You approach the show in a very 90's mentality. You call Shinji unlikable when he's, truthfully, one of the most human characters in the Heisei era. You approach Ohja, who had one trait (Count it, one: Kill others. He had no further characterization beyond that) as a more interesting character on no basis other than "He wasn't in the spotlight to start with."

You say Shinji couldn't care for others despite every action he took in the series to prove otherwise? He even saved Asakura's life just because, despite Asakura being a monster (Who at that point, had even killed one of his friends), he wasn't willing to let someone die if he could intervene. Hell, one of the stronger plot lines in Ryuki was Shinji taking the heartless path Ren and Asakura walked.

I'm willing to agree on Ren, but the rest sounds like you weren't paying attention to any scene that didn't feature 2 men in suits wrestling with bad CG effects behind them.

Thank you for the insult I suppose?

Thank you for clarifying everything.

Its okay Kyroryublue, I can agree to disagree with you on Ryuki.

I like Shinji, he's an average dude who gets mixed up in this batshit insane superhero war with assholes, murderers, and criminals and becomes a better person by dealing with it. Sure he's dumb but to me, he's likable.

He didn't insult you, just pointed out how factually incorrect your assesment was. I also agree with Matrixbeast that Ouja was one-track and boring.

Saying Ryuki doesn't care about everyone is the exact opposite of his entire being. He wasn't smart, but he had a very clear sense of morals and justice, and became depressed when he thought he had actually killed someone. When he died, I was shocked. Because he died not as a rider fighting another rider, but as a human trying to save people. His first instinct wa sto protect, not to fight, and he paid the price. Yet in a way, it perfectly capped-off is character. Many rider boldly claim to protect innocents no matter the risk, but Shinji lived it. He literally gave everything to save others. Very powerful message. He cared for human life more than almost any pre-Decade Heisei rider I have seen.

BUT I wholeheartedly agree with you on Zolda and Knight. Zolda was the stand-out character for me. Very multi-sided, very different. He was outwardsly bad, what with being a scummy lawyer and all, but had a strong bond with his "student," genuinely seemed to show interest and feelings for the reporter girl, and when his former bumbling assistant who gets on everyone's nerves shows up, he actually treats her with kindness when he believes she is about to die. Likewise he pays entirely for a sick mother's hospital bills despite not even knowing her. He may not be very sympathetic, but he is very empathetic. It's almost like selflessness brought about by selfishness, which is the most genuine thing I've seen rarely in ANY fiction EVER that I can recall. He was a human being in every sense of the word. He showed that even the most typically villainistic archtypes can be portrayed realistically and with genuine humanity in their imperfections and strengths. This extended to Gorou, who was likewise a former street punk who, at first sight appears punk-ish, but is really humble, dedicated and full of admiration.

Ren, on the other hand, was boring and redundant. He felt totally pointless in the grand scheme. Ouja as well was cartoonishly one-track, having no layers or tricks or hidden sides. He wasn't human, he was just a single baseless motivation and was hyper boring because of that. (but his death scene was INCREDIBLY well done. The whole first half of the last episode was amazingly shot and written)

Hitting the nail on the head sir.

Shinji was a character that I really didn't like the first time around. I thought he was too whiny and silly. It wasn't until I watched the show again that he really clicked for me. He's not the best fighter, but he has the biggest heart of all the Riders and his presence really does change all of the others for the better - even Asakura.

I could not have put it better...though I disagree on Ouja some.

Ouja would've been twice the character he was if he appeared half the time. He simply, by design, was not interesting enough to fill the space he had in the show. If he was more infrequent and not so prominent, he could've been a rouge element that unexpectedly showed up. But instead he was ENTIRELY expected, and predictable. His one-track nature meant there were no twists or clever reveals. He did the exact same thing every time he appeared and it was boring. He never did anything cool, just "I'm a psycho, watch out!" It almost got painful. It DID get painful, especially when the rela demented Tiger showed up, a psychotic killer with a truely twisted mind and outlook. Ouja wasn't twisted, he was just lazy. He didn't even seem that charrismatic. He just looked up with his head down. He had no sophistication, no character. Tiger, at least, thought he was a hero. He was extremely wrong, but that's what crazy people are. Ouja existed purely so that they could have the imagery of a crazy guy with a crazy smile and crazy stare, but did nothing else. He was a jump scare repeated ad-nauseum.

Made worse was the fact that the plot crumbled and fell when he was around. The ammount of purely ridiculous times he escaped police were baffling. The rules of the universe busted whenever he needed them to. Just sloppy. Once he ate an advent card so he could summon a monster to free him, despite not having his deck or being transformed. That's not how advent cards work. He also once switched places with a lawer to escape prison, which hinged on the lawer being incapacitated and the prison doctors taking him away instead, despite not disguising his face at all and the entire senario being IMPOSSIBLE.

And yet all that, and the show STILL gave him an awesome death. And I don't mean that snidely, it was PERFECT. Which only solidifies my opinion and statements I've heard about him originally having a smaller part. He should have, he would've been far more engaging that way.

I think Ren says it best.

"He may be a fool, but he may be a better man than you or I."