Right at the time where he's like I'm A Destroyer and hating himself, he also completely murders an innocent authority figure. It's honestly a really good move for the show? This isn't just tiny princes and Mysterious Fishermen telling Tsukasa he's a bad guy; he's actually murdering crimefighters! He's 1000% in the wrong, which is a great place to show his parallels to Wee Wataru's barely-restrained hunger. These two characters aren't just dealing with harsh judgment, they're sincerely dangerous creatures?

It's a great story choice.

Yeah, these were not great. These felt like a waste of resources and lazy overall. And of course, these should not usurp the DX Decadriver, but those levers on some of the belts are an eyesore.

Please welcome DREAMSWORD to the Decade chat! DreamSword was kind enough to share some thoughts on these two Ryuki episodes for Kamen Rider Decade, despite neither of them being animated like I'd promised.

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KAMEN RIDER DIE: DreamSword! Thank you for joining me on this Decade project. We're going to be watching some Ryuki-ish episodes of Kamen Rider Decade in a little bit, but first I wanted to find out a little about how you got to this point as a Kamen Rider fan. To start with, how did you first discover tokusatsu as a genre?

DREAMSWORD: Well you see, unlike the commonwealth I knew about Toku practically since day 1. While you were all just learning to spell your names, I was being trained to conquer live action superhero television--

Okay no not really. Like alot of kids I got into it thanks to Power Rangers. And no joke, it's a show that I've been keeping up with for as long as I can remember. Me and it are the same age, and it's been with me basically my whole life. That then lead into other Toku like VR Troopers, Beetleborgs, and Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I've done a few of these chats so far, and I want to say you're the first person to mention non-Rangers American toku as a formative influence. That's wild. Two part follow-up:
1) Rank those four American series from best to worst
2) What was it about those shows that got you so hooked, do you think? Kids are usually operating at a pre-critical level - it's okay if the answer is just Robots and Karate - but was there anything you can think of that made these shows so important to you?

DREAMSWORD: Well the first is obviously Power Rangers. No lie it's one of my favorite franchises to this very day for alot of reasons, or atleast, they feel like alot to me. I'm probably one of the few who's found something to legit love at least one major thing about every season. Atleast, in my experience.

Second would actually be Mystic Knights. I actually rewatched that one a couple years back with a good buddy of mine, and was surprised as to just how well it held up. Such a shame it was doomed to never get a second season.

Third and Fourth are actually pretty hard for me to decide on. But I guess it'd be VR Troopers and then Beetleborgs. I haven't seen either show in a good while, so maybe my opinion will have changed should I ever give them a rewatch, but I remember liking them alot, and my liking VR Troopers is what eventually lead to me discovering Android Kikaider, which is one of my favorite anime ever, so bonus points there.

There was alot that attracted me to Toku really. The fun action scenes and colorful special effects are pretty obvious ones, but there's so much more to them than that to me.

One major aspect for sure was just kinda the experience in and of itself of watching them? They were among shows that I'd watch along with my cousins alot, which added a whole 'nother layer of fun to everything. We'd always laugh with the dumb jokes of characters like Bulk and Skull, get hyped whenever anyone transformed, talk about who was the coolest character in each episode, etc.

And that brings me to what I think is the biggest aspect of this, and what I consider the biggest aspect I look for in any story I experience: The characters. Sure, none of them were super complex. None of them are(for lack of a better term) "deep" but not only did their actors bring the characters alot of charisma, there was always at least one character who I could relate to, or have fun watching, or feel real empathy for, or in the case of Zack from Power Rangers see as my idol. My philosophy has always been that characters should push the story and not the other way around, and I think the shows I grew up with had alot to do with that, Toku included.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Robots and Karate, got it. No, I'm kidding, I appreciate the explanation for each of those shows!
With Power Rangers being your main franchise, was it difficult to stick with it over the years? I know a lot of fans fall away from it as they get older, and you frequently joke about being the only modern-day Ranger fan on the boards. Did you ever feel any tension for sticking with Power Rangers all these years?

DREAMSWORD: (I mean the robots and karate are really cool don't get me wrong)

Eh... kinda? My experiences with the fanbase as a whole has certainly given a whole new perspective on some things to be sure. And yeah, I have gotten very uh... interesting, responses to my thoughts on various aspects of the franchise before, but again, to this day I have at the very least found at least one thing to love about each season, and as long as the shows in and of themselves are good or otherwise entertaining, that makes it worth it to me.

I'm very easy to please!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Not to put you on the spot, maybe, but give me two things: What's your favorite Power Rangers series, and what's one you'd recommend to an adult who's never watched a Power Rangers show?

DREAMSWORD: Ooooh man.

Well at the risk of anyone reading this immediately dropping off here, my favorite season is without a doubt the first season of Mighty Morphin'. Not solely because it was the first, but because of just how absolutely fun it is to watch!

Like, I already wrote a huge dissertation on MMPR before on the boards, so I'll try to make it brief here. Essentially, outside of growing up with it, probably the absolute biggest reason I personally love MMPR is because it's so insane, so fast paced, so positive, and such a rush of pure adrenaline that I'm never bored. It's always a great way to pass the time!

As for what I'd recommend... hmm. It really kinda depends? Like, if you just want an absolute rollercoaster of crazy, MMPR is definitely the way to go. But if you want something that's more serious and dramatic(as much as a show like this can be), I'd say Lightspeed Rescue is pretty good as a starter. Or if you want more of a focus on comedy, Ninja Storm is all about that. And lastly, if you want a show that's got a great balance of comedy and drama, then SPD is a great season all around.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: This thread is being run by someone who found value in the second half of Hibiki; I don't think you need to be worried about folks bailing over unpopular opinions.
As a lifelong Ranger fan, how'd you find your way to Japanese tokusatsu?

DREAMSWORD: Well, I actually have a good friend of mine to thank for that one. I love telling this story.

A few years back when all of PR first dropped on Netflix, I decided I wanted to watch all of it again, from start to finish. Coincidentally, at the same time, said friend I mentioned actually was asking me about the franchise, as he had somehow missed that entire craze growing up.

Now, I suck at explaining things in general, so he wasn't really getting it. So, half-jokingly, I said to him "Well you could just binge the whole show with me if you want." And to my absolute surprise, he said yes! As such, we began gunning through every season, and now he's a fan of Power Rangers too!

About halfway through that binge, he began to explore other aspects of Toku as a whole. Now, I actually avoided the Japanese side of things for the most part due to my negative experiences with the fandom(I dabbled a little in Zyuranger beforehand due to them). But, that was around the time Kamen Rider Gaim had just finished airing, and was huge stuff around the internet, so he got into it and liked it alot. He asked me about it, and I wasn't really keen on jumping into a show a bunch of people I didn't have a good time with were praising.

But, he convinced me. We started with Kamen Rider Dragon Knight as a sort of gateway into Kamen Rider as a whole (I had seen Masked Rider before but it'd been over a decade by then, natch), and uh, didn't like that one very much! We then watched the Showa Trilogy Movies (Shin, ZO, and J) and while I thought they were decent, I still really wasn't feeling it. But, he convinced me to give the franchise one last shot, so I rolled a die on which season for us to watch, and it landed on Kuuga. And oh my GOD am I so happy it did because I absolutely love that show. It became one of my favorite TV shows of all time and now I'm a KR fan thanks to it.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Kuuga's no Agito, but it's nice to hear that you're a fan. It's a bit of an underdog show!
With Kuuga getting its Jean-shaped hooks into you, where else did you look for Japanese shows? More Rider, or did you delve into something else?

DREAMSWORD: I'm telling you now man, without Jean, they'da been done. The Agito Seed would not exist without Jean.

Now, I haven't gone super deep into the JP sides of things, but I have begun to slowly dabble here and there. Like I said before, I got into the Kikaider anime before, and when I found out that there were live action versions, I of course needed to check those out.

Oh what's that? Not only was Metalder the show that VR Troopers used footage for, but was also heavily influenced by Kikaider? Gotta watch that. Wasn't super keen on how Power Rangers Mega Force was handled? Goseiger and Gokaiger are pretty solid ways to experience those stories. Saw the first Garo anime and loved it, so of course now I gotta try the live action show out.

Also, special shout out to GrandComplete for getting me into my first ever Korean Toku! His thread on Legend Heroes revealing that the entire show was officially up YouTube for free was a great push to check it out, and man oh man was I glad I jumped on that because it's become one of my favorite Toku too. Seriously, to anyone reading this, if you haven't checked that show out yet, do it. It's got something for just about everyone, I feel.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Legend Heroes has, without a doubt, the most passionate fanbase of any show on TokuNation. Y'all are very very into this series, and it's pretty fun to see.
It sounds like your toku viewing, Power Rangers aside, is pretty scattershot? Random series here and there, rather than catching new episodes weekly as they go out. Am I getting that right?

DREAMSWORD: For sure. I actually prefer to binge nowadays rather than watch stuff as it airs, with a few exceptions here and there.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: How'd you get over to TokuNation, then? I feel like it's predominantly used by folks keeping up with all the latest news, Like, right now it's a lot of Revice reveals, or Zenkaiger stuff, that sort of thing. Admittedly, I found TokuNation, and I'm not watching any current series, but I'm never one to emulate or be held up as a typical fan. What made you join TokuNation and start posting?

DREAMSWORD: Toys, actually.

I got into action figures back in 2016, but didn't have the income to really be serious about it until a few years later. When I did, one of the sites I found that tended to cover alot of stuff was ToyArk. And surprisingly no one, one of their affiliates was TokuNation.

Saw the site, used it solely for news, then one day I just kinda got curious? Started lurking the boards for a few months, and noticed how the community was surprisingly chill compared to other communities that I'd had to deal with up to that point. So I went "screw it, let's give it a shot" and well, here I am, annoying everyone with my passion for Power Rangers, haha.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Well, they've incorporated the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into their cosmology, so I guess Power Rangers is now validated as a franchise. It's finally okay to be passionate about Power Rangers.

DREAMSWORD: now if only it were valid to be a fan of other american toku qq

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Where do you spend the most time when you're on the boards? I know you've staked out a couple areas - your toku anime thread, and the Memory of Heroez Let's Play - but are there other parts of the toku fandom that you're more interested in talking to folks about? Which threads do you hit up the most?

DREAMSWORD: Uhhh, I suppose that'd be the general discussion topics? I kinda just browse most of the posts in general, really. I feel like I'm the most active in the general ones though. That or covering the Fan First Fridays for people who don't feel like watching the streams themselves.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: It's a public service, and I hope people appreciate it.
Speaking of reporting as a public service! KAMEN RIDER RYUKI!
You offered up Ryuki as one of the Phase 1 series you'd be interested in talking about. Why did Ryuki make your shortlist?

DREAMSWORD: Because I love it.

I loved its characters, I loved the props, I loved the suit design, I liked the card aspect, I love that it started the tradition of the belts talking, I loved that it was way better than Dragon Knight, and I think most importantly, I loved its atmosphere. It was very engrossing!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: The suit design, the way it spreads across every Rider, is incredibly boss. Very excited for -slash- financially dreading the point when we finally get the cast of Ryuki as Seihous.
Ryuki is a show that really made me love its arc, but more after the fact than during the individual episodes. There's a weight to every character, and how hard most of them have to work to put anyone ahead of themselves, and I loved that I was watching a hero show that didn't take heroism as a given. Any particular Riders from the cast stand out to you? Any faves?

