Kamen Rider Ryuki

Kamen Rider Ryuki (仮面ライダー龍騎) is a Japanese tokusatsu television series. It was the twelfth installment in the Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu shows. It was a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei, and it was shown on TV Asahi from February 3, 2002 to January 19, 2003. The catchphrase for the series is "Those who don't fight won't survive!!" (戦わなければ、生き残れない!!). In 2009, Ryuki was adapted into the American television series Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, the first adaptation of a Kamen Rider Series in the United States since Saban's Masked Rider in 1996.

Story
Thirteen Card Decks (カードデッキ) were created for thirteen Kamen Riders. They make Contracts with monsters from the mysterious Mirror World (ミラーワールド), a parallel dimension opposite to our own in which only the Kamen Riders can exist. The Riders draw on their monsters' strength in exchange for feeding them the life force of the creatures they destroy. The creator of the Advent Cards (アドベントカード) has only one rule: that there can be only one Kamen Rider. The others must be killed, and the sole victor will be granted a single wish, which leads to a conflict known as the Rider War.

All over the city, innocent people are being mysteriously abducted, never to be seen again. During his investigations of these incidents, Shinji Kido – an intern at the online news service ORE Journal – discovers one of the Advent Card decks at an apartment where every reflective surface has been covered by newspaper. He is soon sucked into the Mirror World, discovering the terrifying truth behind the disappearances: people are literally being pulled through mirrors by the monsters of the Mirror World so that they may feed. He is about to be killed by a powerful dragon named Dragredder when he is saved by Kamen Rider Knight: Ren Akiyama. Ren seeks to win the Rider War at all costs. He works with a young woman named Yui Kanzaki, who seeks her missing brother: the master of the Rider War, Shirō Kanzaki. Seeing Ren's strength, Shinji enters the Rider War not for the prize, but so that he may protect innocent people from the threat of the Mirror World, and stop the senseless fighting between the Kamen Riders. With Dragreder as his Contract Monster, he becomes Kamen Rider Ryuki.

He will discover that there are some people who cannot be saved. That you must sometimes fight in order to stop the fighting. The extent to which you must go if you want your deepest wish to come true, and the sacrifices that you must make. In the end, there can be only one Kamen Rider...

13 Riders
The notion of 13 Riders is apparently a homage to the original Kamen Rider manga published in 1971, which contains a chapter called The 13 Kamen Riders. However, only 10 Kamen Riders were featured in the TV series. Femme, Ryuga and Verde appeared exclusively in the movie Episode: Final and/or the TV special 13 Riders.

Despite the idea of 13 Kamen Riders facing each other, all 13 Kamen Riders never really faced each other in one huge battle. The most number of Kamen Riders in one battle is 6 (in the TV series, where Knight, Ryuki, Zolda, Ouja, Tiger, and Alternative fought each other, only to be interrupted by Imperer's advent monsters), and 11 (at the 13 Kamen Riders Special). Kamen Rider Raia was killed earlier by Kamen Rider Verde's Death Vanish Final Vent. Despite activating the Guard Vent, Kamen Rider Scissors was killed by Kamen Rider Ouja's Veno Crash Final Vent. The remaining 10 Kamen Riders fought on the final match of the special, with Kamen Rider Ryuki and Kamen Rider Knight facing off against the remaining 8, led by Kamen Rider Odin.

Kanzaki Family

 * Yui Kanzaki
 * Sanako Kanzaki
 * Shiro Kanzaki

ORE Journal

 * Daisuke Okubo
 * Reiko Momoi
 * Nanako Shimada
 * Megumi Asano

Wild Monsters

 * Deadlemur
 * Gelnewt
 * Sonorabuma
 * Brobajell

Spiders

 * Dispider
 * Mispider
 * Respider
 * Solospider

Zelles

 * Gigazelle
 * Megazelle
 * Negazelle
 * Omegazelle
 * Magazelle

Zebraskulls

 * Zebraskull Iron
 * Zebraskull Bronze

Boarders

 * Wildboarder
 * Shieldboarder

Biters

 * Zenobiter
 * Terabiter

Krakens

 * Bakraken
 * Wiskraken

Gulds

 * GuldThunder
 * GuldStorm
 * GuldMirage

Abyss

 * Abysshammer
 * Abysslasher

Buzzstingers

 * Buzzstinger Hornet
 * Buzzstinger Bee
 * Buzzstinger Broom
 * Buzzstinger Frost

Sheerghosts

 * Raydragoon
 * Hydragoon

S.I.C. Hero Saga
Ryuki had two separate S.I.C. Hero Saga side stories published in Monthly Hobby Japan magazine. The first was titled Kamen Rider Ryuki: Advent Calendar (仮面ライダー龍騎 -アドベントカレンダー-) and featured original characters Kamen Rider Ouja Survive (仮面ライダー王蛇サバイブ) and his Mirror Monster the Genosurviver (ジェノサバイバー). The second S.I.C. Hero Saga story Kamen Rider Ryuki: World of If (仮面ライダー龍騎 -IFの世界-) is an alternate telling that features Ouja Survive from Advent Calendar and also introduces Kamen Rider Ryuga Survive (仮面ライダーリュウガサバイブ). Advent Calendar ran from August to December 2004 and World of If ran from June to August 2005.


 * Advent Calendar chapter titles
 * 1) Advent 4 (待降節・4)
 * 2) Advent 3 (待降節・3)
 * 3) Advent 2 (待降節・2)
 * 4) Advent 1 (待降節・1)
 * 5) Nightmare Before (ナイトメア・ビフォア)


 * World of If chapter titles
 * 1) Ryuga (リュウガ)
 * 2) Alternative (オルタナティブ)
 * 3) Odin (オーディン)

Video game
A video game based on the series, developed by Digifloyd and published by Bandai, was released in Japan during 2002 for the PlayStation. It is a basic fighting game where all thirteen Riders are playable with all the forms seen in the show, movie and specials (with the exception of the Alternatives and Ouja's Blank Form, seen in EPISODE FINAL). Four of the Contract Monsters (Volcancer, Metalgelas, Destwilder and Gigazelle), the two Zebraskulls (Iron and Bronze) and Megazelle are also playable.

