Kamen Rider Ryuki: The Unacceptable Heroes | Explode When Defeated

[@marcelmiscellaneous5374]

as someone who loves kamen rider ryuki very dearly, thank you for making this video. rest in peace.

[@skyrogue1977]

So Kamen Rider continued because of 9/11 I honestly don’t know how to feel about that.

[@651702471]

I think Ryuki also has inspiration from Battle Royale, afterall, it is about people fight to the death until last one survives.

[@explodewhendefeated3996]

I'd say you're right! I couldn't find anything like, definitive in interviews and there wasn't a good time to really mention it but there's definitely a Battle Royale influence here somewhere!

[@Ryujin1175]

Just wanted to say that I love your kamen rider review videos. Keep up the good work man, all of them are so enjoyable!

[@blackhound89]

My favorite Kamen rider show ever, not sure if true but I heard that Gen Urobuchi is a huge fan of Ryuki (which... makes sense if you watch Madoka and Gaim). Quite frankly, I dont think there is a Tokusatsu show with so many memorable characters IMO

[@KamenRiderCorn]

Good stuff as always! Minor note, from everything I've seen (and when I watched the show itself), Odin seems to be a puppet for Shiro as opposed to Shiro himself, at least in the iteration the main series takes place in.

[@explodewhendefeated3996]

Yeah! That was frankly a bit of nuance I was kinda okay to skip but it is definitely there! Though I will admit it didn't really click for me that that was what was happening until right at the end lmao

[@ZAIAEnterpriseAmerica]

Miss you, Nicky. One of the few tokutubers I actually respected. RIP.

[@evatroniclover0026]

Wait, he's dead?

[@crist3809]

Wait? For real?

[@michael-vo5ol]

"Ya think dealing with that crooked slimeball Sudo's easy?! Wait till I join the fray and all will be sorry!" -Asakura Takeshi

[@MaliciousMollusc]

Asakura is hands down my favourite rider in this series. The guy is an absolute chad and it kinda feels like he got robbed at the end when other riders powered up.

[@pp-vf8ls]

he hold 3 monsters, it was unnecessary power up to tip the scale

[@kamenriderfunnymoments7219]

Can’t wait for the 20 minute analysis of Kusaka in the Faiz video

[@explodewhendefeated3996]

Faiz is gonna be a fucking doozy

[@mountaintimbs3158]

Alright, I this is the first video of yours that has gotten me to stop watching halfway through, solely because you've sold me on the show so much I don't want anything else spoiled I'm gonna go watch this now

[@explodewhendefeated3996]

Honestly even if it means you didn't watch the whole thing I'm so happy that I was able to sell you on the show! It's so good! You'll enjoy it!

[@explodewhendefeated3996]

also can't wait to see you back here for the rest of the video when you finish! lmao

[@mountaintimbs3158]

@@explodewhendefeated3996 finally finished Ryuki, that ending may have broken me. Kitaoka's death was honestly the first time any sort of media's genuinely made me cry since I read Devilman. Just. God damn, that ending. Only other kamen rider I've finished so far is W, so I don't have much to compare it to, but Ryuki is honestly my favorite so far.

[@kalaimyinthten3585]

Amazing work

[@artdethwish]

i was thinking quite a while ago that why do Shirou need riders to fight, and finally fight him... if his only goal is to keep Yui from Disappearing... 1. Shirou can just win the Rider Battle and grand himself the wish to keep Yui. BUT: This might not be the case. Shirou is obviously stronger than all the riders, and can obliterate everyone in battle BUT he keeps on pushing everyone to win, WHY? THEORY: Maybe (I don't know if this is answered yet as far as i watched is only the complete series EP1-50, and 3 EPs of Rider Time Ryuki, i'm not sure yet if anything outside these will instantly debunk my theory), Now back to the theory: "Kanzaki Shirou can never win the Rider Battle", he can only lose by the hands of the last Rider and grant the wish, then as the series went, he keeps on resetting everything while trying to change Yui's final decision by the end, and it seems that Yui always refused. My argument to this theory is if Shirou can wish it himself, he would not need to wait for the final Rider out of the eliminated 11 to fight him, he would just swoop and kill them all immediately and wish for Yui. Yui would accept it in return because she would not need to establish any relationship with any other riders that makes her decline the life she gets after the battles. 2. "The Great Complication" Shirou needed these things, and if not all of these are met the whole period of the Rider Battle gets reset. - A Rider that will wish for Yui to stay alive in the real world. - Yui accepting the new life. This then implies that, Shirou cannot just wish Yui's life to continue, someone has to wish it for him and that is why he doesn't keep Yui away from Ren and Shinji or other Riders, because in order for that to happen, one Rider must form bond with Yui.

