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Anybody want to see a less "conventional" Rider protagonist in the future?
And I when I say 'conventional', I'm mostly referring to shonen-esque protagonists. Naive and/or idiot hero who's a wide-eyed idealist as opposed to his more aggressive/cynical/aloof rival.
Don't me wrong, I've enjoyed many of these protagonists over the years. Kouta and Emu are among my favorite characters in the franchise. But looking back at the pre-Decade era, there was a bit more variety with the heroes. You still had the "I want to make everybody smile!" type heroes like Godai or Shinji, but you also had the more aloof leads like Takumi and Tendou, who had a major god complex and was perfectly balanced out by the more humble 'everyman' Kagami. You had the hilariously arrogant Tsukasa. You had the seasoned veteran in Hibiki. Even Shouichi was a idealist goofball out of suit, but in suit, he became this fierce, badass warrior who rarely spoke a single word. One thing I liked about Sento is that even though he still fits that mold of "I want to make everybody smile!" that's become typical of many modern Riders, he was also....kind of the biggest asshole among our four main Riders once they all got together, not accounting for Grease and Rogue's stints as villains, of course. He still believed in love and peace, but he also wasn't above showboating, actively trolling his teammates and just shutting down people's comments when they got too stupid, and that made him far more enjoyable that Naruto in a Rider suit, which is sorta what Takeru is and we know how people feel about him. I also liked the Amazons leads. Haruka still leans more on the heroic side, but he's also a blood knight and there's at least one occasion where his pursuit of justice wasn't limited to just hunting down monsters. Jin doesn't really give a crap about justice so much as he cares about fixing his own mistakes and he's also a major jerkass. Chihiro is about as heroic as it gets, but he's also a walking death machine and eventually needs to be put down despite his heroics (and yes, I know Chihiro gets a bad rap from most people, but I like him, or at least I like the concept of him). I feel Sougo is sorta fitting into that Takeru mold, but fortunately Zi-O hasn't been annoying about it so far since the other characters tend to call him out on his stupidity. Do you guys feel the same? What are your thoughts? |
Most Kamen Rider main characters are have the shonen-esque protagonist role. Eiji Hino reminds me what you would see in a typical Shonen Jump manga these days.
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Sometimes I want an old fart of a rider who is just out of touch, seemingly lazy and doesn't care about your feelings as long as the job is done, but will always have your back in desperate times. A rider who has been in the game for years prior to the show and when you expect him to rider kick the motw stylishly jumping high into the air, he just activates his gimmick and rider kicks the motw in the buttocks and calls it a day, speeding off on his old motorcycle like a crippled cheetah because he needs to pay whatever he can of his overdue rent before sunset. :lolol
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It's hard to really say there is a "conventional" rider. All have had different kinds of quirks, though you could say there has been a mild pattern of the Den-O type that gets repeated kind of often of the confidence building type. Den-O, Kiva, OOOs, and Sougo all kind of share simiar traits. And we've had a lot of reluctant hero types with Ghost and others that grew into their role out of no choice, and then there's the duty style too, and the want to be a hero types. Wizard had his moments of being a bit of a dick too.
Really, all of Heisei have unique flavors to their personalities that it's hard to really nail down any kind of trend to them. They've all represented different personality pushes overall. But we are due for something a little more unique going forward over the next couple of series. |
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That being said, I'm just as much a sucker for jerk Rider protagonists as I am for Ghost, so I share the sentiment that we could use some more of those every now and then. Although Sento definitely did a good job scratching that itch, despite his personality being a lot more layered than someone like Tendou. I have to admit, Sougo is the first Rider protagonist in years (and I mean, like, since I started watching Kamen Rider during OOO) not to immediately grab my attention, so even I have limits on how blandly likable a hero can be. But I don't think it'd be right to say it's because of some inherent problem with that kind of character. Ultimately, what I think matters most is simply that the protagonists stand out enough from one another, and that can mean a lot more things than simply how much they fit traditional "hero" criteria. What I think makes Sougo so uninteresting so far, to me, at least, is simply that he lacks anything in his personality that's distinctly his. Even with their consistently stronger moral compasses, post-Decade heroes still had just as much variety as before. No other lead is as hot-blooded as Shinnosuke. No one else has the outgoing exuberance of Gentarou. Nobody wants to be cool as much as Shoutarou. Say what you will about Takeru, even, but nobody but him has the kind of empathy for other people he has. They're all pretty upstanding people who don't need much convincing to do good, but their exact motivations, and the way they go about it, differ substantially. As long as Kamen Rider keeps managing that, I'll be happy. |
main female rider when
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Whereas Tendou is more like "I'm here to fight monsters and save lives. I don't care about making friends." Although I love that Shotaro tried so hard to be that, but actually cares too much. Quote:
Even Sougo doesn't really bother me yet. His idiot hero traits are mildly amusing in this kind of plot because I always imagine that while he's having his triumphant hero moments, Geiz and Tsukoyomi are internally screaming at the idea of him getting stronger while he's just blissfully unaware of the fact that everybody is terrified of him. But that's just me. I just think Rider should experiment more with different kinds of leads. I actually do like the idea Sunred suggested of an experienced Rider who's been at it for so long that he kinda treats it as his day job at this point. Just totally dismisses all of the style and flash and just quickly whoops a monster's ass so he can go about his day but it's probably not as visually exciting as Toei would want :lol |
I'd like to see a showa -esque protagonist in the new generation again.
