The man’s got the backing of all us here at HJU, that’s for sure. I can’t see this property being in any better hands than his for an adaptation. From everything we’ve seen, he’s more than got the chops and now we hear it straight from the mouth of the master:
I am very aware that there are numerous forums that have posted early drafts of the script pages. I am not entirely happy about that and it’s my fault for not taking precautions in the beginning. For some reason, it did not occur to me that there was a big cult following here in the US. (then again, I was not getting any sleep for weeks trying to prepare the show…)
Anyway, I am sure you are aware of this as well as I. There are a lot of haters on these forums and any negative press from them could greatly jeopardize the chance of this show getting picked up here in the US.
I don’t know what they are expecting from the show. But you can tell them that it’s definitely a kid’s show (ages 7-12) and not to expect super dark stories and bloody violence. I have been a fan of Kamen rider since the 70’s (that’s why I was chose by the powers that be to re-imagine the US adaptation.)
You can count on the fact that the vibe of the show is definitely going to be different than MMPR. And you can expect that as a fan of the original series, I will treat the show with total respect. This is not going to be a carbon copy of Ryuki, it’s loosely based on some of the concepts and storyline. Different does not mean disrespect. I was asked by Toei people if I know what IS Kamenrider? Guess they approve of my answer.
People who want to see this show succeed should support the effort and not blast it to hell. making this show appeal to an American audience and fans of the original is a hugely difficult task!
We are doing our best with our limited resources.
Steve
October 20, 2006 @ 4:16 pm
Im totaly supporting this no matter what.
October 23, 2006 @ 9:29 am
Sorry, as a toku fan I do not support this. We have it bad enough with Power Rangers that blatantly replaces Super Sentai due to intolerant attitudes of the masses. A person who loves Japanese shows and movies and respects the original shows will never support this mockery, unless of course you’re a bigot. Oh, and if you love “both” Americanized crap and original shows, you seem to close your eyes and ears and pretend that there’s no intolerance and bigotry related to Americanization.
Sorry, but this crap can die in pool of toxic waste, I and other fans will stick with true shows.
October 24, 2006 @ 8:53 am
can someone direct this to the director himself?!
i agree w/ tokuforever in this one. you guys messed up Super Sentai over these years…big time!! now, your gonna mess up KamenRider as well??!! people did think badly about SS b/c of MMPR!!! you should direct KR for teens b/c this is right! give teens(like us) a chance to see the beauty of Toku for crying out loud!!!
if your still gonna make this a kid’s show, fine! but let me tell you one thing: give the original ones credit!!even the makers!!don’t annouce on TV that your the originals ’cause your not!!
October 24, 2006 @ 9:39 am
I couldn’t disagree with you two anymore unless I had some kinda time/space altering machine that would allow for the ability to disagree more without tearing the fabric of time.
Power Rangers did not ruin Super Sentai. SS still exists and is awesome. What it has done is make it so that many more fans KNOW what Super Sentai is in the first place. Same will go for Kamen Rider now. And on top of having a awesome new action show courtesy of Steve Wang, we’ll still ALSO have Kamen Rider and more fans will know of it.
It’s never their intension to steal the thunder or credit of the original shows, but to bring it over here so that the shows can know new success. And that’s what’s gonna happen. A new generation of kids will be inducted into the legend and a ton more will grow up to find out about its original source as well.
On top of that.. have you SEEN Steve’s work? This will not be how MMPR started out. This is going to be an awesome action show and I couldn’t be happier. ^___^
“A person who loves Japanese shows and movies and respects the original shows will never support this mockery, unless of course you’re a bigot. Oh, and if you love “both†Americanized crap and original shows, you seem to close your eyes and ears and pretend that there’s no intolerance and bigotry related to Americanization.”
This is dumb focused with laser eyes.
If you wanna discuss this further take it to the board.
October 24, 2006 @ 11:37 am
i agree with you…but! why kids show?! Kamen Rider has a darker storyline.take Kabuto for example. all that action and suspense(i don’t wanna say blood, but ok!) will be changed to whatever’s suitable for kids.well, how about us teens? i mean, if you say “hey i watch PR” friens will laugh at you. but in Japan, they’ll be like “oh,cool! have you seen…” i just wanna say that Toku in the U.S. should be also made for teens so we fans here will not be ashamed or embarrased to tell others that we watch these… my point is, i’m ok w/ the adapting part, i’m just not ok that these cool shows will be for children
PS: and yeah, Steve Wang is cool!Arigatou Gozaimasu!!(is he japanese?!)
October 24, 2006 @ 12:03 pm
Well, here… did you look through his director’s reel? He did a Power Ranger episode that was quite dark and full of action. That’s what we’re likely to expect from the show. Now, that PR episode was “technically” still a kids show, but it didn’t make it any less awesome.
America’s just different. Teens here, except for a talented few like the folk who come to this site and others, get jaded in their teenage years. They’re taught to give up anything that’s not “hardcore” or “realistic.” So it wouldn’t work as a teen show and sell the toys which is how these shows make their money. Instead they aim lower, but like with that Lost Galaxy episode, still keep the story hot and action oriented. At the same time they keep aimed toward kids so they can sell toys and kids have their own awesome heroes to grow up with. He’s said he’s not going the MMPR route so we don’t have to be afraid of another Masked Rider.
If it were near anyone else I’d wince, but Steve Wang I trust.
October 24, 2006 @ 12:16 pm
I think..
.. that the people who get angry over another Japanese TV Show being made American and the rest of the world, should just chill out. Coz, even if this new American Kamen Rider series does come out, and takes over Jetix, Toys R Us, etc.. , it’s still not the end of the world.
