Takeshi Asakura

is a criminal who transforms into . A fierce and cruel participant of the Rider Fight, he serves as one of the main villains of Kamen Rider Ryuki.
==History==
===Series===
Asakura was born on April 10, 1977. In 1990. At age 13, he murdered both of his parents in an act of arson, although his younger brother survived. Since, Asakura developed a reputation as a sadistic felon with a love for fighting, maiming, and otherwise destroying anything in his random fits of rage. As a result of his sadistic nature, prior to becoming a Rider, Asakura was personally responsible for ending the piano career of Miyuki Tezuka's friend Yuichi Saito. Eventually, his arrogant personality results with his defense attorney, Shuichi Kitaoka, refusing to represent him and left him to continue to serve jail time. Because Asakura was in prison and could not feed his destructive nature, he gladly accepted Shiro's offer to join the Rider War and forms a pact with Venosnaker, using his newfound powers as Kamen Rider Ouja in its many forms to break out of jail, avoid the law, and get his revenge on Kitaoka.
Ouja fought only for the sake of fighting and was the first Rider to kill other Riders, killing Kamen Rider Gai and Kamen Rider Raia and taking their Contract Monster afterwards. Ouja also destroyed Kamen Rider Imperer's deck, causing him to die in the Mirror World. While the other Riders had a desire that would be granted if they won the Rider War, Asakura was simply having fun, and said that if he won, he would wish for the Rider War to start over so he could keep enjoying himself.
Ren helped Asakura fake his death once so he can fight in the Rider War without police interference. However, when he was publicly revealed to be alive, Asakura was soon later captured, going in and out of jail for several instances. In one such case, he uses Metalgelas while in a police van to dispose of his police captors before escaping into the Mirror World. After a fight with Kamen Rider Ryuki Survive and Kamen Rider Tiger, he had been seriously injured and handed back to the authorities once again by Shinji. Soon he escaped again, with aid of his lawyer at that time whom he had knocked out and switched clothes with the lawyer to escape.
In the process of learning of Kitaoka's identity as a Rider, Asakura attempted to lure him by staging a hostage situation to get Kitaoka. Asakura had Venosnaker kidnap Goro Yura so Ouja can pressure Zolda into bringing Knight, Ryuki and Raia to a specific meeting place. However, Goro escapes by picking the lock of the handcuffs. Though he lost to Zolda, Ouja survived and senselessly killed Kamen Rider Gai in the process.
Upon learning of Kitaoka's identity as a Rider, he formed a personal grudge against him that manifested in many attempts to harm Kitaoka. The two would fight many times throughout the series. Miyuki Tezuka (Kamen Rider Raia) also held a personal grudge against Asakura for ending the piano career of his friend, Yuichi Saito.
During the series, he came under fire from his three monsters when they were hungry for life energy. They came close to devouring Asakura if not for his strong determination. After hunting down three Mirror Monsters, Ouja was able to feed his contract monsters. Kamen Rider Knight and Zolda tried to prevent his monsters from feeding so that they would turn on him and remove Asakura from the Rider War. but Kamen Rider Ryuki intervened and allowed the monsters to feed because Asakura had actually saved a small girl from the three monsters they hunted.
At the end of the series he finally has his showdown with Zolda. Ouja, using his "Doomsday" Final Vent, destroys Magnugiga before fatally injuring Zolda. Though happy with his victory, Ouja finds out seconds later that "Zolda" was actually Goro, as Kitaoka gave him his vent deck prior to succumbing to his cancer during the fight. Just as he returned to the real world in utter disarray of being denied the right to kill the man he hated the most, Asakura finds himself surrounded by the authorities in the warehouse he was in with snipers covering them. Defiant to the end, Asakura grabs a metal rod and runs at the cops screaming as they gun him down, brought to justice at last.
However, because Shiro restored time to its proper course after Yui's death, Asakura was given a second chance in life with no memory of being a Rider and keeping a low profile, but still having a rude personality, as he was kicking Shinji's bike because it was in the way.
