So gOOOd It Exceeds Infinity

HOLY PEAK. This series is amazing. The gimmick of the setting is cool and interesting and unique, and on top of that it doesn't feel disconnected to the plot of the series like some other Kamen Rider belt gimmicks can feel. Eiji and Ankh have great chemistry together as tentative allies, Eiji himself is a great character who gets analyzed and comes to an interesting conclusion in the story later on. The side characters are all entertaining and each have their own fun reason to be around. The story itself is a great combination of lighthearted fun and introspective. The music, good golly the MUSIC. Each form having their own insert song and the OP being a fun and upbeat ska track gives this one a unique and great style to it. The suit designs are really fun, and the way they frequently swap between them mid-fights gives each combat a fun and unique feeling to it! Even the filler episodes related to Kamen Rider's Anniversary are a lot of fun! This one has it all, in my opinion.

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Please Watch!

Kamen Rider Kuuga is a masterpiece. Godai is one of the greatest Riders I have watched up to this point. His chemistry with Ichijo is superb. The mystery around the belt and the appearances of the villains is interesting and actively studied by the cast. The personal interactions and drama are fantastic and heartwarming, and while they may be a mix of connected and disconnected from the overall interactions with the villains, they still are representative of Godai as a Rider and are emblematic to the story itself, meaning they don't feel shallow or fully irrelevant to the plot. Kuuga's design is simple but effective. The interactions of the villains with their own cypher language are fun and tense and interesting. Action scenes, while perhaps not always flashy and can be somewhat short, are good all the same. The ending is handled with an interesting, almost artsy grace that gives the story even more gravitas. The OP is absolutely stellar and the ED is comforting. Overall, a fantastically told story, one of the greatest Kamen Riders to date.

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Frustrating Series With Amazing Designs

Kamen Rider Agito is a very hard watch. It sets itself up well enough, with mystery and intrigue surrounding it, a STELLAR opening song, and overall several very well-designed suits for the main Riders. However, what ends up happening is that the series meanders for a majority of its run time. It feels like very few of the characters in the series have actual agency - they are moreso waiting for any big events to happen and then reacting to them. In the case of the main character he feels so detached that he barely seems to do anything related to the main mystery for a large portion of the story and is essentially just pulled towards every fight. Its predecessor Kuuga also has a mystery, but what makes it compelling in Kuuga is the main characters actively researching the mystery at hand and actively going to defeat the monsters of their own accord. Agito makes these characters do so seemingly out of instinct instead, being far more passive characters, whose interpersonal drama is overall pretty bland and uninteresting for a large majority of the run time. Not to mention only one of the three main characters really seem to do any research into the main mystery and their progress is quite slow and brooding. The show drags its feet quite often. It's a very mixed bag.

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A Good Entry, Despite Flaws

Geats is a clumsy story, but a fun one. With a great OP and an interesting concept, relating to winning a sort of Death Game to get a wish, it ends up being a very interesting form of Kamen Rider as they combat each other for the sake of winning. However, it doesn't stick with this concept the whole way through the story and ends up changing to focus less on the aspect of a battle royale and more like a standard Kamen Rider story. This ended up disappointing me somewhat. Characters have decent chemistry, though at times it can be somewhat flat and businesslike for a large majority of the series. Suit designs have great potential to be interesting as it begins with the concept of item pickups akin to a video game, but again it ends up being tossed aside for the sake of consistent, merchandise-worthy forms. Not bad forms, but considering what the series started out as, it ended up disappointing me a bit. Fight choreography goes really hard sometimes, especially when they use the show's gimmicks to set up specific opportunities that would not have been available in other stories. Overall, a story with a lot of potential that does unfortunately fumble the bag.

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Imperfect Allegory Against An Imperfect World

Kamen Rider Black Sun is a work I highly admire, despite the issues it has. The story is intense and gritty, and it's very admirable of them to go so hard into the ideas of prejudice, classism, racism, and social justice. It feels like an important story to tell. However, at times it can get a bit lost in the weeds when it comes to its storytelling, with frequent timeskips and issues with pacing in its 10 episode run. There's some reveals later on that can lead to the story feeling confused, but still holding the spirit of wanting to fight against social injustice, which is good. The suit designs tend towards the positive - most of them look very cool, with some looking kind of goofy and pulling me out of the general dark feeling the series tended towards. The action, while sparse, is very impressive, and the gore and blood throughout is shocking and a fresh change from the mainline series only showing blood via makeup for the most part. The main theme can get a bit tiring to hear repeatedly, but it's a cool song and it still does feel satisfying to hear during certain moments. This is one of the series that feels least like it's trying to sell me a toy, that's for sure. It feels mature, but a bit uncoordinated.

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Zero One By Itself Doesn't Actually Mean Anything In Binary

Kamen Rider Zero One is charming. I really like the acting, and the suit designs tend to be consistent enough for me to not have any issues with any of them in particular. However, I have quite a few issues with its story. It is pretty strangely paced, and on top of that the morals seem to be mixed in what they're actually trying to tell you - unlike a lot of KR shows I've watched that are very explicit in their message, Zero One says one thing while showing another. It shows you that you should "follow your dreams" and "do what you want", but when someone wants something that isn't explicitly their core function it is seen as wrong. Aruto wants to be a comedian, but always fails. All of the Humagears that reach sentience want to pursue their dreams, but their dreams are only in relation to continuing to do what they have always done. It feels contradictory to itself throughout its entirety. The main characters for the most part have good chemistry, though, and it made me so happy to see a nonbinary character have a main role later in the series. The action is pretty good, though.

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