Which Rider series should i watch?

[Usernamenotvalid]

OK,due to a long history of Kamen Rider series and movies i'm in a panic stage of deciding which one fits best for me.

Maybe i should start with what i'm interested in:

I'm a HUGE Joss Whedon fan, mostly because his characters actually question the absurdity of what they're going through, the drama is realistically written, and the comedy is subtly played out through dialogue.

And i'm also watching Fullmetal Alchemist (the original anime) and i'm liking the characters in the story.

Which incarnation of KR do you guys think fits my criteria?

 

[LaZerwolfX]

If you're into character focus, then I'd say Kamen Rider Gaim, I have a buddy with little to no interest in Kamen Rider because he feels the characters don't get enough backstory or development and he watched all of Gaim with me and LOVED it. But whatever series you pick, I hope you enjoy it immensely. :thumbs:

 

[kakeru1986]

Kamen Rider Blade is a good mix of all of that I guess.
Also, it's a rather regular Kamen rider series (for a Heisei Rider, you can check what that means on google).

I don't think Gaim is a good start. I'm not saying it's bad (it's REEEEEEEEEEEALLLLYY good), but you might discover a world that is actually not very close to what a Kamen Rider is.

So yeah, Kamen Rider Blade.
The story is good, and has been thought through (previous Heisei Riders, to name them Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki and 555) have...weird endings, so if you like to get that feel of closure at the end of a show, go for Blade.

 

[Black Ranger RX]

OK,due to a long history of Kamen Rider series and movies i'm in a panic stage of deciding which one fits best for me.

Maybe i should start with what i'm interested in

Maybe you should do just that.

My personal recommendation would be Kamen Rider BLACK and RX. If you want a Kamen Rider series that's as close to Ishinomori's Style as it could possibly get, yet most attractive looking, I'd reccomend BLACK and RX. Also if you've watched Saban's Masked Rider before you might find RX more entertaining.

Kamen Rider Z.O. and J are also great but they are only movies. No series were produced. Z.O. was also dubbed in English in a Sega CD game!!

But if you're more interested in Heisei era Kamen Riders past 2000, my favorites are Kamen Rider Faiz, Blade and Kabuto, however I'm not sure which ones to recommend. But that's just me.

To simplify things, if you want to watch the currently airing Kamen Rider series watch Drive. If you can't be bothered to watch fansubs, go for Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, or watch the Kamen Rider Kabuto dub.

 

[Khaiden]

For ease, I'll only recommend series that are fully subbed.

"Questioning what they go through" is something that's in every Rider series one way or the other, as they question why they fight, why the must continue to fight, why the status quo is the way it is, etc.

The ones in which you'll find the most "Why?!" though, are Agito, Ryuki and Blade.

If you enjoyed Fullmetal Alchemist you might enjoy Stronger and OOO.
The former is because there's a wonderful voice actor they have in common and the latter has homunculi-like creatures. Oh yes, OOO has a lot of "Why?!" too.

Movies are always good starting points, and ZO is definitely a good choice, no matter what you like.

 

[Usernamenotvalid]

Do the series have any 'Savvy' writers?

 

[Khaiden]

If by that you mean something like "genre-savvy" then yes. Well, maybe not the writers, but the series that deconstruct and twist what their predecessors did are Stronger, Kuuga and Gaim.

There's more deconstruction here and there and I'm sure someone can go into more detail about it, but those are the ones I can think off the top of my head.

 

[kuroihikari]

"Questioning what they go through" in terms of Whedon shows isn't about finding your way or doing the right thing, it's about characters looking at the show itself, and referencing the entire absurdity of it.

Kinda like Gaim if someone had actually facepalmed at the fruit armor dropping out from hammer space or raised their eyes at Blonde Mai's costume.

I don't think there's any show that does that on a holistically, and the only character who does that (that I know of) was Meteor from Fourze. But Fourze doesn't meet all his criteria (it has a whole lot of slapstick).

 

[Captain Shark]

I'm a HUGE Joss Whedon fan, mostly because his characters actually question the absurdity of what they're going through, the drama is realistically written, and the comedy is subtly played out through dialogue.

Tokusatsu in general is not for you then, very rarely is absurdity brought into question.:laugh:In all seriousness the only ones that come close to fitting the bill you just described would be Hibiki and Den-O. As long as you avoid Kabuto you should be okay. If you like some realistic take on it goes with the 90s movies, Kuuga, and Agito.