10 years. For some people they don't think they may be doing the same thing for that period of time but for others, it just happens. While Kamen Rider may have been around for longer than that by 2009 but it was a landmark as the heisei era of the franchise was about to get its 10th install. Rider hadn't been on that long a continuous of a release schedule since the 70's and they were about to celebrate it big. This new rider would celebrate the past 10 years, celebrating everything about it with a protagonist capable of assuming the forms and abilities of the past 10 riders and would be aptly titled Decade. But despite that big moniker this season was going to be shorter than the previous ones. Only lasting through August of that year. It was a decision for merchandise reasons.
See prior to Kamen Rider W, Kamen Rider and Sentai both premiered pretty close to one another about the beginning of the year. generally if one season ended, the one from last year would end about the same time. Now I know some people don't like the idea that, oh these franchises exist to sell toy's because that is half the goal here. And with any show the beginning of the show is where the most merchandise is likely to come from, action figures, changers, cosplay items. More stuff would come but the biggest bulk was the beginning. As a result, someone thought that instead of cramming all of this stuff at the beginning to give both shows more breathing room, as a result Kamen Rider would now premiere in the third to fourth quarter of the year. But that of course meant that Decade would be a show with 20 less episodes to tell its story. But you know that is fine, not every show has the year long run time and they can tell good stories in 30 episodes. It is going to work out it is going to be... fine.
SYNOPSIS
Tsukasa Kadoya remembers nothing about his past aside from a desire to capture everything on camera, despite his lack of talent and all photo's he takes are distorted. He has employment at Hikari Studios, run by by the eccentric old owner Eijiro Hikari and his grandaughter Natsumi Hikari who constantly scolds him for wasting people's time and money but has also dreamed of a massive rider war as every other rider tries to destroy one rider, Decade. One day, a wide array of monster's begin to attack the city as people end up being transferred to different worlds. During this crisis, Tsukasa meets with Waturu Kurenai who calls him Decade and is confused as to why he doesn't have his equipment, which he soon finds to transform into Decade and is then informed about what is going on. 9 universes based on the previous Heisei Riders are beginning to combine and if they do, the entire multiverse will collapse. Wataru tells Tsukasa to travel the 9 world's to destroy them in order to save his as Tsukasa and the Hikari Studio's journey through the worlds begins.
So the setup for the season is actually really solid in my opinion. We have a solid goal that we are working towards, their is some mystery regarding Tsukasa and who he was before and Wataru's knowledge of him. There is good setup for what is to come. But unfortunately this solid setup make's way for dissapointment, Decade continues the two part structure started with Den-o and it harms more things as it really doesn't give any of the world's much focus. Which is dissapointing for some (Ryuki's world) and sometimes actually not bad. (Blade). This doesn't help that after 19 episodes the inital goal of 9 worlds is dropped for Dai shocker just now being a thing now without much time left to develop them, it feels like their was suppose to be maybe 20 more episodes but it is just not their.
CHARACTER'S
The Man of the Decade
Tsukasa as a character is a bit polarizing. Unlike some other main riders who have been dick's there was sort of a hidden heart of gold. Where with him, it is much more hidden since he enjoys being superior. It does make for a fun character and he is probably one of the few saving graces about the show, just watching him do what he does almost an entire enjoyment. The big issue is that he is a perfect example of a Gary stu, besides the photo thing everything he does is perfect and we need to worship the ground he walks on. And that leads to probably the biggest issue about the show, most of the rest of the cast is not particularly good.
Despite Natsumi being inital shown as the girl who puts Tsukasa in his place, she essentially becomes a member of the cheer squad for Tsukasa, she really has no urgency despite some things we learn about her and how she feels about this whole situation. She feels along for the ride for better or worse.
Meanwhile we have Yusuke Onodera, the A.R version of Kuuga. And I don't mind the fact that they did this. One one hand do I wish they got actors back, yeah, but I knew getting back some actors was likely not going to happen. Joe Odagiri? That bridge was burnt because of Hibiki. Takeru Satoh? He was already starting to become a big deal by 09. Those were just two examples and yeah we do get back both Kiva and blade as cameo's but as a story thing, it would make sense instead of trying to work around old voice recordings. And honestly, I don't hate Yusuke in this case because he is not the Kuuga I knew. Rather I hate him because he's just not a good character and an utter gutting of Kuuga as a character.
