[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 19 - “THAT MAN, ZERONOSTART”

But, no, not really for Yuuto. He’s basically What If Kyosuke From Hibiki Became Sasword From Kabuto. It’s all of Kyosuke’s weird friend-negging from Hibiki, where it’s clear that he wants to make a connection but he’s dead-set on being a full-time asshole. And it’s also all of the Tsurugi/Jiiya stuff from Kabuto, where there’s an attempt by a guardian to protect and improve their charge, but with so many insane touches (Deneb candy!) (!!!!!!!!!!!) (?) (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) that it’s unclear if either one of them is capable of surviving this partnership.

The character of Yuuto in the moment, in the scene, it’s pretty much just Kyosuke. He’s immediately standoffish and insulting to Ryotaro, and he even shows up later specifically to piss him off! He’s just a weird, pushy jerk from start to finish, with almost no attempt to create a sympathetic character outside of hints that he's doing all this because he's lonely and too weird to be nice.

Yuuto is like Kyosuke here, but with opposite reception. Yuuto was hated before he even made his debut, as his actor Yuichi Nakamura had annoyed so many people with his portrayal of Kyosuke Hibiki and fans feared a repeat performance. Yuuto's acting is really similar to Kyosuke here, but Yuuto is more of a jerk based on circumstances rather than being based on pettiness, and has redeeming side, but not shown now. Aside from Yuichi Nakamura (there's a Japanese VA with the exact same name as him too) went from a show with Oni to a show with Owner, there's also a resemblance between Hibiki and Momotaros and that led to some memes as well, with this also being referenced in later shows.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I was really into Kyosuke on Hibiki (if memory serves) (could be wrong!), so him showing up to do the same shtick on Den-O with Jiiya But An Imagination Monster From The End Of Time in tow, hell yes. That is a mash-up that is Hall of Fame caliber. It’s a fun addition to Den-O because, for a human, he’s a more present character than we’ve seen before, no pun intended. Yuuto’s someone who is instantly irritating, adding friction to every Ryotaro scene. He’s aggressively secretive, and smirking in his opaqueness. He clearly wants to make friends, but seems to consider Emotionally Dominating Them as the key to success. Yuuto’s forceful, and that makes him fun to see in a scene with Ryotaro (quiet), Hana (skeptical), and Airi (consistently pleasant). He’s… he’s all sharp edges, and that’s a new development for a show that’s mostly been about wacky fun and sitcom disagreements.

Yuuto also has spoiled part of his personality where he acts like a child when things don't go his way or putting many sugars in coffee before tasting it. Like common rival characters in fiction, he's also someone who looks down on trivial things like friendship, or has his own toxic way to process it (dominating them), berating Ryotaro or Deneb for suggesting that to him. I got the vibe of Makoto in Ghost for Yuuto, that from what the others like Ryotaro said, he used to be a kinder guy in the past, and circumstances likely happen that turned Yuuto into irritating jerk right now. For him having sharp edge, probably it's not a new development? Yuuto being spoiled is like Ryutaros, and the other Imagins are jerks as well except Kintaros. Deneb seems to be another Imagin who is just generally nice like Kintaros.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

If there’s a part I dislike to Yuuto, it’s how wrapped up his story is in Airi and Sakurai. The show clearly is going someplace with the three of them, where there’s some time-loop weirdness to how that relationship plays out, but it’s a story that feels destined to be portioned out at a rate I’ll be unhappy with. Having not loved the Airi revelations from last time, the weird mix of Yuuto taunting Ryotaro with traumatizing Airi (?) and Ryotaro’s shouting at Airi to keep her from discovering Yuuto’s identity… not into that part! I’m okay with Yuuto having secrets at this point, but I’m not thrilled with scenes that are just the show being evasive to fill time. It’s stuff that could be resolved with a conversation, and I don’t love that conversation being avoided for dumb reasons.

But what if it's not for dumb reasons and just character flaw (like the mindset about Faiz)? Yuuto inflicting that to Ryotaro and Airi is probably in-character, for him being irritating jerk who (likely pretends, or trying to harden himself into that) tries to not care for others and is strictly focused on the mission, likely considering feelings or such as weakness that gets in the way, including compassion like Ryotaro's that can lead into protecting people and disrupting the flow of time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-This episode was pretty much wall-to-wall Yuuto, but there was a little bit of time for other things. Namely, this story’s monster! Not much to him, but I love that in an episode that let the Yuuto parts sprawl comedically, the Jellyfish Imagin was in some huge rush to finish his contract. Great counterpoint to how unhurried the rest of the story was, narratively.

In this episode, there's a change where usually Imagins attack people to grant the contract holder's wish, this time, the Imagin attacks the contract holder instead to get their wish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Amongst his whole Being An Uninterrupted Prick agenda, there were some intriguing looks at how Den-O and Zeronos’s missions might differ. Or, maybe it’s more how Ryotaro and Yuuto’s missions differ? Yuuto tries to make it clear that it’s sometimes more important to protect time than it is to protect individual people, which is an outlook that Ryotaro fundamentally doesn’t share. Ryotaro’s doing all of this as Den-O to make a positive change in individual lives. The idea of only focusing on the broader goal of protecting time itself, that’s almost abhorrent to Ryotaro. It makes for an interesting dynamic to explore, where both Riders are being heroic in parallel ways. Like train tracks! Metaphor!

Yuuto continues the formula of secondary Rider, the cutthroat anti-hero compared to the primary Rider's ideal hero. Yuuto is focused on protecting the flow of time, and will try to ignore anything else for it, including protecting people, including making sacrifices to save the future, and also can use dishonest methods to get the job done at this time. Also for both comments nice catch of the comparisons between 2 things in the episode.