Its time once again to venture outside of Toei and Tsuburaya for tokusatsu. Takara is a japanese toy company with plenty of history and suprise connections, initally making the first generation of Licca-chan dolls before being key in the creations of Transformers, as their line of Diaclone and Microman Micro change toys would be licensed by Hasbro and released under a single brand. They would continue to produce those alongside hasbro and numerous other toys, including the beyblades. They've actually produced a lot of toys and their are some lines from their merger with Tomy, but we are getting of track. In 2006, in partnership with We've Inc (A company I could not find much on besides collaborating with the vocaloid comapny Internet Co., LTD to produce vocaloids, they had a hand in Tokyo Mew Mew and currently they have been absorbed by Furyu) Got togehter to make a new tokusatsu series Madan Senki Ryukendo, and... that's all I could find, no development notes of the shows creation besides one of the creators of the show was Oji Hiroi, co-author of Samurai Crusaders and creator of Far East of Eden and Sakura Wars. Its one of those season that just kind of fell into obscurity, despite selling well it never found an audience, but was this a hidden gem, or another Sazer-X your better off skipping.
SYNOPSIS
Akebono city is just like any other city you could think of, that also happens to have a power spot that draws demons to it that want to draw the negative emotion out of humans in order to revive their lord. The police don't do much since it falls out of there jurisdiction, it falls to the organization SHOT to deal with the demons by mixing technology and magic to create super powered warriors powered by keys. Kenji Narukami arrives to start his job as a police officer and is subsequently made Ryukendo by bonding with the GekiRyuken. Alongside other warriors they fight.
If your are looking for something that breaks the tokusatsu mold, do not look towards Ryukendo for that, it plays all of its tropes very straight in a fun kind of way. I actually am quite impressed with how much it leans into how cliched it can be at times. The show is the definiton of episodic, while some episodes may lead into later ones, its a season that if you jumped into the middle, you wouldn't be missing much.
CHARACTERS
Kenji fits the role of most then toku protags, An earnest, somewhat dim-witted hot blooded young man with a strong sense of Justice. The actor does a reall good job portraying the nice guy that he can be. I do like that we learned that he actually has a fiancée that shows up from time to time, even though he shows more interest in the flower girl who really doesn't noticed and has totally not sexual tension with the only girl in SHOT Rin. I do feel that the whole engagment doesn't really cause much an issue since you would think characters would call him out for looking at other girls, though I wonder if she cares a bunch. That said if you were never fond of reds getting all the powerups in sentai during the mid 2010s, Ryukendo is going to feel eerily similar, The guy not only has four forms, they get upgrades once he gets his mid-season upgrade and the ultimate form, in comparison to his fellow heroes who get only one upgrade and none respectively. Yeah every episode has a new key used by the heroes, its not to egrigious since they have an organization working to make them, but if you were never fond of the season where their was just something new that was like, here make a purchase now. Ryukendo can feel like their is no tension with the amount of new stuff they get.
Fudou... I kind of struggle to remember he is more of the silent stoic type meant to balance Kenji. But he never really has a major stand out moment, heck he dissapears for a few episodes to get a powerup (More specifically to repair goryugun after it is damaged.) But off the top of my head couldn't really remember much about him.
If a character does have anything in regards to a story in Ryukendo, Koichi does have that, starting as a lone fighter who has a past with the commander, blaming the death of his parents on him. Its not much of a story, he learns the truth about what happened with the explosion which gives him a rivalry with Blood baron later on. I think he is a bit more interesting than Fudou, in that we see his growth from jerk loner to actually being a bit kinder.
Shot itself is a perfectly fine organization, nothing to stand out, we have the chief that goes between goofy and seriousdepending on the situation, the operator who is the ole girl and has a tsundere relationship with Kenji and the smart one making all the new to- I mean new keys for the heroes to use. The police officials don't really do much outside of comedy, I do like how much we see the towns folk in the show, again its mostly comedy stuff between running from the enemies or attempting to fight them. It does give the town a bit more personality.
The villains likewise I do think are actually pretty okay, the standard mad doctor, blood knight worthy opponent and dark chick plus the knight of cerberus member that takes the series... not too dark but does take it in the most plot the series has. I really like Jack Moon as a noble demon's go, and the rest are fine, their really isn't much to them besides the archetype they fill but the show does take them to their campy extreme. Also the foot soldiers look almost like purple versions of gogo V foot soldiers.
AESTHETICS
Ryukendo goes for the dragon look, and I think all of the suit's look really good. A good mix of the main color plus white, I think Ryuguno is a bit too much white and not enough red and being the extra hero, Ryujino uses a black underbody. It all works really well, I wouldn't say it is my favorite aesthetic for a toku, but it is solid I do also like the addition of gold the stronger they get, though it is weird with the thunder form ryukendo, since while the fire and aqua forms have a different color, thunder is yellow and gold, not the most discernible color combination.
The collectible gimmick being keys are fine, they have okay images but since they are so small you won't really notice them much, and the group also gets animal buddies that help. It's not the best use of a key motif, their would be the ranger key obviously, but just like the show, their is really nothing special about the keys or additional animals they get.
Something I do like about some of the monster desings is that the series does sometimes get a bit experimental, often not hust a standard monster going for something that would be more fought as a mecha. It does give the monsters a bit of uniqueness, though it does feel fairly standard.
CONCLUSION
And that is the best way to describe Ryukendo, it is standard, it does a lot really good but nothing outstanding. If your looking for a good comfort food season, Ryukendo is one of those seasons I can say if your wanting to look beyond the main trio, this is one series I can reccomend.
FINAL GRADE: C
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