[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

It's also pretty unique to have Ashikawa Shouichi be the counterpart of the whole Rider trio from Agito, who are all represented in his name. He goes from G3-X to Exceed Gills to his true Agito form. So it's like what if Hikawa was a dormant Agito and had to learn how to control that power, which is an intriguing concept that I think would have been cool to see utilized in the show, so I'm glad they did it here. Similar to Tatsumi Shinji, he seems to be a little edgier than his usually plucky main counterpart.

I think the thing that maybe didn't work for me in Decade's Shouichi is that, for almost the entire story, he's just Ryou? I know that my initial formulation for Shouichi was that he was mostly Hikawa, because of the Yashirozawa of it all, but he's missing so much of Hikawa's personality.

Like, the easy description is "G3-X who became Gills", but that misses how much Ryou and Hikwawa would deal with adversity differently. Ryou would grit his teeth and brood as the universe shit on him, then lash out at anyone who would pity him. Hikawa would assume that he brought it on himself... somehow, and then cheerfully step to the side so that his cosmic annihilation didn't upset or distract any of his friends/enemies. This Shouichi misses out on the Imposter Syndrome that defines Hikawa, the unshakeable belief that he isn't good enough to be worth cheering on.

I wonder if this Shouichi would've felt less like a cipher to me if he'd had that weird I Appreciate You Giving Up On Me energy that Hikawa had, rather than Ryou's more stock Please Watch My Misery antihero thing. I don't know.