I mean, nearly every show has a reference to a mother as a memory, or a ghost, or a flashback. Aruto's mom shows up in a flashback memory (!) in the Reiwa First Gen movie, but it's nothing I'd consider especially relevant to the narrative, or even anything that treats her as a character. And that's one of the more sensitive and respectful depictions of motherhood in Kamen Rider!

DEAR GAGA - PAGE 2

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/revice/gaga2a.png

The thing that’s great about Hiromi is that he loses.

He’s a terrible Kamen Rider, if we’re going off of metrics like Monsters Detonated or Times A Character Wasn’t Thrown Off Of A Cliff. He’s mostly a chump as a superhero; he’s marginally better as a commander, if you ignore the various traitors above and below him in the hierarchy of Fenix, or the crashed helicarriers, or the terrorist cult members who escaped justice under his watch. He’s introduced as the guy who failed so spectacularly that Ikki – a genial spa employee – needed to become a Kamen Rider, and he never really improved from there.

But the point of him as a character isn’t to succeed, or to treat the possibility for success as the only condition for action. The point of him is to dedicate his life to protecting people, even if it’s a lost cause. Getting beaten isn’t failure, it’s a sign that he’s willing to suffer for his ideals. It’s all there in his (hilariously) sacrificial catchphrase, where he’s willing to lay down his life to protect anything and everything that’s in danger: he knows he could be beaten or killed, but it’s still worth it if it might save a life.

That version of Hiromi gets to be in a story worthy of him in Dear Gaga, which is one of the best pieces of Revice storytelling I’ve seen yet. It’s minor in its scope – the heroism is pretty much just Hiromi staying by his mother’s side for her final days – but sweeping in its sensitivity and humanity. It’s not a story that rehabilitates Hiromi’s character, so much as it recontextualizes his role as punching bag/scapegoat/laughingstock. He’s weak, emotionally and physically, but as long as he’s willing to risk it all for people in need, he’s still a hero. Him failing is besides the point; him continuously laying down his life for people in danger is what’s important.

It’s really charming, this emotionally vulnerable story about a guy who constantly comes up short, but finds dignity in never backing down. He’d forgotten that, in his running away from Fenix, but remembered it in his role as a son. Not everyone can be saved, and those that can be saved might not be saved by him. But he’ll never stop trying to protect people. Even at the cost of his life.

I’m glad this series has a loser like Hiromi in it.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/revice/gaga2b.png

I havent watched revice thus havent seen Dear Gaga, but from the way you describe Hiiromi, I relate to him viscerally. I feel like I'm struggling a lot to do basic things, but to know that trying, even if I fail, is something to be proud of. Today, I think I'm pretty okay.

Yeah! Hiromi's in this little story to be a guy that realized he was measuring himself by an unfair standard, when he needed to be seeing the value in still putting himself out there; that his heroic attribute was not letting failure determine his worth.

It's okay to get beat, or to need a minute to collect ourselves after a setback. What makes Hiromi heroic is that he still puts himself at risk for his ideals, no matter what. If you're willing to get back up, you're already a hero.

So fun fact, Hiromi coming from Miyagi was based on his actor also coming from that prefecture, but by coincidence, that’s also where Shotaro Ishinomori came from (which I probably mentioned the first time he brought up his Gaga, but whatever)

Also, we kind of get an answer to my age question. The flashbacks use the same actress in a wig (which is about as convincing as Mark Wahlberg’s high school graduation photo just being him in a baseball cap), meaning she was probably in her 40s.

Also, does Hiromi plan to walk all the way back to Tokyo from Miyagi? Is that why he takes so long to reappear in the main show (as the characters who get these kinds of spin-offs are wont to do)?

He will lay down his life to avoid paying the fare for a taxi to take him back to Fenix HQ!

Hiromi seeing a minor obstacle to face
https://i.imgflip.com/1y6x9a.jpg

Hiromi is largely excluded from Fenix planning sessions due to his constant suggestion that Step 1 for any operation should be funeral services for him.

I know you've appreciated actual moms, but I guess I feel this coming from how iirc you deem non-mom female characters (I also didn't know if the term Time Mom for Tsukuyomi is sarcastically mocking after your initial impression of her, though still... people in general acknowledge Junichiro's parental instincts/role and warmth/niceness more than her too... only got seen as irrelevant instead) who display maternal or mom-like characteristics, as diminishing them as a woman that they aren't complicated and lack flaws.

As what you said here... perhaps it's the reason why Hiromi is a straightforward hero that is more well-liked than most of the main Riders that, he loses thus he feels more like an actual underdog to root compared to main Riders who get main protagonist privileges.... But as usual, Hiromi's the loser and underdog kind of good guy, which I wouldn't want if people'd blame Hiromi's goodness of why he's "weak" (like what George brags about it to him), and that to be strong you have to shed those principles and become cruel, encouraging it, but the good guys choosing to remain weak and suffer to uphold those... as if it's an inherent part, but no, there can be competent good guys too. I actually thought at the beginning Hiromi failed to become Kamen Rider because of his hidden dark traits, and that he'd be someone like Nago or Yaguruma who is initially presented as noble admirable man, but they're anything but.

It'd be a hot take, but I actually don't think that Dear Gaga series works well with me, especially regarding how Hiromi later returns. I feel that though as you've said before, sacrifice first, ask questions later is something bad and detrimental for Hiromi or any hero upholding that, I don't think that Hiromi's learning about it here, that his father dying in an attempt to save civilians is treated as something that needs to be completely emulated, which'd mean Hiromi stays on this self-destructive path. Ofc his father is a noble and heroic man, but I do want for self-preservance to be also considered to improve things and taking into account of what Daiji said before that it's not wrong, it should be considered to rescue people effectively and keep you alive to do so in another time.

Well, it helps that this special is putting Hiromi's dedication into a slightly different context. This isn't Hiromi destroying his body to be a hero, or flinging himself at a monster when there are other options; this is a story where Hiromi just needs to be there for his mom. The lesson he learns isn't so much that Sacrifice Is Always Right, it's that... it's that it's more important to fight for your convictions than to win with your convictions. Him saying he'll lay down his life in this situation, it's more him showing that his dedication to the people he cares about doesn't have any limits, instead of trying to be the most heroey hero who ever heroed. I think it's him learning an important lesson here?