Heck yeah. Now, someone beat up Toei about Kamen Rider.
Awesome!
Yeah I want for Kamen Rider to get more attention too from the Western fans as much as Power Rangers/Super Sentai.
It was unfortunate that Kamen Rider name has been tainted in the US because of that dreadful "Masked Rider" adaptation (the adaptation that even made the late Ishinomori Shotaro-sensei (the creator of Kamen Rider) very angry to Saban...)
So I hope with the BD release of Zero One and Kuuga for the US market, the brand will get more recognition from fans there beyond being treated as "Power Rangers spin off" (I was quite bothered tbh by that. Haha).
And I really hope Kamen Rider Black RX will someday get an official release in the US too so that many can see why all of Kamen Rider fans here became so angry with "Saban's Masked Rider"
I just don't understand Toei's thought processes. Tsuburaya is kind of eating their lunch, in terms of getting their shows seen by us. Besides getting nearly all of their shows out on physical media, along with partnering for streaming, they are also putting up Decker episodes on youtube, Near as I can tell, Shout only has Rider, Kuuga, Ryuki, and Zero-One. And only Rider and Zero One have been released physically, with Kuuga on they way. And Toei has the gall to only post 2 episodes on youtube to tease series. Which honestly, would be fine if they allowed a way for me to legally watch other stuff. It is especially egregious with the Fuuto Pi anime getting a release on Crunchyroll, but oops, no way to legally watch W.
From what I know...after the disappointment of "Saban's Masked Rider" particularly from Ishinomori-sensei himself, to the point that he had became hesitant to give permission for any adaptation for Kamen Rider again...you have to excuse why Toei had been precarious to bring Kamen Rider again to America.
But I think they learned that it is good for their brand recognition by bringing their series for free to watch (in their Toei Tokusatsu World channel)...but still, unlike Tsuburaya, Toei hadnt provided English subtitle for the non Japanese fans to enjoy their shows.
But the progress has been made now by bringing it first with Zero One and Kuuga for BD release there. Hopefully it wont stop halfway.
Oh yeah...watching Fuuto Detective anime without first watching Kamen Rider W will be confusing ...haha
That's the thing, no one is asking for adaptations. Just the ability to watch it legally. Toei clearly has no problem having various Kamen Rider merch sold over here. More than just Figurearts, I see they are selling belts. They are clearly interested in the market, but not letting us watch the source that sells the merch.
Its just frustrating to watch Mill Creek announce 3 or 4 remaining Ultraman series for release, and Shout just shows up with a physical release of a title they announced over a year ago. I mean, they are now to releasing Sentai faster than Kamen Rider. And that had a bigger legal hurdle to go through.
The adaptations may have failed, and while Masked Rider isn't likely to be well thought of, I know there is a bit of well regard to Dragon Knight. It has Mark Dacascos.
Yeah, Mill Creek releasing Ultraman series relatively fast. Although since Tiga, they only sell it on DVD format (I cannot play a Region 1 DVD here since Japan is Region 2 code).
And Sentai got fast release is understandable since many Western fans are more familiar and already know Super Sentai more than KR ...as it is the original material source for Power Rangers.
I think Mill Creek has about all of Ultraman out now. It does seem that they are only doing hd remasters for the classic 70s shows. Though, that could be because there are already hd remasters for those shows in Japan. Its one reason I don't expect Super Sentai blurays till Shinkenger.
What I would say the issue is that Japanese companies and businesses are very traditional and set in their ways. A lot of times it's hard for a Japanese company to institute a change or do something different, even it's something that's been wildly accepted already in the western hemisphere.
Nintendo has had this issue a lot being slow to change and try new things, and it's negatively impacted them before in many areas.
It's not like this in all cases, but it is a different culture. I remember hearing about Nintendo would alienate and anger a lot of third-party developers and publishers in the early console war days with their strict business practices and demands. Many didn't want to work with Nintendo as a result, and it probably is one reason why SEGA was able to have such a meteoric rise and wrest a large share of the market away from Nintendo when they were super dominant.
Just for example, it took years for anime companies to figure out the whole streaming simulcast things when fans in the US all over college campuses were bit torrenting and kazaaing all the hot new anime in the 00s.
Clearly, there is a market here for Kamen Rider and people who want to watch Kamen Rider subtitled. But it's basically like getting blood out of a stone. Change happens but it happens very slowly with Japanese businesses.