[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER X KAMEN RIDER W & DECADE: MOVIE WAR 2010



I've seen this movie before, but I didn't understand it back then.

It was when I was watching W, naturally. I started with Ex-Aid, did the first season of Amazons (since it was on Amazon Prime), and then decided to go all the way back to W. I'd planned to just watch Heisei Phase 2 going forward, and then stay current, but obviously plans changed. At the time, though, I'd only seen a handful of non-Ex-Aid, non-Amazons episodes. I knew W, but Decade was brand-new to me.

The Decade part of Movie War 2010 didn't really connect with me back then. I didn't understand nearly any of it, but I wanted to. Around the point where I was writing up Ghost for the boards, I was realizing I'd need to go back and watch Phase 1, if I wanted Zi-O to make sense. That meant, eventually, finding out what the deal was with all that tantalizing stuff from Movie War 2010: What was the deal with Decade? Why was he turning other Kamen Riders into cards? Was that where his powers came from? What was Tackle's deal? Why did everyone get reincarnated again? Was there really a series where a Kamen Rider murdered other Kamen Riders?! It has been a multi-year, multi-series journey to get to this moment, when it all finally makes sense.



Or.

Yeah, boy, this was a huge let-down for someone who wanted to understand the motivations for characters, and the answer behind the many mysteries it dangled in front of a past version of Kamen Rider Die.

Decade, in this movie, is mostly the Violent Emotion version, acting like a complete asshole for very little established reason. It's waved off as He's Been Through A Lot, but it's still a huge change from where the TV series left everyone. You remember the end of the TV series, right? The two-parter that's all about how Tsukasa will do anything to protect his friends, even if the universe is collapsing around them? Well, here's a movie where Tsukasa dares his friends to murder him.

The idea that Decade can murder Riders, thereby turning into power-ups, is a weird non-established take on Decade's powers. That was never a thing? In 31 episodes? Here, it seems to be the main avenue for both saving the Riders and empowering Decade. It's unclear (like most other details in this movie) if these are additional cards, considering Tsukasa spent thirty-one episodes of television creating his card collection by making friends with other Riders, but whatever.

I have been biting my tongue, but I have spent the last four episodes (and one Showa-themed movie) of Kamen Rider Decade shouting WHEN DO THEY GET TO THE TACKLE FACTORY at my television. From the movie, and her prominence in that movie, and her death in that movie, I always assumed she was a character with deep significance to Decade. Ha ha, nope! Brand-new (version of a Showa) character, here to get shit on by the universe. I guess it's to indicate how dead inside Tsukasa is by this point in the story, but it's actually pretty funny to have Tsukasa treat Tackle like an unwanted pest, and then have the gall to yell at Kaitou that Tackle deserves to be treated with kindness because she's unwanted by the universe. I don't know if Tsukasa has the moral high ground here? He treats Tackle shabbily, and yet she still spends her last words praising his kindness. Hard to believe they attempted that death scene with a brand-new character. Bonkers.

The main thrust of this Decade story is to finally resolve the whole Destroyer of Worlds thing, and I don't know that that part makes any more sense to me than it did 18 series ago. It's the start of what would be several Tsukasa Acted Like A Villain For The Bulk Of The Story To Save The World plots, and it always feels lazy to me. There's literally no reason he couldn't've told Team Decade about any of this, how he was resetting the lives of the Riders he defeated. I'm sure Kaitou, at the very least, would've been down to helpfully terrorize the multiverse with Tsukasa. (Kaitou is always down. He's down bad.)

If... if that's what he's doing? Wataru's explanation at the end, I think I understand what he's saying? The Riders that were killed can now live on forever, because people know their stories. I get the thematic version of this explanation, where a ton of kids too young for the original runs may seek out Phase 1 and Showa series. (I spoke to a number of fans who did just that!) But the, like, mechanics of what's happening... I don't understand? I always thought this would end with one unified world. I thought we'd have a world where everyone coexisted; a world without separation and suspicion. Instead, everything is just put back where it was when Tsukasa left each world? "People" remember the stories, but, like, who? Which people? What the hell is Wataru talking about? I never want to rob a show of a metaphorical reading of its plot, but this thing didn't even bother with a literal reading.

It's a terrible continuation of the TV show. It invents a ton of new elements, spends a stupid amount of time on a laughably pointless Showa scheme by Super Shocker, and coasts on a ton of unearned pride in its storytelling. It's, structurally, awful.

But, like the TV series ending, it lands some moments so hard, so well, that I can't write it off completely.

The idea of Tsukasa being willed back into existence by his friends, given life because they all created a story about him... I love it. I love it so much that I'm honest-to-god tearing up as I type this. It's the perfect ending to this part of Tsukasa's story. It's a moment -- in isolation from so much about this movie that runs the gamut from Unnecessary to Aggravating -- that I will literally never forget. It's poignant, and beautiful, and the best reward for caring about this cast in spite of a high amount of bad storytelling. It's a moment that is buried in a stupid film. A film so stupid it barely deserves an idea this goddamn good.

And it's not even just that? It's got clever touches in plenty of unexpected places.

I like how the movie finally resolves the prophecy/threat of Natsumi as the one to stop Decade. I mean, Kiva-la. I knew that was a movie debut, and I knew it was The Girl From Decade (even without context and only having seen three other series, I could recognize which one was The Girl From Decade), but it means so much more now. Seeing Natsumi not just take up arms to end Decade's reign of terror, but be the one who understands that Tsukasa's redemption and refuge comes from his friends? I wish this movie had just stuck to that story. The cleanliness of it! The centering of the Natsumi/Tsukasa relationship as Tsukasa's anchor, it's a decision that gets what the show did well. It gets the strength of the Kamen Rider Decade series.

And that's why, yeah, I liked this movie more this time. It's not for the answers I was awaiting; those all sucked. It's for the middle section, where a colossal asshole somehow creates friendships so strong that his friends write him a chance at a new chapter. It's this belief in experiences being worthwhile even if they don't work out the way you wanted. It's the knowledge that the stories we love never really end, as long as we remember them.

It's not the end of Kamen Rider Decade. It's never the end of Kamen Rider Decade.