It did? I think you're confusing him with that guy in your signature who actually knew how to fight fate. That's an easy enough assumption to make but Kouta's selflessness was always more just kind of a natural part of his personality than anything.

If the show were going for that angle it probably would've come up a lot more. For comparison, Wizard just the year before was hugely motivated by the tragic loss of his parents, and you can tell because it forms the backbone of almost every episode involving Haruto's backstory.

Honestly it just needs to be a lot tighter than it was. The base plot is really great in concept but it's bogged down so much by the nature of how Kamen Rider shows are written (i.e. without a detailed plan). As it is there's a lot of ideas that didn't pan out quite right and lines of dialogue that seem to be setting stuff up only to be completely forgotten as soon as they're said.

Easy example of both: Marika. She serves so little meaningful purpose in the story you could write out half of her moments and give the other half to existing characters. I think the single most significant she got was interacting with Micchi after she first showed up, and mostly because she gets to have a conversation with him about "serving two masters" or whatever that ties into his dilemma of trying to work for Yggdrasil without losing his friendship with Kouta. In general, the Energy Riders are meant to be foils to the guys they share design traits with (Zangetsu/Gaim, Duke/Baron, Marika/Ryugen), but the parallels between them stop WAY quicker than those other two pairs. But what about that other guy, Sigurd? Because here's the thing, he was a foil to Micchi even before he became a Rider, egging on his darker side and generally reflecting the slimy a**hole he could become. Even afterwards, they end up in an alliance for several episodes, united by their mutual hatred of Kouta.

So why is Marika even still here? Ryouma mentions at one point (episode 18/19-ish, I think) how she hasn't ever gone all out yet (or words of that sort), but nothing EVER comes of this, begging the question of why you would even write those lines in to begin with. She doesn't ever turn out to be some amazing fighter or anything, certainly not against Kouta, becoming just as much a joke as Sigurd when fighting him. And it's not like this is implying she has some hidden agenda nobody knows about, either, because, you know, she doesn't.

I'm not grumpy about her the way I am stuff like the ending, since she's a relatively minor part of the show, but Marika really was a massive waste of a character. I guess Bandai just HAD to have four new Riders, or something? Maybe?

It was one line in episode 1 or 2 and I only know because I watched it like 4 days ago. Also, yeah, pointless but I thought it was something to bring up. To add another thing, you are completely right that Kouta should've been more like Kenzaki and actually fight fate, but it is what it is.

To be fair to the poor kid, few Rider protagonists can live up to Kenzaki. :p

Yeah, what other Riders have been ingrained into the viewers' minds with just one line...

ONDUL!

Speaking of Kenzaki, I remembered that Gaim's ending was supposed to be as tragic as Blade's ending. I mean basically Kota and Mai decided to fight the fate itself and went out from the Earth. However, unlike Blade, the whole tragedy that Gaim tried to made wasn't as impactful like Blade. Mainly, it was because of the epilogue and yep, it's one of the element that most of Gaim's haters seem to lash out. You know the epilogue made a suggestion that despite it was so far away from Earth, Kota still could come back at anytime he wants as long as he is needed. Unlike Kenzaki, despite he STILL on Earth but of course he must seclude himself from his friends or even normal people at best. It's just heartbreaking that he is doing this for a single person and that he lives in a lonely life. Basically, the epilogue just gave a good spotlight on Mitchy so anything other than that basically is just too headscratching.

Gaim's ending was suppose to be a tragedy?

Main character and leading lady can't stay on Earth with friends because they need to attend evil-alien-forest. Guy who's been acting more like the secondary rider than the arguable secondary rider is so far off the deep end main character has to finish him off. Micchy spends about a year (more or less) feeling like shit for acting like a shit, only to move on when Kouta gives him a godly pep talk. Hase is still dead, and what's-his-face only is just told that the guy he abandoned emotionally episodes back went and got killed.

It wasn't exactly a trip to the 100 Acre Woods.

Hold up, I'm having trouble parsing this one. Who are you referring to here, as I'm having trouble understanding.

Main character and leading lady leave Earth to go make Paradise, taking evil-alien-forest with them so that it doesn't bother their friends anymore. Guy who's been acting like the secondary Rider (because he was) finds peace in death, finally acknowledging main Rider's worldview in the process. Micchi gets to atone for his horrrible actions and go back to being a good guy again. Jounouchi finds out what happened to Hase after being kept in the dark and gets to show how much he's grown by accepting that he was partly responsible for it, and also atoning for his actions. By getting his crap kicked in so Micchi can do his atoning, but hey, it counts.

Gaim's ending was pretty far away from a tragedy. The word we're looking for here is bittersweet.

I'm pretty sure he's referring to Kaito (since that's the only guy Kouta kills). But...I'm also pretty sure Kaito is the secondary Rider. I mean, I could see an argument for Mitchy being secondary if that's the angle they're going for, but I think "officially," for as much as that matters, it was always Baron.