It's about time. An American sentai series with a dark feel and an utter lack of "shiny happy people" is coming to the CW.

Kamen Rider Dragon Knight - Begins Feb. 21st, Steak Peak Jan. 16th… CONFIRMED!!!

I've been breathing in the hype about this show for the last year or so, slowly letting my defenses down as I saw more and more of what looks to be the best sentai show since Cutey Honey: The Live. The fights look great, story is mildly original, and most importantly the style of the show is slick as hell. Just watch this clip from HJ.



That's what I'm talking about! I shuddered at the American casting choices of Power Rangers: Jungle Furry after I had fallen in love with the original Japanese cast. I'm no Japanophile, nor do I watch un-subbed anime or anything, but I can recognize good acting and good casting. Geki Rangers (PR: JF in Japan) had those things in spades, and it looks like Dragon Knight will as well! With an American cast! Woo hoo!

If you're not a sentai fan, than maybe you aren't feeling what I'm putting down. Tokusatsu shows like Power Rangers and Ultraman have a terrible stigma (deservedly) associated with them from America's first glimpse of the genre in the 90s.

Bandai / Saban removed any grown-up issues from PR and watered down any real drama from the original series, converting the cast of resurrected ancient warriors into shiny happy McKids who hung out at a juice bar after school. It had more in common with Saved by the Bell than the original series, and this continued in every incarnation thenceforth. There were your VR Troopers, SuperHuman Samurai Syber Squads, and Big Bad Beetle Borgs, but it was more of the same: converting foreign shows with substance into lowest common denominator toddler feed.

Hopefully this will spark an interest in American sentai shows aimed at an older demographic. As an adult, when I turn on the TV there's not much to watch but gangster drama and Law & Order clones. I want to see mixed martial arts in an ongoing story that has substance. I want Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight to be good, dammit!