[Den-O]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I don't think Toujo intentionally made friends just to kill them. I think he legitimately cared for his allies, he just had a really skewed understanding of his mentor's motto, due in no small part to him being pretty mentally unstable. He just took the "a hero sacrifices those he cares about" part too literally, seeing it as a requirement for heroism rather than a component of it. I always think that one of the more darkly humorous parts of these episodes is when Imperor helps him out and says something along the lines of "hey, we're friends, right?" You can practically hear the switch in Toujo's head flick over to the "gotta kill you" setting.

In a lot of ways I think Toujo is probably the most tragic character in Ryuki and certainly the most psychologically fascinating. He means well, he just has such a totally wrong outlook on the world that he just keeps doing bad things that he thinks are for the greater good.

And perhaps he did care for them, it just doesn't change the fact that he saw them as raw experience. "We're friends, if you die I become stronger." And yes it is hilarious when Imperor wants them to be friends because you really can see the gears turning. Tiger immediately starts thinking about how this will make him more "heroic".

Toujo is tragic in that he has no true concept of what being a rider in the Ryuki-verse means. Nor does he understand what real ethics and heroism are. He may think that he means well but he has such a disconnect with reality and other humans that his credibility as a 'hero' is destroyed. I understand the irony of his death, that he finally performed his first heroic act, in the process of dying. But it doesn't change my view that he was horrible.

The most tragic character is really Shinji in my opinion. But I'll save that for nexts weeks discussion since it involves spoilers from the final episodes.