001;
[ Player Name ] : Dees
[ Personal LJ ] : Punchhopped
[ Age ] : 23
[ Timezone ] : GMT+1
[ Other Characters ] : keyword_bingo & notasiscon
[ Character's Name ] : Kageyama Shun
[ Character's Age ] : 20
[ Series ] : Kamen Rider Kabuto
[ Canon Point ] : Episode 46, after defeating the Cassis Worm Clipeus together with Yaguruma.
[ History ] :
Kageyama Shun is one of the most volatile characters in Kamen Rider Kabuto. As the series progresses, he goes through many changes that turn him into the person he is today.
At the start of the series, Kageyama is a member of Shadow, the elite Worm extermination squad led by the first Kamen Rider TheBee Yaguruma Sou. At this point, Kageyama is a loyal, mostly sweet kid with a tendency to let his emotions get the best of him. This usually happens if people insult his captain Yaguruma who is Kageyama’s greatest inspiration and role model. He takes Yaguruma’s philosophy of ‘Kanzen Chouwa/Perfect Harmony 1’ as gospel truth and is devoted to being the most useful member of the team that he can be. All of this starts to change however when Yaguruma starts to lose himself in his rage against Tendou and abandons his team (leaving Kageyama to nearly die) in order to fight him. In the end TheBee zecter which values loyalty and competence above all else abandons Yaguruma in favour of Kagami.
With Kagami as the new TheBee rider, Shadow now falls under his command. While Kageyama seems a little down over the change of leadership, he tries to encourage Kagami as well as he can. It soon becomes painfully clear however that while Kagami is a good kid with a strong drive to protect, he can strategize about as well as a brick. Rather than let his team die, Kageyama springs in to take the battle strategies on him, showing quick thinking in even the most dangerous situations. When Kagami gives up the zecter in favour of his friendship with Tendou, Kageyama cannot believe that anyone would so willing give up a zecter and the great power and responsibility that comes with it.
After a short stint of absence, Kageyama returns and is assigned to Tadoroko’s team to become an Operator along with Kagami and Misaki. He states that without a leader Shadow has been dissolved and he is tired of front-line battle. Meanwhile former members of Shadow are slowly being exterminated one by one, pointing to a possible traitor in the ranks. And who is more suspicious than the former leader of Shadow and ex-Kamen Rider TheBee rider Yaguruma Sou? It all leads to a confrontation in an old warehouse, in which Yaguruma proves himself not to have been the traitor and Kageyama proves that he is very good at keeping tricks up his sleeve.
In reality, Shadow was never dissolved and this all was a set-up to smoke out the traitor. Not only that, but Shadow does have a leader, namely the third Kamen Rider TheBee Kageyama Shun, who was accepted by TheBee zecter behind the scenes. Yaguruma asks Kageyama if he can join Shadow once more now that he has been cleared, however Kageyama refuses on the ground that Yaguruma’s presence would bring disharmony to the team as it is now.
Soon it becomes clear that Kageyama’s leadership of Shadow is based on a means to the end approach, in which very little is shunned when it comes to carrying out ZECT orders (which are paramount) and destroying the Worms. In order to flush out the true traitor, Kageyama quite casually sets up Kagami as the bait, hoping to draw out the traitor, seemingly uncaring that this could lead to getting Kagami killed. Kagami is only an assistant, after all. His strategies often put him in direct confrontation with Tendou, who believes him to be a bad leader. As a result of this, as well as the humiliation that Tendou heaps upon Kageyama (though not all undeserved) Kageyama develops a burning hatred of Tendou.
As Kamen Rider TheBee, Kageyama comes under the direct command of Mishima Masato, ZECT´s second in command. Mishima is a cruel man, whose means to the end approach puts that of even Kageyama to shame. Much like anything else, Kageyama becomes one of Mishima´s pawns, though Kageyama himself does not seem to notice this due to his blind loyalty and hero worship of those superior to him. Under Mishima´s guidance, Kageyama´s methods steadily become crueller and less moral (Kidnapping eight year old to manipulate a dude into joining their organisation? Super!) and Kageyama loses more and more of that loyal, sweet kid that he was in the beginning. It is however also painfully clear that Mishima becomes less pleased with Kageyama’s performance as time goes on, believing him to be an eyesore and increasingly less useless. This leads Kageyama to beg Mishima not to abandon him on several occasions, each time becoming more and more desperate.
