History Series / KamenRiderRyuki

** Since [[BadassNormal Kazuya Taki]] from [[Series/KamenRider the first series]], up until [[Series/KamenRiderAgito Makoto Hikawa]], most audiences would assume that cop is our hero's best friend. Then Masashi Sudo reminds us that [[DirtytCop bad cops]] exist.

Thirteen Advent Card decks have been created for thirteen Kamen Riders, and ThereCanBeOnlyOne. The mastermind behind the Rider War is Shirou Kanzaki, Yui's missing brother, and he offers to grant a single wish to the last Rider standing. Shinji is determined to stop the in-fighting between the Riders and concentrate on eliminating the threat of the Mirror Monsters, but Ren is equally determined to have his wish granted, and he isn't the only one. Ideals and friendships clash on and off the battlefield as the pressure of the war grows and the Riders are eliminated one by one.

* AccidentalMisnaming: In episode 4, Shinji (still barely knowing Ren, not knowing his name exactly) keeps yelling after Ren, mistakingly calling him "Ron".

** The TV series, the ''13 Riders'' special and TheMovie all exist in their own timelines. [[spoiler:This is a result of Shirou Kanzaki's overuse of the ResetButton. The TV series is actually his ''final'' attempt to do it again]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The real ending has Shirou Kanzaki pressing the ResetButton again, only this time, he and Yui die in that reality]]

* CassandraTruth: Episode 28 has Shinji reappearing in past episodes, and all his attempts to warn everybody of the future are promptly ignored.

* ContinuitySnarl: Both the movie and the ''13 Riders'' special for this series suffer from this. The issues involving [[Film/KamenRiderRyukiEpisodeFinal Episode FINAL]] are covered on that page. As for the ''13 Riders'' special, it's implied that it takes place around the time Shinji receives the Survive card, during one of Odin's Time Vents, although there's different characterizations for Tiger, Imperer, Femme, and Ryuga (since the former two had not appeared at that point, and the latter two did not appear anywhere else outside of ''Episode [=FINAL=]'' at the time), and Shinji is given the deck, which is already contracted to Dragreder, by Koichi Sakakibara, who was Shirou's pick for Ryuki, as opposed to what happens in the show (where Shinji finds the deck, uncontracted, in Koichi Sakakibara's apartment, and it's implied that Dragreder ate Koichi prior to the start of the series).
* CoolSword: Ryuki, Knight, Ohja, Odin, Femme, Ryuga and Alternative each have one of these.
* CosmicHorrorStory: Averted. It looks very much like one at a glance, but the Rider War happened because a human, Kanzaki, made it happen. [[spoiler: And for all the power he has, controlling the Mirror Beasts and the strongest Rider, his desires are just as much out of his reach as the rest of the casts.]]
* CoversAlwaysLie: In a combination of BaitAndSwitch and NeverTrustATrailer, the ending of episode 6 shows a shadowed figure wearing gloves taking out a Card Deck and transforming into Zolda, and the next-episode preview showing an unkempt bearded man wearing gloves doing a transformation pose. And at the start of the next episode, said man is shown walking away after Zolda fights a Monster... only for the next time that Zolda's Card Deck appears on-screen be when Kitoaka takes it out of his pocket.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Even within the Kamen Rider franchise as a whole, Ryuki is one of the darker entries, holding the highest body count of major characters in the whole franchise.
** And though fairly passe now, it was the first series that featured officially recognized 'evil' Kamen Riders (as opposed to Rider-like villains, such as the Shocker Riders and Shadow Moon, that didn't carry the "Kamen Rider" title).

** It also deconstructs the {{Mons}}. Let's say you form a contract with one of them. Great! Now you can use their body parts as weapons to fight people who also use their monster's body parts to fight. You also have to fight other monsters to give your monster something to eat, unless you come to the conclusion that you can simply feed people to your monster (as Scissors and Ohja prove). If you don't fight the monsters? Then your monster gets hungry and decides to eat ''you''. It also happens if you don't even want to fight or you're forced not to. Or even if your Advent Card (the one you use to sic your monster on other people) or Deck (the thing you use to transform) get broken. And it's not like there's a good chance your monster will even be loyal to you anyways. Especially if you have two other monsters working for you that you snagged off their dead masters, or you just happened to luck out and contract a monster that comes in herds. Wow.

