[Locke]

Dragon Knight 03.

Is Xaviax a master manipulator or is Richie just a moron? Hey this random guy is outside my house, time to believe everything he says! Also while we are here, the rich kid, driven entirely by money, is called "Richie Preston", really? His name couldn't be any more on the nose unless he was called MR RICH MCRICHKID, which his name practically is anyway.

Also, nice continuity, we know the symbols don't appear on the decks until the contracts are made. So why is every deck Xaviax hands across already sealed? Or does he make contracts for other people? Can they even do that? And what happens if the person turns him down? Does he just keep killing people and making contracts on their behalf's until someone accepts? No wonder he targeted someone as dumb as Richie. Plus, how does Kit have a price on his head already? Didn't he become a Rider like...yesterday? I know it's fairly self explanatory but surely Xaviax finding out another Rider is now fighting, and not under his manipulation, is important enough to be shown on screen?

Honestly, although not particularly well realised, the way Xaviax finds people with strong single minded desires and manipulates them over the course of the series is honestly very enjoyable. Pretty much no one in this show is a villain, or really a straight villain anyway, people are just gullible and naive when someone gives them what they want on a silver platter. It's a pretty pessimistic depiction of humanity which is nice coming from something that was once on the 4kids! website. Xaviax is just a great villain, and Dragon Knight provides a lot more depth and maturity than what I've come to expect from kids shows.

I love how sassy twatty mcside character is in this episode, he even finishes his lines with a pout and camp lisp. ValuablUUUUULZ. More intentionally amusing was the shit eating grin on Kit's face when Maya suggests they go out the back together. Bet he wasn't expecting her to just show him a bunch of blurry photos... "He's a huge name in the internet cryptozoology scene." who the fuck wrote this? Can't you feel that sexual tension? No? Neither can anyone else! I'm not even sure the characters can. I do like the visual attention to detail though, we're told this missing persons business is a wide spread conspiracy so it makes sense for missing person posters to be plastered EVERYWHERE.

Actionwise, it's pretty lacklustre stuff. The range of weapons and powers is likely to keep kids interested, but there is a weird lack of impact to the action. Considering in the first episode we saw Kit get tossed around like a ragdoll by that Mirror Monster, it's odd that the Rider's attacks seem to be not nearly as powerful.

Why is it in toku - not just adaptations I'm talking about the genre - do characters never TALK to one another? I mean when it comes to exposition, people can't seem to shut the fuck up, but when it comes to words that really count, they are never spoken.

I'm gonna try my hardest to just act like I've never seen this show and just talk about the episodes individually but while watching these early episodes again, Len's silence really annoys me. In Dragon Knight's world, although a kids show, violence is presented as a bad thing. These aren't so much fun powers to play with, but they literally turn you into a high tech soldier, and just like every soldier that means you have to fight. And minus retconning it at the end - it's a kids show, why expect more? - this is also a show that shows violence has consequences, people die, innocent people die - heroes die.

So with that in mind... y'know, Len's motivations for not wanting Kit to become Dragon Knight are pretty much as high as they physically could be. His life is LITERALLY on the line. And sure the truth of what is going on is pretty darn crazy, and if Len jumped off his bike and started ranting about Mirror Worlds and Monsters and shit Kit would probably laugh in his face, but is really the best option to just sorta stand over him looking scary shouting 'Advent Deck' at him him? Len is pushed as a proactive hero, but his attempts to "save" Kit from the events of the series really are quite pathetic.