Bolt said:
The original, V3, X (depending on your tastes), Amazon, and Super 1 (in it's own little way) were all fairly-very good.
No Stronger? I like Stronger because it's this melding pot of Rider -- the coolest aspects of each series prior to it wrapped in one, with a strong sense of balls out finality to it. I guess people have a problem with those "S" shirts he wears, but...hey, that's the acid-droppin' '70s for you!
I've recently been rewatching the first series for the first time in five or so years. I was never really into the Hayato days, but I'm enjoying those this time around. I seemed to always remember Ichimonji seeming way too damn cheery, but as I watch it this time, I'm noticing these little odd subtleties Sasaki puts into his performance -- sure, Hayato's always smiling. But it's this sort of bizarre, mischievous smile -- Sasaki plays some scenes like he's taking a sadistic joy in tormenting people! From his intro ep screwing with Taki and Tachibana's heads to his cackling at beating up the goons, it's a funny subtlety that I hadn't noticed before (unless I'm reading Sasaki wrong). At any rate, at least they didn't just carbon copy Hongou, like most of the '70s Riders that followed.
The original is a very cool show (especially when they get those regular villains like Sol and Shinigami), but it's sadly most likely too "ancient" for most people. Case in point - there was recently a thread at Japan Hero where someone posted a link to the first ep on YouTube and the responses were nothing but "OMG!! The monsters turn into foam when they die, how lame! *goes back to singing 'Girls in Trouble Dekaranger'*" I feel like the others of the '70s are just a rehash though (especially V3, which was relatively the same but with weaker villains), at least until Amazon and Stronger.
Super One and RX are the worst of the Showa shows, IMO. Skyrider's just basically another rehash, only with more bitchin' effects, which doesn't add much interest.