==Post Series and other events==
===Hyper Battle Video - Ryuki vs Agito===
Zolda, Knight and Ouja fighting the rest back. They apologize for being late; when Ryuki accuses Ouja of being a villain, they all claim that as Kamen Riders they are the protectors of humanity, all completely out of character. They rush in to keep fighting the Monsters as Ryuki stands in confusion, but he eventually joins in.
As they fight the monsters down, explosions knock them all back, and the mysterious figure appears, named by Knight as Kamen Rider Agito, and by Zolda as the ruler of the "Miracle World". Burning Agito attacks them with fire before a gold figure jumps in, introducing himself as the real Kamen Rider Agito, saying Burning Form is a Miracle World illusion. The five Riders strike a pose and rush forward to fight the Fake Agito and his Mirror Monsters. the real Agito appears in Ground Form and teams up with Kamen Rider Ryuki, who imitates Agito's Rider Kick to destroy the imposter. In the end, this is revealed to be Shinji's dream.
===Kamen Rider Decade===
====Ending Journey====
In Kamen Rider Decade, Ouja is summoned in the World of Hibiki by Kiva-la, wielding a kanabou which he uses to summon a Bakegani from the mountain side after knocking Kiva-la aside.
====Cho Kamen Rider Den-O & Decade Neo Generations: The Onigashima Warship====
Diend appears long enough to summon Kamen Riders Ouja, G3, and Caucasus as wild cards in the fight and Kuchihiko reassembles the Oni's Trump Stone with Mimihiko activating the Demon's Warship in the present and using it to return to the past. The Oni Brothers are able to defeat them until Tsukasa and Sieg arrive, allowing Den-O to assume Wing form as Momotaros possess Tsukasa to fight as Decade. The other Tarōs do the same with Diend's summoned Riders (Urataros with G3, Kintaros with Caucasus, and Ryutaros with Ouja)
====Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker====
Asakura later appears in All Riders VS Dai-Shocker to fight the organization. However due to his sadistic nature he sides with Dai-Shocker along with KickHopper (Yaguruma). He attempts to stop Diend and Natsumi only for Diend to summon Gai, Raia, and PunchHopper to fight him and So. He fought Gai and Raia, the two riders he killed in the series. The outcome of the fight is unknown.
===OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders===
Kamen Rider Ouja was part of a group of reinforcement riders led by Akira Date/Kamen Rider Birth to aid the primary riders in defeating the Rock Great Leader. All the Kamen Riders got on their bikes and performed the All Rider Break attack which destroyed the Great Leader. 
===Kamen Rider Ghost Special Event===
===Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever===
Kamen Rider Ouja appears as a toy, when Sento Kiryu and Sougo Tokiwa they find Ataru Hisanagahe brings them to his room which is filled with Kamen Rider memorabilia, with Sougo and Sento stunned to see toys of themselves. Ataru reveals that Kamen Riders are fictional. 
===Kamen Rider Geats x Revice: Movie Battle Royale===
Takeshi appears as a participant of the Desire Royale, eliminating Michinaga Azuma from the game and becoming a finalist. His wish as a winner is to continue fighting until he dies. 
During the final round, he fights the other participants in a brawl, where he is eventually eliminated and retired from the game by Kamen Rider Knight.
===Kamen Rider Outsiders===
Years after the the timeline reset of the series, Asakura has turned into a low class criminal working for Chuta Nezu with a policy of not killing people. Kamen Rider Odin appears to invite Asakura for another Rider Fight, but Asakura refuses the offer and goes for a bank robbery for Nezu. This is a task given to him by Nezu, in order to raise funds for the latter's political career.
During the robbery, Asakura is set up and surrounded by cops. As it turns out, Nezu has double crossed him, threatening to kill the criminal's brother should he report the politician's misdeeds. In such a dire situation, Asakura is invited again by Odin and accepts his offer because Nezu has ignited his hatred. Upon obtaining his blank Ouja deck, he regains memory of his time as one of the 13 Kamen Riders and laughs at his current self for pitying human life. He goes after Nezu, musing to himself that he will kill his brother again.
