[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Dreamcastegirl!

あ! Somebody who can finally tell Die about something besides Power Rangers, and hold a really thoughtful discussion about the impact fiction has on us as people in the process. I've missed having dreamcastegirl posting on this forum, and this was one heck of a reminder why.

This is also a heck of a pair of Decade episodes!

I mean, holy s***, this scene is maybe one of the greatest moments in the history of the whole franchise?

I'm kind of struggling to even organize all the thoughts I have about things in these two I loved rewatching.

Like, Shibasaki was the chief assistant director back on Hibiki, and I guess through that experience, he nails the style of that show, pulling very specifically from the pre-retool era with not only all the kanji flashing on-screen (love Kuuga's with the blue sky, by the way!), but the more minor things that might've gone overlooked, like the Ishida-esque heavenly glow that often accompanies the Oni. The direction throughout is fantastic.

Kaitou is amazing in this one. I utterly adore that line about his whole life philosophy he passes on to Asumu – this sort of genuinely admirable side to being an amoral thief driven entirely by avarice, in that he won't let anything stop him in his goals. It's this simple little thing, but as was pointed out, it gently implies a whole bunch about his character, and that's really impressive for someone who has not exactly felt totally crystalized up to this point. And then you top that off with him saying he's the original passing-through Kamen Rider? Man, these episodes are just too cool!

I also find it interesting that the nine worlds start and end with Takatera's shows. There's even a broad similarity between the plots, where they both start with everything totally backwards and the arc is things growing into something that more resembles what we know. A selfish Kuuga learns to fight for everyone, and a bickering bunch of Oni learn to work together for the common good. The rival Oni schools are an interesting take for a Decade tribute, because they feel completely removed from what Hibiki is like (aside from the movie, anyway), but in this way where it's immediately apparent that's all intentional, and it still ends up evoking the original show. (They even remembered to show the Oni needing new clothes after transforming, which is yet more great attention to detail.)

The episodes also do some other stylistic things I really appreciate. Both of the titles follow Hibiki's whole verb and a noun format, something Decade does often, going right back to episode 3 with Kuuga, which I probably should've mentioned by now! In this case, the title cards in the episode previews even look like Hibiki's though, complete with the numbers being written in kanji, which is going the extra mile.

Just, really, any way you look at it, this arc is a definitive example of what Decade's strengths were as a show. Again, it's like getting to watch a really sweet Rider movie, except it's two episodes of a TV show.