[Kurona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rydera91

Justice is very complex and it's one of the reasons I love Kamen Rider, and Ryuki handles this very well. However I disagree that Shinji's basic ideals of justice are outdated in 2021. Yes Shinji comes across as shallow in his ideals of justice but by definition he is the baseline of justice. Not to get biblical, but "thou shall not kill" is one of the foundations of morality in western society, and I feel Shinji is the emodiment of basic human morality.

Especially with today's current political climate, you need that guy who will stand for morality when nobody else is seemingly doing so, against the grain of a world of people acting in their own self interest or with their own distorted view of justice. This is what Ryuki is at its core. I love reading the excerpt you quoted from the producer of the show explaining how one can think they are right because they see themselves as heroes and are just, because "I am myself, so I'm not wrong". People on both sides of the aisle will justify their actions based on their own world view, or what trendy conspiracy theory they've bought into, or when their identity is being threatened.

Oh no, I completely agree with that; I'm not saying that I don't like a character like Shinji being basically good -- it's in fact the opposite; characters like Eiji Hino, Sento Kiryu and Fuwa Isamu are my favourites for a reason. What I meant is that those ideals being questioned was a bit hard to take in 2021 when you've got certain bad-faith people driving discussion down by essentially saying things like "well, is killing bad?", and seeing these sorts of things said while watching Ryuki before I later interrogated it rubbed me the wrong way. I won't say much further than that, just saying that I do in fact agree with everything you posted there and saying the opposite was not the intention of what I said.

Also, welcome to Tokunation!