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akinoameShinji is holding a dying Ren, who gives him his deck and asks him to fight in his place before he dies. Though devastated, Shinji takes the deck and, copying Ren’s henshin pose, transforms to Knight Survive while a variation of “Kanzaki Shiro” (that organ music from the movie) plays. He races toward a mirror, struggling over the decision to destroy the mirror and end the war or to fulfill his promise to Ren.
That’s it? That’s the beginning? God, I haven’t been spoiled this badly since the opening monologue to Romeo and Juliet!
After a weird monologue from Kanzaki about infinite worlds and people’s desires giving birth to Kamen Riders, the story begins. At ORE Journal, Reiko is pissed that Shimada hasn’t fixed her computer, and Shimada starts showing physical reactions to anything Reiko and Okubo do to the computer, including beginning to strip when they start trying to open it. Okubo calls out Reiko on her attitude, and Reiko admits that it’s over the mysterious disappearances she’s been covering—she hates not having an answer. At that point, Shinji catches their attention by talking in his sleep, crashing under the table ever since he got evicted from his apartment. Somehow, I think this bit led to the development of our first homeless hero Rider, Eiji, in Kamen Rider OOO. Okubo gives him a rude awakening and sends him off to investigate. But in the middle of his investigation at Yokohama Stadium, Shinji leans against a window and ends up with a line of web snared around his neck. There’s a bad green screen effect as he’s pulled into the Mirror World by a spider-type Monster. But before he can be eaten, he’s saved—by Kamen Rider Ryuki.
I’ll give you a moment to digest that.
The fight catches Ren and Yui’s attention in a nearby tunnel, and as he watches Ryuki fight a losing battle against multiple Monsters, Shinji notices the glaring light of a monolithic mirror in the distance. It’s surrounded by a cloth containing a child’s drawings of various monsters, and as the drawings pass through the mirror, they’re brought to life. But the Monsters are too much for Ryuki, and he demorphs, revealing himself as Koichi Sakakibara. No, there’s no way you’d know who he was—he never showed up in the series, and his name was only dropped in the first episode, as the disappeared person Shinji was investigating when he found the Ryuki deck. Shinji goes to help the injured Sakakibara, but he realizes that he’s disintegrating, and Sakakibara reveals that Shinji’s been in the Mirror World too long and that there’s no way to escape, not without the Advent Card deck. He gives Shinji his deck and instructs him on how to transform, and the new Ryuki proceeds to have the most pathetic victory against any kind of monster ever by walking into it while holding his sword. Shinji returns to Sakakibara’s side, and Sakakibara tells him to stay out of the Rider War before handing him a paper, pointing at the mirror, and dying.
Shinji is ejected from the Mirror World and transforms back, where he meets Ren and Yui, who ask him to give up his deck. Well, Yui does more of the asking part—Ren just threatens to hit him if he doesn’t give it. Shinji realizes that Ren’s a Rider and asks him for help and what’s going on, but both Ren and Yui refuse to help him. Nice guys. Shinji refuses to return to his old life, pointing out that there’s no way he can now that Sakakibara died saving him, but Ren doesn’t give a damn. He tries to take the deck from Shinji, but he winds up knocking the list out of his hands. After reading it, he asks Shinji for his name and tells him not to forget his idealism because if Shinji does join the battle, they’ll become enemies. Wow, this soon into his first appearance, and already Ren’s had a humanizing moment? We’re on a roll here. As Ren and Yui leave, Shinji takes a better look at the list and realizes it’s the names of other Riders, and the top of the list is Takeshi Asakura, Kamen Rider Ouja and everybody’s favorite serial killer. Shinji shows up at the prison to try to talk to him, showing him his deck, but Kitaoka arrives and tries to reason with him not to talk to the guano loco serial killer they’ve got in a strait jacket, chains, and a muzzle, but then he sees Shinji’s deck and assumes that he came here to fight the guy. But there’s no chance of that happening, as he shows that he’s got Asakura’s deck. Countdown to this backfiring. Sure enough, since Shinji’s a rookie, he doesn’t know better than to bring anything reflective in where a very dangerous Rider is, and his helmet is shiny enough to summon Venosnaker. Freed of his restraints and now shirtless for fanservice and to show off the scar on his shoulder (indicating that the fire that killed his family happened in this timeline too), Asakura grabs Shinji, spills his water bottle, and uses the puddle to henshin and escape.
The police are searching for the jailbreak Rider into the night, and when Shinji asks what everybody’s fighting for, Kitaoka reveals that the last Rider standing gets any wish granted. Shinji thinks it’s stupid to kill twelve other people for one’s own personal gain, but Kitaoka doesn’t care what he thinks. As Goro arrives to pick up Kitaoka, Yui arrives. She explains that Sakakibara’s plan was to destroy the Core Mirror of the Mirror World in an attempt to stop the Rider War, and Shinji realizes that the Core Mirror is the mirror he’d seen earlier. As Yui tries to explain that destroying the Core Mirror might destroy the Mirror World, Ren stops her from saying anything more. He reveals that the Core Mirror was too heavily protected for Sakakibara, let alone a greenhorn like Shinji. But Shinji hopes to reason with the other Riders so they can destroy the Core Mirror, but Ren thinks that it’s stupid, especially since Shinji doesn’t know what they’re fighting for. However, in a massive change from canon, Shinji doesn’t give a damn what Ren or any of the others are fighting for—all he knows or cares about is that it’s wrong. Meanwhile, Goro worries over Kitaoka’s health, showing what yet another Rider is going through.
The next day, Shinji tracks down Itsuro Takamizawa, Kamen Rider Verde, by chasing down his limo and showing his deck. The man is obscenely wealthy and head of the powerful corporation, Takamizawa Group. And he uses a conference with Shinji as a massive psychological threat and show of power—Shinji must sit at the other end of a long conference table and speak into a microphone, and the whole thing is controlled by Takamizawa. Shinji asks for his help, and Takamizawa decides to cut the crap and outright says he’s in this for power, much more than his company can give him. He’s the ultimate social Darwinist, seeing society and the Rider War as the same battle where you’re striving for the top and cutting down anyone in your path. Shinji falters slightly, having to admit he might be right about this, but he still believes in his convictions. Takamizawa is tired of him, however, and has him thrown out.
