Kamen Rider Black Sun (2022) User Reviews

Could have been so much better

[gustavolrcoelho · 6/10 · 29 October 2022]

From the fake crying of the lead actress, to the cringe and clichè scenes, Kamen Rider Black Sun could have been so much more.

I watched the original version when I was a kid, and this improved a lot from that, with the gore and dismemberement in battles and other adult themes, but the fake motorcycle driving scenes, where you can clearly tell the actors are in front of a green screen are laughable, tu say the least.

Storytelling-wise, the plot is convoluting, changing timelines like someone changes clothes. Not only that, but allegiances change on a flip and by the end of the season, you have no idea who is from each side, and neither you can tell which their side was in the first place.

One of the characters is dumb. Like REALLY DUMB. Won't spoil who it is, but you will figure out in the first or second episode. That, along with Deus Ex Machina moments. Make this script a bit amateurish.

I really wanted to give this a 10 for the sake of nostalgy, but yet again, Japanese producers don't fully realize the potential of a properly adult themed Kamen Rider and keep writing dumb and bland characters and plotlines.

The theme song in Episode 10 should be the theme song of all episodes!

[movie_show_critic · 8/10 · 6 November 2022]

The theme song in Episode 10 should be the theme song of all episodes!

For episodes 1-9, the so-called theme song is very lackluster and boring, That theme song piano motif is used repeatedly throughout the entire series, unfortunately. :-)

We were pleasantly surprised by the change in theme song in Episode 10 (which happens to be the final episode of the series). Very nostalgic and fans of the original show will truly appreciate!!! (Without spilling too much spoilers here!)

Overall, we enjoyed this Kamen Rider reboot series. We encourage Amazon to do other Kamen Rider series including Kamen Rider V3!

flawed masterpiece

[bryanmerel · 8/10 · 30 October 2022]

The direction could have been more polished, fight choreography is just passable, vfx could have been better. Good thing the story carried it. The atmosphere and theme of the darker showa and hessei kamen rider story line was well captured. How they reinvent black's story was also well respective of the original. Costume designs and creature designs also shines here. I love the suits, specially on the two riders. I also love how they handled the cryptic lore of the kaijins and the eventual explanation on the symbol of Black Sun. I do hope they manage to find a way to make an RX in the future, hopefully, with a better direction, fight choreography, and vfx. Still a solid watch, and highly recomended, even if you are not familiar with Kamen Riders.

pacing sucks + deus ex machina * fan service = couldve been better

[bulamarkjiff · 8/10 · 19 November 2022]

First episode was great, they absolutely delivered the expectations. Great character introductions, and I hadn't really watched the original series, so I didn't know if they were original characters but damn were they awesome.

And then, the *incident*. In this case, multiple incidents of dumbing down characters. Like, how did a headstrong young activist who was able to keep her calm in front of the PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN and even laugh at his unfunny jokes-for some reason too trusting to strangers? She was kidnapped and then decided to make the kidnapper some breakfast? Did nobody bother to tell her that "the world is a dangerous place"? Because what she did next will shock you to the core.

She was attacked and was saved, but the savior suddenly kidnapped her, didn't run away for the entire night the kidnapper was asleep, cooked breakfast for the kidnapper by morning, was scared by the kidnapper, and ran back home. After coming home, her biological parents call her (whom she knows are on the run) and tells her to come to this public but secluded place.

After escaping, she goes to a public place to meet her biological parents whom she rarely ever sees. Why?

BTW, she was informed she was in possession of a very important strategic item that many people would kill to get, and proceeds to go and hang it on her neck for everybody to see.

That's just one character. There were multiple cases where other characters did really dumb things that didn't allign to their first appearance. For example, one dude always gets really physical, always wants to fight, and once tried to kill the prime minister, only being stopped by other people as strong as him. A girl runs away with two strategic items, and the guy runs after her for a couple of steps, realizes that SHE'S TOO FAR (???) and stops? Wth?

Of course, there were other great scenes spread out here and there. The emotional bits were great. Fight choreographies, not so much. The reimagining of the suit was cool, as is the henshin costume.

One thing about Kamen Riders, though, is that some of them take really long to transform. And Black Sun henshins in front of the enemy and it took him like 5-6 seconds to transform, and the enemy just... looked at him? Like, five feet apart?

Also, whatever happened to "building tension" and "creating mystery" to "hook the audience" because none of that happened and I was spoon-fed information (but in a timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly manner). Kamen Rider Amazons is comparatively better than this.

And even though this review puts the show in a bad light, it's actually not so bad. But the rest of the show is not as good as the first episode.

Great reboot! Very grounded in reality!

[j_koseungching · 8/10 · 30 October 2022]

This reboot is great in it's own regards! Very grounded in reality, like Watchmen.