DREAMSWORD: Raia was definitely my favorite. In just a few episodes, he established himself as arguably the most important character of the entire story, and I feel that putting his arc towards the center of the show's run further emphasized just how much of the story was impacted over the decision he made to put the good of others over himself. He also did a great job at encapsulating one of the many messages of Ryuki: That we all have to forge our own paths in life, and our actions can and will make a great impact on those who care about us.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Kamen Rider Quarters! Yeah, he was a hoot. I appreciated his sideways take on sacrifice, how fate was just another way of saying that you can't fight who you are inside. Him and Scissors really blew open the concept of what Ryuki was going to be, and they helped grow the franchise into what Phase 1 would eventually become in Decade.
Speaking of Decade! DREAMSWORD! Stop staring into that mirror and get ready to watch some episodes of Kamen Rider Decade!

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KAMEN RIDER DECADE EPISODE 06 - "BATTLE TRIAL: RYUKI'S WORLD”
Team Decade arrives in the World of Ryuki, where criminal justice cases are decided by a dozen superheroes battling it out in a mirror dimension. It's a take on Jury Duty that probably increases civic engagement by 80-90%, a detail that might not mean much to Natsumi after she is framed for murder. As Tsukasa and Onodera team with Kamen Rider Ryuki to sort out the facts from the fictions, the reclusive Kamen Rider Knight looks more and more like the culprit!

KAMEN RIDER DECADE EPISODE 07 - "SUPER TRICK OF THE REAL CRIMINAL”
It is, of course, not Kamen Rider Knight who framed Natsumi, since it's all Ren can do to keep from crying at Shinji's cutting remarks and aggrieved insults. Nope, it's Kamen Rider Abyss, our new-to-Decade legacy character. A well-applied speech from Onodera on the need to trust people gets Decade on the right track, and a well-applied speech from Decade on the need to compromise for a team (I know, I know) gets Ryuki on the right track. Together, they defeat Abyss and free Natsumi. Tsukasa even frees a soon-to-be-eaten chicken, for an extra dash of heroism!

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https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade06a.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Look at them! Look at our heroes, and their special bond. Specifically, look at how weird Onodera finds it to exist next to Tsukasa.
We've spent a few episodes dancing around Tsukasa's... let's say unpleasant attitude, but this one spends a ton of time on Tsukasa at Faiz Plus-levels of shitting all over his friends and teammates. DreamSword! How are you liking our team of heroes at this point in the series? Are you loving their natural warmth and camaraderie?

DREAMSWORD: Okay so uh, I guess I'll be upfront with everyone here, and before anyone says anything, yes, I am aware that this is gonna sound extremely hypocritical of me given I just got done saying that I don't ask for much in order to be entertained, but uh...

I kinda don't like any of the characters in this show? Like, at all? If we wanna just stick to the interplay between our main cast, and even more specifically in these episodes, Onodera is the one who does alot of the legwork and yet gets none of the credit, Natsumi is given alot of importance for literally sitting around and doing nothing, and Tsukasa? Well, he outright admits that he's a sociopath and spends this entire two-parter unironically trying to get his "friend" the death penalty for murder.

TRUE COMPANIONS.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: So, while I can't say it's easy to like Tsukasa and/or even worth it (especially in these episodes!!!), I will push back on some of that.
Tsukasa's someone who never seems to take these worlds seriously. It's a bit Isekai, where Tsukasa thinks of this as A World Based On The TV Series "Kamen Rider Ryuki", so all of the peril is illusory, and all of the people are fake. He's not, like, invested in the narrative. Natsumi being held prisoner and tried by a dozen battling Kamen Riders isn't, like, The Night Of. Tsukasa can't pretend she's really going to get executed, because this world isn't real to him. He thinks it's funny for Natsumi to get charged with murder, and it sort of is? She clearly didn't do it, and this story is dumb, so why not tease her about it while also working to secure her freedom?

DREAMSWORD: Because someone he supposedly cares about's life is on the line, and unless I missed something, there's nothing to indicate that it's not?

Also I don't find "the plot is dumb" to really be defense here. And while yes, I agree that the plot IS stupid, when it comes to serious matters, you might maybe wanna show at least a little concern, maybe?

I also get that Tsukasa at the end outright admits that he's a sociopath, but not only does that do nothing to endear me to him, it also just highlights how inconsistent I feel the overall writing of this show is. For example, in the very first episode he outright agrees to take on the mission to kill the Kamen Riders, but come episode 2 he's all "Huh, what am I supposed to do in these different worlds!?"

No joke, my current interpretation of Tsukasa is that he has really bad short term memory loss, because even when he blatantly delivers the Moral of the Two Parter at the end of all of these, he seems to retain all of none of that information. That or maybe he's just saying things to try and look cool next to these other Riders? (Or maybe the writers are desperate to make more specifically Decade look cool?) It's not something my tastes in characters and their stories can really work with, ya know?

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Well, when I say "this story is dumb", I mean it more from the perspective of Tsukasa not really thinking Natsumi stabbed an editor to death with a fork. That's so laughably out of character that he's not going to spend a ton of time wringing his hands about it. Also, the story for these episodes is dumb.
I don't know if I see Tsukasa as being someone who's forgetting lessons? I think it's more that he can't see how the things he's saying to and about the other Riders also relates to him. He's great at reading other people, but he can't apply that perception to his own behavior. In the Kiva episodes, where he's like You Can Overcome Your Inner Darkness To Be A Good Person Even If Other People Think You're A Monster, he never once considers that he's also talking about himself! He is very bad at analyzing his own behavior!

DREAMSWORD: Yes he is. And I'd be willing to give him a fraction of a point in these episodes if his stance were more "Everything will work out because I'll save her. No duh she didn't do anything." But, at the very least with RiderTime's' subs (those are the subs I'm using) every chance he gets he instead goes "Yeah she totally did it" without any sort of indication of irony, which is backed up by every other character telling him to shut his dumb mouth.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Look, we're friends, but let me be completely honest with you: If we both landed in the world of a TV show, and you got charged with murder, I would probably spend a little time acting shocked at your previously-unseen malevolence. If I knew I could also get you out of prison? Yeah, for sure, I'd be like Oh He Definitely Did It.
I am honestly laughing about it right now.

DREAMSWORD: I pray you never become a lawyer then.

Which, by the way, to give this two-parter some credit, even they knew better than to try and have Tsukasa ever try to practice any sort of law on screen, because they knew that that'd be huge stretch even by Decade standards.

(Also yes I would expect such teasing but like this is SERIOUS BUSINESS Tsukasa! Do the teasing afterward!)

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Tsukasa is too familiar with Kamen Rider tropes to waste an opportunity to tease Natsumi. His real business is trying to get over on his friends, and he is always serious about that business.
On that note!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade06b.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Even as Tsukasa is hilariously/"hilariously" letting Natsumi twist in the wind and telling villains that Onodera is a happy idiot, this story is all about drilling into Ryuki's themes of teamwork and understanding. It's a story all about believing in other people enough to let their morals inform your own, and working hard to help other people accomplish their goals. Did all of that come across for you? How'd you feel about the Ryuki-ness of this story's themes?

DREAMSWORD: Oh man, I feel like this is gonna be hard for me to convey properly, given what everyone else in the thread has said about the show so far.

Of the three two-parters that have happened so far, this was the one where I feel like I almost gave it a pass? But in the end, I still feel as though it fell short.

Like yeah, a big part of Ryuki was everyone's own sense of justice and how that forms their personal goals and beliefs, and how even the mere attempt at getting to know others can open up new worlds for you and expand your own viewpoints. Teamwork was infact a thing, yeah(just like almost every Toku ever), and how in the end you can never truly know someone's intentions.

So I THINK I get the general idea of this, which was to make all of that extremely literal. A literal justice system which is determined not by facts or the general populace's understandings of how things work, but rather placing lives literally in the hands of other people, where might makes right and the idea that the Rider who comes out on top MUST be correct because hey, "the truth always wins out in the end." I get all that, I really think I do.

But to me, Ryuki, and almost every show I watch in general, is about way more than just plot elements? The core of any story to me is its characters, and unfortunately, with the way the staff of Decade decided to handle the general "story" of the show, we don't get any of that here. So to me, my response to this entire thing was "This isn't Ryuki." Which I know someone is gonna immediately think "Well it's supposed to be different." And YES, I understand that, but I still think this could've all been handle alot better, though I feel if I do on for much longer this'll just spiral into a rant aimed at the show itself rather than these episodes specifically.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Weirdly, while I agree with you about it missing the feeling of Ryuki's aesthetics and performances, despite a dozen suits, I think the themes as portrayed through Tsukasa and Onodera were a solid, if abbreviated, take on Ryuki's messages. The idea of Tsukasa learning to trust in Onodera despite super not liking him or even understanding his worldview... that's pretty much Shinji and Ren? That's two guys who are not even slightly friends, who are also willing to go along with the other out of respect. It's separating out Friendship from Teamwork, and I thought that was something Ryuki was pretty unique at in toku.

DREAMSWORD: I see where you're coming from, but I can't really fully agree on that? If you take Tsukasa at his word (and again, this is obviously going to vary depending on subs), he kinda just lets Onodera do whatever, rather than outright working with the guy?

Speaking of Onodera and "teamwork" I love how Onodera never once figures that since Kamen Riders, even ones that no one has ever heard of, are just allowed to enter the Rider Fight with no real hassle, that he could maybe Henshin and help Tsukasa out in any of the fights. Very cool, Toei.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Or maybe Onodera, sweetheart that he is, just wants to let Tsukasa feel like a hero? Tsukasa is all I'm A Destroyer, so Onodera letting Decade fight to save Natsumi (note: not really what Tsukasa's doing) is part of the way he's supporting his friend.
Oh! That reminds me of another fun Onodera/Tsukasa thing from this story. There's a point where Onodera gives his big speech, about how people who push other people away are maybe doing it because they secretly fear letting their friends down, and when he starts it... Tsukasa has this profile expression where he's like Is This About Natsumi? He completely doesn't get that Onodera is talking about him, and I love it.

DREAMSWORD: Yeah I have no idea what any of these characters end up seeing in Tsukasa, really.

But from an acting perspective, yeah, whoever is directing this show clearly loves to portray things via facial expressions. One thing I noticed no one pointed out about the previous two episodes(unless I missed that post, sorry!) was at the end how Tsukasa seems to be taking all the accusations of being "the Devil" to heart... even if he does nothing to improve that situation, mind you.

Still, good on the actors for being able to pull that sort of thing off effectively.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: He's only vaguely aware that it's weird to be yelled at by strangers, instead of by your own friends. He's a hero for our times.
And every hero needs a villain, which brings us to this guy:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade06c.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Kamen Rider Abyss! I think!

DREAMSWORD: Yeah I wasn't fond of that suit. If it turns out that it was designed by the same dude who made the original Ryuki suits then like, wow, did they miss the mark.
Granted, given the twist of who exactly Abyss is at the end of it, maybe that was part of the point? Hard to tell with Decade.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Yeah, I don't... I don't get him. I don't understand why he's doing what he's doing. This is the second monster plot in a row where the villain's motivations are mostly opaque to me. Why is Abyss here? Why did he kill Momoi? Why frame Natsumi? Why did he need to be an Undead? I think the reason he killed Momoi was because she suspected him of being a monster, but why is this all so convoluted? And why in the world would you have a reveal like the end of this story, when it's a monster type that doesn't mean anything to the heroes? Help me with this, DreamSword.

DREAMSWORD: Well surprisingly enough even to me, I can actually answer most of those questions(I think)!
Abyss killed Momoi because she somehow found out he was an Undead from Another World. Why he felt the need to frame Natsumi, uh... well Fisherman Guy is helping him so maybe that's who he got the idea from? As for why he had to be an Undead in the first place, well, that's twofold, and it's basically for meta reasons. Him being an Undead is literally just a hook for the audience, rather than the characters themselves, and also gives a direct reason as to why the Blade World is the one we're most likely going to next. Outside of that, he's basically just a villain for the sake of the arc having one.

