Trope Workshop:Ouja Archetype

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Being a Rider is fun. —Takeshi Asakura, Kamen Rider Ryuki

The Ouja Archetype is a character (especially, a villain) archetype commonly associated in the Kamen Rider series, heavily influenced by the character traits of Takeshi Asakura/Kamen Rider Ouja from the 2002 Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Ryuki.

An Ouja Character Archetype includes the following:

• While applying to both genders, the character has a rather outlandish appearance. There are also rare instances that they are sharply dressed while not minding their looks. Additionally, said character is associated with the purple color.
• The character is a full-blown psychopath through and through, and their level of insanity posing as a threat to the heroes that changes the tone of the story; and is more willing to attack both heroes and villains alike unprovoked, which references the Trope Namer being vexed all the time.
• The character must have a pathological need to thrive by fighting, with their motivation being basically out of boredom. Also, the character can make up for his cunning, sharp wit, and if possible hiding their unhinged personality with superficial charm and a front of formality to further their goals.
• To prove just how Badass and terrifying the character is, he stacks up a number of kill counts over the course of his appearance; on- or off-screen, and doesn't hesitate putting other heroes under the bus, sometimes permanently or otherwise.
• The character is also responsible for the deaths of another character's loved ones and the character in question has a personal vendetta with said killer.
• Their sheer brutality is even backed up by taking a level in their badassery in some forms.
• The character is a Wild Card, either working as a Psycho for Hire for the Bigger Bad, sometimes independent from the villainous faction, or optionally, is the Big Bad himself.
• The character's Animal Motif is usually associated with a venomous or a reptilian one, preferably snakes.

Despite the fact that Asakura inspired a Fountain of Expies in later Kamen Rider shows, other villains that predated him served as precursor to the archetype (i.e., Cobra Man, Bilgenia and N-Daguva-Zeba) do not make it on the list below, but nevertheless his debut in Ryuki brought the biggest impact because of his large role in the series and standing out than the rest of his show's Riders by actually being a fearsome and actively competent villain. Outside of Kamen Rider, many characters whose inspired by this archetype do appear in other media.

Common but optional characteristics include the following:

• The character must have a criminal background of sorts (i.e., a Serial Killer).
• The character's backstory also involves killing their own family, bonus points if a surviving family member (in this case, a sibling) is out to get him, sometimes overlaps with the aforementioned Kamen Rider Femme reference.
• The character, in-series, is often seen as an unrepentant scumbag who shows no remorse for his atrocities in any way, but the audience proves them otherwise because Evil Is Cool and prefer to side with them than with the heroes, because the character is so popular among the fanbase, this makes them impossible to hate.

Compare Char Clone, Darth Vader Clone, Rei Ayanami Expy, and Shana Clone for a similar phenomenon. It's also possible for the archetype to overlap with the other. See also Ax-Crazy, Blood Knight, Knight of Cerebus, and Psycho for Hire.

Examples of Ouja Archetype include:

Anime and Manga

• Akame ga Kill!: General Esdeath, the leader of the Jaegers. Don't let her looks fool you: she's sadistic, a master torturer, and enjoys leaving a path of death and destruction in her wake and is easily one of the most powerful character named in the series. The fact that she had ice and time powers adds to more dread to the heroes.
• Date A Live: Sir Isaac Ray Peram Westcott. He's merely a sharp dressed and powerful businessman, but he has all the qualities. Sadistic, manipulative, cunning, charming, and an irredeemable human being to the core who has by far stacked a number of body counts the series.
• Soul Eater: Medusa Gorgon. What she lacks in the Blood Knight trope, she makes up with her cunning, Faux Affably Evil, manipulation, and the snake motif, hence getting the full context of her name. Her mere appearance immediately changes the tone of the series, and is capable of cheating death. And by cheating death, Medusa is not immortal per se, rather she is able to house her soul on to one of her snakes and finds a suitable host before reviving again.

Comic Books

• The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book series by BOOM! Studios has Lord Drakkon, a sociopathic, power-hungry, tyrannical supervillain and the Evil Alternate Self of Tommy Oliver, the very face of the entire Power Rangers franchise. He comes from an Alternate Universe where he never joined the main team and instead swore loyalty to Rita Repulsa of his own universe, but ended up killing her afterward, where in the process allowed her to succeed conquering the world and having merged the White Ranger powers with his Green powers, killing off his universe's Jason, Billy, and even Zordon. Being the overarching Big Bad in the Shattered Grid arc, we see the worst in Drakkon; in that not only he kills Tommy, yes we mean the real Tommy but also other (namely the Zeo, Turbo, and Dino Thunder) versions of him. Drakkon is one of the notable villains in the Power Rangers franchise to kill more than three Rangers, on top of having three transitioning forms based on the original Tommy's Ranger forms -- his base form being a hybrid of the Green and White Ranger powers, with the red visor bringing to mind Tommy's stint as the Red Zeo and Turbo Ranger, and finally, his final form being a entirely black is an allusion Dino Thunder Black.

