WingsOfTime99 the same reason they air dubs of power rangers in Japan. Sure the action may be the same, but the stories are usually completely different
20:00The riders are in suspended animation for 12 years because they rotate guard duty. One rider is awake and protects the world for a full year while the others are in suspended animation. At the end of the year, the rider wakes the next one line before going into suspended animation himself. It is explained that the reason they do this is because the decks are DNA coded to each rider so if a rider dies or is vented, the deck becomes useless and the world looses a hero.The only one who can unlock a deck to give it to another person is the Advent Master.
One of the dumb reasons to do that imo. It'd make more sense to have each rider have a partner so neither would be caught alone, at least that's what I thought when I heard this.
@@grizzakaful I disagree. From a writing perspective, having the decks become unusable upon the riders death raises the stakes and makes the villain’s plan simple. Kill or manipulate potential riders that could stand against him.
@@grizzakafulWhat if there's a situation where both of the riders lose and then perish? You're losing out on both riders. It's just a way to minimize the collateral of the job
SUCH an underrated show by the American tokusatsu community. THIS is one of the examples of writing that I wish Power Rangers, and American toku in general, would be at in this day & era.
The GloryXros RPM, like KRDK, wisely set much of its source storyline on fire...along with most of the footage. But since then, you’re right, the writing hasn’t been great. Like we got non-Super Dino Charge and...not much else.
@@notakirakarakaza2118 beetleborgs,superhuman samurai,masked rider,vr troopers,tattoodteenage alien fighters from Beverly Hills,mystic knights of tir na nog,tmnt:the next mutation,guyver and guyver 2 dark hero and MANTIS
@@brandonspencer5594 I see, thats quite a few then. I'll go ahead and ignore Masked Rider (like ive been doing for the last few years) but i might check out the rest. I do recognise some of those names tho. Are there some original western productions or are most of them Adaptations?
Actually Marco, I heard Dragon Knight didn't do well because of a lack of promotion and toys came out waaaay too late so they couldn't cash in on that well either
Annuga It was canceled right before the penultimate episode, which was really the finale. The actual finale was another clip show. Both got put online.
Sabbat-X same. Heck, I only learned about the other Rider series because of the RU-vidr Tyler James and his TJ TV series. Now I've several Rider movies gotten off RU-vid and even a DVD of Kamen Rider Movie War 2010 that I got IN Japan when my dad and I were there back in 2012. It was while there I even saw an episode of Kuga's series, plus m6 introduction to Go Busters... though it took me til late last year to actually find out what the series was called or any of its episodes. Seriously hoping Saban don't screw Go Busters up with Beast Morphers
Good idea keeping this video seperate from Ryuki. A normal reviewer would've just spent the whole time comparing the two which doesnt do this show justice.
Thanks for this video. It reinstates why I liked Dragon Knight for many reasons. I can never consider Dragon Knight as a "watered down" Americanized Ryuki since it was never a direct adaptation and had an original story. I even always point out, even to Ryuki fanboys, that Dragon Knight's story is also a reminiscent of the Showa Riders and even Kuuga. Thanks to Dragon Knight, it made me appreciate the Showa Riders shows even more (W, OOO, Gaim, Drive, and Ex-Aid are an exceptions). Heck, Kamen Rider Black is dark yet it's straightforward good vs evil plot with some drama in it. No wonder why there is a thing called Black RX being a light-hearted sequel.
Same. I want Kabuto to be adapted. An adaptation of Kiva will be a teenage grimdark version as opposed to the semi-emo version of the original. Fourze, W, Gaim, Drive and Ex-Aid could work, though.
I believe one of the reasons they chose Ryuki is because there's diversity in terms of the people that become the riders. So, if there was another adaptation of the Kamen Rider series, I think they would choose the one with a sizable amount of riders.
One thing I really like was how the focus on Kit and Len was equal, unlike the focus between Shinji and Ren. Plus we actually got to see Dragon Knight fight Wrath in a final battle, unlike Ryuki.