As Nezu is wallowed by fear, he tries to persuade Asakura to work for him in the hopes that the latter will spare his life. Uninterested by the offer, Asakura promptly kills the politician by stabbing his neck with a shard of his own broken mirror. Then, Odin appears and orders Asakura to fight the other Riders. Asakura transforms into Kamen Rider Ouja, slaying Zolda, Raia, and Gai afterwards. With Ouja being the last one standing, Odin appears and Asakura knows that he must kill him next. Asakura summons Venosnaker to catch Odin off guard, resulting in the latter's losing his Survive Mugen card. Asakura uses the card to become Ouja Survive and proceeds to engage in a quick battle against Odin.
When Odin attempts to use teleportation ability, Asakura manages to predict his movements and successfully attacks him. As his enemy is staggered from the assault, Ouja uses his new Survive Final Vent, having his evolved Venosnaker become a Ridermachine that crashes into Odin. Asakura then stabs Odin in his stomach several times and kicks him into a wall.
Asakura is completely disappointed and attempts to crush Odin's deck because the battle has ended too quickly. However, Odin's deck is stolen by Diend, who presents Asakura the challenge of fighting Zein for further satisfaction. Asakura is interested and leaves Daiki without a fight, stating that he will destroy Zein if he encounters it.
==Appearances in other media==
===Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders Super Spin-off===
====That One! Jiro Okamoto: Final Blow Diet!!====
Kamen Rider Ouja appears with Leangle, Caucasus, Ixa and Black, cited as examples of the costumes of Jiro Okumoto, later in the beginning of the questionaire and Kenichi asks which Rider is Jiro referring to five Riders, it is finally discovered that it is Black, while Eitoku is Ouja. 
====Transform! Ryuki is a Changing Cut!!====
Takeshi Asakura appears with Kamen Rider Ryuga at the end of episode in the Mirror World, to fight against Gunji Koriyama, the temporary user of the Kamen Rider Ryuki deck.
===Kamen Rider Zi-O: Supplementary Plan===
====The King, God, and the Adult====
Kamen Rider Ouja along with Kamen Rider Blade King Form and Kamen Rider Kiva Emperor Form are compared with Sougo, finding out if there were other kings before him.
==Video Game appearances==
===Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride===
Kamen Rider Ouja appears as a playable character in this video game Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride.
===Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbarizing===
Kamen Rider Ouja is a playabled character in Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbarizing with other Kamen Riders.
===Kamen Rider Break Joker===
Kamen Rider Ouja appears as a playable character with other Riders and monsters in Kamen Rider Break Joker.
===Kamen Rider Batton-Line===
Kamen Rider Ouja appears as a playable character in Kamen Rider Batton-Line among other 
Riders in the game.
===Kamen Rider Transcend Heroes===
Kamen Rider Ouja appears as a playable character with others Kamen Riders in the video game, performer his Veno Crash and Doomsday enemies Kamen Rider Transcend Heroes.
===Puzzle and Dragons===
As part of the Ishimori Productions collaboration limited game event, Kamen Rider Ouja was an unlockable character in the Puzzle and Dragons puzzle RPG mobile game.
Abilities:
*Inflict Poison damage equal to ATK x1 to all enemies every turn. Ignore enemy element and defense.
*Change left-most column into Dark orbs and the right-most column into Poison orbs.
Leader Skill:
*Dark attribute cards ATK x3.5, RCV x2.
*ATK x4 when simultaneously clearing 4 connected Poison or Mortal Poison orbs.
Ouja in Puzzle and Dragons.png|Character art
===Battle Spirits ===
It is the tenth collaboration pack and the fifth collaboration with the Kamen Rider franchise. CB10 was released in Japan on December 21st, 2019. This set includes spirit, magic, and nexus cards in all six colors,Kamen Rider Ouja appears with other Kamen Riders and Monsters in Battle Spirits.
