# Foreword
Recently, a suddent idea occured to me, which encouraged me to watch the early series of Heisei Masked Rider (Widely called the Old Decade by fans). To be honest, the first composition of Masked Rider that I know is Ryuki (the theme of this article). But I was pupil at that time and I totally forgot about the story and the characters. The only thing that I remembered was the models of this composition attract me. In order to "fill the blank", I decided to watch it earnestly and I found something more than favor while watching.
# Main Characters
As same as many other compositions of Masked Rider, the main group of characters in Ryuki consists of the leading actor, the supporting actor and the leading actress. The hero called Kido Shinji (Here in after referred to as Shinji) is an ordinary journalist, who is kind (some audiences comment: "Female Deity") and negligent. One day, he got a chance to become one of riders (Masked Rider Ryuki) coincidently and met Akiyama Ren(The second hero and one of riders called Masked Rider Knight, here in after referred to as Ren) and Yui Kanzaki(The heroine, here in after referred to as Yui). Differ with most riders, Shinji isn't the one invited as a rider and he doesn't the cruel truth of riders——every rider must fights with each other to become the last one, and only in this way will the desire of theirs come true(Also referred to as "Rider Game"). That means almost every rider fight for their desire(In fact, those who have a strong desire will be selected), but Shinji doesn't. In his opinion, the reason why he decides to become the rider is that he wants to protect everyone from the harm of Mirror Monster. In the other hand, Ren fights for an important person to him, who is in a coma.
According to the setting of "Rider Game", Ren and Shinji must fight to the death till one of them is out and the eliminated riders will lose their life. Luckily, as the partner of Ren and the key person of "Rider Game", Yui plays a important role in the peace and friendship of Shinji and Ren. As the plot progresses, Shinji determines to stop the fights between riders(As his goal or "desire"). But he has to face with a dilemma that Ren won't save his lover if Shinji devotes himself to stop the fights. In the later part of the story, they also find the truth that Yui will disappear if "Rider Game" is terminated. Therefore, the main group of characters are stuck in the paradox of choice: Either take a risk of death to continue the killing game as usual or give up the chance that achieve their desire. And this is the main contradiction of main characters implying one of the essence of the composition.
In fact, the setting of character of every character attracts me, too. What's more, as the plot progresses, something change in most of them and something important keep along. For example, Ren had "killed" one of riders and collapsed after that——meaning he is kind actually but has to struggle with the strong desire of making lover awake, which urges him to become the killer. However, even Ren make the choice of fighting firmly many times in the story, he doesn't kill any rider; Kitaoka Shūichi(one of riders), a terminally ill lawyer, who wants to live forever, is a extreme egoist and dislike kids. But he is gradually influenced by Shinji and showed sympathy to a girl whose mother got a serious sick and paid the medical fee. What's more, he no longer obsessed with the forever life and tried to cherish the remain time and life at the end; There are also many vivid characters in this composition, such as "The battle maniac" Asakura Takeshi, "The Hero Follower" Tōjō Satoru....
# Absolutely New Genre
As introduced above, the theme of Masked Rider Ryuki is "Rider Game", which consists of the fights of 13 riders. Such an amazing genre of Masked Rider is thought as an innovation. In the past, the numbers of riders was less and the battles between riders were unusal. Despite Masked Rider is the sympol of justice and hero, Masked Rider Ryuki shares a different view——the riders in this composition aren't traditional heroes and they may fight for their own goals in spite of they are true or wrong. And the "type of survive" is an absolutely new genre in the series of Masked Rider, which caused an unprecedented response in the group of fans. It is no exaggeration that Ryuki provides many new ideas for later compositions.(both Masked Rider and other series)
In my opinion, the story of Ryuki also alludes a hidden clue——the news trace of ORE Journal. As a journalist of ORE Journal, Shinji grows with his colleagues, and he didn't tell the truth of "Rider Game" to them. But they usually helped him "by mistake". For example, once Shinji wanted to change the mind of Asakura Takeshi. But before his action, his colleague Reiko Momoi tried to achieve Asakura's dream that meet with his younger brother, hoping for changing Asakura by family affection. When Shinji felt powerless because of the choice paradox, his superior Daisuke Okubo told him to follow himself. Maybe they are not main characters or riders, even they didn't know the truth untill the end of story. I think their position in the story isn't redundant and they are not the "tool man" at the same time.
# Some Thoughts
Ryuki also got me thinking. Facing the cruel truth and obstacles, would you choose to stop the fight? I like a sentence from Mr.Kitaoka, "When you want to become a hero, you have lost the qualification of becoming the hero."(英雄ってのはさぁ、なろうとした瞬間に失格なのよ)