** PhlebotinumRebel, one of the central tropes of the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchise, is also deconstructed, as attempting to use the Advent Decks against Shirou and his aims is doomed from the outset due to the fact that he reserved the most powerful Advent Deck for his own use by perfectly brainwashed drones. [[spoiler: Not to mention that he can just time travel if things get too hairy]].
*** ''Thirteen Riders'' took this trope to hell. Not everyone supports Shinji's attempts to stop the fighting and it resulted in all the remaining riders (about 9 of them) teaming up to kill him and Ren. [[spoiler: And in the alternate ending, where he ''did'' stop the fighting, Shiro simply resets time and has the fight happen all over again]].
** Since [[BadassNormal Kazuya Taki]] from [[Series/KamenRider the first series]], up until [[Series/KamenRiderAgito Makoto Hikawa]], most audiences would assume that cop is our hero's best friend. Then Masashi Sudoh reminds us that [[CorruptCop bad cops]] exist.
** Then there's the deconstruction of the SecretIdentity and LivingADoubleLife, but only for [[ButtMonkey poor]] [[TheHero Shinji]]. His time as a Rider constantly interferes with his work when he has to go off save people instead of investigate cases or write articles, and because his coworkers have no idea his pay is docked and he's only saved from being fired due to his enthusiasm and his friendship with his boss. He moans that he'll never become a journalist, though fortunately before the only time his Rider powers actually DO help his job in episodes 18 and 19.

* DivingSave: [[spoiler:Satoru Toujou]] meets his end in this way to save a father and son.

* EurekaMoment: Megumi unknowingly gives Reiko one [[spoiler: that leads her to realizing the connection between the disappearances and mirrors, and ultimately to the truth about the Rider War.]] Comically enough, while doing so, Megumi actually missed the opportunity to learn the truth much sooner.

* EyepatchOfPower: Reiko gains one out of nowhere in episode 5; a possible case of WrittenInInfirmity, as she mentions in-show that she contracted pinkeye.

*** TeamPet: Megumi

* TheHeroDies: Shinji in episode 49. [[spoiler:He remains the only protagonist Rider to ''not'' survive the story.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Tezuka, Toujou, Shinji and Gorou.]]

* IdentityImpersonator: Two fake decks were made for Kamen Rider Tiger so no-one would know who was behind the mask. In a later example, [[spoiler:Gorou takes Kitaoka's place as Zolda when the latter finally succumbs to his cancer]].

* InSpiteOfANail: [[spoiler: Shinji when trying to change the past after Odin used his Time Vent, nothing he does manages to have an effect. The closest he came was warning Kitoako that Asakura would become a Rider and break out of jail. Kitoaka believed him, but decided against preventing Asakura from becoming a Rider because there had to 13 Riders in the battle the winner to get the prize.]]
** No matter the timeline, Shiro Kanzaki can never [[spoiler: stop Yui's death or prevent Shinji from becoming a Rider.]]
* IronicEcho: In the very first episode, Yui walks right up to Shinji and asks: "Are you a Kamen Rider?" (He wasn't one yet, but he had found the deck) Flashforward 48 episodes later, and [[spoiler: after Yui has faded away, [[IntrepidReporter Reiko]], who has seen Shinji transform and enter a mirror, and learned who the Riders are, as well as nearly everything important about the rider war,]] asking him the exact same question.

* JigsawPuzzlePlot: The main series itself is pretty easy to decipher (ThereCanOnlyBeOne Kamen Rider, the BigBad wants to win the war for himself with OP powers [[spoiler: so he can save his sister]]) but the metaplot [[spoiler: (This isn't the first Rider War, as the BigBad keeps time travelling so he can find a way to save his sister, but Shinji becomes Ryuki and delays the killing)]] is a little harder to see. It's only implied in any way in the movies.

* LovecraftLite: So you've got a Mirror World which kills people that stay there too long, Monsters that can appear pretty much anywhere and pull them into it, and a shady antagonist who has nigh-godlike powers to control these monsters [[spoiler: and even time.]]
* LoyalPhlebotinum: In one episode Kitoaka's injured and can't load his cards, and Shinji as expected agrees to be a pal and loads them into his own visor. Shinji expects to get to wield another Rider's weapons, but finds out for a Rider to activate a weapon they only have to be loaded into a visor, it doesn't matter whose, and Kitoaka gets his own weapons even though Shinji's using them in his gear.

* MistakenForDying: In episode 30, Shuichi is convinced he should see his ex-girlfriend Megumi again because she's dying. Except her only problem is low blood pressure, she just thought she's dying because she exaggerates drama.

* MoralityKitchenSink: [[TheHero Shinji Kido/Ryuki]] and [[FortuneTeller Tezuka Miyuki/Raia]] are unambiguously good, if not flawed in their reluctance to fight against the other Riders. While [[TheRival Ren Akiyama/Knight]] and [[AmoralAttorney Shuichi Kitaoka/Zolda]] are both portrayed sympathetically and are more often than not Shinji's allies, they're still complicit in the Rider War's continuation, making them land mostly in the grey territory. Most of the other Riders such as [[AxCrazy Takeshi Asakura/Ouja]] and [[TheSociopath Satoru Toujou/Tiger]] fall into the evil category, and even [[BigBad Shiro Kanzaki]] can be argued to be within a very dark shade of grey.

* MultipleEndings: The ''13 Riders'' TV special that allowed viewers to phone in and choose one of two endings. [[spoiler: The BolivianArmyEnding where Shinji decides to fight won.]]

