This two-parter felt more like they wanted to try the indecisive successor story again after Kiva. That said, I thought it was well-played. Loved how petty Ibuki and Zanki were and meanwhile Hibiki was Shuki to a degree. :lolol
That ensemble with the instruments was just fun to see and one of those moments that should be brought up once in a while.

I'm hoping when Die gets to ZI-O he does this format again. Cause I'm willing to go on there and talk about my toku experience that both does and does not involve with PR if you would have me.

(And if your wondering why I didn't try to get onto this thread just I don't have all that strong feelings about Decade. But I do have a lot I want to say about ZI-O)

Huh! I don't know that I got that feeling. Asumu seems pretty dedicated to becoming an Oni. Hibiki's comments to the contrary were something I took to be about Hibiki's own failings, and projecting them onto Asumu. When Asumu is uncertain of himself in the beginning, as he's talking to Kaitou, it's more about Hibiki's lack of support being a drag on Asumu's confidence.

So, yeah, I think Asumu knows what he wants here, it's just Hibiki wanting to spare him the pain. It's Hibiki who needs to have faith in his student, not the student needing to have faith in himself. Or, at least, that was my takeaway.

This has come up with a few contributors, and the short answer for whether we'll revisit this format for Zi-O is Maybe.

On the one hand, it was always my intention to do this all-board thing for Decade, wrap up Den-O, do some solo posts on Legend Rider Phase 2 projects (movies, shorts, whatever), and then do a bigger all-board thing for Zi-O. (I already have a thing I want to do for Zero-One, incidentally.) This has been enormously fun, and I'd be over the moon to do a bigger, more inclusive version of it next year.

On the other hand, you would not believe how much work this thread has been. Jesus Christ, you guys. Normally, it's a couple hours for me to watch, write up, edit, and post an episode of a Kamen Rider show. I can do it six nights a week around my normal work/social schedule. This thing, it's like three times as much work. The scheduling, the discussion, the editing (it takes so long to edit!)... it's a way bigger undertaking than I'd've ever guessed. I don't regret it, at all, but it really took me by surprise. Doing this sort of thing with almost twice as many episodes? Man. MAN.

So, maybe. I'd need to know that more people were going to cover bases with me. If twenty people say they want to do this, and are willing to sacrifice some of their time? Yeah, I will roll up my sleeves and get to work. I was looking for fourteen people here and only managed eleven, so my hopes aren't high. But who knows. I'd like to do it, but we'll see what the support looks like after Decade. I will be expecting you to sign up, though, GrandComplete!

I just wanted to say to go at whatever pace is comfortable with you. I can’t even imagine what this must all look like editing wise. And I would be honored to join you. But even if it doesn’t work out I will still talk about ZI-O on your thread regardless anyways.

I appreciate the support!

Just as I am the Only Power Rangers Fan and the Only Shunpei Fan on these boards, I am also the Only Diend Fan. Just another label under my belt.

You are definitely one of seven or eight Only Power Rangers Fans, without a doubt.

Can't wait to see you opinion on the other worlds Especially with one with crossover with Sentai and ones shows from the Showa era you did not seen.

Probably not a huge surprise to say that I love this tribute. I go back and forth a lot between this and Agito's as my favorite from the Nine Worlds portion of Decade. Having so much of the original cast back is a huge plus, but the big thing for me is that it feels like the proper conclusion that Hibiki never got. I doubt the original show would have gone in this specific direction, but thematically it feels like an appropriate ending for the story: Asumu becoming a man by inheriting Hibiki's spirit. It's really emotionally satisfying in a way that most Decade arcs aren't (Tsukasa's barely even in part two; the show really wants this to be about Hibiki, Asumu, and Kaito).

I'd forgotten that Kaito put in such a good showing here. It's really nice to have him be a proper character and not just a minor obstacle for a change. Good character growth moment for ol' Radiator Face.

Finally, cannot let it go without mention that we got possibly the most iconic of all Decade memes in this episode. I'd have to check again to be sure, but I'm pretty sure that part two had the very first instance of Narutaki shouting "ONORE DIKEIDO!"

It is. Everything before was building up to it and everything after lives in its shadow.

What can I say that hasn't been said yet? This arc is an absolute masterpiece! And I hadn't seen Hibiki yet, besides the first two Toei threw onto their YouTube channel!

The Hibiki arc might have been picked last since the Oni Riders were the most out-of-place Riders of the early Heisei shows, that or they wanted the nine worlds arc go out with a bang.

