This is a partial character sheet for Kamen Rider Gaim. Visit here for the main character index. Subjective trope and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page.
This page deals with tropes for Takatora Kureshima of Kamen Rider Gaim.
Takatora Kureshima/Armored Rider Zangetsunote /New Generation Rider Zangetsu Shinnote /Armored Rider Gridon IInote
Portrayed by: Yuki Kubota (live), Jun Watanabe (suit)
Young Takatora Portrayed by: Ryuto
Teenage Takatora Portrayed by: Akihito Ueda
- "This world is full of evil. Evil beyond purpose or reason."
The older brother of Team Gaim's Mitsuzane Kureshima. As an heir to the Yggdrasill Corporation, he has already taken on responsibilities within the company and is the head of the R&D Department. Though ruthless, he loves his brother dearly.
He initially uses the Melon Lock Seed and the Sengoku Driver to transform into Armored Rider Zangetsu. Later, he becomes the firstnote user of the next-generation Genesis Driver, which, along with the Melon Energy Lock Seed, allows him to transform into New Generation Rider Zangetsu Shinnote .
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Tropes that apply to him in general
- All According to Plan: According to him, Gaim getting the Sengoku Driver has advanced Yggdrasill's agenda in some way.
- Shown in #12: the various Riders using the Sengoku Driver has allowed Yggdrasill to both mass produce Drivers in the "form" of Kurokage for their mooks, and allowed the creation of both the Genesis Driver, and Energy Lock Seeds.
- All There in the Manual: Neither of his Rider names have been spoken in the show. He's only ever referred to as "the white Armored Rider".
- The Alleged Boss: While he's supposedly the leader of the New Generation Riders, none of them actually follow his commands and really defer to Ryoma.
- Almost Dead Guy: Takatora might have survived his dip into the sea, but being stuck in the ocean for so long gave him brain damage that would have killed him if Kouta hadn't intervened.
- Aloof Big Brother: Is Ryugen's big brother, but instead of participating in the conflict between Beat Riders, he works for that big shady company.
- Anti-Role Model: He comes to consider himself one. He thinks he provided a poor example for Micchy and unintentionally inspired him to become the ruthless, two-faced villain he is today after he was so easily fooled over the course of the series. Kouta later gives him another chance, though he needed some convincing after being so discouraged with both his own incapability and how far Micchy had fallen.
- Anti-Villain: Takatora has been shown to have standards, loves his brother, is genuinely well-intentioned and is the only member of the inner circle that hasn't gone out of his way to be a dick in some way. He is very uneasy about his decisions and wants Kouta to despair out of the belief that it would validate Takatora's own actions. While Takatora is willing to go to dangerous extremes, he is ultimately well-intentioned and firmly committed to saving humanity.
- Anti-Hero: While still firmly a hero, both the stage show and the Gridon Vs Bravo special show he's still capable of manipulating others if he feels the need to.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Has the arrogance down, most likely due to his wealthy upbringing and role in Yggdrasill's grand plan. His combat ability is unquestionable.
- The Atoner: If he didn't clash with Kouta, who turns out has a same ideal to safe humanity, yet powerful than Takatora, he and Mitsuzane could have been a family friend. This was shown when he finds out his father's dark secret, in which almost affects his life. However, he was too late, as his father's influence affects Mitsuzane instead.
- This eventually make matters right when he finally sees his sister in person after Kouta and Mai's departure in saving Earth, Kaito's death and Mitsuzane's redemptions.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Is a high ranking member of the Yggdrasill Corporation, the leader of the New Generation Riders and strong enough to causally deliver a Curbstomp Battle to Gaim. It's telling that when Ryoma finally makes his move to overthrow Takatora, he has to bring every other New Generation Rider along with him.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: His main outfit. Justified since he was an high ranking member of Yggdrasill.
- Beneath the Mask: At first glance Takatora is a stoic, arrogant man, but underneath it all he hates himself for what he plans to do but genuinely sees no other choice.
- Big Bad: Subverted. While presented as the major enemy at first, as the show goes on he's shown to be neither very Big (other forces can easily manipulate him) nor Bad (he's committing what he feels are necessary evils).
- Big Brother Instinct: For all of his faults, Takatora does genuinely care about his brother's future and well-being.
- He did not take Sid's suggestion that Micchy took the Suika Lock Seed well.
- His reaction to finding out Micchy is an Armored Rider... was not very good. He then also put two and two together about the Suika Lock. An episode later, he angrily demands answers out of Sid as to why he gave his brother one of the Drivers. When he confronts Mitsuzane about it, he even outright admits that he's upset because he wanted to protect him from the entire conflict with Helheim.
- Big Good: Post-series, with Kouta's absence leaving him the strongest Rider on Earth, he seems to be moving into this role. He travels the world trying to undo the harm Yggdrasil carried out and with the Shin Kachidoki lockseed giving him an end-game tier final form, he's actively accepted his role is to fight for the rest of his life as a protector.
