Trick Or Treat: Revisiting Toshiki Inoue's Kamen Rider Nightmare Fuel

Credits to actor Kohei Murakami for this photo

I was running out of ideas until I realized that it'd be Halloween tomorrow. Yes, it's time for a good scare and I decided to revisit Toshiki Inoue's previous works. Inoue was an important secondary writer during the Hirohisa Soda era of Super Sentai. Later, Inoue was tasked as the head writer of Chojin Sentai Jetman - the series that saved Super Sentai from cancellation. Oh yeah, I could remember the statement he was called the Frank Miller of Tokusatsu - for the good he did he also got so bad. Though, I confess I'm enjoying Avatar Sentai Donbrothers and was wondering why didn't Toei Ltd. assign him as a secondary writer for Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters after he wrote one episode for Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.

Before Kamen Rider was revived - there was the cult hit Changerion. Yes, that same show where Takeshi Hagino played a hero before the role the Kamen Rider Ryuki villain, Takeshi Asakura/Kamen Rider Ouja, popularized the hero. So, we had Inoue's involvement in Kamen Rider which showed how the guy once did a lot of nightmare fuel. That's all before Kamen Rider Kiva became his "downfall" like how I feel Ressha Sentai ToQGer was to Yasuko Kobayashi and Chikyu Sentai Fiveman was to Soda. 

Inoue was juggled between two shows during 2000. I always wondered why he only had two episodes in Mirai Sentai Timeranger. One episode was enjoyable while the other showed his crude sense of humor. Two sides of Inoue were revealed during Timeranger. Meanwhile, Kamen Rider Kuuga practically had some great tons of nightmare fuel and he was its secondary writer. For all the scares that Kamen Rider BLACK may have given me as a child - I think Kuuga exceeded that! Kuuga had the Grongi perform their deadly predatorial games. Inoue was the one writing for episodes 13-14, 18, 23-24, 27-28, 32- 33. Episode 33 was co-written with Naruhisa Arakawa. Amazingly, Arakawa who started out with a serious project ended up giving us more lighthearted work. I guess Inoue was already meant to be tried on with Kamen Rider. 

So, we have Kamen Rider Agito - a series that's an ambitious nightmare fuel-filled show. This show also made me wonder why Shinji Kasahara wasn't assigned to play Hojo Toru after he was Naoto Takizawa in Timeranger. The series was supposedly a direct sequel to Kuuga but was probably decided to be more of its own. Most of the Kamen Rider series these days are practically more or less self-contained (and Kamen Rider Build) establishes that. Agito's nightmare fuel is that hard to count. The mysteries of this show are hard to figure out. You never realize why the Lords started attacking certain people and leaving others behind. The Lords turned out that they were killing people "gifted" with the Power of Agito. The show's nightmare fuel is that generous. I even wonder how my childhood self. All the episodes were written by him. Episode 28 though was written by Kobayashi. 

After Agito, we had Inoue and Kobayashi in tandem writing in Ryuki. True, Inoue did eventually introduce that Megumi Asano character. Though, I think Inoue never intended to do so. Episodes 11-12, 15-19, 20, 27-30, 39-40, 45, and 46. I guess Inoue was more than happy to be reunited with Hagino who ironically got more popular as a villain. Ryuki was full of nightmare fuel making that Reset Button NONSENSE to happen. Come on, it's too obvious that the show was a killing spree. It's obvious that Shinji was meant to die first. Renn was obviously dying. For that stupid Reset Button - I feel Kobayashi and Inoue probably took things too far. One serious episode after the other (mostly) just make sme think executive meddling caused the Reset Button. Eventually, a mature follow-up mini-series (with some woke content) was there.

