[Fish Sandwich]

Okay! We're finally here! Decade! Man, always so much to talk about...

- The place I know I want to start is by telling you something that will probably make Die like Tsukasa a whole lot more. His catchphrase of daitai wakatta ("I get the gist of it", or whatever other translations you see) is apparently taken directly from Toshiki Inoue often saying much the same. I've always seen Tendou and Tsukasa as very similar protagonists, but it's been a little surreal finding out both their characters were in some small degree inspired by the same guy, and that guy is Inoue. It does explain a lot though!

- Decade is kind of a big deal for a lot of reasons, and there are two I would like to kick in right away. One, which I don't think is always obvious, is that those ten years matter in part because that was the longest Rider had ever been airing non-stop on TV. The Showa era had a few gaps in there, and exactly 9 distinct full-length shows, even if the first one ran for two years straight. The number 10 here is way more significant than it was with ZX back in the day. The other thing is that it's the last show Shinichirou Shirakura was a producer on until alllllll the way later on Zi-O. (He's also currently helming the 45th Super Sentai, because he just loves anniversaries I guess.) Shirakura was a producer in some capacity on every Heisei Rider to this point excluding Blade and Kiva, so he was kind of the obvious guy for the job, and while I don't know if he worked on Decade with the intent of it being a swan song, there's probably an interesting interpretation of the series somewhere in there.

- You can include me in the camp who watched Decade basically right away. I'd argue against the notion you need the "full context" or whatever to watch it, but that would be hypocritical given I was watching it for more context. The way it happened, if I'm remembering all this right, was that, during OOO, I was watching Double to watch Movie War Core, and that led to me watching Decade in the middle of that to watch Movie War 2010. The only show I had seen in full by that point would've been Ryuki, so, while my history with the franchise is obviously VERY messy, it could be said that Decade was the second Rider show I ever finished? Is that seriously right? I'm saying that and it doesn't sound right, because I've never actively thought of it that way, but I'm pretty sure that's right.

- I'm going to risk being hypocritical to say that, the way I see it, these anniversary shows are consciously designed to be two different experiences. There's the big celebration of years of content for the big fans, and then there's the fresh journey new fans get to take with this equally fresh cast, discovering history that's mysterious to the both of them. If you watch it first as a new fan, you can always go back later as a big fan and get both experiences. If you go in as a big fan, you'll never have that experience of watching it as a new fan, so arguably, that's the objectively worse decision. Sorry about that, Die!

- Anyways, having that history with the show, especially with it still being very fresh when I got into Rider, it's naturally in a rather nostalgic spot for me, and the way the title character quickly grew beyond the confines of a single show over the years has ensured that I, and so many other fans, never go too long without thinking about Decade.

- Journey through the Decade is an amazing theme song and I should probably go on a whole rant about it at some point, as well as the insanely sharp visuals of the show's opening, once again courtesy of Ryuuta Tasaki, who directed the premiere.

- I'm also planning to rewatch the entire show as you go through it again, because I mean – it's been a literal decade since I watched Decade. It's maybe time for a refresh! The premiere is rather gripping as others have already said, immediately establishing the vibe for the series, which is basically "every week is the movie version". Again, Tasaki's slick direction shines here, keeping everything very tight and concise even despite how insane all the things actually happening can get. I'd dare say that cold opening is downright iconic.

- I look forward to the rest of this thread! It's what I always say, but even if the format changes, some things don't!