Film

• Power Rangers (2017 film): The film's version of Rita Repulsa lacks her TV counterpart's comedic and over-the-top personality in favor of a much more attractive, bloodthirsty, competent, egotistical, irredeemable, and unhinged version of the character. She even has killed the Rangers' predecessors and was close to drowning Billy to death.

Live-Action TV

• Kamen Rider
  • Kamen Rider Ryuki: The Trope Namer, Takeshi Asakura/Kamen Rider Ouja. The series' resident runaway criminal who is drawn to blood and violence caused by the Rider Fight. Thanks to his popularity among the Kamen Rider fanbase, a list of other villains on later seasons listed below spawned characters inspired by him, and Asakura himself would make appearances in later installments, let alone spin-offs such as the Kamen Rider Brave Beast Rider Squad during the broadcast of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and Rider Time: Kamen Rider Ryuki crossing over with Kamen Rider Zi-O. Asakura stands out in the franchise thanks to his stacked kill counts; having killed four Riders in the show, and being able to hold off the main heroes even at their strongest forms. What he lacks in having an upgraded form (though he got one in a SIC sidestory), he makes up by fusing three Contract Monsters into one unstoppable monstrosity that is Genocider.
  • Kamen Rider Faiz has Kitazaki. What he has in Asakura's insanity and outlandish appearance, he makes up for his cruelty and brutality. He does become a Rider for a short while, but he's a force to be reckoned with as the Dragon Orphnoch.
  • Kamen Rider Wizard has the greater Phantoms -- Phoenix, Medusa, and Gremlin/Sora Takigawa. Phoenix has Asakura's temperament and Blood Knight mindset, Medusa has the snake motif and cunning since she is the most manipulative of the bunch, on top having killed her Gate's family, resulting in the said Gate's sister, Mayu to become a magician to take on Medusa. Sora/Gremlin has Asakura's backstory as a Serial Killer and is the most dangerous of them.
  • Kamen Rider Drive: Tenjuro Banno/Gold Drive, embodies both Asakura's outlandish looks, hot temper, and sadism. And he is the first of the character archetype to adopt a god complex, something that would be carried on to Kuroto Dan and Master Logos mentioned below. The Roidmude he used as his host needed for him to transform, 006, is a Cobra-type Roidmude.
  • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Kuroto Dan/Kamen Rider Genm, whose default Rider form is entirely jet black with purple accents, but stands out as one of the most maniacal god wannabe characters in the series, and in the entire Kamen Rider franchise as a whole. He does kill one of the main Riders (Kiriya Kujo/Kamen Rider Lazer) in the second arc of the series before meeting his own demise, only for him and the latter to return as Bugster Viruses. What makes Kuroto a character impossible to hate is thanks to his actor Tetsuya Iwanaga's ad-libbed performance of The Reveal of Emu being Patient Zero, and his popularity continues to soar even after the series ends, right from returning in Kamen Rider Zi-O as Another OOO, and the Kamen Rider Genms ~The Presidents~, a spin-off crossover with Kamen Rider Zero-One, making him the first Legend Rider from the Heisei era to return in a Reiwa installment.
  • Kamen Rider Build: Evolto/Kamen Rider Evol embodies all the traits, so much so he that the level of threat he brings upon the heroes is at a cosmic scale. He immediately excels everything on what Asakura lacks, from his casual and upbeat personality, charisma and cunning, not to mention being one of the most overpowered Kamen Rider villains up to date before being superseded by Ohma Zi-O.
  • Kamen Rider Zero-One has the Satellite Ark, an artificial intelligence that was corrupted with human malice that gained its own personality. What it lacks the Trope Namer's sadism, it makes up for its objective to Kill All Humans and being a nigh-unstoppable force that the Riders in the series face until Aruto transforms into Zero-Two.
  • Kamen Rider Saber: Isaac/Kamen Rider Solomon, the current Master Logos is cast in the same mold as Banno and Kuroto for his raving god complex and paired with a genocidal urge to leave a path of death and destruction out of sheer boredom.
• Ultra Series:
  • Ultraman Zero: Ultraman Belial is Zero's long-time Arch Enemy defined by his overwhelming arrogance, hunger for power, innumerable body counts, and standing out as one of the most powerful Ultraman villains up to date. He overlaps with Darth Vader Clone right from his jet-black appearance, his past as an emissary of light that took on a dark path, and even has a son that became his heroic counterpart.
  • Ultraman Orb: Jugglus Juggler overlaps with the both the Ouja and Char Clone archetypes, in that he has the former's snake motif, hence his sword Jashin-ken, translates as the Serpent-Hearted Blade, and by extension his Jashin Style sword fighting. Of note, Takaya Aoyagi, Juggler's actor ad-libbed his character's psychotic personality, something that would be followed after by the above mentioned Kuroto Dan. Then again, despite being the psychotic rival towards the eponymous Ultra, Juggler is impossible to be hated and popular enough to have him pull a Heel-Face Turn, and eventually return in a Reiwa installment in the franchise.
  • Ultraman R/B & Ultraman Taiga: Ultraman Tregear fully embodies the trope more so than Belial, making up with his manipulation and trickery and enjoys the suffering of others out of his nihilistic belief that light and darkness are non-existent delusions. His human alter-ego, Kirisaki even has the outlandish appearance and hairstyle due to his actor, Kou Nanase having a preference for oversized clothes.
  • Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga has Hudram, who is based off Hudra from Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey. Hudram stands out as the most psychopathic of the three Giants of Darkness, while keeping a front of cordiality and sophistication but he slips in a fit of rage at a mere slight done to him. Not to mention, he burned down an entire planet along with its inhabitants, leaving the survivor of the fallen planet he obliterated to go on a vendetta quest against him.