We have Kamen Rider Faiz - the show that was his favorite that he even SHOWED UP AT THE END. Yes, Inoue guested in that series. I wonder why Kobayashi never made a cameo in Go-Busters? Faiz ws completely written by Inoue from start to end. I still feel Faiz is one show that was considerably that dark. Though, I feel Ryuki was more brutal through and through. This was one show where I felt Inoue was practically starting to burn out. I even felt this show was hard to watch due to how depressing it can get. Too depressing. It's even more depressing than BLACK ever was. The show even introduced Kusaka as a backstabbing villain. Yes, I consider Kusaka a villain. The actor Murakami did a fantastic job portraying the douche. Heck, I even felt Kusaka was probably more annoying than Captain Ryuuya in Timeranger. Both are unlikable jerks who had their deaths coming. Captain Ryuuya died in an accidental shot. Yuuji broke Kusaka's neck. Either way, aren't you glad both of those douchebags are gone?

After that, we had Inoue not doing much with Kamen Rider Blade. Sure, he had that IDIOTIC COOKING BATTE that would work better if he were a secondary writer in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. Inoue wrote epsiodes 17-19, 29-30, and 43-44. Most of the episodes were decent. Though, I felt that putting him in charge of Kamen Rider Hibiki's second half felt... WEIRD. Yeah, we saw Shinichiro Shirakura take over as producer. Shirakura had done some good works but seems to be not happy with newer Toku. I still feel Hibiki is another weaker season. The second half didn't do as well either. Was Inoue just a bailout? I think so. I felt Inoue should've been allowed to rest!

Personally, I think Kamen Rider Kabuto is decent in contrast to what some think. It was Shoji "Patrick Star" Yonemura's one-shot wonder. If anything made Kabuto tolerable - it was how Inoue was involved in episodes 11-12, 15-20, 27-30, 39-40, and 45-46. Those shows still had some drama. Though I'm afraid that he started BURNING OUT after that. It's almost like how I feel Kobayashi burned out sometime after Shinkenger. Inoue was no exception. I felt he should've been given time to rest after writing those episodes.

Eventually, Inoue's nightmare fuel declined. I felt that Kamen Rider Kiva really wasn't scary at all. It was pretty lighter and softer in spite of some dramatic plots. I felt Inoue had no idea what he wanted to do with the show. Much of the show tends to throw random comedy and drama. I think Wataru and Otoya can be funny and annoying. I still like the creative way of linking two eras in 1986 and 2008. Meanwhile, I still laugh at how stupid characters can get. Sometimes, I even cringe. I think Nago and Megumi can be funny then annoying. Why was Inoue even trying to match them up if the two can't even get along? The show did have serious moments such as Maya committing adultery with Otoya. Maya later left her husband the Fangire King for a human. The show's forbidden romances plot can be serious. These were more to "balance" the show than anything. I felt Kiva was more like a Teen Nick version of Danny Phantom than what Inoue used to write. Again, I can't blame him because he's burned out. The show deviated from his nightmare fuel.

We would've Inoue in Kamen Rider Decade in the Negative World Arc. For a writer whose burned out - I think Inoue tried to do some effort. Sure, the episodes lack the nightmare fuel. Still, Inoue managed to do a temporary boost for Decade. Even better, it was followed up by "A Friend in Need of a Popularity Boost". I guess that's why Decade did get vindicated eventually such as how Tsukasa still appears in crossovers. Well, Masahiro Inoue is way cooler than Ted Jan Roberts. Sure, I'd forever call Decade as the pseudo-sequel of Saban's MASHED Rider. However, it's still got more potential and Toei Ltd. really just had no idea what to do yet. It's a contrast to Saban Entertainment's super-low budget and bad promotion of Mashed Rider. 

Inoue did get involved in the mature spin-offs. Kamen Rider the First was obviously NOT meant for children. It's pretty much like Kamen Rider Shin: Prologue - an adult Kamen Rider film that didn't click. I was wondering though why Inoue was NEVER assigned to write in Kamen Rider Amazons. I could imagine what Inoue could've done in Amazons as a secondary writer. It was probably because Inoue was in a burnout or what? Maybe, Toei Ltd. didn't find value. Regardless, I still felt he should've been in Amazons because of his previous achievements with writing nightmare fuel for Kamen Rider.