The funny thing is, when Dragon Knight came out in 2009, I was 8 years old, the perfect age for this series. However, I never watched the show or saw ads for it. I only saw ads for the toys and the toys in stores. I actually dissed it when I was younger because I thought it was "a stupid Power Rangers rip-off." Now that I'm 16 years old and know better, I wish I had gotten into this series when I was a kid. Kamen Rider is a series I love and and I wish I had gotten into it earlier than I did, when I watched Den-O back in 2013.
DigitalBrave Studios Better promotion would not have changed that mindset, regardless of scheduling or show quality. Y'all doomed this show upon arrival
Jerry Dolph I never watched Dragon Knight as a kid, but it was the first time I had heard of the franchise, but I hadn't watched any of it until I watched Den-O 4 or 5 years later.
30:30 Mark Musashi, who did stunts in the last chunk of KRDK, said he was giddy about the stunt casting they pulled, but didn’t say who it was gonna be. It turned out to be Mark Dacascos.
Dragon Knight was my first Kamen Rider season that I saw, before knowing the term Kamen Rider, I remember when it first came out as I was excited for this cool new original show. As of now I have seen every Heisei and Neo Heisei era Kamen Rider and eagerly awaiting the next Ex-Aid episode, movie and Build.
steven310250 I couldn't agree more my friend. Kamen Rider I hope one day returns to the USA with a faithful and awesome adaptation similar to KRDK but unique in it's own way
It was actually a pretty good show. I remember watching it on Saturday mornings and really enjoying it. It was strangely dark relative to everything else on Saturday mornings barring stuff like Young Justice.
Dragon Knight and Power Rangers RPM were my two favorite Saturday morning shows at this point. Nothing else touched them, and in hindsight these shows still hold up.
Not saying that this series was flawless, but this was the push to get me into tokusatsu. After watching Ryuki and Dragon Knight, trying to compare them is like trying to compare apples to oranges. They're similar in very obvious ways, but they are also very different. If anything, I like the premise of Dragon Knight when compared to Ryuki.
This show was my first venture into the world of Kamen Rider. I remember watching it all the time on Saturdays and I remember loving it, sadly I never finished it.
I'd honestly like to see a western adaptaion of one of the recent series like Gaim, Ex-Aid, or maybe not build because that one fit perfectly with being based in Japan...but maybe like Drive would be cool.
@@twinsaiyans4319 I was a kid when Dragon Knight was on and my friends and I loved it. Besides it's not like Kamen Rider is Nolan Batman in terms of darkness
I like to think this is canon to Power rangers and takes place during the gap between Jungle Fury and Samurai. No reason other than there's no Power rangers team running around during that period.
@@lukedelameter7961 totally random coincidence that we're both commenting the same day on a very old video, but yeah, where did you hear that? That could have been awesome, but I've never heard this?
@@lukedelameter7961 all this does is make me want a crossover between Ryuki and Go Onger. It would’ve been tonally all over the place and it would’ve been delicious.
I see people's argument on why they hate the morphing phrase but here's my counters. GO GO MEGAFORCE, and Go go Samurai. Hearing that EVERYTIME is more annoying than just Kamen Rider.
@@HordikaNate3821 "LIGHTSPEED RESCUE!" "TIME FOR TIME FORCE" "NINJA STORM RANGER FORM!" "DINO THUNDER POWER UP!" "SPD EMERGENCY!" "MAGICAL SOURCE! MYSTIC FORCE!" may not be screaming power rangers but they did scream their team name.
42:52, the same thing can also be said about the anime Evangelion, how it went from being a simple monster of the week show to being extremely complex and having some of the main characters have some of the worst day of their lives. Thats kind of thing happening isn't the case here obviously but I think its something to think about a bit.
It did take me a little while to get used to them saying "Kamen Rider" to transform, but after I did.. I loved this! Gave me exactly what I wanted in a Toku adaptation, with a dope concept (i love cards lmao) to go with it
I've always been a big fan of spirits he stories, among other things. So personally I think the No Men were a very interesting secondary antagonist. It's certainly a more original name then the Men in Black, or the Illuminati. And I certainly don't know very many Power Ranger TV shows that actually add a second big bad to the roster.