Soon after, Ren is at a baseball field, talking to his friend, Miyuki Tezuka, Kamen Rider Raia. He reveals what’s going on with Shinji and admits that while he doesn’t think Shinji is a real threat, he’s worried about the just-in-case—which in Ren speak means “Yes, I’m worried he’s a threat.” Tezuka realizes that Ren’s asking him to help protect the Mirror World, and he flat-out refuses. Shinji is walking past and overhears Tezuka admit that both his and Ren’s wish is to save Eri and even though he used to love Eri and Ren loves her now, Tezuka doesn’t think it’s right to sacrifice others for her. Ren asks if Tezuka is going to let her die, but Shinji klutzes out before he can answer. Shinji asks if everything Ren’s doing isn’t for his own sake, but Ren tells him to go. Just then, a Monster attacks, and the three Riders go into action. Ren and Tezuka henshin, and Shinji improvises his own henshin pose and follows after them. As Knight, Raia, and Ryuki fight, Verde enters the battle and attacks Raia, separating him from the others. Using Copy Vent to disguise himself as Knight, Verde gets Raia to lower his guard and badly injures him before using his Final Vent. Having defeated the Monsters, Knight and Ryuki run over, and Raia reaches out for his friend, but his hand falls just before Ren can get over to him, and Raia dies in Knight’s arms. When they return to the real world, Ren’s as stoic and unfriendly as ever, and Shinji calls him out on his coldness. Ren insists that he’s not grieving because when they became Riders, he and Tezuka set aside their friendship and became enemies, and now he’s just down one opponent. Shinji decides that Ren is a complete dick and becomes even more determined to stop the fighting. He tries to recruit Jun Shibaura, Kamen Rider Gai, who’s a videogame wiz like in the series but totally unafraid to discuss Rider stuff in public, around his legion of fangirls. Shibaura humiliates Shinji and refuses to join him, leaving him more frustrated than ever. He decides to revert to a childlike mentality, playing soccer at work, but Reiko is scared to death that he’s finally snapped, Okubo’s pissed, and Shimada is impressed and totally in love with the only other person finally as crazy as she is. Reiko and Okubo try to settle him down and call an ambulance, but a police detective calls for him, so naturally, they’re afraid they were too late to stop his insanity. The detective, Masashi Sudo, Kamen Rider Scissors, meets with Shinji over lunch, and convinces the skeptical new Rider that he wants to help.
Meanwhile, Ren is working at Atori when Kitaoka arrives. Apparently they know each other and Ren hates him. Kitaoka admits he’s worried about what Shinji’s doing and suggests that Ren join him to stop the new Ryuki. As Ren’s about to tell him to go to hell, Takamizawa and Shibaura arrive, agreeing with Kitaoka. Ren is pissed to see Takamizawa and grabs him and tells him to leave, but Takamizawa taunts him about his grief for Tezuka. Let me reiterate: The man who killed Ren’s best friend is laughing in his face over his grief, without any fear. The man is a douche among douches. He says that Ren is no different from Shinji, and a stunned Ren tries to deny it, so Kitaoka challenges him to prove it by joining forces with them.
A Monster attacks while Shinji and Sudo are at lunch, and Ryuki uses Survive form to destroy it easily. He reverts to Ryuki baseline at just the worst time, since the other four Riders attack. To his horror, Scissors joins in on the “Beat Up Shinji Day” festivities, saying he’ll make Shinji want to win by letting the others kill him. I don’t quite get his logic. As the weirdest save ever, Ouja arrives and attacks Scissors, if only because he’s a criminal and Scissors is a cop, so you know where that’s going. Ouja Final Vents Scissors to death, and Zolda decides he wants to take a crack at him, saying that if prison isn’t good enough for Asakura, he’ll send him to hell—which is probably one of the best badass boasts I’ve ever heard. While that goes on, Verde and Gai beat the shit out of Ryuki, but Verde challenges Knight to prove himself as a Rider and finish him off. Knight agrees, but he freezes with his sword at Ryuki’s throat, unable to make the killing blow—in an exact reflection of his fight with Gai in episode 17, ironically enough. Verde and Gai turn on him, and Ryuki tries to protect him from attack. Both Ryuki and Knight are saved by the Mirror World’s time limit, as their attackers have to leave or disintegrate.
That night, Shinji chases Ren as he tries to ride off, but Ren suffers a breakdown on the road and loses control of his bike. Shinji tries to help him, but crying, Ren pushes him away, arguing that his life has no worth if he can’t be a Rider. Shinji argues the opposite, insisting his opinion of Ren has changed, but Asakura appears, and Shinji grabs the shellshocked and suicidal Ren and makes a break for it. They spend all night and the next morning on the run, with Shinji dragging Ren the whole time, and they finally rest at a loading dock. Ren tells Shinji to stop worrying about him, but Shinji argues that they’re comrades, surprising him. Adamant about their friendship, Shinji asks Ren to help him stop the war, but Ren argues that he has to save Eri. Shinji tries to reason with him, but Shibaura’s found them. They try to hide in the factory, but they’re surrounded. As Takamizawa calls them out, Ren decides to henshin and enter the Mirror World, arguing that even if he’s too weak to kill, he still has to win. Hearing the others do the same, Shinji goes in to save his friend. All remaining Riders appear to fight: Imperer and Tiger (who are suddenly bros now), Femme, Odin, and Ryuga…somehow. Don’t really understand that one, and it’ll be worse when I see Let’s Go Kamen Riders. By the weirdest coincidence and possibly dumbest move ever, Odin’s attack throws Ryuki and Knight to the Core Mirror. The Riders separate and surround the two, easily winning, and Verde prepares his Final Vent for Ryuki. Seeing it, Knight abandons his fight and throws Ryuki out of the way, taking the attack. But instead of dying of what’s clearly a broken neck, Knight staggers to his feet and attacks, using his own Final Vent to kill Verde. Ren transforms back and collapses, badly injured and breathing heavily. The Riders defeat Ryuki, and Odin destroys his deck, forcing him back into human form.
The Core Mirror summons Monsters to attack, and Shinji uses the distraction to get to Ren’s side, and the scene from the opening begins. And there’s no way around it—“Climax 10” is playing—you know it’s depressing. Realizing that Ren is dying, Shinji calls him an idiot and asks why Ren sacrificed himself to save him. Ren says that it’s because they’re comrades, offering a brief smile. Using the last of his strength, he gives Shinji the Knight deck and asks him to fight in his place. With his last breath, he asks Shinji to take care of Eri. Devastated at Ren’s death, Shinji begins crying and shouts his name, which catches Gai’s attention. He goes to kill the grieving Shinji, but he’s attacked and eaten by a spider Monster. While Ryuga and Femme fight the Monsters, the other Riders attack Shinji and throw him away from Ren. Forced to defend himself, Shinji pulls out the Knight deck, copies Ren’s pose, and henshins. He then pulls out the Survive card that Ren apparently had but never used for some reason and uses the Final Vent card to summon Darkraider in bike form and rides past the others.
When 13 Riders first aired, viewers had the option of calling in to vote for one of two possible endings, based on Shinji’s choice. Ending 1 is the canonical end, voted for by the viewers. But both are available, and given the massive abuse of Time Vent in the series, they probably both happened.
Ending 1
For the first time since becoming a Rider, Shinji is torn over what to do—destroy the Core Mirror and end everything, or fight for Ren. Using the Final Vent attack to destroy the approaching spider, he brings Darkraider to a stop in front of the mirror, choosing to fight. The last seven Riders surround the new Knight Survive and scan their Final Vent cards. Shinji realizes that Ren was just as lost as he was and fought to find his answer, so Shinji will fight to find it for him. He pulls his sword and charges into certain death.
Kanzaki then appears to reveal that this story is just a prologue and the series will answer whether the ending was a tragedy or for the best. Given how things go in the series, that’s a pretty tough question.
