This year, an icon of Japanese superheroism turns 50: the masked hero of justice, Kamen Rider, first debuted in 1971. But the Kamen Rider franchise isn’t just celebrating its original iteration in 2021 – and it’s not just celebrating in Japan.
At the beginning of last year Toei made the welcome, unprecedented step to stream some of the most loved classic Tokusatsu series on YouTube worldwide for free, with subtitled versions of icons such as Super Sentai, Juspion, and Space Sheriff Gavan for an international audience, in some cases for the first time ever in an official capacity.
A lot of Kamen Rider was conspicuously absent, but perhaps for good reason: around the same time, Toei teamed up with Shout Factory to officially release the original Kamen Rider to a new linear streaming channel in the US, making the show arrive in the country for the first time (well, outside of Westernized adaptations like Saban’s Masked rider and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, that is).
But now that is about to change. To celebrate the new year and Kamen Rider50th birthday, Toei announced that his Tokusatsu World Official YouTube account will be releasing regular English-language episodes starting this month. The samples, which will be available internationally in an unconfirmed number of countries, will come not only from the original show, but also from five decades of Kamen Rider history.
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No schedule has been officially confirmed yet, but Toei is currently planning weekly releases “Every Saturday and / or Sunday.” It also hopes to have 1-2 episodes of each Kamen Rider series available on the platform throughout the year – from the beginnings of Shōwa to the revival and rise of Heisei in the 21st century, all the way to modern iterations, including 2019’s Kamen Rider Zero-One (there’s no word on whether we’ll get anything from the show’s currently airing iteration, the second of the Reiwa era, Came out Rider Saber).
It’s a huge step forward for that Kamen Rideraccessibility outside the country of origin. Last year was already an important step for the franchise with its big American debut of both classics and more recently Kamen Rider offers through Shout Factory, but this push brings Kamen Rider, one of Toei’s most prominent and successful Tokustatsu series, to an even wider audience, which so far has had to fuel their support of the franchise through predominantly legally dubious avenues such as fan subs. This is a big step forward for seeing more official releases from Kamen Rider around the world, and a way for people to experience one of Japan’s most iconic superhero series.
Toei Tokusatsu World Official’s rollout of Kamen Rider episodes begin on January 16.
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