This year, an icon of the Japanese superhero 50: the masked legal hero, Kamen Rider, for the first time in 1971. But the Kamen rider franchise not only celebrates its original iteration in 2021 – and it does not just celebrate in Japan.
Early last year, Toei the welcome, unprecedented step to start streaming some of his most beloved classic Tokusatsu series worldwide for free, and subtitled versions of icons such as Super Sentai, Juspion, en Space Balloon Gavan to international audiences, in some cases for the first time ever in an official capacity.
Lots of Kamen rider was conspicuously absent, but perhaps for good reason: about the same time, Toei was a partnership with Shout Factory to bring the original officially Kamen rider to a new linear streaming channel in the US, which the program is arriving in the country for the first time (well, outside Western adaptations like Saban’s Masked rider and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, in other words).
But now, it’s about to change. To celebrate the new year and Kamen rider‘s 50th year of existence, Toei announced that the Tokusatsu World Official YouTube account will start publishing regularly with English subtitles from this month. The samples, which will be available internationally in an unconfirmed number of countries, come not only from the original show, but also over 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 for 1-2 episodes of each Kamen rider series available throughout the year – from the beginning of Shōwa, to the revival and flourishing of Heisei in the 21st century, to modern iterations, including 2019s Kamen Rider Zero-One (there is no word on whether we will get anything from the current version of the program, the second of the Reiwa era, Kamen Rider Saber).
This is a big step forward for Kamen rider‘s accessibility outside his homeland. Last year, it was already an important step for the franchise with its big American debuts of both classics and more recent Kamen rider offers by Shout Factory, but this pressure brings Kamen rider, one of Toei’s most prominent and successful Tokustatsu series, for an even larger audience, which so far has had to fuel their support for the franchise through mostly legally dubious paths such as fansubs. It’s a big leap forward to more official spending of 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 Implementation of Kamen rider episodes begin on January 16th.
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