Ending 2
Everything is the same up until about the point where Shinji goes Knight Survive and questions which choice he should make. Instead of wasting the Final Vent on the spider, he destroys it with a sideswipe. Asking Ren to forgive him he uses the full attack to destroy the mirror. The Riders all charge, but they start to disintegrate and shatter like glass. Knight Survive realizes it’s happening to him too, and then the Mirror World itself shatters. Shinji wakes in a parking garage in the real world, exactly where the battle in the Mirror World had taken place. He lives his life normally until one day, he stops in dread to hear the Mirror World’s cry. He sees Imperer, Tiger, and Odin in windows, watching him from the Mirror World, and the Ryuki deck is suddenly in his hand. Remembering Takamizawa’s words about how the Rider War will never end, thanks to human desires, he freaks out on the street as Odin comes for him, and then we cut to Kanzaki’s narration.
The special is a very abbreviated version of Ryuki, focusing only on the Battle Royale aspect of the plot. The Kanzaki plot at the heart of the story is entirely cut, so Kanzaki himself only shows up as a creepy narrator and Yui only appears twice. The focus of the story is changed around, as Shinji is the last Rider to arrive, and fifty episodes’ worth of characterization is crammed into a forty-five minute special. And oddly enough, it works, but with a strange side-effect. With all of the changes that happened and the compression of the story and character development, it inverts the role of hero and secondary Riders.
Inversion happens big time here. In the series, Shinji was the one who doubted his convictions throughout, constantly wondering if he’s doing the right thing by trying to stop the Rider War, while Ren never once doubted in what he believed in—a very unexpected optimist who refused to let himself think that he wouldn’t win, if only because he had to much to lose. In the special, Ren spends the whole time doubting his ability to continue the battle while Shinji keeps trying to convince everyone to stop fighting, refusing to let himself think that he can’t stop the war. And this inversion of character development inverts their roles in the story. Despite having probably a little more focus in the story, Shinji is the supporting character while Ren is the hero trying to find his way.
Shinji’s optimistic nature takes center stage in his character development. It’s actually kind of hard to analyze him here, if only because it feels like a lot of his series development was transferred to Ren. In the series, Shinji’s journey led him to question what he believed in and brought him from a naïve rookie in red to a hero who realized in the end that he still had the same desire to help people that made him take up the deck in the first place. Here, it’s pretty absent, and his development revolves more along the lines of fulfilling the wills of dying men. He got his deck from Sakakibara, who knew he was dying anyway and asked him to stay out of the Rider War. When Shinji learned what Sakakibara was doing, he took it upon himself to fulfill his wish to stop the fighting. Then at the end, he receives the Knight deck from a dying Ren and is asked to save Eri. Shinji’s one moment of internal conflict in the special comes from the choice between whether he should fulfill Sakakibara’s will or Ren’s. Even when he meets Ren the second time, Shinji outright says that he doesn’t care what the other Riders are going through, and he’s not going to let their personal issues stop him from doing the right thing. He doesn’t falter when he learns why Ren and Tezuka fight, and he simply decides that Ren’s a dick for apparently not grieving over his friend’s death because he still has a war to win.
Shinji’s greatest strength, however, is his role as a protector. When he does find something worth protecting, that’s where he shines. In the series, it was his desire to protect people from Monsters that led him to become a Rider and eventually became his deathbed wish to close the Mirror World. We first see Shinji’s nature as the protector when he, Ren, and Tezuka have to fight a recently emerged Monster. In a brief moment, we see what all three characters are all about: Ren attacks the Monster, proving his nature as the fighter. Tezuka waits to back him up, proving he’s Ren’s friend and willing to support him through and through. Shinji does what the two of them should have done and rushes straight to the victim, untangling her from the web and telling her to run. Shinji’s protective role becomes even stronger when he takes it upon himself to save Ren from the other Riders and try to save him from himself. He never once leaves Ren’s side and keeps trying to help him, deciding right away that they’ve become friends. So after all of this time spent trying to protect Ren, he’s shocked that Ren chooses to protect him and dies for it.
Ren might not have as much story focus, but I feel like the story of 13 Riders is his, just like Episode Final was Yui and Shinji’s story. He becomes the hero here, though slightly in the background. In the course of just a few days, Ren’s life goes through a massive upheaval when a new Rider joins the war, he loses his best friend and gains a new one, and he has to face his “weakness” and discover his own strength.
Ren starts out pretty much like we see in the series up until episode 12: cold and aloof, determined to win and refusing to care, exactly the kind of Rider who can win the war. Very quickly, this is turned on its head, and it starts when he meets Shinji. He starts out unmoved by Shinji’s insistence that he has to fight in Sakakibara’s place to stop the fighting, but when he sees the list of names, he realizes just how determined Shinji is to do just that. And he tells Shinji not to lose his optimism and warns him—without threatening—that if Shinji does become a Rider, then they’re going to be enemies.
His motivation remains the same—to save his fiancée, Eri—but now he has a little help. And I can’t help but think that this is Kanzaki’s attempt to try to keep Shinji out of the picture. In the series, Ren didn’t have anyone watching him and taking care of him between Eri falling in a coma and then meeting Yui and later Shinji. Yui is kept out of the picture; Ren might be her roommate at Atori, but we don’t see her long enough to judge whether or not they’re friends. In the series, what really cemented the friendship was Shinji’s entrance, when somebody had to make sure they didn’t try to kill each other over every little thing, and the three of them became very close—even if all of them had a tendency to keep secrets from one another and Ren had that whole “betraying people” thing. In the special, Tezuka takes the role of Ren’s friend and romantic rival. It’s implied that Ren, Tezuka, and Eri all knew each other for a while before everything started, possibly when they were growing up, because Tezuka and Eri had dated. They eventually broke up and Ren began dating Eri, and though Tezuka was over Eri, he still joined with Ren to become Kamen Riders to save her life. Tezuka, however, had doubts about what he was doing, but he never admitted them to Ren until he learned about Shinji. By this admission, Tezuka was Ren’s enabler: helping him when he knew it was wrong and never calling him out on his bullshit. This is a huge departure from the series, where Tezuka was trying to stop the fighting from the start, even telling Ren that he needed to give up on Eri or else he would destroy himself. This, I believe, is Kanzaki’s manipulation: give Ren an ally, someone to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t let his self-destructive streak spiral out of control, but don’t let it be Shinji or Yui, who have the power to change him, and he them. Break up the friendship that constantly destroys Kanzaki’s plans, but make sure that one of the most likely candidates to be worthy of facing Odin (and thus, as the movie points out, provide exactly the quality of life force needed to save Yui) isn’t going to get himself killed early on because he doesn’t have someone watching over him. And Tezuka, who already is similar to Shinji, was the perfect choice.
Ren argues that his friendship with Tezuka ended the first time they became Knight and Raia, but in truth, he still clearly values that bond. He runs to Tezuka’s side when he dies, showing in the moment that he cares, but he’s got to keep himself going for their shared wish—much like Shinji. He hides his grief, but when Takamizawa approaches him, he betrays himself, and Takamizawa mercilessly points out that he was supposed to have set aside his friendship with Tezuka when he became a Rider. When Ren finally manages to kill him, you know that he’s avenged his friend—he saved Shinji from the very attack that killed Tezuka, but instead of letting himself die from it immediately, he picks himself back up and finishes off his friend’s killer.
