Americans were loving the Pirate Rangers a few years ago, I'm wondering if I should submit Akibaranger to take a little of the sting out of this...

I talked with a fan from Japan and he explained it was about monetizing the franchise. In the older shows the hero could transform and just go on to the mad beatdown. Now the show is about hyping as many toys to the kids as possible.

Yes but it's like they have to pay for all their superpowers with a mastercard, visa or amex.

Kamen Rider! We need your help! Put down those entertaining Mattel products!

The fact that they are still releasing shows like this using the old live action special effect aesthetic is in my opinion, pretty dang cool.

Needs more rider kick, though.

Trading cards are hot shit with kids, Kamen Rider has always been a big-name kids' show, ergo combine the fuck out of the two and PROFIT!!!

Even though I promised not to, I'll go ahead and give context for this clip: there is none. Seriously, after twenty-odd minutes of dumb prettyboys being dumb and pretty (oh and a couple of Kamens slap the shit out of each other for a minute because I guess that's what they do now?), a giant crab pops out of the ground, apropos of nothing, and well, you see the rest.

Also, apparently the Riders playing here do actual fuckin' musical tours too.