Rider Week Recap
On April 3rd, 2021 Team Kamen Rider celebrated the 50th Anniversary for Kamen Rider, and it was a week-long celebration filled with brand-new project announcements, livestreams, photo contests, rider giveaway, and an amazing collaboration video with fans across the US and in other parts around the globe!!
Let us take a recap of this amazing week known as Rider Week.
At 1PM PST we started Rider Week with our kick off video that had fans across the US jumping out of their seats. Shout! Factory's Tokushoutsu announced that Kamen Rider Zero-One will be available for streaming later in the future (TBD) with physical copies soon after. If that wasn't enough, during the video they had also announced that Kamen Rider Ryuki was also in the works for streaming. This was a dream come true for Rider fans; finally, able to own official physical copies of Kamen Rider. Our special guests Marcosatsu and TokuChris were definitely excited for this announcement.
Announcements of three brand-new Kamen Rider projects were also announced during a press conference in Japan which can be viewed on Toei Tokusatsu World Official YouTube channel with English subtitles right here.
Speaking of Toei Tokusatsu World Official, during Rider Week, the YouTube channel released three movies over the course of three days, each correlating to a different era from Kamen Rider: Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa. The three movies were available to watch for 24 hours after its release and has amassed over thousands of views and comments. Make sure to visit the channel as they release episodes of various series of Kamen Rider every Friday and Saturday every week.
In between the announcements and movies, Team Kamen Rider had special guests on their livestreams throughout the week where they talked about the three eras and the riders that were in each. For the first time ever in Team Kamen Rider history, they invited two very special guests, Felipe Vinha and William Jefferson from Henshin Rio from Brazil, to be a part of the Showa Era livestream! We learned about the Kamen Rider fans in Brazil and their brief history on how the franchise was introduced to them. Let us just say the chat was lively with fans from Brazil.
Other livestreams during Rider Week included a photo contest with judges @jeymad4tin and @metallix_xd selecting the best photos submitted for each era (also like to note that Darais a.k.a D__Amazing was also a judge but working the Tamashii Pop-Up store in New York). Congratulations to the winners of our photo contest along with the many who had also entered (Please scroll through the images to see the winning photo in each era).
Many other guests were invited to each livestream and have been a crucial part during Rider Week. We would like to thank everyone who participated (@Clong83, @KaijuCaruru, @PrawnhornHeroes, @Ranger_Liz, @TrueKROOO, and @ZachLaVoy).
If you missed out on any of the livestreams, they are available to watch over at Bluefin Video on YouTube. You can also find two interview videos featuring Kamen Rider producer Takahito Omori. We sent over some questions and he graciously answered them in this two-part video interview. Please check it out also on YouTube at Bluefin Video.
On the last day of Team Kamen Rider's livestreams, April 8th , the team had a Q&A stream with our special guests, and at the very end shared the collaboration Henshin video which featured fans who sent in a video of them performing a Henshin. The actual showcase of the video was thwarted by technical difficulties that resulted to sharing the video on YouTube for everyone to watch.
Over 100 submissions were sent for the collaboration video with some from countries like Indonesia. There were many positive comments about the collaboration and the hard work it took for everyone. It was an extraordinary moment that will forever be sealed in the annals of Team Kamen Rider history and we would like to thank everyone who participated in that as well.
…If only that was the end. At the very end of the collaboration Henshin video, Daichi Yamaguchi and Satsuki Nakayama from Kamen Rider Zero-One, greeted their fans in America. How's that for secret surprise!? The video ends with a small glimpse of text for Heisei Week II. Check out the video for yourself!