Satoru Tojo

"Then, how can I become a hero? Teacher Kagawa, next time, I... will for others..."

- Satoru wondering how to become a hero in his last moments.

Satoru Tojo (東條 悟) is Kamen Rider Tiger (仮面ライダータイガ), a character in the Kamen Rider Series Kamen Rider Ryuki. He is one of the 13 Kamen Riders that the story revolves around.

Kamen Rider Ryuki
He is clearly very a disturbed man with a twisted moral background; a sort of social outcast determined to do whatever it takes to be accepted. In contrast, Satoru seemed to have shown a great amount of respect to his teacher, adopting most of Hideyuki Kagawa’s analogies on the concept of a hero, although Satoru himself often ends up going against them due to his bloodthirsty nature.

Satoru presumably was a student of Seiinen University under Hideyuki Kagawa prior to getting the Tiger Deck from Shiro Kanzaki. However, through circumstances unknown, Satoru apparently revealed his role as a Rider to Kagawa, which would eventually lead to the two, along with Hajime Nakamura on the goal to close the Mirror World, making their base within Lab 401, the laboratory in which Kanzaki had been experimenting with the Mirror World. They created two fake unpowered Tiger decks to ensure Satoru's identity is hidden. When Satoru was bumped by accident to Kamen Rider Ryuki, he accidentally drops a few notes about the Mirror World which Shinji briefly read before being ushered out. While Shinji battled the Mirror Monsters he sensed, Tiger reveals himself while aiding Ryuki. This confirmed Shinji's suspicions that Kagawa's group did have some connection to the Mirror World and immediately returned to interrogate them, though he believed that Kagawa was Tiger as he explained that the Mirror Monsters were actually sent by Shiro to kill them as they had found a way to close the Mirror World. Shinji, tired of the Rider War, wished to help Kagawa, only to be told that Shinji is yet to be trusted by them. Later, Satoru secretly attempts to kill Yui as Shinji had managed to save Yui before she was run over.

After Shinji persists to help them, Kagawa offers Shinji a chance in proving he could be trusted, giving Shinji analogy of what he would do if given the choice between saving a group of people or saving a single individual, a reflection of his logic that ‘hero’ must be willing to sacrifice a single life to save the lives of millions. However, while working at Atori Cafe, Satoru's confronted by Shinji who asked him about Kagawa’s plans to close the Mirror World, only for Satoru to tell him that the job was best left to himself, Kagawa and Nakamura. However, Shinji later noticed that Satoru had been eying Yui while working, believing that Satoru had an ulterior motive to working there, believing he may be the mysterious Alternative who had been attacking Yui. While interrogating him about it, Satoru sees that Shinji can be trusted and reveals that for Mirror World, Yui Kanzaki had to die for the greater good. Eventually during the final fight with Alternative - revealed to be Nakamura - Tiger arrives at Ryuki's aid and kills Alternative, revealing himself to be Satoru. He later explains that he killed Nakamura for Nakamura's selfish agenda to kill Yui.

Later, when Shinji wanted to investigate the former Kanzaki household, Satoru decided to follow him. Along the way, the two sensed the presence of Mirror Monsters. After finishing the battle, Satoru turned on Shinji claiming that he didn’t like that Shinji was unwilling to sacrifice Yui. Before Satoru could deal a fatal blow, he was stopped by Kagawa, who did not wish for any unnecessary fatalities. Later, Kagawa would later find himself being forced into making a heavy decision. Shiro had arranged for a Mirror Monster to kill Kagawa’s wife and son. Shiro would allow the two to live if Kagawa returned Shiro the Alternative Zero Deck. Satoru loyally stated that Kagawa’s decision had already been made beforehand, firmly believing that Kagawa would readily sacrifice his family for the betterment of mankind. Satoru would be proven right as Kagawa joined a massive battle between himself, Satoru, Shinji (who had just moments ago saved Kagawa’s family), Kamen Rider Knight, Kamen Rider Zolda, Kamen Rider Ohja (who had developed a grudge against Satoru) and an entire swarm of Zelles. After the battle’s end, Kagawa checked on the condition of his family, glad to realize that they were indeed alive. Satoru was actually surprised by Kagawa’s show of compassion, to which Kagawa told Satoru that a hero was useless if he was numb to human emotions.

