Do you believe Decade can beat ALL the other Riders? And SHOULD he be able to?

[Tokuboy]

You know, Decade suffers from Hibiki Syndrome - change of writers midway (though reportedly one planned all along) doesn't help with the consistence of the show.

 

[Ryuutaros]

At least Decade did something right and it was exploring the themes of each series. Throughout each division of each refreshed story for each series it always somehow leads to the AR character discovering the themes in the original.


Kuuga - Yuusuke fought so Yashiro can smile. In the end he decides to fight for smiles of everyone as Yashiro's dying wish. This was obviously exploring one of Kuuga's major themes.


Kiva - Wataru, like the original was unsure of himself. Both versions had hesitations but in the end Wataru learned to do what he believes in and fights for the co-existance of both race.


Ryuki - Trust and teamwork. Do you trust in your friends? Shinji in the end learns to believe in his friends and discovers the importance of teamwork.


Blade - This was sorta hard.


Faiz - Like Takumi in the original, this AR version of Takumi fights because he decided to protect someone's dream. Like the original who did the same.


Agito - Belonging. Both versions of Shoichi were associated with belonging. The original fought to protect the place where everyone belongs and the AR version in the end found where he belonged.


Den-o - This was also hard.


Kabuto - Family. Tendou protects his family and mostly his sister just like AR Souji. Both versions explored the concept of what if everyone was an enemy in the world, one man would still fight to protect others. This makes them stronger than all others.


Hibiki - Student and teacher. Hibiki's biggest themes was the relationship between student and teacher. The AR version explored this mainly with AR Hibiki, Daiki and AR Asumu.




IMO they did a great job in exploring the themes that the originals had in a new and refreshed setting.

 

[musashi03]

^ Let me add some...

Blade - Explored on the idea of a professional Kamen Rider who needs to learn to slowly climb-up the corporate ladder from the bottom, which was always hinted in the original since Kenzaki actually works as a under-paid Kamen Rider.

Agito - I also liked that they tried to resurrect the connection between Kuuga and Agito which was forgotten in episode 2~onwards of Agito I think.

Den-O - Well, it may seem that Den-O doesn't explore any main or hidden theme in Den-O since it was stated that the Den-O arc was canon to the Den-O story, but they did dwell on the idea that the main user of Den-O is actually the Imagin and not the human-posessed, and that the Imagins should appreciate their individuality and existence and not really see them as an extra in the story.

and you forgot:

Sentai - They explored on the idea of how valuable your home really is, since Takeru had his followers to always welcome him, and in the end, Eijiro showed that Tsukasa was also always welcome to the photo studio, as much as it was ironic that he was actually Ikadevil... :sweat:

I loved Decade, but I really don't dwell on the idea of it being canonical since it was somewhat subjective to have him be the strongest if it wasn't established well and I know that you always gotta make the new guy stronger to hype it up. I mean it had great potential yeah, but they didn't execute it well to make you convinced that the likes of Tsukasa is stronger than Godai who earned his strength and the respect of the fans. Even the movie was not helpful since we don't even know if the movie is even canon to the series who's not canon to the franchise. :redface2:

 

[NeonZ]

Blade - Explored on the idea of a professional Kamen Rider who needs to learn to slowly climb-up the corporate ladder from the bottom, which was always hinted in the original since Kenzaki actually works as a under-paid Kamen Rider.

The main point there was to show that Blade didn't fight just for his job. He fought for his friends, trying to evolve alongside them, not crush them in a race for promotions. Decade's Blade just had lost sight of that, but returned to that path at the end.

 

[Lynxara]

You know, Decade suffers from Hibiki Syndrome - change of writers midway (though reportedly one planned all along) doesn't help with the consistence of the show.

What I've read is that Aikawa was never contracted to provide any material for Decade beyond the first 13 episodes. In light of this, I feel that it's entirely possible that he didn't actually provide Toei with a full outline of the show. Toei may not have paid him to do it!

Decade goes through a long period of instability with its writing staff at the show's midpoint. It's not until episode 26 (the Black arc) that Yonemura takes over to bring the series to its conclusion. This is, not coincidentally, the point at which the themes of the Decade movies start to enter the show.

In the interim, episodes are written by Yasuko Kobayashi (Shinkenger, Den-O), Kenji Konuta (Kabuto), and Toshiki Inoue (Diend, Nega World). Yonemura steps in for the Hibiki arc only during this period.

