Let's Watch Kamen Rider Ryuki 1-5
 

You saw it air in the United States as "Kamen Rider Dragon Knight", now see it as it was meant to be seen, as Kamen Rider Ryuki!

Thirteen Card Decks (Kado Dekki) were created for thirteen Kamen Riders. They make Contracts with monsters from the mysterious Mirror World (Mira Warudo), a parallel dimension opposite to our own in which only the Kamen Riders can exist. The Riders draw on their monsters' strength in exchange for feeding them the life force of the creatures they destroy. The creator of the Advent Cards (Adobento Kado) has only one rule: that there can be only one Kamen Rider. The others must be killed, and the sole victor will be granted a single wish, which leads to a conflict known as the Rider War.

Discuss the first 5 episodes!

Den-O EDIT:
For those who need to know where to find Ryuki subbed TV-Nihon has the entire series done. Head on over there to get the first 5 and let's get this discussion going! I fully see Ryuki Figuarts selling out everywhere after this :lol

Alright, it's been nearly a decade since I last saw this show so most of it will be fresh to me (bad memory). I'll definitely look forward to doing this with the rest of the gang.

I'm gonna have to re-download Ryuki to participate, so give me a bit...

Ill need to download it for the first time. Never seen it actually. Somebody tell me where to get the full series and ill update the first post with a link.

TV-Nihon has it subbed completely.

Watching the first five episodes of a show I've never seen before and that I doubt I'll like since I'm personally not one for supposedly dark stories?

Alright, I'm game.

First post updated with link to TV-Nihon

I actually just rewatched Ryuki a few months ago, but I'll still add in some of my own thoughts.

I think Ryuki gets off to a really strong start. The mirror world is one of the coolest and simultaneously creepiest set-ups for Rider monsters ever. Seriously, look around you right now and count how many reflective surfaces you see. Now realize that, in Ryuki, any one of them could be a doorway from which a horrible monster could suddenly reach out and grab you for its lunch. That is some Grade A nightmare fuel right there.

I remember that the show did a good job of introducing the characters and setting up their relationships. Shinji is pretty much fully fleshed out from the start, primarily because the guy is so open and honest about himself. He's still pretty naive at this point (which is basically what drives the whole Scissors arc) and comes off as a bit weak and goofy. That will change once he starts getting a real sense of the horrors of the Rider War.

Ren is still pretty mysterious at this point - I don't think we'll get to his backstory episode until next week. There's a lot more floating under the surface than the badass exterior lets on, but it will take awhile to see it.

The first five episodes also give us the first of the other Riders beyond Knight and Ryuki - Scissors. I've honestly always viewed him as more of a plot device than an actual character. He exists primarily to demonstrate a lot of the rules of the mirror world and the Rider War, most notably that not all the Riders are good guys. He's an okay villain, but pretty much outclassed by later villains like Gai, Ouja, and Tiger.

Episode 01 Thoughts
Wow! I already like this series just because the characters seem a lot more fluid and real than the American version in "Dragon Knight". A lot of similarities yes, but overall just seems better paced. If I remember in the first episode of Dragon Knight he already bonded with the dragon ... but here it's a two-parter. Wing Knight seems like a badass still, and I like how he has a partner with him as opposed to the US version which he was solo.

Getting ready to watch episode 02 next. Looking forward to seeing more of this all in action!

The show misled me so much just going off when I watched the first 5 episodes. Didn't want to believe the hints that slowly showed up. This show just gets me going. Looking forward to a discussion on the last episodes.

Probably the most nit-pickiest thing I've said in a while but Kit contracted with the Dragon in the 2nd episode of Dragon Knight, not the 1st. Just so you know.

Also I would love to watch Ryuki with you guys as well but unfortunately I have a thing about only watching one version of a show, which is why I can't bring myself to watch most of the Sentai from the 2000's. I'm sure Ryuki is a great show, & hell, it's probably better than Dragon Knight, but I just can't. Knowhatimsayin?

I've watched the first 4 episodes now and I'm having issues trying NOT to relate it to KRDK. I do prefer the Japanese side of things ... it's much more interesting, with the chick's brother having built the Advent decks, the fact the monsters feed on people, and this background "Rider War" that's about to come to fruitition in Episode 5.