They had to keep editing footage after that episode, since they killed Torque off earlier than he did in Ryuki, and so, it was likely one of the main reasons Siren was made part of the main cast.
Both this AND Ryuki are my favorite Kamen Rider seasons. It will never happen but I still kinda want an American Kabuto adaptation, they could go absolutely crazy with the fight scenes in that show Edit: consensus on that last statement has altered a bit, but that'd still be cool
Good vid. This show is an interesting part of the Kamen Rider franchise’s history. Rather than an adaptation, I’d consider Dragon Knight a spin off, due to the fact that it carries the Kamen Rider name and it’s more of a retelling of Ryuki taking place in an alternate timeline with original characters (separate from Ryuki’s timeline).
This show was awesome asf back in 2008. I was 12 years old when the show appeared, I was little sad and alone since I barely had any friends back in middle school. Fast forward: Now I'm 24 years old and I still love this show! This show is awesome sauce, thanks to the "Wang Brothers" who decided to give the show a more Serious tone through an americanized version of Kamen Rider Ryuki. After i finished watching this show, I decided to go on the internet to watch the Japanese original version of this show "Ryuki" to watch and learn about some cool things about the Original show. And honestly it's pretty awesome, I'm really enjoying the Original show, I'm on episode 6 right now. Sometime in the Future, when I buy a Portable Video recorder, I'll make some Review videos on my RU-vid channel my thoughts and feelings of the Show!
Kamen rider dragon knight was my gateway to the Kamen rider world. From before I watched Power rangers but grew out of it but was drawn to Kamen rider because it's more unique suit design. I also was drawn to it because the characters have more agency in their place in the fight. They do not have a team fall back to and place them right at the left leg of the zord. They need more justification for relationships than the power of friendship.
I so much love Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, but I hate how it ends because the show was about to be canned, hence the rushed ending. Kinda reminds me of how Ultraman Nexus ends.
As the adaptation goes, Dragon Knight is a really good series, even ya never watch Ryuki, ya can still invested in the plot, although a lot of characters aren't memorable as what I remembered...
One thing I love is how in the us, we get rid of death, and killing, but replace it with something darker. Like the shadow realm in yugioh, or the void in dragon knight. Which honestly makes me admire power rangers more when they actually addressed death in multiple seasons. Hell, they showed a child getting murdered in lost galaxy.
I have heard that a lot of people did not like Kamen Rider Dragon knight a lot. But after this video, I was like "wow, the plot seems pretty good." I will put it in my backlist to watch.
the HoKR series is always great, i've learned so much from these videos and i'd probably be really lost today without them...great video dude keep it up :)
This Kamen Rider is my childhood so its really my favorite from all the kamen riders. I even remember trying to copy the final vent of Dragon Knight and let's say a bit injuries are made. I even made a cardboard box copy of the decks but no cards and belt.
OneManSentai add me to the list. In fact, I kinda hated watching Ryuki. Maybe it's because my first encounters with Kamen Rider where this, Fourze, Gaim, and Ghost. Most of which were goofy.
RiNickulous Productions Possibly. But I saw Ryuki first then DragonKnight. Aside from some early still-finding-itself cringe, DK ultimately was a more satisfying story that made a lot more sense. Kit was a lot more relatable than Shinji. Shinji wamted everyone to drop their goals without really having his own. When Kit made a similar stance, it was burdened with his own sacrifices in consideration as well.
^You will realize that when you try to get past Highlander, Ryuki wasn't even better. It all boils down to opinion, though. Oh yes, Shinji is really weird. I don't know why Ryuki fanboys hailed Shinji as a guy with "big hero spirit" while he's also a douche just like every Rider in the show. More like that Ryuki is about a man who tries to save others yet he can't save himself. It is also debatable whether his motivations on saving people is *either it's the right thing to do... or he just want to play the hero than play the villain.* When he was killed off before the end of the series, it's disappointing that he died but it became more of an illustration that how pointless Kanzaki's Rider War was, and while he's technically alive at the end, everything that happened in series has been wiped away from existence, meaning that all Shinji's character development means nothing.
