Tokusatsu in Review is a web review show created and hosted by Herotaku and Manic Expression contributor Des Shinta aka Davis Sleboda.
Stand Alone Episodes[]
Special: Kamen Rider Reviews[]
As part of Tokusatsu in Review, Des Shinta is reviewing the entire run of the Kamen Rider Series. In his reviews, he goes over the major plots and story arcs of each series as well as placing a counter for each form, finisher and Rider.
These episodes can be possibly be considered a response to and companion piece of Linkara's History of Power Rangers reviews.
Rider Rankings[]
At the conclusion to the review of each series and overview of the characters (starting with X), Shinta gauges each of the main Rider's powers and skills who make up the previous ranking against the most recently reviewed series protagonist.
In theory, the Rider Rankings will ultimately determine which are the five most powerful of all in his opinion. In his Black review, he stated that added arsenal that do not come with the Rider's powers like the Satan Sabre or the Rider Machines themselves do not count in the analysis.
Rankings by series:[]
Series | Ranking Results | Final Ranking |
---|---|---|
Kamen Rider and Kamen Rider V3 | None | None |
Kamen Rider X | X takes 2nd place | V3, X, Ichigo, Nigo, Riderman |
Kamen Rider Amazon | Amazon takes 2nd place, X drops to third, Riderman is eliminated | V3, Amazon, X, Ichigo, Nigo |
Kamen Rider Stronger | Stronger takes the lead, V3 drops to 2nd, Nigo is eliminated | Stronger, V3, Amazon, X, Ichigo |
Kamen Rider Skyrider | Ichigo is eliminated and Skyrider takes his spot in 5th place | Stronger, V3, Amazon, X, Skyrider |
Kamen Rider Super-1 | Super-1 wins and takes the #1 spot, Skyrider is eliminated, Stronger drops to 2nd | Super-1, Stronger, V3, Amazon, X |
Kamen Rider ZX | Due to the lack of a full demonstration of his powers in the TV special and Shinta being unable to find the 1980s manga which featured the Rider more prominently, ZX is disqualified on a technicality. | No change in ranking from previous review |
Kamen Rider Black | Black takes the #2 spot behind Super-1. X is eliminated from the ranking | Super-1, Black, Stronger, V3, Amazon |
Kamen Rider Black RX | Black is eliminated and RX takes the #1 spot | RX, Super-1, Stronger, V3, Amazon |
Kamen Rider Shin | Like ZX, Shin is disqualified due to the lack of a proper assessment of his powers in the film and Shinta states his basic powers are not enough to defeat the ranked Riders of his previous review. | No change in ranking from Black RX review |
Kamen Rider ZO | ZO loses the ranking due to his lack of abilities to counter the five ranked from the Black RX review and showing throughout the film that he is not a tactical strategist in battle which led him to near defeat against monsters if not for the sake of luck or happenstance. | No change in ranking from Black RX review |
Kamen Rider J | Amazon is eliminated and J takes the #5 spot. Jumbo Formation is briefly talked about as a non-factor in the ranking, showing a clip of Kamen Rider Decade: Final Chapter to prove that this power is more of a hindrance than a help in combat against other Riders. Jumbo Formation slows down J and makes him more vulnerable by enlarging the source of his power, the J Spirit gem. | RX, Super-1, Stronger, V3, J |
Masked Rider | None, due to being an adaptation of Black RX and being ...well, a really bad one. | None |
Kamen Rider Kuuga | Kuuga eliminates J and enters third place. | RX, Super-1, Kuuga, Stronger, V3 |
Kamen Rider Agito | Due to a lack of ranged abilities and combat skills on par with previous Riders, Agito finishes in 4th place.