- Bishie Sparkle: How he's seen through Bravo-Vision.
- Boss Warning Siren: A subtle example. Before he steps out of the elevator in #10, a siren seems to alert his employees to his Incoming Badass...
- Breakout Character: Despite his actual role being comparatively small compared to Kouta, Kaito, and Micchy and spending a decent amount of it believed dead, Takatora is easily the most popular of the Gaim Riders and has played a major role in nearly every work developed after the main series, to the point where he could almost be considered the mascot of post-series Gaim.
- Break the Cutie:
- Takatora wants to do this to Kouta. A rare example where he doesn't really want to do so out of outright hatred or malice, but because he has genuine doubts about his actions and Yggdrasil's agenda. Takatora believes that seeing someone as heroic and idealistic as Kouta back down from challenging him would help ease his conscience and prove his course of action to be correct.
- He also unintentionally did this to his own brother. Takatora showed Micchy the truth about the Helheim Forest in order to convince him to join Yggdrasil and help Takatora. However, it ended up causing Micchy's Start of Darkness.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: In #36 he regains his old Sengoku Driver to become the original Zangetsu to try to finish things with his brother. Considering the power difference, he does amazingly well.
- Break Them by Talking: In #22 he breaks Kouta by showing Kouta's fight against Yuya and pointing out how everything worked out because he killed his friend.
- Broken Ace: Takatora is, hands down, the best warrior in the show. However, he suffers from a debilitating personal injury along with personal hang ups about the ethics of his mission. It's telling that the only times he suffers defeat, it was due to a betrayal he never saw coming, or deliberately choosing not to finish off his opponent.
- Broken Pedestal: To Ryoma in a really weird way. Ryoma used to hero worship Takatora, seeing him as the next God Emperor of mankind. However, after finding out that Takatora wants to use his powers for altruistic reasons, he turns against him.
- Cain and Abel: With Mitsuzane, though surprisingly he's the Abel, as Mitsuzane ends up being much more antagonistic than he is.
- Cartwright Curse: An alternate version of Takatora has a wife who's comatose and in hospital in the Gaim summer movie. And in Gaim Gaiden: Zangetsu, a girl he once knew gets one of the Forbidden Fruit Lockseeds, turns into an Armored Rider and tried to kill him, but failed... so Ryoma finishes her off.
- Character Development: Takatora started out as an arrogant man who saw the Beat Riders as "street trash" but as he fought Kouta, his arrogance wanes and he develops respect and sympathy for them. A side story has him turn into The Atoner after meeting Kouta, especially when he finds out his father's dark secret within an abandoned Zawame's Child Care by Yggdrasill, the place where Touka was (though he didn't know Ryoma was one of those orphans there), turning them into guinea pigs to make them work for Yggdrasill forever.
- Childhood Friends: With Touka Akatsuki, who was also his personal maid servant and they were very close at that. The truth of her origins sours things.
- Comes Great Responsibility: He believes that it is the duty of the rich and powerful to protect the weak, even referring to it as Noblesse oblige.
- The Comically Serious: Becomes this when interacting with Bravo.
- Also used in specials and movies, in the crossover with ToQger he admonishes his underlings for telling him about a giant Inves fighting a mecha, unaware that said battle is happening right behind him, and in the crossover with Wizard, his reaction to the Fourze Legend Arms he gets is:
Takatora: SPACE IS-... and that's as far as I'll humor that notion. - Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Both Takatora and Takeshi Asakura are the fourth main Riders of their respective shows filled with multiple Riders. However, while Gen Urobuchi claimed that Zangetsu will be the series' equivalent to Ouja, this is quite the opposite, as Takatora is a decent businessman who has altruistic reasons on his tenure as an Armored Rider, whereas Asakura is a psychotic criminal man with a malicious intent of becoming a Rider.
- Create Your Own Villain: He considers himself the one who turned Micchy into the scumbag he is today.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Most of the time he's the deliverer but in the team-up movie with Drive, he's on the receiving end.
- Delivers one to Kouta in #4, then curb-stomps all five other Riders in #11.
- Does it again in #12 when testing the Genesis Driver against a squad of Kurokage mooks. It appears that "curb stomp" is his default setting.
- #14 has him do this once again to Baron. However according to him, the Sengoku Drivers and Base Riders can't hope to equal an New Generation Rider.
- In #19, this happens again: Kouta holds out for a while but ultimately couldn't touch Takatora at all.
- The team-up movie with Drive has him struggling against Megahex. Emphasis on struggling, since he can't even damage Megahex at all even with Zangetsu Shin.
- Cuteness Proximity: His reaction to Ichigo Arms in the Hyper Battle Video.Takatora: This is too cute for me.
- Dark Messiah: In direct contrast to Kouta.
- Declaration of Protection: During his fight with Megahex he says this word for word, stating he'll protect the world he's inherited. Similarly, as Kamen Rider Sylphi dies, she says that there will always be someone like her and he'll never stop fighting. He merely responds that he's well aware of this.
