KAMEN
RIDER RYUKI
~2002 Toei TV series~
As
much as I’d love to pretend that I’m an
all knowing Tokusatsu veteran that’s here to
spread the word and let loose information on some
truly golden nuggets, I’m just about as new
to this genre as I could be. Be that as it may, I’m
going to try to use Full Metal Tracksuit to talk about
Henshin and Sentai shows that I’m watching,
and maybe turn some more people on to them. It’s
hard to resist writing about what I think is one of
the most bizarre, creative and action packed genres
of television there has ever been, so I’ll commence
the rambling…
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"the
most bizarre, creative and action packed genres
of television" |
The Kamen Rider series is a long time
staple of the Henshin genre, and has set many standards
as far as formula and scenarios throughout the years.
Created by Shotaro Ishinomori (Kikaida, Cyborg 009
and about a million other influential concepts) and
first airing on April 4th, 1971, Kamen Rider would
prove to be a stalwart long-standing series, with
new iterations being produced over 30 years later.
In
2002, TOEI unleashed a new Kamen Rider series with
Kamen Rider Ryuki. This series is truly a unique beast
in both concept and execution. It seems that with
recent series such as the 2000 show Kamen Rider Kuuga,
that an attempt has been made to make the familiar
Masked Rider more adult, thus grabbing a new section
of the market. In all seriousness though, I don’t
think it was the dramatic subject matter that caused
women in their thirties to make up the largest share
of the audience aside from young children. It probably
had at least as much to do with the fact that the
cast primarily consists of inner-conflict ridden handsome
young men in their early to mid 20s.
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"TOEI
unleashed a new Kamen Rider series with Kamen
Rider Ryuki" |
The
show itself is a very surreal affair that has an odd
effect the first time you watch it. I wasn’t
really expecting the filmed on video look, but once
I got used to it, it seemed to work really well. The
show is also letterboxed, which gives it this odd
mix of cinematic flair and home movie shenanigans.
Throw ample CG into the formula and you have a really
strange series from a purely aesthetic perspective.
Dramatic scenes look like they’d be more at
home in a soap opera with this look, but the action
scenes end up looking cool as ice, and it almost seems
like something that’s really happening until
a giant computer animated dragon bursts on screen.
Anyway,
visuals aside, the story of Ryuki is really exciting
and fresh. The Riders are in a struggle against monsters
that appear in a mirror world. Once a Rider transforms,
they fight the monsters head on by leaping through
reflective surfaces, wherein they have only a limited
time to kick grimey monster ass and get the hell out
before they’re toast. The hook of the series,
however, is that there are 13 Riders, yet only one
can survive. This pits them all against each other
throughout the series, and becomes the central conflict
aside from all the monster killing. It’s kind
of like Highlander sans Christopher Lambert, and with
a mirror-monster-fighting convict, and…okay,
it’s really not that much like Highlander.
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"however,
is that there are 13 Riders, yet only one can
survive" |
The
main character is Shinji Kiddo, a journalist working
for the ORE journal. He’s about as pure a lead
as one could imagine, and once he is bestowed his
Rider powers, he does all in his power to try and
stop the Rider’s from their fate of killing
each other off. During his first battle he meets Ren
Akiyama, a fellow Rider who commands a gigantic Bat
in battle. They immediately become rivals, but interestingly
enough end up having to live with one another. Throughout
the show, new Riders are introduced on a fairly regular
basis, each one coming from a different walk of life.
Some include a lawyer, a fortune-teller and even a
convicted murderer.
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"he
does all in his power to try and stop the Rider’s
from their fate of killing each other off" |
The
Riders fight using cards to summon weapons and a monster
that they each control. More than just an excuse to
market a Kamen Rider Ryuki card game (though I’m
sure that was on the mind of someone during the series
conception), it’s a cool facet of the series
that makes the action differ from that of other Henshin
shows. The fights usually take place in the beginning
and end of each episode, and are spark showering,
high leaping, and destructive battles.
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"Riders
fight using cards to summon weapons and a monster
that they each control" |
The
Rider costumes themselves are insanely cool looking.
From Ren’s Knight suit to the crooked lawyer
and his green Phantasy Star Online robot looking Rider
suit, as soon as they yell “Henshin!”
and slap their belts on, you know you’re in
for a butt load of radness. The monsters don’t
stand out as much as the Riders do, but most of them
look pretty menacing nonetheless. They really do take
a backseat to the squabbling between the Riders themselves,
though. As much as I want Shinji to wipe the floor
with the monster of the week in any given episode,
I’m really more interested in his conflict with
Ren, or when and where the next Rider is going to
show up.
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"The
monsters don’t stand out as much as the
Riders do, but most of them look pretty menacing
nonetheless" |
So
far I’ve only watched half the series, and I’m
completely hooked. With equal parts action and drama
and a unique premise and look, this is an ideal show
for people new to the genre to check out. Those that
have avoided campy 70’s Tokusatsu fare (for
shame, go watch those!) might find the more dramatic
and dark tone of this series more accommodating. Though
some fans of Kamen Rider have knocked the show for
breaking the formula of having just one Rider, Kamen
Rider Ryuki offers a new perspective on a tried and
true recipe that fans old and new should embrace.
Joseph
Luster
12/15/2003
