History YMMV / KamenRiderRyuki

** [[spoiler: Tezuka's]] death is supposed to be a heart-wrenching moment, but becomes hard to take seriously when the caemera cuts to his POV, looking at a reflection of Yui that makes her head look a bit too big.

* FriendlyFandoms: With ''Series/SquidGame'' of all things. A small but notable fanbase of both shows noticed the various similarities between the two, be it in themes (BattleRoyale for heart's desire born of desperation), protagonists (pacifists) or antagonists (the antagonists being a rigged participant). The result is ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_tVsebkiQY this]]''.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The show, specifically its idea of Riders fighting each other to the death has unfortunately been hit with this - when it was made, it was done so with open contempt for the ideals the franchise was based on. Future takes on the idea have arguably been better, due to respecting the franchise's ideals and origins. And that's not even getting into screenwriter Shoji Yonemura's rampant AuthorAppeal for LetsYouAndHimFight through SuperDickery in the ''Super Hero Taisen'' movies, which degenerate the idea into thinly-veiled excuses for IntraFranchiseCrossover slugfests and drag ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' (and in [[Film/KamenRiderXSuperSentaiXSpaceSheriffSuperHeroTaisenZ one case]], [[Series/SpaceSheriffGavan the]] [[Series/SpaceSheriffSharivan Space]] [[Series/SpaceSheriffShaider Sheriffs]]) into the mix - mind you, in that case, it's not that the movies do the concept better[[note]]in fact, general consensus is that it's done ''worse''[[/note]], but rather, said AuthorAppeal that makes this trope go into effect even harder. While ''Ryuki'' is still well-liked amongst most who have seen it, it's not uncommon for people who saw a later series that featured the concept before watching ''Ryuki'' (i.e., ''Blade'', ''Kabuto'', ''Gaim'') to find ''Ryuki'' to be lackluster.

** [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=yJ2cONTUtGw Alive a Life by Rica Matsumoto]], the opening theme of this series. While the music itself is awesome, the "glass break" sound effect in the opening episodes makes it even better. Completely suitable for a show about masked heroes (and villains) fighting each other inside the Mirror World.

** ''Ryuki'' has the plot point of Riders contracting with monsters who are breaking out of their own dimension. The Riders then draw on the power of cards, which provide them powers and attacks in order to fight other Riders or monsters. It's pointed out by Ren early on that monsters must eat other monsters in order to grow stronger. The monsters are also created from drawings Shirou created in the past. Many of these plot points bear similarities to ''[[Anime/DigimonTamers Digimon Tamers]]'', which notably also played with the concept of what Digimon are (like ''Ryuki'', ''Tamers'' makes a point that Digimon are, at the end of the day, monsters who can be dangerous, though it is possible to teach them to be better). ''Tamers'' premiered in 2001, and ended a month after ''Ryuki'' began.

** Jun Shibaura/Kamen Rider Gai is also this to an extent, as he is mostly remembered for being Ouja's meat shield [[spoiler:before his death]].

** [[StarterVillain Masashi Sudoh/Kamen Rider Scissors]] is a [[DirtyCop detective who uses his position to cover up his illegal acts]]. Asked for a larger share of the profits by his partner, Sudoh kills him and plasters him into the wall of his own shop to hide the evidence. When Shiro Kanzaki offers him an Advent Deck, Sudoh agrees in order to use the Contract Monster he's given, Volcancer, to feed it anyone who knows of his crimes, doing so to countless people who've come too close. He later attempts to kill a reporter inspecting his shop and Shinji Kido after he offers peace, along with anyone close to him to keep them quiet and hold Yui hostage from Shiro. With his crimes discovered, Sudoh follows it up by feeding two cops attempting to arrest him to Volcancer before he succumbs to the same fate as them. In spite of having little screentime, Sudoh was the first demonstration that some Riders were selfish people with only their own interests in mind, willing to stoop to absolute lows.

* CommonKnowledge: Despite what is often claimed by fans, at no point in the series' production was the Rider War supposed to have had 50 Kamen Riders. The claims originates as a joke made by Ren's actor in the trailer for ''13 Riders'', and was never intended as a serious comment.

* AdaptationDisplacement: For some countries, this was actually their first impression of the ''Kamen Rider'' franchise due to it being chosen first for international broadcast. Examples include Korea, Indonesia and Singapore. This also factored it into being chosen as the [[Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight gateway adaptation]] for the franchise to the Americas. So imagine their confusion where future installments don't have their Riders killing each other. At least until ''Gaim''.

* IdiotBall: In #25, Asakura, who by this point has already established a reputation for being extremely evil, tells Reiko that he might be able to [[HeelFaceTurn change]] if he was to reunite with his brother. Reiko, who is normally one of the smartest and most competent characters on the show, honors his request without question and tracks down his brother (much to said brother's chagrin). When they do reunite, Asakura doesn't change at all and instead feeds his brother to his Contract Monster.

* AdaptationDisplacement: For some countries, this was actually their first impression of the ''Kamen Rider'' franchise due to it being chosen first for international broadcast. Examples include Korea, Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore. This also factored it into being chosen as the [[Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight gateway adaptation]] for the franchise to the Americas. So imagine their confusion where future installments don't have their Riders killing each other. At least until ''Gaim''.

