The Misadventures of José Faxner

The first picture has been released of 2008’s Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Kiba.

The picture doesn’t necessarily say very much but from what is visible I think the design looks pretty cool. Supposedly the series’ theme will be classic horror flicks, with the Rider’s four forms being based on classic monsters (note the bat motif on the helmet). Sounds cool! Seems like a good time to try to get into Kamen Rider again. This year’s series, Kamen Rider Den-Oh, never really appealed to me, but this I’m genuinely curious about. I really like the Super Sentai Series but would certainly like to expand my horizons by watching more tokusatsu stuff.

I tried watching 2006’s Kamen Rider Kabuto but never quite managed to get into it. The action was nice but I didn’t like the characters much, and the story didn’t seem to go anywhere in the half-dozen or so episodes that I did watch. I guess the fact that the Kamen Rider shows take themselves more seriously make them less accessible to me than the usually very lighthearted Super Sentai shows, too. Some of the designs are very cool though, and the action seems good as well, so I am interested in getting into Kamen Rider and other more serious tokusatsu. Come February I’ll make sure to at least make an attempt. Now if only we’d get some pictures and info about next year’s Super Sentai…

Finally pictures from next year’s Super Sentai series are popping up: Juuken Sentai Gekiranger!

Juuken Sentai Gekiranger (loosely translated Beast-Fist Squadron Gekiranger) is the 31st Super Sentai series, and this time its theme seems to be wild animals and Chinese martial arts. The heroes are practitioners of Geki Juuken Beast Arts, and each represent a wild animal; GekiRed a red tiger, GekiYellow a yellow cheetah, and GekiBlue a blue jaguar.

I have to say the costumes look really awesome (probably the best looking ever along with Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger), and the weapons are definitely unique. I can’t wait for the premiere in February!
Curious about Japanese super heroes? Read more at Japan Hero or Super Sentai.com.

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