** Also, Megumi and Gorou's "standoff" in Episode 30.

* NoteToSelf: After [[spoiler: Odin's Time Vent has caused him to relive the entire Rider War up to that point, including the deaths,]] Shinji uses this tropes. Hundred of Postit notes in both his room and his office ([[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments to the frustration of Yui and Ookubo]]) all with the same words: '''Punch where there's Golden Feathers.''' It lets him score the first hit on Odin at that point...... [[SubvertedTrope And has no effect.]]
** The punch may not have caused damage, but it ''proved'' to Shinji that [[spoiler:he ''could'' fight against Odin and the time loops, even if the only real change he could make was landing a punch where he couldn't before]]. This is important as [[spoiler: only Shinji, not being chosen by Kanzaki Shiro, can fight against the loops. He will always become a Rider, no matter what Kanzaki does.]]

* RecapEpisode: Episode 28, sort of. [[spoiler: Time Vent's use effectively recaps the story to that point.]]

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Toujou.]]

* RippleEffectProofMemory: Because [[spoiler:he was never chosen by Shirou Kanzaki]], Shinji is the only one who can resist the memory-erasing effects of Odin's ''Time Vent''.
* RunningGag: In the second episode, Shinji racks up a 50,000 yen debt to Ren after Yui smashes a store window to save his life, and Ren volunteers to pay for it. This debt is constantly increasing throughout the series: Ren's itemised bill includes charges such as "Keeping Me Awake Fee" and "General Annoyance Fee".
* SaveTheVillain: Shinji attempts this twice, once when [[spoiler: Odin used his Time Vent, and having some memory of how things occurred with Suuichi, tries to prevent his death, but fails.]] Later does this for Asakura of all people, because a girl his saved, abit for less then heroic reasons, seeing him would encourage her to get better, he makes sure that he can feed his Contract Beasts on a trio of Mirror Beasts he was hunting.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: [[spoiler:Shirou Kanzaki]] attempts to do this multiple times to [[spoiler:get the ending that he wants]]. While he is successful in altering inconsequential details, [[spoiler:he never manages to save Yui or prevent Shinji from becoming a Rider]].
* ShoutOut: The transporting of Asakura in episode 36, to ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' -- only they didn't put a muzzle on him until episode 40. And just to hammer it home, [[spoiler:he stages another jailbreak by swapping places with his victim, strapping the victim into his Hannibal chair while he himself gets carted out on a stretcher.]]

* SuperpowerLottery: You've got Zolda with the GameBreaker Final Vent, you've got Ouja who gets three monsters, you've got Imperer who has a ''herd'' of monsters, you've got Odin who [[spoiler: was designed to ''win'' the Rider War]] and then you've got Ryuki, who needs to use up one card to summon a serviceable hand weapon. Lampshaded when Raia chooses to use Copy Vent to 'borrow' one of Ryuki's weapons rather than use his own.

* TimeTravel: ''Scads'' of it. It was only used twice in the series, [[spoiler: once in attempting to remove Shinji from the war and the second time to make sure it never happened in the first place]], but the entire metaplot is that [[spoiler: Shiro Kanzaki obssessively reset time again and again to find a way to save Yui. The TV series is his final attempt, with Yui finally convincing him to end it all.]]

* UnbuiltTrope: Ryuki is often credited as being a TropeCodifier to many of the battle-royale tropes used in much of Japanese media, but a closer look at it shows that it deconstructs those tropes just as often. Fighters never play fair, bypassing Fighting Game-style CompetitiveBalance with dirty tricks up their sleeves that have just as much to do with engaging in as they do avoiding direct confrontations in combat, and even a few of the fighters die outside of the fight anyways. However, much of that doesn't matter, since the man in charge of the whole thing has access to the most powerful being in the battle royale, wanting to win it himself and not intending for anyone else to get the wish being offered up. But it's not any easier on his side of the story either, since no matter what he tries, there will always be one person that doesn't submit to the rules, and he'll make the oh-so tiniest mistake that causes him to lose no matter what he has on his side. Essentially, Ryuki shows how the battle-royale is painful and pointless for anyone involved, and even the happiest ending possible in the series [[spoiler: makes it so that the fight never started in the first place.]]

** Played even straighter with the other Riders. Kitaoka is a [[spoiler:terminally ill]], golf-playing lawyer. Shibaura is a computer nerd. Kagawa is a mild-mannered middle-aged academic. Only Ren (bar room brawler), Sudou (hardened cop) and Asakura (psycho outlaw) have plausible fighting skills.

The series was adapted for Western audiences in 2009 as ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight''. As part of the franchise's 50th anniversary, Creator/ShoutFactory announced both ''Ryuki'' and ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'' would come to the west through their [=TokuSHOUTsu=] channel and online website.

* LicensedGame: For the PS1.