Cast

 * Shinji Kido (城戸 真司): Takamasa Suga (須賀 貴匡)
 * Ren Akiyama (秋山 蓮): Satoshi Matsuda (松田 悟志)
 * Yui Kanzaki (神崎 優衣): Ayano Sugiyama (杉山 彩乃)
 * Shiro Kanzaki (神崎 士郎): Kenzaburo Kikuchi (菊地 謙三郎)
 * Shuichi Kitaoka (北岡 秀一): Ryohei (涼平)
 * Goro Yura (由良 吾郎): Tomohisa Yuge (弓削 智久)
 * Takeshi Asakura (浅倉 威): Takashi Hagino (萩野 崇)
 * Masashi Sudo (須藤 雅史): Takeshi Kimura (木村 剛)
 * Miyuki Tezuka (手塚 海之): Hassei Takano (高野 八誠)
 * Jun Shibaura (芝浦 淳): Satoshi Ichijo (一條 俊)
 * Satoru Tojo (東條 悟): Jun Takatsuki (高槻 純)
 * Mitsuru Sano (佐野 満): Takashi Hyuga (日向 崇)
 * Daisuke Okubo (大久保 大介): Kanji Tsuda (津田 寛治)
 * Reiko Momoi (桃井 令子): Sayaka Kuon (久遠 さやか)
 * Nanako Shimada (島田 奈々子): Hitomi Kurihara (栗原 瞳)
 * Megumi Asano (浅野 めぐみ): Chisato Morishita (森下 千里)
 * Sanako Kanzaki (神崎 沙奈子): Kazue Tsunogae (角替 和枝)
 * Eri Ogawa (小川 恵里): Mahiru Tsubura (つぶら まひる)
 * Hajime Nakamura (仲村 創): Junichi Mizuno (水野 純一)
 * Hideyuki Kagawa (香川 英行): Satoshi Jinbo (神保 悟志)
 * Kamen Rider Odin (Voice), Visor Voice (仮面ライダーオーディン、バイザー音声): Tsuyoshi Koyama (小山 剛志)
 * Slash Visor Voice (スラッシュバイザー音声): Midori Edamura (枝村 みどり)
 * Narration (ナレーション): Eiichiro Suzuki (鈴木英一郎)

Suit actors

 * Kamen Rider Ryuki: Seiji Takaiwa (高岩 成二)
 * Kamen Rider Knight: Makoto Itō (伊藤 慎)
 * Kamen Rider Zolda, Alternative, Alternative Zero: Yoshifumi Oshikawa (押川 善文)
 * Kamen Rider Ouja, Kamen Rider Odin: Jiro Okamoto (岡元 次郎)
 * Kamen Rider Scissors: Ryoji Okada (岡田 良治)
 * Kamen Rider Raia, Kamen Rider Ouja (sub): Keizo Yabe (矢部 敬三)
 * Kamen Rider Gai: Takeshi Mizutani (水谷 健)
 * Kamen Rider Tiger: Naoki Nagase (永瀬 尚希)
 * Kamen Rider Imperer: Masashi Shirai (白井 雅士)

Songs

 * Opening theme
 * "Alive A life"
 * Lyrics: Yuko Ebine (海老根 祐子)
 * Composition: Kohei Wada (和田 耕平)
 * Arrangement: Kohei Wada & Kazuya Honda (本田 嘉津也)
 * Artist: Rica Matsumoto (松本 梨香)
 * Artist: Rica Matsumoto (松本 梨香)

Episodes: 34-37, 39-50, TV Special
 * Ending themes
 * "Hatenaki Inochi" (果てなき希望（いのち）)
 * Lyrics: Shin-ichiro Aoyama (青山 紳一郎)
 * Composition: Yo Tsuji (辻 陽)
 * Arrangement: Masatoshi Sakashita (坂下 正俊)
 * Artist: Hiroshi Kitadani (きただに ひろし)
 * Episodes: 1-17, 19-33
 * "Hateshinai Honō no Naka e" (果てしない炎の中ヘ)
 * Lyrics: Keiko Terada & Yoshihiko Ando (安藤 芳彦)
 * Composition: Yoshio Nomura (野村 義男)
 * Arrangement: RIDER CHIPS
 * Artist: RIDER CHIPS featuring Keiko Terada (寺田 恵子)
 * Episodes: 18
 * "Revolution"
 * Lyrics: Yuko Ebine
 * Composition & Arrangement: Mikio Sakai
 * Artist: Hiroshi Kitadani
 * Artist: Hiroshi Kitadani
 * "Lonely Soldier"
 * Lyrics: Yuko Ebine
 * Composition: Yo Tsuji
 * Arrangement: Akio Kondo (近藤 昭雄)
 * Artist: Ren Akiyama (Satoshi Matsuda)
 * Episodes: 38

International broadcasts
In addition to the Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight adaptation, Ryuki has been broadcast in its original form in many languages and nations. It was dubbed into Korean as Masked Rider Dragon (가면라이더 드래건 Gamyeon Raideo Deuraegeon) in South Korea in 2004, Filipino in the Philippines as Masked Rider Ryuki on ABS-CBN 2, Malay on NTV7, and in Indonesian on RCTI and Indosiar. It is also the first ever Kamen Rider Series to be dubbed in Arabic after its run on Space Toon.