You can tell production quality REALLY picked up though, because this Rider series feels like it was filmed on a handheld camera at times :lol

Luckily I've never seen Ryuki or Dragon Knight before so this a new experience for me. And so far its a good one. Im only one episode in but that was a fun first episode. The broken Sword Vent was hilarious and I can always dig the reluctant/accidental hero angle. And by the way, the theme song? Yeah that was completely awesome.

And I agree that this show definitely feels dated because of the video quality. That and those ancient ass computers they're using in their office :lol

it just amused me because that is where I first saw a smart car...

I do like the concept, and of course it has the largest variety of Riders. I stand that Scissors was just an update on a costume for an Agito monster...

Once Ouja was introduced the show did pick up pace, if just to have a Rider who just wants to fight, it added flavor to the Monster of the Day format.

WOW. I just finished the 5th episode and hot damn that was a good placeto cut off. It really leaves at an awesome cliff hanger. I love that Shinji is a goofball and that Ren is basically a hard ass Batman. Scissors has a pretty interesting design too and I can't wait to see Zolda! And the whole concept of these Riders being destined to fight and destroy each other from the very first episode is just epic.

That's a silly rule, get rid of it :cool:.

Episode 01

-I haven't seen Kamen Rider Ryuki since it aired nearly a decade ago, so I'll probably be watching this show with rose-tinted glasses. Thankfully, I'm watching the show via a DVD-ripped encode this time around. With that being said, I'd like to mention that unlike my take on American television (like Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue), I have a natural affinity to forgive the medium for having cheap production value and poor acting. To me, it adds charm to the genre. Besides, Japanese acting had always been overly melodramatic and stiff... so I'm used to it. The CG work, however, has definitely aged and detracts a lot of my enjoyment this time around. Either way, this episode made me realize just how much I miss how Kamen Rider used to be. Since the show has a low production budget, it forces everyone to get creative on how they can tell a story. Though this constrains story concepts rather limited, the constraints give us a level of refinement that is lacking in the current Kamen Rider series.

-The Kamen Rider franchise typically has some really great theme songs. Alive a Life, by Rika Matsumoto, is a catchy song with a stylish opening cinematic. The song was a welcome change of pace from the boring Kamen Rider Kuuga and Kamen Rider Agito theme songs. The types of scenes shown in the opening cinematic were not only eye-rollingly fabulous, it was practically copied for Kamen Rider Faiz and Kamen Rider Blade.

-The main protagonist, Shinji Kido, reminds me of Godai Yusuke (Kamen Rider Kuuga). Though he always finds himself into trouble, he remains positive with an upbeat personality. Instead of transforming into Kamen Rider Ryuki proper, Shinji becomes Ryuki's Blank Form. I wonder if you can form a contract with any Mirror Monster, or if you can only do it with certain types. The monsters that they end up fighting don't hold the same design aesthetic as the Riders' Contract Beasts. I have to say, Shinji's sword breaking scene still cracks me up after all these years.

-Kamen Rider Ryuki's first episode does an excellent job at not only introducing us to the series' universe... it also gives the audience a nice perspective on the ensemble cast. Though the episode has slow pacing, I still remained captive as a viewer. I'm glad that I'm taking this opportunity to rewatch one of the better Kamen Rider shows.

Episode 02
-Though Shinji personally experienced the perils of the Mirror World, he adopts a sense of ignorance and denial. When Reiko (the female journalist) decides to investigate the missing persons case at the mall, she gives him a fantastic speech on the significance on each person's life. In less than half an episode, Shinji goes from a generic dude to a motivated defender of human life. This is a very cheap way to force some development into a character. Shinji didn't have to go through very much trial by fire to become this valiant warrior. I just couldn't understand why Reiko had to print the list of missing persons to prove a point. What a waste of paper.