- Disc-One Final Boss: He's at the helm of the antagonists for the first half of the show, with his ruthless means for combating Helheim but as soon as he decides to try a more benevolent approach, he's ousted and replaced by a three-way ensemble between Ryoma, Mitchy and Redyue.
- Disney Death:
- In #28 Takatora "dies" by being thrown off a cliff. To no one's surprise he's shown to be alive the very next episode.
- Zigzagged in #36, where he's blasted into the river and his Driver's wrecked. Normally in Kamen Rider, being thrown into the water is the result of a harsher-than-usual beat-down, but it's generally not fatal. But then he's not seen (other than as a hallucination) for over two months... He eventually turns up alive, but not until the series epilogue; and as a deconstruction of the usual Rider practice in that his time in the water caused brain damage that left him in a coma for months.
- Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: In #29 Takatora meets Rosyuo, King of the Overlords, who saves his life and regales him with his life story.
- Does Not Like Guns: Zigzagged. He prefers katanas over guns, despite the fact that his Musou Saber doubles as a gun.
- Dramatic Irony: In #20 he makes a speech about how one evil person can ruin the hard work of a hundred virtuous efforts... cue a scene where the rest of the New Generation Riders gleefully admit that they plan to screw Takatora over when the time is right.
- The irony is furthered in the following episodes: he accuses Kouta of being naive, but Takatora now seems to be the only major player who doesn't realize that his associates are planning to betray him, as well as being the only major character oblivious to the existence of the Overlord Inves.
- Takatora genuinely cares about and wants to protect his brother, but showing Mitsuzane the truth about the Helheim forest and bringing him into Yggdrasil has set the latter on the path to outright villainy.
- The Dreaded: Kouta is scared to death of him. And after #11, this also applies to everyone but Micchy and Oren. Even the other New Generation Riders fear him. When the time comes to betray him, Minato is actually cautious and after his supposed death Sid feels confident enough to betray Ryoma.
- Education Mama: Male example. He continuously reminds Mitsuzane about the importance of his education and advises him to avoid any "distractions" in his life.
- Et Tu, Brute?: In #28, after getting betrayed by Sid and then Minato, Takatora applies this trope on Ryoma (who he honestly saw as his closest friend) when he finds out that the scientist is part of the coup.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The term evil may not be the right word for him, but Takatora does genuinely love his younger brother and wants what is best for him. In the two earliest tie-in films, he even sides with Mitsuzane and the other Armored Riders in the conflicts. This comes back to bite him in the ass in the most tragic way possible and leads to his supposed demise.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- He openly says that a trained soldier having a Sengoku Driver is too dangerous during #7 and requests the Driver be returned. Everyone else, however, seems to entertain the idea of Oren having the belt in one way or another.
- He shows disgust whenever his other members do things For the Evulz.
- He also doesn't aim to kill when fighting other Armored Riders. In #15, he makes it clear that without their belts the Beat Riders should even be protected. Unfortunately Sid seems to disagree...
- After Takatora breaks Kouta by revealing the truth about Yuya's death to him, he simply lets him go since he doesn't think he's a threat to Yggdrasil's plans anymore. This is in spite of Sid's skepticism and the fact that he could probably kill Kouta easily in is depressed state.
- Every Scar Has a Story: Has a prominent one on his right shoulder, inflicted during his first transformation into Zangetsu. #27 reveals that it still very much hurts, meaning that he has been fighting with a handicap the entire time.
- Evil Counterpart: To Kouta, big time. Both are the lead characters in their respective factions and noticeably more moral than the other Riders - in fact, the only real difference between them is that Zangetsu has accepted having to Shoot the Dog; Gaim hasn't. As for their Rider forms, they're not only both samurai; but they both have the Musou Saber as an extra sidearm and their armors are in many ways Palette Swaps of one another.
- Later subverted; Takatora's not all evil, he's just more cynical. As soon as Kouta shows him the potential for a more idealistic solution, he's all in.
- He's initially presented as one to Micchy. Both brothers come from a rich and powerful family, but while Micchy is friends with the hero, Takatora is built up as a villain. However, it's eventually inverted: Takatora ultimately has selfless motives and a strong moral compass, while Micchy is extremely selfish and becomes more and more twisted.
- Expy:
- To Kiritsugu Emiya and Tokiomi Tohsaka. The first being that they're Well-Intentioned Extremists who genuinely wants to save the world but whose methods clashed with the main hero. And the second is that they both have are prone of making bad decisions that make the situations worse and are too trusting of Obviously Evil men.
- Also to Homura Akemi. Both of them are shield-wielding Anti-Heroes who are initially at odds with the heroes but later revealed to be good men desperately trying to save someone (Madoka for Homura, humanity for Takatora) and ended up becoming The Champion in their respective main characters' stead.
