August
"Shocker Gundan, Banzai!"
"I'm puzzled why you say that you understand what I meant, but proceed to try and rewrite what I said, correcting everything, trying to contort what I said."
Where? I wasn't trying to. You said you assumed that the approach taken with SHIN was a deciding factor in the approach of the Heisei Riders. That's just conjecture on your part; and while you can believe what you want, that doesn't make it so. Let's start with some facts:
1. SHIN was a flop (otherwise we would have seen further adventures). The proposed video-only series never materialized.
2. There were nine years between SHIN and KUUGA. In that time, SHIN was by and large ignored -- too much water had gone under the bridge, while KR ZO (1993) and KR J (1994) were moderate hits, but failed to spawn a new television series.
"Saying that Kuuga was a result of the Heisei Ultras is just as much of an assumption (or "delusion," as you like to put it) as my theory that Shin played a role into it."
Not at all. KAMEN RIDER and ULTRAMAN have been rivals since the 1970s and both had failed attempts to revive the franchise in the early 1990s. When TIGA (1996) became a hit and was followed in succession by DYNA (1997) and GAIA (1998), Ishimori Productions was able develop and sell a network on a new KAMEN RIDER series. With confidence and support from sponsors and affiliates, KAMEN RIDER KUUGA was greenlit. The preponderance of evidence, and Japanese texts, support this. It also seems pretty obvious. Success breeds competition. The direction they wanted to take was as much of a departure as KAMEN RIDER BLACK was to the '70s series. Was SHIN a factor? That is a matter of pure conjecture.
"I think Shin did play a part. As I said, it was the first and only Rider to be for adults only, hence the DTV release, hence the reason why most people didn't 'get' it."
Actually, I just thought that SHIN was boring and copied too much from late 1980s American Cinema.
As for it's "lofty" release as a video-only title, unfortunately that argument doesn't hold much water. V-Cinema is the well-known dumping ground for projects that are rejected for theatrical release or television broadcast -- not bold programming. It's where a lot of filmmakers were allowed to make films that wouldn't otherwise be approved, because of a limited market. For more information on this, I recommend reading Mark Schilling's insightful THE YAKUZA MOVIE BOOK: A GUIDE TO JAPANESE GANGSTER FILMS (Stonebridge Press, 2003).
"When Naruhisa Arakawa pitched his little idea for writing a Rider in the style of American dramas like ER, if not for Shin, he would probably have been laughed away."
Or perhaps, because of the huge popularity of these American dramas, like ER, the producers said, "These shows are popular now; it could work."
"Just because Shin was close to a decade old by the time Kuuga rolled around means nothing."
Exactly. SHIN meant nothing in 1991 and it meant nothing in 2000. Trying to tie these together is a bit of a stretch. No insult intended.
"That's like saying they didn't have Gatchaman in mind when writing Jetman because it was two decades old -- Gatchaman was clearly a huge influence."
The difference is that GATCHAMAN is a huge icon of Japanese pop culture -- which was running on television as late as 1986, when I watched it on Fuji Television when I lived in Tokyo. On the other hand, SHIN was a colossal failure, never was a hit, and was soon forgotten. If it was a hit, it would have gone beyond the "Prologue" in the full title. It didn't.
"Just as I think precious old Jetman wouldn't have gotten off the ground if not for the heights Hirohisa Soda took sentai shows to in the mid and late '80s."
Again, conjecture, although I mostly agree with you about Soda. But, the popularity of the Sentai Series went down after FLASHMAN, when the series were moved from primetime on Saturday nights to Sunday mornings (going by memory), and were trimmed down to 20 minutes. With MEGARANGER the series got their extra 4 minutes back, and a better time slot where it has continued to flourish.
"Shin has very much in common with the Heisei Riders -- both want an impossible premise to fit into a realistic setting and it comes off as melodramatic. Have you seen shows like Ryuki or Blade? They also share that they're ashamed to be tokusatsu shows. They want to refrain from 'henshining' or riding bikes or having belts, any of that 'cheesy' stuff."
Actually, they are just following the same basic formula as KUUGA, much like how KR V3 followed KR's formula -- it changes in small degrees, but they are basically the same shows, just different costumes. Not much difference between them all -- just designs and story direction.
"BTW, I don't enjoy playing the 'cheesy card,' but there's just no getting around those damned Shonen Rider Tais! If that was one of Hirayama's brilliant ideas, Ishinomori should have told him to shove off. It's just lame...no kid would watch the show wanting to be a Shonen Rider brat, but the actual Rider instead..."
