Kamen Rider Dragon Knight

[VR7]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGzKWApq4To
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamen_Rider_Dragon_Knight

It's been roughly half a year now, it's surprising no one ever talked about this. An American adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki is coming, in the form of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. Dragon Knight shares some similarities with Ryuki's story, particularly the Mirror World and the fact that the main characters have similar names to their Japanese counterparts.

Here's a quick rundown of what I meant:

Shinji Kido (Kamen Rider Ryuki) - Kit Taylor (Kamen Rider Dragon Knight)
Ren Akiyama (Kamen Rider Knight) - Len (Kamen Rider Wing Knight)

Apart from that, I don't have very high hopes with this adaptation. Considering what I've seen in this trailer, it's definitely going to be a better adaptation than the mid 90s attempt at Black RX. (Saban's Masked Rider) But I liked the premise of the original Japanese story more, which revolved around 13 Kamen Riders, most not exactly friendly, (one of them was a serial killer, you can't go wrong with serial killers and shady cops) killing each other in a Holy Grail-esque war.

[Heecarl_Reez]

Do they already decide when the show gonna start?

The RX adaptation was bleh,i hope to never saw that again...

And so they now going to Power Rangers Style,Ryuki?Well,that' 5 years ago.....But it's okay,but i'll choose faiz...

[r34racer01]

It's about time they tried to use another Sentai show. Just because Ultraman sucked doesn't mean you should stop trying. On that note there's no way it could be worse that the American adaption of Ultraman Tiga. They should also call it Masked Rider again, that is what it means but I'm going to guess most people are purists and will prefer Kamen which I can live with. So where is this going to air?

[VR7]

Dragon Knight going to air somewhere in 2008. I'm probably going to watch it, just to see if they do Ryuki (or for that matter, Kamen Rider in America altogether) justice.

Ryuki is a great series, by the way. I've seen the first 5-6 eps so far and I liked what I saw.

[Yuusha Tokkyu Might Gaine]

Depending on which time they show it, yeah I'll watch it too. It looks promising and from the looks of it, more original then Power Rangers was in the last few years

[Heecarl_Reez]

Ryuki is one of the best i say....
There can be only one...Woow Highlander i say...

I've seen the series to its end,and it really deserved as one of the most revolutionary,and controversial rider series...

I really hope the adaptation will do good....

[VR7]

Just finished watching Ryuki and Episode FINAL. (The movie) The TV series has an atrocious ending, but as a whole I'd have to say that Ryuki is probably one of the best Kamen Riders (or Tokusatsu shows for that matter) I've seen by far.

And on top of that, Shiro Kanzaki is probably one of the best Tokusatsu villains of all time, if not the best. (I could probably write an entire essay describing why) I don't know how General Xaviax, an original character, is going to be handled--but if anything, here's to hoping that he is Dragon Knight's version of Kanzaki.

[swordoath]

I'm actually kinda looking forward to this. I've been thinking lately about how a Power Rangers show for a slightyl older target audience might play out, but since that's unlikely to happen, this should work. I'm not particularly familiar to the original Japanese release, but I've heard about this previously and am trying to keep an eye on new information.

Shame Saban/Disney still holds the rights to the name "Masked Rider," since that really does sound better for an Americanized release and would help to draw an audience. "Kamen Rider" sounds too much like "Common Rider" when spoken in English, and there's really nothing "Common" about them.

[VR7]

I didn't think Disney would still hold the rights to "Masked Rider". Wonder if they'll try to pull a fast one with that.

Oh yeah, do forgive Len for mispronouncing "Kamen" as "Common". It's not like everyone is capable of pronouncing Japanese words as they were meant to be pronounced.

The original Japanese story went like this, along with some side comments about some of the similarities with Dragon Knight:

Kamen Rider Ryuki revolves around Shinji Kido, a carefree and irresponsible journalist at ORE, a news organization, who is investigating a series of mysterious disappearances. During his investigation, he discovers a blank Advent Deck in the home of one of the victims, Koichi Sakakibara. He learns from Ren Akiyama (aka Kamen Rider Knight) and Yui Kanzaki that people are being abducted and devoured by monsters from the Mirror World. Falsely believing that Ren is out to fight the Mirror World monsters, Shinji decides to join the fight to protect people from the threat of the Mirror World. He contracts his own monster, Dragreder, and becomes the eponymous Kamen Rider Ryuki.

Note the differences between Ryuki's story and Dragon Knight's story. General Xaviax "abducts" people into the Mirror World, but here people are eaten alive. At the same time, note the similarities--Shinji Kido was turned into Kit Taylor, Ryuki is probably Japanese for Dragon Warrior/Knight/etc., etc.. Oh yeah, and Len now wears sunglasses and knows kung fu, but still has the trenchcoat.

Also, there's no story about Shinji trying to find a missing father. His childhood life is elaborated on in Episode Final, (an alternate timeline) but it's mostly unimportant in the TV series.

Just as soon as he does, he learns from Shiro Kanzaki, the mysterious older brother of Yui, his real enemy is the other twelve Riders. His real objective is to participate in the Rider War, where the last Rider standing gains access to any one wish he or she desires. Shiro Kanzaki himself is quite clearly hinted to be the coordinator of this, due to his sporadic appearances from the first episode of the series. Being one of the few Kamen Riders in the show true to the original concept of Kamen Rider, Shinji instead sets out to protect people from the creatures of the Mirror World, as well as convince the other Riders to stop fighting.

I wonder how often Xaviax will appear. Also, I think Maya Young's appearance on the official website of Dragon Knight doesn't match the personality or character of Yui Kanzaki. Then again, they're deviating from the original story material, so I don't know...

By the way, by the original concept I mean a Kamen Rider who, like all generic superheroes, is generally a nice guy/gal and fights for peace, justice, and freedom.

Unfortunately for Shinji, he is pretty much alone--the motley crew of Riders he encounters are mostly hostile, ranging from his newfound friend Ren, (who is very determined to win the war and the Holy Grail reward) a deranged adolescent, an escapee killer, a self-important "super" lawyer, a corrupt cop, to other generally unfriendly people selected by Shiro to fight in the Rider War. And along the course of the series, Shinji, Ren and Yui all learn more about the Rider War, the coveted wish, the Mirror World, and how it all relates to Shiro Kanzaki.

I don't know what Kit is going to be up to, but he will be made of epic win if he tries to do the same thing--trying to convince a bunch of psychotic killing machines to stop fighting.

Also, if anyone has ever played/watched Fate/stay night, you may notice that the original Japanese story of Kamen Rider Ryuki is so very similar. Being a 2002 tokusatsu series, (F/sn was 2004) I wonder which came first.

Anyhow, Ryuki, despite being a Japanese superhero series aimed at children like Super Sentai and Power Rangers, is actually rather violent (even for a Japanese superhero show, probably to the point of controversy) and probably better suited to mature audiences. (14-30 year olds) You can tell this from watching the series in its entirety, but you can also tell just off this summary, so I guess it probably makes sense that Dragon Knight largely deviates from the original material.

Still, having watched Ryuki I would've loved to see Dragon Knight as a direct adaptation of the original story.