Dragon Knight in America

[Saejima Kouga]

It was pretty epic the last few eps especially. Great series.

[Deka_Hero]

Well looks like ill never know, that site is Region-locked so on IP from the USA can see it...............
OREDO 4CHIBI!

[Saejima Kouga]

Did you mean: Onore 4kodomo!

I wish Hayter could've made an appearance. Especially if he could've been Michelle's bf.

[KickHopper]

Did you mean: Onore 4kodomo!

I wish Hayter could've made an appearance. Especially if he could've been Michelle's bf.

lol totally got the reference as soon as I read it. I almost watched the movie this weekend with a buddy, but we opted for video games instead.

By the way, I just realized that they didn't put the Advent Master in the KRDK game. And they cheapened out and made Xaviax a Random Rider Clone. Every time you fight him he'll be using the style and cards of a random rider. Oh well.

[Battra]

You know I heard that that Maya's book was picked up for a TV series in Japan.

This was a great series, loved that the Wang bro's created an entirely new story from Ryuki and even matched the footage of certain Ryuki episodes or the movie to fit with the American episodes that is real dedication.

A few things I was impressed with was the introduction of the Ventara rider's, Adam openly admitting that Kit was a way better rider than him, & Xaiax's portrayal. With the introduction of the Ventara Rider's we got a glimpse into what their Earth counterparts might have like if they made different decisions in their life, maybe they would've ended up being good guys too. Seeing Adam openly admit that Kit was a better Dragon Knight than him was really astonishing, the way Len described Adam made it seem like he was alot better Rider. I like how they portrayed Xaviax as the classic trickster type evil, it's something that was lacking in the Ranger series, William O'Leary really brought out the character, i'd say Xaviax is probably my all time favorite American Toku villain.

But with all great series it did have it's flaws the plot kinda dragged on in the middle of the series, it also didn't help that they gave a 2nd recap episode which really ground the momentum they had coming off previous episodes to a halt. Oynx I think could have been handed better than what they did in the series, having him show up in a dream sequence of Kit's then basically ignoring him for the rest of the series until the end when Eubulon "conveniently" gave kit the deck that just felt lame to me.

It's to bad it ended up getting canceled, cause this was American Toku done right.

[Saejima Kouga]

You know I heard that that Maya's book was picked up for a TV series in Japan.

Eh?

[KickHopper]

"For Ventara and Earth: Part 1" pulled a GekiToujaWolf lol
That Double Dragon Strike Vent was BADASS. These last episodes have had some of the most awesome footage I've seen.
Also, is it just me, or did they seriously up the musical quality for the final episodes?

[AkuTenshiiZero]

Did you mean: Onore 4kodomo!

I wish Hayter could've made an appearance. Especially if he could've been Michelle's bf.

Hayter? As in David Hayter?

Guyver vs. Kamen Rider...Ohmygawdawesome

[KickHopper]

Guyver wins. Guyver always wins.

[Kamen Rider Raven]

Apologies for my slow responses this week, been all too busy with nonsense happening for the holidays.
Welcome Granis!

You missed a major major point to my argument. American organizations WILL NOT LET a show like Ryuki with it's background story of killing and man-eating be shown to American children. You and I both may feel that kids can handle it, but unfortunately it's the dumb clucks who have the power who don't know jack. As I said in my argument, a 100% literal adaptation of Ryuki could only be marketed to an audience 13+ or 16+ by the guidelines set in place. I'm all for a literal adaptation, but I'm wise enough to know that it is incredibly unlikely to happen.

I have to strongly disagree with you on this "major point" as well, and I did not miss it, I dismissed it.
If Square released a game that sold well in Japan that they knew would need a specific rating to be accepted in America, they would either find a way to change it as little as possible to get around a rating they wanted to avoid (IE: Void Advent in KR:DR) or they would decide it was worth it for the sake of accuracy to take the higher rating. That's something to consider when you weigh options, rather than using it as an excuse to radically redesign something that worked in it's original format into something untested and unproven.

