Grandma said a lot of things, but she probably never predicted this. Twenty years after Souji Tendou first walked the path of heaven, Toei has officially announced V-Cinext Kamen Rider Kabuto 20th: Ten wo Tsugu Mono (Inheritor of Heaven), a brand new reunion film that brings the original cast back together for the series’ 20th anniversary.
The announcement dropped on 3 April 2026, Kamen Rider Day and the franchise’s 55th anniversary, complete with a teaser trailer and poster. The film opens in Japanese cinemas for a limited run from 6 November 2026 at Shinjuku Wald 9 and other theatres, with the Blu-ray and DVD release following on 10 February 2027.
Kamen Rider Kabuto 20th: a story two decades after the path of heaven
Inheritor of Heaven picks up two decades after the TV series finale. Humanity and the Worms now coexist in an uneasy peace, and Tendou himself has vanished, his whereabouts unknown even to his old allies.
Behind the scenes, ZECT has quietly developed a new Masked Rider System, and the candidate at the centre of it is Yui Kagami, the high school age son of Arata Kagami. When ZECT’s Masato Mishima moves in to make contact, Yui’s classmate steps into his path: a mysterious student named Hikaru Tendou.
Yes, that Tendou surname. And the famous catchphrase has evolved with the times. Where Souji always began with “My grandmother once said,” Hikaru’s version starts with “My great-grandmother once said.” Make of that generational maths what you will.
The returning cast
Six actors from the original 2006 series are confirmed to reprise their roles:
- Yuuki Sato as Arata Kagami (Kamen Rider Gatack)
- Hidenori Tokuyama as So Yaguruma (TheBee and KickHopper)
- Kazuki Kato as Daisuke Kazama (Kamen Rider Drake)
- Tomohisa Yuge as Masato Mishima
- Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi as Syuichi Tadokoro
- Hirotaro Honda as Riku Kagami
They are joined by new faces: Towa Araki as Yui Kagami and Yuika Kodera as Hikaru Tendo, while Fumika Baba takes over as Gon, the young girl who once tagged along with Kazama, now all grown up 20 years later.
The one name conspicuously absent is Hiro Mizushima. Tendou’s disappearance is written into the story itself, and Toei has not confirmed any appearance from the original lead. Whether the film is saving a surprise for opening night is anyone’s guess.
Original head writer Shoji Yonemura returns on script duties, with Hidenori Ishida directing. Even the theme song is a reunion: Sato, Tokuyama and Kato team up to cover the iconic opening “NEXT LEVEL” as “NEXT LEVEL Pass the tofu Version,” singing together for the first time in 20 years. If the title made you laugh, you remember Tendou’s tofu runs.
New Riders: Atlas and Giraffa
The teaser revealed two brand new Riders, Kamen Rider Atlas and Kamen Rider Giraffa, with the film showing Kagami, Yaguruma, Kazama and Mishima wearing unfamiliar belts. Longtime fans will recognise Giraffa as a Zecter that existed in the original series’ lore but never made it to screen, so this is a 20 year old loose end finally being tied.
The CSM Atlas Zecter will be bundled with a special edition of the Blu-ray release, in classic collector fashion.
So what exactly is a V-Cinext?
If you are newer to tokusatsu, the “V-Cinext” label deserves a quick explainer, because it is not quite a movie and not quite a straight-to-video release.
The story starts with V-Cinema, Toei Video’s direct-to-video label that dates back to 1989. For Kamen Rider, V-Cinema became the home of side stories and epilogues, beginning with Kamen Rider W Returns in 2011. These skipped cinemas entirely and went straight to disc.
In 2018, Toei evolved the format with V-Cinext, starting with the Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Trilogy: Another Ending films. The formula: the film gets a short, event-style theatrical run first, usually a few weeks in selected cinemas with stage greetings and merchandise, then arrives on Blu-ray and DVD a few months later, often bundled with a premium Complete Selection Modification toy. Think of it as direct-to-video with a cinema premiere, sized for the fans rather than the general public.
That is why Inheritor of Heaven opens in November but does not hit disc until February 2027. It is also why the Atlas Zecter bundle exists. These projects are partly funded by exactly that kind of collector release.
The 20th anniversary formula
Kabuto is not the first Heisei series to get this treatment. The template was set by Kamen Rider 555 20th: Paradise Regained in 2024, which brought back Kento Handa and the Faiz cast, reunited them with original writer Toshiki Inoue, and set its story 20 years after the finale. Same limited screening, same disc release with a CSM bundle.
With Faiz and now Kabuto both getting the 20 years later reunion, the pattern looks like a series Toei intends to continue. Den-O hits its own 20th anniversary in 2027, and we would not bet against a certain time train rolling back into the station.
No international screenings have been announced yet, but anniversary V-Cinext titles have occasionally made their way to Southeast Asian cinemas before. We will keep an eye out for any regional announcements.
Kamen Rider Kabuto 20th: Ten wo Tsugu Mono opens in Japanese cinemas on 6 November 2026, with Blu-ray and DVD on 10 February 2027.
While waiting for November, catch up on where the franchise is right now with our breakdown of the Kamen Rider My-Th teaser, or revisit how Kamen Rider Zeztz reignited the classic Rider spirit.
Official sources
All information in this article comes from Toei’s official announcements. Want the latest on tickets, screenings and the Blu-ray editions straight from the source? Check out the official channels below and follow them for updates as the November premiere approaches:
- Official Kamen Rider Kabuto 20th: Ten wo Tsugu Mono site (Toei Video)
- Official trailer on the Toei Tokusatsu YouTube channel
- Official Kamen Rider X account (@HKR20_official)
This article is written with assistance from Claude.
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