This is not a state of affairs that suggests, to me, that Toei had a solid plan in mind for what to do with Decade after Aikawa left. Even if Aikawa had left detailed notes on how to end the show, whoever took over as head writer wouldn't have been obligated to honor them, anyway.

I will note here, though, that a critical weakness in my analysis is that I'm not taking director and producer information into account. I don't have an easily readable source for that on hand at the moment, unfortunately.

Blade - This was sorta hard.

Blade was a series tormented by production problems, up to and including the director having a nervous breakdown toward the end of the show (or so I've yeard).

In light of this, I got the feeling that Decade was having Tsukasa engage with something interesting Blade could've been about, given the original material's inconsistency.

I think this was a good decision in the long run. Moreso than some other arcs, it was very easy to see with the Blade arc how it related to Tsukasa's treatment of his friends and how he viewed his "job" as a Rider.

Den-o - This was also hard.

The Den-O arc, I feel, fundamentally doesn't behave like the other Decade arcs for one major reason. It is, to my knowledge, the only arc written by the head writer of the original show in question.

So while all of the other continuities have clearly been reconcepted a bit, the Den-O of Decade is clearly just the same ol' Den-O that Kobayashi wrote about a few years before.

While this makes the behavior of the Imajin consistent, it also kind of renders Tsukasa and the others as passengers in a story that's really meant to promote the then-upcoming Den-O flick.

There is nominally a thing Tsukasa learns to bond with Momotaros or whatever, but the whole exercise feels much less focused on illustrating his nature as a character than most other Decade arcs.

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

This is not a state of affairs that suggests, to me, that Toei had a solid plan in mind for what to do with Decade after Aikawa left. Even if Aikawa had left detailed notes on how to end the show, whoever took over as head writer wouldn't have been obligated to honor them, anyway.

This sort of leads me to think there might be some truth to the rumors that Double was originally intended as the 10th anniversary show, with Decade coming in as a last minuteish sort of thing.

I just find it baffling that Toei would only contract a head writer for a particular amount of episodes, especially for something that's considered such a big deal. Doesn't even seem like the producer himself was clear on where to go with the show.

 

[musashi03]

The main point there was to show that Blade didn't fight just for his job. He fought for his friends, trying to evolve alongside them, not crush them in a race for promotions. Decade's Blade just had lost sight of that, but returned to that path at the end.

Yep, that one too. A clean and honest climb in the corporate ladder.

 

[Lynxara]

I just find it baffling that Toei would only contract a head writer for a particular amount of episodes, especially for something that's considered such a big deal.

This has apparently happened in the past. Sho Aikawa's main prior credit on Kamen Rider was Blade, where he wrote episodes 22 through 25. He appears to become Blade's main writer as of episode 31, finishing out the series with only two breaks. Junichi Miyashita steps in for 39-40 and Toshiki Inoue for 43-44.

Blade's initial head writer was Shoji Imai, who writes the first 10 episodes. Then there's Junichi Miyashita at 11-12, Shoji Imai back through 16, Toshiki Inoue for 17-18, Imai back for 19-21 and finishing his run with 26-28. I've read some stuff in passing about him departing the show under negative circumstances, but I don't really know any details.

If Blade was having horrible writing problems and Toei responded by calling in Sho Aikawa, though, that makes me think he's a guy who probably works well and quickly despite horrible stress. It would certainly gel with the "W was meant as the anniversary show" theory if Toei called Aikawa in purely to get Decade launched. In that situation, you're more likely to get a writer to take the gig if he knows he's only responsible for so many episodes.

Interestingly, there is one break in Aikawa's first 13 episodes where he doesn't write. Aikawa does not write the Blade arc in 8-9. That is instead handled by Yonemura. I have to wonder how closely the two worked during this. I find it very curious that Aikawa wouldn't handle the Blade arc himself after serving as head writer on the show.

 

[Tokuboy]

Wow, Blade was a bit of a mess when it came to main writers.

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

Well Imai is primarily a drama writer, I think Blade was his first and only tokusatsu credit. I've read somewhere that he just found the pacing of his work schedule to be pretty difficult to work with and that's pretty much why he left. Though, I've also been told that Imai and Aikawa worked it out between themselves, so the hand off wasn't as sudden as it was with Hibiki and Aikawa had a good number of weeks to prepare.