If I can give Decade credit for one thing in terms of its writing, it's that the show, at least so far, is surprisingly serialized, even if I find its overall plot messy and practically non-existent.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: The only part of that I'd squint at is Mysterious Fisherman giving Abyss the idea to frame Natsumi, since Mysterious Fisherman offers to spring Natsumi in order to keep her safe. That's a little too convoluted to be intentional, even for this show.
It sounds like you thought Abyss was a good villain, suit aside? Did you like him better than the last two obstacles for Decade?

DREAMSWORD: Oh no, I wouldn't say he was good per se. Just like, acceptable, I guess. If we're comparing him to Not Daguva and Hobo Fangire though, then yeah, I suppose he would qualify as a step up, since he does at least kinda fit with the theme of twisted justice.

Just, man that suit. There have been plenty of Kamen Rider suits that I felt looked better in action than on paper, but Abyss to me just falls flat on both levels, yikes.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I can't say it stuck out to me one or another? It's just part of the vague Ryuki But Not As Good vibe these episodes had to me. Which, hey, maybe we should talk about the World of Ryuki!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade06d.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I didn't care for it, really. I think it starts with Not Shinji and Not Ren, who I thought were both badly written (Shinji's willing to believe Ren is a murderer because Ren quit his job a couple years ago?) and super bland actors. I spent the entire story not really caring if these two former besties (a billion percent Not Ryuki, the two of them having a deep and soulful friendship) could get over their completely inexplicable conflict. Thoughts on our two-episode setting?

DREAMSWORD: Yeah I totally agree. I feel like I pretty much already elaborated on this earlier with my stint on my attachment to characters, and AR Ryuki most certainly did not deliver on that front. My boy Raia didn't even show up!

Also what the heck was with the first third of the first part having so much focus on Scissors? Was he a meme in Japan at the time or something?

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Scissors is stupidly popular. Always has been, always will be. Also, if you want to chump out a Rider to show how serious a character is, you definitely want to chump out Scissors. That's his thing! Demonstrating stakes! It's the third thing he loves, besides treachery and onions!
But, hey, let's talk about the Riders in this two-parter. As much as I wish we'd gotten personalities for everyone, I kind of liked the idea of becoming a Kamen Rider in this world as being like jury duty. It's not some huge part of your life, it's just something you get drafted into and have to care about for maybe a day or two. That's such a bizarre idea, and the show does almost nothing with it. (It's a little relevant to Abyss'ssss alibi, and Shinji's erroneous belief in Ren's guilt, but that's about it.) Do you feel like the show could've spent a little less time on dumb echoes of past storylines, and a little more time on their actually-clever world-building?

DREAMSWORD: I mean yes, but at the same time, I feel like Decade's' main goal really isn't storytelling or world building and more just Riders beating eachother up? Speaking for me personally, I really don't care too too much either way, given my general distaste of the show right now, but I can see how someone might want more meat out of an interesting concept. But then you know, there's also the idea that most of the target demographic wouldn't really care about that, so... I dunno, it is what it is.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Sure, I can see that. The Shinji/Ren story is there to be something for Onodera and Tsukasa to reference and learn from, so you can't really cut it. I guess it's just that I thought the actors and writing for that part of the story (i.e. the bulk of it) were mediocre.
Not to tee you up by pointing out a part of this story that let me down, but was there anything from this story you wanted to discuss? Anything we've overlooked so far?

DREAMSWORD: From these episodes specifically? They totally screwed up how Time Vent works, and all for something totally unnecessary too. (Abyss eating himself.)

The Mirror World is also kinda just there? There's like a one-off line about how Riders don't die when defeated there but like, that most certainly doesn't seem to be the case given the various scenes with Scissors?

Also if someone out there can please explain to me what the heck they were getting at with Scissors' line about eating leaks, please inform me because that threw me through a total loop. I'M STILL CONFUSED!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../scissors1.png

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../scissors2.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I like that Time Vent got used to eliminate a two-episode story I wasn't that crazy about. The implication that the only person who needed to learn anything in that story was Tsukasa... ha ha, YES. All for that!
As for those two different subs of Scissors's taunt? I think he's just doing a badly-worded fanservice thing, playing the heel, but hopefully someone else in the thread will have a take on it that's more compelling to you.
Once we finally get that sorted out, it'll be off to the World of Blade for TOKUNATION WATCHES KAMEN RIDER DECADE! The first episode of our Blade story is called "Welcome to the Blade Restaurant", and I have literally nothing to say after that.

(Well, one thing. Lining up a time for the next story was a little tricky, so our Journey through the Decade will be continuing next weekend. See you then!)

Well as we've demonstrated, given the collectibles for Zi-O had two Audience Voting P-Bandai sets, and Scissors got into one of them, yeah Scissors is stupidly popular and also just a meme given all the stuff I've seen of late.

But anyway Ryuki! The story is not all that special to me, but I enjoy the concept of this world greatly actually? I feel like this might be my favorite world based on concept alone with the whole idea of "Yeah the jury to a criminal case are just Riders fighting each other and whoever wins gets the verdict" because it's such an out there and interesting idea?

But also that aesthetic being the only part that stood out to me aside from all the neat Rider suits, was why I didn't pick Ryuki as one of the three Heisei shows that I was going to go through after Decade. Also I'll be real, from when I initially did research on Ryuki, the base idea of Riders fighting each other in a seemingly random battle did nothing to spark interest so there's that!

I feel like I can also easily explain why Mysterious Fisherman would collab with Abyss to frame Natsumi only to offer her freedom. It was so she'd say yes, he wanted to make her desperate enough to where she'd say yes and go with him. For what? No clue. But that's the interpretation I got out of it once I realized "Oh, he was collabing, yeah that makes sense."

Also while Dreamsword wasn't too hot on Tsukasa here, I kind of absolutely loved him in this one? I don't know it kinda says something about like the relationship between him and Natsumi, it's clearly not a long standing one, but it's not one that's been short either. So the two get away with teasing each other and such and even one line at the beginning really says all you need to know on how relaxed he is with Natsumi. Like his reaction isn't one of shock, it's one of him knowing her for a while, knowing she didn't do this, but still wanting to get a smart remark out even if Onodera is there. He probably even did that because he knew he'd get a reaction.

The line of "So she's finally snapped?" said all casually, was great and I'm surprised I completely forgot about it. Also given all of Natsumi's vulcan neck pokes, I'd also be as smug as Tsukasa easily blocking her attempts to hit his neck. And also because like, clearly Tsukasa knows that she isn't guilty, so he figures "This is my one chance, I might as well do this now" and I enjoy that. It's very childish but it works honestly.

Yeah, it's... Tsukasa gleefully telling people that Natsumi is a murderer tells you so much about their relationship. She is constantly berating him for his (obvious, dangerous, troubling) personality defects, holding herself up as a model of decorum and empathy. So her getting thrown in jail? For murder? This is his moment! This is when he can get up on her high horse and act all shocked and disappointed in her moral shortcomings! He is going to make a meal out of her predicament!

Also! I meant to bring this up, but there was never a good place.

For someone who thinks Reiko straightening cutlery in the finale is the thematic high-point for Ryuki as a series, can I just say how thrilled I was to see a fork become a hugely important part of the first Ryuki episode in Decade? Surely accidental (unless someone on staff used a Time Vent to read my gushing about Ryuki last year), but it made me incredibly happy. I felt seen!

get this man off the stage

i was saying "booreamsword"

I think this arc is Decade's first big misfire. I said with Kiva that there are tributes that really find and build off of some of the original show's concepts and some that don't. This is definitely one that didn't. It feels like someone just looked at a list of things that were in Ryuki and tossed them into the script: "Okay, we have a battle royale, a lawyer, and some journalists. I guess it's world where Kamen Riders battle to decide court cases and also there are some journalists?" It all feels so random and completely disconnected from the show it's trying to homage. If it weren't for the suits and the presence of a Ren and a Shinji, there's little about this that says Ryuki.

I also cannot get over what an incredibly stupid idea the Kamen Lawyer system is. It's like someone took the concept of trial by combat and found a way to make it even more unfair and arbitrary.

This was one of my favorite alternate realities. Sure it is not perfect but I just love the ridiculousness of it. :lolol
And Shinji being this angsty junior while Ren the misunderstood senior was I think what sold me on this. And then Kamata/Abyss appears and boy is that a nice suit. It really is a surprise this never was a thing in the original show.

You may remember (or you may not, I never know), I had a very open, outspoken dislike for Ryuki when I watched it (which was roughly the same time as you did) and had a tendency to prefer the franchise when it was in the hands of ANYONE but Kobayashi.

As such? I LOVED this episode. The idea of people fighting to enforce their ideas of justice being taken absurdly literally is just incredibly more entertaining than what Ryuki did with it. And I don’t mind Abyss’s design, since he does have two Contract Monsters (seriously, that’s broken as hell) and at least he manages to actually look like them (looking at you, Imperer).

Also Tsukasa’s line “I suddenly want to find her very much innocent” is one of my all time favourite lines in anything.

And finally for this, an etymology lesson for the counterpart’s.

Shinji Tatsumi - Tatsumi is a portmanteau of tatsu (dragon) and kagami (mirror)

Ren Haguro - Haguro literally means “blackwings”, as in the name of Knight’s Contract Monster.

Atashi Journal - atashi is the feminine equivalent of ore (keeping with the theme of Ichijou’s and Maya’s equivalents being a female and a male respectively)

Addendum. The kanji used for Tatsumi in this case are the ones used in the Chinese zodiac. Tatsu'辰' is dragon, Mi'巳' is snake. Keep in mind that these are not commonly used to describe dragons(龍) and snakes(蛇) although exceptions can happen such as this, since these specific characters are used within the context of the Chinese Zodiac.

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason as to why you severely disliked Kobayashi as a Toku writer? Admittedly, I thought she’s basically hit-or-miss myself and that’s just from judging on her works on Super Sentai and I have yet to really start watching her works on Kamen Rider. OOO, just going by its first two episodes, does look like it’s going to be fun though.

I predicted Zatyme, Fish and Androzani for the last few arcs, but I wasn't expecting DreamSword to be so excited about Ryuki and have so much to say about it!

Apologies in advance to whoever's doing World of Blade BTW, I haven't watched that show yet (before Die reaches Day of Oma) so I'm probably going to skip that discussion for now so I don't get spoiled too much.

Haha, this is great banter! However, I would like to compare Tsukasa joking about Natsumikan totally being guilty to Akiyama Ren doing the same thing to Kido Shinji once. Although in Ren's case, it was a convenient bloodless way to remove Shinji from the Rider War. Here, it's just Tsukasa being petty to make Natsumi beg for his help since he wants to enjoy himself a little, which is also very in character. He would never actually let her take the fall though. Tsukasa and Natsumi do care about each other a lot, but people who care about each other a lot can also disagree and argue, similar to you guys actually!

Yuusuke is just a passenger in this world though, where Tsukasa is the one given a purpose as a lawyer that allows him to interact with the Mirror World. It makes sense that Decade, being Decade, can do that, but not some unrelated yet very helpful Rider like Kuuga. Yuusuke could definitely henshin more often than he does but I think his reason for staying out of the fight is justified here. Even though he didn't remember anything from this world, Tsukasa did and has a slightly higher opinion of him as a result of his moral support. Cause if anybody needs moral support, it's Tsukasa!

And I just happened to be eating a cake while rewatching that episode! Clearly it was meant to be. I didn't get framed for a murder though, so that's good.

