 This article is about an art medium in the Kamen Rider Series.
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Anime (アニメ) is a style of handrawn or computer generated animation originating from Japan, characterized by colorful graphics and often featuring themes intended for an adult audience. The word is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation" and is used by natives to describe all animated works regardless of style or origin. However outside of Japan and in English, the term is colloquivally used in regards to all animation coming from Japan.
History[]
Anime originated sometime in the early 20th century when Japanese animators began experimenting with techniques already pioneered in other countries. By the 1930s, it had become popular yet suffered from competition such as Disney. The government then brought together all the Japanese animators togther and brought shows and advertisements to television. One of those shows was Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, who borrowed techniques from Walt Disney. Tezuka later founded Mushi Production, an animation company whose employees would later go on to found famous companies such as Madhouse, Sunrise, and Pierrot. His idea of giant robots would eventually evolve into the Mobile Suit Gundam and Macross franchises. With the economy going up, higher-budget films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was produced, which led to the producers founding Studio Ghlibli.
Many of Tezuka's works have influenced anime today, which includes the common character design of large oval eyes in the majority of anime characters.
Kamen Rider[]
While the Kamen Rider Series is primarily a tokusatsu franchise, several Kamen Rider anime productions have been made, such as Kamen Rider SD and the Imagin Anime. The Kamen Rider Series has also had two crossovers with the anime series Crayon Shin-chan, during Kamen Rider Den-O and Kamen Rider Fourze respectively.
Zero-One also received it's own short anime, with Saber following through as well.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the franchise, the manga series Futo Tantei received an anime adaptation titled Fuuto PI, which premiered in August 2022. The series was followed by the film Fuuto PI: The Portrait of Kamen Rider Skull in November 2024.
In 2025, the manga Tojima Tanzaburo Wants to Be a Masked Rider received an anime adaptation titled Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider, which premiered in October 2025.
Notes[]
- Several references to Kamen Rider have also been featured in the anime Nyaruko: Crawling with Love where its main character Nyaruko is often seen wielding weapons belonging to other Riders, as well as performing their poses and saying their catchphrases.