Wrapping Up That It's Been A Decade For Kamen Rider Decade

The final conclusion of my Decade rants. I really have to admit that somehow Shogo B'Stard probably had a stronger stomach to rewatch Kamen Rider Black RX which is a show he dislikes so much. Then I have Kamen Rider Decade which is what I'd call the black sheep of the Heisei era of Kamen Riders. It doesn't mean that I like a franchise that I won't point out what might be called as the lowest points of the franchise! The show itself ended in 31 episodes with a cliffhanger on August 30, 2009. Then fans had to wait for December 12, 2009 -- that would be the Kamen Rider W and Decade movie where the final ending was shown.

Once again, bravo to the fact that Shoji Yonemura really has been causing all the decline in the series. I always felt that the World of Amazons is best described as Decade didn't know what to do anymore. Black and Black RX already had the Shocker villains showing up. Well, it's reimagining Amazon but I still bear in mind -- I didn't ever bring myself to like Amazon after seeing all 24 episodes. I could cut some slack because it's a show from 1975 BUT I can talk about its writing. The series just felt rushed. There was some cool potential but the whole shift from Geddon to Garanda was probably executive meddling. I even thought the Amazons arc was a waste of space.

You have the finale and a movie in between. Like why do we have to keep watching those movies again? The All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker movie was somewhat of a bridge to the upcoming Rider War. Sure, it ain't the Invasion of Leawood quality from Saban's Mashed Rider but I felt that the series' dangling finale was uncalled for. The movie itself was more of fanservice than anything. Then the two-parter finale which had a dangling ending made me think of like WTF -- why have it hanging? At least Amazon had a proper finale, Metalder had a proper finale but WTF? If Toei was planning to pull the plug on Decade then couldn't they just write a finale that had a DEFINITE ENDING?

Then we have the W/Decade crossover which was composed of three segments. The first part was slow though we get into Decade. So Decade had to DESTROY EVERYONE to RESTORE EVERYONE? I really find that stupid or was Toei making fun of retroactive continuities? Then we have Super Shocker trying to take over the world. There's that child-minded malignancy that's also causing trouble. The series was still better filmed than Saban's Mashed Rider's episode called Invasion of Leawood or Black RX's finale. The finale had the A.R. Riders returning after their realities were restored. But really did the fans had to wait until December for the final conclusion? Like WTF was Toei thinking with that? The Kamen Riders even if they were mostly Alternate Reality came back to really help in kicking ass -- not just plain nostalgic fanservice. Remember how the 10 other Kamen Riders weren't given much to do in Black RX's finale? I'm glad that was corrected in the W/Decade movie.

Fortunately, Kamen Rider W stepped in a gave a better series than what Decade had to offer. Kamen Rider will always have its ups and downs. Decade is a season where anyone learns of HOW not to write a major anniversary special. Then again, aren't Saban's Mashed Rider and Power Rangers Megafail still much worse than Decade?

Is Decade really just out there to wreck Zi-O yet again ten years later? He has made some appearances every now and then. Granted, Masahiro Inoue has done way better than Ted Jan Roberts then it's excusable. I don't think Toei ever needs to treat like an old shame either. Decade is a failed experiment that had potential. They didn't need to have a future episode of Super Sentai where Decade was turned into a show within a show. You can tell Toei invested in the experimental season that's Decade. Tsusaka can still kick Dex's ass any day. Tsukasa still has his relevance even after Decade got canceled late in 2009 in favor of W. Sure, the show had its issues but there was still some potential. Just that, the potential wasn't met. But at least Toei tried and learned. Zi-O has survived beyond 31 episodes and Decade hasn't. So there!