Worst Heisei Riders

[Lunagel]

You've voted for the best, now vent about the rest. (Also so we can see which series are just middling hence few votes as opposed to bad)


For me, it's gotta be number 1 Ghost. The lack of the main writer for whatever reason for like most of the middle of the show really hurt the plot and the characters, and it never really recovered its footing. And while I usually don't bitch too much about the movies, the Specter one was ABSOLUTE SHIT, completely contradicting pretty much all established cannon. The one good thing was Akari, who while an annoying character, was at least competent and could hold her own. And she had a mean bitchslap.

Number 2 Wizard. I loved some of the insert songs, and the suits were fantastic but it suffered an extreme lack of plot and a lack of the "love interest" in Koyomi, who barely showed up onscreen together with Haruto at all. It's really telling when a good chunk of the footage used at the end to show how much Haruto cared for Koyomi was from like the first quarter of the show. I get wanting to have an idol actress, but maybe make sure her schedule checks out?

I'm not giving a 3rd vote out because I don't hate any of the other shows in particular, but I will give an honorable mention to Ex-Aid, which while not horrible, tended to grate on the nerves a lot. It's saved solely because the tertiary riders were pretty awesome and for having Poppy play a pretty active role. Minus points for that shit KR Brave special though.

[BreadToku]

Like I mentioned in the previous post, the closest series I would say I outright 'dislike' is Kiva. I don't have great fondness of any of the characters, the story beats didn't engage me much overall and some particular moments I found especially mind-boggling in a bad way. Also this is more of a nitpick, but my favourite action sequences came from Kiva brawling and moving around like a wild beast or really playing up the his 'monster' fighting style, which all went away when he started using Emperor Form all the time. I know the behind-the-scenes reason for it, but it's still a little disappointing.

After that is Zi-O, sadly. It's original plot is horribly half-baked, a lot of it's characters got either little or literally zero development or even any kind of fleshing out whatsoever, and roughly only half of it's tribute arcs to other shows were any good.

For a while, I thought my number 3 would go to Decade. I don't dislike Decade but I figure it's literal lack of a plot would put it in my bottom three. But then again, lacking a plot meant it didn't end up having abysmal moments in it's story like Zi-O, and Decade was more or less always a fun spectacle.

So my actual number 3 went to 555, though I'll admit it's mostly because... I remember very little about it compared to other shows, which I guess goes to show it didn't leave much of an impression on me. The big thing I remember about it is how abruptly the story in the last episode ended, and also how many times throughout the series that the characters kept trusting Kusaka despite him proving again and again how blatantly evil he was. I at least look back mostly fondly on the ups and downs of Takumi and Kiba's relationship, which is a good thing since it's arguably the most important element in the series.

[takenoko]

I have to go with Ghost, I probably shouldn't since I've only seen one episode, but the specials Luna had me QC were pretty terrible.

Ex-Aid had the potential to be so much more than it did, instead, it just frustrated me and grated me to no end. Going for high drama while also never straying too far from the goofy kiddy aesthetic never meshed. The shitty treatment of women throughout the series. It's a Kamen Rider about video games, by someone who looks like they've never touched a video game before.

And Kiva, because Inoue is a shitty writer after Agito. The teasing of Megumi and Yuri using IXA only for it to not come to anything. Otoya was awesome, but I hated everything that had to do with the non-story of the present storyline.

That said, I'd be willing to defend a few of the series that've appeared so far.

Wizard - Yeah, it could have been more, but it had so much potential with the twin sister. If they fully committed to there being a female Rider, that would have been amazing. Instead, we get to see Haruto's ?love story with the blank girl of the series.

Zi-O - I know we just went through this, but I genuinely think I had some fun this year, even if the overall main story is nonsense.

Decade - Same deal. The overarching plot was literally nothing, but the moment to moment journeys were fun. And Inoue is a lot to fun to watch on screen.

555 - I basically hate 555, but I can see why people think it's really cool. The Riders are very stylistic, and the basic premise is very cool, even if I feel like Inoue isn't good enough a writer to make full use of the themes and ideas. I can see why people would put this on the bottom with the lack of focus on an end goal, leading to a kick-you-in-the-balls ending.