And as we've all been gushing about the Final Attack Rider Hibiki, I can tell you 1000%, that was the greatest scene I've ever borne witness to. When Decade jumped onto the Crab King and started drumming, I thought that was cool with Hibiki's motif, but when the other Oni Riders joined in, it broke the flipping scale.

I do plan to watch Hibiki down the line (Yes, the whole thing), especially since I loved the first two episodes. Hard not to after the musical number at the start and all, and Hibiki himself is reminds me of Gai Kurenai from Ultraman Orb, who I absolutely enjoyed.

And at that moment (the Hibiki Arc), I was sold to Kamen Rider for good.

You and me both!

It's a really generous story. It fakes you out a bit with Lazy Hibiki and Wacky Zanki and Smarmy Ibuki, but then it just brings it all together and crushes the ending. I thought it was going to be flippant about Hibiki's legacy, but it was very gracious in how it talked about those themes.

Glad to see this one was solid even for folks who were unfamiliar with Hibiki! It's probably tough to ignore the greatness of a bunch of superheroes rocking out so hard that a giant crab foams at the mouth and explodes.

KAMEN RIDER DECADE EPISODE 20 - "THE DARK RIDERS OF THE NEGATIVE WORLD”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade20a.png

I really like the attempt to not only spotlight Team Decade (well, Tsukasa and Natsumi; sorry, Onodera), as well as a kind of Be Careful What You Wish For storyline, but... an unfortunately dull episode!

There isn't much in the way of homages or tributes this time out. The Dark Riders are just henchmen, without anything in the way of a twist or hook. They're no different than a Narutaki summon. Otoya is back from Kiva, and he's... I'm not sure what they're saying with him. He seems (at this point) to be a representation of Evil Riders: the imposing and regal Dark Kiva armor he wore to his death, a trickster guide on the path to Hell. It's just, no? No, that's not what Otoya is about? There're any number of other Evil Riders that could more directly fill that role (King or Saga, from Kiva alone), and Otoya's use seems to be either for the surprise twist, or just the excitement factor of a beloved/”beloved” character's return. (I mean, yeah, it is great to see Otoya. He immediately tries to charge three strangers for an unrequested performance!) It doesn't feel like it's saying anything with Otoya, though. He was never ever that guy? It feels weird to have him as the adversary for this story.

But, it's a whole story about feeling weird? There's an immediate sense of impending doom, right from the opening scene. Tsukasa feels uneasy about the lackluster finale to his epic journey, and wonders what it was all even for if this was how it ended. Onodera is typically incurious, and willing to take any W he can find, but that lack of curiosity just amplifies how strange this victory even is. Team Decade finished their quest, and their reward is merely returning home.

I like how, even before the Dark Riders show up and the monsters are everywhere, there's this sense that literally the worst reward for Tsukasa is to settle down. The whole shoot is overcast, which is a happy accident, since it makes every normal thing feel extra gloomy. It's like Tsukasa got this world, and he immediately made it frown. All the gifts and rewards and accolades, he doesn't care. He can't be bothered to do more than acknowledge that what Onodera thinks is good fortune is the least Tsukasa deserves. None of it's making him happy. This is what he always said would complete him, and he's more disappointed than ever.

It's a fun look at Tsukasa's evolving worldview. He got a world handed to him, but it's only one world, so he's bored to tears. He got used to the adventure of traveling, and now settling down looks like a prison. There's no danger, or mystery. It's just free meals and gift-wrapped companies. He doesn't like to be this comfortable.

And he also doesn't like having a world that accepts him so readily. He'd always said he wanted to find a world where he fits, and now he's finding out what that really means. In the real world, no one "fits". You alternately make a space for yourself, or you change your shape for others. Everyone's life is some combination of those things. We acclimate, we accommodate, we agitate. Fitting, it's not real. It's a fake world, where Tsukasa just fits. It's an escape from trying to grow.

Which is sort of where Natsumi's story is for this episode, and this is where I got the most bored. Tsukasa's story is intriguing both from a dramatic angle (we've been watching Tsukasa grow over the last 19 episodes), and from a comedic angle (he's so blase about all of his good luck, and it's driving Onodera crazy). With Natsumi, we are getting a ton of new backstory out of basically nowhere. We have not gotten a sense of Natsumi's life before Episode 1 of Decade (I mean, she might as well have the same amnesia or whatever as Tsukasa), and now we get a gigantic info dump about her high school friends, their We Don't Feel Like We Fit In Club (thematic!), and the encroaching danger they pose in the present for Natsumi. It's a ton of slightly charming flashbacks that get substantially less charming as the show keeps coming back to them. It just starts to drag, despite its promising attempt to flesh out Natsumi's pre-Decade life and dig into the fear of growing up and moving on.

