Kamen Rider W English Dub Upd

To understand the current "Kamen Rider W English dub update," we must look back at the history. Kamen Rider W aired originally in 2009. In 2010, Toei began experimenting with international distribution. A handful of companies (including Bandai’s overseas arm) produced a very limited English dub for broadcast in Southeast Asia (specifically Singapore and the Philippines). This "Animax Asia" dub is infamous among fans for several reasons:

Availability: This dub was never released on DVD or Blu-ray in Region 1 (North America) and exists today only in low-quality TV rips circulating online. For most fans, this does not count as a proper English release.

While there is no official Western dub, long-time fans may recall that Kamen Rider W actually did have an English dub—just not one produced for the US market. In the Philippines, the series aired on local television with an English dub.

This dub is fondly remembered by those who grew up watching it on ABS-CBN or GMA. It featured localized names and accents, making it a unique piece of Tokusatsu history. However, this dub was never released on official streaming platforms like Crunchyroll or Tubi, and the masters are largely considered lost media outside of grainy YouTube uploads. It serves as a fascinating "what could have been" for Western localization.

Adding to the confusion regarding Kamen Rider W dubs is the existence of Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. This American adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki featured cameos from various Rider suits. kamen rider w english dub upd

eagle-eyed fans often spot the Kamen Rider W suit in crossover movies or video games with English voice-overs and mistake them for a full series dub. Additionally, the W characters appeared in the Kamen Rider Heisei Generations FOREVER movie, which had limited English localizations in certain regions, but this does not equate to a dub of the main television series.

In early 2025, industry insider blogs reported that Toei was pressuring western partners to "complete the set." The logic is sound: Marketing the Fuuto PI home video release alongside a brand-new Kamen Rider W dub would be a massive box set event.

Why is everyone fixated on W specifically? Released in 2009, Kamen Rider W is considered the "gateway drug" of the Heisei era. The series follows Shotaro Hidari, a hard-boiled (but actually half-boiled) detective, and Philip, a living library of planetary knowledge, who fuse together to become Kamen Rider W.

Its noir aesthetic, J-Pop infused soundtrack, and the unique "Cyclone/Joker" gimmick made it a cult classic. Unlike the more serious Gaim or the ancient Kuuga, W feels like a prime-time anime in live-action form. This is why the anime sequel Fuuto PI (streaming on Crunchyroll) succeeded—it was a seamless transition. To understand the current "Kamen Rider W English

The current situation: Fuuto PI has a stellar English dub (featuring voices like Jonah Scott). This has reignited the question: Why can’t we dub the original live-action series?

Why are fans suddenly expecting a dub? The answer lies in Kamen Rider Zero-One.

In a landmark move in 2020, Toei and Shout! Factory released Kamen Rider Zero-One with a full English dub on the Tokushoutsui streaming channel. This was the first time a Kamen Rider series had received a contemporary, high-quality English dub since the Saban adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki (retitled Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight).

The success of the Zero-One dub proved there was a market for English audio. Following this, Kamen Rider Geats also received a "simul-dub" shortly after its Japanese airing. This shift has led many fans to hope that Toei would work backward to dub older, beloved series like W or Gaim. Availability: This dub was never released on DVD

However, Shout! Factory has clarified in various fan panels and social media interactions that dubbing older series is a significantly larger financial undertaking than dubing a current, running series. Without the guarantee of a toy line to support it (as W toys are now vintage collector items), the financial viability of dubbing a 49-episode series from 2009 remains a hurdle.

The game-changer was the Fuuto PI anime. When Crunchyroll licensed the anime sequel, they produced an all-new, high-quality English dub featuring LA-based voice actors. This dub was universally praised for casting relative unknowns who sounded like natural extensions of the live-action actors.

This created a paradox for studios: Fuuto PI is dubbed, but the original Kamen Rider W is not. You cannot watch the anime sequel without knowing the live-action prequel.