Kamen Rider to Livestream New Series in the U.S. for First Time Ever (But There’s a Catch)

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Making matters even tougher in this regard is being able to actually watch Kamen Rider shows, and now it’s being taken to a whole new level. Shout Factory has officially announced they will be hosting special livestream premieres for the next major Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Zeztz. Kicking off on Saturday, September 6th, new episodes of Kamen Rider Zeztz will be streaming alongside their initial premiere in Japan. Which is a huge move forward for worldwide availability of the franchise on a whole. Check out the announcement trailer for the new livestream below.

Kamen Rider Zeztz Announces U.S. Streaming Premiere

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As revealed by Shout Factory (and teased by their recently overhauled graphics), Kamen Rider Zeztz will be premiering on Saturday, September 6th at 7:30PM PT with their official YouTube and TokuSHOUTsu channels for fans in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. New episodes of the series will be streaming on a weekly basis, with replay options on Sundays at 9AM PT and Friday 5PM PT in the days that follow. There’s a bit of a catch to this, however, as this is different from a full on-demand streaming kind of release.

But Shout Factory explains that new episodes of the series will be playing six times with each showing. Prior episodes of the series will also be playing before the premiere of the new episodes each week, and there will also be scheduled mini-marathons in the weeks to come. So even if you miss out on the initial livestream premieres, there are going to be many chances to check out the series. And since it’s going to be live on YouTube, it’s also going to be completely free. It’s a major step forward for worldwide recognition of the Kamen Rider franchise.

Kamen Rider Zeztz is going to be the first entry in the over 50 year Kamen Rider franchise to stream live around the world with each of its episodes, and they will be available in the original Japanese language audio with English subtitles. This is the seventh entry of the Reiwa era of the franchise, and 36th iteration of the masked hero overall. It’s been running in Japan since the 1970s, but hasn’t had as much success in the United States outside of the fans who have been keeping track of its newest entries.

Previous attempts at bringing the franchise to United States audiences both failed with one being Masked Rider in the 1990s (which even had a backdoor pilot that served as a crossover episode with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), and an adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight in the 2000s. Neither seemed to make waves with audiences, but now the original iteration of the franchise now has its best chance at worldwide success yet.