And you know why the Black RX episodes turned out OK? Tetsuo Kurata. If Toei had just plucked some random manorexic metro from a J-Drama to play Koutarou, these episodes would have been same-old same-old for Decade.
It seems like all the people who were slamming those of us who hated the recasting BS are all praising Kurata's return as Koutarou. See what we were talking about? See how fun this show could have been with familiar faces popping up each episode?