Eventually all the show's events accumulate in Tendou finally joining ZECT, laying down his first orders: “All zecters will be handed over to me.” ZECT, who has finally snagged up the strongest Kamen Rider, has no problem with this; Kageyama does.
TheBee zecter has become the focal point of Kageyama’s life at this point. Rather than willingly give it up to Tendou, he defies orders and makes an agreement with Mamiya, despite knowing that she is a Worm. She promises to defeat Tendou, so he can keep his zecter. And it would have almost worked out too! ...if not for the surprise return of Yaguruma Sou. During his absence, Yaguruma Sou took a course in badass, changed his wardrobe from corporate tool to leather goth and gained control of the Kickhopper zecter. Yaguruma invites Kageyama to come to hell with him, before defeating him with a well-placed Rider Kick. Tendou takes control of TheBee zecter, despite Kageyama’s begging and crying.
Indeed, without his zecter, Kageyama becomes more pathetic than he already was. He tries every trick in the book to get it back, from complaining to Mishima (who tells him he is an eyesore and to get out) to trying to befriend Tendou or becoming his loyal subordinate when Tendou does not seem interested in friendship. He does not even shy away from cheating in a cooking competition organized by Tendou or faking tears when he gets caught. It is all for naught though and Kageyama remains without his zecter.
Hope shortly blossoms for him when Mamiya offers to get his zecter back for him. And that all in exchange for one small favour: kill someone. Kageyama hesitates for a moment, however when Mamiya says that his intended victim is a Worm, he casts aside whatever doubts he had and goes on his war path. Before he can kill the person in question however, he is caught by the members of Shadow who shoot him on orders of ZECT. Caught in the crossfire, he begs Mamiya to save him, but she refuses. Instead another saviour steps up to the plate: welcome back, Yaguruma! Yaguruma makes quick work of the remaining Worms and props up the rather injured Kageyama up against the wall. He asks Kageyama to fall to hell with him and gives him a new zecter (Punchhopper) as well as hold him close, telling him he can be his little brother/partner from now on.
From this moment on, Kageyama turns his back on ZECT, instead focusing all his attention and loyalty back on Yaguruma. Much like in the beginning, he completely follows along with Yaguruma´s philosophies again; however where Yaguruma’s previous philosophies were those of perfection, now they have become rather nihilistic in their approach. He believes that neither him nor Kageyama are worthy of staying in the light and instead should stay together in darkness like the losers they are. Kageyama is not entirely on board with this, as is shown by the little reckless streak that keeps trying to reach out to the light, but staying with Yaguruma, who he now calls Aniki, who was the only one who would even look at him, is far more important than that.
As Punch- and Kickhopper (or the Hell brothers as their nickname is) Yaguruma and Kageyama’s lives only occasionally touch those of the ones in ZECT. They once fight an exhausted Kagami and Tendou, taking out their mutual rage and hatred on them, beating them. When Tsurugi falls to hell for about eight hours, they adopt him in as well, adding to their little, dysfunctional hell family. However in general they seem to spend their time being losers, not reaching for the light, and eating instant ramen under an overpass (that may or may not be their home).
As the war between the Worms, the Natives, and ZECT and its riders escalates, Yaguruma and Kageyama are given a surprise offer: help us fight the Worms and in return you may have control of TheBee zecter again, as well as command Shadow. Yaguruma easily shrugs off the offer, however Kageyama is once again snared in by ZECT. He transforms into TheBee again, however his elation is of short duration. Soon after, and in part due to the fact that he was unwilling to listen to Kagami, he is defeated again and the zecter abandons him once more. He begs Yaguruma to take revenge for him and despite his rough treatment of Kageyama and his constant light-seeking ways, Yaguruma does team up with Kagami and Tendou to defeat the Worm that had laughed at his partner.
The final chapter in Kageyama's story comes during the final few episodes of the show. As the tension between the Natives, the Worms and ZECT heats up further, a thirty Xanatos gambit pileup occurs and the hoppers are two of many people caught in this.