Overall, this wasn't a bad episode or anything. After the highs of the Hibiki arc, especially that finale, we were probably due for a story where the production team could catch its breath. Starting off the next phase of the story with something that interrogated Tsukasa's desires and expanded our understanding of Natsumi's motivations is a totally smart move. The execution, though, was a little stretched out. Too many flashbacks, and not enough incident. Hopefully the concluding chapter does these ideas justice.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade20b.png

And here we go. Welcome to the back third of Decade or, as I like to call it, the "oh shit, now what?" phase of the show. With all of the tributes done and the original head writer long gone, this is where things start getting really interesting. There's some good stuff still ahead, but there are also a lot of signs that things were very much being made up on the fly.

So since Die didn't team up with anyone for this one... is he the evil Rider?

Here we are at the beginning of four episodes of pure, unadulterated Inoue. As one person on Twitter put it, he’s about to enter his “not giving a damn” phase. He has a reputation and he knows it by now, so he goes along with it.

As for the episode itself, I do like the idea that the one world where Decade fits in is the one that’s objectively the worst he’s been to so far.

And in a nice touch, Ryuga and Dark Kabuto have the same henshin poses as Dark Shinji and the Other Souji, while Orga lacks a pose because Kiba never had one.

It doesn't surprise me that they're way off of whatever plan this how might've started with (you would never pace a season like this on purpose), but I was sort of intrigued by how the production team leaned into that concept. They've run out of road, and now they are in the wilderness. What does that mean for Tsukasa? What does it mean for the mission he was given? The execution may not've been as tight as I might want/expect (well, want), but I thought this story was bringing up some interesting questions.

It was actually a nice coincidence to run out of contributors on the story where Tsukasa runs out of new Riders to team up with. I thought I was the Tsukasa in that comparison, but apparently I'm the Otoya? Well, I've been called worse.

(Also! AkibaSilver doesn't need to be told this, since they'll be back to chat about an upcoming two-parter, but there will be more collaborators for some of the upcoming stories! Some returning faces, at least one new face. I'm doing the best I can!)

Also, his hair wasn't great in this story? Just sort of badly styled. Even his hair is giving up this time out!

Wrong Inoue.

Fair enough! Everything you wrote screamed TSUKASA to me, so I just assumed it was that one. Sorry for the mistake!

The World of Hibiki was an enjoyable end to a journey and compensation for all the missed opportunities in the show. The style of the first 29 episodes is back, there's some Kuuga action, returning actors everywhere, Akira gets to become a full-fledged Oni even though it's just the Ibuki suit, Shounen (I guess every version of Asumu gets this nickname) gets to inherit Hibiki from Depressed Banba Soukichi (credit to Kurona for that nickname) and like everybody else said, the final battle against the Bakegani is awesome! Even Die who dislikes the giant Makamou fights was impressed by that. I also enjoyed how the Ongekido schools were more like public organizations with a cool samurai aesthetic, in contrast to Takeshi being a front for the Oni's secret operations. As expected, the Ibuki school was my favorite. My only complaint is that I disapprove of Akira/Todoroki, since there was more connection between Shounen and Akira in the show.

Hibiki is 15/19 in my Heisei Rider Ranking and would be higher if not for the missed opportunities caused by the staff change and Yonemura not really understanding the tone for the two episodes he wrote. Nevertheless, I still think fondly of watching the show, mostly in those first 29 episodes, although I am one of the few who thought Kiriya was a good addition. The World of Hibiki was an intriguing look in to what could have been, if the show followed the original vision.

Not just Dreamcastegirl. I don't recall seeing Zatyme either, after they did the first episode.

I think it's smart to have Wataru send Tsukasa on his journey and Otoya welcome him back, since Dark Kiva is the negative counterpart to Kiva. Maybe Otoya not being himself is the whole point, like the whole point of this world is that everything is familiar to Natsumi, yet the reality is twisted. Besides, the Wataru in the first episode isn't really Wataru either, so it's plausible that this Otoya isn't really Otoya, hence why he can use Dark Kiva without limits since it's implied that this world's Dark Riders are all monsters.

That's an interesting way to look at it. Like everything Tsukasa wanted is just being handed to him on a silver platter in the most anticlimactic way and while it's a comfortable life in this world, there's no real gratification here. It's too easy, tedious, stagnant. All the morals and emotional moments from the last 9 worlds are just wasted here. It doesn't bring him any closer to understanding his place or what his destiny is, since the world merely bends to his will, his pictures come out perfect, it's all a lie to derail his journey.