Professional Wrestling

• Randy Orton in his persona as "The Viper"/"WWE's Apex Predator" since 2009 onwards, having adopted the snake motif for the first time since Jake "The Snake" Roberts. This makes Orton an effective psychopathic Heel he is known today, all while going back and forth as a Heel and Face, making use of Tranquil Fury to bottle up his insanity through hitting RKOs out of nowhere at anyone unprovoked.

Video Games

• BlazBlue: Yuuki Terumi embodies the trope to a T. Right down to the snake motif incorporated on his move-set and can even manifest snake-like energy projections. Terumi is universally hated by any character who has interacted with him over the course of the installments that's because he enjoys giving everyone a bad day just for kicks, not to mention his true form is actually the Shinto god of storms and it only furthers Terumi's urge to leave behind a path of death and destruction in his wake.
  • Hazama himself also qualifies since Terumi used to inhabit his body before separating from the former since Chronophantasma. Since then, even though Hazama went on as his own person, he retains similar traits such as the snake theming, and psychopathic mentality shared with Terumi. From what he lacks from Terumi's vulgar and foul-mouthed language, Hazama makes up for his charming and courteous exterior highlighting his level of evil.
• Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater: Colonel Volgin doesn't bother hiding his insanity and sadism, that's this is because he is notable for being so close to killing Snake, but instead taking out his left eye. He even has the audacity to conspire to overthrow Nikita Khrushchev of all people.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Mephiles the Dark from the 2006 game stands out as one of the darkest and most serious villains in the franchise who enjoys causing death and destruction at a space-time scale. Not to mention, he is most notable for having the distinction of having killed Sonic, or at least close to succeed in doing so and nearly destroyed the entire universe, had not he'd been erased from existence.
  • Infinite from Sonic Forces is a Deconstruction. Unlike Mephiles above, Infinite's Fatal Flaw is a combination of his hubris, temper-tantrum and sadism kept him from fully achieving the listed criteria above, despite having killed the Avatar's teammates and nearly close to defeating Sonic and his friends.
• Street Fighter: Juri Han is an interesting female example, all while substituting Ouja's snake motif with a spider motif. She enjoys getting involved in physical fights, has a vindictive and sadistic streak to back it up. What makes Juri an interesting take of the archetype is that her pursuit of revenge against M. Bison; who is responsible for her parents' deaths and the loss of her eye, much like how Kamen Rider Femme's goal to get revenge against Ouja.
• Tekken: Bryan Fury, a former police officer who got remodeled into a cyborg, since then he has become a bloodthirsty psychopath with a pathological need for violence; going so far as to bring in heavy firepower leaving a trail of death and destruction on his path. Hell, he ends up earning the enmity of Yoshimitsu for murdering Dr. Bosconovitch and the entire Manji clan out of spite.

Visual Novels

• Taimanin Asagi: Oboro is the overarching Big Bad of the series. To wit, Oboro is basically a clone of a Taimanin who mentored Asagi and Asuka, which probably explains coming back and forth after many times being defeated by Asagi. What she has in depravity and superficial charm, she makes up for her underhanded tactics to pit the Igawa sisters in near-hopeless situations that ends up with them being defiled in the most brutal way possible.