But it does, that's the problem. They were added in solely to boost the body count. The death of those people weren't handled maturely, they were solely used as motivational means for Kuuga to kill the monster.

Compare the deaths of multiple people in Kuuga to Sayoko's death in Blade. Both deaths were used as motivation for a character to defeat a monster, but Sayoko's death rang throughout Garren's entire character for the series, the death of the kids played no factor once the Grongi was killed.

One of my favourite aspects of Ryuki is how concerned with life Sinji was. He was absolutely a hero, wanted to help anyone and everyone, and refused to kill another human, or let them be killed without a fight.

And he is utterly unique in this regard among some of the older, darker riders.

Well it did as it was a turning point for Godai because from that point he knew he had to become the Black Warrior he saw. He knew he had to become more powerful, evil or not to end it. He also seemed to accept his own death being an inevitability to stop the grongi after this point

Any way, as I've said previously, it seems you guys have either misunderstood or misread.

I never said dark = good or light-hearted =bad.

The question: Will we see a return to a darker KR series

This includes overall story, characters, suit design, mythos etc. etc.

My answer:

No, and I hope we never do.

And due to Godai's go lucky attitude, it almost become unintentionally insulting as he would continue to smile and goof around playing hero, while under his watch, thousands of people were dying as the show rubbed our faces in the count. And even though the show seemed to have a hard on for suffering, the show constantly tried to suggest Godai was this God like figure of heroism, despite constantly revelling in his consistent failure to make a difference.

I think you're missing the point. Godai was shown to be optimistic in the face of these horrible events to be strong for others, he put on a smile and thumbs up for other people to smile. Multiple ancient powerful barbaric beings bent on killing humans for game wouldn't be able to kill lots of people and one inexperienced hero should be able to stop anyone from dying? hmmm

Being consistently optimistic to the point of having zero character growth over an entire show takes away the shows right to have a point. We never see Godai's internal turmoil, and there is never a hint he even has any.

He can't save everyone, sure, but if you want to make a plot like that, at least include a protagonist with emotional range and don't take such great pleasure in it.

Other than suit design, doesn't Gaim technically have the other aspects of the 'darker' series?

I think you're just kinda hung up about the fruit armor thing, really. And as for the humor...well, the only 'dark' series I've watched, Ryuki (so far) and Blade still have tons of incredibly goofy stuff in 'em.

Eh, I wouldn't' mind another series like Blade if it counts. The monsters in it killed people, but I never found that it rubbed it in your face, unless it was someone important that died. And when that did happen the characters seem to care about it.

Gaim and Ryuki (and I guess some Showa series, if they count?), is the only other 'dark' series I have a real interest in watchign though.

Everything I've heard about stuff like Faiz and Kabuto sound awful.

I understand, but that's not quite my point. I'm just saying that death isn't supposed to be a number.
Death should be handled with maturity. It shouldn't be a statistic to make the monster seem more threatening.

Kuuga suffered the same issue anime and American comics from that same time period did. It wanted to set itself apart from past history by filling the series with dread. It wanted to be mature, so monsters had a body count, it wanted to be edgy, so the body count came from children and suicides. It succeeded at being darker, but in doing so, it lost a sense of morality. A person dying should be dealt with appropriately.

It's why I prefer Ryuki and Blade. Both dark and mature. People died, but the deaths weren't just
Police chief: "9 dead from the initial attack. 15 dead from the aftermath and debris. Confirmed 5 suicides from family members of the deceased."

I'm also not saying that Dark is necessarily bad, as my favorite series, Blade, had an incredibly bittersweet ending and wasn't exactly a walk through candyland like Fourze. I'm just saying that Kuuga didn't handle it's tone well, is all.

Gaim is actually very dark, as it seems as pointed out in the last Episode of Kamen Rider Wizard, that each rider's power is gained from the misfortune of others, or monsters.

In this situation, Gaim and company draw their power from forbidden fruit that on the outside is marketed as a gaming competition, but is really an experiment of the fruits themselves and the effects they have on humanity in both forms of gaming device, and forbidden form.

Ontop of this, this game is slowly building to the all out war between dramatic factions.

If you feel to see the dark, and drama involved in this series, I don't think you really understand the term "Dark". Hell, i'm pretty sure you thought Ryuki was just a family picnic in the park.

Blah.