- To Satsuki Kiryuin, in that they're at first the main bad guys when it was revealed that they're Good All Along.
- Fatal Flaw: By the halfway mark, it's made pretty clear that his fatal flaw is that, while he talks a big game about killing, he's pretty hesitant around it, having Sid kill Hase instead of doing it himself, wanting Ryoma to make just a few more Sengoku Drivers for Project Ark, and sparing Micchy and Touka are all examples of this. He also has major flaws in being a Horrible Judge of Character since he's too trusting of people and having Theory Tunnelvision, too committed to his beliefs and slow to recognize conflicting evidence.
- A Father to His Men: Shown to genuinely care for the mooks directly under his command.
- Foil: Takatora is one to both Kouta and Micchy.
- Kouta: Takatora is The Cynic while Kouta is The Idealist. Both men are ultimately well-intentioned and want to protect humanity. Takatora is willing to commit various atrocities in order to make sure that the human race is able to survive; Kouta remains steadfast in wanting to save everyone and disapproves of Yggdrasil's methods. However, the two eventually realize they are not so different and Takatora is eager to take a more idealistic alternative when it presents itself. Both men also follow a Thou Shall Not Kill mentality, though whereas Kouta actively adopts it after he learns the Awful Truth and is willing to drop it when it comes to fighting the Overlords, Takatora subconsciously has it in his mind and never dropping it, even when his job requires him to at least kill some people.
- Mitsuzane: Takatora is originally hinted to be a Big Bad, but is ultimately revealed to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist who genuinely wants to protect humanity and doesn't desire power for himself (even believing that it is the duty of the powerful to protect the weak). In addition, Takatora gradually warms up to Kouta and is moved by his idealism. In contrast, his brother Mitsuzane undergoes a Face–Heel Turn as he becomes increasingly Drunk with Power, to the point that he doesn't care about anything except what he personally wants. He joins forces with Redyue in her invasion of Earth even though her success would most likely bring about the end of human civilization. While he's also initially best friends with Kouta, Mitsuzane becomes bitter and hateful when Kouta's idealism leads him to repeatedly (and unintentionally) defy Micchy's schemes, and he starts trying to kill him.
- It gets worse: when Takatora was willing to carry out Project Ark, he honestly saw it as Necessarily Evil and felt immense guilt for planning to carry it out. Once the possibility of a more idealistic option presented itself, he eagerly took it and joined forces with Kouta. In contrast, when Mitsuzane starts carrying out his own version of Project Ark in #35, he doesn't seem to express any sort of remorse; he gives some lip service to it being the key to humanity's survival, but he doesn't seem to actually care that massive amounts of people will die. Even worse, he treats Kouta's idealism with nothing but hatred, seeing it as a threat to his plans that needs to be destroyed.
- Four Is Death: His Melon Lock Seed is LS-04, while his Melon Energy Lock Seed is ELS-04. He loses access to Zangetsu Shin after Ryoma's betrayal, and later is presumed dead after his fight against Mitsuzane... Though it's subverted that he's actually revealed to be in a coma for a long time.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Melancholic.
- Good All Along: He's revealed to be an unwilling Anti-Villain during the middle point of the series... ...just in time for the other New Generation Riders to betray him.
- Good Running Evil: His top subordinates all have self-serving goals, but Takatora genuinely wants to save humanity. It's somewhat subverted though since he isn't aware of how duplicitous his subordinates are, allowing Ryoma to manipulate him into becoming an Anti-Villain by convincing him no other options are availale.
- Handicapped Badass: It's revealed that he has a scar on his right shoulder, and that it still pains him to this day.
- Happily Married: In the Soccer World, he has a sick wife, paralleling him with Rosyuo and his queen.
- The Heavy: For the first half of the series, where he's the face of Yggdrasill and the one handling their coverup of Helheim.
- Heel–Face Turn: He eventually develops a high opinion of Kouta, and is willing to work with him when a more idealistic alternative to his original plan presents itself.
- Hero with an F in Good: Oh, holy God yes. Every attempt he's made to try to stop Helheim has either shifted power back towards the people trying to manipulate him or somehow ended up making the entire situation worse for both sides.
- Heroic BSoD/Despair Event Horizon: Happens in #28; after he realizes Ryoma has betrayed him, he loses the will to fight.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Kept his plans hidden for a significant portion of the story.
- Hidden Depths: During his Curb-Stomp Battle with the other Riders, he takes extra caution to not actually kill anyone, even Oren who he thinks shouldn't be a Rider, by holding his Musou Saber backwards. He's actually horrified when he winds up destroying one of the Sengoku Drivers.
- Furthermore, he tried to stop Ryoji from eating a Helheim Fruit, and after his transformation, he made Sid take him down in order to try to make him feel responsibility for his actions... He just didn't think that Sid would even care.
- In #21, he admits that he has genuine doubts about his more morally questionable actions and Yggdrasil's plans, and respects Kouta's heroism and resolve.