In an effort to make it easier to detect Worms, special Worm detection necklaces are handed out by ZECT, free of charge. Kageyama becomes very intrigued by these necklaces and steals three of them, enough for both him and Yaguruma. Soon after he starts falling ill with a high fever. He offers his necklaces to Yaguruma who says he doesn't need them. Kageyama begs Yaguruma to never leave him who calms him down, before telling his partner that he has been doing some thinking. Somewhere, there might still be a light out there for them. Yaguruma asks Kageyama to leave the city with him to try and find their own purpose. Kageyama agrees happily.
However, it never comes to that point.
The necklaces end up being a ploy by the Natives. The necklaces admit a low level of radiation which, combined with a pulse from the radio tower, will turn all humans into Natives, thus eliminating the human threat. Kageyama, who had stolen and was wearing three necklaces, is exposed to at least the triple dose of radiation, which leads to him transforming into a Native even without the pulse of the radio tower. Kageyama, understandable, freaks. The Native and the Worms are the same species and now he has turned into the one thing he despises more than anything. He manages to stumble to the harbour where Yaguruma is waiting for him to leave together and tells him he can't come with him because "[he has] seen a darkness deeper than even Aniki," while his body uncontrollably shifts between his human form and his new Native form. Activating his zecter one final time, Kageyama says goodbye to Yaguruma, standing motionless as he trust his most important person in the world to kill him. A short scene after the fight shows Kageyama dying (or already dead) on Yaguruma's shoulder, held close by his partner, who promises him that now they will be together forever, partners for eternity and that they will find their light in the next life.
1 Kanzen Chouwa: "We Shadow do not allow grandstanding. We comrades help each other out. Act in a way to consider the whole team. If you do that, the power of one will become that of two or three... even more than ten times greater. That is the team's Kanzen Chouwa. That's Perfect Harmony."
- My episode to episode study of Kageyama
- Kamen Rider Kabuto [at] Wikipedia
- Kageyama Shun [at] Wikipedia
- Kamen Rider Punchhopper [at] Wikia
[ Personality ] :
At this point in time, Kageyama is a mostly stable, pathetic loser of a kid who is only loyal to his Aniki, Yaguruma Sou. Even since becoming Punchhopper, he has embraced Yaguruma's nihilistic philosophies of being a loser and being unworthy of the light. Or at least, he has tried. In reality, there is still a part of him that tries to seek out the light and make it his own. Usually however this only ends in him getting hurt, either through the actions of others/the universe or through Yaguruma punishing him in an attempt to keep him from getting hurt worse. Kageyama would still do anything for him though; he doesn't consider himself abused or anything. His life belongs to Aniki because Aniki was the one who saved him and was the only one who would even look at him. And for that, he can do anything to Kageyama that he wishes.
A lot of Kageyama's personality is wrapped up in the people he admires. He has always been the kid that needs someone to look up to, to emulate but he is also the type that takes this a little far. If he has found someone that he wants to follow, he idolizes them completely and has a tendency to adjust his own morals and actions to suit theirs. It is not that he does not have morals of his own, they are simply inferior to those of the people he looks up to (after all, they are all so much more awesome than him) and they are not as important as being accepted and kept close to his chosen person.
Indeed, Kageyama's biggest weakness and fear is his fear of being abandoned. He hates being alone. He doesn't need to be treated kindly, he doesn't need an equal friendship, all he needs is someone that will look at him and acknowledge that he is alive. And for this, he will do a lot of things. Seriously. A lot of things. While, at the moment, he has not yet crossed over into knowingly and purposely killing another human (he has only killed Worms) with enough pressure from someone he looks up to, or in a desperate situation, he might even cross this final boundary.
That is not to say that Kageyama Shun is a dark-hearted type of character. Deep down inside, he kind of wants to be a hero and protect people. He craves the light even after the light has turned away from him completely. While his reasons for joining ZECT are never stated precisely, from the way he was in the beginning of the show, as well as what he said just before being gunned down by Shadow, it is likely that he did join with mostly noble thoughts in mind. If left alone without a cruel superior corrupting him, he's even a mostly nice kid. Perhaps a bit short with what he considers naive people and prone to grumpy outbursts when people insult whoever he holds dear, but a mostly nice kid none the less.