I cannot find *ANY* actual Nielsen rating information by demographic on Dragon Knight at all, but I have strong suspicion that the bulk of it's audience was in the 13+ crowd already. Similarly, I would be inclined to point at the likes of Naruto, that contains some of the most widespread killing of anything I have ever seen Cartoon Network even touch. The show was designed for a teenage audience, translated and aired in America for that same teen audience, and saw great levels of success for quite awhile. Almost every major fight in that series has a human being die along the way or at the resolution, and it airs in America translated and mostly accurate to it's roots (aside from the wretched dubbing).

Just something else to think about.

And again, I am not looking for a flame war, if you enjoyed Dragon knight then I am truly sorry they will not even air the final episodes. As a Joss Whedon fan, I had fears the same would happen to me (yet again) with Dollhouse, and it's a terrible feeling. Investing time from your life to enjoy a show only to have it yanked out from under you without resolution sucks. I just wish more thought had gone into this Kamen Rider for the long haul, instead of it turning into yet another American company looking for a way to turn a profit on "localizing" a Japanese series... somewhat "roughly".

Just wanted to point something out here though. Videogames are vastly different than TV series. They can get away with a lot of things that tv shows can't. If a game sold well in Japan and Square thinks that it would also sell well in the states, then they'll release it, even if it ends up with an M rating.

The Wangs knew that DK would be marketed to kids, so they kept it rather kid friendly. You know as well as I do that if Ryuki came over and was marketed as a kids show, parent groups and the like would be all over it. Hell, they were all over Power Rangers when it first started and that was about as kid friendly as you can get. You bring up a good point with Naruto, however it's an anime. At this point, anime can get away with a lot more than what it used to. Look at Code Geass or Gundam 00. Those shows are also direct translations.

A live action show is different though. At this point, something like Kamen Rider would probably still be "typecast" as a kids show.

I think this is a lesson though. If they want to do something like this again, they'll market it to a more teenage crowd. Perhaps put it on SyFi so that they can push a more direct translation. Show that it's more than a kids show. Hell, do a translation of The First and The Next and air it on SyFi. That should be right up it's alley. If they do well, then follow it up with one of the series, preferably Kuuga. See where it goes from there.

[kokowaks]

KR would be the best candidate for an adult toku show... they just need to further advance the plot and writing to make it more or less same like those of heroes, lost, or even supernatural... i mean their setting and theme should be more serious but still make it more "edgy"... dragon knight made some good points here but the fact that they made a power rangerlike show to be more mature seems to confuse children whether this is their show or for someone older than them...

[Saejima Kouga]

Did you mean: Onore 4kodomo!

I wish Hayter could've made an appearance. Especially if he could've been Michelle's bf.

Hayter? As in David Hayter?

Yes.

[kikaida]

Compared to all of the Japanese Kamen Rider series, the US Dragon Knight is (or now was) seriously lacking. While the plot picked up speed at the end as well as the action . . . meh . . . the best thing about Dragon Knight was the opening credits and the theme song. If the writers spent as much time developing the story as the theme song, it would have been great!

For the US, something like Den-O might work better for a Saturday morning. But if we wanted something like Kabuto or even Ryuki (which I personally didn't like) then it would have to run on Cartoon Network during Adult Swim.

[KickHopper]

If the writers spent as much time developing the story as the theme song, it would have been great!

A theme song with the same repeating notes and two lines? I'm pretty sure it didn't take that long to develop. The music maybe, but the lyrics I doubt it.

Edit: Finished watching the finale. For some reason... the finale gave me the vibe that they were going to set up a Blade adaptation as a direct continuation of Dragon Knight. I'm not sure why... but I think it was that Eubulon line of "There are more worlds behind the mirrors and more evils to fight" thing, and the cards comment that Maya made.

[kokowaks]

no... its not yet decade's time...

before they go world hopping and card riding they must first establish a successful rider adaptation that's not so power rangerish... even if dragon knight had succeeded there must be... den-o