There's this out of nowhere part in the TV-Nihon sub where Ren says Shinji's name and the text at the top reads something like "Shinji - to believe". Did they just forget to mention that when they were subbing Ryuki and suddenly remember in the second episode of this arc? It feels so tangential to everything that's happening in that scene where Shinji is about to use the Time Vent.

Atashi isn't the only feminine equivalent of Ore/Boku. There's also Uchi which is most recently the preferred pronoun used by Sudo Mei.

Now for my own thoughts about World of Ryuki. The Rider War as a very literal example of might makes right was interesting. I'm not sure how you could call it fair and impartial though, unless there's an even 7:7 ratio between Riders fighting for innocent and guilty verdicts. Even then, considering how the Rider War in the show was rigged by Odin who is stronger than the others, what if the government are using Odin to get the verdict they want? Then you have Kamata, the true culprit, entering to play judge, jury and executioner on his own crime. This is a terrible idea for a justice system!

Ryuki is 11/19 in my Heisei Rider Ranking. Even though it's behind Den-O due to just how humorous Den-O is, I think Ryuki has the best plot of any Rider show written by Kobayashi. Specifically, the plot I'm talking about is the escalating interactions between the participants of the Rider War. Not the actual plot which is the Kanzaki stuff, which is good in theory but flawed in execution. If that was done better, this show could easily be maybe 8-10/19 instead.

Tatsumi Shinji and Haguro Ren were intriguing versions of the main timeline characters who are weirdly inverted in their behavior. Like Kido Shinji, it's actually Haguro Ren who joins the fight for a reason other than why the fight was started, not caring about the verdict and aiming for Odin's Time Vent card instead. When Tatsumi Shinji joins the fight to prove Natsumi innocent while believing Ren is guilty, it's Ren who refuses to fight! I also think it's cool how the first episode depicts Ren as this mysterious character who disappeared a long time ago. He's also the first AU Secondary Rider to appear, since there was nobody called Keisuke in World of Kiva (and nobody called Geiz in World of Kuuga :p).

I mostly can't believe that, in a Ryuki-themed Decade story, we didn't once have the beige-trenchcoated Mysterious Fisherman appear and tell Tsukasa to TATAKAE.

Did the people making this show even watch Ryuki at all.

I don't know if the actors or the writing found the right levels for it, but Shinji Has Very Strong Feelings About A Situation is incredibly Ryuki for me. As bizarre as I found the details of Shinji and Ren's feud (is it really just that Ren took a different job?!), the fact that Shinji dives into a situation he doesn't have all the facts on, ignores any evidence that contradicts his snap-judgment, and then has an 11th hour realization that he's made a mistake... that is, like, 60% of stories from Ryuki. The actor doesn't have the charm to pull it off, and the writing doesn't have the nuance to give the character cover, but the idea of it is very Ryuki.

Yeah, he's a shark man? In a show where everyone's an animal man/woman? Works okay for me.

It's both more corrupt (Is there no vetting for this system? Three of the victims co-workers are jurors! That's the opposite of impartial!) and somehow more elegant (the last person standing decides who lives and dies), which is why I feel like this story didn't do nearly enough with the idea. It's so bonkers, and yet we spend more time with fill-in actors who are trying to evoke better performances in less time. I ain't going to be thinking too much about Not Shinji and Not Ren, but Rider Trial? Probably going to have that in my brain for a little while yet.

That explains alot, thank you.

Thinking about it, that actually checks out. The show definitely could've been slightly more blatant about it, but I feel that does seem to be what they were aiming for.

thats why reiko fixed the silverware.

she knew kitaoka would be accused of murder otherwise.

This basically sums up my feelings on every arc so far, even as someone who hasn't seen Kiva in full yet.

To be honest I was surprised I even got the Ryuki spot, considering how popular of a pick it seems to be on the boards. The spots I gunned for were Kuuga(which let's be real, everyone knew Fish would get), Hibiki(which I suspected Switchblade would get), and lastly Ryuki. Very happy I got it in the end!

me? care about that guy??

pheh! phsaw! tch! bleh! no way. not in a jillion years.

I would've accepted that as an explanation if there were a quick scene where Onodera goes to jump into the Mirror World and fails, but as it stands there's nothing saying that Kuuga couldn't jump in to join the battle.

Kogami Intensifies.

Can't speak for where I'd put Ryuki as a whole since I'm terrible at ranking things, but currently I put in third place for Phase 1 Heisei shows. We'll see if it stays that way whenever I finish Kiva and get around to seeing Kabuto and Den-O.

But they had a stand-in for Ichijo in the Kuuga arc, bro.

It’s mostly a mix of hype backlash (wherein something is nowhere near as a good as everyone else who watched it before you made it out to be) and just not aligning with my personal tastes (I’m fond of shows that focus strongly on ensembles, but a lot of Kobayashi’s shows don’t give the ensembles a lot to do)

Something I really like about Abyss design-wise is that he's kind of an example of working backwards! His two contract monsters - Abysslasher I think and something else - are actually Rider-less Mirror Monsters that were in the original Ryuki TV show!! So they're basically saying "what if a Rider contracted with them" and arrived at that. Just a super cool concept!

I know that this part of the talk begins with Dickeido being recognized as unpleasant, but the next part of the talk kinda seems like minimizing Dickeido's behavior due to DreamSword calling him out on it (which is deserved), and actually these kind of people can face even greater scorn like being accused as not understanding the show/character properly (deemed as slow-witted or such for that), or just irrational hater (you can like while acknowledging their behavior as bad, albeit DreamSword admitted that they don't like the characters), etc. I'd approve with what DreamSword said there (...as well as directly criticizing irl stuff... like praying you to not become lawyer, dunno if all of that are also meant for joke, but no offense but you'd have no right defending Tsukasa if you'd use "what would I do" excuse, though I admit your reply to Enchilada645 softened this somewhat), and I hope that these moves won't be ridiculed due to it being a (sociopathic) comedy, particularly from the part of "landed in the world of a TV show" talk there. This'd make me kind of question about previously, you insisting to not create an unhelpful or inconsiderate joke in Den-O thread. Other than that, DreamSword seems to defend Onodera here, but he'd be the one that commonly gets disliked by people more AFAIK with nicknames like Yuuseless (another reverse view he has?). Though I also don't know about what makes the Natsumki complaint here of "sitting around" makes it a sarcasm for "true companions". For DreamSword talking about Tsukasa having memory loss, for consistency talk, like before probably I'd think of Tsukasa's a douchebag who has limits of that, when the world is on, but he'd not care further more from that, just about the people/world being saved, not about other problems (as he said, he can't feel the pain of others).

I thought that the law being judged by a Rider War to determine who gives the verdict, is a parodic take (probably even the reason it's not explored much) of a Rider War, as I'd think the system would obviously not work (there's only a newspaper claiming criticism for this system). Of course being a lawyer is something that is unrelated to power and fighting skills, and this determines a lawyer via unrelated things in those 2 by a Rider War. This is a blatant might-makes-right view. Though I do agree that I also want for this theme to be explored more, but if I want too, I'd want for the theme to be used to show how wrong and dangerous the might-makes-right mindset is... Otherwise, for a setting that revolves around law, this part somehow doesn't really feature a Ryuki rider who was an actual lawyer, Zolda (as probably it won't be the original Kitaoka like Ryuki and Knight here), other than as one of the fighters.

For the Ryuki-ness of teamwork (even if Ryuki doesn't have the Riders eventually team up at the end actually...) and understanding, dunno if I got that too even in main characters, as I'd think the understanding is the main part of Shinji (Kido) getting the dilemma in the series for his plan to stop the war, as he'd get to know about other Riders' motives and that he can't please everyone in his actions, causing hesitation. Shinji and Ren were common primary-secondary Rider dynamic (albeit Ryuki probably kickstarted that like you said as unique), so that'd be probably not Ryuki-centric thing, but almost all of the Rider series (the outlier is when they're more cooperative Blade except at first, Hibiki, OOO for Date, and iirc Wizard).

I feel like that Tsukasa is also a hypercompetent protagonist (except at photography), like Tendou before, so other characters would rely on him, whenever they like it or not, to solve problems? He was the one who figured out Gegeru at Kuuga two-parter before, albeit it can seem to others that he played a New Game+.

For the first phrase, dunno if that's a joke or not, but as I've seen that phrase "heroes needs villains" used seriously to demean heroes and glamorize villains, just a reminder about how world without monsters like real world is already full of people who need healing, care, love, compassion and help, and you also did talk about appealing part of Kamen Riders being about helping people psychologically. Other than that, the powers can be used to solve daily problems easier (if you can control) or rescuing someone from accident or disasters. For Abyss, there's an outlier for him compared to the other Ryuki Riders, that his Final Vent is summoning a stronger Contract Monster, combining Abysslasher and Abysshammer into Abyssodon. But... dunno about it being Final Vent worthy tbh, Dragreder can go toe to toe with it no problem! For Ryuki stuff, Abyss isn't even free from ironic death, but it's later talk as he'd be involved in Blade story too.

Well.... for Raia not showing up... be careful what you wish for (but continuing this would be spoiler). For Scissors, it's probably a show about how weak him as Rider is, he employs sneaky tactics to gain upper hand. His meme was caused by how short his death was iirc, and how joke character he is among Riders. Other than Scissors, I also wonder if the Rider War here kills every single Rider involved (faithful thing to have finishers one shot and destroy any Rider.. including Decade's here), is that a one-time thing or continuously done? How would the Decks appear again to determine who to judge, unless that the Deck isn't destroyed after the Rider loses somehow. I don't know what's Odin deal here either, as he as usual abuses his teleportation powers to clown on other Riders, but when Knight uses Final Vent, he just stands there doing nothing? For Shinji and Ren (yes they're... but different surnames with Tatsumi and Haguro), probably not as severe as Onodera, but I got similar feeling for Shinji (Tatsumi) here too, he'd be more willing into give in into his darkness compared to Kido. And a play of ORE Journal, as already said above, is that here, it's named Atashi Journal, which is a feminine word for "I" in Japan (ore is masculine but also rough word for "I").

Just to clear up any possible confusion on the matter, any and all digs that Die and I make at eachother are purely in jest. We're buds, it's all cool.

And I'll admit, I probably should've been a bit more clear on my stance towards Natsumi, but I wanted to try and stay totally focused on the two-parter itself, rather than go on a tangent about her role in the show overall so far.

So for those interested, here it is. My problem with Natsumi and her doing nothing isn't just what I find to be a plot-related problem, but a characterization one as well. If this show wants me to seriously believe that her and Tsukasa are close, then I feel she would've actually done like, something by now.

The main point of contention is her vision of the future, which by now is being proven to be more and more something that's very likely to happen in the future, given the circumstances of the plot at hand. I feel that if they really wanted to emphasize her faith in Tsukasa, then they should've had her show trust and respect for him and tell him outright about the visions she's been having.

Instead she's just all "Well, let's wait and see" and it drives me crazy.

That is very cool! Thanks for the details!

It's less that Ryuki was unique in having a primary/secondary relationship that was tense and combative (like, Agito/Gills, or Agito/G3 for a minute, or Agito/Another Agito), and more that the gimmick of the show front-to-back was about how to value other perspectives and sacrifice for someone else's ideals. There's going to be conflict in every single partnership - that's where a lot of the drama comes from in an ensemble! - but making an entire show about navigating those differences was (at the time) fairly unique to Ryuki.

I guess the thing I'd point out here is that it's not really Dragreder, it's Ryuki being subjected to a Final Form Ride from Decade. As much as they may look alike, they probably have different powers and fighting styles.