But what really defines Ren and causes his undoing is his inability to kill. It plagued him a few times in the series, culminating in him having to kill Odin in self-defense and completely losing it in horror. When he fails to kill Shinji, Takamizawa’s and Shibaura’s suspicions are confirmed: for all Ren can say he’s got what it takes to be a Kamen Rider, he can’t do the one thing that is necessary in order to win—kill. Ren considers this his greatest weakness, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to call him suicidal after he realizes this. Nothing matters to him anymore, and he has nothing left to live for if he can’t be a true Kamen Rider. He’s in a daze for a good portion of the escape, leaving it up to Shinji to make sure that he doesn’t stay behind and get himself killed. He doesn’t care about his own wellbeing, and he’s tired. When Shinji asks him to help him stop the fighting and destroy the Core Mirror, he hesitates for a good while. You see it all over his face: he clearly wants it, and he’s tired of fighting and losing everything. But he can’t because he made a promise to save Eri, and even if he’s not worth anything and a failure as a Rider, he has to try. He goes into battle knowing that the others will kill him if he can’t kill them first, but he insists that he’s still going to fight with this handicap. He’s lost everything, and the only way to gain any of it back is to prove to himself that he is still a Rider. He overcomes this “weakness” by avenging Tezuka and killing Takamizawa, but fittingly, he dies afterward, his journey as a character complete. This is why Shinji must finish the story as the new Kamen Rider Knight: to carry on the battle the hero of this story started.
The special introduces an entirely new concept in the Mirror World, and two new characters with entirely different views of the war. The Core Mirror is essentially the heart of the Mirror World, and it scans Yui’s childhood drawings to create the Monsters. Destroying this should destroy the Mirror World and end the war, though as Shinji learns in Ending 2, this isn’t the case; Kanzaki still has Time Vent at his disposal and can reset everything. The Core Mirror is tied heavily to the development of the two Ryukis, beginning with the first, Koichi Sakakibara, played by Ryo of the Heavenly Fire Star.
…Too obscure a reference? How about I say “original wielder of the Red Dragon Thunderzord from Power Rangers”? Yes, he trades one red mechanical dragon for another—if that’s not typecasting, I don’t know what is.
Sakakibara was namedropped in the first episode, as one of the victims of the Mirror World. While investigating his apartment, Shinji discovered every reflective surface was covered up and a card deck was lying on the floor. Oh, and Dragreder was waiting outside in the windows of the building next door, ready to eat him. As Kanzaki’s chosen Ryuki, Sakakibara wanted to stop the Rider War by destroying the Core Mirror—which indicates that he probably violated his contract in the series and was eaten by Dragreder. Ren believes that Sakakibara didn’t belong in the war, but Shinji believes that his cause was worth continuing. Because of this, Shinji’s character really becomes less of his own and more as an extension of Sakakibara’s will.
The second character introduced is the last of the thirteen Riders, Kamen Rider Verde, Itsuro Takamizawa. Anything to say about his character I pretty much covered in the recap: He’s a manipulative douche who wants power. There’s not a whole lot dedicated to developing him, the way there was with Femme and Ryuga in the movie, but it’s because the story is really about Ren, and Shinji to a lesser extent. Takamizawa exists to torment Ren by killing his best friend, taunting him about his grief and his inability to kill, leading the Riders against Shinji and Ren, and trying to kill Shinji only to end up attacking Ren, who kills him before dying. As Verde, his Contract Monster is Biogreeza, a chameleon-like Monster that gives him very sneaky powers. Clear Vent is an invisibility technique, and he also has Copy Vent like Raia, only he uses it to copy Knight’s appearance completely, rather than just taking on a copy of his weapon. His Hold Vent, which is never actually scanned, summons his weapon, the Bio-Winder—a yo-yo. Yeah. He used a yo-yo against Raia. I don’t know what’s sadder, the fact that it’s his weapon or the fact that it was actually giving Raia a hard time. But if you think that’s stupid, his Final Vent, Death Punish, has Biogreeza grab him by the feet with his tongue, allowing him to swing into his opponent while upside down, turn in midair, restraining them by holding their feet and standing on their arms, and slamming their head into the ground. If you’re having a hard time picturing it, here is what it’s a blatant copy of: Lucemon Falldown Mode’s Paradise Lost attack (at about 8:00). Because it’s not like Digimon Frontier was airing at the exact same time (2002) and was also created by Toei, and they didn’t already rip off stuff from Tamers like the whole “monsters fight each other and eat each other’s energy” and use Ryo’s last name for Ren. No, that would be silly.
Kanzaki asks after each of the endings whether or not it was for the best, and to be honest, I can’t answer that question. I think it’s at the heart of Ryuki as a whole, and ultimately, it’s decided that it’s not a question of what’s right or wrong—just a matter of what you believe. But I can say that each ending shows Shinji carrying out someone else’s will, sacrificing whatever he himself might believe in in order to fulfill the wish of a dying man. In Ending 1, he decides to fight for Ren, deciding that he doesn’t have an answer and neither did Ren, so he’s going to fight to find it as his last act. He’s not going to be able to save Eri, and he knows it. But he can do this for Ren—find the answer. And in the second, he knows he’s letting down a friend by ending the Rider War, which is still something that we know he believes is right, even if right now he’s second-guessing himself. Even then, it’s not enough—Shinji loses either way, and he only gets a chance to do it right later, though oddly enough, Ren ends up being the last Rider standing, reversing their roles from the special (though Ren holds to his own convictions, and it’s Yui who manages to end the battle).
Onto the technical side, while I love the story of the special, watching it is a bit of a pain. They do a lot of bizarre camera tricks that are distracting. For example, when we meet Ren, we have a shot of him from every possible angle for a brief moment, which just looks weird and annoying. It’s worse during the scene where Shinji’s following him on their bikes, where we see them speed up, then stop long enough for us to see their faces. It was used at one point in the series too, but I feel like it’s really distracting here, since it’s such a heavy scene. We see that Ren’s breaking down until he finally crashes—figuratively and literally—and the camera trick feels inappropriate for the moment. They also use a mirror to focus light on the Riders at certain points, which I would have been okay with in some parts of the Mirror World—especially when they’re near the Core Mirror—but for some reason, they also use it in the real world, which makes it unnecessary and distracting. It’s especially noticeable in Ryuki and Scissors’s fight against the Monster before it turns into “everybody gang up on Shinji and Ren.” If you can manage to get past those really odd and annoying tricks, the special is a very good introduction to Ryuki, before you try to get into the story of the Kanzakis.
13 Riders was written by Toshiki Inoue and directed by Ryuta Tasaki. Everybody with a speaking or fighting role in this special reprised their role, including Natsuki Kato voicing Femme, Hassei Takano as Tezuka (with Keizo Yabe as Raia’s suit actor), Takeshi Kimura as Sudo (with Ryoji Okada as Scissors’s suit actor), Tsuyoshi Koyama voicing Odin and the Visors (with Jiro Okamoto as Odin’s suit actor), and Satoshi Ichijo as Shibaura (with Takeshi Mizutani as Gai’s suit actor). Suit actors Naoki Nagase and Masashi Shirai returned as Tiger and Imperer. Arthur Kuroda played Takamizawa (at this time, I cannot find his suit actor credit), and Keiichi Wada played Sakakibara. Seiji Takaiwa played Shinji Knight/Survive.