It is gory. Definitely not for kids. I have been told the Kamen Rider mangas are gory and the Kamen Rider is more organic and bug-like, kind of like the kaijin monsters he fight. In that case, this series is probably very close to the original creator's vision.

Also, I live in the US. On the release date of Kamen Rider Black Sun, I searched for it on the Prime Video app and Amazon. I wasn't able to find it. I searched again on the day after. I used the English and Japanese name, still couldn't find it. I have to go on here and click on the "Watch On Prime Video" link to be brought to the page. I wonder did anyone else had the same problem.

Great at start to underwhelming finish

[dippycomics · 7/10 · 8 November 2022]

Great at start, i love the approach that its for adult, (would love to watch more kamen riders if its made this way) but story progression towards the end kind of slowly kills the joy. Ending is a bit of a letdown. Felt very underwhelming.

Pros:

• Episode 10 opening is awesome.

• Overall design is undeniably cool, just wished that the eyes are permanently red (not glow)
• Love the adult approach, just wish that theres nudity also instead of gore only. C'mon Japan, this is where you're good at.

• Lots of fanservice to the old Black series.

• Cool fights.

Cons:

• Story.... isn't as good as i hoped for.

• Character's ideals switching sometimes doesn't made sense.

• There's a line equal of "with great power, comes with great responsibility" in terms of weight, but almost 10 times longer, and they made sure you're hearing this repeatedly until you remembered all of it. It's unnecessary and kind of cringe when hearing the 10th time.

• Editing is kind of crap. I mean they can't even make the bike scenes look faster. They're like moving around 30 kmh.

But still happy they made this, despite all the cons.

Idk if theres going to be season 2 or not because it looks final enough for me, but if it somehow is, i'll still watch it.

7/10.

Love it But still lack of VFX!

[dhazipshady · 8/10 · 29 October 2022]

I really like the plot and the new storytelling that makes everything seems realistic. But I completely hate the VFX or the graphics. I mean come on man that's my childhood. Right now i'm 26 now it's could be better on special effects and the suit of kaijin should be VFX at this moment.

But i still love it the toned of the series the set-up worth to watch guys. I mean i'm not kamen rider kind of guy but i still enjoy the series.

I gave this series 8/10 I deduct marks because of the kaijin still wearing the suit man we're grown up there should be better than this. I also love the gore so much brutality.

Great Effects, Bad Plot

[reddishkirby · 5/10 · 1 November 2022]

To get what I liked out of the way, the suit designs and special effects were really good for the most part. Black Sun easily has some of the highest quality suits in the Kamen Rider franchise. The fights are really well choreographed and have a very visceral feeling about them. The actors all also do a good job with their roles.

However, the plot for Black Sun is full of holes and not very well thought out. The problem with it should be obvious, the series tries to a racism allegory using mutant monsters who need to drink a serum made from dead humans in order to continue living. Taking the transhuman Nazi monsters of the original Kamen Rider and flipping them to be a superpowered oppressed underclass creates a number of issues, namely in that the show tries to explore the realistic ramifications of the world it portrays whilst also forcing it to parallel the civil rights movement. This leads to things like our hero Kotaro and the over-the-top racist anti-kaijin human character having similar goals of wanting to see kaijins eradicated, just by different means (Kotaro wants to prevent any future kaijins from being made, while the human racist wants to kill them all). While Kotaro's actions are perfectly justified in universe, since kaijins began as humans who were forcibly experimented on, it doesn't jive with the civil rights analogy the show portrays.

If the show kept itself divorced from the real world and had a plotline with its own self-contained politics this wouldn't be as a big an issue, but the various explicit parallels to real-life events and movements strewn throughout only serve to mask the fact that this show has no real consistent theme or message on the issues it purports to critique.

Beginning of an end of a Good Series Thanks AMAZON!

[chibiwings · 8/10 · 30 October 2022]

Nice reboot first it was engaging and hooking as they have added some backstory and flashbacks that are polished unlike the original one (Japanese version).

The acting is a bit inconsistent some scenes are good some are Funny and not convincing.

Character Re-Design are ok but too dark on my taste.

Like the Mix of 3DFX and Movie props costume in some scene but 3DFX in some episodes is lacking and average.

Ending is a bummer guess nothing to expect on Season 2 related to the original protagonist. It's either they are planning to expand or connect this to the modern Kamen Rider universe i dunno.

Should've just been it's own thing.

[jamesteebher · 1/10 · 7 November 2022]

Nothing like the original. Everything is different. The only thing that's the same is the names. It had so much potential being adult themed but they messed it up. You would expect it to be different with at least the story line the same. NOPE! If you want to watch it, don't expect it to be ANYTHING like the original. Just pretent you're a kid that's watching a new kamen rider that just came out.

