A Friend Probably In Need Of A Popularity Boost Followed By The World Of Black RX

If there's another reason why Decade tends to bring up Saban's Mashed Rider to my head involuntarily (and the show isn't at fault) -- it's because it's the first Kamen Rider that got a TV crossover with Super Sentai. The stage shows were the start then you had Saban creating such a disaster. I still remember "A Friend in Need" in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and how it aged badly. We all have our Old Shames. However, Decade as a "successor" and "sequel" of Mashed Rider -- it still has a lot of positives such as better acting AND how it handled its crossover with Shinkenger.

The crossover is ten years old. Fortunately, Ninninger VS. Kamen Rider Drive (which was a TV movie) managed to improve on the idea by reversing the situation (Ninningers landed into the world without Super Sentai instead) and adding a giant robot battle scene to top it all - something that's missing in the Decade and Shinkenger crossover. Middle, I still can't like the Kamen Rider Gaim and ToQGer crossover even if I actually like the former that much but at least it tried to do something better. I could go ahead and start to narrate the show's credits. Shinkenger did have an episode where Daiki stole the Ika Origami from Genta a week before said crossover. The show had its airings from July 12 to July 19 of 2009. Both episodes were far more organized than the cluttered mess that Mighty Morphin' had with its crossover with Saban's Mashed Rider.

It seems that Decade really needed a boost. Maybe, just maybe the people at Toei decided that maybe a crossover with Shinkenger would be the solution. I felt like some crossovers could have been done like Kamen Rider Kiva and Go-Onger could've been good but it never happened. Shinkenger tends to get overpraised as the best of Yasuko Kobayashi's works. What's even better is that Kobayashi herself is the writer of the Shinkenger crossover. She's just smart enough NOT to get Mako sick and in bed. Instead, Mako gets to join the adventure and kick ass. I still feel the same thing may have happened with Ninninger. I admit, I still don't like Ninninger all the while I'm a fan of Drive. Drive is still for me a decent Kamen Rider season and I enjoyed it WAY better than Nininnger. I still think both Decade and Ninninger are in the categories of shows that I'd say they have a decent crossover with their better sister shows but I wouldn't like them. In short, I'm a fan of Shinkenger and Drive BUT not Decade and Ninninger. 

To further prove that somehow Kamen Rider and Super Sentai are self-contained (which wasn't the case during JAKQ vs. Goranger) - the World of Shinkenger is a world without Kamen Riders. That plot was further elaborated when the Ninningers were at risk of disappearing in Kamen Rider Drive's world. Super Hero Taisen even made a meme out of it and yes you know Shoji "Patrick Star" Yonemura is the writer of said movie, right? I still remember how Gai Ikari would later point out that both sides fight evil. The Shinkenger/Decade crossover is somehow the seed of massive crossover movies that would later get their plugged pull by Shinichiro Shirakura. PHEW!

What's more interesting is that after the Shinkenger x Decade crossover - it's the World of Black RX as written by Patrick Star. I know Black RX does get a lot of flak for being a poor sequel to the masterpiece known as Kamen Rider Black. The series has so much inconsistency such as the Crisis Empire plot or couldn't they write a better ending? I read through Them's Fightin' Words where Shogo B'Stard gives better alternatives to the ending of RX.

So why the World of Black RX? Didn't the late Shotaro Ishinomori (if ever) get so mad about Saban's Mashed Rider that he refused to renew the license or what? Power Rangers Time Force even had that small scene where Nadira was watching TV and saw a bit of Saban's Mashed Rider. Yup, that show was so horrendous it's an old shame for Saban Entertainment. Black RX and Decade do both share a lot of problems such as inconsistency and fan flak. Like the first half was Black RX. It's almost like a nod to the whole horrendous crossover Mighty Morphin' had in the quest to promote the garbage called Saban's Mashed Rider.

Remember how Black RX was made a loose sequel to Black because of the latter's popularity? Well, there are two Kotaro Minamis now from two Alternate Realities. One reality is where Black RX never happened (and I guess diehard Black fans are happy about it) and the other is where Black became Black RX. Personally, I don't really hate Black RX BUT Black has always been the superior product. Somehow, some fans may not be able to decide who's worse between Patrick Star and the people behind Black RX. Also, if I can compare Decade and Black RX right now is that both shows have potential but are handled rather shoddily while they still continue to shame Saban's Mashed Rider without end. Hmmm maybe Saban's Mashed Rider has a purpose after all -- which may be making Black RX and Decade actually look more decent than they truly are. Need I mention the absence of Herbie and Patsy made Black RX even more watchable? Joe No Haze and Reiko will always be more welcome!

Black is still the superior show over its contested sequel. Black RX just lacks the charm and good writing Black has. Yet Black RX somehow got vindicated by history. In fact, Black RX's TV Tropes page seems to consider Hibiki, Decade, Wizard, and Ghost as apparently much worse. Then again I think Wizard and Ghost (and maybe even Hibiki) are still better than Black RX IMHO because I don't care too much about Showa era Kamen Riders. I'd rather watch most new school Kamen Riders over most Showa-era Riders. I even don't care about fansubbers who work with old-school subs. I'd probably watch a few but most of them just bore me IMHO. 

Then I'm tackling trying to wrap up the posts. I hope I still have the energy left. Just a bit of tidbits -- the final post will cover Patrick Star doing the World of Amazon, the final two episodes which ended in a cliffhanger, the movie which I mistook for the finale (which supposedly takes place in between the World of Amazon and the final two episodes) as well as the Decade/W movie which actually showed how Decade ended.

You can tell how passionate I am about beating up Mashed Rider and Decade by reading this post! Good thing Zi-O (even with all its mistakes such as some guest Kamen Riders like Shinobi and Kikai) has done BETTER tribute episodes than Decade ever will IMHO.