Pretty much, yeah. Den-O is the show that set up the model all of the post-Decade series have been following.

Eh... maybe I should stick with Blade then after all as I wanted something that mixed it up a little, and if Den-O is just gonna turn into OOO and Wizard which are already basically the same show, then I'd probably get bored.

Part of Den-O's charm comes from the Imagin and the Den-Liner cast.
Ryotaro does man up later on through the manifestation of his final form.

Blade is still a wonderful series to stick with, though!

Yeah Momo is awesome and coupled with the Sword Form, I'd honestly considering sticking around but part of the reason I wasn't enamoured with OOO in the same way it captured so many others was just because I'd literally marathoned Wizard a month or two earlier and it was basically like watching the whole show again and I don't really fancy going down that path again with Den-O.

Especially as I had just seen Kuuga and am watching through Fourze who really set themselves apart a lot more.

It's funny you say that, because I'd seriously compared Den-O to Fourze than I would OOO or Wizard. Den-O has that same sort of... child-like endearment and great characters (I'd personally say it has BETTER characters) and is the first series I recall that really went nuts with form changing. And I also think it's one of the best users of this now common-place concept. I don't think Den-O ever had OOO's amount of forms, but I think the series before it was Kabuto where he had, I think, just a final form later on.

Plus, Den-O is the only show to have the rider go from absolute zero "can't even put the belt on right the first time" to actual hero and friend to all children by the end. I didn't like Ryoutaro at first, (I didn't spell his name right until I was almost done the show) but by the time things were said and done I actually quite missed him.

Plus once the other forms and Imagin show up it REALLY sets itself apart.

Oh yeah, that's also really awesome and well-done.

Also Den-O isn't "asshole of the week" because the people aren't usually assholes or the focus. Their memories are but I think one episode we never even heard the one-off speak. I think really only the first guy was an actual jerk. Everyone else was legitimately in a spot.

I guess I'll give Den-O one more episode to impress me then.

It's worth pointing out that when I started Den-O, I basically gave up after the second episode, too, for about the same reasons. And not for, like, a day. I gave up, watched almost all of Agito before realising what a mistake I made then gave it another shot. Let's just say Den-O's absolutely insane popularity isn't really that unfounded. (no shit they were still making movies for it four years after it came out. Den-O had a crossover with OOO)

Still, I get what you're saying. They relied way too much on CGI (though unless a new train showed up they basically dropped it. Spoiler alert, that's all the big CGI monsters are there for) and because the first episode's rules of time were utterly bonkers. (A building's supports destroyed a year ago only collapses in present day because...? Was it standing without any support for a full year?) Something they also changed to BTTF fade-aways when stuff changed instead of somehow the effect to the cause being delayed however long the Imagin was in the past.

I actually didn't mind it but I didn't plan on watching like thirty episodes of Blade and Den-O to make up my mind on which series to progress, I just wanted to check out the opening episode of both series and see which one I liked the most and just go with that one.

And to be fair I actually liked Den-O a bit better honestly but Blade actually looked like it was doing something different which Den-O didn't at all, even if the clichés weren't clichés at this point.

But yeah it is a problem when your show rests on time travel and it doesn't actually try to have any logic and sense to its time travel. I know stuff like this always causes problems but Den-O doesn't seem to have common sense in the first place.

Den-O actually tries something rather unique with time travel. And I mean really unique. It's a very metaphysical approach to time and what it means to people's memories. It's not your typical made-up science-y explanation.

It absolutely applies a certain logic to it's time travel. Like I said, the first outing to the past is not a good example of how the show treats Time Travel. Also like I said, I almost didn't watch it because of how it was handled, but it's never done like that again. I think the only reason they did it like they did was so that they could have the imagery of buildings and mass destruction to shock Ryoutaro into action. It has common sense... it just didn't want to use it at first for some reason.

Well I'm working through episode three now to see if it changes my mind. Which turned out to be completely bland, meh, Blade it is.

So after Fourze gave a great story focused episode...35 returns to crap. I mean the Chairman's End Game is in motion as the show clearly states but oh well, pirate radio! A random JK focused episode on the final leg of the series...great...

Checked out Blade 02 to make sure I wasn't making a mistake and this was a great episode. I love the idea that they capture the monsters they defeat in cards for attacks, I love villains that actually have a threat level and I love evil Riders. The action sequences are pretty impressive for an older series and that third Rider had a really cool design, even if we're back to Kamen Rider gibberish.

The only real problem I have is they picked so many males with similar faces and haircuts I have a hard time telling who the hell is who in some scenes.