[@anonymous-sb1hl]

So you're just gonna blatantly ignore the several people that Asakura murdered such as the owner of the surplus store or the Noodle shop? Including the fact that he held an entire restaurant hostage at gunpoint?

[@explodewhendefeated3996]

Yeah, genuine video script-writing oversight on my end, I address it REAL quick at the end of my video on the ryuki movies that I did. Really don't know how I had that big of a lapse of knowledge there but oh well. Hope you enjoyed the video otherwise

[@alphaleonis6252]

Remember when this came to America

[@explodewhendefeated3996]

Yeah

[@alphaleonis6252]

@@explodewhendefeated3996 and it was thoroughly enjoyed

[@anditard]

My fav kamen rider ever

[@KamenSentaiMetalHero]

Are you going to cover Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, Ryuki's American adaptation?

[@impopularmano3394]

In the show and the 2002 movies the suits look great, but outside that the suits are bit week, just look at Knight's suit in the zio special, that thing is very fat...but anyway, i love Ryuki, im glad that I came to the world at the same year as Ryuki

[@ironpeter7982]

Its because old suit actors are fat in their old ages

[@silentbob4343]

this is the first kamen rider series I couldn’t finish. ( I’ve seen 9 at this point. Kuuga being my favorite.) got to about episode 35. I just found the pacing to be abysmal. It was this weird mix of the series being heavily serialized , but with the actual progression only happening a few minutes an episode, and the rest of the runtimes being more episodic. It’s a shame because I loved the designs and characters. I will probably try it again someday though because it is so beloved.

[@dedark0il131]

Ik that almost a year passed since this comment, but i'd like to say that Ryuki's pacing greatly intensifies just after episode 30 or smth. I totally understand what you were talking about here, but damn getting over it was worth it (yeah I've finished Ryuki just today.) P.S.: thanks for a great video, EWD, I wish this channel were still alive👌😩👌

[@pp-vf8ls]

funny, you mention your favorite is Kuuga, but Kuuga is much slower than Ryuki its probably Ryuki is heavily involved every characters mind that it tends to be easily mixed up

[@layton1362]

I respect what Ryuki means for the franchise, I really do, but at the same time, I have to be honest and say, Ryuki, in my opinion, is the absolute bottom of the barrel of the 20 Heisei Rider shows. I found at least a few good episodes in every season, bare Ryuki. My biggest gripe with this show is, I can't stand anyone besides Imperer, all in all, a good man that took the easy route instead of the one where he had to work hard and faces the consequences, and maybe Ren if I'm generous. They aren't interesting characters and are just jackasses without a shred of likeability to them. I have nothing against the concept of a Rider War in generall, but dear god, make it possible to root for more than one person and that just by process of elimination. I want to see a battle of ideals, not a few jackasses fight while the world ends. And even straying away from the characters, the story is such an unexplained, plothole ridden mess. We know next to nothing about any of the lore regarding the Mirror World, the wish, the decks, anything. I have nothing against the idea of breaking down ideals and the premise of what the shows before it were abo, but if you want to break something you better have something else in its place. As is Ryuki basically ends on a "The world sucks, heroes don't exist, it would be better if they never existed" message with nothing to stand in its place. And no, I don't count Ren's sacrifice as a counter to that, the world was ending, even if he had saved Yui they would have died regardless.

[@anonymous-sb1hl]

Well that's just you. Plus your seal of approval means jack so whatever.

[@Pyrorocket10]

I 1000% agree with you. Ryuki was one of the toughest shows to sit through for me. I hated the protag, the lack of lore, the plot holes and the unsatisfying way it deals with some of it's most important characters. I loved the concept of the rider war, the mirror world and the general aesthetic of the series but they fumble everything and make Shinji such a idiot. I can't stand Ryuki. I respect what it did for the franchise but my dog could have written a better show.