* MythologyGag: Most ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series feature a spider monster in the first episode; Ryuki raises the bar with a GiantSpider that [[OneWingedAngel comes back to life once]].

The series was adapted for Western audiences in 2009 as ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight''.

* LicensedGame: Obtained one, in which the game is played on a ''UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}} even though it was released in 2002''... Though if it's [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames good]] or [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames not]] depends.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: See ReverseFunnyAneurysm below. A full list about halfway down [[http://www.animeniacs.com/index.php?act=reviews&subact=d_qrev&id=317 this page]].

!This series contains examples of:

* AbusiveParents: Yui and Shiro had parents who locked them up in the attic for extended periods of time and were neglectful to notice that [[spoiler:Yui got sick and died]]. [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom They'd eventually become the reason why The Rider War began]].
* AccidentalMisnaming: In episode 4, Shinji (still barely knowing Ren, not knowing his name exactly) keeps yelling after Ren, mistakingly calling him "Ron".
* AllJustADream: The Hyper Battle Video.
* AlternateTimeline:
** The TV series, the ''13 Riders'' special and TheMovie all exist in their own timelines. [[spoiler:This is a result of Shirou Kanzaki's overuse of the ResetButton. The TV series is actually his ''final'' attempt to do it again]].
** There's also a few [=SIC=] Hero Saga stories that serve as this. The first, ''World of If'', which has Shinji become ''Ryuga'' and Yui takes Kagawa's place as Alternative, as well as having Ryuga and Ouja get survive forms; the second, ''Advent Calendar'', has Ouja gathering ''all'' the contract monsters and combining them into Genosurvivor, only to have him and Genosurvivor get killed by Zolda's Final Vent (which also takes Zolda and his contract monster out), with Shinji's deceased brother possessing Shinji, becoming Ryuga, who wins the war and wishes all the riders back to life.

* LicensedGame: Obtained one, in which the game is played on a ''UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}} even though it was released in 2002''... Though if it's [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames good]] or [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames not]] depends.

* MultiformBalance:
** JokeCharacter: Blank Form, when a Rider does not posses a Contract Monster. The only Riders to have assumed this form are Ryuki and Ouja.
** JackOfAllStats: All of the Rider's default form, as well as the only only one to most of them. Ryuki himself, for his adaptive deck, is this among the Riders.
** SuperMode: Ryuki and Knight's Survive Forms. In the [[NoExportForYou SIC saga stories]], Ouja and Raia get them too.

* OnTheNextEpisodeOfCatchPhrase: The quote atop the page (or in Japanese, ''tatakawanakereba, ikinokorenai!'').

[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/450480901919342592_35s_d_5083.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:260:''ADVENT!'']]

* AlternateTimeline: The TV series, the ''13 Riders'' special and TheMovie all exist in their own timelines. [[spoiler:This is a result of Shirou Kanzaki's overuse of the ResetButton. The TV series is actually his ''final'' attempt to do it again]].
** There's also a few [=SIC=] Hero Saga stories that serve as this - the first, ''World of If'', which has Shinji become ''Ryuga'' and Yui takes Kagawa's place as Alternative, as well as having Ryuga and Ouja get survive forms; the second, ''Advent Calendar'', has Ouja gathering ''all'' the contract monsters and combining them into Genosurvivor, only to have him and Genosurvivor get killed by Zolda's Final Vent (which also takes Zolda and his contract monster out), with Shinji's deceased brother possessing Shinji, becoming Ryuga, who wins the war and wishes all the riders back to life.

* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork - In a show where ThereCanOnlyBeOne and you have someone who ''doesn't'' wish to fight the other Riders as your main character, that's when the resident AntiHero comes in, though when it comes to ''killing'' them, then you have the psychopathic BloodKnight and a HeroicWannabe to fall upon.

* {{Cameo}} - Several members of ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'''s cast, including three of the Riders, appear in ''Episode Final''.

* CassandraTruth - Episode 28 has Shinji reappearing in past episodes, and all his attempts to warn everybody of the future are promptly ignored.

* ContinuitySnarl: Both the movie and the ''13 Riders'' special for this series suffer from this - the issues involving [[Film/KamenRiderRyukiEpisodeFinal Episode FINAL]] are covered on that page. As for the ''13 Riders'' special, it's implied that it takes place around the time Shinji receives the Survive card, during one of Odin's Time Vents, although there's different characterizations for Tiger, Imperer, Femme, and Ryuga (since the former two had not appeared at that point, and the latter two did not appear anywhere else outside of ''Episode [=FINAL=]'' at the time), and Shinji is given the deck, which is already contracted to Dragreder, by Koichi Sakakibara, who was Shirou's pick for Ryuki, as opposed to what happens in the show (where Shinji finds the deck, uncontracted, in Koichi Sakakibara's apartment, and it's implied that Dragreder ate Koichi prior to the start of the series).
* CoolSword - Ryuki, Knight, Ohja, Odin, Femme, Ryuga and Alternative each have one of these.

