For the first time in its 50+ year history, Kamen Rider officially made its debut at a North American convention, the recent Los Angeles Comic Con 2025.
The big draw was the Kamen Rider ZEZTZ panel, where producer Hideaki Yanaka broke down the creation of the newest series and teased that the mystery of heroine Nem will be revealed in Episode 6. Yanaka also stressed that ZEZTZ was built with international fans in mind, modernizing the Rider formula while still honoring its legacy.
Con-goers also got the first-ever U.S. screening of Kamen Rider W Forever: A to Z/The Gaia Memories of Fate with English subtitles, plus a spotlight on the global simulcast of ZEZTZ, which streams weekly with subs on TokuSHOUTsu’s YouTube channel. On the show floor, fans lined up for the first Kamen Rider booth in North America, complete with a live meet & greet with ZEZTZ himself.
Yanaka summed up the weekend best: “Meeting Kamen Rider fans not just from the local area but from around the world who came a long way to be here has been truly inspiring. It is through the support of passionate fans like you that this series will continue to grow and thrive globally.”
With this U.S. debut and the worldwide rollout of ZEZTZ, it’s clear that Kamen Rider is finally stepping onto the global superhero stage in a big way, although we still remember the last big attempt to bring Kamen Rider to Western audiences:
