Recomended Heisei Kamen Rider Series

[Dr Kain]

For Showa, definitely Black, but if you are going to watch Rx, wait until long after you have forgotten about Black or it will piss you off. Kotaro (Black) has an entirely different personality in Rx than he had in Black, and it completely destroys his character from the previous show.

 

[Kamen Rider IXA]

Both Gaim and W are probably the most awesome series. They have their own problems, but overally they are the best.
Kuuga-Agito is "a must watch" for every Toku fan.
Ryuki was one of my first two seasons. It's simply badass.
Faiz is kinda mixed, but it still a fun ride. Same with Blade. They are both awesome.
First half of the Hibiki is incredibly slow-paced and boring. Second half is more like Kamen Rider Series.
Kabuto is pretty good (especially in the second half)
Den-O kinda meh. I liked Den-O as kid, but now it's just not as funny as it used to be. More like stupid.
Kiva is ok. First half is probably better, but second half has its own good points, like Saga.
Decade isn't that bad. Last 10 episode are better, than the whole Den-O combined.
OOO, Fourze and Wizard are more or less same bullshit. Wizard is a bit better, but that's all. They are like 100% filler, boring, with stupid and undeveloped 2-D characters and without any spirit at all.

 

[Galaxian]

As good as Gaim is, it is pretty hard to recommend thanks to the fruit gimmick...

 

[Black Fang]

For Showa, definitely Black, but if you are going to watch Rx, wait until long after you have forgotten about Black or it will piss you off.

Didn't do that for me. I saw RX right after Black back in 2005.

As good as Gaim is, it is pretty hard to recommend thanks to the fruit gimmick...

Just sell it as an "armors from around the world" motif (which they do have anyway) with fruit toppings.

 

[Toku Prime]

Kuuga: Take KR Black and mix it with a mystery about a policeman trying to stop a group of ritualistic killers.

Agito: Four Riders - three of them have compelling stories and one is as boring as drying paint. Guess which one got the most focus and the TV show named after him?

Ryuki, Faiz and Blade: Be aware that the first quarter of each of these shows is going to be boring. Eventually each of them slowly wake up during the second quarter and go on to be very flawed but nevertheless interesting shows with ambivalent endings.

Hibiki: The producer of Kuuga returns with a very different kind of toku show for the SHT program block...which is sadly bent over a barrel and forced to become more of a compliant toy commercial typical Rider show during it's second half.

Kabuto: Nice "back to basics" setup and a titular character designed to be love or hate. Sadly the plot falls to pieces during the second half due to various cast issues.

Den-O: The first all-out comedy show in the franchise. If you like, or at least don't mind, it's sense of humour, it's a fun show with hidden depths. If you don't like it's humour, get out while you still can!

Kiva: Another slightly slow starter that has the novel idea of following complimentary parallel plots in different time periods, but eventually tried to combine them and ended up getting hopelessly tangled up.

Decade: Took the idea of being a retro celebration of the nine previous shows, and a show about a Rider who travels between dimensions, and somehow fell through the gap between the two story ideas. Gives the impression that it got cancelled when in reality they just never got around to finishing the story.

Double: For many people, pretty much on the sweet spot as far as balancing campy, kid-friendly fun with some serious sci-fi. Draws a lot of character details from the original series and V3, as befitting a series at the heart of the blossoming retro fad.

OOO: A Rider who makes a deal with the devil and a show that wanted to ask big questions about what drives us...until it turned out that little kids loved Ankh and then it got retooled into a Double clone ASAP.

Fourze: The second all-out comedy show in the franchise. The same comments apply again here really, although it's sense of humour is very different from Den-O's.

Wizard: A show that wanted to be serious and epic, but also comedic and toyetic, and fell through the gap between those extremes. Of all the shows, this is the one that most wanted to be "just another entry" and avoid rocking the boat.

Gaim: Only time will tell how it ends up. Thus far, it has an intriguing story that tries to be a little too epic for it's time and budget constraints, leading to a tendency for grandiose expositional speeches. Would be a favourite of mine if only it could pick up it's action a little more.

 

[TheLastBlade]

I'll give some of my opinions on some I watched:

-555: Wow.... I'm sad.... I actually liked it during my High School days. But looking at it now, it's really something I don't want to look at again...
-Kabuto: I hated this series since the beginning. I even hated the movie.
-Den-O: Another one I'm not too huge of a fan of. I think the series tried a bit too hard to be funny.
-Decade: ....I guess it's cool to watch some of the things???
-W: I'm a fan of this series. It even produced some movies worth watching at least once. Even if all of them aren't as good as the really great episodes.
-Fourze: Meh. I guess it's okay for something in high school? It's a really big shame that it decided not to mention the older Showa riders much.
-Wizard: I didn't hate it. Just wish that it expanded on a lot of stuff like the history of magic, what the hell is Wajima's backstory, made a lot of the supporting characters useful, and cut down on really stupid rings like tuxedo.

Gaim hasn't finished yet, and I need to get back to Kiva and Blade sometime.

 

[xSHiNOx]

everybody has to have seen 555 once just for kusaka alone. other than that, the faiz gear is awesome

 

[Fantasy Leader]

As good as Gaim is, it is pretty hard to recommend thanks to the fruit gimmick...

You could recommend that the Forbidden Fruit gimmick is based on the whole Adam and Eve story. Which I personally think overall sounds like a pretty cool idea.

I always thought Bandai did a pretty crappy job at advertising the fruit motif to fans who wanted a cool gimmick. We'd get all those Rider advertisements of the Riders with those juice splashes behind them. Would've been a lot cooler if the Helheim Forest was in the back instead.


I guess I'd also recommend Hibiki? I do like Hibiki. But mostly for atmospherical reasons, like appreciating the visuals, music, the warm cast, the overall tone, etc. I also have a soft spot for shows that are set heavily in a nature-like setting (like the forests). The show is more of a guilty pleasure for me.

 

[CannibalS]

Would you recommend the showa series? I have had little hesitation watching the heisei era riders but the showa seems like it'd be a little to corny, which is a little odd to say since any tokatsu will have that feel:laugh:

If you are afraid of "corny", you should not be watching Toku at all.

From the Showa era, almost anything goes. I recommend Kamen Rider X and V3 as the two top choice.
X is especially very serious and one of the darker shows of Kamen Rider overall.
The original is great too, and the first 13 episodes are still some of the best and ambitiously directed of the Showa era. Amazon is very different from the others, but still tons of fun. Stronger is a bit of slow-burner, but also satisfying. Skyrider is excellent as well.
And obviously, the big guy Black is an absolute must-see.

 

[TheYanni]

Man I was pretty skeptical of fourze, wasn't a fan of the costume, or the belt,

but goddamn if the characters didn't win me over.

Yuuki, Gentaro, and the whole Kamen Rider Club, just a fun cast of characters. The Feels I had during the last few episodes and the Fourze/Wizard movie are unmatched from the other Kamen Rider shows I've watched.

Double is just great!
Decade...I just love how much of jerk he is, it cracks me up

Gaim....not enough good things to say about Gaim.

As good as Gaim is, it is pretty hard to recommend thanks to the fruit gimmick...

Madness! The fruit gimmick is fun, and if that limits you from recommending it, then whoever you want to recommend it to isn't a fan of Tokusatsu, and doesn't deserve to enjoy it.