Thousands of Japanese children signed up for the Shonen Rider Tai through Kodansha's TV Magazine in the 1970s, which had a regular "Shonen Rider Tai" column, to get their membership package. One of the hottest selling items from Bandai was the "Shonen Rider Tai" Set, which consisted of the plastic hardhat and pendant. These continued to be big sellers through the run of KAMEN RIDER V3. The Shonen Rider Tai is one of the factors that made the original KR a success. BTW, KR X, AMAZON, STRONGER and SKY had no "Shonen Rider Tai"...
I don't know why you feel the need to have to insult the people who made these shows, as you do in regards to Hirayama. While you know quite a bit about the stuntmen and writers/directors, you apparently don't understand Ishimori and Hirayama's roles in creating KAMEN RIDER. It seems, based on your comments (which is conjecture), that you have a hard time just enjoying these shows for what they are -- kids' shows (even the Heisei Rider series are kids' shows) -- and are embarrassed for liking them. If your wish is that they should be "improving" these series and making for adults, doesn't that inherently change the very core that made them appealing in the first place? These are supposed to be colorful, outlandish series, with equally colorful and outlandish characters, featuring break-neck pacing and multiple action scenes.
"P.S. I'm Tetsuya Sawaki from Japan Hero Access, so you can go back to ignoring me."
Haha. Right. For the record, you ignored me, actually; I told you to PM me over on JHA and I would be happy to send you photos and video all expenses paid (concerning the issue you had with my "creds") and you never did. Oh, you did respond on the board with a flippant, "Well, why should I bother when you should just put these up on your website to prove it" (paraphrased from memory, so don't sue me).
I responded that's not the purpose of my website, and I would still gladly follow up on my original offer to send you any "evidence" you needed to verify my "status" and "experience" in Japan -- and with the folks who made these shows. I unfortunately do not have a scanner at the moment, but I can send a few photos that are on my hard drive. The most recent are some with me and Tsutomu Kitagawa last year (at GODZILLAFEST, which I programmed, and the Toho VIP Party after the World Premiere of GODZILLA FINAL WARS in Hollywood) and some with Hiroshi Watari.
The proverbial "ball" is in your court.
Where? I wasn't trying to. You said you assumed that the approach taken with SHIN was a deciding factor in the approach of the Heisei Riders. That's just conjecture on your part; and while you can believe what you want, that doesn't make it so. Let's start with some facts:
1. SHIN was a flop (otherwise we would have seen further adventures). The proposed video-only series never materialized.
2. There were nine years between SHIN and KUUGA. In that time, SHIN was by and large ignored -- too much water had gone under the bridge, while KR ZO (1993) and KR J (1994) were moderate hits, but failed to spawn a new television series.
"Saying that Kuuga was a result of the Heisei Ultras is just as much of an assumption (or "delusion," as you like to put it) as my theory that Shin played a role into it."
Not at all. KAMEN RIDER and ULTRAMAN have been rivals since the 1970s and both had failed attempts to revive the franchise in the early 1990s. When TIGA (1996) became a hit and was followed in succession by DYNA (1997) and GAIA (1998), Ishimori Productions was able develop and sell a network on a new KAMEN RIDER series. With confidence and support from sponsors and affiliates, KAMEN RIDER KUUGA was greenlit. The preponderance of evidence, and Japanese texts, support this. It also seems pretty obvious. Success breeds competition. The direction they wanted to take was as much of a departure as KAMEN RIDER BLACK was to the '70s series. Was SHIN a factor? That is a matter of pure conjecture.
"I think Shin did play a part. As I said, it was the first and only Rider to be for adults only, hence the DTV release, hence the reason why most people didn't 'get' it."
Actually, I just thought that SHIN was boring and copied too much from late 1980s American Cinema.
As for it's "lofty" release as a video-only title, unfortunately that argument doesn't hold much water. V-Cinema is the well-known dumping ground for projects that are rejected for theatrical release or television broadcast -- not bold programming. It's where a lot of filmmakers were allowed to make films that wouldn't otherwise be approved, because of a limited market. For more information on this, I recommend reading Mark Schilling's insightful THE YAKUZA MOVIE BOOK: A GUIDE TO JAPANESE GANGSTER FILMS (Stonebridge Press, 2003).