[Layton13]

Yeah, for the third-place I think I go with Hibiki. The writer change definitely didn't do the show any favors, but in my opinion, many of the problems of the latter half of the series were very much present in the first. I don't hate it, but even amongst the shows I'm meh about it is at the bottom.

Number two, Gaim. God do I hate most of this cast, minus Kuota, Takatora, and Zack. The rest can die in a fire for all I care. I personally don't have anything against Rider War series, but god damn, do it right damn it. Without likable/interesting characters you are just watching a few assholes fights it out while the world ends. And this is ultimately what Gaim was for me. I know a lot of people really like plot-heavy storys with a lot of twists but I feel this was the biggest problem I had with Gaim. So much story and not enough time devoted to character development and stuff like filler what is perfect for stuff like this. It says a lot that my favorite parts of Gaim the episodes where Kouta fought random Inves at the start of the series, the Kikaider episode and the arc after Kiwami, all of which felt like I was finally getting some development that was long overdue. If it takes over 30 episodes for me to like your protagonist you are doing something wrong. I had my problems with Sougo at the start until roughly the time around episode 7-8 and I already thought that was far too long so.

And the worst is Ryuki, god damn do I hate this show. From its protagonist, to its plothole riddled and explanation-less story, to the rest of the cast do I hate this show. This is the only Kamen Rider show where I don't like a single episode. And worst of all, it tears down without actually building something up in its place, making the entire story utterly pointless and that comes from someone who generally doesn't mind reset endings and thinks the journey still matters. In Ryuki? Nah, that ending feels so meaningless. Heroes don't exist, the world sucks, now go die...

[HowlingSnail]

No question for me. My most hated Rider of all time is Hibiki. I struggled to get through it, finding it boring from start to finish. Honestly the best bit of that show was Kiriya. (Don't murder me)

Then it's Zi-O. I'm a big continuity lover, and I love Gokaiger, so the fact Zi-O basically shat on all the past shows while also not even managing to do its own thing well is a massive issue. Also it aired alongside the Saikyou Battle, which only highlighted how bad it was.

Then it's Kuuga. When I set out to watch the Heisei Riders I'd not seen (Kuuga to Double), the only reason I didn't stop at Kuuga is because I'd seen more recent shows to know that they weren't all this bad. Having long scenes in a made-up language with no subtitles is not a good thing, Toei!

Dishonourable mention to Decade, kicked out of the top 3 by how bad Zi-O ended up being.

(Also, don't kill me for this, but I re-watched Ghost recently, and I kind of liked it.)

[ryujin]

Can i vote for Zi-O 3 times? lol!

[Gai Yuuki]

Gaim, Blade, Faiz for me. Especially Gaim I haven't seen any worse final episodes in any show in my life. Blade and Faiz because I was tired of the kuuga recycle

[ViRGE]

The bottom 3 are fairly easy picks. Though I'm going to exclude Zi-O for now, as while it definitely wasn't a good series, I feel like it needs some time to settle before I try to rank it versus other KR series.

1) Decade. This is likely to be controversial, but in my book this is the worst series. For all of the sins of the other series, they at least tried to have a coherent story for the season. Decade didn't even aim for that. It was, at best, a series of two-episode vignettes; at worst is was fan fiction that somehow became official. Ultimately it doesn't tell an interesting story of its own, and that really makes the whole series somewhat of a shameful waste.

2) Ghost. This one has been beaten into the ground already. The series clearly had writing problems behind the scenes, which made it out in front of the cameras. It had some interesting ideas, but the execution was badly botched.

3) Wizard. Take your pick: there's the constant inability to chase the villains that slowly saunter off after a fight, the meandering plot, Kyomi the absentee girl, and Rinko, the competent cop who somehow got reduced to a professional damsel in distress. It does have some fun moments (I recall some of the choreography being quite good), but it's let down by its compromised characters and plot.

[Kuchiri]

1) Ghost, it's painfully bad. Honestly didn't like a single episode, loved all the aesthetics and the designs of the suits... wish there was an actual plot.

That being said, I'm judging by episodes that I actually liked. Most of the other rider series I've had more than a few that I liked, even if It thought it was disappointing overall.

