WEBVTT 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:03.399 As Super Sentai ends and Project Red takes its 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:05.799 place, I started thinking about why these transforming 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:09.000 heroes shows work at all. Kamen Rider is the 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:10.960 most successful of the big three in terms of 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:13.900 toy sales, so it is the best place to start. 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:18.839 Kamen Rider resets every year. New suits, new 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:22.940 tones, new worlds. And yet, somehow, it is still 00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:25.440 instantly recognizable. That got me thinking. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.300 Why do you watch Kamen Rider? strip away the 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:32.000 stories and emotions, and there are a few external 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:37.439 elements that never change. The first thing is 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:40.460 that transformation is always a spectacle. We 00:00:40.460 --> 00:00:45.219 get from Yusuke Godai, you know, behold my transformation. 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:49.740 We get the jingles of the more modern Kamen Riders. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.159 That's, you know, Kuga was 20 years ago. We have 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:56.880 from the original Kamen Rider the way that the 00:00:58.540 --> 00:01:00.159 transformation went from being on a motorcycle 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:03.399 we have these sharp fast cuts going back and 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:05.319 forth between Takeshi Hongo showing his normal 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:07.140 face then showing the mask on him off him on 00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:09.780 him off him until finally the mask settles there 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:17.060 and his scarf blows out dramatically and we eventually 00:01:17.060 --> 00:01:19.280 got some flashing lights added to that and then 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:23.659 after he was away for a little bit when Ishimonji 00:01:23.659 --> 00:01:30.310 Hayato showed up as Rider 2 we had the full development 00:01:30.310 --> 00:01:33.890 of the Henshin sequence for Kamen Rider and it 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:38.049 became something over time that was it was always 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:39.969 there but it was sharpened when he came along 00:01:39.969 --> 00:01:42.049 because it was no longer that he just rode his 00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:45.450 bike fast to get the wind turbine to spin up 00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:47.829 to transform it was something else turned into 00:01:47.829 --> 00:01:51.349 a ritual as opposed to a process it's still kind 00:01:51.349 --> 00:01:53.750 of a process especially when you add on the jingles 00:01:53.750 --> 00:01:55.310 of the more modern Kamen Rider shows but still 00:01:55.310 --> 00:01:59.540 there's that spectacle that leads to the transformation 00:01:59.540 --> 00:02:02.659 that happens when the hero is ready, when he 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:05.700 needs to transform, when the enemies are too 00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:07.920 many for him or whatever the situation is, when 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.740 it's too dire, then he stops fighting from his 00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:13.240 civilian form and then goes and transforms and 00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:16.419 then things get kicked up another notch. Speaking 00:02:16.419 --> 00:02:18.879 of the enemies, another big staple of Kamen Rider, 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:21.360 something that pulls people in, is the enemy 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:27.639 origin power. It isn't... always obvious at a 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:30.919 glance how the common writer and the enemy are 00:02:30.919 --> 00:02:33.860 linked to each other but if you just watch an 00:02:33.860 --> 00:02:36.960 episode basically any episode even if he's fighting 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:40.740 mooks or a lower level monster of the week as 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:43.520 opposed to a general you can see there's shared 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:46.919 dna between him and the other group or and the 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:49.159 enemy that he's fighting and i think there's 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:51.240 something fascinating about that dichotomy i 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:55.159 don't know necessarily that we're processing 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:58.199 that on a conscious level when we see it but 00:02:58.199 --> 00:02:59.560 i think there's something about the fact that 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:01.300 if you go back to the original ground raider 00:03:01.300 --> 