Ouja Battle Spirits Cards Included
*Kamen Rider Ouja (Master Rare)
==Personality==
Asakura is a violent, bad-tempered, murderous, and sadistic man, finding joy in fighting, maiming, killing, or otherwise destroying anything in his random fits of rage. He is actually so drawn to violence that he feels an unbearable tension which can only be eased through fighting. He has no sympathy or remorse for his actions, and will attack anyone simply because he is "vexed". In fact, when he's "vexed", he would even go as far as to hurt himself, just to ease his tension. This is shown when he is confined in a jail cell, he becomes so frustrated that he begins banging his head on the wall until he draws blood. 
Asakura's unhinged nature is such that he kills his entire family without any sign of repentance in a fire when he was a teenager. Furthermore, upon finding out his brother survives the event, he tracks him down only to feed him to Venosnaker. In fact, Asakura's wild personality even allows him to tame his three Mirror Monsters (two of which previously belong to the Riders he has killed). Asakura alone racks up the highest body count of all the Riders in Kamen Rider Ryuki, being directly responsible for the deaths of Gai, Raia, Imperer and Zolda.
His love for fighting is so much it is all it takes for him to join the Rider War. Unlike other Riders who join in order to have their wishes fulfilled, Asakura is just simply having fun with killing and fighting. In fact, he does not even know there is a "wish" for the winner until near the end-game stages of the Rider War. Even upon learning that fact, he only states his wish is to make the Rider War endless, so that he can continue his destructive routine more and more to feed his urge for violence. However, Asakura does not always go for the kill if he thinks it is not fun, as he always wants to transform and fight rather than fight in human form. On occasions, he has actually talked with Kitaoka right inside his office without fighting him. He even refuses to face Shinji when he is broken, pushing him off and declaring that the Shinji who is not being himself is not the Shinji he wants to fight and kill. However, these sentiments only apply for the 13 Riders. Asakura has no qualms killing commoners in cold blood without transforming without a moment's hesitation. 
Despite his mad and deranged personality, Asakura is far from being mindless. He is perfectly capable of intelligent manipulation and does not make stupid decisions. This is shown when he uses Gai as a human shield, then kills him in cold blood right after he has served his purpose. He is even perfectly willing to use a young girl as a bait for three Mirror Monsters for his own benefit, and when he does not need her anymore, he leaves her without a word.
Asakura's utter disregard for human life, the versatility of his Card Deck, along with his murderous and manipulative tendencies make him one of (if not the most) suitable candidates chosen by Shiro Kanzaki for the Rider War.
==Fighting Style==
Ouja is a melee based Rider like the majority of the Kamen Riders. However, he is extremely sadistic, showing no mercy as well as superior tactics over his opponents. He fights relentlessly, but only if he is sure he will win, and isn't hesitant to use other Riders as factors or pawns, and is even willing to play dirty before fights in his battles. The Sword Vent is his most frequently used weapon. He becomes even more powerful when he forms Contracts with Metalgelas and Evildiver. This grants him access to Gai's Strike Vent and Raia's Swing Vent, making him a more versatile as well as a more deadly force. His Contract Monster Venosnaker frequently participates in his battles, and is often seen as Dragreder's evil equivalent in the series (this has been replaced by Dragblacker). His durability due his wild nature even allows him to keep on fighting despite already being in a near-death stage and no longer a rider. This is shown when he almost kills Miho despite the fact that she is still in her Rider form. Also, he still endures long enough to kill Ren after being fatally wounded by Flyinglancer and MagnuGigalauncher Shoot Vent.
However, Ouja is not without weaknesses. He's more vulnerable towards long-ranged opponents, his own unstable nature outclasses his fighting potential, he rarely uses his special card Steal Vent (possibly because he is comfortable with his choice of weapon, as well as only using it to disarm Riders, which is an ineffective strategy), and he rarely takes advantage of the more powerful Genocider, using the united Contract Monster as a more menacing or intimidating distraction in the battlefield. This may also prove that the united Contract Monster is difficult to control, but is restrainable.