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This is why I loved Build. Sento was such a breath of fresh air from the typical "nice guy, protect people" trope of Main Riders. Unlike them, he was COCKY & ARROGANT about it, almost being reminiscent of Tsukasa from Decade! (Which I would LOVE for them to tackle again TBH) Plus, more importantly, Sento showed that he was a flawed person at times, such as losing his temper with Blood Stalk, killing Aoba, and just his whole past as Katsuragi.
It's also why Ryuga is such a great Secondary Rider, because while most follow the usual "cool guy, loner" schtick, Ryuga is....well, a LOVABLE DOOFUS, who literally develops into becoming a full fledged hero, earning his place as Cross-Z. I really hope more Rider shows in the future subvert our expectations with Rider characters' personalities more. I was disappointed to see Zi-O follow the same pattern when I first saw it, so here's to next year's Rider show. |
I think it would be cool to see a Rider again that isn't a kid. I guess Sento was a little older, But like Hibiki, or even all the way back to Hongo in v1, it would be cool to see an adult Rider again.
Never really enjoy the 'goof-ball teenagers' as much as the heroic older guys who seem more...well...Heroic. Then again Den-O and some of the bumbling kids are kind of fun too,....idk. I like it all I guess. I prefer the more stoic adult Riders though. |
Wizard still stands out to me to be one of the more "Jerk" riders. While he was compassionate, literally those first episodes the first thing he tried to do to his friends was test magic on them and put them to sleep. Right after they made that magic ring for him.
Out of all riders, he stands out even harsher than Decade. Even Sento didn't use his friends as Guinea Pigs without forethought of what could happen. (Which made it all the funnier the ring backfired.) Now granted Wizard was fighting to save lives and prevent what he went through happening again, but he masked it with an extra thick layer of "biggest jerk on the planet." Though did like his other aspects of non-judgementalness, and subtle aspects of all people are equal for being people and it's what they do that makes them bad if they are bad. Tendo was arrogant, but Takumi still takes the cake on that as well. Takumi sells it more in his body language though in suit. The way the cockiness comes out with his hand flick, that "ready to cut loose" approach. Like he's always holding back in his human guise(which we find out why later), and even his use of the accel multi kick in one scene in particular where you can straight up feel the cockiness oozing off him like "screw this, you die now, I'm tired of playing." Whereas Tendo was more a man steeped in destiny and privilege. Takumi's arrogance was more in how he knew his capabilities. Tendo's arrogance was more in pre-destiny. But then there's also the faultering aspect of Tendo, where you see it's a facade he puts up. How he lets Drake defeat him, how he lets the hoppers defeat him. Because he knew they needed it. His arrogance wasn't what it seemed and was more an illusion or fatherly figure style of guidance. Kind of like Wizard in that way too, or Decade too in how he wanted to keep some at arm's length because of what he may need them to do someday. Decade was definitely more forceful though too with how he manhandles other riders and treats them like his playthings. He and Wizard share similarities in that regard, but Decade did limit that to those that were in suit more often, whereas Wizard outright was a little more of a jerk because of how he was so openly ready to use untested gear on his own friends without even asking first. Hibiki was interesting in that regard too as he was presented more as a father figure in the series. Someone to look up to. Which was interesting in the themes of the show about Asumu's choice, and the apprenticeship system. Like I said, all riders are different and it really depends on their world and their story for what the story needs. But there are traits that are universal, but those traits need to be, because those are traits of what makes a hero. Self-sacrifice to save lives is something they all have in common. Whether it's the responsibility OOO's puts on himself, or the burden that Blade bears. This quality isn't something a lead rider won't have, because otherwise they won't be a hero. Even Decade at his worst, in his own way was pleading with others to stop him from becoming the villain others thought he'd become. |
I just noticed something, most of the shows mentioned suffered from TERRIBLE writing. I personally love the faiz suit design but the show was horrible and even takumi couldn't save it. The only show missing here is kiva, and it had a very nonstandard rider that was handled terribly.
More reason that inoue should be tortured to death |
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