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gaykamenriderdreams · 1 year ago

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Alright ok alright ok ALRIGHT

Shin Kamen Rider (2023). ALRIGHT.

This movie dropkicked me off a building so hard I BOUNCED when I hit the ground

And now I'm going to talk about it! Literally cannot shut up!

This got LONG (hit the post size limit) so I'm going to shove it under a Read More or two to be polite. [This is part 1 of 2!]

Have fun!!

To start things off, let’s talk

BACKGROUNDS

Starting with Hongo!

Comparing 71 vs the manga...

In both, he’s still a student. In 71, he’s an active member of the Tachibana racing club, with several friends who are club members! Most of them are out of town, but can be expected to return for races, especially his friend and racing rival, Goro Hayase!

In the manga, he was raised and supported by Tachibana Tobei after both his parents passed away in his youth.

Shin Kamen Rider (2023) uses NEITHER of these backstories, and in the process, it makes Hongo more alone than ever. No family, no friends, no racing club, just one former professor that didn’t stay in contact and then betrayed his trust and violated his bodily autonomy.

And I'm not just talking about turning him into an Aug either!! When they meet again, Professor Midorikawa just GRABS Hongo’s belt to demonstrate how to release the transformation. Without asking, without explaining it so Hongo can do it on his own without being touched. That belt is part of him now. Grabbing it like that… It’s just not the same as fixing someone’s tie or wiping food off their face—though you’d ASK before you did those things too.

I wanted to punch this man for real for real. Don't think that just because you designed him you have the right to put your damn hands on him!! BACK THE FUCK UP

...I personally enjoyed how they took some time to recognize Professor Midorikawa’s culpability for Hongo’s abduction.

In the manga he says he meant for them to escape together before Hongo was modified, but in the ’71 show he says no such thing. He asks for Hongo’s forgiveness, but doesn’t deny that he recommended Hongo to Shocker.

In Shin… he doesn’t even seem sorry. AT ALL.

He justifies everything to Hongo by poking at sensitive subjects that were likely discussed in confidence, if at all. And all this is in front of Ruriko, this girl Hongo’s never met, who proceeds to tell him to his face that the reason he’s alone is because he’s unlikeable. And Professor Midorikawa doesn’t say a word in Hongo’s defense! He silently agrees with her! He’s probably even the person that told her that about Hongo in the first place!

Even when Hongo looks at him for help and support, the professor just ignores him. And Hongo just… silently accepts that. Like he didn’t expect anything else.

Like he expects to be ignored, or betrayed, or hurt by others. Like that’s what “normal” is for him.

AND THAT AIN’T EVEN GETTING INTO THE SHIT WITH HIS DAD DING-DONG DITCH DYING ON HIM HOOO BOY

And then there’s Hayato!

Hey what the fuck does that mean?

Comparing Hayato's original appearances...

In 71 he appears from nowhere like he was born on that table.

There’s One Guy (Mr. Yamazaki) that he studied photography with, and he doesn’t even know Hayato that well!! They were acquaintances, from Yamazaki’s point of view. And even after Hayato saves his life, he’s just like “well, time to go back to not ever contacting him” like what

In the manga, he has a family in a fishing village. He left and published a series of photographs called “Chasing the Black Rain”, discussing the long-term effects of nuclear fallout from the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. During the project, he made friends with two survivors, a kid with leukemia and his older sister. They’ve known each other for months, and he visits them regularly.

So it seems like Shin Kamen Rider leans more into the ’71 series for Hayato’s backstory.

He’s alone too. If he has any connections with other people, they’re superficial. Colleagues, former classmates… none of whom bothered to stay in touch. No one who Hayato would want to get in touch with when he was freed. No one who’d care when he went missing. No one who’d care if he stayed gone.

With background established, there’s two questions left.

How’d he end up in Shocker’s hands?

And how he’d end up an Aug? THESE ARE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS.

