Worst Heisei KR series

Ryoutarou said:

Overblown story that isn't true.

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That's good. It's hard to get much more depressing than the series itself ...

I tended to laugh a lot at Faiz, but I'm wired funny such that most attempts at grimdark do not work on me as intended.

That said, I respect Faiz for having some interesting ideas to bring to Rider. It didn't execute them well, but somebody later manage it.

It's honestly hard for me to pick an absolute worse because IMO the Heisei series has a few shows that could qualify for different reasons. Also each of these are not shows that are totally void of having any good points either.

In the realm of just wasted potential, mis-organized priorities, and pathetic loss of focus it's Faiz.

For annoyingly jarring tone-shifts and needless and/or unlikable characters Kabuto is the one to rule over all.

Then there is of course the shows that just wear the Kamen Rider logo as a baseball cap, Hibiki and Den-O. To a lesser extent Ryuki.


Then there is Decade.

The show that acts like its a grand celebration of Kamen Rider and that it has a grand story to tell only to later actually try to defend the fact that it doesn't have a story as the point of the series. Plus it's the show with Final Form Rides. The goddamn dumbest, ugliest, and most blatant Bandai-bullshit idea in the history of all Kamen Rider.

mattcomics said:

It's honestly hard for me to pick an absolute worse because IMO the Heisei series has a few shows that could qualify for different reasons. Also each of these are not shows that are totally void of having any good points either.

In the realm of just wasted potential, mis-organized priorities, and pathetic loss of focus it's Faiz.

For annoyingly jarring tone-shifts and needless and/or unlikable characters Kabuto is the one to rule over all.

Then there is of course the shows that just wear the Kamen Rider logo as a baseball cap, Hibiki and Den-O. To a lesser extent Ryuki.


Then there is Decade.

The show that acts like its a grand celebration of Kamen Rider and that it has a grand story to tell only to later actually try to defend the fact that it doesn't have a story as the point of the series. Plus it's the show with Final Form Rides. The goddamn dumbest, ugliest, and most blatant Bandai-bullshit idea in the history of all Kamen Rider.

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH! :laugh:

For me, it's Decade.

The first three episodes were a lot of fun, but after that, things fell off drastically- maybe because Yuusuke seemed like he was going to matter, and then POW COMIC RELIEF OH HE'S DUMB AND WORTHLESS happened. The tension from the early episodes went by the wayside too- it just becomes a sprawling mess once things start getting goofy. I guess I'd been spoiled by the finale of Kamen Rider Black RX, where everyone shows up to help take down Crisis, and Kotaro actually treats his senior Riders with respect.

I think that's what it comes down to for me for Decade, storywise- respect for what came before. Tsukasa's pretty much a giant douchebag for a good portion of the TV series- he doesn't really mesh with the other Riders (AU or not) well, and is pretty much the Mary Sue of Heisei Kamen Rider in terms of what he can do and even what he knows when he has no memory of where he came from. It's just a frustrating series to watch, in general- I really hope Toei does something respectful for the Kamen Rider franchise when the 40th anniversary hits- if it's anything like how Decade turned out, then I'll be very disappointed.

Brick Prior said:

Tsukasa's pretty much a giant douchebag for a good portion of the TV series- he doesn't really mesh with the other Riders (AU or not) well, and is pretty much the Mary Sue of Heisei Kamen Rider in terms of what he can do and even what he knows when he has no memory of where he came from.

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This was true from, pretty much, Decade's second episode. My jaw dropped when Tsukasa established that he could just... speak Grongi for no reason. Oh, and be a better detective than all the characters who had been fighting Grongi for months.

Even at that, I think Tsukasa would come off worse had Rider not given us Tendou a few years before. I've honestly, seriously read KR fanfic SI Riders who were better characters and better-written than Tendou, whose bizarre infallibility quickly twists Kabuto plots into implausible, arbitrary messes.

(Tendou wasn't a bad idea, though-- the writers just needed to approach him and Kagami both with more subtlety and humanity.)

mattcomics said:

It's honestly hard for me to pick an absolute worse because IMO the Heisei series has a few shows that could qualify for different reasons. Also each of these are not shows that are totally void of having any good points either.

In the realm of just wasted potential, mis-organized priorities, and pathetic loss of focus it's Faiz.

For annoyingly jarring tone-shifts and needless and/or unlikable characters Kabuto is the one to rule over all.

Then there is of course the shows that just wear the Kamen Rider logo as a baseball cap, Hibiki and Den-O. To a lesser extent Ryuki.


Then there is Decade.

The show that acts like its a grand celebration of Kamen Rider and that it has a grand story to tell only to later actually try to defend the fact that it doesn't have a story as the point of the series. Plus it's the show with Final Form Rides. The goddamn dumbest, ugliest, and most blatant Bandai-bullshit idea in the history of all Kamen Rider.

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Faiz IS pretty terrible. Possibly it may be even worse than Decade. I FINISHED Decade. But Decade fails twice. First, as a standalone series. Then, as a celebration of Heisei Rider. Some people give it a break, but I can't. It might've been different if they'd used the old actors on new worlds, or even vice-versa--but WTF--new actors AND new settings? Every ounce of attachment we should have to these characters has vanished. They really ARE Kamen Riders now, since the costumes are nothing but masks behind which could be anyone, and Toei doesn't care so long as the sales roll in.

Had the plot been crap but the fanservice aspects were right, Decade could've been a favorite. But to screw up its entire purpose...gah.

Lynxara said:

This was true from, pretty much, Decade's second episode. My jaw dropped when Tsukasa established that he could just... speak Grongi for no reason. Oh, and be a better detective than all the characters who had been fighting Grongi for months.

Even at that, I think Tsukasa would come off worse had Rider not given us Tendou a few years before. I've honestly, seriously read KR fanfic SI Riders who were better characters and better-written than Tendou, whose bizarre infallibility quickly twists Kabuto plots into implausible, arbitrary messes.

(Tendou wasn't a bad idea, though-- the writers just needed to approach him and Kagami both with more subtlety and humanity.)

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Y'know, I really really liked Tendou. It gets old watching the heroes fight tooth and nail for victories that often still fail if not for some small amount of luck. The occasional infallible/unbeatable hero spices things up, and for fans like me who watch almost exclusively for the heroes, it just gets to be delicious.

And Kabuto could've been a half decent series, were it not for the extra characters (Drake, Sasword), and the fact that the one guy to rival Tendou appears in episode 44. Had he appeared 14 episodes sooner and they'd made more of exactly WHAT the Zecters were, I think Kabuto might have been a good series.

...Had the Hoppers never appeared however, or at least been less stupid and more useful, it would've been a great one.

Sage Shinigami said:

The occasional infallible/unbeatable hero spices things up, and for fans like me who watch almost exclusively for the heroes, it just gets to be delicious.

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Good for you! Me, I can't take Tendou seriously because he's essentially the same character as Gladstone Gander.

For me, the worst is a tie between Double and Hibiki so far. Although, Double has Accel, so I guess Hibiki is a bit worse right now.

I've never seen kuuga so i have little to no opinion on it so yeah.

Decade for me was the worsts...I watched the first episode and was very very hopeful but after the kuuga and kiva worlds i about had it with the series and only watched it cause I started it and was like have to finish it. I have to say the only saving grace was Black and Black RX worlds and even then I about wanted to stab tsukasa....