00:03:04.280 he's wearing boots and gloves and a belt and 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:08.060 a mask with armor pieces on him and all the shocker 00:03:08.060 --> 00:03:10.860 mooks that he's fighting have masks and war paint 00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:14.099 um and boots and gloves as well as these belts 00:03:14.099 --> 00:03:16.500 and they're coming at him and then you look at 00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:20.300 first one was spider -man he's got his big shocker 00:03:20.300 --> 00:03:25.659 belt and his crazy spider helmet and uh He had 00:03:25.659 --> 00:03:27.699 hairy fingers and stuff, so that's a little bit 00:03:27.699 --> 00:03:30.240 off, but then his boots are the same. And you 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:33.039 can see that they're these more powerful shocker 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:34.900 cyborgs. And you know from the first episode 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:36.460 of the original Commodore that he is a shocker 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:39.360 cyborg who's turned against them and who's betrayed 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:44.419 them and gone good. But I'm thinking about other 00:03:44.419 --> 00:03:48.340 shows. You can tell, like Oz, for example, the 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:52.310 enemies there have a very bold design. It's very 00:03:52.310 --> 00:03:55.610 monstrous and O's is much more refined. And yet 00:03:55.610 --> 00:03:58.389 you can see that it's obvious that he, you know, 00:03:58.389 --> 00:03:59.909 the metals come out of the enemies when he defeats 00:03:59.909 --> 00:04:02.770 them. And before that, the yummies have metals 00:04:02.770 --> 00:04:06.610 that come out of them as well. And he's using 00:04:06.610 --> 00:04:08.590 the metals directly. So you can see, okay, metal 00:04:08.590 --> 00:04:12.310 to metal connection. Also, while he's not monstrous, 00:04:12.330 --> 00:04:17.670 he's odd looking and he has very evidently on 00:04:17.670 --> 00:04:20.310 his body, these different animal motifs. So when 00:04:20.310 --> 00:04:22.660 he's fighting the, I think it was the praying 00:04:22.660 --> 00:04:24.519 mantis in the first episode. You can see he's 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:28.899 using Tatoba. He's got the grasshopper, the tiger, 00:04:29.019 --> 00:04:31.480 and the... What was the other one? Oh, and the 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:35.339 hawk. He's got those animal motifs on him, and 00:04:35.339 --> 00:04:37.220 you can see clearly. Okay, so he's got these 00:04:37.220 --> 00:04:39.959 animal power coins, and the enemy is using them 00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:43.379 as well. And you can see the connection. And 00:04:43.379 --> 00:04:48.759 I believe all of the enemies always have... some 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:51.480 sort of flashy belt buckle type of deal uh in 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:54.860 zets currently it's a like a sleepy eye kind 00:04:54.860 --> 00:04:57.920 of deal uh that's just a simple belt buckle which 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:00.199 looks really good uh they did something very 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:04.839 similar for combinator ghost and i'm not gonna 00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:06.519 remember all the rest of them off top my head 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:08.540 but just looking at it you can see okay there 00:05:08.540 --> 00:05:11.329 is something There's something unifying between 00:05:11.329 --> 00:05:14.149 his design and their designs, and why is he fighting 00:05:14.149 --> 00:05:16.029 them? I think that kind of fuels a mystery, even 00:05:16.029 --> 00:05:18.769 if it's not on a deep psychological level or 00:05:18.769 --> 00:05:20.889 anything like that. It's on the surface, but 00:05:20.889 --> 00:05:23.069 it kind of makes it more interesting. It makes 00:05:23.069 --> 00:05:25.589 you ask a question. In writing books, there's 00:05:25.589 --> 00:05:27.250 something you want to do, which is that you want 00:05:27.250 --> 00:05:30.889 to write an invisible question. You want to state 00:05:30.889 --> 00:05:34.379 things. set up the scenario of the world in the 00:05:34.379 --> 00:05:36.519 first you know on the first page in the first 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:38.540 chapter in the first paragraph if you can that 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.980 makes people ask questions or realize that there's 00:05:41.980 --> 00:05:43.160 a question there that needs to be asked that 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:46.680 isn't being spelled out so which is in this case 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:49.000 would be why does this hero look like these villains 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:52.500 why does this you know monster uh why is this 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:54.180 monster being opposed by somebody who looks kind 00:05:54.180 --> 00:05:55.920 of like him but who i can tell is protecting 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:57.360 people and helping them instead of hurting them 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.300 another thing is the iconic writer mask with 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:03.660 the uh big bug eyes, and whether it's Tato Bob, 00:06:03.779 --> 00:06:05.540 which is a hawk that somehow has bug eyes, or 00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:08.779 it's Ryuki, who has these big eyes behind a grill. 