[Shin Densetsu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Den-O

Definitely. Asakura is a prime badass and evil SOB. He's by far my favorite evil rider ever. He killed Gai and Imperor which makes me love him more and if he could've taken out Tiger that would have been icing on the cake. Ouja essentially became the device by which Kanzaki eliminated the weakest links. He managed to be so purely evil and yet so rediculously likable that he came out on top as my favorite character in the series. Now that's damn good writing when you wind up liking the villain more so than the heroes.

He came fairly close to killing off Tiger, I was happy when he beat the sh&( out of Toujo. That's what that kid gets for trying too hard to be a hero! That's exactly why Asakura was beating him down too. So it was like karma at work.

I hated Imperor and glad he couldn't escape Mirror World. He's another shmuck that tried to hard. It echoed a primary motif of Kamen Rider Ryuki; be careful what you wish for. He DID eventually get what he wanted but ended up losing it all. Had he not taken Kanzaki Shirou's opportunity to become a rider he would have lived rich and possibly marry that one chick. Sano-san was a tool anyways, the ONLY likeable things are his costume and his power of multiple contract monsters, his attacks were cool too. I LOVED it when Shinji punched him in the face at Tea Atori though! Kid had it coming.

I especially agree with your last statement, referring to the writing of Asakura leaving you liking him more than the main Riders. While Akiyama is my favorite, Asakura was surprisingly one of the most fleshed out characters in the series.

I remember my friend telling me(when I was in the early episodes), saying the "guy in the jail is a bad ass". He most certainly was. Not only was Asakura a potent fighter but he was conniving and a strategic thinker. Who could see his reunion with his brother Akira as a trap? Just when you think he has a heart, he kills his own brother. The dude did not even want to see him until Momoi Reiko convinced him! Little did she know she led the poor sap to his demise.

I'm still in awe of the last minutes of the show. To see everyone show up and come across each other under random circumstances, that was pretty cool.

I am disappointed that Megumi and Goro didn't interact more. There was just 1 episode of them relating to each other as Kitaoka's former and current bodyguards, and then karaoke/Goro babysitting her and Shimada. There definitely could've been a cool side story of Goro as Zolda II protecting Megumi.