Considering how much Natsumi has been in the background other than her ominous dream sequences of Decade becoming a destroyer, I think it's nice to finally get to see her backstory. It gives a contrast to Tsukasa, who doesn't have a past, while Natsumi finds happiness in the chance to reunite with all her old TG Club friends and relive her memories of high school. She's also a sentimental person. TG Club could also be a parallel to Team Decade, as she was lost just like her friends before they found a place in the world with each other, allowing them to move forward. I think Natsumi's sentimental happiness is just pretty sweet, even if it does only get brought up here.

Well Tsukasa was the 10000th customer in that restaurant and this is your 4000th post, so you're still the Tsukasa. Congrats!

I can’t speak for Zaytme, but I k so for a fact that DCG has done to the forum what the king did to the building.

I know this because I’m still actively communications with her through ff.net PMs, email, Discord and Slack

What's up?
Just been busy with real life and my other hobbies

Do you know why she left?

Oh hey, Zatyme! Good to know you're still active.

Having watched both episodes, but only commenting on the first for now, I will say that Otoya's presence is definitely an anomaly here. It's this odd thing where they got the actor back to play a vastly different role than intended. It's an interesting decision though and also it answers the question of "What if Otoya wore a pinstripe suit."

I definitely liked a lot of the Tsukasa content here, just the whole feeling of dread slowly overtaking the episode right from minute 1. It was really nice to see honestly, and I always love it when we get more subtle moments from Tsukasa since it's a lot of "Here's this thing presented to him and now here are his reactions". Also there's just a nice bit of comedy what with Onodera reacting to all of Tsukasa's good fortune.

Speaking of good fortune, hey good photos! Even though I agree with Eijiro, I liked Tsukasa's usual style of photo's. They had a certain aesthetic to them.

Compared to Natsumi's side which is a lot more in your face about what her story is about with the constant flashbacks. Given just the change in writers and stuff I can sorta give them a pass on this. But it'd kind of been cool if Natsumi got involved in the Faiz stuff? Because of the whole high school theme? Just saying, it would've probably been cool foreshadowing and stuff and just the many things my Fanfiction loving brain has been thinking off. I will say though that yeah, once we started to get further into the flashbacks they did feel a bit like "Wow, can we kind of move on already?" for me too.

That being said I do appreciate how calm this episode is despite the impending dread. There's a good sense of a calm before the storm here that I appreciated before the brawl at the end.

No, no, you're definitely the Tsukasa here. Not only is there the absence of a real guest star to team up with, but much as Tsukasa was rewarded for journeying through nine worlds with gifts that feel hollow, you were rewarded for watching nine arcs of Decade with its first episode by your favorite writer, only for it to feel underwhelming. Heck, even for us, it's like the thread is back to the normal format, much like Tsukasa is back where he started, and yet it feels strangely off in this context. It's all checking out perfectly; you picked the perfect one of these to not have anybody for! :p

I wasn't exactly wowed by this one either. Tasaki's direction is as extraordinarily communicative and pleasing to the eye as ever, but I feel like the script definitely lets it down a bit, despite solid ideas at the core. Newsuke's dynamic with Tsukasa here also really left me longing for the days of Aikawa being on this show. Him being used as comic relief in the Den-O arc made sense because it was Den-O, but here, I mean, he's literally getting stepped on, and it's not really balanced out by him also being the heart of the group or anything.

I also found it hilarious that Kaitou's impetus for getting involved is literally just hearing the word "treasure", which is about as... direct as you can possibly write him, and I find it just as funny in retrospect how I mentioned the Kuuga episodes not letting you into Tsukasa's head when Inoue lets us hear him thinking for the sake of spelling out his emotional turmoil upfront.

in other words yes die is the resident evil rider

ONORE DIECADE-O!!!

The Todoroki/Akira stuff definitely felt shoe-horned in, a nod to all of the wacky Todoroki Is In Love plots. It's very weird here, because it's only a shortcut that gets us to Todoroki and Akira teaming up with Asumu, something they'd probably have done anyway, and Todoroki seems at least five years too old to have a crush on Akira. It's both unnecessary for the plot and creepy to watch. Not everything from Hibiki needed to get a callback!

This was something I was thinking about last night, that it's meant to be a dark symmetry to the first episode, but I'm still not crazy about it. The premiere didn't have Wataru doing all of his Wataru stuff, and then they pulled the rug out from under you. It was pretty clear it was meant to be The Story Of Wataru that was giving Tsukasa the exposition. Here, it feels like the episode really wants you to think it's Otoya, and that didn't sit as right with me. Like I said, it seems like they wanted the shocking twist, and that's not as fun.