That’s it? That’s the beginning? God, I haven’t been spoiled this badly since the opening monologue to Romeo and Juliet!
After a weird monologue from Kanzaki about infinite worlds and people’s desires giving birth to Kamen Riders, the story begins. At ORE Journal, Reiko is pissed that Shimada hasn’t fixed her computer, and Shimada starts showing physical reactions to anything Reiko and Okubo do to the computer, including beginning to strip when they start trying to open it. Okubo calls out Reiko on her attitude, and Reiko admits that it’s over the mysterious disappearances she’s been covering—she hates not having an answer. At that point, Shinji catches their attention by talking in his sleep, crashing under the table ever since he got evicted from his apartment. Somehow, I think this bit led to the development of our first homeless hero Rider, Eiji, in Kamen Rider OOO. Okubo gives him a rude awakening and sends him off to investigate. But in the middle of his investigation at Yokohama Stadium, Shinji leans against a window and ends up with a line of web snared around his neck. There’s a bad green screen effect as he’s pulled into the Mirror World by a spider-type Monster. But before he can be eaten, he’s saved—by Kamen Rider Ryuki.
I’ll give you a moment to digest that.
The fight catches Ren and Yui’s attention in a nearby tunnel, and as he watches Ryuki fight a losing battle against multiple Monsters, Shinji notices the glaring light of a monolithic mirror in the distance. It’s surrounded by a cloth containing a child’s drawings of various monsters, and as the drawings pass through the mirror, they’re brought to life. But the Monsters are too much for Ryuki, and he demorphs, revealing himself as Koichi Sakakibara. No, there’s no way you’d know who he was—he never showed up in the series, and his name was only dropped in the first episode, as the disappeared person Shinji was investigating when he found the Ryuki deck. Shinji goes to help the injured Sakakibara, but he realizes that he’s disintegrating, and Sakakibara reveals that Shinji’s been in the Mirror World too long and that there’s no way to escape, not without the Advent Card deck. He gives Shinji his deck and instructs him on how to transform, and the new Ryuki proceeds to have the most pathetic victory against any kind of monster ever by walking into it while holding his sword. Shinji returns to Sakakibara’s side, and Sakakibara tells him to stay out of the Rider War before handing him a paper, pointing at the mirror, and dying.
Shinji is ejected from the Mirror World and transforms back, where he meets Ren and Yui, who ask him to give up his deck. Well, Yui does more of the asking part—Ren just threatens to hit him if he doesn’t give it. Shinji realizes that Ren’s a Rider and asks him for help and what’s going on, but both Ren and Yui refuse to help him. Nice guys. Shinji refuses to return to his old life, pointing out that there’s no way he can now that Sakakibara died saving him, but Ren doesn’t give a damn. He tries to take the deck from Shinji, but he winds up knocking the list out of his hands. After reading it, he asks Shinji for his name and tells him not to forget his idealism because if Shinji does join the battle, they’ll become enemies. Wow, this soon into his first appearance, and already Ren’s had a humanizing moment? We’re on a roll here. As Ren and Yui leave, Shinji takes a better look at the list and realizes it’s the names of other Riders, and the top of the list is Takeshi Asakura, Kamen Rider Ouja and everybody’s favorite serial killer. Shinji shows up at the prison to try to talk to him, showing him his deck, but Kitaoka arrives and tries to reason with him not to talk to the guano loco serial killer they’ve got in a strait jacket, chains, and a muzzle, but then he sees Shinji’s deck and assumes that he came here to fight the guy. But there’s no chance of that happening, as he shows that he’s got Asakura’s deck. Countdown to this backfiring. Sure enough, since Shinji’s a rookie, he doesn’t know better than to bring anything reflective in where a very dangerous Rider is, and his helmet is shiny enough to summon Venosnaker. Freed of his restraints and now shirtless for fanservice and to show off the scar on his shoulder (indicating that the fire that killed his family happened in this timeline too), Asakura grabs Shinji, spills his water bottle, and uses the puddle to henshin and escape.
The police are searching for the jailbreak Rider into the night, and when Shinji asks what everybody’s fighting for, Kitaoka reveals that the last Rider standing gets any wish granted. Shinji thinks it’s stupid to kill twelve other people for one’s own personal gain, but Kitaoka doesn’t care what he thinks. As Goro arrives to pick up Kitaoka, Yui arrives. She explains that Sakakibara’s plan was to destroy the Core Mirror of the Mirror World in an attempt to stop the Rider War, and Shinji realizes that the Core Mirror is the mirror he’d seen earlier. As Yui tries to explain that destroying the Core Mirror might destroy the Mirror World, Ren stops her from saying anything more. He reveals that the Core Mirror was too heavily protected for Sakakibara, let alone a greenhorn like Shinji. But Shinji hopes to reason with the other Riders so they can destroy the Core Mirror, but Ren thinks that it’s stupid, especially since Shinji doesn’t know what they’re fighting for. However, in a massive change from canon, Shinji doesn’t give a damn what Ren or any of the others are fighting for—all he knows or cares about is that it’s wrong. Meanwhile, Goro worries over Kitaoka’s health, showing what yet another Rider is going through.
The next day, Shinji tracks down Itsuro Takamizawa, Kamen Rider Verde, by chasing down his limo and showing his deck. The man is obscenely wealthy and head of the powerful corporation, Takamizawa Group. And he uses a conference with Shinji as a massive psychological threat and show of power—Shinji must sit at the other end of a long conference table and speak into a microphone, and the whole thing is controlled by Takamizawa. Shinji asks for his help, and Takamizawa decides to cut the crap and outright says he’s in this for power, much more than his company can give him. He’s the ultimate social Darwinist, seeing society and the Rider War as the same battle where you’re striving for the top and cutting down anyone in your path. Shinji falters slightly, having to admit he might be right about this, but he still believes in his convictions. Takamizawa is tired of him, however, and has him thrown out.