* DarkerAndEdgier - Even within the Kamen Rider franchise as a whole, Ryuki is one of the darker entries, holding the highest body count of major characters in the whole franchise.

* DeadlyGame - Jun Shibaura/Kamen Rider Gai, who creates a video game based on the Rider War that soon spills over into real life.

* {{Deconstruction}} - of the ensemble HenshinHero genre. See FiveManBand below for one example.

* DeflectorShields - The ''Seal'' Advent Card, which protects the wielder from the attacks of a Mirror Monster in the real world.
* DivingSave - [[spoiler:Satoru Toujou]] meets his end in this way to save a father and son.
* DoppelgangerSpin - Knight's ''Trick Vent''. Jumps between this and DoppelgangerAttack; sometimes the clones physically existed and would attack, but other times they were just distractions that would vanish when hit.

* ElementalPowers - Some of the Riders have one.

** PlayingWithFire - Ryuki
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt - What happens if [[spoiler:the Rider War runs on for too long]].
* EverybodyLives - [[spoiler:The true ending of the series]].

* EverythingFades - Riders' corpses evaporate after a short while.

* EvilTwin - [[spoiler:Kamen Rider Ryuga and his Contract Monster, Dragblacker.]]
* ExtremeOmnivore - Asakura claims to have developed this trait to survive on the streets. Later on we see him take Kitaoka's seafood spaghetti and finish it, ''oyster shells and all''.
* EyepatchOfPower - Reiko gains one out of nowhere in episode 5; a possible case of WrittenInInfirmity, as she mentions in-show that she contracted pinkeye.
* {{Fanservice}} - Megumi. That is all.

*** TheHero - Ookubo certainly thinks of himself as this, but exhibits TheBigGuy behavior at times.
*** TheLancer - Reiko
*** TheSmartGuy - Shimada
*** TheChick - Shinji, [[TheHero the real Hero]]
*** TeamPet - Megumi

*** TheHero - Ryuki
*** TheLancer - Knight
*** TheSmartGuy - Zolda
*** TheBigGuy - Ohja
*** EleventhHourRanger - Agito
* FlashStep - One of Odin's abilities, which is part what made him nearly unbeatable, his opponents couldn't touch him. Also, Femme gains this with her ''Guard Vent''.

* GiantEnemyCrab - Scissors' contract monster, Volcancer.

* HeroicBSOD - Both Shinji and Ren go through these at various points in the story. Asakura has a [[VillainousBSOD Villainous BSOD]] of sorts at the end.
* ICallItVera - Shimada names her iMac 'Amaryllis' and her laptop 'White Milky'.

* ICouldaBeenAContender - The original holder of the Raia Advent Deck was Yuichi Saito, a pianist who had suffered a career-ending injury; his wish would have been to repair the damage to his hands, but he [[RefusalOfTheCall refused the call]].

* IdentityImpersonator - Two fake decks were made for Kamen Rider Tiger so no-one would know who was behind the mask. In a later example, [[spoiler:Gorou takes Kitaoka's place as Zolda when the latter finally succumbs to his cancer]].
* ImprobableWeaponUser - Most notably [[WhipSword Raia]], [[ThisIsADrill Imperer]] and [[KillerYoYo Verde]].
* {{Irony}} - Despite the fact that Raia's Contract Monster, card visor and weapon all contain the word "Evil", [[DarkIsNotEvil he is actually one of the few genuinely good Riders]].

* KickTheDog - Kitaoka faking his own death (well, Zolda's death) at the hands of TechnicalPacifist Shinji (which sends him straight into a HeroicBSOD) was the moment that really established him as a total dick.
** Even Asakura feels the need to hammer this one home, about halfway into the series; he asks Reiko to help him meet with and reconcile with his brother Akira, his only surviving family after a fire claimed the lives of their parents - [[spoiler:then announces that ''he'' was the one who started the fire in the first place, and proceeds to finish the job by feeding his brother to Venosnaker.]]
** Kagawa's personal policy, which he tries to teach Shinji - to be a hero, kick one dog if it means saving ten. [[TakeAThirdOption Shinji believes otherwise.]]

* LaserGuidedAmnesia - [[spoiler:Ren Akiyama]] undergoes a spot of this, which serves as helpful exposition into his backstory.

* MultipleEndings - The ''13 Riders'' TV special that allowed viewers to phone in and choose one of two endings. [[spoiler: The BolivianArmyEnding where Shinji decides to fight won.]]

* MythologyGag - Most ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series feature a spider monster in the first episode; Ryuki raises the bar with a GiantSpider that [[OneWingedAngel comes back to life once]].

** The Double Rider Kick appears a few times - once at the end of the Hyper Battle Video (Ryuki and Agito), and once when Shinji and Ren have to fend off a Mirror Monster ''unmorphed''.
** A minor design gag - Ryuki's eyes, Knight's mouthpiece, and Zolda's antennae all evoke the original Rider.

