Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Kamen Rider might be a show that has possibly hit an identity crisis. A franchise is usually called to reinvent itself. Take Super Sentai having reinvented itself until it could no longer sustain itself. In fact, the period of 2021-2026 was a five-series finale for the series . Kamen Rider was a series that reinvented itself more often than it did -- resulting in a series of good and bad results. I feel the series may have an identity crisis (and funny enough, I'm PROBABLY ENJOYING IT).  The Showa era reviewed  Kamen Rider was a show that had that shaky start (during the Showa Era) . One may notice that the Showa-era Kamen Rider entries were basically not a yearly thing. Just think how Kamen Rider Stronger and Kamen Rider Skyrider had a four-year gap. Kamen Rider Super-1 and Kamen Rider BLACK had a six-year gap. BLACK was supposed to be a reboot, but yeah, Toei got greedy and decided to create Kamen Rider BLACK RX. I believe that BLACK RX was supposed to end an era. BLACK RX ...

I DON'T GIVE UPDATES. Instead, I choose to REACT TO UPDATES. Blogging should just be viewed as a sideline hustle and nothing more. I had updates on Kamen Rider Zeztz some time ago. I didn't know how to process my mind, especially I'm not that big into Tokusatsu (in general) these days. IMHO Kamen Rider Gavv isn't exactly entertaining me as much -- it's almost the same as how Kamen Rider Wizard is also pretty much another low-tier show. Yeah, JUNKO KOMURA, and right now, I feel like Lupinranger vs. Patranger had a lot of lost potential. I might write a terrible review on Gavv's missed potential or I'll probably need to rewatch it. Right now, I feel like I've hit the  Kamen Rider taste fatigue zone for the nth time. The last time it happened was when I took a slowdown from Kamen Rider Zi-O . I was looking at the updates from The Tokusatsu Network . This is also the plot according to UkiyaSeed , one of the many sites where I get updates from. As always, tak...

It's the Year of the Snake. Japan also celebrates the Lunar New Year, which lasts 15 days in China (and Taiwan). It's back to work today. Let's take a look back at memory lane for snake-themed Kamen Riders. Evil Kamen Riders have become a staple -- sometimes even being the final villains such as N-Daguva-Zeba, Evolt, and Kamen Rider Ark One (who keeps reminding me of Venjix from Power Rangers RPM ). Snakes have been a common theme for the MOTW in Kamen Rider . However, Kamen Rider these days have the more serialized storytelling akin to a telenovela. That's why I write about Kamen Rider here but only from Kamen Rider Kuuga up to the present. However, I decided not to do episode reviews and just do random drops of newer stuff and older stuff. Now, for the time when a snake-themed Kamen Rider was created. Takeshi Asakura/Kamen Rider Ouja is a truly terrifying cobra The Cobra is often a popular theme for villains. Who can remember G.I. Joe's main villain organization i...

Writing episode reviews can be tiresome. One may notice that I never gave updates on Kamen Rider Gotchard here. I finally finished the final episode. At first, I felt it was awkward since Gotchard's main cast is all that young. The main hero Junsei Motojima was born in 2005. Reiyo Matsumoto was born in 2008. It's only normal to expect it since the main cast are usually newbie actors. A lot of Super Sentai and Power Rangers main casts are expectedly young.  The show presents the Digimon vibe. I'm neither a fan of Pokemon (by Nintendo) nor Digimon (by Toei). Speaking of which, Saban Entertainment also dubbed Digimon in English. However, it doesn't try to become the second coming of Digimon . People get inspiration from old stuff. Fortunately, Gotchard tries to keep it focused on its intended target audience -- children. The Digimon inspiration is there but it's pretty much NOT Digimon at the same time. It's nice to see Toei try the schoolboy Kamen Rider theme agai...

As Kamen Rider Gotchard is coming to an end (and I'm having a hard time adjusting to its really young cast) -- I decided to react to the updates for  Kamen Rider Gavv . It looks like Toei's starting to shake things up with Gavv . As I was reading through the plot -- this is the synopsis given as of late: A looming threat of monsters, Granute, from another world. The humans don’t know. These monsters have secretly come to the human world. The humans don’t know. These monsters are attacking and kidnapping humans. To protect them, one boy has risen to the challenge! Shouma, a young man who loves to eat, stands up to protect humanity from the Granute! By eating sweets, he produces beings called “Gochizou” and gains the power to transform into Kamen Rider Gavv! First, we need to take a look at the protagonists of the series Kamen Rider has taken  a way more different route since 2000 up to the present. After seeing all the Heisei era entries (but barely on the Showa era, which I fe...

  There are times I feel too embarrassed to admit that I do enjoy some messy shows. For example, I was afraid to admit that I liked the unpopular Kamen Rider BLACK RX . I could agree that BLACK RX is a mess but it still deserves some credit for trying out new stuff - just that it wasn't done properly. Right now, I feel somewhat similar to Kamen Rider Faiz . Heck, there are times I feel that Faiz could've potentially been better than the fan-favorite Kamen Rider BLACK . The show may be full of unlikable characters, Toshiki Inoue trying to get as dark as he could (and he even made a cameo here for a reason), and it was the time when Inoue was also starting to lose charge. Eventually, Inoue hit Burnout Ville during Kamen Rider Kiva - a show I enjoy but I also must acknowledge what other fans say that it's a mess. I find Faiz a mess but it's basically a watchable mess! Faiz has that depressing scenario belonging to the seven nightmare fuel Heisei era riders . It's quite...

Kamen Rider Geats has come to an end. After some irregular watches, I've reached the end and I'm going to say it's really in the watchable mess category. Maybe, it's best to say So Bad It's Good or maybe not. Maybe, it's not that big of a mess. I think it reminds me of Kamen Rider Saber as a watchable mess. Other Toku shows by Toei that I enjoyed in spite of being messy are Kamen Rider BLACK RX (which IMHO was a Necessary Failure), B-Fighter Kabuto (which only becomes watchable because Big Bad Beetleborgs and Beetleborgs Metallix are MUCH WORSE), Kamen Rider Kiva (which is considered Toshiki Inoue's lowest point), and maybe I can also include Ressha Sentai ToQGer (which got an award on Railroad Day to help get it vindicated). I think Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters may also include the list and I hear it even got a Cult Following from some Power Rangers fans.  I watched the show thinking about two shows - Kamen Rider Ryuki and Kamen Rider Gaim . By now, readers sh...