Hmm. Looks interesting... I might try it. If I had a way to describe my interests (and help people with suggestions), I'd say I do take a liking to high-tech stuff. Kind of what attracted me to Kabuto - it was using the Rider system like it was cutting-edge technology. And to me, that makes sense. There was a series I know LOOKED like it was in the realm of futuristic tech - Faiz? Blade? Can't remember...
Hmm. I may JUST have to check out Faiz, then. Meanwhile, I thought I'd share something I did, a KR parody. In a comic I'm currently working on, I thought it would be interesting if I injected a bit of myself into a character by making him a tokusatsu fan. But to avoid copyright stuff (I try to do so in my original writing), he wears a shirt in one panel that has a V3-esque face on it. Later, I developed a full version of this design. His name is Bugaller (Japanese-style pun name where "Bug" and "Galler" share the same "g" syllable), and... while tokusatsu may not be DIRECTLY said (he may even just be a manga or anime character, given the abnormal arm length), he is to be described as a Japanese superhero. Not sure how far I'll go with this concept, but so far the KR theme is very blatant (with a minor callout to Sentai with the mouthpiece). He also has an attack called Galler Sweep. Thought I'd share. I should probably be sleeping.
As did I. I honestly think that the balance between a Light-hearted tone and a serious story was perfect. Something that's missing in Faiz, at least so far. Although the Hopper Brothers were a bit disapointing, cause it seemed like everyone hyped them up as uber-badasses.
Lighthearted, huh? Your best bet would be Double, it's easily the lightest of the Heisei series after Den-O. It's still airing, though, and I don't know if you would prefer a finished show or not. There's also Black RX from the Showa era, which is pretty famous for being much lighter than its (awesome) predecessor. But with that show you're going to have to either learn Japanese or be willing to put up with HK subs. No fansub group has tackled RX yet. I've heard that Century Kings might do it after they finish Black, but I can't guarantee it (and at the rate CK is working these days, it will take them until sometime in 2011 to finish the last nine episodes of Black). Hibiki is fantastic. It's more serious than Den-O, of course, but it's not incredibly dark and angsty (although it gets a bit more so towards the end, but that's just because Toshiki Inoue took over the show and he's huge on angst). The main focus of Hibiki is the character development, and it does that incredibly well. I would definitely recommend that everyone gives it a shot, even with the production issues. Given what you've said about why you liked Den-O, I would definitely advise you to stay away from Faiz. Faiz is Inoue at his Inoue-iest. The show is full of darkness, angst, and bad things happening because nobody knows how to communicate effectively. It's not a bad show, but it's almost as far from "lighthearted" as the Heisei era gets (the furthest being Ryuki). One of the main character's origin stories involves Spoiler being neglected and tormented by her parents, abused by her little sister, and beaten at school by her sister's friends; all of which culminates in her turning into an Orphenoch and slaughtering her sister and the rest of the girls' basketball team. The rest of the show isn't that bad, but it doesn't get a whole lot happier. Does that sound like something you'd be up for?
I've only seen the first five episode so I can't comment on the 2nd half, but Agito's got a nice mix of light heartedness and dark, serious moments.
I gotta say, stay away from anything Inoue (With the Exception of Agito and Hibiki if you can handle the staff change) and I'd reccommend staying away from Decade like the plauge.
Kamen Rider Decade happened to turn a lot of people who didn't even watch Kamen Rider before into fans, myself included. This plague you speak of is blasphemy.
It's great that Decade got you guys into Rider, it's just that when Decade got Complete, things went way down hill. Even Kotaro Minami's return and the Shinkenger team-up didn't save it for me.
I dont think it's so much Complete form drawing scorn, but it marked a turning point in the series where the writing quality wasn't as strong. I loved the Shinkenger crossover and I loved Black RX World, but Amazon World and Diend World felt like a waste in the grand scheme and for as big as Apolo Geist got built up I'd have liked more than two episodes for the finale. I really think after Complete form came around they should have started bringing old worlds and Riders back instead of descending into fanwank. Let the Rider War build up with evil/dark riders of one world attacking another (Another Agito attacking Kabuto World, Nega Den-O attacking Faiz World, etc) instead of suddenly having them all fighting and keep it about the last 10 years like it originally was. That way at least Otoya getting away at the end of Nega World would have lead to something and you might have actually gotten to do something with Narutaki. (Onore...)
I should have typed it out better, but I was actually referring to the event. And sure, I understand what you're saying, however knowing what I know about "Dark" Riders, I'd rather have the focus on the main Riders of the entire series. Though Otoya did indeed bother me. But I think he just went and cried in a corner somewhere.
Well in my head it would more or less be the dark Riders acting as monsters of the week with the focus still on Decade as he witnesses the worlds beginning to merge and begin the war, and if his place is to prevent it or be the winner of it. We'd find out Yusuke only followed Decade to personally stop him if he began to rampage and he never fought because he was conserving energy for going Ultimate and that Natsumi's world was targeted heavily because her world's Rider had yet to awaken which of course leads to her becoming Kivara and........ GEEZ, why wasn't I the one writing this series?!
I agree with all of that except the Yusuke part. I don't understand why he didn't fight (Only logical reason I could come up with: So Decade and Rider of the week aren't ignored). But I liked Kuuga's whole "Defending his sister's smile" reason for following Decade. And that he only fought Decade because he essentially killed everyone (Note. This is all coming from someone who hasn't seen the Decade movie...) But I like the rest of your ideas.
I can understand why Yuusuke didn't fight too often though. It's Decade's show, they didn't want to take the spotlight away from him.