It feels like this is what the episode was setting up, that even outsiders can find a group that understands them, and how Team Decade is that for Tsukasa. Knowing that this was an Inoue episode, and one of his big things is arguing for your place in society rather than letting society dictate the terms of your involvement, I wouldn't be surprised if that's where the next part landed.


For sure. 20 wasn't my favorite, but it did get me pretty excited to see where this all goes. I wish it were paced differently (I'd've cut a third of Natsumi's flashbacks and given Onodera or Photo Studio Hayao Miyazaki a little scene or something), but it created an intriguing cliffhanger.

I'm connecting the dots between these Decade episodes and the eventual Movie War appearances by Diend, and I'm just assuming he gets driven mad by one too many metaphorical treasures. Learning lessons can be nice! But he's not a Lessons Hunter...

KAMEN RIDER DECADE EPISODE 21 - "GOING THROUGH THE COMPLETE RIDER ALBUM”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade21a.png

I really, really, really dislike the Decade Complete Form.

I mean, I love the powers. Seeing Decade call up a bunch of Final Forms, and watching those Forms mimic his movements as they bust out cataclysmic finishers? Very cool. It's an incredibly fan-servicey sequence at the end of this episode, to see Decade so massively overpowered.

I didn't really love how Tsukasa gets the Complete Form, though. He doesn't really go on much of a journey, if you'll pardon the expression. He's skeptical of this world from the first scene, and he treats all of its temptations as minor distractions. He doesn't really learn any lessons, because he wasn't really ever going to make his home here. He was always going to keep journeying, once he figured out how to leave.

You could maybe say that Tsukasa sort of became his own Rider, finally, with the speech he gives about Protecting People's Journeys. It's his standard final-act speech, where he sums up the story's lesson, but this one's... I don't know. It's something that I want to see as uniquely Tsukasa, something that he would value more than another Rider. People trying to figure out where they fit in, trying to find a place that makes sense to them, that is 100% something Tsukasa would care about. That's a mission that I can see him undertaking.

In this story, though? Eh. He's outside of Natsumi's storyline, not counting him telling her This Isn't Your World, and her going But It Looks The Same, like they hadn't been on a multiversal journey through alternate Earths for the last five months. (Natsumi's aggressive dismissal of all evidence that this is a world of monsters is unbelievably frustrating. It's just her going NUH UH for a few minutes, and it makes her seem like an idiot. I get that she wants to feel like she's at home, but I think the minute you meet your battle-damaged doppelganger, it's time to stop lying to yourself.) There's a move Tsukasa makes, where he's trying to get Natsumi to realize that it's okay to keep trying to find yourself, even if the path is uncertain, but it's a scene that doesn't really connect to this story so much as it connects to the series. Tsukasa immediately felt uneasy in this world of success and flattery, so it's not like this was a hard-fought realization he had. Trying to impart it to Natsumi, it's just not how Tsukasa does things? I feel like he needed to hit some rock bottom before he'd be so vulnerable. Like, I don't mind Tsukasa making that speech - I really liked it! - but I don't think this particular story did enough to validate it emotionally.

...okay, there, I talked about the episode and its themes. Now I'm going to dump all over Decade Complete.

I hate those cards. I hate that Decade is wearing a suit of not only other Riders' faces, but he's wearing a picture of his own helmet on his helmet. He looks like Kamen Rider Ben Cooper, and I hate it. He looks like he glued his card collection to his shirt. His stupid PDA is the opposite of how cool the Decadriver is, and I hate it. It's all belabored button-presses rather than the fluid swoosh and chunk of the Decadriver's manual mechanism. I hate that he's ruined his gorgeous magenta/pink suit with a ton of grey. I hate it so much that I audibly groaned when Negative Natsumi gave him back his new upgrade instead of burying it in the ground where it belonged.

What did you think of the costume?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../decade21b.png

NEXT! We're off to the World of A Blade Movie, with returning co-host and amateur card shark AkibaSilver!

I actually think it looks really good in the specific situation where it's compared to Diend Complete and the updated Decade Complete from those Zi-O web videos.

I haven't seen Diend Complete, but I for sure don't hate this suit as much as Complete 21.

Awesome suit, but unfortunately not as awesome anymore now that 21's outshined it

I'll say this about Decade Complete, kickass debut. Really good.

