[Fish Sandwich]

Okay, I wasn't super keen on Decade's weird murder mystery, so how do I feel about what is clearly the main event of these twin mini-series judging by length?

Well, uh, *heh-heh*, remember when I said Decade VS Zi-O wasn't soul-crushingly awful~?

Because man, I have to say, Zi-O VS Decade just keeps falling apart the longer it goes on until it became downright unbearable to me. It's like some cruel twist of fate. I complain about Inoue using Zi-O to do an off-putting Ryuki sequel, and then a few years later he does the same thing to Zi-O itself, with a ton of the same exact problems, as if to spite me. At least Geiz didn't kill anyone?

If there's one thing I can say for Inoue's writing here, it's that I think he actually writes a pretty decent Sougo. Not a great one, but he's weird and offbeat and quirky and eternally positive, even in scenarios where being positive makes him weird, offbeat, and/or quirky. It was fun seeing him again, and I enjoyed seeing Sou Okuno play all the odd alternate versions of himself too, for what it's worth.

But everything around that, I mean... how did we even get to the point where there's a Kamen Rider thing where the main villain of Zi-O cooks up Inves ribs to feed his starving students? I know that's ultimately a minor gag, more than anything, but it really seems emblematic of Inoue's attitude towards the script to both of these series.

It doesn't feel like Inoue was writing this to tell a story with actual substance or some kind of deeper theme or message, even though he's great at that when he wants to be, nor does it feel like he was just trying to create a fun romp loaded with outrageous gags and over-the-top characterization, even though he's great at that when he wants to be. This is Inoue, as far as I can tell, writing whatever mostly to see if anyone will stop him, and I really wish someone had, to be honest!

Zi-O left on such a great note, with a solid enough finale that packed in a nice sendoff for Decade, and an excellent V-Cinema that moved the story forward in a way that felt natural, and then this comes along and it's just weak. It's a story that has neither emotion nor logic, and it squanders the chance to do something more with a cast of characters I really love, not to mention a lead Rider who's become as iconic as Tsukasa has.

What maybe most frustrates me is the thoughtless integration of both Decade and Zi-O's new forms. Give this project to Shimoyama or Mouri, and I guarantee you they would've built the story thematically to build up to the idea of these Heisei Riders fighting after their era is over taking on the powers of Reiwa. We'd have Narutaki getting super angry after finding out Decade now has the powers of two decades, only for Tsukasa to shut him up by taking it to an even more ridiculous extreme in the end or something. But instead, a suit as legitimately brilliant as Complete Form 21 (no matter what anyone says!) is just wasted, with no introduction, and not even any real time to show off before getting knocked aside.

This is a rambling, angry post, and I'm kind of sorry about that, but it's hard to even know where to pick this thing apart when so much is wrong, and so little of it feels cohesive. I'm serious when I say I didn't like this. It only needed the barest little spark for me to cling to and say it was harmless fun, but this is a bad mini-series with a bad plot and lame action, that only exists to sucker people into signing up for TELASA. At least Kenshi Retsuden had some heart. The best thing I have to say about this, on the other hand, is that it's nice everyone got a second chance to buy a Neo DecaDriver.