And that is why my adaptation will have Tsukuyomi be relevant from the beginning (she?ll get her Rider form soon after Zi-O II and GeizRevive appear)

So I didn't say anything about whether it was heroic or not. Basically, it depends on the circumstances. In the case of Ace, it is unlikely, because he had about 40 more mothers and he was looking for Mitsume for the sake of answers. I simply replied that he didn't do it, which I think we can both agree on.

I still don't agree here. Ace wants to be happy himself first, and only then make everyone else happy. That is why he is an empathic egoist, because he realizes the importance of the desires of others, but always puts his own above.

No. But if they can't achieve that without DGP, then yes. One needlessly famous Ace is enough from the world, so it's not worth making people love mediocre music. Well, I think I already wrote about the fact that love should be born from the desires of two.

Don't forget about Shimada!

Excuse me, what? That literally is the criteria for being a hero, and more importantly, what being a Rider is all about.

Hongo wanted a normal life and to continue university/participate in bike racing, but had to put others first when he became a Rider. Literally every Rider series is about the main hero putting their desires aside for others. I would even go so far as to say that every Rider series to date (although Geats' is debatable, but the show isn't finished yet so it doesn't really count), has had a pivotal moment in which the Rider has to set aside their personal wants in order to achieve what objectively needed to be done.

I don't think this is true though? Sure, Showa-era leans heavily into the "The hero wants a normal life, but can never have it so is doomed to fight forever" melodrama, but Heisei shows are more about heroes whose desire is to help people, or to achieve a better world, and fight in service of that desire against monsters who would ruin it. Shotarou and Philip, for exampl, would still be detectives even if the Dopants vanished without a care. Gaim and Geats are all about people fighting for their own desires to make their own version of happiness come true.

I think what sets Kamen Rider apart from other super heroes is the acknowledgement that the ideology of "Heroism" and "Justice" can be corrupted and misappropriated for evil. In the height of WWII, every participating country had their heroes, but it wasn't until it ended that those same heroes were now war criminals on the basis of having lost the war. You win the war, you become the heroes through control of the narrative.

Although it may seem less so today, I think Ishinomori didn't want to concern himself with heroes and rather advocated for nature, life, and peace.

Kamen Rider is about characters with heart and soul that typically manifests itself as compassion for other living things; and the solemn sadness of being forced to sometimes end lives to save lives.

There's an absolutely beautiful moment in Black Sun that reminds us of this notion where the Creation King breaks free from his captors and slaughters everyone in the room. When Minami and Akizuki confront the horrors of the scene, one of them exclaims: Is he crying?.

That's one of the key tenants of Kamen Rider that I love. They fight for humanity, since "Justice" can be twisted by anyone's own ideals and what they personally believe "Justice" means.

I suppose another in-universe take on how "justice" as an ideal can be twisted is with the Yummy from OOO Ep. 21.

Born from a guy who wants to change things, but his desire and his Yummy don't seem to care how far they go or who they end up hurting.

https://www.kamen-rider-official.com/zukan/phantoms/582

Yeah, I agree that in his search for Mitsume, Ace has neglected his many other families and that's something I'd like to see him address.

I imagine DGP could grant Neon's desire for true love by creating artificial parents for the artificial daughter, but at this point, I think they've already indirectly granted her desire by giving her the opportunity to meet Ace and Sara, except Neon hasn't realized it yet. Regarding Win's desire, DGP could also just make him more talented, like how Sae wanted an athletic body that never deteriorates with age. Of course, with the reveal of DGP's exploitation, it can no longer be justified and the Riders should try and do it on their own, while guys like Daichi who cling to otherwise impossible desires are forced to resort to unethical means.

For sure, Ryuki actually has several morally good characters if you look beyond the Riders. There's also Reiko, Okubo and Gorou.

The criteria for being a hero is much simpler than that. I would define a hero as someone who fights to preserve good while staying true to their principles. The belief that sacrifice = heroism can be taken too far, like Tojo trying to kill Yui to seal Mirror World and killing his allies so he won't become dependent on them. Sacrifice is sometimes a side effect of heroism, but it's something regrettable for that person, or for the loved ones they fail to save, not to be celebrated as a heroic outcome.

Even in the Showa Era, there are examples of protagonists becoming Riders for their own sake. Shirou asked Hongo and Ichimonji to make him a Remodified Human so he could get revenge on Scissors Jaguar for killing his family. Jo tricked Black Satan in to making him a Remodified Human so he could get revenge on them for killing his brother. They fight for humanity as well, but it was still their personal desires that set them on the lonely yet heroic path of Kamen Rider.

Reminds me of Arkland's weaponization of "justice" in Zero One 01hers (which, on topic of controversial opinions, I consider good movies) to demoralize the formerly evil Metsuboujinrai and deter them from opposing him. While the Ark faction's appeal is limited only to the minority of people who identify as evil or are beyond caring about morality, justice is a universal good value, except the misunderstanding is that justice itself is universal, when it's actually individual. When someone talks about justice, it's not necessarily the same as justice to you or I. For Lawful Evil types, justice is merely evil under a name with better publicity and they will exploit it as much as they can.

Why immediately neglected? Maybe until adulthood he was quite a loving and diligent son, and only then went in search of Mitsume? We know too little about his family/families to draw any conclusions.


So that later these parents become riders in order to get a daughter corresponding to them. Yet we have seen how much Neon wants love, but have not yet seen how much she loves. Plus, does she really need parental love? That is, the parents are to blame that Neon lacks love, but still she is already an adult woman. A bit too late to catch up.

Well, Sae just does not fit here, because she wanted to be forever healthy in order to provide for her family, and not for her own sake. Of course, caring for relatives can also be attributed to egoism, but then patriotism and even concern for all of humanity can also be attributed to it, because a player in the DGP is also a human. As a result, Archimedel will remain the only altruistic character in the show, and this is also not a fact, because he tried to embody his vision in Jamato, which is clearly shown by Daichi, for whom they are only a tool. And given that all studies show that the number of egoists and altruists in the world is approximately equal (I know it seems different, but scientists have a larger sample, so they know better) the show clearly has problems with exclusivity.

But then who will protect the smiles of the kaijins?
https://bbts1.azureedge.net/images/p...a38011a47e.jpg