Satoru and Kagawa would later find themselves interrogated by Reiko, leading to Satoru identifying the woman as a threat. He made an attempt to kill her but his efforts were in vain thanks to Kitaoka. The result was a battle between the two which ended with Kitaoka being critically injured. However, Kagawa voiced his disappointment yet again over Satoru’s rash actions, reprimanding the young man once more.

The two would later find themselves having to deal with another variable in their plans. Apparently, a young Rider by the name of Mitsuru Sano wishes to ally himself with them, throwing rather exaggerated compliments at them. As proof of his worth, Sano took it upon himself to defeat a Sheerghost, which coincidentally was being handled by Shinji as well. It would turn out that Shinji and Sano appeared to be on familiar - and even friendly - terms. Satoru took it upon himself at that moment to attack Shinji. Quite unsurprisingly, Sano chose not to participate in the fight, although he did opt to cheer Shinji on. Before Satoru could kill Shinji, he was once again stopped by Kagawa. After Kagawa, Satoru and Sano returned to the lab, Sano queried on whether he would be allowed to join them. When questioned about his cheering of Shinji, Sano simply feigned ignorance, all the while saying that he’d offer his services to them for the right price.

Kagawa, despite admitting that Sano probably did not understand what exactly he and Satoru wanted, decided to allow Sano to help them much to Satoru's chagrin as they decide to abandon their base. During that time, Kagawa invited Satoru for dinner with his family, hoping to allow Satoru to realize the compassion he believed a ‘hero’ should have. Later, when Sano had located Yui, Satoru and Kagawa arrived to aid him in killing the girl, while trying to stop Shinji from interfering. However, before Yui could be killed by the Contracted Monsters of the three Riders, she somehow manages to control them into attacking their masters.

Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Kagawa attempted to kill Yui himself. However, Satoru betrayed Kagawa, claiming that in order to be a true hero, one had to win the Rider War. Because of that, Satoru would have to kill Kagawa, an act which he swiftly committed based on Kagawa's words that a hero must sacrifice those he loves. This action resulted in Satoru losing his nerve and become more crazed and being wracked with guilt.

Satoru would be confronted by Sano later on, the latter wondering if the contract he made with Kagawa was still in effect. Satoru merely dismissed Sano, stating that his wish to become a hero did not involve Sano’s participation. Sano complied though not before noting that Satoru did not at all seem as clear as he did before. Asakura would later appear to pick a fight with Satoru, still holding a grudge against the young man for having defeated him before. With Satoru unable to pull himself together, Ouja gave Taiga a quick and painful defeat as he barely managed to escape with his life. The losing streak continued with a fight against Zolda.

Luckily for Satoru, Sano found him in his weakened state and decided to allow Satoru to stay with him until he got better. During his stay with Sano, Satoru admitted that the reason he wanted to be a ‘hero’ was that he wanted people to like him more. It was also during this period that Satoru admitted that he saw Sano as a friend. However, Satoru later contradicted himself when he interrupted a battle between Imperer and Ryuki, betraying Sano and injured the man before Ryuki interferes while he was able to kill Imperer. However, Satoru was convinced that he managed to kill Sano, rescuing Asakura from a police chase to demand a rematch, But when Asakura revealed to Satoru that he did not kill Sano and Asakura personally finished him off, Satoru panics and runs off. Satoru later ambushed Kitaoka and began a battle with him, losing as Kitaoka explained to Satoru that the moment he wanted to become a ‘hero’, was the moment he failed in his goal. Shinji later finds Satoru in Lab 401 destroying all the notes on Mirror World, confused about what he should do now and wished that Kagawa was still alive. Later while, watching Kitaoka, Asakura, and Ren participate in a three-way battle, Satoru poured kerosene all over Kitaoka’s car, as an act of desperation of destroying their only way out of Mirror World before joining the fray only to be defeated by Asakura yet again. Luckily, Satoru managed to once again escape, believing the three are good as dead after hearing the car explode. But as he runs off, Satoru saw a father and son, briefly reminding him of Kagawa and his own child. However, a truck was about to crash into the two, and Satoru sacrificed himself to save them. The injuries Satoru sustained were fatal. During his last moments, Satoru remembered what Kitaoka had told him about his wish to be a hero. As Satoru died, he wondered about how he could have been one.