-There are many things that I dislike about older Kamen Rider shows. Nothing makes me cringe more than the writer's use of plot contrivance. This series is able to skirt around this problem by giving a Card Deck holder the ability to sense when and where a Mirror Monster crosses over to the real world. In this episode, Shinji is at the mall to investigate the missing persons case. Once he sees the results of an abduction we see him appear outside of where Kamen Rider Knight is in the middle of engaging the monster of the week. How the heck did he know where to find them? The ringing sound itself is the series' biggest crutch and handicap. Though the writers can conveniently throw characters together anytime they want, they tend to ignore that the ringing sound should prevent people from getting abducted very much at all. Perhaps the first victim as used as bait to zero in on the predator?

-It only took two episodes to do it, but Kamen Rider Ryuki is finally here. He also has one of the coolest introductions of the Heisei-era Kamen Riders. After Shinji forms a contract with DragRedder, Ryuki shows up to kick some spider ass. As an audience we're led to believe that Kamen Rider Knight is a formidable fighter, except he's ultimately saved by Kamen Rider Ryuki. This is the birth of a hero and the viewers are now rooting for him.

Episode 03
-I want to say that Kamen Rider Ryuki is the first series, in the franchise, to implement the role-play merchandise integration into the show. As an elitist kid, I couldn't stand that this show had characters use Pokémon cards to power up. It was a change of pace and the fights felt less organic. Every time a card gets pulled out of the Deck, the world freezes momentarily to showcase the card art. This is something that has sadly become integral with the franchise. I'd also like to throw in that the fight choreography isn't very entertaining.

-Now that Shinji has become Kamen Rider Ryuki, the story takes another interesting twist. The show takes the Highlander spin by stating that There Can Only Be One Kamen Rider. This is a fantastic way to get riders to fight each other and not feel forced. Since this show, Kamen Rider Decade is probably the first series to rectify this problem.

This whole time I thought that Ryuki's Strike Vent was DragRedder's actual head; apparently it isn't.

Episode 04
-There's a scene Yui (Ren's girl) lovingly stares into the set of pictures of her and her brother. While this is going on, Shinji is creeping outside her window and spying on her. Only in Japan would this scene not raise any flags.

-The monsters of the week are said to move incredibly fast. Considering that none of the girls were ever harmed, I'm not convinced. There was too much lag to instill any sense of true danger.

-Overall, this was a very enjoyable episode. As of now, the show has been consistent and isn't rife with holes. The quality remains the same, and the story manages to hold my attention. My only complaint, is the redundant newspaper angle. Reiko's sense of justice is grating and serves no point. Just how long does it take for a journalist to write an article anyway? Doesn't she have other things to write about? The newspaper staff is small as it is with her and Shinji running around all over the place.

Episode 05
-I don't understand why Reiko wears an eyepatch throughout this episode. She reveals that she has pink eye at the end of the episode, but what is this a reference to? What was the point? Is this a Japanese thing?

-Up until now, Kamen Rider Knight was the only rider to cross Ryuki's path. Since their relationship is heading towards a good direction, Kamen Rider Scissors is introduced to shake things up. The writers do a fantastic job of keeping things from getting boring by throwing wrenches at perfect opportunities. This is also a way to remind everyone that there is still a battle among the riders.

-At the end of the episode, Ren uncovers a human body inside the wall. When I was a kid, I remember watching a Korean episode of a show that was similar to Unsolved Mysteries. In this episode, a traveller stopped by at an inn somewhere in the countryside. At night, he just couldn't sleep of the heavy aura in the room. The next day he arrives with investigators and they basically bust a wall open and find a child's dead body. I'm sure the actual episode wasn't exactly like that, but the memory still haunts me. I'm honestly surprised that these things can be found in a Kamen Rider show, but then I remember that franchise used to be aimed for older kids. We forget just how much the franchise has evolved over the years.

That doesn't make sense at all. Though some of the footage might be similar, after a few months/years it all kinda gets fresh again... like a woman's box. Ryuki is significantly better than DK so you're doing yourself a disservice by not watching it.

What is this I don't even

This always bugged the hell out of me in Faiz. Almost every episode a monster would show up and Keitaro or Mari would just call Takumi and tell him there's an Orphenoch attacking. They never gave a location but he would still be there within two minutes. At least the ringing sound makes it somewhat plausible that the Rider has a sense of where he needs to go.