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:11.180 And then actually, if you look at Ryuki more 00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:16.100 closely, the antennae, the big eyes, the bug 00:06:16.100 --> 00:06:18.540 eyes, and the crusher are divided between three 00:06:18.540 --> 00:06:23.399 heroes. So it's Ryuki, whatever the bat knight 00:06:23.399 --> 00:06:25.939 is called, and then I think it's Zelda, who has 00:06:25.939 --> 00:06:27.480 the, he's the green one with the turrets, he 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:30.399 has the big antennae, the... bat knight has the 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:33.040 crusher and ryuki himself the dragon knight has 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:35.519 the uh the eyes hidden behind the visor and i 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:37.860 think he's a tiny little antenna too but uh anyway 00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:40.339 that's just another example of that but there's 00:06:40.339 --> 00:06:42.579 always these you know big eyes whether they're 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:43.959 compound eyes or not which i think they're pretty 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:47.160 much always compound eyes they're large and distinct 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:50.079 and that's part of the icon and i think it looks 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:54.139 it always looks distinct Except for with Jay 00:06:54.139 --> 00:06:56.439 and Zetto, of course, because they almost look 00:06:56.439 --> 00:07:01.100 like twins. And Ryder wanted two. But there's 00:07:01.100 --> 00:07:05.220 a uniting element, which is these big eyes. So 00:07:05.220 --> 00:07:06.839 they're kind of emotional. They kind of look 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:09.019 like skull eyes. Sometimes they have tears under 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:10.759 them. Sometimes they don't, depending on the 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:12.660 Ryder, the season, the design that they went 00:07:12.660 --> 00:07:15.220 for that year. But that's always something that's 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:17.959 kind of there. And it makes it distinct. He's 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:20.620 the Karate Bug Man. Which one? All of them. They're 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:22.329 all the Karate Bug Man. even if they're not bugs, 00:07:22.490 --> 00:07:26.610 which is funny. Finally, the writer is always 00:07:26.610 --> 00:07:30.649 framed as being alone in some way. With Takeshi 00:07:30.649 --> 00:07:32.129 Hongo, it's because he was a cyborg. He was no 00:07:32.129 --> 00:07:34.089 longer human, and he was sad that his humanity 00:07:34.089 --> 00:07:36.430 was gone, and he didn't know how he could relate 00:07:36.430 --> 00:07:39.009 to people no longer being human, and it separated 00:07:39.009 --> 00:07:41.189 him from other people. In Kamen Rider Ghost, 00:07:41.350 --> 00:07:44.430 he's dead. In Kamen Rider Gob, he was a half 00:07:44.430 --> 00:07:47.350 -human, half -monster, just like in Kiva. And 00:07:47.350 --> 00:07:51.670 in Zetsu, We don't really know how he's separate, 00:07:51.769 --> 00:07:53.850 but he is alone. He's the lone agent, even though 00:07:53.850 --> 00:07:56.110 there's complications with Knox and even other 00:07:56.110 --> 00:07:58.310 agents beyond that. He's Agent 7, so that implies 00:07:58.310 --> 00:08:00.949 there's 1 through 6 at least, if not people above 00:08:00.949 --> 00:08:05.449 him as well. And there's Zero, obviously, who's 00:08:05.449 --> 00:08:07.949 not a writer, but he's a support member for him. 00:08:08.129 --> 00:08:10.730 And just because the Combinator has friends, 00:08:10.990 --> 00:08:13.629 thinking back to Minami Kotaro in Combinator 00:08:13.629 --> 00:08:17.439 Black, he had the sister and... half -sister, 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:19.899 cousin, friend, whatever. These two girls that 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:21.680 he hung out with a lot, and he was friendly with 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:24.279 people, but he was always off alone. He was always 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:26.019 looking for Nobuhiko. He was always facing Golgum 00:08:26.019 --> 00:08:29.660 by himself because he had to, because that's 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:32.679 what a writer has to do. They have to be able 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:35.080 to fight on their own. They have to face the 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:37.360 enemy by themselves. They're the only ones who 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.019 can do it. They are uniquely positioned to deal 00:08:40.019 --> 00:08:44.210 with the threat that is there. They're altered 00:08:44.210 --> 00:08:46.450 in a way that makes them feel alone and isolated. 