Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider Review: A Love Letter to Tokusatsu That Hits Too Close to Home

The Setup: A Man, A Dream, And A Very Understanding Wife

Tojima is 40 years old. He works a dead-end office job. His back hurts when he stands up too fast. He pays taxes. He attends PTA meetings. And every single morning, before his wife and daughter wake up, he stands in front of the bathroom mirror, holds his toothbrush like a henshin belt, and whispers "Henshin" under his breath.

The show never explains why Tojima loves Kamen Rider. It doesn't need to. If you grew up watching a hero who kicked evil in the face every Sunday morning, you already understand. Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider is not about becoming a hero. It's about what happens when you realize you never will, but you still hold onto the pose anyway.

The Plot: Corporate Life vs. Childhood Dreams

The series follows Tojima through his daily routine. He goes to work. He gets yelled at by his boss. He fills out spreadsheets. He dodges his coworker's attempts to set him up on awkward blind dates. And in between all of this, he finds small moments to indulge his obsession — teaching his daughter the correct way to do a Rider Kick, buying a belt from a second-hand store, explaining to his confused wife why the Showa-era Riders are objectively better than the Heisei ones.

There's no grand arc. No villain to defeat. The closest thing to a conflict is Tojima's internal struggle between being a responsible adult and being the hero he always wanted to be. The show understands that for most people, those two things don't overlap. It doesn't pretend they do.

The most honest scene in the entire series is when Tojima's daughter asks him why he still likes Kamen Rider. He pauses. He doesn't have a cool answer. He just says, "Because he never gave up." And then he goes back to doing his taxes.

The Characters: Tojima Is All of Us

Tojima is not a loser. The show is careful about that. He's not a manchild who refuses to grow up. He's a functional adult who has accepted his life but never fully let go of the thing that made him happy as a kid. There's a difference, and the writing respects it.

His wife is the unsung hero of the series. She doesn't understand his obsession. She doesn't need to. She just lets him have it. In one episode, she buys him a Kamen Rider keychain and hides it in his lunchbox. That's love. Not grand gestures. Just quiet acceptance.

His daughter is the perfect foil. She's at the age where she's starting to realize her dad is a little embarrassing. But she also secretly thinks the Rider Kick is cool. The show doesn't force a sappy reconciliation between them. It just lets them exist in the same space, both pretending they don't notice each other's smiles.

The coworkers are mostly forgettable. That's the point. Tojima's work life is forgettable. The show doesn't try to make it anything more than it is.

The Kamen Rider References: For Fans, By Fans

This is where the show could have gone wrong. It could have name-dropped every Heisei Rider just to pander to fans. It doesn't. The references are organic. Tojima argues with a younger coworker about whether Kamen Rider Black is better than Kamen Rider Kuuga. He compares his boss to a Shocker grunt. He explains the concept of a "Rider Kick" to his daughter using a broomstick and a plastic chair.

If you know Kamen Rider, these moments are gold. If you don't, they still work as comedy because the show never makes the references the punchline. The punchline is always Tojima's earnestness in a world that doesn't reward it.

The Verdict: A Quiet, Honest Show About Growing Old Without Growing Up

Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider is not a masterpiece. The animation is nothing special. The supporting cast is thin. The first two episodes repeat the same joke too many times. But the show has something most anime lack: honesty.

It understands that being an adult doesn't mean killing the child inside you. It means finding a place for that child. Sometimes that place is a bathroom mirror at 6 AM. Sometimes it's teaching your daughter how to pose. Sometimes it's just buying a keychain and smiling.

Score: 8/10

Verdict: Must Watch for anyone who has ever held onto a dream that didn't make sense to anyone else. Skip if you need every joke to land perfectly or every episode to have a plot twist.

The writer of this review would like to clarify that he owns three Kamen Rider belts, none of which he has ever worn in public. Tojima understands.