==Kamen Rider Ouja==
==Contract Monsters==
*Venosnaker
*Evildiver
*Metalgelas
*Genocider
==Equipment==
*Card Deck - Transformation device and Advent Card holder
*V Buckle - Transformation belt
*Advent Cards - Trinkets that enable a Rider to summon Contract Monsters, access equipment, and use special abilities
*Venovisor - Ouja's Visor that enables him to use Advent Cards
**Venovisorzwei - Upgraded version of the Venovisor used to transform into Ouja Survive
*Ongekikanabou Retto: A gong stick Ongeki Weapon.
===Vehicles===
*Rideshooter - Motorcycle used by any Rider to enter the Mirror World
==Legend Rider Devices==
==Relationships==
===Family===
* Akira Asakura - Younger Brother
===Kamen Riders===
* Shuichi Kitaoka/Kamen Rider Zolda: Asakura's enemy who refuses to be his lawyer until he escapes from jail thanks to Shiro Kanzaki. Throughout the series, he is hellbent on killing Kitaoka, seeing it as one of the main reasons why he entered the War. However, in Rider Time: Ryuki, Asakura admits he has never really hated Kitaoka, but it is Kitaoka who always hates him instead.
* Ren Akiyama/Kamen Rider Knight: Ren helps Asakura escape from the police on one occasion just so that he can fight him without interference. However, when Asakura crosses the line by injuring Shinji's arm in a fight prior to transforming, Ren fights him to claim Ryuki for himself fairly. In Rider Time: Ryuki, Asakura states that he and Ren are "so close that they have to kill each other". Asakura finally manages to kill Ren by impaling him with his Sword Vent, but Ren also fatally wounds him with his Final Vent, which ultimately results in his death.
* Shinji Kido/Kamen Rider Ryuki: At first, Asakura sees Shinji as a bumbling fool. Nevertheless, after learning his identity as a rider and having fought him twice (with the second time resulted in his nearly losing), he feels vexed of his righteousness yet intrigued and sees him as one of his rivals that he has to kill personally. However, Asakura fails to do so either in the TV Series or In the Movies. In Rider Time: Ryuki, Asakura himself disintegrates in front of Shinji before inflicting him any harm.
* Jun Shibaura/Kamen Rider Gai: One of the first riders he met as he was starting to familiarize himself with the Rider War. He was the one who revealed to Asakura of Kitaoka being a rider too. Asakura used Jun as a shield from Zolda's Final Vent. And in the end, he killed Gai.
*Miyuki Tezuka/Kamen Rider Raia: Shiro selected Raia to be Asakura's next rider to help him keep his fighting streak & the Rider War going. Miyuki threw Shinji out of the way, sacrificing himself.
*Satoru Tojo/Kamen Rider Tiger: After Tiger injures him badly in a sneak attack, which results in his being thrown into jail once more, Asakura takes it upon himself to eliminate Satoru. In fact, on more than one occasion, Asakura chooses to fight and kill Tiger first even while in the process of battling his archenemy Kitaoka, emphasizing his hate towards the backstabber.
* Miho Kirishima/Kamen Rider Femme: Asakura murdered Miho's sister when she was young. She wanted revenge on him.
*Kamen Rider Ryuga/Dark Shinji: Ryuga appeared before Asakura & Miho, when he thought he was the real Shinji.
===Others===
* Shiro Kanzaki: Despite his destructive nature and love for fighting, Asakura is surprisingly civil (and even somewhat friendly) towards Shiro. He even offers him food on two occasions. This is possibly because Shiro is the one who gave him his powers in the first place.
==Behind the scenes==
===Portrayal===
Takeshi Asakura is portrayed by . As Kamen Rider Ouja, his suit actor was , his sub was .
===Name===
*Ouja's name is variably written as "Oja", "Ohja", and "Ohjya" in media released by TV Asahi, Toei Company, and Bandai.
**His Rider name, Ouja, could also literally mean , as he is the long standing evil Kamen Rider in this series.
===Dub names===
In the Korean dub of Kamen Rider Ryuki entitled Kamen Rider Dragon, which aired in South Korea, Kamen Rider Ouja is renamed Kamen Rider Viper (가면라이더 바이퍼 Gamyeon Raideo Baipeo).