Also given we've gone through 12 years of Final Forms by this point? Incredibly modest and subtle compared to a lot of other suits down the line, especially Decade related ones!

She says she initially joined to find some fellow creative people to swap ideas with, only to be disappointed that she couldn’t find many.

To be honest, I can see where she’s coming from. The one time I tried asking for creative help on this forum, I only got two replies, one of which made it clear he hadn’t even read the request.

As for Decade complete? Well the title calls it a living photo album and it certainly gives us what’s promised. I’ve seen people call it uncreative or wishing they’d go with logos instead of cards, but I’m like “Way to miss the whole point of the suit.”

Besides, my least favourite finale rom is still Brave Legacy Gamer, since it’s just regular Brave with a cape and shoulder pads.

Was waiting but guess I was late instead here.

You'd mean personal as making up your own observation? Because yeah it can be good (for transformative fan purpose I think), though I think it's 50-50, while you can go beyond what the creators intended, but it can come in nasty way as well when you got something bad out of it for your personal observation of a series, and you constantly slander either the series or the creator by that, even ignoring the creator's explanation to set things straight or such. I mean I'd disapprove of the personal part being having everything in a series must be relatable to you, and that if they add values that feel more alien then it's bad (using subjective views as certainty), like something such as honesty, integrity, trust, etc. which can be seen as too clean for modern world.

So you say it's not helpful to have certainty, which is why I spoke up against claims like that in my reply here, or , which I feel like one. Though there are also actual certainty which people mistakenly claim as opinion (I thought you'd also view anything said as opinion..), probably to push their views and reject the fact only due to dislike, such as people's headcannons (i̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶T̶s̶u̶r̶u̶g̶i̶'̶s̶ ̶f̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶K̶a̶b̶u̶t̶o̶), or keep using a wrong definition of something (like 'mary sue') and refusing to hear about others correcting them viewing it as opinion. I'd like to hear what do you mean that it's not easy (which turns it into a testament of your character), as you hold many weight in what you say here.

Actually at first the warring schools got me in the wrong note, that it seems to enforce about how (you'd probably agree with this but...) stories must add any prototypical melodrama and it "corrects a mistake of Hibiki phase 1 that has little of it", where I also want to enforce about how conflicts are not all about toxic characters childishly infight all the time, but can be any obstacles, struggles, and challenges a character need to overcome. But I tolerate it better when (sorry) the warring school is meant to be shown as an example of what not to do by the Onis, with the newer generations resolving to make a peaceful school instead (also with them being different people, I like a portrayal of people inherently against conflicts as well). Otherwise, mentors putting themselves above students just shows that there are varying amount of morality that people have and morally dubiousness can apply to mentors like that too, especially those that follows the saying of "never meet your heroes", when your mentor is in reality a terrible person or such.

I think that teamwork is one of a main theme (or really enforced) of Hibiki due to the humans work together in harmony, always valuing what every single person has to contribute (and even harsh criticizing like Akira got reprimanded). That'd be a very strong sense of teamwork like Kuuga, to the point that you'd want some reasonable disagreements between them as well. Even the secondary Rider of the series Ibuki never actually fight his series' titular Rider at any point, especially compared to his predecessors.

I̶ ̶g̶u̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶O̶n̶o̶d̶e̶r̶a̶'̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶g̶i̶n̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶a̶v̶o̶r̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶t̶i̶-̶h̶e̶r̶o̶ ̶a̶r̶c̶ ̶d̶u̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶r̶u̶b̶b̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶p̶r̶a̶i̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶c̶e̶n̶e̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶Y̶a̶s̶h̶i̶r̶o̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶v̶e̶l̶o̶p̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶a̶r̶c̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶.̶.̶.̶ A̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶T̶s̶u̶k̶a̶s̶a̶'̶s̶ ̶s̶c̶e̶n̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶g̶l̶e̶ ̶K̶a̶i̶t̶o̶u̶ ̶s̶c̶e̶n̶e̶?̶ ̶A̶s̶ ̶T̶s̶u̶k̶a̶s̶a̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶t̶i̶-̶h̶e̶r̶o̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶.̶ But though Diend had the "secretly sweet" (tsundere) part here, I guess people can also think of him that way (not looked much into what people think of Diend, but it can happen to characters of similar morality to him) even without his scene in this episode (I think a mistaken approach), simply due to him "fighting off evildoers", because of them conflating that heroes are all about the action (or about the stakes, and fighting powerful beings means guaranteed stakes), talking doesn't matter (only 'just preaching'), and your character doesn't matter if you are doing it for yourself or not (this can also be applied to Onodera before, though more specifically characters similar to Onodera but doesn't get the hate from Decade infamy). This applies even to villains who fight off other villains where people can glamorize the winner between those villains as heroes using any reason, when evil vs evil is a thing in media, like Daguva vs other Grongis in Kuuga.

