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Icon-krThis article is about a set of all the shows and films in the Kamen Rider Series.

ReiwaRiders

The primary Riders of the Reiwa era.

The Reiwa Kamen Rider Series (令和仮面ライダーシリーズ, Reiwa Kamen Raidā Shirīzu) is the third and current production era of the Kamen Rider Series. It refers to Reiwa (令和), the current period in Japan after the Heisei period. The Reiwa era started on May 1, 2019, the first day after the abdication of the reigning Emperor, Akihito. His son, Naruhito, succeeded to the throne. In accordance with Japanese customs, Akihito will be renamed "Emperor Heisei" upon his death.

The Reiwa era started with Zi-O's successor, Kamen Rider Zero-One (September 2019 - August 2020), which premiered in September 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show was delayed for five weeks, ultimately cutting the show's length considerably and aired its final episode in August 2020. Zero-One was followed by Kamen Rider Saber (September 2020 - 2021).

Reiwa trends

Many of the trends from the previous era have carried over into the Reiwa era.

  • Beside two main Riders, more Riders are introduced in the series since the appearance of Supporting Riders (Kamen Rider Proto-Birth) in Kamen Rider OOO.
  • Each series has a white-colored Rider, though unlike the previous era, they are never specially referred to as white.
  • With the exception of Zero-One, each series has a character who is the closest friend of the protagonist and a relative of the series' white Rider. Since Ghost, this trend is sometimes inverted where the white Rider is also a relative to one of the main antagonists.
  • Each series has a red-colored villain general who can use heat power and become stronger when defeated.
    • Kamen Rider Zero-One: Dodo Magia (He was defeated by the main Rider's Upgrade Form, and his Zetsumerisekey would later be used by Ikazuchi to transform into a Rider) and Jin (While he was originally pink due to using Flying Falcon, after being rebuilt by Williamson, not only is his Burning Falcon form red, but it also has flaming abilities and signified to the others of his revival and by that point, gave Jin a drastic personality change and perspective.)
  • Between their Main Forms and their Super Forms, all main Riders also have a set of forms that are upgraded from their base forms.
    • Kamen Rider Zero-One: Shining Hopper is a direct upgrade to Rising Hopper. The form is later upgraded into Shining Assault Hopper using the Assault Grip.
    • Kamen Rider Saber: Dragonic Knight is a direct evolution of Brave Dragon.
  • Besides the normal humanoid monsters, the main Riders also occasionally have to fight against giant CGI monsters.
  • All of the main Riders have a default sidearm.
  • All of the main Riders since Wizard has warm colors for their default Main Forms.
  • There are Rider Troops for each series.
  • Each series has a transformation belt that is utilized by at least two in-series Riders.
  • The series will usually take a secondary rider out of the action for various reasons and various lengths or even fights with the villains for multiple episodes.
    • Kamen Rider Zero-One: Fuwa's Shotriser was damaged near the end of Zero-One after transforming into Orthoros Vulcan. Prior to this however, he was possessed by Naki on several occasions before they were separated.
    • Kamen Rider Saber: Rintaro, along with the other three Sword of Logos Riders, are tricked into believing that Touma betrayed them, pitting him against Touma for numerous episodes.
  • The leader of the main villain group is usually betrayed and sometimes, if not usually, killed by one of their subordinates.
  • The plot of each season's summer movie usually involves an alternate world or timeline being shown in contrast with the present world or timeline, somewhat harking back to the early Heisei Phase 1 summer movies of Ryuki, 555, Blade and Kabuto, which feature alternate endings to the main series storyline.
  • Each series includes a golden evil Kamen Rider:
  • The main Rider usually uses a disproportionately high number of collectible transformation devices as compared to the other Riders.
    • Kamen Rider Zero-One: Out of all the Progrisekeys, Zero-One uses 10 (12 counting his appearances as Zero-Two and Ark-One), while Vulcan uses 6 and Valkyrie only uses 2 (3 counting her appearance as the Fighting Jackal Raider).
  • Each season usually has the third main Rider originally start off as good during or before the start of the series, then become evil for a period of time before finally redeeming themselves and going on the side of good again.
    • Kamen Rider Zero-One: Yua Yaiba was originally aligned with ZAIA Enterprise Japan and their president, Gai Amatsu, though after his ulterior motives began to conflict with her own morality, she ultimately betrays Gai and works with Jin and HIDEN Manufacturing to defeat Ark-Zero.
    • Kamen Rider Saber: Kento Fukamiya, originally a childhood friend of Touma, returned after he was seemingly killed and took up the mantle as the current Kamen Rider Calibur with a mission to seal all the Seiken to prevent a terrible disaster he foresaw, turning him into a somewhat anti-heroic Rider, though he does show signs of wanting to rekindle his friendships with his former allies.
  • The main villains usually possess an omnipotent object or entity of great power, which can possibly inflict mass destruction on the world.
    • Kamen Rider Zero-One: The Ark itself is this, possessing the power to turn any or all Humagears against humanity.
    • Kamen Rider Saber: The Great Book is a powerful tome of history that contains everything known to man and the source of the Wonder Ride Books. If awakened, it has the power to devastate and absorb the entire planet.
  • A certain transformation device from each season has either a prototype or a mass-produced version.
  • Each season has a spinoff side story focusing on one of the main characters apart from the primary Rider.
  • The secondary Riders' super forms are actually equivalent to the protagonist Riders' Upgrade Forms.
  • The primary Riders' final form no longer has its own designated weapon. Instead, it uses the weapon used by the upgrade/super form. However, rather than using the super form's collectible device, the weapon instead uses collectible devices from the Riders' regular forms to generate more powerful attacks.
  • With the exception of Zero-One, all series have at least one Rider having a music-related power/weapon:
  • With the exception of Zero-One, there is at least one ninja-based Rider or Rider form:
  • All series feature Kamen Riders with purple/violet color dominant in their main form. They're usually the third or fourth Rider to appear in series.
  • The Blu-ray releases of each season have a mini-series tied in, often as an additional side story within the series' narrative.
  • Each season features initial conflict or some form of a rivalry between the series' secondary and tertiary rider before becoming comrades.
  • Most of the major villains at the start of the series would turn good at the end of it, and the last boss is usually another person/entity (Ark) appearing much later.
  • With the exception of Zero-One, all series introduced an evil Rider-like character with a mysterious identity at the start of the series.
  • Each season usually involves or is set in an alternate world or timeline being shown in contrast with the present world or timeline, somewhat harking back to the early Heisei Phase 1 summer movies of Ryuki, 555, Blade and Kabuto, which feature alternate endings to the main series storyline. Of note, while Zi-O would establish every Rider season as being part of its own universe, this list will only include examples where it is explicitly stated that's the case.
  • Each season features a Rider with some sort of feline motif.
  • Each season features at least one father figure as a Rider.
  • Each season prominently features some sort of alternate and/or otherworldly location as part of its plot.
  • The primary Rider receives a new transformation device to use in conjunction with their collectible devices to access their final forms.
  • Design-wise, the primary Rider's final forms are more simplistic looking in comparison to their predecessors from the previous era, often being slight redecos of their base forms in a similar vein to Kamen Rider Stronger's Charge Up form.
    • Kamen Rider Zero-One: Zero-Two heavily draws inspiration from the Rising Hopper suit with additional details added.
    • Kamen Rider Saber: Cross Saber is a purple redeco of Saber Brave Dragon.
  • The secondary Rider's final form combines the powers of either their respective collectible devices from previous episodes or the powers of previous users of their Rider powers. In the Heisei era, such final forms (if any) would usually go to the primary Rider.
  • Kamen Rider in the Reiwa Era

