What I missed was that The First Kamen Rider celebrated its 50th anniversary last April 3, 2021. Yup, the show first premiered in 1971 and became a hit that lasted for two years. Like Himitsu Sentai Goranger in 1975 - it was a monster hit that Toei Ltd. didn't want to end immediately until they decided that having a yearly change was for the best. However, the Kamen Rider franchise wasn't exactly on a better road during the Showa era. A history of the show's run will tell us how the show was in a constant struggle during the Showa era.
The popularity of The First Kamen Rider created Kamen Rider V3 as a sequel. Unlike The First Kamen Rider - V3 would be just a year-long. V3 was quickly followed up by Kamen Rider X (which lasted for 35 episodes), Kamen Rider Amazon (which lasted for only 24 episodes), and Kamen Rider Stronger (which lasted for only 39 episodes). All these lasted from 1971 up to 1975. The show met a hiatus for four years until the supposed reboot Kamen Rider Skyrider which was first termed as Kamen Rider (New) and followed up by Kamen Rider Super-1. Sadly, Super-1's actor Shunsuke Takasugi is facing criminal charges regarding a financial scam and disappeared. Super-1 led to the hiatus of SIX YEARS before another supposed reboot, Kamen Rider Black was born. There was the TV special only Kamen Rider known as Kamen Rider ZX in 1984. Why it never became a TV series is probably due to a lack of support. Was Super-1 that bad?
It seems that Kamen Rider at that time probably also got overshadowed by its now-sister franchise, Super Sentai. If we think about the timeline of Super Sentai, Goranger aired from 1975 to 1977. Dengekitai JAKQ suffered from low ratings and only lasted for 35 episodes. It wasn't until in 1979 after the two-year hiatus that Battle Fever J began the yearly trend and the first Sentai to be called Super. Though, thankfully, both Goranger and JAKQ got retroactively included. Also, in the 1980s, the Metal Hero series was probably that popular. The popularity of Space Sheriff Gavan gave birth to two more sequels and had other similar predecessors. It just looked like that Metal Hero was (for a time being) was really also overshadowing Kamen Rider. I was thinking that probably, just probably, Stronger was overshadowed by Goranger and Skyrider was overshadowed by Battle Fever J too.
Black was supposedly independent of the first set of riders. I mean, six years have passed and we really didn't have a new Kamen Rider at all, right? The show introduced new elements and got so popular. Ironically, 1987 was the same year that the cult-classic Chojinki Metalder aired and it only got popular among older fans but not with children. Black managed to get so popular that I believed it also overshadowed Hikari Sentai Maskman which was airing that year. The popularity created the lackluster sequel Black RX which caused the 11-year-hiatus of having a new Kamen Rider TV series. Black RX did however introduce elements such as more involved sidekicks and multiple forms - something that the Heisei era managed to do better.
Fortunately, the Heisei era was able to finally fix things starting in the 2000s. Before that, they simply focused on theatrical releases that never became actual series. Kamen Rider Shin, Kamen Rider ZO, and Kamen Rider J were just movies. Kamen Rider Shin was an attempt at a film series for older audiences and failed. The franchise later became a yearly thing (most of it) ever since Kamen Rider Kuuga though Kamen Rider Decade really hit hard and didn't last for a year. I guess there were plenty of lessons to learn from the Showa era. At the same time, the Metal Hero franchise fell into decline where Kabutack and Robotack became the final two seasons. However, the spirit of Metal Hero managed to live on in Kamen Rider at the same time.
I guess I'd like to say Kamen Rider was really an experimental franchise back then. Toei probably had no idea what to do to the point. They were still trying new things back then so failure is to be expected. Just remember that you must always expect both successes and failures when innovation is pursued. Innovation also means learning from mistakes too. That's why it's still important to honor the Showa era Kamen Riders.
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