Who's your favorite Phase 2 Heisei Rider?

[HurricaneDragon]

Based purely on Riders, huh? Now this is a tough call. Including Heisei makes it easy (Hibiki for the win), but out of just these guys, that's a very tough decision. Despite my feelings for the show, as a character, Haruto is probably one of my favorites, and likewise, I really like Gentarou too - and Eiji and Shotaro will always be up there... Kouta is pretty great as well, and man, Shinnosuke is really growing on me...

Okay it's really more of a massive tie that Gentarou and Shinnosuke only barely are at the bottom of (Shin more than Gen) but I'll go with Gaim.

 

[Japaneseseriesfan]

Personally, I like W. But I voted for Gaim because the character dynamics between Kouta/Kaito/Mitchy/Takatora did it for me. I was waiting for something like this since Ryuki/Blade. Kabuto had that going for it until Tendou decided it was cool to steal everyone else's Zector and become OP as hell.

OOO would have had my vote had it not spent so much time fooling around over nonsense arcs.

As for the remaining 3, I couldn't get past 10 episodes of Fourze, dropped Wizard after Hyper Beast, and Drive (which is the best of the 3 so far for me, is still running so I can't decide yet, although I like the dynamics between him, Chase, and Mach).

 

[shamrocknroll]

Fourze

I'd love to have Gentarou as a buddy. He'd be a riot. Imagine bringing him to the pub and seeing what happens to him as he slowly becomes more and more inebriated. He'll be the heart of the party, undoubtedly overshadowing you of course, but it would unlikely be a dull moment with him around. Other than his delightfully sunny outlook to life, his combination of intellectual vapidity and street smarts makes him a very endearing lead character to stick around with for nearly fifty episodes and a few movies. I want a buddy like Gentarou. You can literally stop his heart, and he'll still get back up, forgive you, AND empathise with you.

You took the words out of my mouth. Gentarou is my homeboy plus I dig his suit when he becomes a teacher.

 

[Smilodon]

Gentaro was really good when Nakajima wrote him, as he was really intuitive and his friendliness wasn't overbearing or annoying whereas when he wasn't written by Nakajima, he came off as this blunt, young Hidari Shotaro type.

 

[kuroihikari]

Wasn't Hidari rather subtly intuitive himself?

 

[HurricaneDragon]

But I voted for Gaim because the character dynamics between Kouta/Kaito/Mitchy/Takatora did it for me. I was waiting for something like this since Ryuki/Blade.

Agreed. I love multiple Rider shows so much - hopefully the three guys in Drive at least emulate that a little.

Kabuto had that going for it until Tendou decided it was cool to steal everyone else's Zector and become OP as hell.

Is that really a fault of the character, though? It's not like Kabuto went around ripping everyone's stuff off, and the things went right back to them after he did his finisher. Most main Riders become OP as hell anyway - he certainly did it more than others, especially in particular contrast to the other guys in his show, but blame that on how the toy situation and how they had to write it in worked out, I say.

OOO would have had my vote had it not spent so much time fooling around over nonsense arcs.

I call 'em character focused arcs myself, but to each their own.

Gentaro was really good when Nakajima wrote him, as he was really intuitive and his friendliness wasn't overbearing or annoying whereas when he wasn't written by Nakajima, he came off as this blunt, young Hidari Shotaro type.

I haven't looked at the credits to be sure, but if this equates to early series Gen = good, later series Gen = not always as good, then I definitely agree.

 

[NeonZ]

Although I wasn't satisfied by its ending, I guess I'd pick Gaim overall. Gentaro was fun sometimes, and his bombastic personality makes Fourze stand out even as just a suit, but his character wasn't consistent enough. He was really irritating in the Magnet States arc and was written as stupid in a couple of others, like Gemini.

I never care much for Eiji or Haruto. I liked Shotaro, but I think Kouta just had the opportunity of being a character in a series that allowed him to have more interesting interactions.

Personally, I like W. But I voted for Gaim because the character dynamics between Kouta/Kaito/Mitchy/Takatora did it for me. I was waiting for something like this since Ryuki/Blade. Kabuto had that going for it until Tendou decided it was cool to steal everyone else's Zector and become OP as hell.

It's kind of sad since Kabuto already had an arc that pointed out Tendo stealing Zecter's was a bad idea, but they had to introduce the Perfect Zecter anyway... Looking back though, that arc was in the 30s, so it's odd that it was even there. They should have known about the Perfect Zecter already by that point. I wonder if it was a jab at Bandai?

If they had done that story after the Perfect Zecter's introduction, it'd be really obvious, but doing it before that makes it more subtle... although it's just another point that makes Kabuto feel inconsistent.

 

[BLASTMATIC]

OOO with Wizard in close second.

I'm a go wit Gaim but my top 4 Phase 2 Heisei riders go

Gaim
OOO
Wizard
Fourze

 

[skywing-TM]

As someone who likes detective/detective-like characters, Drive definitely got my vote. Tomari's a badass cop, doing his job in a badass way. Tomari being lazy? Doesn't matter. He managed to superbly solve the case at the end of the day, with his own ability, and that's what matters for me.
Sure there's Shotaro in the poll but honestly, I think Tomari deserve a credit for doing this without someone like Philip. Not saying that having Philip helping Shotaro is a bad thing (hey, you gotta use every resources efficiently right?) but, solving it with his own way gives a big plus point IMHO :laugh:
I'm not gonna touch upon the whole "doubting at humans/justice" aspect of his character since, IMO, most main Rider have this in different ways.
More plus points for wise-cracking against his enemy: As someone who reads Spider-man comics, I find this is very amusing. It makes battles a bit more fun no? :anime:
...
...
Am I the only one who genuinely likes Drive/Tomari? :sly: lol

 

[Clocktower]

I'm not surprised. Ryoma Takeuchi, quite frankly, isn't very charismatic an actor for the role, and Shinnosuke is often outclassed by the very power of Chris Peppler's voice blaring from his crotch area. Neither is he very interesting as a protagonist if his one standout trait (sans his little backstory with his old cop partner) is his need to regularly find enough motivation just to properly do his job.

(My reasoning is quite dependent on people in this thread voting based on the titular character of their respective shows and not on the show itself)

Yeah, I'd put his lack of popularity in the poll down to the fact the show only started recently and there's been quite a bit of resistance too, which I think will cool down more as the show goes on. People have been unusually critical of the show, other recent shows are guilty of being much worse than Drive has been so far.

I'd say Shinnosuke is at least more interesting than Haruto or Eiji were and he's probably the most relatable character since Shotaro.