[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frontier

Decade's always been in this weird place for me where it's like my 2nd Rider show because I started with Faiz and worked my way backwards with Heisei starting with Decade (I was watching Neo-Heisei at the same time) so it was my introduction to a lot of the Heisei Riders' suits and concepts (and I guess Showa too once we start getting into that era).

For the folks who started with Decade... I kind of wonder what it would've been like to see some of those awesome suits in the intro battle, get really into one design, and then learn that the design you love is a movie character who never shows up again. Or, like, Garren doesn't really fly a lot my dude. The Rider War scene in Episode 1 definitely creates maybe an impossible standard for any show to live up to, if you're traveling backwards through Heisei.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frontier

I guess the idea behind Wataru is having a previous Rider, like the immediately previous Rider, there as a connective tissue and kind of a baton pass...even if Wataru's role on the show seems kind of out of sorts with what you would expect from him.

Yeah, I think there's sort of two answers to Why Is Wataru Acting Like A Deity In The First Episode Of Decade.

The first is that Wataru was the star of the previous week's Kamen Rider series, so it helps boost Decade's credibility as an anniversary season if he shows up. Wataru being the easiest Rider to get at that point probably was not considered a drawback!

The second answer is, again, that I think (unless the show immediately disputes this) we're seeing The Story Of Wataru, not Literal Wataru. He has crazy powers and acts more omniscient because he's a pure idea, a heroic ideal. He's Wataru the Hero, not Wataru the Character. Ideas, stories in Decade... they have power. Like anything in Kamen Rider, that power isn't inherently good or bad. You can save with a story, or destroy with a story. Even in the action, the consequence can redefine the value. It's very nebulous, but the one thing that's clear is that narrative has power, and so The Story Of Wataru is more powerful than Wataru himself.

Or I'm just reading too much into it!