Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

  I could remember watching Kamen Rider BLACK (back when it was called Masked Rider Black in the dub and international release). I was around nine years old (and it was an IRREGULAR schedule) when it happened. Yeah, it was a child's show, alright. There was also Hikari Sentai Maskman which Takeru was dubbed as Michael Joe - a name I no longer recall fondly. The same went for Kotaro Minami's dub name Robert Akizuki - the very source of a nickname that I dubbed myself. This is one scary series that managed to be so successful that the less popular sequel, Kamen Rider BLACK RX , was born. The series was said to be meant to be a reboot. It's too obvious, right? Having watched some older Showa-era entries of Kamen Rider made that claim make sense to me. Nothing was said about Gorgom being part of Shocker. Nothing about the Great Leader barking orders as the Gorgom priests. Instead, we have the plot of the Century Kings. The two candidates are both Black Sun (hence the spin off w...

  As much as I still enjoy  Kamen Rider Black RX  (and yes, it's still MILES better than that idiotic Saban's  Mashed Rider  which is best considered an Adaptation Decay) -- I still feel like criticizing it for having too many loose ends with  Kamen Rider Black . I just thought of how the series itself could have tried to tie some of its loose ends from the last pure Showa Rider to the transitional Kamen Rider which sadly didn't get a new series out after it. It's only 11 years later did Kamer Rider get a really good reboot! So how would loose ends be tied? Remember,  Black RX  was tying back to the Showa era while  Black  was intended to be its own continuity for some reason. I thought about how to tie the loose ends, especially with how  Black  ended. Here's a bit of a start that could have been done. I could start with Kyoko and Kasumi sending a letter to Kotaro telling him to fight on. He still remembers them while he works...

Watching Kamen Rider BLACK as a kid made me think of the darker side of life. My first exposure to a Kamen Rider villain group was Gorgom. Now, having gathered some knowledge about the older Showa era Kamen Riders - I feel the need to revisit one of the scariest groups. Yes, Gorgom. Gorgom seems to be a play on the word Gorgon. I tend to do some BLACK rewatching if I decide to miss some Kamen Rider villains and the typical screwed-up, convoluted plot that was done since the birth of Shocker (in the First Kamen Rider ) and up to Gorgom. The Heisei era Kamen Rider series up to the present are usually more focused on villains doing a less typical scheme (such as how the Grongi in Kamen Rider Kuuga were all too focused on their blood games).  How did Gorgom fare as a villain group? Gorgom had a very convoluted structure. It's like reimagining Shocker, albeit a darker version of Shocker. Though, the mysterious leader, the Creation King isn't heard until late in the series. For some ...

  It's no secret that I'm among the MINORITY who thinks that  Kamen Rider BLACK RX was watchable . Sure, I still think Kamen Rider BLACK is the better series and it was a groundbreaking one. Though fans ended up preferring BLACK over BLACK RX . The decision was to create two versions of Kotaro Minami - one version never became BLACK RX (much to the pleasure of fans) and the other that did (which is more likely canon). BLACK was supposed to be an entirely new Kamen Rider with a reimagining of Shocker (as Gorgom), the Creation King as a separate entity from the Great Leader  (who has been reduced to a butt monkey now), and the introduction of the first official evil Kamen Rider in Shadow Moon. Shadow Moon proved popular among fans that he does make a few occasional returns, an A.R. version of Shadow Moon exists, and he's practically the godfather of the evil Kamen Rider trend.  Granted, this year is the 35th anniversary of Kamen Rider BLACK . I felt that BLACK deserve...

Kamen Rider Black or who I once knew as Masked Rider Black (Kamen means Masked) was one of my imaginary childhood friends. I guess an emotionally rough childhood had me seek escapism through the world of Tokusatsu and Kamen Rider Black was one of them. I still think about the time I had spent "with" Kamen Rider Black at least in my head. Back then, I had no idea that Black RX was a sequel to Black without the Internet and just wondered why Kotaro Minami (Robert Akizuki in the dub) had different powers and different enemies in Black RX. I thought about how I thought Tokusatsu gave me an escape route yet it's also where I'm encouraged not to give up no matter how hard things get. I know the Tagalog dub really SUCKS and I'm glad that there are fan subbers who completed my childhood with subs. The hero had a lot of monsters to fight and a lot of episodes were nightmare fuel. Was it really child-friendly entertainment? Yet I still found it funny why my I was allowed...

I would reallys say that Kamen Rider Black was one good season but it had its fair share of problems. Then we have the COOLEST villain in the story ever, Saint Sword Bilgenia. Looking at him, he's a real troll who knows how to menace the hero, he gave me nightmares... and he was really ACTIVE in attacking Kamen Rider Black. Now it made me think why was he written off? The answer may only lie with either contracts or the actor. Now it's even possible that Jun Yoshida wanted to leave the set for personal reasons. After all, as of recent from what I hear, he's now a University professor. Now I'd like to think - Jun Yoshida was born in 1961 and Kamen Rider Black was shown last 1987. He would be 26 years old at that time. If he were 18 years old in College, took him three years so he would be 23 by that time but that's just my assumption. Maybe he entered College late. I don't know really. So what if Jun Yoshida was pursuing a master's degree that time and de...

Back then, I was probably eight or nine when Kamen Rider Black showed on TV which was a classic... but ruined by the loopy broadcast of IBC-13, a network that basically ruined Tokusatsu broadcasts not only with bad dubs but loopy broadcasts. So later, I was glad to have watched this series FULLY SUBBED and it was a total reeducation for me! What I also didn't realize was that Kamen Rider Black had followed the element from the very first Kamen Rider, a hero forcibly given superpowers by an evil organization, only for him to use it against them. The story starts when the foster brothers Nobuhiko and Kotaro are born on a solar eclipse which would make them candidates to become the next Century King. Gorgom plans to turn the two brothers into the fighting candidates, Black Sun and Shadow Moon. The winner will soon become the next Century King... to which he is granted the power to rule the world as he pleases, a plot later reused in Kamen Rider Ryuki (in the form of a single wish)...