[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

And yeah, I've always felt Den-O was the secret first Neo-Heisei show, right down to a second Rider who goes the entire series without picking a fight with the protagonist.

Oh, absolutely. I think things started loosening up with Gaim, but W-Wizard very heavily followed Den-O's basic pattern:

- Goofy main Rider and serious secondary Rider (inverted in Wizard)
- Big focus on two-part victim- and monster-of-the-week plots
- ... with relatively few overarching story arcs, most of which have pacing issues
- Nonhuman partner who directly helps the Rider fight (Philip, Ankh, Kengo, Belt-san, Koyomi in theory)
- ... who subsequently dies (or at least seems to die) in the finale
- Extremely over-the-top comic relief
- Wacky older male who serves as some form of advisor/mentor for the main Rider

There are variations, sure, but you see most of these elements in modern Rider shows and you can trace pretty much all of them back to Den-O.