Series REVIEW: Kamen Rider Drive

Give a Kamen Rider cosmically powered switches or transforming fruit armour and only a few people will bat an eyelid. Give him a car instead of a bike however and suddenly the world has been turned upside down. Although not the first Kamen Rider show to give their lead character four wheels instead of two (that would be Kamen Rider Black RX), Kamen Rider Drive is the first series to make it exclusively that Rider’s mode of transportation. With the series having just come to an end in Japan, it’s time to take a look back at the past year of Kamen Rider before things start afresh again with Kamen Rider Ghost in a few days’ time.

First Impressions: Kamen Rider Drive

Motorbikes are so 1971, 2014 is all about cars! That's right, Kamen Rider Gaim is over and its time for a new Rider that does things a little bit differently. 2014-15's Rider goes by the name of Kamen Rider Drive, swapping out the franchise's signature motorcycle completely in favour of a car (yes Kamen Rider Black RX had a car, but he still had a bike at the same time). The 16th Heisei era Kamen Rider series and 25th overall sees Rider veterans Riku Sanjo and Ryuta Tasaki return as lead writer and director respectively - something they last did on 2009-10's Kamen Rider W.