Wake Up The Viewer! Kamen Rider Black RX VS. Kamen Rider Decade Random Rant!

Kamen Rider Black RX and Kamen Rider Decade -- two shows that I really find to be quite hated or loved with almost no middle ground. It's like I do experience people who love Decade and beat me up for my rather negative opinion about it -- I guess you do realize I love calling it the "sequel" of Saban's Mashed Rider (which is an Old Shame) and defending it to saying, "But Decade has lot of good special effects! Better budget! Shinkenger's crossover with Decade is miles better than MMPR's crossover with Mashed Rider!" and I agree. But I thought of Decade's sudden cancellation at 31 episodes is probably due to bad audience reception. If there's the RX Meltdown then there's also the Decade Meltdown too.

So what's with the RX Meltdown? I'm inspired to write this post because Shogo B'Stard's latest post is Black RX related. I know he really doesn't like the series and we've had differences such as I'm a Timeranger fan, I like Boukenger to a certain extent and I think Kyuranger is a decent series. However, we also have it in common with our dislike for Kyoryuger (which is his bottom) or that I actually did copy his negative opinion of ToQGer from him. But on my own -- I've grown fond of ToQGer years after it ended! Then I would admit that I do like Black RX but never as much as Black. Then we do know what happened with Black RX after it ended -- there was no new Kamen Rider series during the 90s but only movies -- were those attempts to reformat Kamen Rider but other stuff were getting in the way?

We do know an Alternate Reality version of Black RX appeared side by side with an Alternate Reality Version of Black. What if Black RX never existed in one timeline and he did in another timeline. The time paradox can be weird for me especially since we know that Black RX is indeed the loose sequel of Black! I felt Black RX's loose ends are still loose such as Shadow Moon's return. Kyoko and Kasumi never sent their regards to Black RX early on before they were forgotten. I felt like Crisis Empire should've had some connections with Gorgom or other previous organizations and the rather weak finale. I always felt Grand Lord Crisis should've been destroyed by the 11 Riders rather than just Black RX alone. So those are kind of bad, right?

But I felt Decade did a worse demolition job than Black RX. The first episode really makes you wonder what's the point of the previous nine worlds existing IF you're just going to demolish them and create Alternate Reality Riders in their place? I'm even getting my Kamen Rider Agito vibes right now (and I'm about to catch up with Zi-O any time soon) when I heard that Kamen Rider Zi-O will also feature them. Sure, Sota Fukushi didn't appear due to Bleach but at least we did get more guest stars. The whole Alternate Reality world concept in Decade is so frustrating beyond frustrating. Is that my Kuuga? Is that my Agito? Is that my (insert Kamen Rider) here? It just doesn't do it like Gokaiger (a series that came later) does it. Gokaiger makes you want more of its predecessors. Decade simply gets into a wreck with the Alternate Reality worlds. As much as I do feel super negative about the Shimoyama-Shirakura tandem -- I still think Zi-O's tribute episodes are better in many ways. A good example is how certain cast members from past do appear and we do get back into several past eras. I may not like those arcs that feature guest Kamen Riders that will just disappear such as Kamen Rider Shinobi and Kamen Rider Kikai -- at least the tribute episodes from past Kamen Riders are far more decent. Though I do still have issues with Kento Shimoyama because of Ninninger -- a series that only got "better" because of no summer break, no Victor and Monty, the girls are hotter but that's just it. It's only slightly better than the disaster that's Power Rangers Ninja Steel!

Black RX does have some issues like the Crisis Empire villains are indeed moronic Metal Hero rejects -- their leader Grand Lord Crisis has to be the biggest moron in the show! At least Gorgom is more threatening and scary even if well they're still stuck in the standard convoluted and/or just plain unbelievable plans for world domination! But at least Black RX had some stupid villains to fight against and we do know that old school Kamen Rider is usually defined by stupid villains' rather absurd plans for world domination. Black RX has plenty of good choreography and there's still plot development -- thoug it's not as good as Black! Decade? Well he's just simply trying to find his world and fails, fails and fails! Kamen Rider DiEnd seems to have no purpose but to annoy -- he's really that useless and both he and Ferbus deserve to be thrown out by producers! At least Jaspion's pet had some purpose compared to Ferbus! At least Joe No Haze has some real purpose compared to DiEnd who should have perished in that stupid movie Super Hero Taisen!

Then one can argue about the hiatus between Black RX and Kuuga was 11 years. Should we really just blame Black RX unfairly? Think of it Black RX did improve on some things -- allies got more involved in the later half such as Joe No Haze and Reiko would later assist Kotaro after learning of his secret identity. The concept of multiple forms may have not clicked at first but we know that carried into the Heisei era. Kamen Rider Kuuga improved what Black RX started by giving him involved allies (this time he's got the police) and Yuusuke learning about his new forms without learning about them immediately was fun to watch. Black RX can be such a Gary Stu -- I guess that's why Bio Rider's near invincibility was never used again. The 90s did try to revive Kamen Rider with movies but I guess Toei was probably focusing a lot of its money on ambitious Metal Hero projects I thank existed. I guess Black RX can be thanked because without the hiatus -- I don't think we'd get the super cool Metal Hero shows from Winspector up to Janperson! Though the attempt to remodel Metal Hero into a more child-friendly image failed and the series hasn't been ever heard from ever since.

Black RX did get a definite finale after a yearlong run -- I guess they wanted to end the Showa Era and start the Heisei era. However, Decade really only lasted for 31 episodes without a definite finale. WTF just happened? I can't really decide which is dumber between Decade's Hanging Ending or Saban's Mashed Rider's Hanging Ending. At least we got two good movies that actually made up for it while Saban's Mashed Rider forever remains in the closet of old shames. Sometimes, I even feel like that watching more old-school Showa era Kamen Riders (which I don't care too much about) can be better than Decade. Sure, I love mostly Kamen Riders from the Heisei era and I've seen all of them -- I still think Decade is the lowest point ever in the history of Kamen Rider. At least Kamen Rider Amazon, Kamen Rider X, and Kamen Rider Stronger all had definite finales, right?