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.