Soon after, Ren is at a baseball field, talking to his friend, Miyuki Tezuka, Kamen Rider Raia. He reveals what’s going on with Shinji and admits that while he doesn’t think Shinji is a real threat, he’s worried about the just-in-case—which in Ren speak means “Yes, I’m worried he’s a threat.” Tezuka realizes that Ren’s asking him to help protect the Mirror World, and he flat-out refuses. Shinji is walking past and overhears Tezuka admit that both his and Ren’s wish is to save Eri and even though he used to love Eri and Ren loves her now, Tezuka doesn’t think it’s right to sacrifice others for her. Ren asks if Tezuka is going to let her die, but Shinji klutzes out before he can answer. Shinji asks if everything Ren’s doing isn’t for his own sake, but Ren tells him to go. Just then, a Monster attacks, and the three Riders go into action. Ren and Tezuka henshin, and Shinji improvises his own henshin pose and follows after them. As Knight, Raia, and Ryuki fight, Verde enters the battle and attacks Raia, separating him from the others. Using Copy Vent to disguise himself as Knight, Verde gets Raia to lower his guard and badly injures him before using his Final Vent. Having defeated the Monsters, Knight and Ryuki run over, and Raia reaches out for his friend, but his hand falls just before Ren can get over to him, and Raia dies in Knight’s arms. When they return to the real world, Ren’s as stoic and unfriendly as ever, and Shinji calls him out on his coldness. Ren insists that he’s not grieving because when they became Riders, he and Tezuka set aside their friendship and became enemies, and now he’s just down one opponent. Shinji decides that Ren is a complete dick and becomes even more determined to stop the fighting. He tries to recruit Jun Shibaura, Kamen Rider Gai, who’s a videogame wiz like in the series but totally unafraid to discuss Rider stuff in public, around his legion of fangirls. Shibaura humiliates Shinji and refuses to join him, leaving him more frustrated than ever. He decides to revert to a childlike mentality, playing soccer at work, but Reiko is scared to death that he’s finally snapped, Okubo’s pissed, and Shimada is impressed and totally in love with the only other person finally as crazy as she is. Reiko and Okubo try to settle him down and call an ambulance, but a police detective calls for him, so naturally, they’re afraid they were too late to stop his insanity. The detective, Masashi Sudo, Kamen Rider Scissors, meets with Shinji over lunch, and convinces the skeptical new Rider that he wants to help.
Meanwhile, Ren is working at Atori when Kitaoka arrives. Apparently they know each other and Ren hates him. Kitaoka admits he’s worried about what Shinji’s doing and suggests that Ren join him to stop the new Ryuki. As Ren’s about to tell him to go to hell, Takamizawa and Shibaura arrive, agreeing with Kitaoka. Ren is pissed to see Takamizawa and grabs him and tells him to leave, but Takamizawa taunts him about his grief for Tezuka. Let me reiterate: The man who killed Ren’s best friend is laughing in his face over his grief, without any fear. The man is a douche among douches. He says that Ren is no different from Shinji, and a stunned Ren tries to deny it, so Kitaoka challenges him to prove it by joining forces with them.
A Monster attacks while Shinji and Sudo are at lunch, and Ryuki uses Survive form to destroy it easily. He reverts to Ryuki baseline at just the worst time, since the other four Riders attack. To his horror, Scissors joins in on the “Beat Up Shinji Day” festivities, saying he’ll make Shinji want to win by letting the others kill him. I don’t quite get his logic. As the weirdest save ever, Ouja arrives and attacks Scissors, if only because he’s a criminal and Scissors is a cop, so you know where that’s going. Ouja Final Vents Scissors to death, and Zolda decides he wants to take a crack at him, saying that if prison isn’t good enough for Asakura, he’ll send him to hell—which is probably one of the best badass boasts I’ve ever heard. While that goes on, Verde and Gai beat the shit out of Ryuki, but Verde challenges Knight to prove himself as a Rider and finish him off. Knight agrees, but he freezes with his sword at Ryuki’s throat, unable to make the killing blow—in an exact reflection of his fight with Gai in episode 17, ironically enough. Verde and Gai turn on him, and Ryuki tries to protect him from attack. Both Ryuki and Knight are saved by the Mirror World’s time limit, as their attackers have to leave or disintegrate.
That night, Shinji chases Ren as he tries to ride off, but Ren suffers a breakdown on the road and loses control of his bike. Shinji tries to help him, but crying, Ren pushes him away, arguing that his life has no worth if he can’t be a Rider. Shinji argues the opposite, insisting his opinion of Ren has changed, but Asakura appears, and Shinji grabs the shellshocked and suicidal Ren and makes a break for it. They spend all night and the next morning on the run, with Shinji dragging Ren the whole time, and they finally rest at a loading dock. Ren tells Shinji to stop worrying about him, but Shinji argues that they’re comrades, surprising him. Adamant about their friendship, Shinji asks Ren to help him stop the war, but Ren argues that he has to save Eri. Shinji tries to reason with him, but Shibaura’s found them. They try to hide in the factory, but they’re surrounded. As Takamizawa calls them out, Ren decides to henshin and enter the Mirror World, arguing that even if he’s too weak to kill, he still has to win. Hearing the others do the same, Shinji goes in to save his friend. All remaining Riders appear to fight: Imperer and Tiger (who are suddenly bros now), Femme, Odin, and Ryuga…somehow. Don’t really understand that one, and it’ll be worse when I see Let’s Go Kamen Riders. By the weirdest coincidence and possibly dumbest move ever, Odin’s attack throws Ryuki and Knight to the Core Mirror. The Riders separate and surround the two, easily winning, and Verde prepares his Final Vent for Ryuki. Seeing it, Knight abandons his fight and throws Ryuki out of the way, taking the attack. But instead of dying of what’s clearly a broken neck, Knight staggers to his feet and attacks, using his own Final Vent to kill Verde. Ren transforms back and collapses, badly injured and breathing heavily. The Riders defeat Ryuki, and Odin destroys his deck, forcing him back into human form.
The Core Mirror summons Monsters to attack, and Shinji uses the distraction to get to Ren’s side, and the scene from the opening begins. And there’s no way around it—“Climax 10” is playing—you know it’s depressing. Realizing that Ren is dying, Shinji calls him an idiot and asks why Ren sacrificed himself to save him. Ren says that it’s because they’re comrades, offering a brief smile. Using the last of his strength, he gives Shinji the Knight deck and asks him to fight in his place. With his last breath, he asks Shinji to take care of Eri. Devastated at Ren’s death, Shinji begins crying and shouts his name, which catches Gai’s attention. He goes to kill the grieving Shinji, but he’s attacked and eaten by a spider Monster. While Ryuga and Femme fight the Monsters, the other Riders attack Shinji and throw him away from Ren. Forced to defend himself, Shinji pulls out the Knight deck, copies Ren’s pose, and henshins. He then pulls out the Survive card that Ren apparently had but never used for some reason and uses the Final Vent card to summon Darkraider in bike form and rides past the others.
When 13 Riders first aired, viewers had the option of calling in to vote for one of two possible endings, based on Shinji’s choice. Ending 1 is the canonical end, voted for by the viewers. But both are available, and given the massive abuse of Time Vent in the series, they probably both happened.
Ending 1
For the first time since becoming a Rider, Shinji is torn over what to do—destroy the Core Mirror and end everything, or fight for Ren. Using the Final Vent attack to destroy the approaching spider, he brings Darkraider to a stop in front of the mirror, choosing to fight. The last seven Riders surround the new Knight Survive and scan their Final Vent cards. Shinji realizes that Ren was just as lost as he was and fought to find his answer, so Shinji will fight to find it for him. He pulls his sword and charges into certain death.
Kanzaki then appears to reveal that this story is just a prologue and the series will answer whether the ending was a tragedy or for the best. Given how things go in the series, that’s a pretty tough question.