At this rate, I might as well be recapping the previous arc. :p

Though honestly, I don't have much to say on the Kiva arc. Looking back, now that I have a little more Rider knowledge under my belt (or in this case, a Driver), that I find it funny how Kiva, the previous season to Decade, features the youngest of the AR Riders, which at first, I thought "That can't be Kiva," and boy did they throw me for a loop.

One thing I absolutely adore about Kiva, or at least what has been presented, is it's amazing suit designs for the Fangires, with their stained-glass and classic horror monster motif, to Kiva's amazing design. Easily the coolest Vampires aesthetically.

Looking back, I'm pretty sure the attendants for Kiva were trying to ride off the success of the Imagin from Den-O, but I'm sure everyone put that together already, but I like how they're not the wild, comedic bunch their predecessors were, which serves as a fun contrast.

At this point, I believed Kivala and (might as well refer him this way for now) travelling hobo were antagonists, the former being one of his minions, leading me to think that he commanded villains from the other Rider Worlds at the time, as someone who was new to Rider.

Tsukasa was slowly becoming more and more enjoyable as the series progressed, and that was something that had my interest moving forward with the series. AR Kuuga and Natsume were fun characters, and I was honestly surprised and ever dubious about Kivala joining the crew, which made me wonder: just what sort of direction this show was going. And I think that's one of Decade's greatest strength in the perspective of a newcomer, of course, there's usually some hook when it comes to how some of these shows operate. From cool suits, to interesting characters and plot developments, you name it.

For now, all I have time to say about the Ryuki arc (at the moment) was that I could not get Ace Attorney out of my head, and would imagine Phoenix and Edgeworth turning into Riders in the middle of a court session.:lolol

They really are cool designs. I don't know that most/any of them feel like unique characters, relative to Phase 2 monsters of the week, but they communicate Kiva's world very effectively. It's all gothic and foreboding and hungry, you know? It feels like it's in search of something to give it meaning, like a cathedral or castle might need inhabitants. Some really ornate and compelling monster designs.

So, I find myself with some open time to work on this thread this weekend, and there's a thing I was going to hold off on until later, but maybe now I can squeeze it in? Maybe now's a good time talk about some non-Phase 1 stories I'm going to need help with?

https://challengerscomics.com/images...a/kuuga45b.png

As Fish is coyly referring to (and I got and let slide), Decade will eventually pay homage to more than just the preceding nine Kamen Rider series. This is something I learned in my prep for this thread, but after I'd already booked people to help. I've got people to help with Kuuga through Decade, but what's going to happen for the other series? Who's going to work on those with me?

There are two options. The first is that I go back to the folks that have already volunteered their time and ask them for even more of it. A few have already offered to pitch in extra if necessary, but that's not what I'd want to do. I don't want to take more of their time, even if they're offering it.

The second option is that other folks join the party. That's what I'm hoping for.

I already have someone for the Shinkengers story, so we're good there. I need three people to pitch in on these stories, if they're willing:

-Amazon
-Black/Black RX
-"Dark Riders"

If you feel like you'd want to help out with those stories, please PM me! We'll hopefully get a chance to chat on Discord for the pre-show stuff (the beginning of the episode posts, where I ask about your toku history), and then circle back in a few weeks to talk about the episodes. If you're into this idea, let me know! This is going to be a first come, first served situation (since I'd really like to get this all in the can by Monday), so please don't take too long to decide. Thanks in advance for the consideration!

I love that the teaser for Blade's world is just the four Riders recreating a shot from that show's first opening.

As for these episodes about Ryuki, it's sort of tricky to say how I feel? I remember being a bit grumpy about them watching Decade the first time since, for those keeping track, Ryuki was the only Rider show I had seen all the way through by that point, and ever since I've always assumed I was simply unfairly expecting some perfect recreation of the show, even though that is explicitly not Decade's goal as a series. Going back to them, then... I'm still not sure it's a great tribute to Ryuki?

The whole approach Decade took, going back to what I said talking about the Kuuga episodes, is to feature these sorts of "snapshots" of the previous Riders. Capturing the entirety of a year-long series in a single pair of episodes might be impossible, but maybe you can capture something of that essence. And like, for how consciously different they chose to make Newsuke, his episodes are ultimately an origin story for a hero who selflessly fights to protect people's smiles. Kiva may not have romances and a whole second time period to take place in, but it's still the story of a troubled young person learning to believe he has a place in the world.

And with Ryuki, it's like, what they came up with doesn't *not* line up with stuff that was in that show. It still has that core of Riders with conflicting viewpoints battling one another; it's got a buddy cop thing going on with Shinji and Ren learning to work together. There are even some touches that sort of hover between being superficial and not, due to changes in context, like Shinji being hesitant to fight (that downward tilt of his head when Decade is about to finish Knight off is so Ryuki) or how Ren is only participating in the conflict because of a personal crusade focused around a woman. There are plenty of Ryuki-isms here, for sure. Decade even does Ryuki's Rider Kick and it's awesome! (And also the entire plot erases itself at the end, so, you know, they got that part down.)

But I think it lacks the weight Ryuki had? The entire tagline for that series was "if you don't fight, you won't survive." The theme song was called Alive A Life. We had a main Rider who wanted to protect all life so much he'd even paradoxically protect murderers, and a rival who would crush his own soul in a lonely battle all to save a single life that mattered to him. The main villain's goal wasn't all that different from the latter. That was a pretty big focus of Ryuki, the way I see it – these people can only have these clashing views because they're individuals, every one precious and irreplaceable in their own right. Then in Decade, these guys are all glorified jurors, and most of that strong conviction just kinda evaporates? (As evidenced by how petty Shinji's grudge against Ren feels.) Being a Rider ain't a commitment anymore, and it ain't lethal, which makes it one of the absolute most striking, different, and weird remixes Decade did... which is sort of commendable! ...and it's also frustrating as a big Ryuki fan, to have something so major completely excised this way, and I still don't know if I'm just being unnecessarily harsh here, even years later.

I mean, I'm evidently a big Kuuga fan, and I like Newsuke fine enough! Looking at these more strictly as Decade episodes, I do like aspects of them a lot, and I even think it's a great pair of episodes for Tsukasa. It highlights how abrasive his surface-level personality is more than any other set of episodes yet through his insensitive treatment of Natsumi's entire dilemma (I won't lie, it IS pretty funny), while still making a point that he's trying to live up to an ideal deep down, and that ideal is Kuuga. It reminds me a bit of Cross-Z's whole deal in Build; basically believing he can be a better person because someone else is willing to believe it first. Not only does it make a nice beat for Tsukasa, it's also another instance of Newsuke contributing more with his kindness than with his fists, which is again, very Kuuga of him. I really liked that beat at the end with Tsukasa's photo showing both Shinji/Ren, and him and Newsuke.

Look, my hands were tied, alright? If Kobayashi had written the scene I was thinking of into Gingaman or something, I would've gladly thought of that instead! :p

It's really about the stakes for this story, isn't it? Between Tsukasa not treating Natsumi's imprisonment with any gravity, and all of the Ryuki stuff feeling relatively minor (like, Momoi was murdered, but we don't know much about her until the Time Vent), it's a story that somehow makes the Battle Royale series feel less visceral and consequential than the Romance series that we previously saw a tribute to? Like, Ryuki's dilemma is more of a shrug than Kiva's, and that's not great.

I feel like Ryuki is, more than any other Phase 1 series, really difficult to encapsulate in two episodes. It's a series about how slow and frustrating and confusing and necessary it is to understand other people. When it takes a year, that theme is well-served. When it takes a couple days? Feels like it's not really doing the show justice.

The episode guide for 6 even felt the need to have a whole anecdote about they landed on the court system concept, which basically amounts to it being a random idea tossed out during a long meeting trying to figure out how to approach the Ryuki episodes, that they ended up going with it because the director thought it sounded fun. Which explains a lot, for better or for worse.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, the one for 7 calls out something else that made Ryuki relevant in 2009, which is that Dragon Knight was airing by this point. It makes specific mention of how the title isn't translated as Masked Rider, and how all that talk of translation kinda sorta apparently connected to Decade's transformations having the whole "Kamen Ride" callout? Interesting stuff to read, considering Dragon Knight didn't exactly end up making a huge lasting impact. Although on the other hand, every Kamen Rider from Double forward is still called a Kamen Rider, even when written in English, so...

Dragon Knight causing the shift from Masked Rider to Kamen Rider is absolutely screwing with my mind! Like... wow, I would never have expected it to have an effect that major. In my head I still think of it as an indie project my two fans, kind of

Japan actually really liked Dragon Knight, to the point of giving the show its own blu-ray release years later that the US never got as well as creating their own sequel to it in the form of a light novel.

Literally the days before the Ryuki episodes aired, Dragon Knight was airing episodes 9 and 10. It's strange to think that, on both sides of the world, kids could wake up and watch new characters in Ryuki costumes fighting each other in a weird reimagining of a show from 2002. (And hey, this isn't the only time Dragon Knight will come up in this thread!)

Anyway, Ryuki episodes. For the longest time, my signature's been Ryuki based, be it a group shot of the 13 Riders, or Kamen Rider Femme. The irony is, I've never seen Ryuki beyond these two episodes and the Zi-O tribute. I just think the suits look really cool. (Well, that and a very old Ryuki RP that happened once. I didn't do well.) And that's the energy this episode seems to give off too? It likes the Ryuki aesthetic, Riders mass-brawling, time travel, CGI monster fights (It likes the aesthetic enough to have a Ryuki OC do not steal as the main villain!), but struggles beyond that to make it actually connect to Ryuki itself. Also, it's such an odd set-up and with Natsumi being put on murder played for comedy, I did have to check if Inoue wrote it. He did not.

(Also, Die, how's the search for assistants going?)

My favourite Rider suits tend to also have some sort of emotional connection drawing me to them (Ghost Mugen, Cross-Z, Tajador, Shadow Moon, etc) but Femme is just so... incredible as a suit, that even if her plot in the movie didn't do anything for me and I kinda forget everything that happened aside from the cameo of the G3 unit; it's one of my top 10 Rider Suits easy. Just sooo good

All Riders based on swans have amazing designs, that's just facts.

For me it's mostly the whole knight thing :lol

The one brief, shining moment where Kamen Rider was allowed and encouraged to be a global franchise. Those were the day!

If only! But, yeah, this story was great about throwing in as many surface elements as they could, since it feels like they couldn't figure out a way to tell this story on a thematic or emotional level. Like, they got some of it (I really think the Tsukasa/Onodera arc for these two episodes Gets Ryuki in a way that almost nothing else in this story does), but a lot of it just ends up being surface pleasures. Fun, but inconsequential.

https://media.giphy.com/media/7yoAIR...ource.gif&ct=g

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88...JXxAYe8992wOXY
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/24/1f...025b6f39bc.png

It can't be a coincidence two of my favourite designs are swan based, and they're the only swan Riders there are. What are the odds?

Also, I guess it only took us 8 years, but we finally got that big 13 Rider duel Ryuki vaguely promised. That's something, I guess.

Regardless of Kamata/Abyss as a character, the Abyss suit is a masterpiece of a suit. :rock:

We're back with more Decade episodes! Joining me for this look at the lovable failures of Kamen Rider Blade is AkibaSilver, one of the funniest people on TokuNation. AkibaSilver pretty consistently cracks me up, so watch as I try gamely to keep up! I'm bound to fail, but... Blade!

---

KAMEN RIDER DIE: AkibaSilver! Thank you so much for offering your help on this Decade project. We're going to dip our hands into the failure-pile of Kamen Rider Blade, and hopefully haul out some thoughts on how Decade best encapsulated a meme-launching show about professional disasters. Before that, though, I need to know a little bit more about the person who is willing to care about these colossal weirdos and the show that they called home. Tell me a little about how you came to tokusatsu as a genre. What was your introduction to toku?

