[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But, of course kids should want to be Kamen Riders. They’re heroes with special powers and cool costumes, and so much of what Shinji’s about as a character is an object lesson for impressionable children: help each other, protect people, try not to murder your opponents.

Yes, Riders are heroes who stand for virtuous ideals like human freedom, the value of life, and all kinds of other things... that this kid doesn't understand or care about one bit.

The point Ryuki is trying to make there, that I think it does quite well, is that "I'm good at action games!" is not proper motivation to be a hero. Worshiping violence is not a heroic trait. Shinji doesn't fight monsters because fighting monsters is "cool". He does it because he knows the weight a person's death carries, and wants to prevent that from ever happening. Ren, too, does what he does to protect someone who matters to him.

What Takuya perceives being a Rider as is something different than that entirely, and is arguably closest to how Asakura treats being a Rider. Something to do for fun. A hobby. The attitude the show presents Takuya with, I think is a really good recreation of the misunderstanding of what makes superheroes heroic that a lot of small children genuinely have, and that's what makes the episode work. That kind of tautological notion that heroes are people who beat up bad guys, and the bad guys are bad because the heroes beat them up. They don't look up to the chance to do good in the world so much as the status they believe comes with it. Heroes always win, and everyone loves them.

I think what Ryuki was doing above all else with that episode, which is a very Kamen Rider thing to do, is remind the kids at home that life ain't that simple a lot of the time, and it's a storyline particularly well tailored to Ryuki specifically, with its premise of morally grey characters fighting for causes that often seem hopeless.