Though due to Kaitou being an anti-hero, I'd have a harder time seeing him as a Hibiki on this story, albeit he does share some traits, but I can't say all. Hibiki would show about a mentoring that doesn't involve dubious shit, though Kaitou probably acted tsundere in the last part to brush off the kid thanking him or claiming that the kid's growth will be important to give him more treasure. But I think Kaitou can be not that ambiguous here with the "I Was Playing You then realizes that he cares.", the still present selfish part can portray the mutual benefit a jerk can gain when being helpful to others instead of putting them down.

Tsukasa's vanity being played up as a weak point here is good to refute the claim of confidence being the key to success or attracting people, more specifically, about how you are encouraged (or being ok to) be as conceited as you want due to that claim. I also approve of analyzing more of Onodera here (I'd want encourage more of transformative fans, though you'd better focus on things you like rather than unfairly putting down something you dislike), and probably true that the mentor Yashiro only urges for him to fight for others too, but it's not that just being told to complete an objective means you're able to do it, like if you're doing it the right way or not, like about room of improvements if you did a mistake or such, or especially if you.. outright resorted into extremist ways to help others.

Yeah, the actors are back, but they're not the same characters as the ones in original Hibiki other than look and name I guess, as they're significantly more hostile and selfish than what Takeshi lives for. They also seem to have some form of ageism to violently refuse the disciple's suggestion to join forces, with Tsukasa of all people being the one to put a stop on it. Todoroki did have a same personality, but he's in love to Akira instead (Hinaka's actress Miyuki Kanbe had passed away in 2008... very short lifespan), but I don't like the part of him gaining the portrayal of phase 2 one with him being completely out of touch in reality for the Akira crush scene. And yeah dunno if this is a fanservice, but the part had both Asumu and Akira becoming Riders (Akira's Rider form is named Amaki).

Yeah, would say that's an improvement from the original series of just multiple music-themed attacks.

Oh right, people wanting to protect someone and instead making it worse by, what you refer, building a wall around them (putting up an asshole act, even as a facade). But there are a handful people who'd just bring up the good intentions of someone acting like a jerk to drive them away for their sake, treating them as innocent and misunderstood, where others who criticize them are treated as lacking understanding or such. Those seem to think that the only way to distance yourself while keeping them safe is turning into a jerk, when it can be done in straightforward way as well. For the fanfic part... uhh... seeing themselves as misunderstoof destroyer archetype can be potentially someone who are edgy... they'd better improve themselves rather than being cathartic doing that or even continue with their bad behavior (if they have any) and being seen as fine not think anything about it.

The Evil Riders World arc. Honestly, I really like the idea of a world ruled by Evil Riders, especially how Tsukasa felt more at home here, which is funny since he did antagonize some of the Riders in the AR Worlds. It was also rather amusing how AR Kuuga had to pay ridiculous sums of money and such while Tsukasa was given the royal treatment.

The Evil Riders were pretty neat, despite me not having seen any of them (except for recently, being Ryuuga), and almost felt symbolic after Decade acquired the powers of the nine Riders and now has to fight their evil counterparts. And Tsukasa accepting that he doesn't belong in any world, but just a passing through Kamen Rider was honestly, perfect.

And then there's Decade Complete... Which I actually didn't mind. Sure, the cards plastered across his chest with his on his forehead was ridiculous, but the color scheme and what reminded me of camera film details were, aesthetically brilliant. And with the ability to use the Riders' Final Forms and abilities was a great idea for a Final Form for a Rider celebrating ten whole seasons back-to-back. I don't know, but I don't have any hard feeling towards this suit, heck, even the Complete 21 suit's not something I mind that much. Maybe it's bias or nostalgia for Decade as my first season, or it could be that I don't have any particular disdain for even the suits people consider "ugly," since I actually loved the Ex-Aid Riders, even if Paradox's first two forms weren't my favorite.

Now that you mention it, the age difference is the same as Taiga/Nico. However, compared to them, calm disciplined Akira and hyper enthusiastic Todoroki seem totally incompatible, like I just don't get how that could work. I don't think a forbidden unrequited love subplot is something this arc needed, especially when it already has so much.

