The Kamen Rider Black RX saga

You may know that Kamen Rider Black RX was adapted in the late 90s as Saban's Masked Rider. In Japan, this was the continuing adventures of Kotaro Minami. Due to the popularity of Kamen Rider Black, this show was created as a sequel which sadly did not become as popular as the predecessor. Issues like plot holes and excessive humor plagued the show. Personally, I still like the show even if its predecessor is clearly the superior show. But as said, I now choose not to bandwagon on popular opinion but rather, stress out my opinions. 

The show's plot starts off some time (I think six months) after the defeat of Gorgom. Kotaro is enjoying his life of peace working for the Sahara Family (and also living with them) but the Crisis Empire begins its invasion. Their unseen leader Grand Lord Crisis sent his trusted subordinates led by General Jack who in spite of punishing subordinates, was also caring about his subordinates. The whole crew was sent to invade the Earth since their planet was supposedly sucked by a black hole or something. It felt like a shoutout to Metal Hero series when they came in especially with having certain units having different type of monsters.

So here, Kotaro gets abducted and he's given the chance to join the Crisis Empire, telling him that he's not even fully human. How Crisis knew of his existence is unknown unless if there's that "Great Leader" plot or that, Grand Lord Crisis is really the "Great Leader" who was responsible for the existence of the villain groups. Refusing to do so, Kotaro was soon sent into space with his King Stone cracked but the sun's rays allow the form of Kamen Rider Black to evolve above the design Gorgom had - he is now the Child of the Sun, Kamen Rider Black RX. Sad to say but Crisis Empire lacked the charm that Gorgom had in being scary. Most of the time, I felt they were a joke but I was still entertained nonetheless or two, they had some nightmare fuel moments like when they tried to take over Kotaro's family and friends or the nightmare zone episodes. 

Black RX was also the first show to try out the multiple forms saga introduced as Robo Rider (Prince of Sadness) and the super cheesy Bio Rider (armed with the super sharp Bio-Blade). Robo Rider was conceived out of Kotaro's sadness when he thought Hitomi died. The Bio Rider was born out of rage. Robo Rider is the strongest form but it's also the slowest, it's also armed with the Robo Pistol which wasn't so used to finish off opponents in the later episodes. Bio Rider was for me the cheesiest Rider Form made considering it can not only become intangible, blend in but also its Bio Blade is just really that powerful. Even if the show lacked popularity but the concept of multiple forms kicked in.

Unlike Black, Kotaro would later receive help from his girlfriend Reiko, a later ally known as Kyoko (who lost her parents to Crisis Empire's attacks on her parents' water reservoir) and his new ally Joe.  In between, Shadow Moon returns in a quest for revenge. How Shadow Moon survived being buried under Gorgom's rubble for me is so unexplained, definitely a weaker point of the show. It was nice to have Shadow Moon return but I thought he was underused except for the last minute redemption where his humanity is restored. Later we get the Imperial overseer, General Tasmader who for me, didn't really add too much conflict except for the fact he's a real troll towards both sides. But there's more to him that the show would uncover. It was because Crisis Empire's invasion schedule was so behind schedule, truly it's an empire in crisis, pun intended.

As the show tries to reach its climax, there's this fanservice I feel fans are divided about namely the reappearance of the previous ten riders who I am not so familiar with. The last ones I've seen completely were Kamen Rider Amazon but the rest, I've only seen glimpses or not all of them to fullu judge them. I thought it was cool to have that fanservice but it just feels, underutilized at best. True we get that cool training scene, they would later help out civilians but other than that, it's just fanservice for most of its part.

At the same time, we get the typical Crisis officers drop like flies. The Grand Lord Crisis is now trying to change the Earth's atmosphere to fit for his citizens but wait, he doesn't care about them right? I always thought about the plothole that earlier, Crisis officers have been dropping in but later, not all of them could survive Earth's atmosphere? I wish the show explained that incredibly convoluted part so what's up with it? So earlier we hear that Crisis was dying due to the actions of the Grand Lord Crisis but later it's by human's inactions? Which is which?

I thought about how the way the Crisis officers died for me had some rather nice scenes. For example, I can't forget the Blood Pyramid that would have blown up, the voice of Grand Lord Crisis or how Gatezone bit the dust. My favorite was when Granzarias finally showed up, it's seemingly invincible and we are treated to Bosgan's final duel with Black RX or to where General Jack himself fights in his final form. It's also discovered that Tasmader was in a way, an extension of Grand Lord Crisis which would be shades of Psychorror in Sharivan. I always felt like it was a huh moment or not. I'm still mixed on that area nonetheless.

My beef against the finale is just how easily Grand Lord Crisis was defeated in spite of General Jack's last words. So really, what was really going on? I thought that having Tasmader as an extension of Grand Lord Crisis was really not good writing for me. The other ten riders should have been there in the final battle like in the other Great Leader battles. But in spite of the beefs I've had against the sequel, I still like it but never as much as predecessor.

Kamen Rider Decade and beyond

Years later, Tetsuo Kurata would later act as two versions of the character, Kotaro Minami. One of them was from the World of Black RX and the other from the World of Black (where Kotaro never became Black RX). In one way or another, it was nice for the actor to play his character or alternate versions of his character in later years.