Pros and Cons of Kamen Rider Decade

[Demi-Fiend]

Really, the return of all the showa riders in that movie that probably won't have RAWs till next year, and subs for few weeks after that mattered alot if you ask me!

 

[Black Fang]

- The concept's execution was just poor. And bringing the Showaverse into a Heisei anniversary series? Lame. The whole series just reeks of sloppy writing.

There are a lot more things, but I don't get why more people don't notice this. Decade was a NewGen anniversary. Why on Earth would you do a 180 and throw in every Rider ever? But it seems that some people will get down on their hands and knees simply because something old is placed into a show, no matter if it makes sense or not.

 

[Lynxara]

Why on Earth would you do a 180 and throw in every Rider ever?

Because the Showa Riders are still insanely popular and merchandisable even when they haven't been on TV in years and years. Toei would have been stupid-- from a financial point of view-- to throw away a chance to film original footage of Showa actors and costumes for TV broadcast. I don't think it's incidental that the Showa Riders they used are the ones that are by far most popular with the die-hard fans.

 

[Wing Saber]

Because the Showa Riders are still insanely popular and merchandisable even when they haven't been on TV in years and years. Toei would have been stupid-- from a financial point of view-- to throw away a chance to film original footage of Showa actors and costumes for TV broadcast. I don't think it's incidental that the Showa Riders they used are the ones that are by far most popular with the die-hard fans.

Not to mention that Toei saw an opportunity to bring them back, as well a Rider/Sentai team-up. Something that they wanted to do, but didn't have time or story for it.

 

[Red Infinity Ranger]

You guys and these Decade threads. Just begging for Black Fang to walts In here. lol

Wait, Red you saw the Movie?

Yes I did see the movie.

 

[Tendou Walking In Heaven]

PROS:

>Kanna Mori..........if no one finds her pretty, you have to be a white supremacist.....
>The Heisei riders (bar Arc and a few) appearing.
>Faiz Accel VS TheBee
>We see Obaa-chan in the Kabuto world!!!!!!
>THE Minami Kotaro and Kenzaki Kazuma appearing. Oh, and Kurenai Wataru.
>Each world is unique and crazy in their own ways- not redundant.
>Apollo Geist is just mental. Mentally evil.
>Abyss. Finally, Ryuki receives its 14th rider!
>Toei cleverly sneaking the riders' powered up forms in the show.

CONS

>Sadly, Black Fang is sort of right. The Showa riders were not necessarily needed despite bringing Daishocker into the show. They should have done that for another occasion other than a series celebrating 10 years of Heisei riders.
>Certain unexplained things that bug me, i.e, how do the backdrop paintings work? How come Kaitou follows Tsukasa and co. to the same worlds at the same time?
>Kivala being useless in the 28 eps she appears in.
>Narutaki being useless in the 30 episodes he appears in apart from bringing in riders that are only in suits.
>Kaixa, Ohja, the Hoppers......they're just voices!!!!!
>Tendou Souji is too busy walking the path of heaven to come down.
>Diend's design.
>Tsukasa's weird-ish voice.
>Kuuga being so weak against a Makamou and other villains.
>AR Kiva and Hibiki being kiddies!!!
>The AR Leangle/Mutsuki
>Each world should have had more than 2 eps each.

 

[Kivat]

Yes I did see the movie.

Oh ok.

 

[NeonZ]

But it seems that some people will get down on their hands and knees simply because something old is placed into a show, no matter if it makes sense or not.

The Showa Riders don't fit in thematically with the Heisei anniversary, but they do fit easily in the story thanks to Decade's premise of alternate worlds. "Heisei anniversary" as a theme doesn't even mean anything, considering how there was little thematic uniformity between the series, so breaking it isn't a real flaw, although it is odd and an obvious money making attempt.

Anyway...

There's one aspect that this show shares with Kabuto, although each one did it in a different way, that I really enjoy. Both Kabuto and Decade know that these are super hero shows and aren't ashamed to present themselves as such.

