Free Kamen Rider List
So in a shocking move, I am currently caught up on Kamen Rider Gavv. The freaking snack season is maybe my favorite season of Kamen Rider ever, the Riders are compelling, the female lead is great, the plot is interesting, and the humor doesn’t bother me. I love Build don’t get me wrong, but the idol stuff really did not gel with me even in 2017.
So to celebrate that I am likely over halfway through the season (there are usually like 49 episodes in a Kamen Rider season these days) I figured I might list some free ways to watch Kamen Rider, in case any of y’all would like to check it out. Fair warning, some of these shows I have not watched fully. I’ll get into why. There are other Kamen Rider things you can see for free too, but their seasons are incomplete.
First we will start with the shows. Available on YouTube and Tubi (though they are region locked. I can see them in the States, but Polish viewers can’t for example) are five Kamen Rider seasons. I will break them down in order of release.
The first is the original Kamen Rider. With nearly 100 episodes and running from 1971 to 1973, this is the archetype. A man converted into a monstrous weapon by an evil organization who then uses his monstrous powers to oppose them. These villains are overtly descended from the Nazis, so that’s aged well. Lot of motorcycle stunts compared to later seasons, and it is much less “to sell toys” than modern seasons. There aren’t 900+ forms, just effectively one form for each Rider. I believe this is not only where the grasshopper theme originated for the franchise but the idea of grasshoppers being telepathic. I have watched this whole season, and I mostly had a good time. My only warning is that as the archetype, the og show started some trends the haunt the series to the modern day. Namely, the series does not treat women great.
A grasshopper-like, motorcycle-riding cyborg (joined by another one later in the show) fights the evil organization that transformed him for
The second chronologically is Kuuga. Through the nineties there were only three Kamen Rider projects, which I will get to later. Kuuga was the first show since like 1989, ushering in the 2000s. With compelling characters, an iconic mystery, and the villains speaking in a freaking cypher, this was a serialized tale. It also a bit more mystical than most series up to that point, as the action begins when a tomb is excavated, freeing a horde of monsters who leave behind a strange belt. Most monsters were fought for two episodes, but the wider story showed Kuuga and law enforcement adapting and learning from these conflicts, both growing stronger. There is no secondary Rider in the series proper, it’s just Kuuga. But again, the civilians and supporting cast are all interesting and contribute to the story. The story also tries to grapple with contemporary issues, with arcs focusing on problems of the day, and the wider story being about violence. Spoilers for the series, but Kuuga continues the trends of the original, with Kuuga’s origin being quite similar to the monsters he faces. This is perhaps the best written Kamen Rider thing on this list, it is an iconic series and a welcomed return after the hiatus. My criticisms are more about my personal taste. Namely, the story is largely a police procedural, with a heavy focus on law enforcement. So if cops are upsetting, you might need to brace yourself for this. My only other note is that in this version of the subs they translate the cypher language from the start, so you know what the mystery is from the beginning. This did not affect my enjoyment of the series when I watched it though.
Having himself telepathically linked to a mysterious stone belt, Godai Yusuke believes that he is fated to be the warrior Kuuga, who fights
While I watched both the original Kamen Rider and Kuuga, I only got ten episodes into Ryuki. Part of that isn’t its fault, another series had turned me off tournament arcs, more later. Ryuki isn’t a tournament arc exactly, but it is a battle royale. There are many Kamen Rider in this season, some of whom are simply evil. (I debate if this series started that trend, there were earlier evil riders, but they weren’t called Kamen Riders) I won’t go into much detail since I didn’t watch the full story, but effectively they are fighting each other to the death to achieve their wishes. The aesthetic is interesting, with the monsters they fight existing in mirrors. So you’ll get shots of the Riders fighting them in like the reflections of storefront windows, but no Rider is in the real world presently. It wasn’t for me, but it had some interesting things to say about journalism. My other notes are a tie-in movie to this season had the first woman Kamen Rider. She died. This is gonna be par for the course for most Kamen Rider media.
“Mirror World” exists symmetrically beyond an invisible mirror in space, and an exact copy of our human world, where only monsters can dwell
Zero-One. I got over 17 episodes into Zero-One, but gosh help if I remember what happened after the first minute of episode 17, let alone what episode I ended on. Because this was the start of the tournament arc. The long, dull, tournament arc that haunts me in my sleep. Okay, it wasn’t that bad. But yeah, this is what turned me off tournament arcs. Anyway the first sixteen episodes were good. The series revolves around Humagears, androids that look nearly human. Some of these androids are being hacked, necessitating Kamen Rider Zero-One to fight them. There are fewer Riders than in Ryuki, and a few are antagonists, but one of the major Riders is a woman, and another introduced long after I stopped watching is fricking nonbinary. Awesome. The motifs of the rampaging robots are neat too, they are all themed on prehistoric animals. I believe the helmets of the grunts look like trilobite shells. Fair warning, part of the reason I left during the tournament arc was the writing for Kamen Rider Valkyrie was beginning to really irritate me. And I hear it got worse down the line. Might have gotten better later on though. The bigger issue is the series was wrapping up when Covid hit, so the ending arc is a bit rushed. I never watched the ending, but from what I hear, it really hurt the series. Other notes, while Kuuga and Ryuki had multiple forms and/or Riders, Zero-One is much deeper in the “to sell toys” era. This and Geats have a ton of forms and gimmicks, so be aware you are going to see a lot of plastic merch.
