Kamen Rider Raia

nihongo|Kamen Rider Raia|仮面ライダーライア|Kamen Raidā Raia is a fictional character in the tokusatsu production "Kamen Rider Ryuki". He is one of the 13 Kamen Riders the series revolves around. His true identity is Miyuki Tezuka and is portrayed by Hassei Takano, who later portrayed Ichimonji Hayato/Kamen Rider 2 in the movie Kamen Rider the First. This also makes him one of the few actors to play two different Riders in two different series/movies.

Kamen Rider Raia's name and appearance are derived from the Latin word "Raia", which is used in the scientific terms for Rajiformes & Raja, the genuses that relates to Rays and Skates. He is a variable, but mainly melee-based fighter. He has very few weapons to call his own aside from a thorned-whip. However, his Copy Vent card allows him to copy the weapons of his opponent or his ally, such as Kamen Rider Ryuki's Strike and Sword Advents and Kamen Rider Knight's Sword Advent.

Fictional character biography

Tezuka is a very accurate fortune-teller that believes in predestination. He fights to stop the Rider war and change their fates, similar to Shinji, Kamen Rider Ryuki. Tezuka is among the few honorable and noble Riders in the series. Though he was given the left Survive card, he gave it to Kamen Rider Knight, even though that could have made him stronger. Tezuka was not the original deck holder that was chosen to become a Rider. The real chosen one was Yuichi Saito, an excellent pianist and dear friend to Tezuka, who had lost his ability to play when a mugger (later revealed to be Takeshi Asakura) broke his hands and ruined his ability to play. Had Yuichi chosen to fight and win, Kanzaki would restore his hands. Saito refused, and as such was eaten by the monster Guldthunder. Tezuka later contracted Evildiver and became a Rider to avenge him.

Raia died in the TV series during a fight against Ouja. When Ouja performed his Final Advent against Ryuki, Raia pushed him out of the way and took the attack instead. He died shortly afterwards due to his wounds. Being a very accurate fortune teller, he probably knew that Ryuki is better off being the one to stop the Rider war while Knight was better off with the Survive card. After Shiro restored time to its proper course after Yui's death, Tezuka was given a second chance in life with no memory of being a Rider and was seen doing tarot readings on the corner of the street.

Tezuka's role in the 13 Riders special was slightly altered from the TV series. He was friends with Ren and had once loved Eri Aikawa, Ren's girlfriend. Though he became a Rider to help Aikawa, he still felt that the war between the Riders should be stopped. During the special, he was killed by Kamen Rider Verde and Kamen Rider Knight was the one to pushed Ryuki out of the way to take Verde's Final Vent.

Note

In a concept drawing, they depicted Yuichi Saito as Kamen Rider Blue if he had contracted Guldthunder, instead of being eaten by him. Conincidentally, this same monster is modeled after a phoenix. When the main writers heard about the initial ideas, they scrapped the idea to bring that Rider into the series, since another Rider, Kamen Rider Odin, would inevitably have contract with a different phoenix-type monster, GoldPhoenix.

pecifications

Alter Ego: Miyuki Tezuka
* Sight: ~10km
* Hearing: ~10km radius
* Speed: 72km/h
* High jump: 40m
* Punch: 200 Attack Points
* Kick: 300 Attack Points

Contract Monster

Evildiver: Modeled after a ray, Evildiver was originally the contract Monster of Kamen Rider Raia. It later came into the possession of "Kamen Rider Ohja" and, together with "Venosnaker" and "Metalgelas", became one of the building blocks of the composite Monster "Genocider".
* Length: 2.00m
* Weight: 30kg

Advent Cards

Evil Visor
* The card reader resembled Evildiver and was mounted on the left forearm of the Rider as a small shield.

Evildiver (4,000 Attack Points)
* Summoned Evildiver.

Swing Vent (2,000 Attack Points) - "Evil Whip"
* A whip that resembled the tail of Evildiver.

Final Vent (5,000 Attack Points) - "Hydro Basin"
* Raia stood on top of Evildiver as if it were a surfboard, and rammed into his opponent.

Copy Vent
* A generic card that could be used by any of the 13 Riders. Allowed Raia to replicate one of the weapons of his target Rider. Compare with "Kamen Rider Verde's Copy Vent" card.

Survive (left wing)
* Would have upgraded Raia to his Survive form and according to concept art, his contract monster Evildiver would have become Exodiver. He never used the card himself but gave it to "Kamen Rider Knight" instead.

References

* [http://www.toei-video.co.jp/DVD/sp21/ryuki.html Kamen Rider Ryuki (DVD)]
* [http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ryuki/ Kamen Rider Ryuki @ TV Asahi]
* [http://members.fortunecity.com/jillun/ryuuki/ Kamen Rider Ryuuki Spoiler Page]