A naïve buffoon who is about as useful as your appendix. After his introduction, he just hangs around, doing nothing of real importance for the majority of the season, who only gets something when they get to the Agito world and they find a girl that looks close to a girl he liked in his world. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that just how good his counterpart is, almost being the exact opposite of him in being more a well traveled man wo while not having all the answers did his best to keep a positive attitude. Meanwhile this one doesn't do battle against the grongi out of the good of his heart rather than to just impress a girl.
His Two Backup Dancers.
And sadly, most of the other A.R riders are not stand outs either, they either are not around enough (Kabuto, Den-o, Agito.) get almost nothing (Faiz,) Or there arcs or personality are just not good (Blade, Kiva.) About the only one I don't have too much issue with is Ryuki, yeah he learns something but he feels less like the other issues since it feels like he mostly has it together. And for most of the riders if you were a fan of them it can feel down right insulting that these people have taken the mantle. And yes I know just hating them for not being the original actos is not okay, but when they are not good it is not great.
But despite the appearence of many riders, we do get a new rider in the form of Diend, another traveler of the realms who also has some history that because reasons will never get much. Daiki is probably the best thing to happen to decade in the way that unlike most of the rest of the cast he offers a difference in relationship to Decade, one the fluctuates between rival, enemy and friend depending on the situation. Don't get me wrong the character has issues in that like most of the mysteries Decade has going for it, nothing much is explored beyond fairly thin stuff. But he does offer the most interesting dynamic the show has going for it.
And his Rival. Or Lover depending on the day
Then their is Narutaki. Narutaki... exists, he shows up from time to time to say how Decade is at fault for what is happening. Maybe he will summon a rider and then screws off for parts unknown. Who is he? Why does he have such a hate boner for Decade? Is he good? Evil? Maybe somewhere in between? I don't know, because it is clear that even the writers have no idea what to do with him.
Okay probably should bring this up now. So Decade inital head Writer was Sho Aikawa, a writer whose career spans all the way back to the early 80's but for the sake of Tokusatsu. He took over as head writer for Blade for its second half after the first part was not well recieved, later on becoming the head writer of sentai's 30 anniversary Go Go Sentai Boukenger to name a couple of notable notches he has. At some point during the writing for Decade, he came to have creative differences with a producer for the show and decided to quit rather than be stifled. After he left the series Shoji Yonemura, the man who would become famous or infamous depending on your opinion for many of the taisen movies came in to lead the later half. Its probably the reason as to why decade has so many plot points in the beginning. Narutaki, How Tsukasa knew how to do so many things like speak Grongi and why Wataru was confused why he didn't have his equipment, Is just dropped after its introduced and likely why Narutaki just is now like that sitcom nemesis who shows up.
I show up, blame Decade for whatever issues are going on, then leave.
That is also probably why up until the last moment, most of the villains are one-off inspirations of every villain from the seasons. All of a sudden we have a main villain group in Dai Shocker, who can also travel the worlds and have almost zero characterization. Kind of hard to do that when you only really have ohhh... 6 episodes before the end of the show. We learn nothing and they are just mustache twirling villains who show up because their is a need for more anniversary stuff. So not only do we get Shocker, but in this celebration of Heisei Rider we get a Kamen Rider Black and Amazon tributes. Okay, for Black it makes sense since it also aired a bit in Heisei but why Amazon is it because its a cult season amongst some people but it makes almost zero sense. Why not a tribute to the 90's movies instead since they are techincally apart of Heisei, even if they are counted as showa they aired during Akihito's reign. But really I just bring it up because their is almost nothing to say about Dai-shocker outside of its more shocker. Also their is Natsumi's Grandad, the grandad... exist as comedic relief, he has some funny bits but it is mostly kind of forgettable.
The return of... ummm, Dai... Dai shocker yeah not one of the million other organizations born from them.
AESTHETICS
Decade's suit definitely took a bit of growing though I wouldn't say that much. I like the choice of Magenta (Not pink, It is not pink not matter what you think.) Giving it a bit of a standout amongst suits. I wish it was a brighter shade to better stand against the black and white on the arms. The gauntlet things on his arm are too bulky. The abs it has are too spaced out and feel fake. Their are a lot of elements I think work here, I like the barcode the head has going for it and the X is a good symbol for a decade. It just doesn't come together to make a good suit.