AKIBASILVER: So I've been watching Power Rangers since my earliest memories, beginning around Wild Force and keeping up with that through to Jungle Fury. Around that point, I'm beginning to develop internet skills, and end up on Jefusion watching a clip of something that certainly looks like Power Rangers, but seems to be called Go-Onger. From there, I slowly dip my toe into the realm of Japanese toku, keeping up with cool toy reviews on YouTube, which have this Super Sentai (Shinkenger and Goseiger), but also something called a Kamen Rider. Which, you know, I vaguely recognise - I've seen Kamen Rider Dragon Knight on TV once or twice, I've seen Ultraman mentioned, but what could this be? And that's how I watch a copy of the Fourze/OOO Megamax on Jefusion, check out Gokaiger from a distance before actually beginning with GoBusters, and when Kamen Rider Wizard rolls around, I somehow stick with than for an entire year. Since then, I've been an occasional fanfic writer, a firm-if-somewhat-unreliable watcher, and somehow managed to keep up a special interest with both tokusatsu and Doctor Who, my other first love.
Also, as a child, I was big into Thunderbirds, so I've always had a taste for the best genres

KAMEN RIDER DIE: That is an incredibly robust backstory, which I'm going to try and unpack some. Let's start with Power Rangers, an international cultural touchstone that has completely eluded me for my entire life. What made Wild Force work for you as a youngster? Was it just the show that happened to be on at the right age, or was there something about that particular show that spoke to you?

AKIBASILVER: I mean, I was very young at the time - probably 4 or so? But still, I think what grabbed me where the zords - giant robotic animals that all combine together into a bigger robotic thing isn't exactly Power Rangers exclusive, but that's what got to me at the time. Add that to a reasonably good story - everyone always talks about the Green Ranger in MMPR and his redemption arc being one of the formative Power Rangers moment, but that for me will always be the Zen-Aku arc. Him being more powerful than the rangers, slowly beating them and stealing their own powers and turning it against them, only to have a hidden secret and to be redeemed, it's not complex storytelling but when you're young, it doesn't have to be
There's probably also a couple of other factors
Fox Kids (and later Jetix, I think) was pretty good with rerunning old series, so I could catch old series and have a working knowledge of backstory
And idk how well you know Wild Force, but it has the 10th anniversary episode "Forever Red", which makes the history of the show seem like this big dramatic saga with a legacy of heroes - to a child, it makes it all seem so grand
I must've watched Ninja Storm when it came out, but nothing from it has quite stuck in the same way?

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I know the words "Wild" (like Chalice's upgrade form) and "Force" (what everyone has to do to themselves in order to interact with Tachibana), but the Power Rangers significance is definitely over my head.
So, you said you watched Power Rangers up through Jungle Fury. Why'd you leave that franchise at that point? Was it that you'd found other toku to watch? Or something else about the franchise that you'd fallen out of touch with?

AKIBASILVER: It was more of personal circumstances than anything else - my family had recently moved countries, and Power Rangers wasn't on the local networks. Even if I'd still been in the UK, I think RPM (the series following Jungle Fury) was known for being very funkily handled by the networks - on a visit back to see family, I remember catching an episode at around 6am (the one where they get the Whale Zord, I think? Thanks memory). It was just inaccessible to an 11 year old with few computer skills.
Plus, I think I'd seen stuff on early YouTube about the Go-Onger mechs as the came out from people like Baltmatrix, so in a way, I guess I felt between that and the occasional wikipedia summary, I was doing my best to keep up with it

KAMEN RIDER DIE: With that incomplete picture of the narrative, was it the merch that was getting you more interested in toku? I've never been one for toy reviews (yet another step in most people's toku journey that I am ignorant about), but was that a substitute for having easy access to the shows the toys were based on? How did that part of your burgeoning interest work?

AKIBASILVER: I guess it was partially a substitute for being able to handle the toys myself, combined with easy accessibility, and an interest in how the engineering of all of them worked
Child me was very fascinated by how you could combine, say, all the Go-Onger or Shinkenger robots into their incredibly complex final forms

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Did you ever end up collecting merch? Or was it just fun to watch them in action?

AKIBASILVER: Not at the time! I was a 12 year old who did not have the money to import stuff - I think I have a knock-off Shodo Phone from a flea market, but that's it. It was just fun to watch them in action
I had a couple of Megazords from childhood (I think I still have the Wild Force / GaoKing and Thundersaurus / Abaren-Oh upstairs), but nothing concurrent
Even since, I'm not a huge merch person - I have a few Gashats, too many SO-DOs, and a bunch of Lightning Collections
At the time, I was probably spending my money on Bionicles and Hero Factory

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Well, SO-DOs are practically designed to have way too many of. When the scarcest SO-DO is, like, the cost of the cheapest Figuart, that is a recipe for hoarding.
Once you started getting online, it seems like the floodgates opened for toku. Like, you listed approximately fifty to sixty franchises that you got into basically overnight. (I am not going back to count, but I feel confident in that range of numbers.) Was there any one Japanese toku franchise that bubbled to the top for you? If you had to pick a favorite from that point in your life, what would it've been?

AKIBASILVER: You say that, but for the longest time, it was just Kamen Rider and Super Sentai coupled with Power Rangers
Even now, my knowledge of Ultraman is very scarce, and Metal Heroes is non-existent
And while my brother was big fan of the modern Godzilla films (at least the US ones, he's a anime fan but I'm not sure he's seen any Japanese Godzilla), I'm not sure I've ever seen one
I've seen Pacific Rim though, so that's something

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Pacific Rim is Godzilla Perfected. I don't know why they kept making Godzilla films after that.
Are you still keeping up with the KR/SS/PR trinity? I think I saw you post something recently about watching Saber in chunks. Is that what your toku viewing is like these days? Binge watching bursts of recent shows?

AKIBASILVER: I haven't seen a Power Rangers series properly since Jungle Fury - the distribution of PR in the UK is messy, and while I still keep up with the franchise, I don't actively watch, if you get me?
Super Sentai I watched regularly from GoBusters to LuPat, but I checked out around the early episodes of Ryusoulger - it just didn't grab me, and I was more and more of my mind was getting dedicated to uni. A weekly TV show doesn't seem like much, but apparently my scheduling wasn't up for it!
Also I think I was burnt out - I hadn't enjoyed LuPat so much, and Ryusoulger didn't immediately grab me, so I watched the first arc, and decided I could use the time on another show.
I've since checked out Kiramager, and that's good fun, but I'm drifting behind a little with it.
Kamen Rider seems to drift whenever I start something new - Ex-Aid was during my first year of university, and I ended up bingeing the first half of that in chunks rather than weekly. Same with Saber - I started a Postdoc, and couple that with the pandemic making the weeks hard to track, it ends up being forgotten about and suddenly you're months behind and there's three new power ups and 6 new Riders
But I keep up with the board news, since even if I'm not watching stuff, it's fun to watch people chat

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Agreed. Passionate fans will always have my attention. Speaking of the boards, how'd TokuNation become part of your fandom?

AKIBASILVER: I've been on it so long, I don't actually remember exactly how
I must have been looking for information on whatever series was airing at the time, it came up in a google search, and I remember checking it for a while before making an account
It was before Twitter really took off, facebook didn't really have that kind of socialising function, and I guess I just liked the message board

KAMEN RIDER DIE: They're also good folks, which is a slight-to-unsurmountable edge over your Twitters and Facebooks. Where do you spend most of your time on the boards? Any particular threads you gravitate towards?

AKIBASILVER: Yeah, I do enjoy the feeling of community of a message board - maybe it's just a sign of my age, but it's difficult to replicate that on other more decentralised sites
I enjoy the "What Are You Watching" threads, those are often fun, and even though I don't buy them, the Figuarts and Figurise threads are nice - people's enthusiasm is catchy!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: At the risk of dampening that enthusiasm, let's talk about a series defined by questionable plot decisions and some weird late-stage retconning that maybe wasn't the best way to engage the fans. I'm speaking, of course, of Chris Chibnall's run on Doctor Who.
I KID! I MOSTLY KID!
Since you mentioned Doctor Who before, I thought I'd pick your brain on the recent announcement that Chibnall would be leaving and taking Whittaker with him. Thoughts?

AKIBASILVER: My discourse senses are tingling!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I realize asking a Whovian to briefly summarize their feelings about an era of Who is fraught, but I hope we can still be friends after this.

AKIBASILVER: It's fine! It's not my opinions I have to worry about, it's everyone else's for being wrong :p

KAMEN RIDER DIE: This is your platform! They don't get to chime in!

AKIBASILVER: I think my overall take on the Chibnall era as it stands (we still have a whole Series to go) is that, while it's certainly got its flaws, no era is perfect - a lot of the drama comes from it being current and on people's minds, combined with internet platforms that reward takes with no nuance. Do I enjoy every episode of Doctor Who from Series 11 and 12? No, not when I've thought about them. But I didn't enjoy every episode of Moffat's run (my rant about Asylum of the Daleks could last for hours), or RTDs run, but because they enjoy the benefit of "Not being the current showrunner", they don't currently rule the discourse airwaves
It's also true that Doctor Who means a lot to me, probably more than it should, and I enjoy talking positive things about the show I love so much rather than complaining how it's actually awful these days
It's weird - I was reflecting on my time in the Doctor Who fandom back in 2013 recently, when I was very annoyed because one person on the forum I was on would take every message as a chance to say how much they hated Moffat as showrunner and couldn't wait for him to leave, because canon and characters and etc, and isn't it strange how the more things change, the more things stay the same

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Yeah, I only got into Who with the Davies restart, and literally every series was somehow No Longer Good according to the fandom, and it's like... I don't understand fandoms who operate with a baseline of Ugh More Of This. So weird.
Admittedly, Chibnall is the second showrunner in a row where I checked out midway through their run (bailed on the second Moffat series), but there were some fun episodes in that first series, I thought. And Whittaker's just an aces Doctor. Even when the series themselves end up being dodgy, I don't think they've cast a bad Doctor yet in the new era.

AKIBASILVER: I feel like stopping watching a show you're not enjoying is the smart thing to do, so I respect it

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Well, now that we've established that it's better to focus on the diamonds than the rough, let's talk about Kamen Rider Blade!
Blade was on your shortlist of shows from Phase 1 that you had thoughts about. So why Blade?

AKIBASILVER: Blade is one of four shows from Phase 1 I've seen some of, and one of three I've seen all the way through
And one of those is Decade, which I'm not sure Decade could do a focus episode on
But yeah, why Blade?
It's got a lot of memes, which are the baseline of my humour as an internet-dweller these days
I enjoy the arcs of all four of the main Riders - Kenzaki's slow journey from unlucky everyman to be willing to sacrifice his humanity and bonds for the sake of a monster, and in turn Chalice's turn from monster with an apprehensive curiosity towards humanity as pests with aspirations into someone with more empathy towards them than the next two Riders
Tachibana is, of course, half car-crash and half ego, but his slow recovery out of addiction and into a somewhat reliable ally and tutor to Mukki, I just like what he does
And Mukki is an edgy emo boi who is one step away from becoming Peter Parker in Spiderman 3 who you want to get better and eventually he does, through the power of magic monster trading cards
The plot may range from "confusing" to "non-existent", but the characters keep it going
Plus I like the theme of overcoming the apocalypse through Kenzaki's empathy

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Blade, more than nearly any other Phase 1 show, is A Lot. I think my first reaction, when I think back on Kamen Rider Blade, is to chuckle at the cast. They're all so hopeless, but in an adorable way. They're like this dog, happy to be stuck in a hedge:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/decade/dogpic.jpeg

KAMEN RIDER DIE: It's always been a show about Failure to me, how it's both inevitable and surmountable.

