I even put at the top of my list and consider them personal favorites. Others...not so much, but I still slogged through the whole thing and found the good points to them. Faiz did have some really cool ideas, and I can't say the story didn't manage to drag me in. And Hibiki, for all the flack it (often unfairly) takes, really isn't that bad. And I find the movie to be very good, perhaps one of the best of the Heisei Rider films. Ryuki, it has flaws- but I still defend it as much as I did back when it first came out.
And ditto for Kuuga- hard as it may be to believe, when they were first on, people did bash Kuuga and Agito on a couple boards. I remember Kuuga took flack for being a merchandise-heavy giant toy commerical (which is a lame argument, especially if you've seen how much junk they sold for the 70's Riders. The big difference with Kuuga is how much of it was the same character.) And Agito, which is practically considered a gift from God (no pun intended) by some these days, took a lot of heat back in 2001 for the casting of the heroes. Kuuga did too, but moreso with Agito- some people really didn't like Shouichi's profession of choice being a cook/gardener/housekeeper. And of course there were the usual "pretty boy" comments. I think both shows have gotten a far more favorable rap since then, but they were criticized (and probably, so was every other new show at some point!)
I often say there's never been a Rider production that's totally let me down, which is still true- there's almost always some parts I don't like like, but there's always enough to still make it pretty cool and enjoyable, which has made the franchise the most consistant for me. Part of it comes with age; I used to be a lot more adamant about what I liked and didn't like, but giving things time and re-viewings can have a big affect I think. I used to not care much for Skyrider, because it was the "half-baked remake". Now, for all its wackiness, it rates highly with me (partly because of the wackiness), and I eagerly looked forward to Kamen Rider THE FIRST, despite that being an even more blatant remake (I know, I know, it's more of a revamp/reimagining, but...Skyrider didn't have any Hongos or Ichimonjis except the original guys). I can't speak for anyone else (seeing as how reactions are all over the map) but I higly enjoyed FIRST all the same. I do wonder if I would have enjoyed it as much a few years ago though.
Back to the point: year after year, since 2000 I've still kept up with Rider. And do I think it should take a break? Yeah, I do. Will it? I don't know, I've long expected Rider would take another break, because it always does. Actually, I thought it was going to end after Faiz, but we know how that turned out! Part of the reason I've been able to consistantly enjoy the franchise is because it takes rests; they give the staff time to come up with new, fresh ideas and develop a new style that usually carries through in the shows that follow. Look at what happens when Rider takes a break and starts up again- we got shows like Skyrider (which, as I said, starts out as a so-so remake, but becomes something very different and very cool by the end.) We got BLACK, which is widely considered the favorite series of many fans. We got Shin, which is far from my favorite Rider movie, but it's still pretty damn respectable for what it tried back when it came out, and my opinion of it has grown tremendously in the last few years. And we got Kuuga, which pretty much reinvigorated the franchise so it's been running longer (in terms of consecutive series) than it ever has before. And now it's sort of a neo-classic.
I'll admit, as much as I liked Blade, Hibiki or Kabuto...I do feel a little break for a few years would only be a good thing. Because they've basically shown with the last few series that while they can still come up with some cool new ideas, they are also already tapping into shows that came out just a few years earlier for ideas. This isn't necessarily a bad thing now, but I think in a couple years it could lead to seeing a real drop in quality, if we have beetle-based Riders that got their powers from an ancient god and play instruments that turn into card-powered cell phones that can Cast Off, and their enemy is an ancient race of undead ghosts that arrived via a meteorite that fell out of a mirror, and all they really want is to kill/eat people. And they turn out to actually be the next evolutionary step for humans.
Or, as some people feel, the shows are just straying too far from the Kamen Rider vision or whatever. That's always been a personal preference kind of thing to me...I can watch Ryuki or Blade and still enjoy it as a Kamen Rider show. Do I get the same kind of enjoyment as when I watch V3 or X? Yeah, but I'm weird like that. Long story short, a break for the series can't hurt. Will they do it? I don't know, since ratings, toy sales and popularity with the housewives are such big factors these days, it could keep going and become the next Sentai, running year-after-year. I just hope that when the 40th Anniversary rolls around, they'll pull out something really, really cool.
Alright, enough about me. ::runs::
