[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Quite often they are forced to put real lives on hold, just to save people they've never even met before, they sacrifice selflessly for the greater good. HEROES.

We never see Rider's do these things. Maybe it adds more power to the punch when they are avenging, not saving, but the punch is lost when they are avenging EVERYONE because of their own lack of initiative. It's more a hero complex, than actual heroics.

This is a really interesting observation. I've been tossing it around in my head for a bit, and I think I've come up with a few good reasons why these differences occur...

This is more a thought exercise inspired by the above than a rebuttal or argument, so it's kind of scatter shot. Forgive any rambling or incoherence.


PART ONE:

I don't think it's a controversial thing to say that a Rider series tends to document a flawed character who becomes a hero over the course of a 45-50 episode journey. A Rider usually starts out with a defining flaw that he learns to overcome over the course of a series, and very often, he isn't presented as a true, complete hero until the end. In a sense, we're watching a 25-hour super hero origin story.

Meanwhile, American superhero series tend to document the ongoing adventures of an established character who has proven his heroism countless times. He may still have flaws, but since he proved himself a "true hero" long ago, every one of his stories is designed to explore or reinforce his heroic status quo. The exception, of course, is an American super hero's origin story -- which tends to present him as green, inexperienced, and prone to mistakes, which is pretty similar to how a Kamen Rider is presented over the course of his series.

Since Rider series have a finite amount of time to tell their stories, and the major story is about how the rider overcomes his flaw to become a true hero, we don't see much of the actual super hero phase of his life. I predict that if a Kamen Rider series were to extend beyond its natural 45-50 episode lifespan, we'd see a lot more American-style super heroics from them.


PART TWO:

I'd also like to present the notion that, despite the Superhero Time branding, most Kamen Riders are Chosen Ones as opposed to superheroes.

Kamen Riders tend to be called upon by fate to embark upon a specific mission. That mission typically involves saving the world from a specific threat (SHOCKER, Fangires, GAIA Memories, Zodiarts, Mirror Monsters, Invess/Helheim, etc...). They're not as concerned with protecting the populace as they are with defeating their fated enemy. It's more of a macro view of heroism (defeat an enemy so the whole world is safe), as opposed to the micro-view enacted by Spider-Man and Batman (protect people on an individual level by solving crimes, fighting the mob, stopping muggers, etc).

To illustrate my point, a Kamen Rider is more like Buffy the Vampire Slayer than he is like Superman. Buffy goes on patrol and sacrifices a lot of her life, but only in regard to a specific threat: supernatural creatures. You don't see her going around stopping muggings or bank robberies because her calling is to defeat things like The Master and The First Evil. Similarly, you won't see Frodo tackle organized crime in The Shire -- because his fated enemy is Sauron.

Kamen Rider doesn't take on muggers or petty street crime because his goal is to defeat his Fated Enemy. He has bigger fish to fry, as it were.

Which brings me to...


PART THREE:

Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?

Based on what I know of their culture, I don't think Japanese (in general, of course, not universally) are as interested in that popular philosophical question as Westerners are. It seems like, to the Japanese, the answer is a given: Yes, the needs of the many certainly outweigh the needs of the few. (See: wartime kamikaze tactics, et. al.)

Because of that cultural philosophy, I think Kamen Rider series treat collateral damage much more casually than Western super heroe stories do. Sure, a Rider is often torn up over his failure to help a given victim -- but as long as he defeats his fated enemy in the end, he's won. He's saved billions, so the death of that one (or 20, or 48, or 500) innocent bystander is cosmically balanced.


So yeah. I think this is an interesting topic. I hope any of what I wrote makes sense to anyone outside my head. Haha