- #36 shows that he's not as cold and absolute as one may think. He fails to deliver the final blow on Mitzusane and is coldly struck down because of his hesitation.
- Horrible Judge of Character: This is one of Takatora's Fatal Flaws. He relies on some rather Obviously Evil people, and can find no wrong in his brother. Micchy outright states that Takatora has a habit of trusting people that he really shouldn't in #23.
- Imaginary Enemy: Micchy starts seeing hallucinations of Takatora after defeating him.
- It's All My Fault: Takatora blames himself for what Micchy has become in #36.Takatora: That's right. I'm the one who made Mitsuzane like this.
- Jerkass Realization: After learning about Micchy's Face–Heel Turn, Takatora realizes that his cold aloofness helped turn Micchy into the monster he's become. In particular, he flashes back to his earlier lecture to Micchy about how he needed to cut out "unimportant things" from his life. Takatora realizes just how cruel this was and deeply regrets it.
- The Juggernaut: The only thing that's ever stopped him was his own moral compass. If he wasn't a good man, the bad guys would have won a long time ago.
- Knight of Cerebus: In-universe for Kouta. Once he shows up in his life, he stops taking his life as an Armored Rider as a game.
- Knight Templar: The Melon Lockseed's jingle, "Tenka Gomen!" is a Japanese idiom referring to the Chinese concept of the Mandate of Heaven, and initially Takatora seems to fit the bill, being ruthless in his pursuit of his goals and repeatedly emphasizing that he is fighting evil without purpose or reason. He's actually a subversion, however, as his resolve is far from certain about Project Ark and once another option is presented to him, he immediately takes it even though it comes from Kouta.
- Kubrick Stare/Perpetual Frowner: His default expression seems to be a stern stare combined with a scowl.
- Large Ham: Minor example: Though we the audience only see it once, his pre-transformation pose as Zangetsu is the most grandiose of all the Armored Riders, using CGI even before the transformation is initiated. He does no pose or gesture as Zangetsu Shin, however.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He's the one who showed Mitsuzane the truth of Helheim and therefore started his downfall. It makes sense that he'd nearly die from the end result's hands.
- Locked Out of the Loop: By #23, he had become by far the most unaware major player. He didn't realize that his associates were plotting behind his back, and he was the only major character who didn't know about the Overlord Inves.
- Likewise, even before that, chronologically, he was unaware that, as part of the Lockseed project, his father had commissioned experimentation on children. Incidentally, the two confirmed survivors, who he each considered his friends, unaware of their connection to this, both bit him in the ass within a short time of each other. His former childhood attendant Touka and then Ryoma himself.
- Made of Iron: Takatora is consistently portrayed as insanely durable, surviving multiple incidents that would have killed anyone else.
- Miles to Go Before I Sleep: He would have been stuck in a coma forever and probably preferred it that way if it wasn't for Kouta asking him to help Micchy.
- Mirror Character: Both Takatora and Kouta have doubts about fighting the Inves, care for those close to them, and ultimately want to protect people; the key difference between them is that Takatora has accepted the idea that innocent people must be sacrificed for the greater good, while Kouta wants to save everyone.
- Named After Someone Famous: After Toudou Takatora
. - Necessarily Evil: How he perceives all of the morally unjust things he does. He still feels immense guilt for them, though.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Attacks Bujin Double right as he was about to finish off Bujin Gaim, resulting in Double's defeat, thinking Bujin Gaim was the Gaim he knew. While he wasn't exactly a 'hero' at the time, he was still on the hero's side during the conflict at hand.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gives Kouta one so brutal in #4, it leaves the poor guy absolutely terrified of him.
- Nominal Villain: Takatora is in the unenviable position of trying to protect Earth from an alien invasion. When a human mutates into a monster, he executes them because there's no cure. The company he works for is manufacturing protective equipment, but they can only squeeze out a billion units while the world population is seven billion. As a result, they're trying to manipulate various resources to create a mass die-off to bring the number down to something more manageable. Takatora finds all this reprehensible, but he genuinely doesn't see any other way out for humanity as a whole. (There's also a bit of naivete here, as Takatora thinks his coworkers are just as altruistic when they're really trying to exploit the situation for their own gain and conspiring against him.)
- Not Quite Dead: TWICE. Having survived the fall in #28 and being knocked into a river by Mitsuzane in #36
- Not So Above It All: In #22, he chuckles before showing Kouta that he killed Yuya.
- Takatora purposefully tries to invoke this on Kouta: when Kouta calls him out on being willing to sacrifice lives in #22, Takatora turns it back on him by explaining that Kouta and other people are only alive today because he took Yuya's life. However, Kouta soon regains his resolve, rejects Takatora's belief, and destroys Yggdrasil's Scalar System with Kachidoki Arms.
- In #27,his backstory reveals his goal to save as many people as possible from the Helheim invasion, similar to Kouta. Both of them also have a villainous sidekick that they genuinely view as their friend, while their sidekicks have their own goals and are willing to betray them any time (Ryoma to Takatora, and Micchy to Kouta).
