[Librarian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

The supposed "blandness" of Sougo is honestly something that doesn't bother me, because I feel that's suppose to be the point. The juxtaposition of how this seemingly normal and average teenager becomes this demonic overlord in the future.

Exactly this. He's the audience entry-way so to speak. No different than any other rider growth we've seen.

He's supposed to be more average ordinary person. It's part of the entire contrast between his future self and his current self. Going from point A(present day) to point Z(where he ends up), and how that happens. So outside of the main character quirk, he's supposed to be like any random 'normal' student. Someone that'd typically not stand out in a crowd. In this way, that's why his supporting cast is needed to be as odd as they are, so they do the iconic standing out more. Same to the villains. The contrast of their outlandishness to his normality is what makes the innate nature of the show work as a metaphor for a cautionary tale. Same reason he has a more normal supportive positive home life. So he's more or less completely normal with minimal negative influences. It's the life journey that takes him from this to what he becomes that makes the show.

And the ego/cockiness is still there, but we see it in other ways. Like the entire 'gameover' montage followed by lecture from Geiz. He has some of the typical rider arrogance, but he lacks the experience behind it as a character. Whereas Faiz/Takumi had years as an Oprhenoch that the Faiz suit let him draw on in plain view, or how Den-O had to be possessed by Imagins for his confidence and bravado. We're seeing this rider as a moderately normal person that's jumping in head first in more than he can handle with bravado, but lacks experience to match to it. It's part of his character growth journey. From average normal teenager, to later fully capable Rider as he gains experience and learns along the way. Which is the poignancy of Geiz's speech at the "game over" montage scene too. He's a novice. An amateur. Essentially the most powerful rider yet, or at least his future self is, but this is ground zero, long before he became any of that, and how he became that. Something that was also highlighted by how Geiz changed forms, and then Zi-O realized he should too. He's following Geiz's lead to learn.