AKIBASILVER: That dog is Kenzaki for the entire first half of the series
And Kotarou for all of it

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I have such warm feelings for them all, you know?

AKIBASILVER: Yeah, I get ya
Failure is interesting - Blade starts with the organisation falling apart, Kenzaki left adrift with someone he literally just met, his ally betraying him to go smoke seaweed, and ends not with them preventing the apocalypse, but the apocalypse straight up happening

KAMEN RIDER DIE: And Kenzaki's backstory is literally I Am Defined By Failure.

AKIBASILVER: He's similar to Haruto, in a way, in that they're both motivated by the deaths of their parents and how they failed to prevent those
By virtue of being children

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Yeah, and the end of the series is bleak even for a Phase 1 show, where the apocalypse is only delayed, and even then at the cost of a memorable friendship. Like, that ending! That bench! It's telling you that a failure doesn't have to define you, as long as you can turn it into something positive someday. Such a Kamen Rider message to me.

AKIBASILVER: Hajime gets his happy ending, and it comes at the cost of Kenzaki's everything.
Even Build, which resets the entire world, gives its hero a happier ending than that

KAMEN RIDER DIE: It's bleak! It is a bleak one! So bleak it's worth celebrating, maybe? That'll be up to Kamen Rider Decade to decide. AKIBASILVER! Hide your puzzle pieces and get behind a corner, because we're about to watch DECADE!

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KAMEN RIDER DECADE EPISODE 8 - "WELCOME TO THE BLADE RESTAURANT”
Team Decade find themselves in the World of Blade, where only Tsukasa has anything to do for this story. He has to run a corporate cafeteria well enough to draw a heroic lesson out of Kamen Rider Blade, but he naturally does it so well that it completely ruins Blade's life. And what's the mysterious Undead from last episode doing skulking around the well-lit corners of BOARD's headquarters?

KAMEN RIDER DECADE EPISODE 9 - "BLADE BLADE” (I swear that is the title)
Tsukasa helps Blade learn that failure isn't the end of your story unless you let it be, adding a newly heroic dimension to Blade's outlook. Together, Blade and Decade shut down BOARD's scheme to unite Riders and Undead in a society-destroying scheme to basically become a self-perpetuating private military group, and it's all a little tough to care about. Luckily, Tsukasa and Blade have become close friends! Unluckily, we all remember how it works out to become close friends with Blade, so Tsukasa is out of here and onto the next World.

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https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade08a.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Look at him! Look at our shiny(-eyed) new Blade!

AKIBASILVER: It's so odd hearing him called Kendate all the time
Kazuma, even

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Yeah, "Kazuma". Not that into it!

AKIBASILVER: I guess it's a side effect of the theme naming of all the AR Riders (same first name, different last name), but going from Kenzaki's constant last-name-basis with everyone to Kazuma here, it's strange
Same with not-Tachibana

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I mean, I'm still calling the new Kuuga "Onodera", even if everyone in the show calls him "Yuusuke", so we get to make up our own rules as fans. The official position of this thread can and will be that this guy is called Kenzaki, even if that isn't actually his name.
One of the things that's absolutely amazing to me is that this two-parter gets at the themes of the series it's homaging way better than any previous story in Decade... and yet, it's the first two-parter not written by a guy who wrote for Blade!
Like, this thing feels 1000% like Blade, and it's by the guy who wrote Kabuto.

AKIBASILVER: That's such an odd choice! Like, the guy who wrote what's generally agreed to be the best section of Blade is right there, and he decides "Nope, I'd rather not"
I'm undecided - part of it feels very Blade, and other parts of it feel more generic

KAMEN RIDER DIE: And it... I mean, there's a lot of Kabuto in here. I spent a good section of these episodes screaming WHY IS THE STORY WHERE TSUKASA IS A SUCCESSFUL RESTAURATEUR NOT A KABUTO STORY, until I found out the Kabuto guy wrote it. Also, Tsukasa is maybe at his most Distracted By Not Helping People here, which is totally Kabuto.

AKIBASILVER: He falls for Narutaki's successful distraction doing the restaurant sidequest

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Also, he's just super into Money and Status... which ends up being part of this story's take on Blade, so I'll allow it.
This thing was totally Blade for me, as far as hitting the big themes of Accepting Failure and Helping Others Accept Failure.
First thing in the episode with Tsukasa is that his camera breaks! FAILURE! IMMEDIATELY!
Shit's gonna break, and you need to figure out what to do about it.

AKIBASILVER: I suppose a big thing I got out of Blade was the self-sacrifice theme, which never really comes into play here?

KAMEN RIDER DIE: That's true, it's not really a part of what the writer wanted to talk about here.

AKIBASILVER: It's much more on the "Learn how to deal with suffering", which is still Blade, but reframing it around this new, semi-functional BOARD is an interesting choice
Also, they went harder on the playing card motifs here than I think Blade ever did

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Yeah, this story ends up building in things that I don't think of as integral to Blade's themes (a lot of stuff about status and ranks that existed for about 10 minutes in the first episode and that was it), but it goes all in on Kenzaki losing everything that's important to him, fully, and then figuring out how to move forward.
That's pretty much the main theme I think about when it comes to Blade, and I was thrilled to see someone call it out in a tribute story.

AKIBASILVER: Original!Kenzaki does fail a lot, having new!Kenzaki carry on that proud tradition is the least a callback episode could do

KAMEN RIDER DIE: That said, it really puts all of the narrative and thematic weight on Kenzaki. Blade The Series spread it around a lot more. This story... does not!

AKIBASILVER: Yeah, I was going to bring that up - Blade works for me because of the quarter of dysfunctional Riders who, by the end, are each trying to drag each other up
I know it's partly because we're compressing a whole series into 2 episodes, but Garren and Leangle are here to be jerks and then die, and Chalice is basically here as a suit

KAMEN RIDER DIE: There's a brief bit of Kenzaki realizing that he needs to help the people who let him down, but it's fairly minor and a little hard to connect with.

AKIBASILVER: Compare that to the Kuuga or Ryuki episodes, which try to resemble the secondary Rider dynamics

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Garren's mostly My Hands Are Tied and Mutsuki is a colossal prick with no real darker impulses.

AKIBASILVER: I can't believe this Mukki is even more unlikeable than full Spiderman 3 Mukki

KAMEN RIDER DIE: He's just a status-seeking striver, and without any of the flashes of sympathy that the original version could engender in the viewer.

AKIBASILVER: Tbf, Garren going "Hey I'd love to help you Kenzaki but the chairman who totally isn't evil told me to do this" was an arc in Blade, so maybe it's more accurate that I thought
Although even then original Tachibana was acting out of misguided desires to help, this one's just apathetic
But at least he's here!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Garren, though... yeah, Garren Trusted The Wrong Guy is a thing. But there's nothing pitiable about this Garren, and that is way more of his thing.
Both Mutsuki and Garren, they're narratively thin, here.

AKIBASILVER: They exist as part of the system to dunk on Kenzaki, a system Tsukasa is very happy to join in
Which Yuusuke would have you believe is 100% to build his character and make him realise failure isn't the end

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Hey, since we're on that topic, let's talk more directly about the Decade/Blade dynamic!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade08b.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: You mentioned that Chalice is just a suit in this one, but let me say something potentially controversial: Tsukasa is Chalice in this story.

AKIBASILVER: Now that's a spicy take, but I get where you're coming from - he's someone stronger than Kazuma, someone who refuses to emotionally engage with him, someone who puts him down

KAMEN RIDER DIE: The ending is completely I Love You But We Have To Stay Apart Also I Am A World-Destroyer!

AKIBASILVER: I suppose the difference is that Hajime is fundamentally a more alien character who we see open up, but Tsukasa... he's just a jerk!
No bench 0/10

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Fair.
But their dynamic... it's the romantic comedy version of Hajime/Kenzaki, for me.
It's got that same thing of the Chalice character so grudgingly getting involved in helping Blade, until it becomes such second nature that a real bond develops.

AKIBASILVER: Whereas for me, it's almost reversed. In Blade, Kenzaki is the one constantly reaching out to Hajime (for the most part, until they actually become friends), whereas here, Decade is the one putting constant pressure on Kazuma

KAMEN RIDER DIE: The main way love exhibits itself in Blade The Series is trying to fix incredibly broken people, and this story gets that!
But, yeah, Chalice is way more of an active force on the storytelling than Hajime ever was on Blade. That's true.

AKIBASILVER: My issue with Tsukasa is that it's just difficult to know whether or not he is doing all this to Kazuma because he thinks it will help, or because he finds it funny to needle some guy who was full of himself

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I think it's B that becomes A.
Tsukasa is only ever an Accidental Help, until he can leverage it for something he needs.

AKIBASILVER: Like, Yuusuke's message about how Kazuma can learn from his failure, and how 0 is a representation of infinite possibility is instantly!undercut by Tsukasa's "Oh yeah, totally, peace out"

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Tsukasa multiple times in this story doesn't notice he's fixing Blade! Because he doesn't care! At all!

AKIBASILVER: Two episodes is tight to make that exchange work, and when it's needing to happen with every Rider, it's hard to take it as sincere
But that's more an overall Decade thing than a this episode thing

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Yeah, this story was the most effective Decade story for me yet (if not "the best", but maybe) because it really figured out how to thread the needle of Tsukasa not being even slightly invested in the stakes of the story, while still being an asset to the heroes of the world he arrived in.
He doesn't care about Blade, so he's able to diagnose Blade better than anyone.
But then he does care, because we all end up caring about these stories eventually.

AKIBASILVER: He helps by not helping

KAMEN RIDER DIE: The real failure was the friends he made along the way.

AKIBASILVER: Speaking of friends, Yuusuke and Natsumi are definitely here

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Sor-- sort of?

AKIBASILVER: Yuusuke gets something to do with giving Kenzaki a pep talk, which seems to be his recurring feature (translating Tsukasa's unknowableness to the other ARs), and Natsumi... cosplays? And also meets Narutaki again, because he's still lurking

KAMEN RIDER DIE: They end up factoring more into the BOARD world-building, which deserves its own screencap:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade08c.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I genuinely love that two nameless young people are able to get a meeting with the CEO of a major company, despite having literally nothing to offer him.
They're just in a room to say Please Help Us?

AKIBASILVER: "Yo, can we get some Rider assistance?"
"What do you want to do with it?"
"Uhhh we generally wait around for an apocalypse to start."
I love the little banter between them when he asks them how they plan to fund it

KAMEN RIDER DIE: They seem intensely baffled by the concept of Capitalism.

AKIBASILVER: Wonder if Yuusuke's yen has different designs on it, like that old Batman Lex Luthor Dollar

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Does the World of Decade not have money? Natsumi seems familiar enough with it when Tsukasa needs his camera fixed.

AKIBASILVER: Money exists purely as a form of making Tsukasa suffer
Also of course it's the Blade episode where Tsukasa suddenly needs rent money

KAMEN RIDER DIE: It's a thing that was really prominent in Blade The Series in the beginning, but it gets dropped so utterly that, when Main Bad Guy shows up at the end to fire them, I was like Oh Yeah Jobs.

AKIBASILVER: It's interesting, because "The evils of capitalism" isn't anything I'd think of as inherent to Blade - with how BOARD goes under so quickly, it's almost incidental that the almost-final boss is their, well, boss
Whereas here, by virtue of BOARD still existing, it's more obvious

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Yeah, there's a way I could squint at Mutsuki's arc on Blade as being about the dangers of lusting after status, or of letting your job/role define you, but it's not a main thing for the show.
Here, capital-s Status is the main motivator for interpersonal conflict.

