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Easy Rider On A Hard Road
originally posted August 28, 2005by NinjaJackKamen Rider, one of the key series in numbering fine television from round the globe. The masterpiece of Ishiromori Shotaro it has rode off with the hearts of children and adults alike. A cultural icon only dwarfed by Ultraman, Kamen Rider has a long steep legacy of brave men and women beating the odds on the skin of their teeth and their tire treads.
Such a long successful history overseas would certainly translate to a great show in the West right? RIGHT?
Wrong. The heart of Super Sentai's sense of teamwork broke through the language barrier and The Power Rangers continue to benefit from it till this very day. But Kamen Rider, otherwise Masked Rider, isn't a show about team spirit. In fact it's closer to Batman than the Justice League. Wolverine among the other X-Men, Paris Hilton in a church!
The last time America tried to bring Kamen Rider to the US market it collapsed under it's own weight.
Lets see, a jolly gentle giant married to an Asian women who adapted a African American son after the step mother adopts her step daughter and then they all adopt a 16 year old alien as their older brother, check.
As it`s quite clear to see Masked Rider was all too perfect, too clean cut and pasted to be taken seriously, or even humorously for that matter.
Beetleborgs suffered from laughing at itself, VR Troopers took itself too seriously and Masked Rider never found any solid direction either way.
Toei Co put buggy boy on hiatus and that was just another excuse for Saban to kill the show off and act as if the Rangers never met him.
But around the turn of the century Toei renewed Kamen Rider to full production and bigger budget. Returning to it`s former glory all the while reaching new heights Kamen Rider hasn't put the ball down since he got it back.
Hibiki, Faziu, Blade, Kuga, Agito Ryuki, these are the Riders of the new Japanese millennium, but what about us?
There is hardly a popular game in Japan that doesn't get released here in the states. Anime films by Miyazaki and others come here in bigger releases each yeah. We've seen Ultraman appear in a number of western countries on DVD and television. But after almost ten years I think it's about time to give the US Riders another chance to Riderkick.
A short time ago there was creditable word on an all new Rider series for both Ryuuki and Faizu. But according to the news the folks at Disney deemed the shows just too violent to air here. Kamen Rider has plenty of moments of violence but this isn't Guyver.
After the Power Rangers S.P.D. episode
"Reflections" we know Disney holds a firm lease on the violence in their shows, even the implied violence. So how could there possibly be a chance to bring Kamen Rider back? Even with better writing it still would be sexed down like Dr. Laura in a Las Vegas revue.
But if there is a will there is most certainly a way.
Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Even Disney channel have evolved overtime to support children and older demographics(least of these being Disney our antagonist of course) with slots like Teen Nick and Adult Swim.
Lets try that.
Instead of bringing Masked Rider to a Ranger standard, build it up to a new one. Jetix is a 24/7 machine in other countries and it`s slowly moving into that realm in the states and elsewhere. I say program a prime time block of shows to compete with Teen Nick and eventually Adult Swim. Imagine similar to saturday night Toonami a weekly block of prime time shows aimed at an older audience and that respects both demographics? The kids get the toys the teens and young adults get their high octane action and drama everybody is happy.
Of course speaking openly and honestly, this won't happen with Eisner's goons breathing down Village Roadshow's necks. But in the end if they do open up the resources to everyone not just the kids they`ll benefit the rewards Cartoon Network has been experiencing with their expanded lineup.
Every year Kamen Rider gets better, well the jury is still out on Hibiki, but there is no doubt within me that some day soon we'll be seeing a Rider belt on an American, or Kiwi if production is in New Zealand, shouting "HENSHIN!" or something akin to it. But only when Eisner is really out of power will we see those buggy eyes again.
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