Spoilers ahead for the finale of the Kamen Rider Taisen movie!
Today’s press conference revealed that the winner of the showdown in Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen featuring Super Sentai is… HEISEI! By about 760 votes out of over 2.7 million, Heisei has triumphed. The number of votes surpasses the 2.6 million votes in the 5th AKB48 election, an astounding feat! For those who don’t know, every year AKB48 holds a vote to determine who’s going to be in its next single, which is always a huge event, so for Kamen Rider to compete with that kind of popularity says a lot about the strength of the franchise. (For reference, the 2011 election had 1 million votes, the 2012 had 1.4 million, and the 2013 had 2.6 million)
Excited or disappointed about the results? Share your reactions in the comments below!
Thanks to Nihon Hero for additional info.
March 29, 2014 @ 12:13 pm
I have never seen such a debacle since the US 2000 Presidential erections.
March 29, 2014 @ 12:55 pm
darn. The old guard will never die!
March 29, 2014 @ 1:14 pm
That is such a lie. Showa was winning every front besides theater ballots. Toei doesn’t want their precious Heisei to lose. Even the movie’s writer said he didn’t want Showa to win.
Toei and Saban confuse me. Why make polls if you’re just going to rig it?
March 29, 2014 @ 1:32 pm
i’ve voted myelf, and i’ve seen the votes over time. Heisei barely won this.
Saban has nothing to do with any of this, so dont bring up that guy. Also who said it’s rigged? They shot both endings for the movie, it’s literally just deciding the ending that will be shown in theaters. The DVD/Blu ray will have both endings available.
the Movie’s writer said he was rooting for Heisei, probably because he prefers it. You know what voting does? it says you don’t want side “x” to win.
geez guys all those people who voted for heisei just didnt want showa to win. what a rigged vote
March 30, 2014 @ 9:25 am
Rigged? ok how so? please explain this to me? like most i was watching it over time, and the reason why you may say its “rigged” at least to me is if someone did a 1,000 votes on several different Virtual machines or Laptops. think about it this way, what has been shown the MOST during a KIDS show? Heisei, me personally yeah i got into kamen rider due to a friend first one was Kiva and the rest just snowballed, i’ll never had that connection that older fans have with showa riders; but to what i was saying most kids today barely KNOW what showa is unless they had a parent that was collecting the stuff since they were with either V3 or Stronger, hell most american audiences (such as myself) only knew of one showa rider and that was Saban’s HORRIBLE attempt at bring KR over.
March 29, 2014 @ 2:16 pm
I voted Heisei, but the only way the movie would be ruined for me is if the story sucked. I’m sure we’ll get both endings on Blu and DVD. Maybe they’ll even do both cuts so everyone gets their preferred movie.
Besides, it’s the Kamen Riders. The Showa might lose but they’re not gonna get killed and the Heisei are still going to get spanked (just like the Showa would’ve still gotten spanked if they had won).
March 29, 2014 @ 11:32 pm
Glad Heisei won. Sorry but I have no attachment to Showa besides Black RX and that was cause of Saban’s adaption revealing the existence to me of that awesome costume design.
I find it silly people saying something was rigged when there favorite thing wins. Its silly. Can’t we just enjoy things and not get upset about the little things?
March 31, 2014 @ 7:17 pm
I was hoping Hesei would win, but If Showa had won tha twould have been cool too, I am just surprised the votes were so close, I guess that goes to show there is still love for the old ways.
April 1, 2014 @ 12:46 am
Boooo Boooo Hisss Hisss!!
April 1, 2014 @ 6:34 pm
It was close. I just couldn’t chose if I had to.
April 18, 2014 @ 2:03 am
It makes sense for Heisei to win. How the hell are the Showa riders going to deal with Kabuto’s clock up and Fourze’s double digit hypersonic air speed?(ie go into space) Not to mention that Decade can copy those powers.
Showa Riders couldn’t have won without some heroic willpower Japanese story telling Deus ex machina BS.