Decade had often cheery upbeat battle bgms for the heroes (even without inserts) and a strong, although not deep or complex, protagonist - which is basically a requisite to explain actions like battle speeches. I especially liked the speeches that Tsukasa always did before the final battle of each world.

I appreciate the inherent over the top nature of these transforming hero shows, and I enjoy when a series recognizes and accepts it, without just ridiculing it (unlike Den-O) or trying to do its own thing in spite of it (which is what I feel that Agito and Faiz often tried to do). To a point, I think every tokusatsu series recognizes and plays with that in their own way, but I just enjoyed the way Kabuto and Decade recognized and embraced it while (mostly) keeping a straight face.

That's probably why I enjoyed Kabuto and Decade more than other Heisei series, even though Kabuto suffered from an extremely simple plot and clear foreshadowing inconsistencies and Decade isn't even complete.

Anyway, going on, I also enjoyed the way each world received focus most of the time. Although I enjoy these reunions, placing too many heroes together just hurts their individuality. The 2 episode mini-arcs with the alternative old Riders was a fun way to bring back a bit of each one in a way that wouldn't be possible with a total mash up since the beginning. The results weren't always good and even some that were fun had some obvious problems(the crime in Ryuuki World was just stupid), but I felt they worked well more often than not.

I also enjoyed the fast pace that most of the stories were told, with several short battles per episode, with new plot points spread throughout, rather than the usual pacing of the Heisei Rider series - which was something that I felt Inoue obviously missed in his episodes, which seemed to have a pacing much slower than the other arcs in the show. Of course, here, I'm talking about the pacing of each individual story arc. Decade did little with its own main plot most of the time, focusing on the different worlds and Riders - which isn't something everyone would enjoy, but I liked it well enough.

Decade's story will only be concluded in the movies, but, considering how it wasn't a huge focus on the series itself, it doesn't bother me as much as it could have. I can't really rate it due to its incomplete status, but I must say I enjoyed this series a lot. It's actually was fun enough from my point of view to make me rewatch some episodes several times, something I've rarely done with other series (Kamen Rider or not) without waiting a few months, at least.

They could have done more with Yuusuke's character - there are a few bits that annoyed me, like his pointless lack of transformation in the Blade World, but the real problem were the 4 Inoue episodes, which presented a completely out of character Yuusuke, almost straight out of a fanfic. Besides that, the way his forms were handled was rather underwhelming. He really should have gotten the Rising Kuuga forms at some point, rather than jumping straight to Ultimate. One of the 4 Inoue episodes or the Shinkenger World would have been perfect for that.

On the cast side, I really disliked Natsumi's actress. She was pretty, but every time she attempted to show some strong emotion besides annoyance or worry, it just fell flat. Just look at her "Decade!" yell in the final episode. There's also the new Amazon actor, who was just bad, failing to show emotion in his voice. Even his friendship signal came off rather weak due to his lack of a strong impression. I haven't watched the original Amazon series, so I'm not even comparing him to the original.

Most of the other cast members did a decent job, even the one shot replacement Riders. However, I can't really say that any had a performance that impressed me either.

 

[NoirSon]

They didn't have to bring in the Showa Riders, but really you can't deny Black/RX two parter was dope.

Amazon sucked ass for a number of reasons and felt like two wasted episodes a little but the inclusion of the Showa riders just goes to ultimately, the two eras are not exactly that different. In all shows, you have heroes striving to change something, protect something, BELIEVE in something and despite this only being an Heisei anniversery series, it was the perfect platform to get as many Riders as possible in it.

Besides, I kind of get the feeling that like a lot of Heisei Rider shows, toward the end, something behind the scenes happened. Maybe it is the show proved popular enough to spawn high demand for the All Riders movie, that they decided to give it another and milk it for everything the show had. I don't know but for the most part the last ten or so episodes do seem out of place, although they weren't bad, it felt very much like a holding pattern aside from the character development they snuck in there.

 

[aniking_8]

CON
No Diend Bike
No Diend Complete
Not much motorcyle actions
Narutaki become annoying and useless
Kivala too

PRO
Returning cast
Previous riders
Natsumi hot
Some good actions