Yeah, they're all lost and have no direction in life, but they're lost together, which gives them a feeling of belonging. It explains why Natsumi ended up on this journey with Tsukasa, probably seeing her past self in him and wanting to help him find where he belongs and prove that he can become something more than just a destroyer. While Yuusuke is usually the one who nudges him in the right direction, I think Natsumi has the most faith and hope in him and trusts him to make the right choices.

I don't think Tsukasa has completely (despite being called Complete now) become his own Rider quite yet, however, maybe this was the moment he finally realized the importance of his journey, which is to find out what being a Rider means to him. All the other worlds gave him tasks and clothes to match, making him an instrument of destiny, but here the world conforms to him. For Tsukasa, since the start, he's always had these mysterious hunches of what he should do, without understanding why. But that's enough to understand that something is very wrong, when this world isn't calling for his help. This is the first world that focuses on him solving his own problem (and Natsumi's), instead of just someone else's. He actually moves on his own to help fix this world, by attaching his own sentimental feelings from the other worlds. You can already be on a journey without consciously setting out on one, like what TG Club's advisor said, "this flunking was special education!", or something like that.

I actually like it. Not my favorite Decade suit, but I think it works aesthetically as Tsukasa's real reward, with Final Forms usually being symbolic of personal growth. The cards going blank again reflected the emptiness that Tsukasa was feeling, like gaining all those powers was for nothing and he was just back at square one. So Decade Complete is Tsukasa's proud statement that he's not going to take the easy way out and give up on his journey, which gives his cards their power back. The pink is still there, but moved to an accent and the eyes. The green is the real victim. The Decade card on his head gives a Droste effect. I think that's cool! I like Complete 21 as well, except for that awful card cape.

Oh yeah, I think I know which thread you're referring to, about fight choreography for adapting Kyuranger, since I was one of those replies. It's unfortunate that she couldn't find the creative discussion she was hoping for and yeah, I can also relate to that.

I understand her mindset, as someone who pretty much works alone on my projects. And due to how hectic my life's been going since I joined, I haven't had time to show off much. Heck, to be honest, I'm a little skeptical of showing off any of my works in their current state. But so long as our resident Yoddona fangirl is doing alright, that's nice to know.

Brave Legacy is kind of like the Reiwa Riders' Final Forms (of course, there's also Stronger's Final Form which is a slight recolor). Don't know if there's any Final Form on the bottom of my list, at least I can't think of one.

For me, it would be Armed Hibiki, Zeronos Zero Form, IXA Rising, Beast Hyper, Gaim Kiwami Arms, Build Genius and Zero One RealEyezing Hopper.

Wizard Infinity Gold All Dragon, anyone? :p

I don't typically dislike Final Forms. A lot of them are ridiculous and silly and over the top but frankly it's Toku, that's half the fun! Stuff like Decade Complete and Meteor Storm and Snipe Level 50... it naturally doesn't have the same appeal as, say, Tajador or Kuuga Ultimate or Ghost Mugen but it's beautiful and fun in its own way.

Same. I honestly enjoy some of the crazy looking ones like Build Genius, then there are the "definitive," for lack of a better word, like Drive Type Tridoron or Shining Agito, but I can't think of any that I don't like as much as others, hence why I say bottom.

In the end, it's always fun to see what their end point in the power scaling looks like.

It looks completely ridiculous, and I would never want it any other way. Complete Form basically set the precedent for how Toei would start designing a lot of main suits going forward, in that they were consciously aware it didn't look cool, but decided it was more important to leave an impact first and foremost. So they slapped a bunch of cards all over Decade, because he's the card Rider. Heck, they weren't going to have a card on his head at first, but Shirakura himself was like "we should totally slap a card on his head too if that's what we're doing", and then they put a picture of Decade on Decade's face.

And this is his big super form!

It's weird and dumb and yeah I miss the magenta and yeah I don't know what was supposed to be incomplete about the base form and yeah, frankly, I didn't like it that much either at first, but... all that being said? I really do think they made the right call with Complete Form, because weird and dumb designs being made to look cool became one of my favorite things about the franchise, and it was there to pave the way like never before. If they hadn't decided to push Decade this far back then, I feel like they wouldn't have had the courage to make any of the Ex-Aid designs later, you know?

(And the K-Touch is just plain cool. Love that thing.)

Anyway, yeah, this two-parter still isn't a favorite of mine. I guess fitting that spiel about Complete Form, it definitely sticks in my memory, at least, but I agree with most of your non-suit related opinions here. It's a shame, too, because that really is such a definitive Tsukasa speech! Just one of many solid pieces in these episodes that can't quite coalesce into something greater.