39:31 You're saying that Dragon Knight became more popular than the 2002 show it was adapting? Damn that's a first! Big props to the people working behind the show!
I wasn't aware of how Kamen Rider Dragon Knight ended. Thanks, I kinda like how the series went. I look forward to more reviews. Especially of Kamen Rider W when you get there.
dragon knight was the very first kamen rider ive seen with kiva being the first japanese series ive seen. i love dragon knight for being a good introduction to the kamen rider idea. and the fact that it was pretty good in my own opinion really helps
I'm probably one of the very few Ryuki/Dragon Knight fans who liked Scissors/Incisor suit :) Great content here, mate. I never got to see this series on TV so curious on it's parallels with the original Ryuki series.
I used to watch this show when I was little around 6 years old was when I first started watching it and dam I’m 15 now and it’s still. A good series I’m even in touch now with one of the actors on the show Stephen Stensford and dam I can not believe how happy This show has made me
Even I’m a PR fan & don’t have any problem with them shouting “Kamen Rider” before transforming. If people are alright with “Morphin Time”, then shouting “Kamen Rider” shouldn’t be different.
I was actually into dragon knight when I was either 6 or 7 and I watch nearly all the episodes including the last one it really brought to me to kamen rider
@@joshuasung9164 I was so young when I watch it so it felt nostalgic when I see it again but den o was the real the show that I really got into at that same time
As a rabid Kamen Rider fan, this was the first show I ever saw from the franchise. Its characters and plot are as good as some of the best Power Ranger shows. It's not the best Kamen Rider show, but I would put it on the higher end of the list, alongside Ex-Aid, W, and Fourze. I really wish Toei would finally realize how much we want this material in the West, amd how much of a market there is for it. That being said, I do wish I could get my hands on the Phillipine dub of Kabuto. I heard it's AWFUL.
Great video! I love Kamen rider dragon knight. I used to watch that show religiously, ever saturday morning. It's the show that got me into kamen rider, and I'm still waiting for an official region 1 dvd release.
I will be honest. Dragon Knight was my first Kamen Rider series to have watched. When I read about it being an adaptation, I searched far and wide for the original Ryuki. I would agree Dragon Knight is better than Ryuki and I've been watching Kamen Rider ever since. I may get hate but I've enjoyed Decade when it was airing. Right now Ex-Aid is now among my top favorite Kamen Rider series to watch and I can't wait to see how they introduce the new Kamen Rider series in the future. Hopefully one day we can get another Kamen Rider adaptation here in the West. Maybe Drive or Ex-Aid but we'll see.
ROCuevas95 they can easily adapt any Rider series that is not heavily influenced by Japanese culture like Hibiki and Gaim. Fun fact: South Korea skipped Gaim and dubbed Drive instead because of that.
I was such a Power Rangers purist back when I was a kid that I boycotted watching this when it was on TV. Fast forward a decade (heh) later and I love Kamen Rider more than anything.
I agree. While I think this is a cool show, there are way too many plot points that spew around too late in the series. This show really could have done better as a movie series going something like this: Movie 1: Episodes 1-9 and some of episode 10 with Kit struggling to understand his identity as Kamen Rider Dragon Knight as well as who the good guys and bad guys are. Movie 2: Some of episode 10 and Episodes 11-15 (with all of 15 being skipped except for the last two minutes or so) in which the plot is centered around the stories of Brad Barrett and Chris Ramirez as well as Kit trying to understand where the dragon deck came from if not from Xaviax. Movie 3: Episodes 16-21, which center around the plot of looking for James (Kamen Rider Strike). Movie 4: Episodes 22-31 (with all of episode 29 being skipped except the last two minutes), which center around Kit battling his fears and dark temptations, then conclude with a huge battle. Movie 5: Episodes 32-40 (with all of the recap parts in 40 being skipped), in which Kit comes out of the advent void as merely perfected kamen rider and in which the plot centers around setting off all of the transmitters.