Ending 2
Everything is the same up until about the point where Shinji goes Knight Survive and questions which choice he should make. Instead of wasting the Final Vent on the spider, he destroys it with a sideswipe. Asking Ren to forgive him he uses the full attack to destroy the mirror. The Riders all charge, but they start to disintegrate and shatter like glass. Knight Survive realizes it’s happening to him too, and then the Mirror World itself shatters. Shinji wakes in a parking garage in the real world, exactly where the battle in the Mirror World had taken place. He lives his life normally until one day, he stops in dread to hear the Mirror World’s cry. He sees Imperer, Tiger, and Odin in windows, watching him from the Mirror World, and the Ryuki deck is suddenly in his hand. Remembering Takamizawa’s words about how the Rider War will never end, thanks to human desires, he freaks out on the street as Odin comes for him, and then we cut to Kanzaki’s narration.
The special is a very abbreviated version of Ryuki, focusing only on the Battle Royale aspect of the plot. The Kanzaki plot at the heart of the story is entirely cut, so Kanzaki himself only shows up as a creepy narrator and Yui only appears twice. The focus of the story is changed around, as Shinji is the last Rider to arrive, and fifty episodes’ worth of characterization is crammed into a forty-five minute special. And oddly enough, it works, but with a strange side-effect. With all of the changes that happened and the compression of the story and character development, it inverts the role of hero and secondary Riders.
Inversion happens big time here. In the series, Shinji was the one who doubted his convictions throughout, constantly wondering if he’s doing the right thing by trying to stop the Rider War, while Ren never once doubted in what he believed in—a very unexpected optimist who refused to let himself think that he wouldn’t win, if only because he had to much to lose. In the special, Ren spends the whole time doubting his ability to continue the battle while Shinji keeps trying to convince everyone to stop fighting, refusing to let himself think that he can’t stop the war. And this inversion of character development inverts their roles in the story. Despite having probably a little more focus in the story, Shinji is the supporting character while Ren is the hero trying to find his way.
Shinji’s optimistic nature takes center stage in his character development. It’s actually kind of hard to analyze him here, if only because it feels like a lot of his series development was transferred to Ren. In the series, Shinji’s journey led him to question what he believed in and brought him from a naïve rookie in red to a hero who realized in the end that he still had the same desire to help people that made him take up the deck in the first place. Here, it’s pretty absent, and his development revolves more along the lines of fulfilling the wills of dying men. He got his deck from Sakakibara, who knew he was dying anyway and asked him to stay out of the Rider War. When Shinji learned what Sakakibara was doing, he took it upon himself to fulfill his wish to stop the fighting. Then at the end, he receives the Knight deck from a dying Ren and is asked to save Eri. Shinji’s one moment of internal conflict in the special comes from the choice between whether he should fulfill Sakakibara’s will or Ren’s. Even when he meets Ren the second time, Shinji outright says that he doesn’t care what the other Riders are going through, and he’s not going to let their personal issues stop him from doing the right thing. He doesn’t falter when he learns why Ren and Tezuka fight, and he simply decides that Ren’s a dick for apparently not grieving over his friend’s death because he still has a war to win.
Shinji’s greatest strength, however, is his role as a protector. When he does find something worth protecting, that’s where he shines. In the series, it was his desire to protect people from Monsters that led him to become a Rider and eventually became his deathbed wish to close the Mirror World. We first see Shinji’s nature as the protector when he, Ren, and Tezuka have to fight a recently emerged Monster. In a brief moment, we see what all three characters are all about: Ren attacks the Monster, proving his nature as the fighter. Tezuka waits to back him up, proving he’s Ren’s friend and willing to support him through and through. Shinji does what the two of them should have done and rushes straight to the victim, untangling her from the web and telling her to run. Shinji’s protective role becomes even stronger when he takes it upon himself to save Ren from the other Riders and try to save him from himself. He never once leaves Ren’s side and keeps trying to help him, deciding right away that they’ve become friends. So after all of this time spent trying to protect Ren, he’s shocked that Ren chooses to protect him and dies for it.
Ren might not have as much story focus, but I feel like the story of 13 Riders is his, just like Episode Final was Yui and Shinji’s story. He becomes the hero here, though slightly in the background. In the course of just a few days, Ren’s life goes through a massive upheaval when a new Rider joins the war, he loses his best friend and gains a new one, and he has to face his “weakness” and discover his own strength.
Ren starts out pretty much like we see in the series up until episode 12: cold and aloof, determined to win and refusing to care, exactly the kind of Rider who can win the war. Very quickly, this is turned on its head, and it starts when he meets Shinji. He starts out unmoved by Shinji’s insistence that he has to fight in Sakakibara’s place to stop the fighting, but when he sees the list of names, he realizes just how determined Shinji is to do just that. And he tells Shinji not to lose his optimism and warns him—without threatening—that if Shinji does become a Rider, then they’re going to be enemies.
His motivation remains the same—to save his fiancée, Eri—but now he has a little help. And I can’t help but think that this is Kanzaki’s attempt to try to keep Shinji out of the picture. In the series, Ren didn’t have anyone watching him and taking care of him between Eri falling in a coma and then meeting Yui and later Shinji. Yui is kept out of the picture; Ren might be her roommate at Atori, but we don’t see her long enough to judge whether or not they’re friends. In the series, what really cemented the friendship was Shinji’s entrance, when somebody had to make sure they didn’t try to kill each other over every little thing, and the three of them became very close—even if all of them had a tendency to keep secrets from one another and Ren had that whole “betraying people” thing. In the special, Tezuka takes the role of Ren’s friend and romantic rival. It’s implied that Ren, Tezuka, and Eri all knew each other for a while before everything started, possibly when they were growing up, because Tezuka and Eri had dated. They eventually broke up and Ren began dating Eri, and though Tezuka was over Eri, he still joined with Ren to become Kamen Riders to save her life. Tezuka, however, had doubts about what he was doing, but he never admitted them to Ren until he learned about Shinji. By this admission, Tezuka was Ren’s enabler: helping him when he knew it was wrong and never calling him out on his bullshit. This is a huge departure from the series, where Tezuka was trying to stop the fighting from the start, even telling Ren that he needed to give up on Eri or else he would destroy himself. This, I believe, is Kanzaki’s manipulation: give Ren an ally, someone to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t let his self-destructive streak spiral out of control, but don’t let it be Shinji or Yui, who have the power to change him, and he them. Break up the friendship that constantly destroys Kanzaki’s plans, but make sure that one of the most likely candidates to be worthy of facing Odin (and thus, as the movie points out, provide exactly the quality of life force needed to save Yui) isn’t going to get himself killed early on because he doesn’t have someone watching over him. And Tezuka, who already is similar to Shinji, was the perfect choice.
Ren argues that his friendship with Tezuka ended the first time they became Knight and Raia, but in truth, he still clearly values that bond. He runs to Tezuka’s side when he dies, showing in the moment that he cares, but he’s got to keep himself going for their shared wish—much like Shinji. He hides his grief, but when Takamizawa approaches him, he betrays himself, and Takamizawa mercilessly points out that he was supposed to have set aside his friendship with Tezuka when he became a Rider. When Ren finally manages to kill him, you know that he’s avenged his friend—he saved Shinji from the very attack that killed Tezuka, but instead of letting himself die from it immediately, he picks himself back up and finishes off his friend’s killer.
