I've Watched Kamen Rider Shin, The Kamen Rider For ADULTS Before Kamen Rider Amazons

Thems Fightin' Words 

Kamen Rider is a series usually aimed at children yet the Heisei and the Reiwa era Riders just still touch adult fans. I still can't forget how Japan Info may have rightfully called Kamen Rider as a show that the dramatic storylines may have made Kamen Rider more appealing to the older audience. As of recent, I think the newer school Kamen Rider series are more appealing to me than the most recent Super Sentai. It's because the dramatic storylines and plot twists can cater to older audiences more. For example, I'd say that I'm a fan of Kamen Rider Drive while I'm no fan of Shuriken Sentai Ninninger. The only reason why I can now cut Ninninger some slack is because Power Rangers Ninja Steel is a much bigger fiasco. Then, I think about the history of Kamen Rider during the 90s - that time when they tried to revive the series or try something new. That first in line was Kamen Rider Shin which I watched last Halloween. I wanted to immediately review it but I thought I need to gather my thoughts.

So, what's with Shin? Shin's story starts to deviate from the Showa era Riders since it's the start of the Hesei era. The story introduces us to the new protagonist Shin Kazamarutsi, who becomes well, Kamen Rider Shin. The whole movie in itself is very much atypical. There's quite a blend of American sci-fi horror such as that Shin starts to lose himself when he becomes a Kamen Rider. It's basically like the Incredible Hulk but only with blood. The plot has a plan to eradicate all kinds of diseases only to create a monster. Rather than Nazis, you get to see a modern criminal organization doing biological experiments at the cost of others. Shin's transformation is very much unique compared to the other Riders - he mutates when he transforms! It's sheer nightmare fuel to see him transform in contrast to how the Incredible Hulk transforms. Not even the old prosthetics could make it less scary. Worse, Shin even dreams of himself murdering people and wondering if he really did that.

The movie had the word "Prologue" in it really proves it was going to be a movie series or a spin-off. I guess Toei wanted to call back old school fans and give them something new. It's the 21st anniversary of the Kamen Rider franchise - a show that got canceled after the Kamen Rider Black RX meltdown. I guess Toei tried to reach a new target market at that time. Eventually, producer Shinichiro Shirakura was part of this project. One must note that Shirakura is fond of "non-juvenile" themes such as what happened when he was the co-producer of Chojin Sentai Jetman, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, and Gosei Sentai Dairanger as well as Kamen Rider Agito, Kamen Rider Ryuki, and Kamen Rider Kabuto which were all brutal. He did become the producer for Kamen Rider Den-O, Kamen Rider Decade, and Kamen Rider Zi-O - three projects he probably felt unhappy about wishing he could go back to playing Mortal Kombat. Speaking of which, the movie even has Shin rip off someone's head in the same fashion as Sub-Zero (Bi Han) did in the first game. There's also the plot where Shin and his girlfriend Ai are expecting their first child which is expected to be a mutant.

The movie's writers were Junichi Miyashita of Metal Hero fame and Joe Onodera. The director was Makoto Tsukuji who was also involved with Kamen Rider Black and many of the Metal Heroes. I was thinking that there was really some missteps taken. For one, Miyashita did write a lot of intense moments in Metal Heroes. However, I don't think Miyashita (at that time) had any idea how to write it. Yet, I felt that the failed movie in itself was actually the seed for two seasons of the first true adult Kamen Rider season which had NOTHING to do with the mainline...

My Shiny Toy Robots

Yasuko Kobayashi herself would later (in 2016 and 2017) write the two storylines of Kamen Rider AMAZONS. Yes, Amazons NOT Amazon though the tribute is there. Kamen Rider Amazon flunked probably due to Screwed by the Network issues, that is according to TV Tropes. Amazon was deemed too bloody even if it was obviously fake special effects that it was LAUGHABLE. I mean, it's just like you can enjoy playing Mortal Kombat because the violence is so fake while you'd actually cringe at more realistic violent torture scenes in movies like Chainsaw Massacre or Nightmare on Elm Street. 

Just watching Shin - I was actually thinking that maybe they could've carried on other concepts. For example, they could've actually given the riders of Amazon that similar transformation from Shin or copy some similar plots. What was amazing was that Kobayashi was actually able to pull off that Miyashita didn't. Kobayashi herself was also responsible for some of the darker Super Sentai series such as Mirai Sentai Timeranger and Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. I disagree with the idea of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger being dark - I feel it has more or less the same "balanced" tone as Power Rangers Time Force except with a little more development space of nine more episodes. Kobayashi herself was also a major contributor to the super-serious Kamen Rider Ryuki - an entry that was obviously screwed by the network into having a really stupid ending! Come on, it's too obvious all the Riders were supposed to die in the Rider War with none returning! Only if Kobayashi and Toshiki Inoue teamed up and wrote a bloody ending where the executives also died in the Rider War!

So I was wondering should fans of Amazon thank Shin? Watching it, maybe I would thank Shin. I felt Shin had potential but Toei didn't know what to do at that time. It's just like what happened in Black RX - the show tried new stuff but Toei had no idea what to do with it. The idea of multiple forms used by Black RX was later fixed in the Heisei era. Shin itself was probably a cluttered mess. It was probably that necessary failure that would eventually get revisited, revised, and led to the two seasons of Amazons. Though, Toei may want to be more careful before treading the same path again since it might estrange them from their main target market considering children as their target market. It's pretty much like Sailor Moon was probably intended for older audiences due to sensitive themes. Hmmm... think about that.