"When Naruhisa Arakawa pitched his little idea for writing a Rider in the style of American dramas like ER, if not for Shin, he would probably have been laughed away."
Or perhaps, because of the huge popularity of these American dramas, like ER, the producers said, "These shows are popular now; it could work."
"Just because Shin was close to a decade old by the time Kuuga rolled around means nothing."
Exactly. SHIN meant nothing in 1991 and it meant nothing in 2000. Trying to tie these together is a bit of a stretch. No insult intended.
"That's like saying they didn't have Gatchaman in mind when writing Jetman because it was two decades old -- Gatchaman was clearly a huge influence."
The difference is that GATCHAMAN is a huge icon of Japanese pop culture -- which was running on television as late as 1986, when I watched it on Fuji Television when I lived in Tokyo. On the other hand, SHIN was a colossal failure, never was a hit, and was soon forgotten. If it was a hit, it would have gone beyond the "Prologue" in the full title. It didn't.
"Just as I think precious old Jetman wouldn't have gotten off the ground if not for the heights Hirohisa Soda took sentai shows to in the mid and late '80s."
Again, conjecture, although I mostly agree with you about Soda. But, the popularity of the Sentai Series went down after FLASHMAN, when the series were moved from primetime on Saturday nights to Sunday mornings (going by memory), and were trimmed down to 20 minutes. With MEGARANGER the series got their extra 4 minutes back, and a better time slot where it has continued to flourish.
"Shin has very much in common with the Heisei Riders -- both want an impossible premise to fit into a realistic setting and it comes off as melodramatic. Have you seen shows like Ryuki or Blade? They also share that they're ashamed to be tokusatsu shows. They want to refrain from 'henshining' or riding bikes or having belts, any of that 'cheesy' stuff."
Actually, they are just following the same basic formula as KUUGA, much like how KR V3 followed KR's formula -- it changes in small degrees, but they are basically the same shows, just different costumes. Not much difference between them all -- just designs and story direction.
"BTW, I don't enjoy playing the 'cheesy card,' but there's just no getting around those damned Shonen Rider Tais! If that was one of Hirayama's brilliant ideas, Ishinomori should have told him to shove off. It's just lame...no kid would watch the show wanting to be a Shonen Rider brat, but the actual Rider instead..."
Thousands of Japanese children signed up for the Shonen Rider Tai through Kodansha's TV Magazine in the 1970s, which had a regular "Shonen Rider Tai" column, to get their membership package. One of the hottest selling items from Bandai was the "Shonen Rider Tai" Set, which consisted of the plastic hardhat and pendant. These continued to be big sellers through the run of KAMEN RIDER V3. The Shonen Rider Tai is one of the factors that made the original KR a success. BTW, KR X, AMAZON, STRONGER and SKY had no "Shonen Rider Tai"...
I don't know why you feel the need to have to insult the people who made these shows, as you do in regards to Hirayama. While you know quite a bit about the stuntmen and writers/directors, you apparently don't understand Ishimori and Hirayama's roles in creating KAMEN RIDER. It seems, based on your comments (which is conjecture), that you have a hard time just enjoying these shows for what they are -- kids' shows (even the Heisei Rider series are kids' shows) -- and are embarrassed for liking them. If your wish is that they should be "improving" these series and making for adults, doesn't that inherently change the very core that made them appealing in the first place? These are supposed to be colorful, outlandish series, with equally colorful and outlandish characters, featuring break-neck pacing and multiple action scenes.
"P.S. I'm Tetsuya Sawaki from Japan Hero Access, so you can go back to ignoring me."
Haha. Right. For the record, you ignored me, actually; I told you to PM me over on JHA and I would be happy to send you photos and video all expenses paid (concerning the issue you had with my "creds") and you never did. Oh, you did respond on the board with a flippant, "Well, why should I bother when you should just put these up on your website to prove it" (paraphrased from memory, so don't sue me).
I responded that's not the purpose of my website, and I would still gladly follow up on my original offer to send you any "evidence" you needed to verify my "status" and "experience" in Japan -- and with the folks who made these shows. I unfortunately do not have a scanner at the moment, but I can send a few photos that are on my hard drive. The most recent are some with me and Tsutomu Kitagawa last year (at GODZILLAFEST, which I programmed, and the Toho VIP Party after the World Premiere of GODZILLA FINAL WARS in Hollywood) and some with Hiroshi Watari.
The proverbial "ball" is in your court.
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