Kamen Rider officially releases free episodes on Youtube

This year, an icon of Japanese superheroism celebrates its 50th anniversary: ​​the masked hero of justice, Kamen Rider, debuted in 1971. But the Kamen Rider franchise isn’t just celebrating its original release in 2021 – and it’s not just partying in Japan.

At the beginning of last year, Toei made the welcome, unprecedented step to start streaming some of his most beloved classic Tokusatsu series on YouTube around the world for free, bringing in captioned versions of icons such as Super Sentai, Juspion, and Space Sheriff Gavan to an international audience, in some cases for the first time in an official capacity.

A lot of Kamen Rider was clearly absent, but maybe for a good reason: Around the same time, Toei teamed up with Shout Factory to officially bring the original Kamen Rider to a new linear streaming channel in the US, making the show’s very first arrival in the country (well, outside of westernized adaptations like Saban Masked Horseman and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, It is).

But now that is about to change. To celebrate the new year and Kamen Rider50th anniversary, Toei announced that its official Tokusatsu World YouTube account will begin posting episodes with English subtitles on a regular basis starting this month. Samples, which will be available internationally in an unconfirmed number of countries, will come not only from the original show, but from five decades of Kamen Rider the story.

No schedule has been officially confirmed yet, but Toei is currently planning weekly “Saturdays and / or Sundays” outings. He also hopes to have 1 to 2 episodes of each Kamen Rider series available on the platform throughout the year – from its Shōwa beginnings, to its rebirth and Heisei’s rise in the 21st century, to modern iterations, including those of 2019 Kamen Rider Zero-One (it’s unclear if we’ll get anything from the show’s currently airing iteration, the second from the Reiwa era, Cam Rider Saber).

It’s a huge step forward for Kamen Riderits accessibility outside its country of origin. Last year has already marked a major milestone for the franchise with its great American debuts of the two classics. and more recent Kamen Rider offers through Shout Factory, but this push brings Kamen Rider, one of Toei’s most important and successful Tokustatsu series, to an even wider audience, which until now has had to fuel its support for the franchise through mostly legally questionable channels like fansubs. It’s a big step forward to see more official releases from Kamen Rider around the world, and a way for people to experience one of Japan’s most iconic superhero series.

Deployment of Toei Tokusatsu World Official Kamen Rider the episodes will begin on January 16.

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