- Offscreen Teleportation/Villain Teleportation: Demonstrates this ability in Helheim Forest in #4.
- Only Sane Man: For Yggdrasill. He's the only one who hasn't done something solely For the Evulz and is focused on their main objective while the other members of the inner circle tend to prefer making the Armored Riders suffer for fun.
- Becomes more pronounced as time goes on: Takatora is the only New Generation Rider who actually wants to save humanity and acknowledges that Yggdrasil's actions are cruel; the others all see the Helheim invasion as a good thing and don't care that their plans will cause the deaths of billions.
- Parental Substitute: Takatora admits in #36 that because their parents were always overseas, he had to raise Mitsuzane.
- Pet the Dog: Out of his bond to two people, he's shown to be unable to kill them when forced to fight them. Sparing either of them don't pay off: Ryoma murders Touka anyway once he lets her go, and Micchy takes advantage of his hesitation and seemingly kills him.
- The Proud Elite: Repeatedly refers to Beat Riders as "street trash" that's beneath him and tries to pass this attitude on to Mitsuzane. He got better after a while.
- Psychotic Smirk: Flashes a Sid-worthy one when he shows Kouta that he killed Yuya.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Takatora legitimately wants to save people, and only commits what he views as necessary evils when he believes them to be the only viable option. Unfortunately, none of his subordinates are what you'd call "reasonable".
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Mitsuzane's Sensitive Guy.
- Shirtless Scene: In #27, his bare shoulders and part of his back can bee seen during a shower scene. It shows that Every Scar Has a Story.
- Sibling Team: In Movie War Full Throttle, he and Mitsuzane fight together against Megahex's invasion.
- Skilled, but Naive: While he's not technically naive, he's a very oblivious person due his tendency of relying on some extremely untrustworthy people and his inability to notice his brother's downward spiral.
- So Proud of You: To Mitsuzane's shock, he actually applauds him for going behind his back and going against his planned out life by telling him that "you definitely have Kureshima blood in you".
- Sympathy for the Hero: He seems to have gained a soft spot for Kouta, admiring his resolve and idealism, despite setting out to break his will.
- Upon meeting Demushu and having Kouta tell him the truth about the Overlord Inves, Takatora immediately believes Kouta and the two join forces. Despite Kouta destroying the Scalar System, he seems to be more than willing to let bygones be bygones and give Kouta's idealism a chance.
- Eventually, Takatora develops a very high opinion of Kouta and genuinely wants to help him. Unfortunately, Micchy has other plans.
- Take Up My Sword: In #28, right before Sid sends Takatora plummeting to his doom, Takatora sees Mitsuzane in the distance and tells him to help Kouta and save humanity. Too bad Takatora doesn't know his little brother has made a Face–Heel Turn.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's tall, dark-haired, has an extremely chiseled face, and very brooding and stoic most of the time. No wonder he has so many fangirls.
- Tetragonist: He's the fourth most prominant character in the story after Kouta, Kaito and Mitchy.
- Theory Tunnelvision: This is Takatora's other Fatal Flaw, as he tends to ignore whatever challenges his worldview or inconveniences his plans unless he can't avoid it anymore.
- He initially refused to consider the idea that his beloved little brother wasn't the stoic, diligent student he pretended to be and fails to notice that showing Micchy the truth about Helheim has had a very horrifying effect on his sanity.
- He fails to realize that all his trusted allies aren't Well-Intentioned Extremists like him and are conspiring against him. By #23, he appears to be the only major character who hasn't figured out that they're Obviously Evil.
- He's also so far into the "sacrifice the many to save the few" plan (in spite of the guilt it brings him) that he has trouble accepting anything else. Takatora also assumes that his allies are all just as dedicated to the plan as he is.
- Played for Laughs in the ToQger crossover, when he's completely oblivious to a giant mecha battle going on outside his window.
- Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Demonstrated in #11 when fighting against Ryugen.
- Token Good Teammate: Though ruthless and rather amoral in his methods, he's the only one of the New Generation Riders to have humanity's best interests at heart.
- Totalitarian Utilitarian: A PG version, with some similarities to Kiritsugu Emiya.
- Unwitting Pawn: To Sid, Ryoma, and Yoko, who all want Helheim to invade and are using Takatora to become stronger.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: With Micchy during his childhood days.
- Useless Protagonist: Micchy accuses him of being useless without Yggdrasil.
- Weak, but Skilled: Even when there's an obvious power difference between him and his opponent, Takatora simply proves himself the better fighter. Case in point? He goes up against Micchy, who is currently using his Melon Energy Lockseed, with his base Melon Arms. Guess who ends up getting the upper hand? If it wasn't for Takatora hesitating, he would have won.
