My Kamen Rider Watch Order

Does a great job of wrapping you into the protagonists naïve sense of optimism and tearing it away from both the characters and audience simultaneously.  Watching everything spiral out of control is really engaging, as is the strong character drama that emerges from every scenario. This season is a beast.

Wizard is extremely confused about whether it wants to build mystery or dramatic irony and attempts at either only serve to highlight this identity crisis. I like the protagonist more than most people but have no positive opinions on the rest of the roster. The music and action goes hard though.

W's main selling point is its detective motif, which gives a unique flow to arcs and enhances the crime family drama brewing in the background. I don't think I could say these are "good" detective stories, but whatever it's fun. The insistence on the 2 episode structure really bogs down the pacing sometimes and probably half of the characters are kind of annoying.

Zero-One attempts to tackle the idea of integrating AI, particularly robots, into society at a time where it seems like this is a conversation we'll soon need to have. Its analysis is surface level, but a good starting point, supported by outstanding visual flair and a strong cast.

I'm uncertain if most elements in Kabuto are perfect or they just seem that way because of how much I hate it's protagonist. Lots of scenes have awesome dramatic tension, characters, whether they're being civilized or, more often, at each others throats are fun to watch, but the show refuses to let it play out in favour of showing off how cool its main character is.

OOO's promises to take an abstract look at human desire through the lense of a man who desires nothing. It doesn't deliver.  It's 2 leads are perfectly enjoyable episode to episode but demand growth that the show can't provide in it's original run. The internal politics of the villain group are cool and +0.5 for the ska.

Geat's has 2 clear influences but doesn't say as much as one and loses the other in the later half. However it does show a satisfying push back against its world's power structure and maintimes a sleak style throughout. The arcs of the more audience stand in characters aren't as strong as they needed to be to elevate this show into pure greatness.

Kiva's unique story presentation makes it worth a look alone, while not every use is a banger, it does lead to interesting parallel's and dramatic irony, there's also a growing sense of dread towards the end of the show as the status quo of the main section has to be established. The cast just doesn't carry the show as much as it needs to before it gets interesting.

Gaim's transition from mundane to nigh biblical is unbelievably smooth and through this change exaggerates the beliefs and ideals of its cast to make or break them in spectacular fashion. Its main weakness is the initial mundanity, but this is necessary to make the show strike gold as often as it does when it really gets going.

Den-O is a chill season for the bros. The end point for the protagonists power scaling is the starting point for other seasons' and to see him reach that point with help from his bumbling train dads is really wholesome. Its premise isn't particularly well explored and the tail end could've used a rework, but the journey is definitely worthwhile.

Blade's characters often feel like they have staggered development and struggle to settle into any role in the story often disregarding potentially interesting directions, resulting in a messy, poorly paced first half. You can feel the writing team change towards the end as the aforementioned flaws become strengths, leading to a fantastically depressing conclusion.

Fourze tackles diverse character tropes to structure its episodic arcs and allows its focal characters to grow in satisfying directions before moving on, its high school setting making for a building sense of community. The show is, in hindsight, uneventful, but its hopeful upbeat tone as its focus moves from one character to the next keeps it from becoming boring.

Ryuki misses the mark in its efforts to explore a diverse repertoire of individuals throwing everything away in pursuit of 1 wish, but the addition of uncertainty in otherwise selfish and steadfast characters creates an interesting contrast between escalating and de-escalating tensions while an inevitable final confrontation looms in the background.

The sound design of Revice slaps and its homages to previous seasons are delightful. Characters are explored through manifestations of their repressed selves and these relationships are great to watch grow, even if arcs can feel forced, which alongside its inconsistent pacing and occasional mishandled ideas does leave the show feeling a little muddled.

Kuuga is a very grounded show, the effects of the villain group lead to police procedurals and news reports, we see funerals, people being scared of potential attacks, public places are shut down, its cool from a structural stand point even if it does start to feel one note, but the charm of the sheer effort the show oozes helps carry you to the end

Agito has several good ideas that lead to decent dramatic tension, but this is often dragged out a little too long, the payoffs are underwhelming and ultimately leave little impact. While the odd moment of the show might stand out it becomes tiring knowing that your investment is likely to be wasted.

Ex-Aid's presentation is downright breath-taking at times, combined with its offbeat suits I'd say the show borders on maximalism, the pro of visual spectacle occasionally becoming the con of visual noise. While character dynamics are fun, the constant antagonism can feel like a grating formality and villain introductions are a little stilted.

Hibiki's core relationship takes a forced leap early on and never dedicates enough time to it for it to feel comfortable. The mystique of its presentation and world building is either dropped for a more typical structure of isn't developed enough to maintain intrigue. This is before the shows infamous final third.

Drive has some growing pains as it transitions from episodic to plot driven, unable to properly devote its time to the fun of the investigations early on and answering all the questions the audience might have by the halfway mark, but the dynamics of the cast are strong enough to carry the show through its rougher patches and compliment it when it shines.

Faiz is impressively bad. Every character's direction is either dropped, sucked away by the romance circle or is poorly executed through vapid dialogue because characters don't have philosophies, they have surface level stances one word personalities. The antagonists' bickering is mind numbing. I can see what Inoue was going for and that just makes it more frustrating.

The concept of decade lends itself extremely well to the internal motivation of it's lead, however it never feels like the show properly capitalizes on this, meaning the conclusion of this character arc feels unearned. Seeing alternate version of past seasons is somewhat rewarding, but the overarching threat linking them never feels present. Points for the photography motif though.

I love the aesthetics of Ghost and contrasting the slightly morbid theme of death with a hopeful love of life is making for a surprisingly feel good time. The writing is bit too heavy handed for me to say I think it's "good" so far but I'm enjoying it.

Woz's standby is one of the things that pushed me to get into rider, that and that one video of Rabbit Tank Sparkling's debut fight set to a remix of the pepsiman theme. This one is gonna be satisfying.

Kinda realising I accidentally tail ended most of the rider seasons people generally consider bad, much like ghost I'm kinda hoping i end up liking these ones

Probably end up watching this one after Decade, but it's not finished yet so it can go here