Kamen Rider IXA Post Mortem

Well, it's been about 3 months since I completed Kamen Rider IXA. So I feel it's been enough time to talk about the project as a whole.

The idea started when I was watching Kiva as it was on the air. I was seeing so many fan responses of the show saying that they enjoyed the 1986 story more so than 2008, and in fact, hated 2008 entirely.

They bemoaned as they wanted the 1986 storyline to be it's own show. So as a problem solver, I suggested frequently over the years that somebody should take the show and edit it in chronological order, but no one stepped up to plate.

Years later to 2011 I come across a fan made Opening video (using Individual System as the song) as if 1986 had it's own show. Unfortunately, I lost track of who made the OP Vid but all credit goes to him for what became the first OP for Kamen Rider IXA as well as being the inspiration for the project itself.

For the record, I try to enjoy at least something out of a show if I'm watching. So if the story is vapid, I try to look at the set design or listen to the BGM. Kiva, for all it's Inoue-ish faults, still had a lot going for it in my mind. The costume design was fantastic, the music was superb, and the character growth was heartening. But the story was admittedly, weak.

So, back on track. I posted the vid on a imageboard and asked again if anyone would try to re-edit the show. With no responses, I finally got fed up and gave it a shot.

I knew it would be possible, and most likely the easiest to do this sort of thing. Excluding, of course, Takenoko's edit of Kamen Rider The Next. The 1986 scenes very rarely would interfere with 2008, and when it did, it was editable. So I opened up TMPGEnc and gave it a shot with episode 1.

And it went smoothly. Admittedly, very rushed and non-professional, but it got the job done. And that's what I was aiming for, to at least get episode 1 done as a proof of concept. Surprised by my own work (a rarity) , I immediately went to work on episode without fan input. So on and so forth until I got 1986 done in 16 episodes.

This proved that the concept was possible, but it'd be a mini series at best. As we go with math to prove that 2008 had the most focus between the two. Which is understandable as the show is called "Kiva" and 1986 i mostly about Wataru's Father than anything else, IXA's origin's was just a bonus for Toei.

2008 went again fairly smoothly as I was able to get the whole thing done in less than a month. I'd say pretty impressive for near 20 hours of footage. The 2nd OP was done by YouTuber "MaskedDad". The 2nd OP's theme "Fight for Justice" was edited by me. I wanted to have an adrenaline pumping song to get people excited for the 2008 section, even if the story didn't match (lol). Fan criticism gave birth to the 2nd OP rearrange and the 3rd OP "Inherited System" which I like as a way for things to come full circle, even if I don't like the song very much, it fit.

Episode 50 (Which was caused by adding in deleted scenes), was built into an entire movie as I wanted to end on the nice round 50 that some many hope their season ends up with (When I saw Changeman got 55, it was amazing to me). The idea of the movie was also something that fans want as a big way to end their
facorite story with, a big finale, something Decade couldn't do right. (IMO a movie release of the finale's story should come at no longer than a month, not 3 months as I feel there is too large a gap.) I also added in a special something for episode 50 as a way to make this feel as epic as I was wanting.

There are still plans for the Kamen Rider IXA in Black RX special, think of it as like the Sentai Vs Movies, IXA'll be there, but the focus is still on the title character, that being RX. Unless there's footage in Kamen Rider Black I can use, as that would be more interesting to me. The main issue with inserting IXA in RX is I still can't visualize in my mind of how it'll work, but I'll get there eventually.

There is another project too, that'll be a one that I'll have to take my "time" with if I want to make it all fit into place, so that it doesn't fit in place.

Feel free to ask questions.