[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Hey, how about even more trivia? According to Ryuki's Japanese Wikpedia page (which I'm loosely summarizing here), when the show was in the planning phase, the television station apparently specifically requested a show that had very clearly defined heroes and villains, in an attempt to teach children the true meaning of justice, in response to the 9/11 attacks.

The thing is, producer Shinichirou Shirakura didn't go along with it, realizing that going that direction would basically be saying "the justice you kids believe in is fake, and we know what real justice is", which would just be problematic. He then proceeded to expand on Agito's theme of exploring that everybody has their own idea of what's right, this time tossing in a bunch of extra Riders so that, unlike Agito, viewers couldn't simply come to the conclusion that "Kamen Rider is right".

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Originally Posted by Kurona

It's like... it still hasn't changed my opinion of what Ryuki means to me on a personal level. It's good to know why I feel that way - a story about different ideals of justice clashing and questioning what is truly right works well for a 9/11 fallout and the type of things they want kids to think about, but naturally that means it won't resonate well with me in the type of world I currently live in and the problems the modern day has presented me with. But what it has changed is that I now entirely get where Ryuki was coming from, and it gives me a hell of a lot more respect for it and everyone involved!

The 9/11 thing is really interesting. I don't know that I'd've been able to pick that out (it's been so long that I don't immediately think of it has having an effect on art), but I can see it a bit. I mostly think the idea of taking kids who are confused or scared about living in a post-9/11 world, of not understanding what adults are talking about, and deciding the lesson they should learn is that The World Is A Complicated Place And Everyone Considers Their Actions To Be Just, like, goddamn.

It's interesting to me that, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, folks wanted clear-cut stories of heroism, might makes right and villains are punished. But, just past the immediate aftermath, there was a lot of art exploring things like the chaos of warfare, liberty versus safety, ideological conflict, etc. Ryuki's maybe ahead of the curve for that? Feels like they got there a little early, at least compared to American art.

But, yeah, I can see those post-9/11 themes now if I'm looking for them. (I'm expecting some Sentai-ish themes to develop later, like The Power Of Teamwork and Our Diversity Is Our Strength and whatnot, I got ideas that I can't fully articulate that seem like they might come into play, I don't know, I don't watch Sentai, maybe all that stuff'll be unique to Ryuki if it comes to pass.)