Somebody shared an image of The Lady from Kamen Rider Zeztz 49 after she blinded herself, laughing about it, alongside the caption, “We’re back at it again with the ‘Kamen Rider totally isn’t for kids’ debate.”
Then there’s a meme of a Wojak baby looking amazed while toku fans scream, “Proof that Kamen Rider is not for kids!”
And I gotta say, I fall on an interesting line in this debate, because I think Kamen Rider is for children. More than that, I think it’s a family show.
But I don’t understand why that means it shouldn’t be scary.
There’s no reason children’s media or children’s stories can’t have darkness, killing, danger, or frightening things in them. Obviously, how intense those things should be, how frequently they should appear, and how they’re handled are all legitimate questions. But their mere presence doesn’t suddenly make something adult.
There’s a quote I associate with G.K. Chesterton that I love. I’m paraphrasing, but the basic idea is that we don’t give children stories about dragons because children need to be told that dragons exist. Children already know there are dragons. Stories teach them that dragons can be slain.
And I agree with that.
Children are going to discover that there are frightening things in the world. Stories give them a way to encounter frightening things while also seeing that those things can be confronted.
You can certainly argue that Super Sentai traditionally had a different tone from Kamen Rider. Sentai could be funnier, looser, more episodic. Kamen Rider could be more serialized, with heavier stakes, blood on somebody’s face, or Riders getting hit so hard they’re knocked out of their transformations.
But that’s a difference in tone. It doesn’t mean one of them stops being children’s entertainment.
And honestly, even some of those distinctions have gotten pretty blurry. Kamen Rider has plenty of colorful heroes now, and sometimes enough Riders running around that we’ve basically got a team anyway.
The larger point is that it’s silly to pretend children’s media cannot contain darkness, blood, killing, danger, or scary things. And it’s equally silly to pretend those things alone make a story adult.
Kids are smarter and more capable than people sometimes give them credit for. They’re still kids. They’re silly. They’re goofy. They’re immature. But they’re able to handle a lot more than we sometimes pretend they can.
So when somebody points to something disturbing in Kamen Rider and says, “See? This proves Kamen Rider isn’t for kids,” I don’t think they’ve proven anything.
Kids can be scared.
Kids can watch heroes face serious stakes. Kids can encounter death and danger in stories. In fact, I think those are exactly the kinds of things children should be allowed to encounter in stories, provided they’re handled intelligently and respectfully toward the audience.
How far you go with that is absolutely up for debate.
But whether children’s stories can contain darkness shouldn’t be.
And if something made for children can also entertain teenagers and adults, all the better. To me, that means you’ve created a story children can grow with. They can enjoy it when they’re young, come back years later, and discover things in it they didn’t understand, notice, or appreciate the first time.
That’s a feature, not a contradiction.
So I’m not really planting my flag on either side of the “Kamen Rider is/isn’t for kids” debate.
I’m planting it somewhere else entirely.
Kamen Rider can be for kids and still be dark, frightening, violent, serious, and meaningful. Those things were never mutually exclusive in the first place.
That’s why I think the debate is operating on a false premise.
You’re thinking about this wrong altogether.
MJ Muñoz 