** Shiro Kanzaki went by the name Shiro Takami when he studied overseas - both names allude to Shiro Kazami, better known as ''Series/KamenRiderV3''.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast - Ouja's fusion monster is called ''Genocide''r.

* NoBodyLeftBehind - Those who die in the Mirror World disintegrate into nothing.

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup - Used straight and averted; Kanzaki keeps the blueprints of the Advent Decks to himself but before he could do so, Kagawa read his work and used his PhotographicMemory to reproduce it.
* NotQuiteDead - [[spoiler:Kamen Rider Odin, three times]].

* OntologicalInertia - Shinji discovers this the hard way, and later [[spoiler:Shiro Kanzaki]] comes to realise it too.
* OutOfCharacter - Played for comedy in the Ryuki VS Agito special. Ryuki, Knight, Zolda and Ouja team up against an evil Agito. The latter 3 act like stereotypical heroes of justice, despite the fact they act very selfish in the real series. Lampshaded by Shinji when even Ouja, an axe crazy murderer, proclaims he is a fighter of justice. In the end, the whole sequence is revealed to have been a dream, much to Shinji's dismay.
* PetTheDog - Even Asakura of all people gets a chance, when he saves a small girl from 3 bug-like Mirror Monsters. Admittedly it was just so he could destroy them ''himself'', but still. It's worth noting that the initial rumors only mentioned 'three monsters', making Asakura a prime suspect of sorts (because he had contracted Jun's and Tezuka's monsters as well after killing them), but Shinji and Ren gave him the benefit of the doubt.

* PhantomZone - Mirror World.

* PowerCopying - Ryuki Survive's ''Strange Vent'' card always transforms into a copy of the next card his opponent will use.

* ShoutOut: The transporting of Asakura in ep 36, to ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' - only they didn't put a muzzle on him till ep 40. And just to hammer it home, [[spoiler:he stages another jailbreak by swapping places with his victim, strapping the victim into his Hannibal chair while he himself gets carted out on a stretcher.]]
* StepfordSmiler - Mitsuru Sano (Kamen Rider Imperer).
* StockSoundEffects - The sound for the belt forming is a magic sound effect used in RPG Maker.
* SummonMagic - The ''Advent'' Advent Card summons that Rider's Contract monster.

* SuperpowerLottery - You've got Zolda with the GameBreaker Final Vent, you've got Ouja who gets three monsters, you've got Imperer who has a ''herd'' of monsters, you've got Odin who [[spoiler: was designed to ''win'' the Rider War]] and then you've got Ryuki, who needs to use up one card to summon a serviceable hand weapon. Lampshaded when Raia chooses to use Copy Vent to 'borrow' one of Ryuki's weapons rather than use his own.
* SwissArmyWeapon - Ryuki Survive's Drag Visor-Zwei and Knight Survive's Dark Visor-Zwei.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill - Zolda's Final Vent, aptly named "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin End of World]]"

* TheseHandsHaveKilled - Ren does this after he kills [[spoiler:Kamen Rider Odin]] in self-defense.

* ThisIsADrill - Knight's Final Vent.
* TimeTravel - ''Scads'' of it. It was only used twice in the series, [[spoiler: once in attempting to remove Shinji from the war and the second time to make sure it never happened in the first place]], but the entire metaplot is that [[spoiler: Shiro Kanzaki obssessively reset time again and again to find a way to save Yui. The TV series is his final attempt, with Yui finally convincing him to end it all.]]
* TransformingMecha - Dragreder and Darkwing evolve into Dragranzer and Darkraider, which transform into {{Cool Bike}}s.

* UpgradeArtifact - Played straight and subverted. When Shinji becomes Ryuki he suddenly gains the knowledge of how to hold a sword properly, how all his new abilities work and how to perform one hell of a flying side kick. However, as far as his general combat technique goes he's useless when he first becomes a Rider and only marginally improves when he upgrades to Ryuki. He slowly gets better as the series progresses; by the end his fighting skills are up there with the best of them.

** [[SuperMode Surive Cards]] play this even straighter: Shinji and Ren become much more powerful, and barring Shinji justifiably being mystified by the [[MeaningfulName aptly named]] [[PowerCopying Strange Vent]], they immediately knew how to use all of their new weapons and powers.

* WellIntentionedExtremist - While this may apply to some of the Riders, [[spoiler:Shiro Kanzaki]] is the biggest example in the series. [[spoiler:All he wants to do is save Yui's life, and it could even be argued that by recruiting people such as Shibaura, Asakura and Takamizawa, he'd be doing the world a favor by ridding the world of such deranged criminals through having them kill each other off]].
* WhatIf - Miyuki[=/=]Kamen Rider Raia was the original owner of the [[SuperMode Survive Shippu]] card, but willingly gave it to Ren. Since then, Toei has released art and figures of what [[http://ga.sbcr.jp/mfigure/010361/images/01.jpg Raia Survive]] and [[http://ga.sbcr.jp/mfigure/010361/images/000s.jpg Exodiver, the Survive version of Evildiver]], would have looked like.