    In Japan, the Reiwa Era began on May 1, 2019, during the concurrent run of Kamen Rider Zi-O, the final Heisei-era Rider. By the end of summer, Toei announced Kamen Rider Zero-One as the succeeding entry and the first to helm the Reiwa Era. It began airing on September 1, 2019, and was expected to air its finale sometime Fall 2020. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a quarantine in Japan early May 2020, a string of episodes were postponed and replaced by some alternative content (as the President Special, the Shooting Special, and the Super Job War).

    In December of 2019, a crossover between Zero-One and Zi-O had premiered in Japanese theaters, titled Kamen Rider: Reiwa The First Generation, marking the first time two Riders from differing eras have headed their own crossover film together.

    On July 29, 2020, the press conference for Kamen Rider Saber was held, revealing its main cast and crew. The show began airing on September 6, 2020.

    Sometime in 2020, Kamen Rider Zero-One: REAL×TIME was planned to be released on July 23, 2020, but delayed due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, later released on December 18, 2020 double-billed alongside with Kamen Rider Saber: The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin.

    By December 18, 2020, Zero-One Others was announced for the V-Cinext, starting with Zero-One Others: Kamen Rider MetsubouJinrai, releasing on March 26, 2021 followed by its sequel, Zero-One Others: Kamen Rider Vulcan & Valkyrie, releasing sometime in Fall 2021.

    On March 20, 2021, Kamen Rider Saber: The Movie was announced to premiere sometime later in 2021, double-billng with Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger: The MovieIcon-crosswiki. However, TOEI had been announced that was changed the name into Kamen Rider Saber + Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger: Superhero SenkiIcon-crosswiki.

    Reiwa Rider productions

    External Links

    References

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