[Enchilada645]

So, let me say that I did not have the same issues you did with Sokichi, purely for one fact. I was and still am, enamored by the aesthetic of Sokichi and more importantly Kamen Rider Skull.

My origin story in this franchise is watching Sokichi bust up some dudes before transforming into Kamen Rider Skull, busting out that sick catchphrase before some more cool fighting, to which I go "What is this show and why aren't I already watching it?"

After learning more about Kamen Rider I eventually dived into W and well, fast forward about a little over a decade later and I'm still hooked on Kamen Rider.

Nah, what bugged me more about watching this was honestly the hindsight with the Death/Dummy switch up. Mostly in the little details of how its an interesting twist, but watching everything again you kind of start questioning how Dummy is doing all of this. Especially when it comes to the Sokichi stuff he hides behind. Like, I get doing research into famous folks and managing to kind of pin down how they're loved ones would act. But Sokichi? That's where Dummy sort of loses me...

That being said I didn't watch the Decade portion after everyone watched Decade a bit back, so this was me experiencing... a thing. Like there are certain emotional things that work here, mainly Natsumi and Tsukasa alongside the Photo Studio Crew willing Tsukasa back via memories and photographs. But then you just have this weird disjointed, not at all connected segment that is just trying to throw so much stuff to get some kind of grandiose ending for Decade.

The stuff with Tackle is especially weird and absolutely not needed. As is the Showa Riders somehow getting involved and Decade just having a blank Skull card which he doesn't seem to recognize? Like, clearly he didn't kill Skull so what's up with that? Okay it's for some closure for Shotaro but still.

Then there's of course the crossover portion which continues off of the cliffhanger from Decade and... is hilariously disjointed. Like Decade gets reset for the most part and then they have to bring back everyone like not even 4 minutes later to get things back to how it was before. That's not even mentioning how setpiece to setpiece this feels instead of a natural organic battle.

That being said... I think the one bit I forgot about mostly but actually enjoyed? Ryubei and Eijiro being drinking buddies and the hilarious retcon of him being Dr. Shinigami because he had a Gaia Memory in him.

Other than that, I feel like the most important question is to ask, which do you prefer? Chicken breasts or thighs? Personally I'm a thigh guy.

Also hello Accel.

But yeah, this was a fascinating Movie Wars to return to since this was the first. Especially the Directors Cut which swaps the order of the segments and adds more to it. The first of its kind, and I'd like to say... it's probably not the worst if I'm being entirely honest. A rough first start, but there's definitely some bright spots here.