===Concept Art===
===Meme===
While mostly related to Kamen Rider Gai himself, Ouja shares the former's spotlight as bearing the "Guard Vent" meme, using him as a human shield against Zolda's Final Vent. This popularity comes from the fact that a) Gai's misfortune of being out-witted by Ouja and b) Ouja's lack of an actual Guard Vent Advent Card/weapon as a whole. Although the use of human shield is a semi-recurring tactic seen across the Kamen Rider franchise, the aforementioned scene created two instances in the live media wherein Ouja (even if the person behind the suit is not Asakura) performing this tactic again as a form of self defense.https://dic.pixiv.net/a/ガードベント Examples include:
*While fighting against Kamen Rider Brave Safari Gamer, Ouja (implied to be the Asakura from another timeline) used his two fellow members of Beast Rider Squad, Beast and Sasword as human shields to provide cover from Brave's attack. 
*The Devil Rider Corps iteration of Ouja uses a Giff Junior as a shield from Sakura as the Clone Rider Valkyrie. 
Memegai.jpg|Gai being used as a shield.
KR Ryuki Gai Guard Vent meme left shot.jpg|Production photo of the scene showing Ouja holding onto Gai.
Sasword Human Shield.png|Sasword being used as a shield.
KR Beast Human Shield.png|Beast being used as a shield.
==Notes==
*Kamen Rider Ouja is also based on the Shocker monster, Cobra Man where both individuals share a dominant purple color.
**Ouja's Contract Monster, Venosnaker also shared this motif to the point where it can also spit dangerous venoms like the said Shocker monster.
**A homage to Ouja appears in Kamen Rider Den-O in the form of the Cobra Imagin, who not only shares Ouja's cobra motif but is also voiced by Ouja's actor, Takashi Hagino. As pointed out in the design book Imagin: Say Your Wish..., the Cobra Imagin is designed to resemble Ouja.
*As with the other Riders in the series, Asakura died an ironic death; he killed the most Riders in the war, but never the ones he wanted to kill the most: Shinji, Satoru and Kitaoka. He originally entered the war to kill Kitaoka, but when he finally, technically achieved his goal by killing Zolda (who was, in truth, Goro Yura), he went mad with dissatisfaction and was himself killed by the cops. This was still true in Rider Time: Ryuki, Asakura still had the highest kill count, but he never managed to kill his intended targets.
*Asakura claims to have developed omnivorous traits to survive on the streets. He is shown eating raw egg yolks and oyster shells (both in Kitaoka's house) without showing any signs of frustration.
*Gen Urobuchi, the head writer of Kamen Rider Gaim, used Ouja to describe Takatora Kureshima (Kamen Rider Zangetsu), referring to him as 'the Ouja' of the series. Although, it was later revealed that Urobuchi refers to the second Zangetsu, Mitsuzane Kureshima, especially in Gaim's second act.
*Asakura is the only Ryuki Rider that does not have an A.R. World counterpart, at least not seen in the Ryuki arc, and that the Ouja that is summoned by Kiva-la in World of Hibiki and later by Diend in World of Decade is Asakura himself.
*In the original series and Specials, Ouja is always left-handed. However, in any of his appearances following Ryuki, save for his sole appearance in Decade, he is right-handed. The reason for this is unknown.
==Appearances==
==See also==
*Pryce & James Trademore - Asakura's American counterparts in Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.
===Footnotes===
==External links==
*Takeshi Asakura on Kamen Rider Official
*Kamen Rider Ouja on Kamen Rider Official
==Navigation==
Category:Ryuki Riders
Category:Villains
Category:Rival
Category:Heisei Era Riders
Category:Card Riders
Category:Revived Riders
Category:Ryuki Characters
Category:Decade Characters
Category:Heroes
Category:Ghost Characters
Category:Supporting Riders
Category:Quaternary Riders
Category:Outsiders Characters
Category:Antivillains
Category:Project Outsiders
Category:Dark Riders