Presumably, they picked him up when he was getting a little too close to getting a scoop on Shocker. There’s plenty of missing-persons cases he could have gotten caught up in, especially given all the incident reports on Shocker operations that Taki has.

Ending up an Aug though… that’s more complex.

The average Shocker abduction victim or volunteer just becomes a mindless drone—one of the goons. NOT a full Aug.

The Augs seem to be exclusively those people that the AI “I” decides are truly miserable, moreso than anyone else.

SO HEY WHAT DOES THAT MEAN ABOUT HAYATO. HMM.

SADNESS

They’re both really sad (in different ways)! And the fact that they’re both Augs and not regular goons is canon confirmation of that!

Ichiro/Butterfly Guy says that he ‘tweaked’ Hayato. So he didn’t make him from scratch, like Professor Midorikawa did for Hongo. Which MEANS that whatever sorting process the AI “I” goes through to pick Augs, Hayato qualified, without anyone else’s thumbs on the scales.

On Hongo’s side of things, I’d argue that if Professor Midorikawa was able to get permission to make Hongo into an Aug, that also means he was able to convince K that Hongo would fulfill I’s Miserable Requirements, whatever those are. There aren’t very many Augs to start with, and Ruriko’s shock at there being an Aug she didn’t know about suggests that they take time, skilled labor, and resources to make—which Shocker might not have in large supply, since they still seem to be getting their footing as a cult. So I think they would be pretttty picky about who exactly get the “privilege” of being augmented. This would also make the “glum-chum” comment from Ruriko make even more sense. If she’s saying that, she must have heard it or read it from somewhere, likely from Professor Midorikawa. He’d probably mention it or put it in his notes on Hongo IF it was important for his plans—and if “I” only accepts Aug candidates that are depressed, and Midorikawa needs an Aug candidate he KNOWS will qualify… that could be a large part of why Hongo was picked in the first place. The Professor even seems to indirectly confirm this when he justifies his decision to Hongo. He says “I know your despair” and says that “it had to be you”. If Hongo’s the most miserable guy he knows, and he needed someone sad in order to ‘pass inspection’… then yeah, it had to be Hongo.

In the same speech he claims that Hongo “wanted it”. What he DOESN’T say is anything like “I wanted to help you”. He damn well knows what he did was selfish, and that he’s exploiting Hongo’s suffering for power, even IF he’s trying to use that power to destroy Shocker’s evil.

"You wanted it". Disgusting. That's a pretty excuse, if by pretty you mean "pretty damn bullshit".

Anyway back to Hongo and Hayato.

APPROACHES TO PEOPLE

The way these two think about other people drives me insane. It’s so different from their previous portrayals in a way that’s so fascinating to me.

In Shin Kamen Rider, Hongo really does think that he’s loved and cared about.

But everyone he thinks that about, hurts him relentlessly, and/or just leaves. They’re not reliable.

His dad! Doesn’t even look at Hongo. Even when they're face-to-face he doesn't focus on what's right in front of him. He gets himself killed without any sort of safety net for his kid when he Damn Well Knows he’s a cop and that’s a dangerous job. (For every other version of Hongo, he at least has Tachibana!) And I hear you saying, he didn’t mean to leave Hongo behind… which is true! But I’m not talking about what any of these characters meant to have happen, I'm talking about the impact they had on Hongo, and the way they made him feel emotionally.

Professor Midorikawa! Solely responsible for getting him Borged and then doesn’t even have the decency to treat him with respect afterwards! Heavily implied he was saying shit about Hongo behind his back! And then he dies!

Ruriko (when they first meet)! Eventually, the care he shows her is reciprocated when she recognizes that what he fears more than almost anything else is being abandoned, AGAIN. So she figures out how to stay even IF she dies. But before that she is… really quite mean.

But even though these people caused him pain, Hongo doesn’t care, because being hurt is just normal, for him.

People he cares about hurt him so much, too much, and he thinks that's normal. That’s just how it is. That’s how love works, the people who love you hurt you, and then you’re not good enough somehow, and then they leave you behind.

