[Fish Sandwich]

For the finale's episode guide, Shirakura made the observation that the kanji for "celebration" (祝) looks extremely similar to the one for "curse" (呪). Decade is a series that commemorates 10 years of Heisei Rider shows by bringing them all together, but the very act of making a Heisei Rider series about that is also actively defying one of the fundamental aspects of Heisei Rider shows, which is how each one is its own standalone story, entirely unique from the rest.

"Decade is both a celebration, as well as a curse."

It's readily apparent how little ends up making sense about the overarching plot of Decade on a literal level, but while it's hard to speak to exactly how much of that was a deliberate creative choice versus the production not coming together smoothly, it's hard to deny that the broad strokes of the series' mythology end up working perfectly viewed from a meta lens. Exactly like "Kenzaki" says, the worlds only starting fusing because Decade was born. They're going to be destroyed because that is the plot of Kamen Rider Decade. In a way, Narutaki had it exactly right the whole time. Tsukasa's adventures break the existing boundaries of what Kamen Rider is. Established conventions change, and familiar concepts become distorted. Even the very notion that this was a celebration for the Heisei era specifically, or the expectations viewers would have of a finale – they all end destroyed by Decade, because at the end of it all, Tsukasa truly is the destroyer of worlds.

By destroying everything, Decade connects everything. And through those connections, brand new things can be created.

...Warts and all, I see Decade as something of a linchpin for the whole Heisei era of Kamen Rider. It was this huge turning point combined with everything Double ended up doing right after, where a bunch of new traditions originated, and whether because of fame or infamy (once again exactly like the character in-universe!), its legacy has managed to endure. "Decade's story starts here" being the note Decade ended on honestly hits way harder, this far down the line, knowing exactly how right Tsukasa was about that.

It was a really dumb move, of course, to end things the way they did. I got into the fandom early enough for the wounds to still be pretty fresh for a lot of people. "Diend shoots Decade in the face" might legitimately have been one of the first things I knew about Decade at all. I saw the ending described and couldn't believe anyone would ever end their show on a cliffhanger that odd. (I might have even hunted down a clip of it on YouTube before I ever watched OOO or anything? Hard to remember at this point.) And then you find out there's a movie boasting about being the true ending to the show, and, yeah, that seems a little slimy! For what its worth, apparently Shirakura also insists the movie wasn't planned at first, while the series looping back to the start in the end was, at least according to this interview, so take that for what you will. It's an insane couple of episodes, and a crazy movie, but I do like a lot of aspects of them, the same way Die seemed to.

It's especially fun going back with the context of Super Hero Taisen, because I'm very much appreciating how much Diend was blatantly a favorite character for Yonemura. From writing his very first scene in the Blade episodes, to the implied depth in the Hibiki episodes, and all through his development in the final stretch of the show, it now seems evident to me he fell for Kaitou the way Kaitou fell for Tsukasa. I mean, I could even see this guy shoving Diend into another series completely just for a shot at writing him some more, you know? And to be fair, like I said a bit back in the thread, I've kinda fallen for Kaitou over time too! Both his actors are giving strong performances in and out of suit, and thanks to Yonemura, they really did get some great material to work with at points. (Maybe way less thanks to Inoue, but at least we got (^ U ^) out of those episodes.) Diend is maybe the thing from Decade that my opinion has most evolved on since originally watching it.

Because honestly, this show is pretty much exactly how I remember it? Frustratingly incoherent, unbelievably stupid, strangely poignant, impossibly thrilling, and an all around beautiful mess of other such contradictions. But that's all what makes it Decade – what makes it special – and I can't help but love it for what it is, rather than worry about what it isn't. I might not have learned all that much compared to, well, exactly one other show I tried this with (Kabuto ended up being a weirdly special experience!), but it was certainly fun to come back to it all one more time, exactly like all the other shows I've gone back to watch the past couple years.