* TheWorfEffect - Played straight with most of the Riders' debuts, such as when Zolda breaks out his Final Vent for the first time against both Ryuki and Knight. Subverted when the maggot monsters' first battle after evolving into a more powerful form is with Ouja - and he tears through a whole mob of them ''to start with''.
* ZergRush - Imperer's Final Vent. Also the [[BugWar swarms of maggot monsters]] towards the series finale.

* OddballInTheSeries: How different Ryuki was ''when it was new'' is something that goes over the heads of many because many of its ideas remained in the franchise. Non-insectoid Riders? Only Agito ever changed that. Carrying around a TransformationTrinket in their ''pockets'' like it's ''Franchise/SuperSentai''? That was out of the blue. ''Highlander-''like plot? That's the one part that wasn't touched again until [[Series/KamenRiderGaim Gaim]]. BlackAndGrayMorality was also new to the series. Even the ThemeSong being less 'root for the hero' and more 'J-pop song that ''sorta'' touches on the series' themes' was new. ''Today'' this series is a lot less idiosyncratic because the aforementioned elements stuck, to the point of being quite passé. But when Ryuki was new, it was ''very'' much ''Franchise/KamenRider'' InNameOnly, with nothing but the main duo having the Rider 1 and 2 poses to suggest that it was supposed to be a KR series.

In addition to the main series, ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' has three spinoffs. ''Kamen Rider Ryuki: Ryuki vs. Series/KamenRiderAgito'' is a DVD episode that was distributed by ''Televi-kun'' magazine where ''Ryuki'' crosses over with the preceding season (though it's AllJustADream of Ryuki's). ''Film/KamenRiderRyukiEpisodeFinal'' and ''Kamen Rider Ryuki Special: 13 Riders'' are a movie and TV special, respectively, set in {{Alternate Timeline}}s to the main series. Years later, Ryuki would receive a bonus episode spinning out of his guest appearance in ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'', called ''Rider Time: Ryuki''.

* CanonForeigner: Kamen Rider Abyss, who is exclusive to ''Series/KamenRiderDecade''.

* OddballInTheSeries: How different Ryuki was ''when it was new'' is something that goes over the heads of many because many of its ideas remained in the franchise. Non-insectoid Riders? Only Agito ever changed that. Carrying around a TransformationTrinket in their ''pockets'' like it's ''Franchise/SuperSentai''? That was out of the blue. ''Highlander-''like plot? That's the one part that wasn't touched again until [[Series/KamenRiderGaim Gaim]]. GreyAndBlackMorality was also new to the series. Even the ThemeSong being less 'root for the hero' and more 'J-pop song that ''sorta'' touches on the series' themes' was new. ''Today'' this series is a lot less idiosyncratic because the aforementioned elements stuck, to the point of being quite passé. But when Ryuki was new, it was ''very'' much ''Franchise/KamenRider'' InNameOnly, with nothing but the main duo having the Rider 1 and 2 poses to suggest that it was supposed to be a KR series.

* UnbuiltTrope: Ryuki is often credited as being a TropeCodifier to many of the battle-royale tropes used in much of Japanese media, but a closer look at it shows that it deconstructs those tropes just as often. Fighters never play fair, bypassing Fighting Game-style CompetetiveBalance with dirty tricks up their sleeves that have just as much to do with engaging in as they do avoiding direct confrontations in combat, and even a few of the fighters die outside of the fight anyways. However, much of that doesn't matter, since the man in charge of the whole thing has access to the most powerful being in the battle royale, wanting to win it himself and not intending for anyone else to get the wish being offered up. But it's not any easier on his side of the story either, since no matter what he tries, there will always be one person that doesn't submit to the rules, and he'll make the oh-so tiniest mistake that causes him to lose no matter what he has on his side. Essentially, Ryuki shows how the battle-royale is painful and pointless for anyone involved, and even the happiest ending possible in the series [[spoiler: makes it so that the fight never started in the first place.]]

* AccidentalMisnaming: In episode 4, Shinji keeps yelling after Ren, mistakingly calling him "Ron".

** The transporting of Asakura in ep 36, to ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' - only they didn't put a muzzle on him till ep 40. And just to hammer it home, [[spoiler:he stages another jailbreak by swapping places with his victim, strapping the victim into his Hannibal chair while he himself gets carted out on a stretcher.]]
** And the effect of Freeze Vent on CGI monsters like Genocider looked an awful lot like Duke Org Loki's freezing-and-capturing of the Power Animals in Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger.