As it is right now, he's mostly a chaotic-neutral, anti-hero type of character. Both him and Yaguruma are outcast from society, so neither of them consider themselves particularly bound by its rules. They will, if needed and even if not, steal things, pick fights with people, and generally live the kind of hobo lifestyle that only true losers can fully embrace. Kageyama has a tendency to put himself down some because well... he is a gigantic pathetic loser. Of course he should put himself down. He deserves it and all. At the moment, Kageyama also does not respond too greatly to people being nice to him. Being a loser and all, he kinda expects them to turn around and laugh at him. Besides, staying with Aniki is enough for him.
Perhaps it would be easiest to define Kageyama by what little virtues and many vices he has. His main virtue is no doubt his unending loyalty. Seriously. He is like a puppy. A kicked, punched puppy that got his tail run over but is still trying to wag it at you. If your name is Yaguruma, at least.
His vices are many but the most important two are the fact that he is really really easy to enrage and the fact that he is envious of other people. I am not kidding with the envy. At one part in the show, he envies a dog for getting petted. Life has really not treated him kindly, still doesn't, and while he knows he shouldn't envy and hope for things that are not for him (he's a loser after all) he still does it. And gets hurt every single time.
TL/DR: Sad kicked, punched puppy that got his tail run over and is still trying to wag it. His name tag says loser.
[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] :
- Single most pathetic loser ever to grace the Kamen Rider Franchise.
- As stated, Kageyama is deadly afraid of being abandoned. He'll beg people not to abandon him. Right now, Yaguruma is all he has. And even though Yaguruma has promised to stay with him forever, he sometimes still gets scared about getting abandoned and being alone. At this point, getting abandoned by Yaguruma would probably kill him seeing as that he is the last person in the universe that even cares about Kageyama.
- He is not stellar at making friends. Part of that is due to how he wraps himself up completely around one person, and part of that is due to the fact that he is a whiner and a bit of a jerk. He also is pathetic as mentioned and has a tendency to put himself down. And expects everybody else to laugh at him.
- Kageyama was a soldier up until recently and has continued fighting even after his departure from ZECT. Because of this, his physical condition is excellent. He is also skilled in various skills that would suit an elite soldier (including, but not limited to, gun-skills and medical skills) He might not look like much, but he is excellent at boxing (no, really. What a surprise) And if the force of his punch wouldn't do it, the fact that he wears a jewellery store worth of rings would. He is also a good strategist as seen from his run as Shadow's leader. His methods might be rather cruel on occasion, but they do manage to get results most of the time. (or rather, whenever Tendou doesn't get involved)
- Kageyama is Kamen Rider Punchhopper. More information on Punchhopper can be found in an earlier link.
- He has fairly good stamina and ability to heal? With how often the universe beats on him, it is surprising he only has the one big scar, really.
- Still can't stop reaching out for the light even though he has gotten hurt time and time again. A stubborn streak a mile long, apparently.
- If you laugh at him/hurt him/make him cry, Aniki is going to come and kick your ass.
[ Other Important Facts ] :
Surprisingly not a siscon.
[ Sample ] :
Kageyama rolled over with a faint grunt, feeling the ache settled deep in his bones. His face was throbbing, dried blood clinging to the side of his mouth. He was tired, so tired, but even in his exhaustion there was triumph. He and Aniki had done it! They had beaten that worm, and Aniki had said that maybe it was okay to try for the light again.
Though it hurt, a smile tugged up Kageyama's mouth, shifting his arm a little, his fingertips stretching out to where Aniki was.
Where Aniki wasn't.
Kageyama's eyes shot open and he sat up quickly. He was alone. Aniki wasn't here and he wasn't even in the place he had fallen asleep in. Slowly, the fact that he was soaked started to sink in and yet all these things were meaningless compared to the fact that Aniki was not here.
Had he been abandoned while he slept? He would've deserved it. He was just a loser, after all. Maybe this was his punishment for reaching out for the light once more.
He hunched over a little, rubbing his hand over his face despite the sting of his wounds. No, maybe Aniki was here somewhere? He had promised not to abandon him. He didn't recognize the buildings around him, though it was easy to recognize their state of disarray. It suited him somehow. Still, he didn't always recognize where they slept these days. He had learned to just fall asleep wherever Aniki brought him.
Aniki.
No, Aniki couldn't abandon him. He had promised.
Kageyama scrambled to his feet, feeling his soaked clothes stick to his skin uncomfortably as he glanced around. Weird place. He'd care about that later. First he had to find Aniki.
[ Questions? Comments? Concerns? ] : !