2) Wizard is my second worst. I loved the first episode, aside from that there was the two partner where you find out that Gremlin was a serial killer before the eclipse. That episode was great.

3) Ryuki is my third worst. Hated most of the characters. I did enjoy a couple of arcs. The one where Ryuki keeps getting stuck in a time loop and over so many loops decided all he needed to do was to land a single blow onto Odin. Plus there's an episode that is probably close to a clipshow where the four main riders are sitting around talking and roasting each other.

[decade368990]

1) Fourze. I couldn't bear to continue the series after a few episodes because Gentarou's screaming to fight for his buds is annoying. The story is not evocative at all after introducing the characters and story concepts in the first few episodes; it's like the writers didn't want to embrace their limits in their scripts, instead they tended to recycle elements that have already used in W and OOO. I thought each members of the Kamen Rider Club would be independent and do something when they were held hostages. Unfortunately no, they were held hostages so that either Fourze and Meteor reappeared with a power-up device. It's the first series I found disgusting.

2) Wizard. Absolute inferior quality in storytelling. Completely recycle elements that have already used in W, OOO, and Fourze. Kind of wish they ended the series with 45 episodes like Ex-Aid, but they ended it with 53 episodes with half of them are fillers that didn't help to process the main story.

3) Ex-Aid. I don't really care too much because I gave up after reading introductions.

Honestly, I don't hate Fourze, Wizard, and Ex-Aid. It's just the flaws of Fourze and Wizard gave me terrible experience to endure a year long with their characters. I'm not very of fond of the directors using CGI actions to compensate the failures of the scripts. Basically, I didn't really want to catch up any Rider series after Fourze and Wizard. I prefer laying down on my desk and sleep. Gaim up to Build, I didn't watch a single episode which is why I put Ex-Aid on number 3; in fact all the Riders after Fourze and Wizard go number 3.

[takenoko]

Pretty funny how each of us has a different weakness for what annoys us the most lol

Interesting that the hatred spreads more evenly than the favorite Riders poll. Every Rider has a vote except for OOO.

[Dengar]

....What's there to hate about OOO?

Even though I voted for Ghost I will also praise it.

It had one episode, that really did a service to the concept of having someone close to you die and the mourning of that person. Through the eyes of someone not used to the concept of death, no less.

[Phoenix512]

I have only 2 series I really hated.

1. Decade - It doesn't come as a surprise as how much I trash the series. With no actual villain, Decade is just a guy going through alternate realities of Riders with no real purpose. It's also bad when the movie tells you that there's no point at all. Also I hated Natsumi. But Decade in Zi-O was cool and a blast to watch.

2. Ghost - I'm not going to beat a dead stick at this point.

Even though I didn't hate this series overall but Fourze is an honorable mention only because it setup an interesting plot point between Meteor and Virgo only to do the safe option. That left me sour.

[TorchWood]

1) Decade. This is likely to be controversial, but in my book this is the worst series. For all of the sins of the other series, they at least tried to have a coherent story for the season. Decade didn't even aim for that. It was, at best, a series of two-episode vignettes; at worst is was fan fiction that somehow became official. Ultimately it doesn't tell an interesting story of its own, and that really makes the whole series somewhat of a shameful waste.

Decade did a better job of bringing back the past riders than Zi-O, and quite honestly, I think Decade became a better rider once his series was over. I'm also of the opinion that Pirate Sentai GoKaiger (a personal favorite) learned from the mistakes of Decade, and hit a home run.

[FishFaceL]

Decade has to be my least favorite season by far. I’m the type of person who cares about plot and logic and Decade has neither of them. It’s barely even a show it’s just a huge wtf compilation that doesn’t make the slightest little bit of sense.
I dislike Den-O for a similar reason, while maybe not quite as offensive I think it handled its time travelling theme horribly, we have no idea what the hell the villains are and what they want, way too much stuff was left unexplained and the main plot was a huge mess.
Number 3 was pretty close between Zi-O, Hibiki and Ghost, but I decided to give my vote to Hibiki for how extremely frustrating it was. I really liked the first half but then Inoue and Shirakura showed up just to systematically destroy every single thing I enjoyed about it.