Hayato… he thinks nobody SHOULD love him. Because why would they?

Because that's just normal. Nobody has before so nobody should.

For him seeing anyone express any sort of care towards him is just… alien. He hasn’t a clue what to do.

It’s like, “If you care about me that's weird why are you doing that? Let me help I'll just go away. That will make things better (normal) again”

He tries to get away from Hongo as fast as he can, but why? He LIKES Hongo. He takes his photo. He wants to remember him. He wants to help him. So if he’s leaving, he must think that that’s how he can help. That’s what ‘helping’ is—staying away.

He goes out of his way to tell Hongo that hey, you don’t need to worry about me! I’ll be fine! I’m okay with being alone, so you don’t have to be guilty! You can be relieved that I’m gone! (Everyone else is relieved when I leave. That’s just normal)

OOHG but their ideas of "normal" just HURT them SO SO SO BAD

NEED EACH OTHER

So what really REALLY kicks my ass is how the fucked up way they both view relationships is mended by their partnership with each other. They finally get to interact with someone who breaks their expectation of how things are “supposed” to work, and in doing so, they form an equal relationship of mutual care.

This really came together for me in the dark of the tunnel.

They both have a moment where they just. PAUSE. And don't say anything. And just, process. In silence.

AND IT'S A DIFFERENT MOMENT FOR BOTH OF THEMM

Hayato's Big Pause is when Hongo calls them the Double Riders for the first time (this is also the first time in the film where anyone claims Hayato as "theirs" or "belonging" in any way that's RECIPROCATING Hayato's feelings instead of commanding him)

And he just. He Doesn't Say Anything for a LONG moment. He has to PROCESS THAT.

BELONGING to someone, BELONGING WITH someone.

As a PERSON, not a tool.

FOR THE FIRST TIME.

For HONGO, it's here

Someone asking him if he's okay, offering to help, not leaving even when he's struggling to keep up, coming BACK for him. It’s the first time someone comes BACK.

He takes SO LONG to take Hayato's hand... it's like he's scared it'll be pulled away again....

AND THEN HE APOLOGIZES FOR BEING HESITANT.

They both provide what the other thinks is impossible.

For Hayato, it's the living-in-the-moment EXPERIENCE of Having Someone There who Wants Him To Stay.

And for Hongo, it's the PROMISE of being there to help not hurt, the reliability, the not-going-to-abandon-you,,,, and the only thing he can do in response to that impossible premise, of “someone who won’t abandon you, someone who will come back”, is promise to right back, to never leave Hayato alone, even if he dies. He also finds a way to stay, because he knows how being left behind feels.

It seems like despite Hongo saying he doesn't want to be like his father, he ended up dying like him anyway, but!! I don't see it that way.

He made sure that no matter what, he wouldn't be leaving his loved ones all alone. Even though he didn't think he'd survive, he wanted to at least make sure his helmet was recovered, so that Hayato and Ruriko would both have each other to lean on.

I have to lie down this shit is too much

Also FUCK I did NOT come up with this but as soon as I saw it it KICKED my FUCKING ass

So there’s this repeated line about “pain” being one stroke away from “happiness”, when you write it out—

—And hey look look look LOOK

Ichimonji Hayato —>一文字隼人

HEY WHAT’S THAT??? ONE STROKE??? 一????

Literally translated, Hayato’s first name means something like “the character for one”

So… he’s the one line needed to turn Hongo’s pain into happiness

Yeah just bury me in the dirt, alright, ok,

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS VERY MUCH DUE

[THIS IS PART ONE OF TWO IF YOU LIKED IT YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY READING PART 2 here or on my actual blog here (it's green! Yeah!)]

#Shin Kamen Rider #shin kamen rider spoilers #This is just the first half of my stupidly long essay

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2030kamenriders · 1 year ago

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Perhaps it's because of trying to recover from near-burn-out this summer, but I can't help but see this as a metaphor for developing long-term illness from overwork.