[@HarbingerOfBattle]

Ryuki, I ultimately did not like. I’m not in the hate it camp, but I did find it rather bad. The show started okay but fell apart at the introduction of Odin and steadily went downhill. While certainly not without its merits, but there are just so many things left unexplained unexplored and badly handled. Many actions and events left me asking why as they did not make sense in context, to say nothing of all the things that infuriated me into moralistic rants. The series that has 15 riders, yet only one being legitimately worthy of the title, though there were two or three who were close, is not a good thing in my eyes. I’ll give it this, though, even with its consistent derision of various aspects of heroism, I still thought it was better than Agito as it didn’t find ways to piss me off in nearly every episode. Most of the comedy was bad, but with the occasional laugh out loud moment, that really got me. The choreography was orchestrated excellently, despite the many hurdles that the setting employed. The CGI for the monsters, while dated, was still better than some stuff we saw in those days. There is a progression in story events, the development not backsliding, though I can’t say as much for the characters, as it is mostly one step forward two steps back. The music was fine. I didn’t get annoyed with them over using the lyrical battle scores. It was far more in touch with a reasonable depiction of reality than Agito and there were likable characters here. You didn’t end up having to side with the ones that were the lowest percentage grade of asshole, or the ones the show kept kicking incessantly as the show has has legitimately good ones. Some start off as jerks that develop into kinder people, or show other facets of themselves that counteract their flaws. Goro and Miyuki I instantly liked and Ren and Kitaoka I came to appreciate as they were expanded upon and showed some virtues to contrast their personalities and insistence on fighting in the war. Even Asakura was not outright atrociously characterized, despite being a villain. He was mainly driven by instinct, emotion and the thrill of battle. Seeming at times more as an agent of chaos seeking his own satisfaction, which still makes him a more interesting, relatable and watchable antagonist than Toru Hojo. I just don’t think that he and the other antagonist should have been riders in name. Having submerged myself in the merits of the showa rider series that this show seemed to undermine (and Kamen Rider Taisen making me very negative towards such unjustified rider conflict) This is one I doubt I will ever care for. Someone that never clicked for me is Shinji as I have little patience for idiotic protagonists in shows like this. It’s mainly due to his indecisiveness and repeated backpedaling over the whole war, along with his regularly showcased hypocrisy. Wanting to stop it, but not doing what was necessary to keep it from spiraling out of control. Outright, refusing to take any action that could benefit his stance or remove dangerous players. One of my central views about the characterization of Kamen Riders is, it’s not enough for them to seek to protect others, they must also give in someway of themselves in securing that safety more permanently. It’s not just limited to letting yourself get fatally wounded to save someone and defeating all monsters that may threaten all others to earn it, it’s in how you must seek to stop threats more permanently, even if they are human, if they are a legitimate threat to others, but only if they are such and there are no better options. Shinji‘s enabling of Sudo and Jun, and his repeated refusal to kill or even disable Asakura shows this lack of commitment even when it was evidenced that none of them would stop what they were doing, not even trying or so much as considering alternatives. His actions were naïve and self-destructive for someone involved in this conflict because he was never willing to follow through on his choices. Ultimately showing him as the most selfish and petty rider in a war primarily populated with terrible people. There is a reason why I am of the opinion that the final battle in Kuuga is the most meaningful in the entire franchise. As Godai, being one of the kindest characters ever, beat his opponent to death with his own hands, excepting the pain and guilt of that act to ultimately end the sociopathic ways of the Grongi, all the while teetering on the edge of becoming just like them. Is it any wonder that he was crying as his enemy laughed? In Kamen Rider Black there is a reason Kotaro kept hesitating to kill Shadow Moon. There were signs that his brother was not completely gone and could be saved, however even he could not continue to standby and let the atrocities of Nobuhiko continue when they expanded beyond his ability to fight them off and contain them. That choice would haunt him all the way into Black RX despite his attempts to forget and reconcile with the act, but in the end he was shown that he was right to try. I didn’t see even the slightest bit of that with Shinji on more than a superficial level. The closest we got was as the series ended, and he finally started to take the war seriously, but by then it was far too late as he had wasted every previous chance that he was given and the results of the decisions he actually made had built a body count that he never acknowledges. This is the irony of his death, as opposed to the irony of the deaths of the other riders, a man who entered the war to change things and save people in the end did neither because he lacked the commitment to his cause that every other rider had.

