Masked Rider (term)

Masked Rider was used as the official romanization of the Kamen Rider Series for marketing purposes until Kamen Rider Decade (2009). In Japanese, the word can be literally translated as "Mask" or "Masked". Since the beginning of the Heisei phase 2 era, the term Kamen Rider was more prominently used as a romanization, with "Masked Rider" now mostly referring to the TV series Saban's Masked Rider.
When the term originally came about is not exactly confirmed, though the earliest apparent known use of the term "Masked Rider" was in the title sequence of Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue, where the two words are typed into a computer screen before turning into their Japanese counterpart. The term "Masked Rider" was later used in trailers for the following two movies, Kamen Rider ZO and Kamen Rider J, and more prominently as the title for the first adaptation of a Kamen Rider season, Saban's Masked Rider.
"Masked Rider" continued to be used as the official English translation for the series in the early Heisei era, starting from Kamen Rider Kuuga (Masked Rider Kuuga). The names of individual Kamen Riders from both the Showa and Heisei eras were also officially branded as "Masked Rider (rider name)". However, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, the adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki (Masked Rider Ryuki), did not use "Masked Rider" in its title. This was due to producer Steve Wang convincing Toei to keep the franchise's title as "Kamen Rider". http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2009/02/22/kamen-rider-returns-to-us-television/
Thus, beginning with the Heisei phase 2 era, starting from Kamen Rider W, Kamen Rider seasons no longer use "Masked Rider" in their English title, instead using the term "Kamen Rider". Individual Riders were also named "Kamen Rider (rider name)", to further distinguish the Heisei phase 2 era from the Heisei phase 1 era. Fans around the world also began to use the term "Kamen Rider" much more prominently. In 2020, to commemorate the franchise's then-upcoming 50th anniversary, a new logo was revealed with the title written in English as "Kamen Rider", acknowledging it as the official romanization.
However, "Masked Rider" is still sometimes used in the designations of pre-W era Riders. A few notable examples are below:
*The S.H. Figuarts series has "Masked Rider" used in the designation of pre-W era Riders labelled on the boxart.
*The Legend Rider Lockseeds from Kamen Rider Gaim as well as the Ganbarizing card game distinguishes Heisei phase 2 Riders from the Riders before them by using the terms "Kamen Rider" and "Masked Rider" respectively in their Rider designations.
*In the opening sequence of D-Video Special: Kamen Rider 4, Faiz and Zeronos are called "Masked Rider Faiz" and "Masked Rider Zeronos", while Drive and Mach are called "Kamen Rider Drive" and "Kamen Rider Mach".
*While Rider 1 has always been referred to as "Masked Rider 1" in official media, the power up version of Rider 1 in 2016 was referred to as "Kamen Rider 1" instead of "Masked Rider 1" on the official website,http://ww4.sinaimg.cn/mw690/66efe9d1gw1fk32.jpg as well as on the S.H. Figuarts packaging.
**However, Kamen Rider 3's modern design was referred to as "Masked Rider 3" in 2015,http://ww4.sinaimg.cn/mw690/66efe9d1jw1eqh59y2mczj20sg0lc41v.jpg likely as a reference to his association with the Double Riders.
Category:Kamen Rider Series
Category:Terminology