[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Officially, nobody. Does Kamen Rider Gotchard need a heroine? If emotional support is what you value in a heroine, then Houtarou already has over 100 friends he can get that from. A heroine would just be redundant here. Call Flayrose the heroine if you want, it doesn't matter. Alternatively, it's easier to think that Houtarou and Rinne are each other's heroine, since they fulfill both functions of providing and receiving.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

A female Secondary Rider isn't breaking fundamentals though, especially since Rinne isn't a heroine. Secondary Riders weren't even a thing until 2001, so the concept can be experimented with depending on what the narrative requires of them. Honestly, while the reveal of Majade was surprising, Amelia becoming a Red Ranger and leader was the most surprising.

Heroine simply only means the female term for hero. If you're a heroic individual and a female, then you're a heroine. If you're a heroic individual and transform into a Rider, then you fit both not that you can only be one or the other (and typically heroic individual is what it takes to be a Rider). Houtaro isn't a heroine, because he's a male, thus he's a hero. Emotional support or mediating conflicts and misunderstandings are just another way to save the day alongside defeating bad guys, what matters is you do good not that you have to do things in certain way to be a hero/heroine (gender based).

I'm getting sick of how in my country, English isn't the first language, heroine term is used for major female characters (particularly what they find hot) like Ora, early Aguilera, or occasionally Berobitch. If one'd deny that female Riders are heroines because of how that role is usually done in the past, it's more about the problem with KR turning females into one or back in the past, them only being one-offs or dying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Agreed. It's basically gatekeeping, like, "a true Primary Rider wouldn't do this", or, "a true heroine must do this". Each year, KR shows us a new story with new characters, so of course they have to function a little differently.

Yes tbh. Those who claim heroine should be supportive non-fighters are just the same ones as those who claim primary Rider should be the straight up heroic one and secondary Rider should be the edgy one, etc, because usually their roles are like that. Roles mean nothing to characterization, even if many are typically made that way in that role. For non-KR tropes, there are those who claim that being protagonist means they should be likable, always right, always hold the moral high ground, because of thinking that the term protagonist equates hero, when it's not, protagonist only means main character, even if many protagonists are made heroic.