#(also I got into JBL *and* Kamen Rider around 2009-2010 so uh that gives a bias to what I know/have seen of both lol)

[littleragondin]

i hope it's okay to piggy back on it because while I'm no specialist at all, I was really glib when I answered you earlier lol and I feel like if people are interested there may be a little bit more to the Kamen Rider series than that.

Kamen Rider (literally Masked Rider) is a series of shows produced by Toei, that fall under the umbrella term "tokusatsu shows" (at least in english speaking fandoms).

We've had one a year since 2000 (plus 9 that came between 1971 and 1989). The concept is that you have a main hero - with a motorbike and a pretty cool armor (usually activated using some kind of belt) - dedicated to fighting a big organization of villains that involve tons of really cool looking monsters. yes they do look very fake and yes they also look really cool, both can be true As the story progresses, they often get themselves (sometimes reluctant) allies, recurring villains, and they may meet previous incarnations of KR for cameo crossovers. People who watched far more than I have might have a better outlook on where to start, but as I said quite a few of them are easy enough to get into without much knowledge! And there is a huge variety of settings and themes across the board, from space themed (Fourze), to detective/noir (W), or 'vampire' themed (Kiva) shows so I think there is a way to find something to suit your tastes.

A note for lovers of color coded teams (me, that's me, hi): the Power Rangers as we know them in Europe and the US are remakes of the Japanese Super Sentai that use the original fighting scenes/themes/props with reworked stories and completely new out-of-costume scenes. Same as Kamen Rider, Toei produces one a year, with a new team and theme every time, and those also have given us a few of our current BL actors.

If you are interested in the Kamen Rider/Super Sentai/Ultraman to BL pipeline, please first check @stickers-on-a-laptop hilarious poster tweaking post. I'm adding a (certainly non exhaustive) list of tokusatsu shows that I know feature actors who went to make BL - ignoring their cameo in follow up shows (Also not *all* of them are the start of their respective actors' career, either) :

Kamen Rider Agito (Jan. 2001 – Jan. 2002) > Yoshikazu Kotani (Boys Love, Boys Love The Movie, Same Difference)

Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger (Feb. 2003 – Feb. 2004) > Sho Tomita (Same Difference)

GoGo Sentai Boukenger (Feb. 2006 – Feb. 2007) > Saito Yasuka (Ai no Kotodama, Takumi-kun 1 and cameo in 3)

Kamen Rider Kabuto (Jan. 2006 – Jan. 2007) > Tokuyama Hidenori (Ai no kotodama)

Kamen Rider Kiva (Jan. 2008 – Jan. 2009) > Takeda Kohei (Old Fashion Cupcake)

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (Feb. 2009 – Feb. 2010) > Aiba Hiroki (Sukitomo)

Kamen Rider OOO (Sept. 2010 – Aug. 2011) > Watanabe Shu (BL drama no shuen ni narimashita: crank up hen)

Kamen Rider Wizard (Sept. 2012 – Sept. 2013) > Kanno Atsumi (Boys Love the movie)

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters (Feb. 2012 – Feb. 2013) > Baba Ryoma (Takumi-kun, Takumi-kun: Pure especially)

Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (Feb. 2013 – Feb. 2014) > Ryo Ryusei (Restart after come back home)

Ultraman Ginga (2013) and Ultraman Ginga S (2014) > Kusakawa Takuya (Minato’s Laundromat, Cherry Magic)

Kamen Rider Drive (Oct. 2014 – Sept. 2015) > Inaba Yu (Sing In Love)

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Oct. 2016 – Aug. 2018) > Iijima Hiroki (Bokura no Shokutaku), Seto Toshiki (Senpai Danjite Koidewa, Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu)

Kamen Rider Build (Sept. 2017 – Aug. 2018) > Inukai Atsuhiro (Kei x Yaku, Bokura no Shokutaku), Akaso Eiji (Cherry Magic), Takeda Kohei (Old Fashion Cupcake)

Kamen Rider Saber (Sept. 2020 – Aug. 2021 > Naito Shuchiro (Senpai Danjite Koidewa)

Kamen Rider Revice (Sept. 2021 – Aug. 2022) > Maeda Kentaro (Utsukushii Kare eternal, Kimi ni wa todokanai), Hyuga Wataru (Kimi to nara koi wo shite mite mo), and Oku Tomoya in a smaller role (Minato’s Laundromat) as well as a guest role in ep.7 of Yutaro (Cherry Magic, Zenra Meshi, Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko 1 and 2) - also check this post from @emotionallychargedtowel to make you want to watch it as much as me ^^

Avataro Sentai Donbrothers (Mar. 2022 – Feb. 2023) > Higuchi Kouhei (Taikan Yoho), Hirose Tomoki (Seven Days) and guest appearance of Kyoya Honda (Jack O’Frost and Me, My Husband, and My Husband’s Boyfriend)

Shin Ultraman (2022- movie) > Saito Takumi (Boys Love, Sukitomo, Itsuka no kimi e), Nishijima Hidetoshi (Kinou nani tabeta)

Kamen Rider Black Sun (Oct. 2022) > Nishijima Hidetoshi (Kinou nani tabeta)

what IS kamen rider? something like the power rangers but with jbl actors?

great that you're asking this because I literally asked the lovely @littleragondin three days ago in quite the same manner lol so we're going to use their explanation if you don't mind ❤

"It's a children's show like Power Rangers except that instead of having a colour coded team, you have a Main Dude with Some Friends In Cool Armors and Some Enemies In Cool Armors Too. It's a show produced by toei to sell toys basically and they make a new one every year with a new set of actors and a new theme." (this is an almost exact quote lol)

after I acknowledged the fact there are SO MANY SEASONS:

"Yeah, there are TONS lol though you can mostly dive into one without previous knowledge, it's perfectly fine - that's how I got started and I am not watching them in order. ^^ "

and also it's "a springboard for young actors really" and that's smth I've personally noticed a long time ago while going through jbl actors' mdl pages haha

so this is what I've got for you, if anyone wants to explain smth please feel free to do so in the replies <3