- Later on, in Gridon Vs. Bravo, he gets stuck with the Donguri Lockseed of all things when he faces a corrupted Bravo with King Durian Arms. And despite the horrendously weak equipment he's stuck with, he still manages to hold his own and get into a back and forth. He ultimately loses, but the fact that he managed to cope that well with quite possibly the weakest Lockseed that isn't the Matsubokkuri Lockseed against such a strong opponent says a lot.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Identifies as one, as he claims his plans are all for the good of helping humanity. He also goes on to say all of Yggdrasill is this, as it is their role in the world.
- #16 shows that whatever he is trying to do is meant to save the world and has something to do with what's at the heart of the Helheim Forest.
- Confirmed in #20. Takatora is trying to prevent Helheim from spreading over the earth, and in #21, if he has no other option to stop the spread, they use the ring on the tower to destroy all of Zawame. Sid, when revealing the latter to Kouta, pretty much states that it's a necessary evil if it means saving mankind.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gets called out by Micchy in #36 for being oblivious.Micchy: All you ever did was order me about, without ever seeing the bigger picture. And now you come waltzing back in!?
- Where Did We Go Wrong?: He asks himself where he went wrong in #36 after he sees how far the brother he helped raise has fallen.
- Willfully Weak: It's notable that in Zangetsu's base form, he holds his sword in a reverse grip. It shows that despite his overwhelming power and skill, he's trying to go easy on those he fights.
- Worf Had the Flu: Takatora has basically been suffering from a major injury throughout the entire show. Despite that, he is still the deadliest warrior amongst all the riders, only failing to go farther due to forces outside his control.
- World's Best Warrior: It's pretty much agreed upon by both the Beat Riders and Yggdrasil that he is impossible to beat one-on-one. Case in point? It took every other New Generation Rider working together to beat him, and even then Ryoma implied that, had Takatora not been knocked off balance by Ryoma's betrayal, he still might have won. Although as Movie War Full Throttle shows, those with the power of the Overlords can be on par, if not outright defeat him, as Megahex demonstrates. It also gets removed once he obtains Kachidoki Arms.
- Kachidoki's debut had Gaim going up against Zangetsu Shin in a one on one. The other energy riders are completely surpassed by Kachidoki to the point of curb stomp and we'd just seen Kouta walk through dozens of kurokage troopers. Zangetsu not only holds his own, he's on top for the brief fight, successfully knocking Gaim off the building.
- Similarly, he takes on his brother and almost wins despite using the Sengoku Driver & a basic Melon Lock Seed against Micchy's Genesis Driver & Melon Energy Lock Seed and the only reason he lost is that he's hesitating due to his memories of the younger Micchy.
- During Movie War Full Throttle, he takes on Cyborg!Ryoma one on one. Ryoma is connected to Megahex at this point and is using Dragon Energy Arms while Takatora has only the basic Melon Lockseed and the Sengoku Driver. Takatora still wins.
- In the Gridon Vs. Bravo Gaiden Movie Takatora fights Bravo in his corrupted powered up King Durian form...using the Donguri lockseed (by far the weakest lockseed outside the Kurokages). He's hold on against Bravo in an impressive back and forth, even if the Gridon form ultimately proves to be too weak to win. He then goes up against Sylphi using his own belt, which puts her up against Zangetsu Kachidoki, his latest form which seems to greatly surpass Kouta's version in power. He annihilates her.
- Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": G-Rated version. Yggdrasill does not "control" Zawame City, they enhance and improve it.
- And of course, he never uses the actual G-word when discussing killing six-sevenths of the world population, possibly to assuage his own hang-ups over the moral implications of saving humanity through such actions.
- Workaholic: Shows shades of this. When he's not working, what little interaction he has with his brother is interrupted by his phone ringing. He also shows disgust towards most of the youth of Zawame City and especially the Beat Riders, since in his eyes they contribute nothing to society.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Takatora was actually happy in #28, smiling and basically acting like an adult Kouta. Cue his brother and comrades' completely unexpected betrayal.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- After the Genesis Driver is finished, he declares that Yggdrasill has no need for the Armored Riders and plans to make them "face reality". Thankfully, he takes a non-lethal approach (in contrast to his allies).
- Takatora is on the receiving end of this trope when his allies finally betray him in #28.
Tropes exclusive to him as Kamen Rider Zangetsu
Soiya!/Iyo! Melon Arms! Tenka Gomen!note
Soiya!/Iyo! Watermelon Arms! Midare-dama, Ba-Ba-Ba-Bang!note
Soiya!/Iyo! Kachidoki Arms! Iza Shutsujin! Ei, Ei, Oh!note
- Brought Down to Badass: After losing his Genesis Driver and the Melon Energy Lockseed during the coup, which allowed him to become Zangetsu Shin, Takatora's only able to become the regular Zangetsu when he has to fight Mitsuzane, who took his brother's Genesis Driver and Lockseed. Despite this disadvantage, Takatora's fighting skills allow him to overpower Mitsuzane as Zangetsu Shin, only stopping himself with the finishing blow. However, Movie War Full Throttle has him outright win against Sengoku's Dragon Energy Arms before he can take his Genesis Driver to become Zangetsu Shin again.
