is a Japanese tokusatsu series that serves as the 12th installment in the Kamen Rider franchise and the third entry in the Heisei era. The series follows idealist journalist Shinji Kido as he attempts to stop the violent Rider War from claiming more innocent lives than it already has.
Main characters
Shinji Kido
is a kind-hearted, friendly, simple, and naive idealist who works at the ORE Journal as a journalist trainee until he finds one of Shiro Kanzaki's Card Decks, encounters the Asian dragon-like Mirror Monster , and stumbles into the Mirror World while investigating Koichi Sakakibara's disappearance. Despite being told to stay out of the Rider War by Ren Akiyama, Shinji chooses to join anyway to stop the other Mirror Monsters from devouring people and stop the Rider War, forming a contract with Dragreder and becoming Kamen Rider Ryuki in the process. By the series finale, he dies protecting civilians from a pack of Mirror Monsters, but Shiro reverses the Rider War's events, resurrecting its participants and allowing them to resume their normal lives.
In combat, Shinji possesses the gauntlet, which allows him to summon Dragreder, the , the gauntlet, and the twin as well as perform the finisher with the appropriate Advent Cards. With the card, he can transform further into and evolve Dragreder into , giving it the ability to transform into a motorcycle. In this form, he wields the firearm, which can convert into the sword and allow him to perform the finisher alongside Dragranzer.
Shinji Kido is portrayed by .
Ren Akiyama
is a cold loner who fights constantly and is frequently unemployed. Sometime prior to the series, he joined Shiro Kanzaki's Rider War to revive his fiancé, Eri Ogawa, who fell into a coma following an encounter with the bat-like Mirror Monster , who he formed a contract with to become . Despite initial reluctance, he befriends Shinji Kido and fights alongside him to stop Mirror Monsters and malicious Rider War competitors until Shinji gives his life saving civilians. Ultimately, Ren faces the last participant, Kamen Rider Odin, in combat until Shiro's sister Yui dies, causing Odin to fade away. Despite becoming the winner by default, Shiro reverses the Rider War, leading to Ren becoming a full-time employee at the Atori coffee shop while Eri is revived in the new timeline.
In combat, Ren wields the rapier, which allows him to summon Darkwing, the lance, and illusionary copies of himself as well as perform the finisher with the appropriate Advent Cards. On its own, Darkwing can mount itself on Knight's back to form a cape-like shield and perform the and attacks. With the card, Ren can transform into and evolve Darkwing into , granting it the ability to transform into a motorcycle. In this form, he possesses the left arm-mounted scabbard, which can either separate into the sword and the or convert into the crossbow and allow him to perform the finisher alongside Darkraider.
Ren Akiyama is portrayed by .
Yui Kanzaki
is a young caring woman who had been aiding Ren prior to the series to locate her long-lost brother Shiro Kanzaki. While investigating Shiro's disappearance over the course of the series, she discovers the drawings they made as children served as the basis for the Mirror World's monsters and that, due to their neglectful parents, the real Yui died and allowed her Mirror World counterpart to inhabit her body. Due to being unable to survive outside of the Mirror World, the doppelganger will die on Yui's twentieth birthday, which led to Shiro developing the Rider War in the hopes of saving her. Having repressed these memories, Yui remains unaware of them until the present. Despite Shiro, Ren, and Shinji Kido's best efforts, the Mirror World Yui fades from existence short of the deadline, though her spirit appears before Shiro to tell him she did not want him to save her in the manner he wanted, inspiring him to reverse the Rider War's events.
In an alternate ending depicted in the film Kamen Rider Ryuki: Episode Final, the lonely Yui had met and befriended Shinji as children, but he seemingly abandoned her despite promising not to. Yui was invited by her Mirror World counterpart to play with her, only to learn she will immediately die if she returns to the real world. Yui's doppelganger loaned the original her lifespan, which will last until her twentieth birthday, in exchange for Yui and Shiro's drawings. After joining Ren and Shinji in their fight against the Mirror Monsters in the present, Yui eventually dies, though an angered Shiro does not end the Rider War.
Yui Kanzaki is portrayed by .