Some time ago, I wrote about why I don't like most of the Showa-era Kamen Rider series. Sure, I could still say that Kamen Rider BLACK RX is still more watchable than the "spiritual successor" of Saban's Mashed Rider - Kamen Rider Decade. Right now, I could talk about what I dislike about most of the Showa era Kamen Rider entries. Most of these series rely too much on previous seasons - pretty much like how most Power Rangers series are guilty of doing so. Hmmm... not too surprising since both are properties of Toei Ltd., right?
The running gag called the Great Leader got too old too quickly
I remembered a complaint I had against Power Rangers Beast Morphers was how the whole show threw back to everything back to 1993 and 2009. It wasn't all too surprising that Evox was actually Venjix under another identity. Now, I could talk about the Showa-era Kamen Rider series and their tendency to be overly connected to each other. Sure, a few series aren't directly connected. However, watching the first Kamen Rider and Kamen Rider V3 will tell you how the two series are too directly connected. The first Kamen Rider ran for 98 episodes. The Great Leader of Shocker, unlike the Black Cross Fuehrer, simply escaped and he seems to set a Doombot for almost EVERY SEASON.
Some seasons didn't feature him at all. However, when he did appear, it seems to contradict what he truly was. The Great Leader claimed that he was the founder of both Geddon and Garanda Empire when he appeared as a rock giant (and an alien brain inside it) in Kamen Rider Stronger. As always, the Great Leader set up a decoy and trolled the Kamen Riders. Almost all the decoys were set into self-destruct mode. Later, in Kamen Rider Skyrider - the Great Leader appeared as a giant dragon. The show ended seemingly hinting that the Kamen Riders from Ichigo to Skyrider (a fan name given because the series was simply released as Kamen Rider again as a "reboot") were destroyed. Later, Kamen Rider Super-1 showed that they SURVIVED.
The Great Leader was simply an ambiguous character. The movie-only Kamen Rider ZX had him show up after Ambassador Darkness (the twin brother of Ambassador Hell) and speak he'd always return. Later, Kamen Rider BLACK RX had shown itself with Grand Lord Crisis hinting itself to be the Great Leader (voiced by Goro Naya). I just think that him becoming demoted to just a VS. Movie character is a relief. The Great Leader is a running gag that got too old too quick.
Fortunately, the Great Leader hasn't returned in the newer Kamen Rider series. Sure, it's hinted in NON-CANON that the Great Leader might be behind Smart Brain. However, every new entry of the Heisei era doesn't keep linking ot a single founder. Daguva in Kamen Rider Kuuga is an entirely new villain. The villains in the Heisei and Reiwa eras are pretty much independent of each other for most of the time.
The inconsistent intent of "reboots" happened more than once
The Kamen Rider series did intend to reboot during the Showa era. The first attempt was in 1979 with Skyrider. I'd always dare say Skyrider is a FREAKING TERRIBLE SERIES. I think the same goes for Kamen Rider Super-1 (and right now, I'd imagine Shunsuke Takasugi was the mastermind behind Austin St. John's alleged involvement in a scam). I think Skyrider for a reboot was NO REBOOT at all. In fact, Neo-Shocker, the senior veteran riders showed up. Like WTF Toei Ltd.? I dunno which one is more F*CKED up between Skyrider's execution or how Power Rangers Megafail happened. Megaforce's plot element of Gosei of waking up only when aliens land (and CONNECTING to all previous seasons) was plot contradiction. Well, Skyrider is also guilty of that to a certain extent. I even wonder why I sat through Skyrider. Though, I'll say that both Beast Morphers and Donbrothers can still fascinate me. NOT Skyrider!
I was surprised to learn that Kamen Rider Black was intended to be a self-contained series (thanks Sentai Bandicoot). The series did try to reimagine a few stuff like how Gorgom was the new Shocker, the Creation King was pretty much a reimagined Great Leader as he was voiced by the late Takeshi Watabe (and he just CAN NOT be the Great Leader), and the whole series gave no hints of previous Kamen Riders. However, the popularity of the series made Toei Ltd. make what I'd call a mixed bag with Black RX. Black RX was simply so bad for its time that the Kamen Rider franchise. The 1990s tried to revive the franchise with three movie-only entries such as the very adult Kamen Rider Shin, Kamen Rider ZO, and Kamen Rider J. Sadly, Shotaro Ishimori would die so soon in 1998. However, not without slamming Saban Entertainment's face for how badly Mashed Rider turned out to be. I dunno if that story is true but I think it is!
Black RX is kind of a fun series but I heard Tetsuo Kurata disliked it for "excessive humor". The series was so loosely connected to Black that I felt, "Are they the same person?" after rewatching the two series. Black RX later decided to retcon the idea that Black was a different continuity by returning the senior Riders IN SUIT ONLY. Also, the actor playing Riderman from V3, Takehisa Yamaguchi died before 1987. So, a stunt double sufficed for Riderman. I felt that was a very creepy fact. The show just didn't know how to handle the senior riders. Though, I'm confident Black RX may have ended the annoying Great Leader's running gag for good. I believe Black RX was also an important experiment such as testing multiple Rider forms and friends who got more involved with the hero.
Kamen Rider villain antics were almost non-distinct from Super Sentai villain stupidity
A bit of a history lesson will tell you that the first Kamen Rider came before Himitsu Sentai Goranger. In short, the template was pretty much Kamen Rider before they decided to create a superhero team that needed to be together to beat ONE MONSTER who's basically a ONE-MAN ARMY. I remembered watching some old-school Kamen Rider seasons to find out that the villains are pretty much like Dr. Evil. Heck, I even want to throw a POORLY THOUGHT OUT JOKE that the Great Leader is secretly Dr. Evil from Austin Powers.
Kamen Rider Black was a popular season hence resulting in the failed sequel. Though, what puts Gorgom and the Crisis Empire in the same boat are idiotic plans for taking over the world. The Gorgom priests have ONE TASK - retrieve the King Stone from Kotaro Minami! However, the Gorgom priests just focus on nightmarish childish plots such as a necklace that will unleash bees, trapping people in webs, turning people into supplies for food for their mutants, etc. Sure, these plans are dangerous but they have ONE TASK - GET BACK THE KING STONE. The Gorgom priests were later commanded by the Creation King to release Saint Sword Bilgenia (who comes out with more practical plans). Later, when Shadow Moon came (and Bilgenia was written off, SADLY, it's mostly back to stupid plans for world domination. The Gorgom and Underground Empire Tube were both scary but you've got to question most of their plans. Again, what are superhero shows without villains who come up with very stupid plans for world domination?
Super Sentai gets characterized by villains who tend to focus more on dangerous yet stupid plans. Gekisou Sentai Carranger managed to capitalize on that when the Bowzock just refuses to just NUKE THE EARTH to accomplish its goal. I felt that the Showa villains didn't have much personality for that reason. I guess Toei Ltd. really still had NO IDEA on how to carry them out. I felt this idea still made it through the Heisei to Reiwa era villains but to a lesser extent.
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Pretty much, I felt that the Showa era Kamen Rider series can be compared to how older video games were. I think about it as how Toei Ltd. was still experimenting and not knowing (yet) what they wanted to do with the series. The series had some hiatuses in-between (1975, 1979, 1980, 1987) and tried to restore itself during the 1990s. However, Toei Ltd. focused on the Metal Hero series. I believe that reviving Kamen Rider was the reason why Metal Hero got canceled. The spirit of Metal Hero still lives on in the newer Kamen Rider series. I still feel that the Showa-era Kamen Rider entries are these - important experiments to learn from and that Toei Ltd. was using managed risks to find out what they'd do years later.
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