‘Kamen Rider Zeztz’ Proves Toei Serious About Moving Americans Past ‘Masked Rider’
As a long-running cornerstone of Japanese entertainment culture, one of the biggest strengths of the Kamen Rider is that it also serves such a role for paternal relationships, with many fans having the shared experience of getting into the franchise through not just their generation’s respect show, but their father’s, or their grandfather’s, who themselves likely watched it when they were younger – and now its latest hero, Kamen Rider Zeztz, seeks to build on that 50-year history.
In 1971, Takeshi Hongo leaped onto children’s weekend programming wearing his iconic grasshopper-inspired armor.
Following a teenager that had been transformed into a war-ready cyborg against his will, the high-stakes and drama of the first Kamen Rider series propelled it to instant popularity, endearing itself to audiences deep enough to not only survive through a five-year, off-air period between Stronger and Skyrider, but birth more than 71 different Riders over the years.
And while Hongo’s successors would not always have such dark backstories, with some even finding their way into their role by choice rather than being forcefully kidnapped by Shocker on their way to school, they would all share the same goals: Delivering justice and defending the world from the forces of evil, whether they be aliens, ghosts, or living candy.
Among those who chose the hero life is the sixth franchise lead of the Reiwa era, Kamen Rider Zeztz.
A dream-themed adventure with flavors of Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending Inception, Zeztz centers on protagonist Baku Yorouzu (Ryutaro Imai), an operative of the Confidential Organized Defensive Establishment (CODE) agency who dives into the dreams of ordinary citizens in order to protect them and the world at large from NOX, a mysterious figure who can bring nightmares to life in a similar way to known horror icon Freddy Krueger.
Assisting the stylish 007-esque agent in his work is Nem (Maho Horiguchi), a celebrity who can continues to take on different forms from dream to dream, detective Tetsuya Fujimi (Kenta Mishima), whose primary assignment digging into mysterious “Black Cases” is stressing him out to the point of lashing out at his allies, and the eponymous boss of and source of technology for CODE itself, a real showstopper of a motorcycle named ZERO.
Normally, Kamen Rider hasn’t really had much success in the West, due in large part to Saban’s infamous Masked Rider attempt, with the last series to come to America in particular being 2009’s Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, an adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki.
And though Dragon Knight won awards for its inventive cinematography and fight choreography, it still didn’t make enough of a lasting impression to sustain it for another American adaptation.
Sadly, this has left Western Kamen Rider fans with limited options to legally and easily their favorite series, with options being limited to Toei’s Youtube premieres, classic episode livestreams on Pluto TV or Shout! Factory’s TokuSHOUTsu Youtube channel, or a handful of spotty releases from Discotek, Shout!, or mediablasters.
And that’s what makes this series so groundbreaking, as in service of Toei’s previous public acknowledgment that they were seeking to expand their brands beyond the shores of Japan, Zeztz will mark the first time a Kamen Rider story will be simulcast in Japan and America, as well as Canada, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and a number of other nations that typically have to wait to watch via translated versions.
So, where can you watch this awesome installment in the Kamen Rider franchise?
We know for sure that it will begin airing on the Shout! Factory Kamen Rider Zeztz Twitch channel on Saturday September 6 at 7:30 PM PT, with its layovers and themes having recently been remodeled with Zeztz style themeing.
Right now, it’s unclear if Toei Co. has any further plans to simulcast future tokusatsu hero programming, especially their seminal Super Sentai, but you can help make those dreams a reality by tuning in to catch all of Baku’s dreamworld drama!