* ShoutOut: Ren's first memory on recovering from his LaserGuidedAmnesia (see above) is an image on a woman in a white dress on a beach, just like [[Series/KamenRiderAgito Shoichi]] (they were actually Ren's girlfriend and Shoichi's sister respectively).
** Shiro Kanzaki went by the name Shiro Takami when he studied overseas - both names allude to Shiro Kazami, better known as ''Series/KamenRiderV3''.
** The transporting of Asakura in ep 36, to ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' - only they didn't put a muzzle on him till ep 40. And just to hammer it home, [[spoiler:he stages another jailbreak by swapping places with his victim, strapping the victim into his Hannibal chair while he himself gets carted out on a stretcher.]]
** And the effect of Freeze Vent on CGI monsters like Genocider looked an awful lot like Duke Org Loki's freezing-and-capturing of the Power Animals in Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger.
** One way to distinguish between the two Alternative Riders is the silver stripes on Alternative Zero, a reference to the primary difference between the first two Kamen Riders (Hayato Ichimonji's suit had the silver stripes).
** Shinji and Ren have Rider #1 and Rider #2's poses, respectively.

In addition to the main series, ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' has three spinoffs. ''Kamen Rider Ryuki: Ryuki vs. Series/KamenRiderAgito'' is a DVD episode that was distributed by ''Televi-kun'' magazine where ''Ryuki'' crosses over with the preceding season (though it's AllJustADream of Ryuki's). ''Film/KamenRiderRyukiEpisodeFinal'' and ''Kamen Rider Ryuki Special: 13 Riders'' are a movie and TV special, respectively, set in {{Alternate Timeline}}s to the main series.

* NoteToSelf: After [[spoiler: Odin's Time Vent has caused him to relive the entire Rider War up to that point, including the deaths,]] Shinji uses this tropes. Hundred of Postit notes in both his room and his office ([[CrowningMomentOfFunny to the frustration of Yui and Ookubo]]) all with the same words: '''Punch where there's Golden Feathers.''' It lets him score the first hit on Odin at that point...... [[SubvertedTrope And has no effect.]]

* AllJustADream - The Hyper Battle Video.
* AlternateTimeline - The TV series, the ''13 Riders'' special and TheMovie all exist in their own timelines. [[spoiler:This is a result of Shirou Kanzaki's overuse of the ResetButton. The TV series is actually his ''final'' attempt to do it again]].

* AnyoneCanDie. [[spoiler:And it does. With the possible exception of Knight, ''every single Rider'' that participated, ''including'' the two Alternatives, '''died''' in Ryuki. And yes, '''''[[TheHeroDies that includes the main hero.]]''''']]

* BackFromTheDead - [[spoiler:Yui Kanzaki]], and this is the driving force behind the entire story.

* BigDamnHeroes - Shinji gets a few, including one in the first few episodes where he saves Ren from Volcancer after it turns on and consumes Scissors.
* {{BFG}} - Zolda ''loves'' these, as he has two: two shoulder-mounted rocket launchers and an artillery cannon that's [[http://i39.tinypic.com/2whjmhe.jpg three times as long as he is high]].
* {{BFS}} - Kamen Rider Knight's Wing Lancer is almost six feet long.

* BittersweetEnding - [[spoiler:The real ending has Shirou Kanzaki pressing the ResetButton again, only this time, he and Yui die in that reality]]
* BlessedWithSuck - Becoming a Kamen Rider means you gain cool powers, but you're also bound to fighting the other Riders and monsters, and if you stop fighting, your contract monster eventually eats you.

* BolivianArmyEnding - [[spoiler:The ending of TheMovie, and one of the possible endings of the Special]].
* BondCreatures - The Mirror Monsters that are neither monsters of the week nor under Kanzaki's direct control.

* {{Brainwashed}} - [[spoiler:The Odin Advent Deck turns the user into Kanzaki's puppet]].
* BreakableWeapons - Shinji's weapon in his "Blank" form (before he becomes Ryuki) is a pathetic thing that breaks after one hit.
* CaptainErsatz - Ren Akiyama/Kamen Rider Knight bears more than a few thematic resemblances to a certain other [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Dark Knight]]. Not that [[RuleOfCool we're complaining]].

* CanonForeigner - Kamen Rider Abyss, who is exclusive to ''Series/KamenRiderDecade''.
* CardBattleGame - Each Rider uses Advent Cards to activate his/her powers.
* CardboardPrison - Asakura breaks out of jail multiple times for one reason or another, the first by traveling the through the Mirror World, the second by hiding the Contract Card for Metalgelas under his shirt when Kitoaka had the police take the rest, and the third by taking advantage of the sympathy a GenreBlind lawyer had for him.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder - Toujou, Sano.

* MoralityPet - Goro acts as the foil to Shuichi's JerkAss behavior, never attempting to hide it once. Yui is this to Ren.
* MultiformBalance

The 2002-2003 entry in the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchise, and third in the Heisei Era.