AKIBASILVER: This was done by Kabuto's writer, and you've seen Kabuto - is it bleeding over from that? I know ZECT exists as a thing

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Not really? ZECT exists as the more franchise-standard Large Organizations Make Bad Decisions storytelling device. Kabuto The Series... it's not really (to my memory) something that spent a ton of energy on ZECT as anything nearly so regimented or interesting. If anything, ZECT was less functional and believable than this comedic version of BOARD. I mean, BOARD has rooms of furniture! And turned-on lights!

AKIBASILVER: Fair enough, it was just a hypothesis

KAMEN RIDER DIE: It's barely explored, but I did laugh that the main bad guy's motivation here was about drumming up business to keep his company afloat.
As a small-business owner, it's a real relatable fear!

AKIBASILVER: As much as his plan makes no sense, it's a more understandable motivation than any of Blade's actual villains

KAMEN RIDER DIE: This guy's world-domination scheme is all about bilking the Japanese government for military contracts, and that's real interesting to me.

AKIBASILVER: You're the president! You own the belts! Why do you need to steal them from Leangle and Garren???

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Kamen Riders in this world must have a kick-ass union.

AKIBASILVER: It's a very grounded motivation you could imagine being from Amazons or something, and instead it's in the comedy company episode
"Union contract specifies one milk box per day to be provided"

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Yeah, no milk in this story! What the hell!

AKIBASILVER: The lack of milk is symptomatic of cutting out all the human-Rider relationships (no Amane, no Koutarou/Hirose, no Hajime(!))

KAMEN RIDER DIE: A bunch of little loves/aggravations in this episode for me, starting with:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade08d.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: There are a ton of good Tsukasa boasts in this story, but this one was my favorite. (Super Ace is a close second.)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...erroyalace.png

AKIBASILVER: Tsukasa as a person is hard to get a handle on how much is heartfelt and how much is jerkery, but Tsukasa as a boast machine is unsurpassed

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I was briefly going to talk about how hard this story leans into comedy, and that it was a strange choice... but then I was like We Just Saw The Comedic Ryuki Story, so now I guess Decade is just a comedy show? Is that right?
Do you think of Decade as a funnier series, at least at this point in the run?

AKIBASILVER: It's odd - Kuuga and Kiva weren't exactly comedy arcs, and we opened with the massive Rider destruction battle
So maybe they wanted a pair of lighter arcs to bring things back up?
This definitely felt more explicitly comedic than Ryuki, with this getting a lot of mileage out of Kenzaki suffering

KAMEN RIDER DIE: And just the weird intensity of Tsukasa The Manager, where he's more goal-oriented than we've seen him as before.

AKIBASILVER: He really wants that camera!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: THAT is the most Kabuto thing from this story, though, Tsukasa being thrown into a new organization and basically wresting control of it overnight/apathetically.

AKIBASILVER: Yeah, this is where I think the Tendou comparisons come from

KAMEN RIDER DIE: He doesn't even like BOARD, but he's going to fix it if it's the eighth-or-ninth thing he does!

AKIBASILVER: He wants that line going up! Up!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../legomovie.gif

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I don't even slightly understand how Feed Everyone Better Meals is more cost-effective than Only Feed Six People Better Meals.

AKIBASILVER: Something something economy of scale

KAMEN RIDER DIE: And why does the Ace section have SIX CHAIRS?!
HOW MANY ACES DOES BOARD THINK A DECK HAS

AKIBASILVER: Well, you see, in Europe, card decks have six suits!
Space, Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds, Squares, and Stars

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Has BOARD's Human Resources department confused playing cards with Lucky Charms?
Tsukasa is right to be so disillusioned.
Also, speaking of disillusioned... boy, Garren being an In Name Only character was a total bummer for me.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but I really like Garren.

AKIBASILVER: Yeah, he's such a highlight of Blade in how much of a loser he is!
I love watching him fail!
And here he's just... there

KAMEN RIDER DIE: He's such an endearing disaster, and this one's some glorified extra.
This was never going to be a Garren story, I get that, but... man, they figured out how to at least get some of Mutsuki's character across! Why didn't Garren eat something weird, or eat something normal in a weird way, or make a bizarre face, or hide behind a corner, or or or!
Why didn't this show even try on Garren?

AKIBASILVER: I vaguely remembered hearing there was some reference to Blade being a meme show, and how was it not Tachibana-focused! The man's a living meme!
He never even betrayed us!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: So, speaking of Blade memes: was Kenzaki calling Tsukasa "Cheese" instead of "Chief" supposed to be a callback to mumbly Kenzaki from Blade The Series?

AKIBASILVER: I believe so
It's so minor!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: It's real random.

AKIBASILVER: Very strange

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Also strange, did they really just make the final boss in this story the stock Joker suit? Really?

AKIBASILVER: I am very annoyed the Joker was downgraded from the ultimate symbolism of an unstoppable apocalypse, and a sign of Hajime's disconnect from the humanity he desperately craves, to a CEO
Well annoyed might be strong - disappointed, I guess?
Especially when they made a whole new Rider for Ryuki, designed by the original person

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I don't know, now that you put it that way? I feel like the Joker suit as an expression of apocalyptic disconnection from humanity maybe makes it the perfect form for a CEO.
Feature, not a bug!

AKIBASILVER: I've just realised something
They don't ever bring up Hajime's interest in photography

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Well, if Tsukasa is the Hajime of this story, they sort of did?

AKIBASILVER: I can't believe I keep finding evidence for your harebrained theories like this, smh

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I am as mad about it as you are.
Anything else from these episodes you want to bring up? We haven't even talked a little about Kivala, who I found both fascinating and embarrassing.

AKIBASILVER: I'm not sure if it's intentional that Blade's final villain is Hajime forced to become his inhuman counterpart whereas here it's a human willingly seeking that power out, but it's neat writing if it is

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/decade/kivala.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I always have a love/hate relationship with Helper Puppets on these shows. Kivala is no different!

AKIBASILVER: "Helper" is a bold description of Kivala

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I mean, she's in the same bucket as Yurusen for me.

AKIBASILVER: I've seen Decade, and I can't remember her deal, so what's your take on her?
I'm half convinced she's Narutaki's mole, but does Narutaki think that far ahead?

KAMEN RIDER DIE: She's definitely working for him, but beyond that I haven't invested a lot in her mysteries. I think her addition to the dynamic is incredibly strange, though.
Photo Studio Hayao Miyazaki is smitten with her, and she's just sort of around?

AKIBASILVER: Old Man whose name I do not know is interesting, cause you'd usually expect him to at least have some words of wise wisdom (Wizard, Zi-O)
This guy just makes coffee and puts lipstick on puppets
He's utterly disconnected from the plot, just like the photo studio is disconnected from any reality

KAMEN RIDER DIE: He's like Brave's dad on Ex-Aid, where he's half there for comedy, and half there because someone just assumed someone that age should be.

AKIBASILVER: Kivala exists to make Narutaki more mysterious, and give old man someone to talk to when Natsumi and Yuusuke are figuring out how money works

KAMEN RIDER DIE: This show in general - and this story in particular - has a real tough time juggling its main cast.

AKIBASILVER: Yeah - people like to bring up how Yuusuke never transforms, but at least he gets to leave the studio
And because Decade is dedicated to doing an AR Rider story every week, any development for them is going to be balanced with a story that also has to tell the themes of another story

KAMEN RIDER DIE: But Onodera and Natsumi contribute basically nothing to the plot here. Onodera sort of does his one thing as the Tsukasa Translator, spinning Tsukasa's hectoring bullshit into strands of affirmations and assistance. Natsumi does nothing! Gets some lines, but that's it!

AKIBASILVER: Yeah, it's disappointing
They get one scene, and it's a very good scene, but then it's back to the background for them

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I really like the supporting cast, and god knows Decade Solo would work out about as well as it did for the Doctor in "Midnight", but there are times where I wonder if this show wouldn't work better if Tsukasa was the only recurring cast member.

AKIBASILVER: I'd agree - it would both make him more of an isolated wanderer, and give the secondary casts of the individual AR worlds, who by their nature have to be different every week, more room to show off
Speaking of people who get one scene, was that Zanki or Todoroki at the midway cliffhanger?

KAMEN RIDER DIE: It was Todoroki!

AKIBASILVER: Thank you Todoroki, very cool
Having one protagonist be the only constant throughout the series though, you can guess why they didn't do it
Maybe the solution was picking up a new straggler from every world - we got Kuuga, Kivala, we need someone from Ryuki
"The gang adopt a Mirror Monster"

KAMEN RIDER DIE: As the world's maybe only Cubi Stan, I'd be all about a show where a Kamen Rider collects a bunch of monster friends to hang out with.

AKIBASILVER: Congratulations, you've described Den-O!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: OH NO
Well, that show also had a human antagonist/secondary, and I don't want to say Hey Diend Showed Up This Week, but:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/decade/diend.png

KAMEN RIDER DIE: hey diend showed up this week

AKIBASILVER: Ahh I was wondering if you'd guessed who it was!
I was going to be like "Speaking of our secondary cast!"

KAMEN RIDER DIE: This is one of those things where, due to Existing In The Fandom, I knew we'd be getting Diend at some point, and here's this Mysterious Pretty Boy, so, yeah.

AKIBASILVER: Yeah, it's him, being mysterious

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Not a ton to talk about from my end, unfortunately! He's Very Mysterious, and that's about it right now.

AKIBASILVER: Yeah, same. I'd forgotten he was here, and yeah, he's certainly here

KAMEN RIDER DIE: He has cryptic things to say about sea cucumbers, as well.

AKIBASILVER: You can probably guess how people take that one
But yeah, not much to say about him yet
Is introducing elements mysteriously a Blade thing? Maybe!

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I am the absolute wrong audience for Diend at this point. I don't have any theories, because there's nothing to theorize. I assume we'll start getting more details in the next story, which will be taking us to the World of Faiz! Faiz was a story about self-actualization and finding supportive social groups and not being defined by those social groups and dealing with the poor decisions of previous generations, so I'm hoping Faiz High School is as brilliant as I want it to be. Everyone I ever knew in high school was either a Takumi or a Kusaka, so we might be in for a treat as we continue our Journey through Decade!

YAAASSS my favorite of them all. Kendate(NOT KENZAKI)'s first battle scene is one of my favorites; the soundtrack, the fight choreo, it was all put together so well. The track is called Battlefield for those interested and is part of the Decade soundtrack.

i'm sorry, the name of kamen rider blade in these episodes is "kenzaki"

the thread rules were made very clear

Also, yeah, very fun set of episodes! This story was a very balanced meal (food reference!), hitting everything I'd like a Decade story to hit. And it got the source material in a real deep way, which I appreciated. This was a good one for Blade fans, and a good Decade story.

Kazuma is easily my favorite AU Rider so far. Wataru didn't do much for me, Shinji was highly forgettable, and Yusuke tends to underwhelm me (although I love how he randomly bursts in out of nowhere to give Tsukasa too much credit). Kazuma feels relatively developed and the actor does a good job of depicting his arc here. That said, he still feels pretty shallow because there's not much time to really get to know him. I found myself trying to fill in the blanks in his character with bits of Kenzaki, which isn't fair to either character.

I think going with two-part stories wasn't the best idea. I know it's how Rider works, but adding a third episode would have really helped expand on some of these worlds and characters. Kazuma is right on the verge of being a really likable character in his own right and not as just a Kenzaki stand-in. A little more screentime could have really pushed him over the edge. It also could have given more room for the secondary characters.

But yeah, I think this is one of the stronger AUs. If nothing else, it had some random Todoroki jamming out with his guitar and I am always here for that.