[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 34 - ?2019 - THE HEISEI ONI AND THE REIWA ONI?

Kiriya was a kid who lost his dad, and felt a hollowness because of that. He measured himself up against a heroic ghost, something in which he?d always feel diminished by comparison. Every academic or athletic success was a cry for approval he could never get. His abrasive personality ? just, like, his whole personality ? was a kid who wanted to be told he was good enough, and to feel like someone cared about him, but didn?t know how to be vulnerable enough to ask for those things.

He eventually trained under Hibiki, and that probably didn?t help him too much, psychologically. He just ended up replacing a dead hero of a dad with a living hero of a father-figure. Hibiki probably cared for him as a mentor, but couldn?t fill the emotional void that motivated Kiriya. Kiriya? he?s a collection of all of his traumas and triumphs, just like anyone.

I guess one thing that is done to stop measuring up to mentors and see them as perfect and can't live up to them was about how mentors also undergo same suffering as the student, though it was something that is already completed/solved previously and no longer now like Hibiki's timid nature when little. Regarding his academic success (dunno about athletic as he's inferior to Asumu in their training), in school it'd have them be teacher's pet or something, though probably his personality would be off-putting to the teachers despite his success. I guess even when he didn't ask for that or such, there are others who'd care about him in their treatment... like how he never got called out for his behaviors for starters but also Asumu never being hostile to him. Which'd mean he's still blind regarding the care he has received (the part of him becoming Hibiki wasn't really seen, but he really didn't have exceptional results in his training on the series).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Just like your parents, probably.

It?s a smart story to do in a kids' show, eventually. To demystify parenthood. Shows like this usually deify parenthood, show parents as unfailing beacons of positivity and support ? that, or demonize them as cold-hearted villains for their lack of warmth and attention. They show parents like Kiriya saw them: idols to worship and fear.

But parents, like children, don?t arrive fully-formed. They?re like Kiriya, with his apprentice. They have kids by accident, or with hope for the future, or to fill a void in themselves, or to prove something to the world, or or or. They bring their own baggage to the table, and screw up without even noticing. They think of how their parents did things, and try to calibrate off of that. They struggle, constantly, to turn a child into an adult.

There's a stigma that it's probably not the child who saw the parent as unfailing beacons, but it's the society expectation or the parent itself that joined that to force themselves to view the parents that way, or else they'd be demonized as irredeemably insolent. That would be something that is rooted from the outside, but it'd have the child bearing the pressure. Don't know if that can be the one behind the stories that demonize them, but that can be something behind about how they screw up without noticing, with the ones that are more entitled with the parent role and the 'right' role/rep they had, which can make the mistakes even more unnoticeable. I don't know regarding having kids by accident, like from what I know it's more in rarity, or that it's not all public (but has more chance to be than normally marrying each other to get them), about illegitimate childs, 'bastard' childs, or other horrific causes for a child to born, regarding 'kids by accident'. But Blade displayed that, a child can turn into an adult, without an actual effort put to raise them as one (Amane never got reprimanded for anything).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I loved this episode. I loved how it didn?t redeem Kiriya, so much as it tried to provide a larger context for why he?s still an insufferable prick after all these years, despite becoming a mentor and a hero. Because it?s? those things don?t negate each other, or act in conflict, you know? Being a parent is as complicated and terrifying as growing up, just from the opposite side. Kiriya never really figured his shit out, because Figuring Your Shit Out isn?t a prerequisite for being a parent. He screwed things up by trying to be Hibiki, when all Tsutomu ever wanted was Kiriya. He didn?t want Kiriya?s mentor, because he didn?t know that guy. He wanted his mentor to be proud of him, and that?s all that mattered.

I don't know about 'becoming a hero' part here, is becoming a hero something that should involve becoming a karate bugmen and beating up bad guys? Or if a reputation really decides that person, like Masamune had good reputation among the GENM employees. And being a mentor isn't even necessarily something good as well, cmiiw, but I think being a mentor is about teaching someone something that they want to pass, and it can be anything. Not Kiriya, but there are evil mentors (so it's both mentor and villain), and for closest example in Hibiki, it'd be Shuki who teaches the power of hatred to Akira.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Even the Woz/Sougo story is looped into the idea of how best to care for someone, as comedic as the plot was. The lesson there is the same lesson that Kiriya learns: just, show up. That?s Step 1 of being a parent, and probably the most important one. It doesn?t mean that everything?s going to work out, or that you?ll get an infinite number of chances to figure things out. But it raises the floor from the worst outcomes, creating space to recover from mistakes. Kiriya?s triumph in saving Tsutomu is all in the simple fact that he wouldn?t abandon Tsutomu, that he said Hey Man, I?m Here For You. That?s the most important thing we get from guidance, really. Being seen, listened to. It?s the most valuable skill a mentor can have.

The thing here was that, Woz has development here, at least regarding Sougo to approach him in a better way, after previously always disregarding what Sougo actually wants and wants to forcefully shape Sougo to fit his goal. But by this then, if a character turns better it'd likely reduce Woz's shenanigans that created more drama at the team and put them at the trouble though (but his hammy traits is always there).

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

That goes for us viewers as well. Kiriya's means are misguided here, but it's clear that he definitely cares about his disciple Tsutomu and wishes for his success, which is a side of him we haven't really seen before. Hibiki has rubbed off on him and that's a victory for the show.

I know there has been revisits to previous series, but I don't know about treating each of this as something canon just because it features same characters or Rider gimmicks such (like I wouldn't want to now lump Tezuka as one of the evil Ryuki Riders due to RT Ryuki or such). About Hibiki rubbing off on him and it being victory, though it'd be what's best for Kiriya's outcome, still about treating any future appearence as characters as canon or such. Usually for example, crossovers aren't something canon because obviously it's more of a fanservice to feature 2 different universes together. And sometimes the future appearence of characters can negate character developments to depict a character with the version the audience is used to (well Kiriya's one of the exception), which I feel they did that to Takumi with his foul mouth.