I don't know the full story, but I've heard that it was a behind the scenes thing. The actress had some kind of short-term eye injury while these episodes were filming and the show just had to run with it.

Fortunately I never watched DK, so I ended up with Ryuki, the superior of the 2.

Something tells me Shinji may become better as a fighter than Ren, that whole motif in Japan of the protagonist being some young buck who grows as the series goes along into a leader of some sorts.

I was exaggerating. They were very showa-esque classic japanese songs. Ryuki was the first to use JPOP.

Blade was the worst offender. People would just run into each other left and right. It doesn't make sense at all.

They were very Showa-esque I'll give you that but Agito really had an awesome opening. But I must say I now find myself humming the Ryuki song all the time now :lol Starting my next 5 episodes tonight to talk about tomorrow!

Dudes driving around a motorcycle track for 2 minutes is awesome?

Yes :) Especially when it features 3 riders and it's only the first episode and that opening gets you pumped to see them revealed. Also the song was very catchy, to me at least.

The series really got interesting and wrapped you in right at episode 5 with Kamen Rider Scissor. Never really liked the design or anything about him actually - thought he was the laziest of all the Ryuki Riders in terms of design aethstetic - but he really set the tone for the rest of the series (at least in the English adaption).

Bring on the next 5 episodes, looking forward to them!

The next five episodes will include the introduction of the show's third main Rider: Zolda. He gets a lot of development pretty quickly, especially compared to Ren. In general, I tend to break Ryuki down into four major arcs and this first one is all about gathering the key players and fleshing them out. By the time the show enters the next major phase (you'll recognize it when several new Riders start popping up in rapid succession), you'll have a good understanding of the characters, their relationships, and most of the rules of the Ryuki world.

Well I just finished 5-10. Very impressed with this arc. Zoldas' design is fantastic, Kitaoka himself is as much of a likable bastard as Yuki Gai from Jetman (which says alot), and Magnugiga is the end all be all of contract monsters.

Finished the first three episodes. Zolda's character is really growing on me. I can't seem to hate him ... though it'll be nice to get a little more in to why he's doing the whole "EVERY RIDER MUST DIE RAWR" thing. Looking forward to Ouja eventually showing up ... read a bit on his character and it takes what happened in KRDK and makes it look soooooo tame.

Kitaoka is fantastic, one of my favorite characters on the show. He is pretty much a complete and total dick, but he manages to do it in a way that makes him come off as still likable. I'm not sure if it's in this block or not, but there's an episode not too far off where he and Goro engage in some fantastic trolling of Shinji - that was the moment that really made me love the guy.

Fun bit of trivia: both Kitaoka and Goro's actors turned up in the first season of Garo (although not in the same episode, sadly).

Yeah, Magnugiga is boss. Seeing Zolda's finisher the first time is when I really started to love and suit and character.

I loved the suit anyway. It's a great semi-robotic design. But that Final Vent is ridiculously overpowered (in an awesome way). That was a damn crater! This show is blowing me away. It's hard for me to understand why it had such low ratings when it originally aired. I'm pleasantly surprised that my initial impressions with the series and designs were wrong.

Come on people I can't be the only one still watching this show! It's been fantastic so far! I've actually loved it so much that I've been skipping ahead and loving every minute :)

Doing my best not to compare this series to "Dragon Knight."

The story structure seems more natural, the characters have much more depth and the violent conclusions to Rider confrontations seems preferable to the HFIL stand in used by 4Kids.

However.... I really want to smack Shinji in the face. He's an irritating protagonist and right now I can't bring myself to root for him.

I just finished episode 7 last night. Downloading a few more right now.

Shinji is getting on my nerves a little too. He, as keeps being pointed out in the show, is just too naive.

Luckily the cast is big enough that I'm not worrying too much about him. I just keep wanting to see what kind of person will show up next.

Shinji always stays loud and kind of stupid. Being smart and serious isn't his role, though - Shinji's real power is his heart, as you'll come to see as the show goes on.

Actually I don't mind Shinji so much. What I really HATE is how ambiguous every other damn rider is. Obviously I've watched a little further (28) so far, but Knight and Zolda are prime examples of characters who change sides more than Beast Wars Dinobot.