- Corporate Samurai: An almost literal example, since his armor has a distinctly Japanese motif.
- Divergent Character Evolution: Minor case, but in Gaim Gaiden: Kamen Rider Duke, Takatora's Sengoku Driver makes an "Iyo!" sound rather than the "Soiya!" sound that all Gaim-themed lockseeds have. This is further enforced with the CSM Sengoku Driver also making this noise when the Zangetsu faceplate is inserted and a certain command is performed.
- Exact Words: Zangetsu is considered the Ouja of the series. Turns out they weren't talking about THIS Zangetsu...
- Finishing Move:
- Melon Arms: Squash: Zangetsu performs Melon Musou Zan note by charging his Musou Saber with Melon-shaped energy before slashing his target with it. Alternatively, he can perform the Melou Blast by throwing his shield charged with maskmelon slice-shaped energy at the enemy, before slashing and stabbing them afterwards.
- Fourze Arms: Squash: Zangetsu performs Fourze's Rider Rocket Drill Kick by jumping high up and strikes the opponent with the spinning drill. Alternatively, he can perform the Rider Rocket Punch by performing a punch attack with the Rocket Module.
- Kachidoki Arms: Sparking: Zangetsu charges his Kachidoki Bata with lime-green energy before slashing the opponent with it.
- Foreshadowing:Of all the original four Riders, Zangetsu is the only one with a shield as his primary sidearm, whereas all the others have offensive weaponry. This hints at the fact that Takatora is not a villain, as he chose a form that is based on defense and protection rather than aggression.
- Gatling Good: The Watermelon Gatling from the Watermelon arms is a shield with a minigun-like attachment on the bottom similar to the one used by Norris' Gouf Custom from the Gundam franchise
- Legacy Character: Not Takatora or Zangetsu per se, but Zangetsu Kachidoki is meant to be the inheritance of the powers the Lockseed once gave Kouta, re-engineered for Takatora's own Rider form and to surpass the original model.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: The novel gives him Jimber Melon Arms as an alternative to Zangetsu Shin.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: The default Musou Saber note sidearm, when using the Watermelon Lockseed, he is given the Watermelon Gatling, a cross between the shield of the Melon Defender and a gatling gun.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Melon Defender in Melon Arms. It also offers offensive options alongside it's main defensive usez as it has sharp curves and a sharp point at the bottom of the shield.
- Palette Swap: Watermelon Arms from Zangetsu Gaiden is basically Melon Arms recolored in dark red and green.
- Super Mode: The theatrical play Kamen Rider Zangetsu -Gaim Gaiden- gives him his own melon-based version of Kachidoki Arms.
- Superior Successor: Zangetsu's Kachidoki Arms are meant to surpass Kouta's version of the Arms, hence why it is encoded as "SKLS" (Shin ("True") Kachidoki Lockseed) instead of KLS-02. Since Kouta himself gives Takatora the Lockseed, it only makes sense.
Tropes exclusive to him as Kamen Rider Zangetsu Shin
Soda! Melon Energy Arms! (Japanese techno music)
- Finishing Move:
- Squash: Zangetsu Shin performs his Mujin Kick note by using all the Melon Energy's fuel before jumping up and kicking the target. Alternatively, he can slash the enemy with the Sonic Arrow afterwards.
- Sonic Arrow: Zangetsu Shin performs his version of Sonic Volley by inserting the Melon Energy Lockseed before firing a powerful arrow shot.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Switches his Sengoku Driver in favor to the more advanced Genesis Driver.
- Rain of Arrows: Assuming the abilities shown of the Sonic Arrow aren't shared by all New Generation Riders, Zangetsu Shin's arrows can do this, as shown in #12.
Emergency Rider Form
Tropes exclusive to him as Kamen Rider Gridon II
- Call-Back: Becomes Gridon to ferry the powers back to Hideyasu, much like how Kouta used Aym, the user of Proto-Gaim, to ferry the Shin Kachidoki Lockseed to Takatora himself.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: Technically serves as an emergency form similar to Zerozero-One and Super Dead Heat, being weaker than Takatora's other forms. Takatora very quickly switches back to Zangetsu after the situation necessitating Gridon's use is resolved.
- MacGuffin Escort Mission: The Donguri Lockseed and unlocked Sengoku Driver in Takatora's possession needs to be delivered to Hideyasu in time. Also an exploited case of the trope, as the lack of a DNA lock means that it isn't entirely useless while in transit and Takatora can become Gridon II to hold off any attackers.
- Weak, but Skilled: Gridon is not a exactly a particularly strong or useful powerset, as Hideyasu is all too familiar with. But with Takatora's skills and experience he's quite effective with it even if he moves back to Zangetsu as soon as he can.