V3 is eliminated and Stronger falls to 5th place. |
RX, Super-1, Kuuga, Agito, Stronger |
Kamen Rider Ryuki | Ryuki loses the ranking. Due to the slow utilization of his Advent Card system, faster or stronger opponents could beat Ryuki simply by taking advantage of the fact he needs to draw cards and insert them into his Drag Visor to initiate any attacks. In addition, his limitations in attack variety and the fact Survive form only mildly enhances these attacks and his stats renders Ryuki incapable of beating more skilled opponents who could eventually predict his moves and come up with a strategy to counter and defeat him. | No change in ranking from previous review |
Kamen Rider Faiz | Due to limitations of the Faiz Gear as well as his official stats and skills being weaker than those of the top 3, Faiz ranks in 4th place. The Crimson Smash kick and its variants are talked about, but as showcased in the series, the attack can be blocked or repelled by a skilled or heavily armored combatant. Axel Form, due to its 10 second time limit, is unable to defeat the top 3 Riders who have skills and abilities good enough to counter or withstand it until its activation time expires. Stronger is eliminated and Agito falls to 5th place | RX, Super-1, Kuuga, Faiz, Agito |
Kamen Rider Blade | Des noted that while Blade is powerful, his Card System's design makes it problematic with its dependence on the AP value system. Faster opponents such as Faiz could outpace his attacks as well as the fact that all the listed Riders have no limitations when it comes to using their finishers like Blade does with his AP usage requirements. While King Form is a beast in terms of defense and raw attack, Blade's reliance on his sword and cards in combat and lack of speed makes him a poor hand to hand combatant against Super-1's advanced skill martial arts prowess and agility. Blade's lightning elemental attacks would be sponged up by Kuuga's Arcle to make him stronger and go to Rising Ultimate form. Black RX would barely gain an edge using Gel form as Biorider and his built in healing abilities and Agito's Shining Form's Shining Kick would devastate Blade before he had a chance to insert a single card due to its speed and sheer power. Thus, Blade is washed out of any ranking. | RX, Super-1, Kuuga, Faiz, Agito |
Kamen Rider Hibiki | TBD | Results TBD |
Kamen Rider Double | While Des did go out of order by skipping to Double, he surmised that if he did evaluate Double's powers, they would lack sufficient advantage over the currently ranked Riders as they all have stronger stats and can counter the two-in-one detective's skills either in raw power or experience. Adding to this is the fact that Double's powers by design are not made to kill targets initially, but incapacitate them in the case of Dopants. Xtreme form would give Double an edge in analyzing his opponents, but some such as Faiz could not give them enough time to do so using a superior speed advantage, which Double has shown in series he is not good at countering. Thus, Double is eliminated automatically from even placing in the Ranking. | RX, Super-1, Kuuga, Faiz, Agito |
Toku Vlogs[]
- February 12, 2014
- February 19, 2014
- February 26, 2014
- March 6, 2014
- March 13, 2014
- March 20, 2014
- March 27, 2014
- March 31, 2014
- April 9, 2014
- April 17, 2014
- April 24, 2014
- May 1, 2014
- May 8, 2014
- May 15, 2014
- May 22, 2014
- June 19, 2014
- June 27, 2014
- July 3, 2014
- July 11, 2014
- July 17, 2014
- July 24, 2014
- July 31, 2014
- August 6, 2014
- August 14, 2014
Blipocolypse, return and the death of Blip[]
On October 2013, the video sharing site Blip began purging videos and accounts of internet reviewers and shows from their site for not meeting their "standards of quality", which fans of these reviewers dubbed "The Blipocolypse".
Due to his low viewership and the site's questionably high standards of quality, Shinta's received an email stating that he had 1 month to improve his videos or get kicked off of Blip. Shinta responded by appealing to the site for a full producer's account but was rejected on the grounds of not meeting audio/video quality or their file submission size.
On November 7, 2013, Des Shinta's Blip account was terminated and his videos were removed.
He moved his web review series and videos to a Dailymotion account and began posting his videos there until April 8, 2014, when Des Shinta received a new account on Blip after a personal vouch from internet reviewer Nevermore Raven to have his status restored.
He restored all his old reviews. However, he tweeted that at least 4 of his old reviews could not be salvaged, including his review of Gojira.
The Final Blipocolypse[]
However, fate was unkind to the Reviewaverse. The evil mega-corporation Disney bought out Maker Studios and its parent company Blip and had later decreed that all content creators would no longer be paid for their work and all videos uploaded to Maker would become their property after the closure of Blip. Des Shinta, along with many reviewers across the Internet, had lost their Blip accounts due to the closure of the site on August 20, 2015. This devastated many fans as many reviewers had struggled to get back up and running. Des Shinta himself is in the process of restoring and archiving his videos on Dailymotion and is supported by the sites Manic Expression and Herotaku.
Errors[]
- In his introduction video to Super Hero Taisen, Shinta mentioned the various crossovers that preceded the film. Upon mentioning Ultraman VS. Kamen Rider, he erroneously stated that the special was made in the 1970s. (When in fact, the special aired in 1993.)
- After his review of Kamen Rider J, Shinta gave his thoughts on the Showa Era Rider series and mentioned how while not perfect, it did pave the way for better special effects and listed off the series that would evolve from its influence. Upon mentioning Ultraman, Shinta mistakenly said that the series was made by Toho and not Tsuburaya Productions.
- In his Rurouni Kenshin Review, he stated the film skips ahead one year in the Meiji Era to 1978. This is most likely a flubbed line as 1877 was the start of the Meiji Era thus it took place in 1878.