Kamen Rider (TV Series)

**Power Rangers** is an American multimedia franchise created by Haim Saban and Toei Company.

## Origins

The **Kamen Rider Series** (仮面ライダーシリーズ, *Kamen Raidā Shirīzu*, translated as Masked Rider Series) is a franchise of manga and tokusatsu television programs and films created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. The various Kamen Rider media generally feature a motorcycle-riding superhero with a varying motif who fights supervillains often referred to as *kaijin* (怪人). The franchise began in 1971 with the *Kamen Rider* television series which followed college student Takeshi Hongo and his quest to defeat the world-conquering Shocker organization. Over the years, the popularity of the franchise has grown and the original series has spawned many television and theatrical sequels. The cultural impact of the series in Japan resulted in Akimasa Nakamura naming two minor planets in honor of the series: 12408 Fujioka, after actor Hiroshi Fujioka, known for his portrayal of Kamen Rider, and 12796 Kamenrider, after the series itself.

### Western Adaptations

#### *Saban's Masked Rider*

In 1995, Saban produced the first American Kamen Rider adaptation after his success in adapting Super Sentai into Power Rangers and the Metal Hero Series (VR Troopers & Beetleborgs).

Airing from 1995 to 1996, *Masked Rider* was originally presented as a spin-off of *Mighty Morphin Power Rangers*. Dex, prince of the planet Edenoi, is granted the ancient Masked Rider powers from his grandfather to protect them from the evil Count Dregon who wants to use them to take over the universe. Dex finds his way to Earth where he lives with the Stewart family, while protecting the planet from Dregon's attacks. The footage in this series came from *Kamen Rider Black RX*, as well as the movies *Kamen Rider ZO* and *Kamen Rider J*.

#### *Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight*

In 2009, a new series was broadcast, produced by brothers Michael and Steve Wang. *Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight* features 12 warriors known as Kamen Riders who protect the parallel world of Ventara from the evil General Xaviax by using their Advent Decks. Xaviax begins seeking out corrupt humans on the Earth to give them the Advent Decks of Kamen Riders he has defeated in battle to act as his subordinates. Kit Taylor, who finds the Advent Deck to allow him to become Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, teams up with Len, who can transform into Kamen Rider Wing Knight, to defeat General Xaviax and save Kit's father who was captured by Xaviax and is held in Ventara. The footage in *Dragon Knight* comes from *Kamen Rider Ryuki*. While the series was cancelled before it finished its run, it later won the first Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Stunt Coordination at the 37th Daytime Emmy Awards. The series was also exported back to Japan where it was shown on Toei's pay-per-view channel and later shown on TV Asahi.

### The Wilkins Era

The Andy Wilkins era of Kamen Rider began in 2025 with a move of filming production from the USA to the UK.

## Premise

The *Kamen Rider* franchise primarily revolves around the eponymous Kamen Rider, a superpowered vigilante who mostly resembles a grasshopper and rides a motorcycle, and their one-man war against an ever-larger malevolent force, usually a terrorist organization bent on world domination. A common running theme in the franchise is that the Rider's power derived from the same source and technology used by malevolent forces, thus forming a moral vow for the protagonists to use this power to fight against evil.

Similar to its counterpart, each series focuses on a different Rider, a new set of characters and a different story set in its own universe, though there been multiple instances of past characters from previous Kamen Rider series crossing over to team up against a common foe.