But what really defines Ren and causes his undoing is his inability to kill. It plagued him a few times in the series, culminating in him having to kill Odin in self-defense and completely losing it in horror. When he fails to kill Shinji, Takamizawa’s and Shibaura’s suspicions are confirmed: for all Ren can say he’s got what it takes to be a Kamen Rider, he can’t do the one thing that is necessary in order to win—kill. Ren considers this his greatest weakness, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to call him suicidal after he realizes this. Nothing matters to him anymore, and he has nothing left to live for if he can’t be a true Kamen Rider. He’s in a daze for a good portion of the escape, leaving it up to Shinji to make sure that he doesn’t stay behind and get himself killed. He doesn’t care about his own wellbeing, and he’s tired. When Shinji asks him to help him stop the fighting and destroy the Core Mirror, he hesitates for a good while. You see it all over his face: he clearly wants it, and he’s tired of fighting and losing everything. But he can’t because he made a promise to save Eri, and even if he’s not worth anything and a failure as a Rider, he has to try. He goes into battle knowing that the others will kill him if he can’t kill them first, but he insists that he’s still going to fight with this handicap. He’s lost everything, and the only way to gain any of it back is to prove to himself that he is still a Rider. He overcomes this “weakness” by avenging Tezuka and killing Takamizawa, but fittingly, he dies afterward, his journey as a character complete. This is why Shinji must finish the story as the new Kamen Rider Knight: to carry on the battle the hero of this story started.
The special introduces an entirely new concept in the Mirror World, and two new characters with entirely different views of the war. The Core Mirror is essentially the heart of the Mirror World, and it scans Yui’s childhood drawings to create the Monsters. Destroying this should destroy the Mirror World and end the war, though as Shinji learns in Ending 2, this isn’t the case; Kanzaki still has Time Vent at his disposal and can reset everything. The Core Mirror is tied heavily to the development of the two Ryukis, beginning with the first, Koichi Sakakibara, played by Ryo of the Heavenly Fire Star.
…Too obscure a reference? How about I say “original wielder of the Red Dragon Thunderzord from Power Rangers”? Yes, he trades one red mechanical dragon for another—if that’s not typecasting, I don’t know what is.
Sakakibara was namedropped in the first episode, as one of the victims of the Mirror World. While investigating his apartment, Shinji discovered every reflective surface was covered up and a card deck was lying on the floor. Oh, and Dragreder was waiting outside in the windows of the building next door, ready to eat him. As Kanzaki’s chosen Ryuki, Sakakibara wanted to stop the Rider War by destroying the Core Mirror—which indicates that he probably violated his contract in the series and was eaten by Dragreder. Ren believes that Sakakibara didn’t belong in the war, but Shinji believes that his cause was worth continuing. Because of this, Shinji’s character really becomes less of his own and more as an extension of Sakakibara’s will.
The second character introduced is the last of the thirteen Riders, Kamen Rider Verde, Itsuro Takamizawa. Anything to say about his character I pretty much covered in the recap: He’s a manipulative douche who wants power. There’s not a whole lot dedicated to developing him, the way there was with Femme and Ryuga in the movie, but it’s because the story is really about Ren, and Shinji to a lesser extent. Takamizawa exists to torment Ren by killing his best friend, taunting him about his grief and his inability to kill, leading the Riders against Shinji and Ren, and trying to kill Shinji only to end up attacking Ren, who kills him before dying. As Verde, his Contract Monster is Biogreeza, a chameleon-like Monster that gives him very sneaky powers. Clear Vent is an invisibility technique, and he also has Copy Vent like Raia, only he uses it to copy Knight’s appearance completely, rather than just taking on a copy of his weapon. His Hold Vent, which is never actually scanned, summons his weapon, the Bio-Winder—a yo-yo. Yeah. He used a yo-yo against Raia. I don’t know what’s sadder, the fact that it’s his weapon or the fact that it was actually giving Raia a hard time. But if you think that’s stupid, his Final Vent, Death Punish, has Biogreeza grab him by the feet with his tongue, allowing him to swing into his opponent while upside down, turn in midair, restraining them by holding their feet and standing on their arms, and slamming their head into the ground. If you’re having a hard time picturing it, here is what it’s a blatant copy of: Lucemon Falldown Mode’s Paradise Lost attack (at about 8:00). Because it’s not like Digimon Frontier was airing at the exact same time (2002) and was also created by Toei, and they didn’t already rip off stuff from Tamers like the whole “monsters fight each other and eat each other’s energy” and use Ryo’s last name for Ren. No, that would be silly.
Kanzaki asks after each of the endings whether or not it was for the best, and to be honest, I can’t answer that question. I think it’s at the heart of Ryuki as a whole, and ultimately, it’s decided that it’s not a question of what’s right or wrong—just a matter of what you believe. But I can say that each ending shows Shinji carrying out someone else’s will, sacrificing whatever he himself might believe in in order to fulfill the wish of a dying man. In Ending 1, he decides to fight for Ren, deciding that he doesn’t have an answer and neither did Ren, so he’s going to fight to find it as his last act. He’s not going to be able to save Eri, and he knows it. But he can do this for Ren—find the answer. And in the second, he knows he’s letting down a friend by ending the Rider War, which is still something that we know he believes is right, even if right now he’s second-guessing himself. Even then, it’s not enough—Shinji loses either way, and he only gets a chance to do it right later, though oddly enough, Ren ends up being the last Rider standing, reversing their roles from the special (though Ren holds to his own convictions, and it’s Yui who manages to end the battle).
Onto the technical side, while I love the story of the special, watching it is a bit of a pain. They do a lot of bizarre camera tricks that are distracting. For example, when we meet Ren, we have a shot of him from every possible angle for a brief moment, which just looks weird and annoying. It’s worse during the scene where Shinji’s following him on their bikes, where we see them speed up, then stop long enough for us to see their faces. It was used at one point in the series too, but I feel like it’s really distracting here, since it’s such a heavy scene. We see that Ren’s breaking down until he finally crashes—figuratively and literally—and the camera trick feels inappropriate for the moment. They also use a mirror to focus light on the Riders at certain points, which I would have been okay with in some parts of the Mirror World—especially when they’re near the Core Mirror—but for some reason, they also use it in the real world, which makes it unnecessary and distracting. It’s especially noticeable in Ryuki and Scissors’s fight against the Monster before it turns into “everybody gang up on Shinji and Ren.” If you can manage to get past those really odd and annoying tricks, the special is a very good introduction to Ryuki, before you try to get into the story of the Kanzakis.
13 Riders was written by Toshiki Inoue and directed by Ryuta Tasaki. Everybody with a speaking or fighting role in this special reprised their role, including Natsuki Kato voicing Femme, Hassei Takano as Tezuka (with Keizo Yabe as Raia’s suit actor), Takeshi Kimura as Sudo (with Ryoji Okada as Scissors’s suit actor), Tsuyoshi Koyama voicing Odin and the Visors (with Jiro Okamoto as Odin’s suit actor), and Satoshi Ichijo as Shibaura (with Takeshi Mizutani as Gai’s suit actor). Suit actors Naoki Nagase and Masashi Shirai returned as Tiger and Imperer. Arthur Kuroda played Takamizawa (at this time, I cannot find his suit actor credit), and Keiichi Wada played Sakakibara. Seiji Takaiwa played Shinji Knight/Survive.