Also the fighting? Trash! Nowadays you'd expect fight scenes to have adapted. Not this one. Im TELLING YOU. The old kamen rider was a million times better than this. But like I said, if you watch it, watch it like it's its own Kamen Rider series.

Fantastic

[ShadicMCGS · 10/10 · 1 November 2022]

What can I say about the show that hasn't already been said? I connected with the characters so much and they made me invested into the series! Aoi was definitely the main character and probably the best one of the show, she really suffered a lot during this and I think got corrupted. Her connection with Kotaro felt real, so when they inevitably had to break it off, I felt that emotion and started to swell up tears.

People said the pacing was slow, but I was honestly captivated right away, and didn't notice it. Weird, seems how I'm usually an impatient guy. The action scenes were brutally amazing, though if you are squeamish, it does get really... intense?? Especially that first one, there's a reason why three episodes of this series are R18+ in Australia.

This is a must if you're a Kamen Rider fan, and if you're interested in this, you need to watch it. On one hand, I wish we would get a sequel; but on the other hand, I'm satisfied with what we got.

this is good even though there are things that are lacking

[yolannanga · 10/10 · 7 November 2022]

The story of this series is quite complex, about the discrimination of the kaijin, creatures with mysterious origins, which here are not well received in society. On the other hand there is an organization called gorgom, which tries to solve this problem, but goes further and further, the truth about the kaijin and conspiracies about the gorgom organization, makes the dark story and core problem of this series more visible. Actually this series is good for me, The plot of the story is quite complex, so it's not only about discrimination, the origin of the raider's strength is also explained, and explained well, even though it still has plot holes. Conspiracies and topics of racism are well explored and conveyed, and delivered from the side of young and adult kotaro, although this series still has many questions. In terms of character, actor hidetoshi Nisijima plays the character of Kotaro Minami very well, with a cold, firm attitude, and looks authoritative. Understandably, the actor himself has won an Oscar for the film Drive My Car that he starred in, so he can portray the character of Kotaro very well, and is very suitable for him, even though his character is a little different from the original version. Not to forget actor Tomoya Nakamura as Nobuhiko, who once again played a very good role, in playing the character of Nobuhiko who was very cold, indifferent, but still authoritative, this time his character was made the same as the original version. And there is also the character Aoi Izumi, played by Kokoro Hirasawa, who here takes a very important role for the story in this series. His character is firm, intelligent, and strong, making him the best way in this series. But even so, there are still some actors, whose acting is a little stiff, but it's not a problem, because each character in this series has its own uniqueness and purpose. And one more thing that impressed me, is very very good instrument music, and describes the atmosphere that happened, with an interesting background and describes what is happening in the present, and in the past. And I, too, was surprised when the song O S T kamen raider black played at the end of the episode, which really made me nostalgic. Plus the ji ai from this series who is not canned, even equivalent to the holiwud series. From all the statements above, there are still some things that are lacking in this series. Among them are story plots that still have question marks, the origin of Kingstone is still not explained properly, the side of the high-ranking gorgom that has not been explored, how can Aoi have a belt, and honestly I don't like the ending, which is anticlimactic, and too rushed and almost non existent. Shock. Even though I hope a lot, so that the ending is epic and full of battles, even though this is the only sad ending episode of.

Wasted Potential

[erwinmachfudz · 4/10 · 17 March 2023]

As an original black fan i feel really disappointed with this show, i know they tried to modernized the story which is alright for me, but the problem is the story is just too deviated from the original, even the main conflict and main focus is too different from the og, it's even better if it's introduced as different title rather than used kamen rider black as basis

secondly there's lot of wasted opportunity that they fail two show like the character bonding and the.lack of battle hopper.or the bike action in general

and the battle scene feels lack as well, they're gore and cool indeed but it just only last for several early and couple of last episode,, even the show barely have the iconic technique like rider punch and rider kick

lastly there's lot of plot hole that should be explained better, and the story itself feels liket hey're trying too hard to be dark and convoluted while in fact it's not really that deep if you paying attention

as for the positive side, the costume is actually cool and the action scene although it's not that much but it's "okay" for me.

I'm conflicted...

[dgcpxdhzt · 5/10 · 10 March 2024]

If you grew up on the original Kamen Rider Black as I did...then probably better to think of this as a completely different series, or you will likely be disappointed as I kind of unfortunately am. I really wanted to like it more, but it's hard to get past some things.

Character names are the same, but the main back story and everything else is very different (and more complicated). Definitely more dark & gory so more for adults than children where as the first one was more family-friendly. Don't get me wrong though - it has some really cool moments! And he does look pretty awesome once he's henshin-ed :) (eventually)

But it feels like the fight scenes and the actual characters were much much better & stronger in the original series...even if it was 30-35 years ago!