Kamen Rider Fourze Closes as the Lowest-Rated Heisei Rider Series

Kamen Rider Fourze‘s forty-eighth and final episode aired to a 5.1% rating in August 2012, unchanged from the previous week and the first time in the series’ run that its final two episodes matched exactly. With the show complete, its full series average settled at 5.8%, the lowest of any Heisei-era Kamen Rider series to that point, trailing behind Kiva’s 6.2% and the Den-O/OOO tie at 6.9%. At the top of the list sat Kamen Rider Agito at 11.7%, followed by Kuuga at 9.7% and Ryuki at 9.4%.

The same week’s episode of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, airing in the same block, dropped to a 3.3% rating from 3.9% the week before, its sixth consecutive week under 4%, a first for a Super Sentai series, though its 4.0% series average held steady. Coverage at the time noted an upcoming new opening sequence and rumored cast changes as the production’s attempt to reverse the trend, with Kamen Rider Wizard’s premiere the following week seen as the next real test of whether Rider ratings could recover.