I have watch the clips of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight and this video is very well-said. I actually liked how Kamen Rider Dragon Knight is a standalone series. I have watched the first 2 episodes of Saban’s Masked Rider and I wasn’t impressed by it. But with an second attempt, that is Dragon Knight, I’m impressed, not just because it won an Daytime Stunt Emmy award, but it knew what it wanted to achieve and I can tell that is an more serious take on it. Also, it’s impressive that Dragon Knight has a mixture of mostly original footage and partial Ryuki footage, if necessary to help with time/budget. Something similar to Power Rangers RPM in which it came out at the same time as Kamen Rider Dragon Knight (Released/Broadcast on December 2008 despite that) RPM also uses mostly original footage and partial Go-Onger footage, if necessary and this at the time when this was Disney’s last Power Rangers series that they produced before they sold it back to Haim Saban in 2010.
Honestly Dragon Knight is pretty good. It does have some flaws but it’s good nonetheless. Idk why people dislike it, they should be thankful it’s not like another Saban’s Masked Rider.
This is my first Kamen rider show that i watched briefly. Didn't get a chance to finish it, but it's the reason why i am a fan of Kamen Rider as a whole.
34:38 A theory of mine: His suit is a prototype. It looks bulkier and has a bit of an unfinished look. Maybe, after making this suit, he began making improvements and changes to the future rider technology, giving us the Rider Suits and Decks we see now.
I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw of this series. Unfortunately due to my schedule, I was unable to watch the entire series and never knew how it ended. The last episode I was able to watch was where they vented Kit. Thanks for making this video. I loved seeing how it all ended.
kamen rider dragon knight was actually my first kamen rider and when I got Into super sentai I heard about kamen rider but didn't watch any of till I decided to watch one which was Kamen Rider Wizard I then heard or ryuki and I can never sit and watch it so there for I really enjoy Dragon Knight.
thanks for a trip down memory lane. this was my kamen rider start as well which led me to decade. my only regret is not getting a driver back in the day.
My very first kamen rider before I watch other kamen rider At first I don't know the story in this because well I'm just 6 year old back then Damn feel like to rewatching these back
2021 - I still like Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. After watching Ryuki, I rewatched this series and, I don't know if I'm the only one, I like this even more. It feels like the right way to adapt Ryuki. Also, the card motif would've done really well, had this show had more exposure. Also, while most people don't know it - most of the Riders were played by professional martial arts stunt actors & Zaviax's actor was an experienced stage, TV, & movie actor; This gave the show a higher level of legitimacy, had people known. I feel like this was more of a SciFi Channel series than a kids cartoon block add-on...though we'll never know. Thanks for making this video essay!
A watered down Ryuki? Nope. I found Dragon Knight to be MUCH MUCH more entertaining than Ryuki and I honestly remember more of this show. Actually, I’ve only watched through Ryuki once and I say that if you told me to choose between rewatching Ryuki and Dragon Knight from the very beginning, I choose Dragon Knight. Actually, excuse me because I’m actually going to do that now. Good day.
Jenny Chen I have seen both shows myself and Dragon Knight is 100% better. In Ryuki only 1 person was worthy of the title Kamen Rider (though there were 1or 2 that came close.) In Dragon Knight all the Ventaren riders except Adam were worthy as well as Kit and Chris. Brad MAY have been worthy if he hadn’t been vented.
@@HarbingerOfBattle Ryuki is a Big picture where people have their own right and they become their own hero in their own world even what have they done was bad. Ryuki teach us the lesson that how the real world work, not some power show for kid.
I wonder if the whole "12 years between every Kamen Rider" was a reference to the fact that Saban's Masked Rider ended 12 years before Dragon Knight began?