And that carries over into Diend's suit. Anything I said was wrong with Decade's suit is carried over here, Though I do feel only having two colors, Blue and black with highlights of gold make for suit that does look better, Though I am not fond of how the barcode motif basically covers up his eyes. With Decade it was never placed on top of them but here it feels like I'd Barely see out of that thing and just lines.
Almost all the previous riders appear in this show stuff regarding them is probably going to hold the same opinion on if it looks good or not. (When I watched this, the only heisei phase one shows I had watched was Kuuga and Ryuki) And some of the new things they have created is solid mostly. Though the same can't be said for Complete form, a perfect example of lazy. It is a a chestplate with the final form of all 10 riders. It changes all of the magenta for black putting it around the chest plate and still has the problems of the base suit. As stated it is lazy, gaudy and just not a particularly interesting final form.
Say it's pink, and this quartet will end your life
Music wise it is fine, the main theme is quite the bop, the mysterious feeling to it as it builds towards the chorus where it really takes off as it goes hard until the end. The singer is doing a phenominal job and its lyrics encapsulate the show's atmosphere and theme, shame it couldn't follow up on it that well. The rest is just a blur save the riff that is done when Tsukasa transforms into Decade.
EPISODES
Favorite 6-7: Of the Tributes I feel Ryuki is the best, while it doesn't completely evoke the tone, it does use the rider war concept in a unique way and Another Ryuki is probably the best of the A.R riders we get. Affirmative, feeling like the original without just being Shinji with a different actor. The villain is mostly forgettable besides the twist of his relation to another world but as far as tributes for this show it could've been worse.
Least Favorite: 8-9. The blade tribute on the other hand is lacking in all honesty. the whole buisness rider concept is not as interesting and feels forced with its arc for the A.R Blade feeling generic. Not even a reference to an old meme could make me care about this guy in anyway.
Favorite: 14-15, Arguably the better episodes in this season are defintely done by Kobayashi, thanks in part to having an understanding of the material since the world arc she does are of series where she was head writer for. The den-o arc feels in line with the orginal series. Helped by the fact that unlike most other tribute arcs we get returning characters in the Den liner crew that gives a familiarity and they are not... too annoying, I enjoyed the antics and was interested to get to den-o. It is mostly ruined by the fact that they make Ryotaro a kid and this is clearly a lead in to a movie. (That we will not talk about here since it is a den-o movie rather than a decade movie.
Least Favorite:20-21- a tribute to the evil riders from movies sounds interesting, if the characters were parallels to the actual characters and not just an assortment of ranod's with almost no character outside of being alternate copies. The only one with any kind of characterization is Dark kiva, but really it isn't much but it also isn't much just evil because this is the dark rider world. Also Complete is introduced which sucks and I hate it.
Least Favorite: The films, Generally I I give an additional article for the movies because it sometimes has its own issues but here, no. Their is so little to talk about. The big reveal about Tsukasa being the leader of Dai shocker feels more like a slap in the face rather than a shocking twist. Making it kind of hard to like Tsukasa since he was so willing to go back to how he was without a hint of remorse. After the inital rider fights, it meanders until Tsukasa stops moping after making the bad decision deciding to help them. It even has Yonemura's bad issue of resolving things with macguffins like the riders defeated earlier coming back. Also Yusuke gets this awful evolution of the ultimate form, this... this feels like ruining perfection by adding a pauldron and spikes to look cooler, but it just feels like trying to hard. Also W shows up, being the first cameo of the coming rider, seeing Shotaro and Philip here only made me want to rewatch W more rather than spend it with this cast. And the worst part is that this doesn't matter at all. Anything brought up here is not brought up in the last two episodes, meaning that not only does this movie suck, it also has no impact despite some major points about Tsukasa's character being brought up.
CONCLUSION
There are some bright spots in Decade, some of the tributes are okay and Tsukasa and Daiki are sometimes enjoyable. It would make it a guilty pleasure but unfortunately, there is a lot wrong here. As an anniversary, it doesn't really feel like a celebration of the past ten years, feeling more like a single bite of each season that doesn't give you much. Granted that could also be a criticism leveled at Gokaiger, but in that show their was a care for the franchise. Here, I don't feel the same. But even as a season on its own. Most of the cast sucks, either main or the side ones. The story is confused and cluttered feeling like it needs more time for its latter plot, and when it ended it was more like... that's it. I can at least recommend this as a curiosity more than anything. But Decade's not good. This was a journey through the decade I will not remember.
FINAL GRADE: NO
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