[@HarbingerOfBattle]

However, we do see the character becoming of a Kamen Rider from Ren. He hesitated several times to kill his opponents, despite being committed to the war, and the shock and guilt of the first kill, almost led him to seek his own death. Ultimately sacrificing the happiness that he had with Eri on top of that innocence to ensure she returned to health. The final trip to the beach before she returned to her coma was symbolic of him knowing that, whether he won or died, he would never be able to have that moment again. while his goals were selfish, his means were not he kept the collateral damage as low as he possibly could they only attacking legitimate targets. Those themselves that by virtue of contracting would’ve given little quarter to their own opponents and trying to leave the uninvolved out of the war. Ren should have been the protagonist of the show and taking the show from that perspective, I find it less awful. Hell I think I could’ve actually liked the show if it revolved around a power trio of Ren, Kataoka and Miyuki. Miyuki has a similar character to Shinji, but possesses the drive that better informs his actions, so he could’ve better subbed into Shinji’s part of objecting to the war. And making Kataoka more of a regular could have showed the shifted attitudes we see from him. However, both Sunoco and Megumi pissed me off something fierce. They often detracted from the content more than they added. Megumi should’ve never been a regular cast member and Sunoco proved to be nothing more than a pointless foil. The information and foreshadowing she gives are ultimately redundant or wasted as they come to be supplied from other sources. Yeah, she says she’s protecting Yui, but everything she did was more harmful than helpful in the end, and she receives no comeuppance for it whatsoever. Plus, her normal eccentricities pissed me off. That’s another problem with Ryuki, too many characters. Daisuke and Nanako are even less relevant to the plot. With the need to establish so many rider characters, the story suffered. A good narrowing of the cast would have helped. And then there’s a Shiro. Yeah I get that by making the contract and engaging in the war the riders are agreeing to give up their lives in the conflict for the reward with Shiro’s intent being that any of them would be able to claim it, and through Oden, the riders would play out as Yui’s saviors in the end. I don’t have to like it, but I can understand the motivations behind it: love and devotion, twisted into desperation. Unwilling until the end to let go and ultimately deciding to die with her. My problem is: why didn’t he just offer an alternative to Ren? It’s pretty obvious that whatever was done to Eri was placed upon her artificially. Her very awakening in the middle of the series pretty much showcases that Shiro had the power to undo it and just didn’t. They both could have won this way or maybe if the mirror world was closed off, Yui wouldn’t die, or maybe make the fight about choosing the champion to destroy the mirror world and free Yui from that fate. There are a lot of things that would’ve made more sense than the actual ending where it all just seems to implode. Why was this ultimately required to save Yui? Who knows how many people had their lives taken by the monsters? It keeps seeming like with all the power he and the beings of the mirror world seem to possess. There should’ve been some alternative. Shiro had god like powers, he had transcended death, and possibly time itself, why couldn’t he do the same for Yui? Why does it require the wish? How does Shiro know of the wish? Why does it take the death of the riders to claim or create it? What powers of the mirror world allowed this to come into being? Almost every other series that was inspired by or possesses similarities to Ryuki’s story would establish these things. This is why I ultimately don’t like this series, unless you are a Kamen Rider fan it’s completely redundant as pretty much every other series that has done the story that Ryuki has or bares a lot of similarities to it, did it better. Doku Magika, Hunger Games, Gaim, .hackGU, even Dragon Knight which is Ryuki 2.0 in many respects. Hell even Battle Royal, the movie that inspired this stupid show, did it better and it has fallen out of favor. Six months after Ryuki concluded Battle Royale 2 bombed, both critically and with audiences. Even Decade handled the riders war better in the end. While the cause of the conflict is stupid, the reason behind the riders’ reason to stop Decade, who while a jerk is not that bad a guy, is precipitated by the duty to protect their own world above that of others, which makes sense and they follow through with it.

[@ShinnoHitoki000]

I agree with you man. At first I am upset about this series due to the title character dying since Ryuki is the only title rider who didn’t survive the ending of his own series. I also thought that his death was meant to be an another reference to the metal hero show exceedraft where redder died on the same episode number Ryuki died as well: episode 49. But now, after watching kuuga until gotchard I so agree that they have done the character of shinji dirty when it comes to his decisions and supposed pacifism. His mindset in stopping the rider war should have been like this: he will support knight in his aggressive campaign against an enemy till its weak enough to be defeated by knight - the enemy will then get a karmic death or commit suicide. Ryuki will then enter to inflict the final blow to the “more evil” opponent/s remaining to save the day. Ryuki and Knight might do a double rider kick in the end to defeat odins eternal chaos - Ryuki wishes yui to live and show ends…