Thought I'd watch another episode of Decade before finishing off the last episode and a half of Dragon Knight and give my series wrap up thoughts. So onwards to Kiva's world! I just can't believe we've travelled to two worlds in four episodes. No wonder this show was cut short.

I actually - much to my surprise - enjoyed Kuuga's world a lot, and Kiva is another Rider show I don't particularly like so I'm hoping this world carries the same magic from the first arc. It certainly has some great ideas, like the uneasy peace between monsters and humans and the child Rider. The Kiva suit is gorgeous and his form changing makes me want to try the show again.

How does a celebration of Kamen Rider get the powers wrong? Kuuga's Dragon and Titan forms don't work like that, Decade. You seemed to understand him fine when he was Yuusuke but apparently Decade can even break power sets.

Honestly though, more often than not, the 'why the fuck not?' style of storytelling in this show is actually very entertaining. As personified by Decade getting randomly teleported to a stadium where Kaixa was waiting to attack him in the closing minutes of the episode. WHY THE FUCK NOT.

I think they really just wanted to have the similar Kuuga and Kiva forms fight each other. If it'll make you fell better, there's a great Pegasus form moment in the Kabuto arc.

Decade is best viewed when approached with that kind of mindset people usually advocate for big budget summer action flicks: grab some popcorn and check your brain at the door.

I guess the scene is contrived enough as it is...

But speaking more generally, I have found it odd as to how our little fandom here rarely speaks about the action and special effects other than in passing. Characters, and story, are obviously important but these are still special effects driven superhero shows and yet those aspects, which are a huge part of whether I will enjoy a series or not, seem rarely taken into account by others.

If I had known Decade would have these huge high concept battles from the offset, I probably woulda watched it a long time ago. If I want mature, high brow drama you really think I'd be watching Kamen Rider? :lol What I want is people dropping helicopter pads on one another as we teleport through dimensions fighting armoured warriors with world shattering superpowers! Decade offers all of that, and more and I fail to see why that isn't enough.

DK 39.

Now the Advent Key is fixed, there is little reason to still watch this. We've already found out that through Eubulon's bullshit powers and suspended animation alien tech whatever the fuck reason that the Riders are immortal so now it's just like a live action videogame. They may as well not dodge, as they can just respawn.

So it turns out both Xaviax and Eubulon are aliens from the same planet. A planet of warriors, whose lust for battle destroyed their planet. That is all well and good, but if Xaviax is a warrior whose very instincts are to fight why has he spent the whole series manipulating people and getting them to fight for him? Aside from a few threats here and there, he's never once raised a hand, which seems to really clash with the character he is meant to be. Just like everyone else, Xaviax started as a good character and died before his potential was realised.

Also why does the show keep using the term 'vent'? Eubulon plainly explains that venting is a Rider failsafe so they don't end up dying in battle. Sarah isn't a Rider, so you couldn't vent her. Couldn't you just say destroy like Power Rangers does?

Yes the final episode of Dragon Knight was a clipshow, but did you see Maya's cleavage?

Wow so not only did Kit kinda drop out of the show, he also didn't get the girl either? I feel really sorry for the guy, sure I hated him at the start but he grew a lot and ended up getting no rewards to show for it. I mean yes he got his Dad, but we know that would happen didn't we?

Overall it's pretty much impossible to separate Dragon Knight from the sheer quantity of wasted potential, I'd say it was full of holes, but that would require the show to actually make sense in the first place. There is a sense that Dragon Knight is chucking absolutely everything at the wall and they don't actually care what the hell sticks. Most of the time those ideas are actually good, which makes it all the more frustrating that it's all so poorly realised and clearly never actually planned or thought out.

That said though, the one thing Dragon Knight never is, is boring. Which should maybe be obvious, but it's surprising how dull so much toku can be, even with people in spandex flying around the screen on wires shooting lasers. An average episode of Dragon Knight will be 80% dialogue while it kills about three Riders and introduces two more in the other twenty percent. With so many characters, so many concepts, so many powers Dragon Knight is the only toku show where I can say something genuinely memorable happens in absolutely every episode - well bar the clipshows, but who actually watched those?

So no, it's never telling a good story, and it never really has good characters either but there is something oddly endearing about a show so committed to not making any sense at all. Dragon Knight is like junk food, the benefits of a salad are something you have to think about long term but in the right now a pepperoni pizza is just so much tastier, even if long term it's gonna be nothing good.

Well, you were the one who convinced me to watch Dragon Knight in the first place before you rewatched it Locke, so now I'm gonna drop it. Thanks.

The first thirty or so episodes are mostly pretty solid but the ending does sorta fall to pieces like pretty much everything in that show. My nostalgia for the series clearly smoothed over some of the rougher edges of the series but the show still doesn't deserve the shit it gets. Although it kinda makes me scared to ever watch RPM again. :lol

Dragon Knight tried so hard to replicate what Power Rangers did, but they left out all the little things.

No real fight dialogue. No real soundtrack. No sense of "heroism" or anything of the sort. It literally became a badly acted soap opera. And it sucks, because the show had so much potential.

And for a Rider show, its pretty barren too. The show copies many of the Riders' mannerisms yet forgot to put in character nuances that make them feel real. For a Rider show, character details and depth is everything. "But this isn't a Rider show!" The show is called Kamen Rider, they take a lot of Ryuki 's outline for plots and characters, they cared to keep in mannerisms. Guys, it's a fucking Rider show.

Dragon Knight: So close... And yet so, so far...

If the choice is between "no real fight dialogue" and what we're getting in Super Megaforce, I'll take gladly the former.

Ditto.