* HoYay: Kitaoka and Gorou. Especially in [[http://www.virtual-rotation.com/chirlind/others/sentai/3kamenry.html#dear their song, "Dear Friend"]], found on the soundtrack.
** In episode 30, while arguing with Kitaoka, Shinji insists that he can tell whether or not someone is telling the truth by looking at their eyes, to which Kitaoka responds by telling Shinji to take a good hard look at his. Shinji does, all while continually getting closer. And closer. And closer. He even tilts his head.
* IdiotBall: In episode 25, Asakura, who by this point has already established a reputation for being extremely evil, tells Reiko that he might be able to [[HeelFaceTurn change]] if he was to reunite with his brother. Reiko, who is normally one of the smartest and most competent characters on the show, honors his request without question and tracks down his brother (much to said brother's chagrin). When they do reunite, Asakura doesn't change at all and instead feeds his brother to his Contract Monster.

** Kamen Rider Scissors isn't treated well by the fandom at all. Not only is he alive for two episodes total and killed off for the sole purpose of demonstrating the consequences of breaking the Mirror Monster contract, his Deck is a gimped version of Shinji's (His Sword Vent is replaced by his short bladed Scissors-Visor, his Guard Vent only has one shield instead of two, his Strike Vent has no ranged attack...), and his Final Vent is a little more than [[{{Narm}} using his monster to perform a cheerleader flip]]. Oh, not only that; at two episode appearances, Scissors (along with Grant/Camo from ''[[Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight Dragon Knight]]'') also holds the distinction of being the Rider who appeared in the TV series with the shortest appearance time ''in the entire franchise''.
** Kamen Rider [=Gai/Jun=] Shibaura is also this in an extent, as he is mostly remembered for being Ouja's meat shield [[spoiler:before his death]].

* {{Misblamed}}: A lot of people will point towards this series (specifically, ''Episode Final'') as where the "Female Rider Curse" began. However, the curse arguably actually has roots as far back as ''Series/KamenRiderStronger''; even if you only look at the Heisei era, [[spoiler: Shouichi's sister]] from ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'', even though she was a PosthumousCharacter, predates Femme. If you want to blame ''Episode Final'' for ''something'', blame it for starting the trend of killing off heroic movie-exclusive riders - up until the Neo Heisei era with [[Series/KamenRiderDecade Kivala]], [[Series/KamenRiderDenO New Den-O]] stood out like a sore thumb for not succumbing to this curse[[note]]the heroic riders from TheMovie for ''Hibiki'' died of old age, albeit it wasn't shown, so they still qualify[[/note]]. On top of that people who complain about the "Curse' forgot what Ryuki is [[ThereCanOnlyBeOne about]] so Femme's death is actually a more justified example compared to the others.

** Sometimes the result of SpecialEffectsFailure - watch in ep 39 as Ren is dramatically HANDED his {{BFS}} weapon from offscreen.

** Shiro's VillainousBreakdown in Episode Final after [[spoiler: Yui dies]] begins with him making a face that's supposed to look enraged but loops back to being ridiculously over the top.
* NightmareFuel:
** Sudo's death where he gets eaten alive. ''Onscreen''.
** The entire existance of the Mirror World and its inhabitants. For more details look below at ParanoiaFuel.
** Yui's and Kanzaki's parents locking their children up in the attic aad keeping them there even when Yui got sick [[spoiler:which lead to her death]].

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: In this series, most of the riders are assholes, the main character can almost never tell when he shouldn't trust somebody, and the riders who ''are'' good will likely die with everyone else. Not to speak about how this is the only series when you can't seriously blame anyone for trying to kill you, simply because that's the way things are supposed to be. [[spoiler: Ironically, Shiro realizes that in the end, the cycle he's created will just cause more pointless despair, and uses the Time Vent to prevent the entire war altogether.]]

* TheWoobie: Yui. Let's count the ways, shall we? She and her brother spend their early childhood locked up in their home by their own parents, with nothing but drawing and a not-so-imaginary world to comfort them. She's also mercilessly teased by other kids for her ability to see monsters. Then, she suddenly dies at age seven, and is replaced by her Mirror World self in her brother's DealWithTheDevil. Following their parents' deaths, she and Shirou are forcibly separated. Twelve years later she finds out that she's not even real, she's only living on borrowed time and will disappear forever once she turns twenty, ''and'' that her brother is perfectly willing to manipulate twelve people - two of which are her closest friends - into killing each other in his mad scheme to save her. And that her drawings with her brother are what became the Mirror Monsters that are snatching people away and devouring them in seconds. She then gets to find all this out by ''being targeted for death'' by those who've worked it out, snatched by monsters, and finding herself starting to disintegrate at times. And it can all only be settled [[spoiler: by ''convincing her brother to let her death stick.'' The final scenes make it clear that to the world, Yui died long ago and ''stayed'' that way. (Her grandmother is all alone in the tea-house, and there's a picture of Shiro and Yui as kids.)]]