Humagears (humanoid robots), created by the leading company for AI, Hiden Intelligence, serve humanity’s every convenience. But a cyber-terr
I have watched nothing of Geats since it’s the Fortnite season with Riders competing in contests to get their wishes granted. There are multiple tournaments in the season with varying rules, and while there are tons of riders, only four Kamen Riders are major. One of those is a woman so yay. I have heard this season is great, though tumblr’s fandom fights over the actions of the secondary and tertiary Riders, honestly of the seasons of the franchise it’s the one I am most likely to see fans rant about how the other side is wrong. Again, I never watched it, but the fanbase and premise hasn’t encouraged me to.
KAMEN RIDER GEATS rampages on “Survival Games!” All Kamen Riders, past and present, are set to battle against unknown enemies and compete wi
Those are the five seasons on Tubi/youtube. But also on YouTube are three movies. During the hiatus of the nineties, three movies were made, each focusing on a different original Kamen Rider. I won’t lie, these movies aren’t “good,” but they are short. The longest is about ninety minutes, the other two are like forty-eight. And none of them are region locked, I’ve gotten to share them with a Polish friend. The uploader is Toei, the company that makes Kamen Rider, and they also uploaded the first two episodes for multiple seasons. So you can see the first two episodes of Kuuga for instance without worrying about your region. But I am focusing on complete projects so I am jumping straight to the films.
Hilariously, these three films were released in ascending order of quality. So this first one is the roughest of the bunch. Lot of gore, lot of sexism (a woman gets reduced to a womb for like the whole third act, and while she dies it’s okay because her funky fetus is okay) questionable science and imagery. Kamen Rider Shin (not to be confused with Shin Kamen Rider, the latter movie retells the original season) is a series that focuses on how Kamen Rider’s powers are usually derived from his enemies. Namely, they push the monster element further than most. The film is violent, especially towards women. Still the gore is effective (Shin decapitates a guy) and the CIA woman is the best character in the film. She’s very competent, and while she regrets her orders, she follows them. Not a great person, but interesting. I think she dies in the end, but it’s not very clear. So she might be okay? As I said it’s the worst of the three films, but if you enjoy bad horror movies, it could be a fun ride.
Kamen Rider ZO is artsy. Like Shin, the story starts with a mad scientist creating a human-grasshopper hybrid who seems to have a telepathic link. The origin is science here, like Shin. Unlike Shin, the story hinges on the relationship between a tween and his estranged father. The monsters are the best of the three films, we get a stop motion spider, a flying bat, a terminator grasshopper, and of course, the coin fetus. You look at that villain and you tell me it’s not a coin fetus. The effects are good, and the fights and nice. There are is only one woman (maybe two if you count the spider) but she’s not horribly done. (CIA woman from Shin affects her film’s plot more though) This has the biggest supporting cast of the three, though some are more comedic relief. But sometimes it gets too artsy for its own good. There’s this fricking musical pocketwatch that makes characters human, and it isn’t explained well. At one point ZO gets absorbed by a monster into a hybrid form, but is freed by hearing that music. ZO decides his creator isn’t evil because he hears that music, while a music video plays for the audience, showing life on our planet. It’s weird. But film students would probably get a kick out of it. ZO is overall the second best of the bunch, doing some things better than the rest, but also being incoherent at points. It also is only like forty-eight minutes long, so if you and your friends want to check out this bizarreness, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Also its ending theme is cool.
Kamen Rider J is the most superhero and the most coherent. The aliens that wiped out the dinosaurs have returned and plan to sacrifice a little girl so they can destroy the world. Kamen Rider J is empowered by the environment to fight “the Fog” like a martial artist Captain Planet. That’s the plot. There is a gauntlet of villains, Agito (unrelated to Kamen Rider Agito) is the best designed of the bunch (he’s a crocodile) but the rest don’t compare favorably to ZO’s. They aren’t bad mind you, just not great. There are themes of environmentalism, with a focus that a lot of the destruction isn’t caused by the Fog but humans. J is a photographer focusing on the destruction of the environment. Also the little girl is a bit hardcore, like she’s perky, but she does make graves for dead wildlife. Sadly the last half of the film just has her shouting “big brother” as her only dialogue. Not the best written female lead, she’s basically just a damsel outside of her morbid hobby. Admittedly, this Kamen Rider’s power is separate from his villains, but if you want to see a gauntlet of fights with some melancholy about the environment, this is a good pick. It also has an adorable grasshopper puppet. It’s the best of the three, and the easiest to revisit. The film’s plot is simple but straightforward. I described it in two sentences. Of all the Kamen Rider stuff on this list, or in general, I rewatch J the most. It’s non offensive and doesn’t require too much investment, but still is fun. It also is like 48 minutes long, and it also has a good ending theme. I recommend J if you want a quick casual film about a superhero fighting evil to save the world.
So yeah, that’s the line-up. Of these entries I personally recommend Kuuga, the OG series, and J the most, with Kuuga being the best entry here, and J simply being fun. But that’s just my taste. Regardless, it’s a good time to be a Kamen Rider fan in the west, for many years there was basically no way to watch Kamen Rider legitimately here, but now there are eight officially subtitled and released entries. And for those comic fans in the States worried that the big two in the west are going to become even more blatantly propaganda, it’s good to have a life line from other nation’s heroes.