Ironically, the following day, a newspaper featured an article on Satoru's good deed. He was labeled a "hero", but would never live to know about it.

After Shiro restored time to its proper course after Yui's death, Satoru was given a second chance in life with no memory of being a Rider. He accidentally bumps into Shinji with his bike, apologizing afterward.

Kamen Rider Ryuki: World of If
In this S.I.C. alternate retelling of the story, the remaining Riders are Ryuki (now Ryuga), Knight, Tiger, Ouja and Odin.

After Shinji is possed by Dark Shinji, becomes Ryuga, he starts to turn into a mindless rampant in the Mirror World. Tiger shows up and tries to stop him only to be easily defeated by Ryuga in his Survive mode.

Kamen Rider Decade
Tiger appeared with Kamen Rider Delta as shadows in a dimensional distortion caused by Narutaki to take KickHopper and PunchHopper out of the World of Kuuga. Judging from KickHopper's comment "Another hell awaits.", it can be assumed that the two Riders were waiting to fight them.

OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders
Kamen Rider Tiger was part of a group of reinforcement riders led by Akira Date/Kamen Rider Birth to aid the primary riders in defeating the Rock Great Leader. All the Kamen Riders got on their bikes and performed the All Rider Break attack which destroyed the Great Leader.

Kamen Rider Tiger
Kamen Rider Tiger Rider Statistics Ability Parameters: Like other Ryuki Riders, Tiger transforms using his Advent Deck, providing him with Advent Cards to summon weapons and attacks. Similar to Kamen Rider Scissors and Kamen Rider Gai, Tiger relies on brute force to win his battles, using his Dest Visor (デストバイザー) battle axe to make use of his cards. As an alternate weapon, his Strike Vent equips him with his Dest Claw; arm-claws which he can use to hack and slash away at an enemy. He also relies on his Contract Monster Destwilder to assist him in battle. Additionally, he has the Freeze Vent card, which allows him to immobilize an opponent's monster in battle. Tiger's Final Vent is called Crystal Break (クリスタルブレイク) where Destwilder attacks by dragging the enemy across the ground towards Tiger, who stabs them with his Dest Claw and raises them into the air. In the PlayStation video game, however, Destwilder simply jumps behind the enemy, then throws them, which is then hit by Tiger's Dest Claw, possibly due to console's technical limitations.
 * Height: 197cm
 * Weight: 97kg
 * Punching Power: 12.5t (250AP)
 * Kicking Power: 20t (400AP)
 * Maximum Jump Height: 40m
 * Maximum Running Speed: 100m per 5 seconds
 * Sight: 20km
 * Hearing: 15km

Appearances: Ryuki Episode 33, 35-36, 38-46

Contract Monster


The humanoid tiger monster that is contracted to Tiger's Advent Deck.

Equipment

 * Advent Deck - Advent Card holders, also used as a key to transformation. As long as Satoru  holds one, he can detects presents of other Riders and Mirror Monsters inside the Mirror World, as well as surviving without dying when return to real world.
 * V-Buckle - Transformation belt materialised from a mirror reflection.
 * Advent Cards - Trading cards that supply the user powers, weapons and Mirror Monsters (if they catch any).

Weapons

 * Tiger
 * Dest Claws - Pair of hands of the Destwilder.

Portrayal
Satoru Tojo is portrayed by Jun Takatsuki (高槻 純), who has previously portrayed Genki Kagura in Ultraman Neos. As Kamen Rider Tiger, his suit actor was Naoki Nagase (永瀬 尚希).