I watched this short series after I watching the reboot Kamen Rider Amazons, which is a show filled with gore and body horror and I was told that this series was the same (There is some and I can see how it’s shocking for the times but it’s not bad if your used to todays stuff). I myself am not a person who likes too much gore, I even heard the series had been cut in half due to the studio switching broadcast companies. So I was not wholly looking forward to this one when it came time to cross it off my list. I expected it to be terrible but boy was I wrong! I enjoyed every minute!

Before we get into the review I want to recommend that if you do watch this series and want to watch the spin-off I would watch the spin-off first and then come back to this series. It was fun to see what (even though it was little) inspiration they took from the older series to put into the reboot.

Now I will say that the series does follow the early Kamen Rider episode formula of- new monster shows up, kids and friends are kidnapped, Amazon fights, he wins, everyone celebrates the victory. There is though somewhat of an overarching plot to this though it comes secondary to the action. Amazon himself is a man who was raised far from the reaches of civilization , he can’t communicate, he reacts like an animal, and he’s practically naked 24/7. So what happens when suddenly he has to run around Tokyo to fight these monsters? There’s conflicts and he struggles to understand how to do and say the things the people who surround him are used to. He becomes frustrated and angry with the situation he’s been forced into and yearns to return home but he can’t, not until the bad guys are defeated. The most compelling thing about his character though is his kindness. The first human he meets in Japan is a young boy and he’s so gentle and kind to him it’s as if the boy if his own. He even treats the boy’s older sister, who initially looks down on him and blames Amazon for all the danger they’ve gone through, with respect and forgiveness for her misunderstandings. Then Tachibana enters the story and though their relationship is a bit rocky at the beginning they eventually share such a bond that I dare say rivals the one Tachibana has with Takeshi Hongo (Ichigo). The best friendship Amazon carries however is that with his former enemy Mole Beastman. Now Mole wasn’t always the most reliable character he was a downright coward most of the time, but towards the end however he was actually helping to fight the monsters with Amazon! He became such an integral part of the story and his sacrifice hit hard. Up to that point I had not gotten anywhere near emotional towards the Showa era shows but this death had me sobbing! 😭😭😭

Overall it’s not a bad watch and only 24 episodes so it’s a short one too in case you can’t bring yourself to sit through the Showa era of Kamen Rider. I highly recommend it! Happy Watching!