We’ll still have the original Japanese shows to enjoy. We have the Internet. A beautiful piece of modern day technology which breaks the barriers between us and Japanese and other foreign TV Shows. We can purchase import DVDs from online shops, or we could download them, and for those who’ve still yet to become fluent in Japanese, we have fansub groups like TV Nihon, etc, aswell as Japanese lessons 😉 , and we’ll still be talking about our favorite Japanese shows on our message boards!! Who’s stopping us? No one. Even if anybody wanted to, they can’t, because we’ve got the power. Y’see, the end of the world.. [B]JA NAI!!![/B]
As for this Kamen Rider Dragon thing..
Even if I’m not excited about this new series, I wouldn’t mind checking it out. You’ll never know, it could be good, it could be boring, it could be the best motherlovin’ TV show you’ve ever seen, it could be another total piece of crap of a series, or it could be an orange. 😛 You’ll never know until you see it. And if you do see it and you decide you think it’s awesome then all the power to you. If you decide you think it’s lame, then it’s not the end of the world, you’ve still got your original show to enjoy.
But until then, we’ll just see how it goes.
October 24, 2006 @ 2:34 pm
ok. i understand now! thank you and yeah, i saw the script he made! it was good.
October 24, 2006 @ 3:27 pm
>i agree w/ tokuforever in this one. you guys messed up Super Sentai over these years…big time!!
October 24, 2006 @ 3:28 pm
…Posted it too early there… You idiots messed up Sentai for three years, who the hell are you to argue?
October 24, 2006 @ 6:23 pm
i’m still not sure about the “It’s never their intension to steal the thunder or credit of the original shows” since on one of PR:Dino Thunder’s episodes, they were watching TV and Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger(the original) was showing. they were goofing off, and the 3 PR kids said “that’s not how we act! we’re the originals!!” that pissed me off…BIG TIME!!
October 25, 2006 @ 9:13 am
I remember that episode. “Lost and Found in Translation.” I thought it was really well done, fun and interesting. It showed how fans can enjoy either and both shows.
Also, how many THOUSAND upon THOUSANDS of kids got a glimpse of Sentai now? And think of all the people who now know of Sentai BECAUSE of Power Rangers? This site here is here because Power Rangers pointed me toward the genre of Sentai.
With this new American Kamen Rider, now THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of kids and new fans will know and come to seek out what the original show is and on top of that be able to enjoy what looks to be a good American iteration of the show.
I see a lot of good ahead and more easily attained action figures as well.
October 25, 2006 @ 12:35 pm
As long as I’m an die hard fan of Tokusatsu, I’m supporting Steve Wang and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, no matter what.
October 25, 2006 @ 5:07 pm
I find it hilarious that everyone pulls the “Ppl will make fun of meee if I say i like Power Rangerz!” card. I’m in college, and I’ve sat in a crowded lunchroom and watched episode after episode of PRiS, without a single comment. Kids will make fun of you. But anyone who has a bit of maturity will look at it as “If you wanna watch something like Power Rangers, who cares?”
And as for the whole “PR has ruined sentai”….if it did, would either one still be on TV? Nope. And America already fucked up a Kamen Rider translation….c’mon, everyone should remember the abomination that is Masked Rider….*shudders*…and even with that, I refuse to pass judgment until I see the series. Steve Wang is a great director though (I loves me some Guyver: Dark Hero ^_^).
And as for “Lost and Found in Translation”, I just see it as something they did for the children, who don’t know Sentai. Yeah, I wasn’t happy with it either, but personally I didn’t think it was something worth having a meltdown over.
October 25, 2006 @ 7:46 pm
All I can say is that Steve does have awareness of tokusatsu. I’m just concern about the degrees of corniess that Steve might (intentionally or accidentally) do or the FCC might force him to do. I’m not saying he should re-hash Ryuki, but rather pay homage one way or another to Ishinomori’s work. He should not try so hard to make it into the Matrix with bullet time and wire fu, but rather do some “straight up” fighting and not depend on too much CGI.
PS: Steve, make some more kaijin for this series.
October 26, 2006 @ 8:31 am
yeah, i agree w/ FreedomR8G6B1…about the Matrix-style combat. it’s not that good. i mean, for PR it is. but i don’t think that it’ll fit for KR. i just hope that Steve Wang DO use straight up fighting rather that the matrix thing…yep! i’ve seen Dark Hero and man it was friggin’ good!!!Good Luck Steve Wang!!
October 28, 2006 @ 8:24 pm
if he(steve wang) is gonna make a us version of ryuuki pls make it 100x better than the us masked rider in the 90’s. and dont use random kamen rider scenes which happened in the us masked rider which used scenes from kr black rx and kr j.
December 31, 2006 @ 10:14 pm
hey I think this is kind of childish but I might still watch it out of curosity. Everybody, you do know that instead of just adding subbs to the Tv show we, America think that it is too violent so we make it a more childish of the show. So All i’m saying Is : I hope it not as childish as Masked Rider.
February 12, 2007 @ 3:13 am
Why are they waiting untiln 2008 to release when the first 3 or 4 episodes are already filmed.
February 12, 2007 @ 9:29 am
Because they don’t have the first 4 episodes filmed yet. So far there’s a *rough* pilot, which is not the official pilot.
Shooting maaay begin in April.
April 22, 2007 @ 12:21 am
Well i have a hard time finding Kamen Rider in america. I know there’s sites and stuff but i hate watching shows on the net. So i’m looking forward to a kamen rider show that i don’t have to squint to see. Although i keep saying I wish they’d do a Smallvilel type of thing wihth it where both older ppl and younger people can enjoy it. As opposed to say PR wich is extremly kidy.
P.S. If some one can show me where i can buy the acualy DVD’s of Kamen rider Black, Rx,ryuki, 555,or the original series for under maybe 40$ i would much apreciate it.
April 23, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
Best place to find those is our forums or Ebay.