Kamen Rider Raia
Kamen Rider Raia (仮面ライダーライア) is one of the 13
Kamen Riders in the
tokusatsu production
Kamen Rider Ryuki.
Actor: Hassei TakanoAlter Ego: Tezuka Miyuki
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Sight: ~10km
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Hearing: ~10km radius
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Speed: 72km/h
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High jump: 40m
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Punch: 200 Attack Points
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Kick: 300 Attack Points
Evildiver*
Length: 2.00m
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Weight: 30kgModelled 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.
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)
Haido Beson (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)* Upgraded Raia to his Survive form, supposedly. He never used the card himself but gave it to
Kamen Rider Knight instead.
"Raia" derives from the scientific term for the genus that relate to Rays and Skates
Kamen Rider Raia 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 advent. His Final Advent "Hydro Basin" involves riding Evildiver like a surfboard and ramming into an opponent. Raia was given a Survive Advent card, but choose to give it to Kamen Rider Knight before he had a chance to ever transform into a Survival form.
Tezuka was not the original Kamen Rider Raia. The real Raia was Yuichi Saito, a dear friend and a pianist, who had lost his ability to play when a mugger (later revealed to be Takeshi Asakura) broke his hands and ruined his motor skills. Had Yuichi chosen to fight and win, Kanzaki would restore his hands, but he refused, and as such was killed by a monster. Tezuka took the mantle of Raia to avenge him. In a concept drawing, they depicted Yuchi Saito as Kamen Rider Blue with his contract monster being Guildthunder, the Mirror Monster that killed him.
He is a very accurate fortune-teller that believes in
predestination.
His prize is to stop the Rider war and save everyone, similar to Shinji,
Kamen Rider Ryuki.
Raia died in 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. In the 13 Riders, Raia was killed by Verde's Final Vent.
In an interesting note, in the 13 Riders, Kamen Rider Knight pushed Ryuki out of the way to take Verde's Final Vent. Coincidentally, Verde was the one who killed Kamen Rider Raia in the 13 Riders.
Had Raia kept or at least used the Survive card once, according to concept art, his contract monster Evildiver becomes Exodiver.
Raia is among the few honorable and noble Riders in the series. He gave his Survive card to Knight, even though that could have made him strong enough to endure Ohja's Final Vent. He also sacrificed himself and took Ohja's Final Vent, contrary to what Ohja did to Gai by using him as a shield. 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.
In the 13 Riders TV Special, Tezuka was friends with Ren and had once dated 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.
Hassei Takano, the actor who played Tezuka/Raia was later selected to play the role of Ichimonji Hayato/Kamen Rider 2 in the movie
Kamen Rider the First, a movie remake of the original kamen rider series. Many argue however that Takano would have been better suited as the role of Hongo Takeshi/Kamen Rider 1. This also makes him one of the few actors to play two different Riders in two different series/movies.
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Kamen Rider Ryuki (DVD)*
Kamen Rider Ryuki @ TV Asahi*
Kamen Rider Ryuuki Spoiler Page