As you read the first few pages, you learn that Gregor has been single-handedly paying the family bills for the past 5 years. Also he's about halfway though paying off his parents' debt to this business. And to make it worse, his boss is that type of guy who thinks burnt-out or chronically-ill people are just being lazy. But here's the thing (and it's a painfully relatable thing too): Gregor doesn't even want to call in sick. Despite being extremely sick from the transformation, he wants to work. He is ignoring and minimizing his symptoms, trying to tell himself everything is alright.

I get the impression that he just really doesn't want to let his family down. Not just in terms of his parents' debt, but also his sister. See, his sister is a teenager who likes playing violin, and Gregor was going to surprise her on the holidays by paying for her tuition for professional music school.

And even though the story is in 3rd person, you could still understand just how painful the whole situation is on the guy: not just physically, but emotionally.

Early on, the bug symptoms worsen so that he can't talk properly. He still understands what everyone else says, but they just hear a bunch of bug noises, with maybe some words muffled underneath those sounds. But instead of trying to have even a basic, rudimentary, stilted attempt at trying to communicate with him sometimes, they don't even try. They act like he doesn't understand them either.

I repeat: they assume he doesn't understand them, just because he can't talk anymore. That hurt. That hurt to read. And in a sort of warped way, it just hit some painful memories I have.

(But that's a tangent for a different time. Because right now I have a lot of other thoughts to unpack.)

Despite the situation, Gregor is still focused on making sure his family isn't more stressed by him than they are. Because he quickly figures out that his family is terrified of him.Even when they're trying to be "helpful", it's bare-minimum stuff and it's done in a way that makes it very clear to Gregor that they're terrified of him. So he does everything he can to stay out of their way, even out of their sight.

(And don't even get me started on the other characters. Not a single one of them treated him with any humanity.)

Gregor does get beat up a few times too. But to my surprise, that's not really the direct cause of his death. Instead, after months of this treatment and a particularly stressful day, his family start questioning if he's really still the Gregor they knew, and talk about how much they need to get rid of him.

And all while he's right there in front of them.

Listening to every word.

And the heartbreaking thing is that, at this point, he agrees. Whatever shred of hope or will to live he had in him, it was just gone.

And even as he dozes off to sleep that night, he still doesn't even hate them! And you can tell, because despite being written in 3rd-person, the story was written so that you could really feel how Gregor felt. And when does it end? When does the story end?!

When he dies? No, it ends after that!

When he gets buried? Nope. Heck, we don't even know what happens to his body after the house finds out he's dead. We just know that the cleaning lady "took care of it" (and she says this in the most suspicious and malicious-sounding way possible)!

The story ends with Gregor's parents and sister going on a little trip to the sunny countryside that day, while realizing that they are actually doing pretty okay financially now. And now they're planning to fire their old housekeeping staff, move, and have a fresh start. yay?

No, not "yay"! That was your family member! He just died! And not a single one of you even bothered to consider giving him any sort of funeral. You guys had the audacity— the damned audacity!— to look at his corpse and literally say "thank god he's dead".

This entire darn time he was a bug (even after his death, in that sort-of 4th-wall-breaking way I tried to mention above), Gregor's top priority wasn't himself. It was his family. And when he needed them most, they couldn't treat him the same.

(Before reading The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka): well this is gonna be an interesting story to read.

(After reading The Metamorphosis): Gregor... bro... (Fists start shaking Kotaro-Minami-style as I think about the way all the other characters treated him)

#2030kamenriders reads a book sort of #Gregor get over here we're taking you to Tobei Tachibana's place. he's your new dad now you can help him sell bike helmets #(as you can tell I am very emotional about this)#long post #spoilers #although despite the spoilers i highly recommend reading it yourself. it's still a very powerful story even if spoiled #also it's not that long. not sure if it was a translation thing but it only had 3 chapters #but they were really well-written chapters

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