But Shinji's luck takes a turn for the most peculiar the day he decides to check up on the apartment of Koichi Sakakibara, a man who vanished months ago in the early days of a story Reiko is pursuing with determination. The apartment has newspapers covering every reflective surface. Shinji disturbs one, but it is only covering glass. He stumbles upon a black box full of cards and pulls one out that says "Seal". Then he sees movement outside and looks, curious. And a dragon comes out of the windows across the way. It attacks him, but rebounds off the card. Still, the impact sends Shinji flying back and destroys the glass doors behind him. Unfortunately the bill for this goes to his work, and they take it out of his paycheck which, since Shinji hasn't payed his rent in three months, soon gets him kicked out of his apartment.

Shinji becomes a Kamen Rider without really knowing what's happening. At first, because he had no companion beast, he arrived in the Mirror World dressed in simplified armor. Everything he summoned was unadorned, without particular color. Of course he had no power behind him and nearly got himself killed right away. He was offered an out. Take the Seal card from the deck and run, Ren Akiyama and Yui Kanzaki told him. But even with the Seal card, there was likely to be no safety for him. Yui made it clear that the dragon would just keep coming until Shinji made a mistake, and then it would eat him. Ren wanted to face and fight the dragon, despite Yui's frantic worry that it was far too powerful for him and he would not survive. Shinji, though, went back to work. He made the mistake of trying to talk Reiko into letting her story on the vanishing people go because it was dangerous and she could surely find other scoops. And she pointed out to him that every person on that list who was gone represented also all the people left behind. Parents, children and friends who all wept and wondered what had happened to the people they loved. And when he saw a weeping little girl whose mother had been taken, when he saw Ren fighting the Death Spider as Knight, he made the choice. He destroyed the Seal card and asked Yui for the deck. With the Contract card he bound Dragredder and became a Rider. And then after they destroyed the spider together, Knight nearly killed him. Yui managed to stop him by shattering a department store window and breaking his focus, but that resulted in Ren having to pay 30,000 yen on Yui's behalf instead of Shinji (who has virtually no money) to the manager of the store. That money is a running joke in the series, as Ren periodically hands Shinji an ever-growing bill. The big shock for Shinji was when they told him that the riders were out to kill each other, for a rather nebulous reward. He asked Yui if it wasn't possible her brother had created the Kamen Riders just to fight the monsters, and she countered that she wished she could believe that. Eventually Shiro Kanzaki came to Shinji to state the terms, but that didn't change how Shinji dealt with the matter himself.

Blank Sword Vent Blank Visor Ryuuki Visor

Shinji effectively sets out to tame the other riders. To convince them that instead of fighting each other they should just fight to protect people from the monsters. His tenacity and determination are a deadly weapon against Shiro Kanzaki's rules. Unfortunately, he is unable to prevent the deaths of three riders, one of whom was the only other sane and peaceful one in the group as yet. He hasn't given up, though. Additional complications have been introduced to his life. He has now become determined to save the other Riders from themselves and Shiro Kanzaki's plans. Despite great effort, Impaler was lost while Shinji fought Tiger to save him. He blames himself for not stopping Toujou, as yet being totally unaware that Asakura was the final killer. He cannot decide what is the right thing to do. If he is to be the executioner of Toujou, now, he would also have to pass such a judgement on Asakura who, for some strange reason, he's developed a sort of fondness for. I think it's the free-wheeling insanity and unpredictability (what's not to predict? He's a fighter with no qualms about killing). However, he now knows that Yui is dying, and why the Riders are fighting. He's determined to save her but thus far has only fought Knight twice, and each time could not bring himself to make the final strike. He tried to get Kitaoka to go into the Mirror World and fight him, but our man refused and called Ren to report on Shinji's odd behaviour. Then Shinji wandered around, wearing himself to the bone trying to find Asakura, but the others found him before he could. Shinji became firmly convinced, because of Yui's distress and dissipation over the fighting, that he would stop the battles. But he couldn't. When the Dragonfly monsters came en masse into the real world, he rescued a little girl from their attack but received a fatal wound. He died with Ren at his side. This was the dying dialogue, which shows Shinji true.

"I've been thinking about it since yesterday, but I still didn't understand. I just thought, maybe if we just close the Mirror World.... I want to stop the fighting... I think it might hurt you very much, but I still want to stop it. It doens't matter if it's right or wrong." And Ren is starting to weep, too, for this boy has been too long with him, and understood too well. He listens to every world. "Being one of the Riders, that's what my wish was," mutters Shinji, and Ren responds the affirmative with a broken sob. Then he says fiercely, "Come on then, you have to live to do it! If you die... it's over!" And Shinji agrees. He reaches a shaking hand to grasp Ren's tightly. "I know that. You have to live as long as you can," he says. "No, no YOU have to live!" Ren cries hysterically. "Kido! Don't die! Don't DIE!" he cries. But Shinji is beyond desperation. He smiles weakly and appreciates the sentiments, "I can't believe you're saying those words to me," he chuckles, holding Ren's hand and trying to pass courage and determination into him while Ren protests. And that was when he left us.

Ryuuki's Advent Cards

Survive Mode

Actor: Keiichi Wada
Dairanger's Ryo & Gogofive's Jiku

Koichi Sakakibara (proper pronounciation at question), whom Shiro Kanzaki intended to be Kamen Rider Ryuuki.