00:08:46.590 --> 00:08:48.529 Even if they have friends, they have to kind 00:08:48.529 --> 00:08:50.330 of hide part of who they are from these friends, 00:08:50.429 --> 00:08:52.909 these allies. And it's interesting. That's not 00:08:52.909 --> 00:08:54.649 to say that there aren't teams and there's an 00:08:54.649 --> 00:08:56.549 ensembles and things like that, but still the 00:08:56.549 --> 00:08:58.830 writers being a writer is something that's singular 00:08:58.830 --> 00:09:01.309 and solitary, even if you're part of a team and 00:09:01.309 --> 00:09:04.169 it's less, much less like a super Sendai, even 00:09:04.169 --> 00:09:05.690 a little bit more like an Ultraman, which is 00:09:05.690 --> 00:09:07.889 interesting. But I think it's something that 00:09:07.889 --> 00:09:11.029 people can pretty much always see straight on 00:09:11.029 --> 00:09:15.120 picking up any episode of, combinator show and 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:17.639 also the writers typically have conflict when 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:19.559 there's more than one of them which i think sharpens 00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:21.399 that even more so it's like yeah well you guys 00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:23.820 are obviously writers but you're not working 00:09:23.820 --> 00:09:26.159 together necessarily so even when there's a team 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:28.259 or when there's multiples of them and they're 00:09:28.259 --> 00:09:29.759 not on a team they're on opposite sides it helps 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:33.200 to reinforce that lone aspect of combinator that 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:37.440 you feel and that is a big staple of it and of 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:40.559 course most combinators have close range physical 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:44.139 combat which is exciting to watch. They're brawling, 00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:45.840 they're garrigating, even when they have powers, 00:09:45.940 --> 00:09:49.200 like the more modern ones, it still typically 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:51.059 results in them going over and punching or kicking 00:09:51.059 --> 00:09:52.879 or hitting or throwing or whatever an enemy, 00:09:53.059 --> 00:09:56.360 which is just fun to watch. But it's more distinctive, 00:09:56.539 --> 00:09:59.240 you know, in Super Sentai, they have a lot of 00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:02.399 ranged slashes, even sword slashes that fly towards 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.580 the enemy, and in Ultraman you have all the beam 00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:07.139 attacks as well. And they would take Kamen Rider 00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:10.580 as much more physically grounded in as actual 00:10:10.580 --> 00:10:12.620 physical combat, even if there are swords and 00:10:12.620 --> 00:10:14.580 guns and things like that. But still, for the 00:10:14.580 --> 00:10:16.559 most part, he's getting in there grappling and 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:18.440 throwing punches and things like that, which 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:20.379 is fun to see. And I think it's definitely a 00:10:20.379 --> 00:10:22.139 staple across Commodore. Then you have things, 00:10:22.259 --> 00:10:25.559 outliers like Amazon, where he's cutting enemies 00:10:25.559 --> 00:10:27.779 in half. And like the original Commodore, he 00:10:27.779 --> 00:10:29.980 has no weapons. He is the weapon, and it's fun 00:10:29.980 --> 00:10:33.320 to see him getting in and mixing with the Shocker 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:35.360 combatmen, and he's stealing their weapons from 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:37.090 them and using them against them even. But then 00:10:37.090 --> 00:10:38.970 he throws them away and he just fights with his 00:10:38.970 --> 00:10:41.009 fists and his feet, which is always fun to see. 00:10:41.169 --> 00:10:43.009 So those are definitely distinctive elements 00:10:43.009 --> 00:10:48.370 of Kamen Rider that I think draw people in year 00:10:48.370 --> 00:10:50.929 after year. Kamen Rider is sustained because 00:10:50.929 --> 00:10:53.129 people keep watching new members of the fandom 00:10:53.129 --> 00:10:57.649 come in and they can't enjoy it if they don't, 00:10:57.649 --> 00:10:59.330 they can't become fans of it and watchers of 00:10:59.330 --> 00:11:00.909 it, viewers of it, if they're not seeing it. 00:11:00.990 --> 00:11:02.429 And I think these things are the things that 00:11:02.429 --> 00:11:07.720 pull them in. Let's see. Am I missing anything? 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:09.279 Can you think of anything that's like a core 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:11.139 staple or core element of Kamen Rider that we 00:11:11.139 --> 00:11:12.899 always get? You know, a reason why you watch 00:11:12.899 --> 00:11:16.220 Kamen Rider. And also, you know, what keeps people 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:18.259 coming back is a different question. And that's 00:11:18.259 --> 00:11:19.539 something I'll talk about later because I think 00:11:19.539 --> 00:11:21.679 that needs to be explored as well. If you want 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.919 to go deeper, check the pinned comment for more 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:27.159 of my analysis. This is MJ, Prevention, Inspection, 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:28.720 and Rider Tears, signing out.