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Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

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.

Den-O's DNA is pretty deep in Rider since W. It's not immediately apparent as one of the most influential Rider shows, but it is.

It makes me wonder what some of the other most influential Rider shows are, or aspects of them. Obviously not counting the original series since no duh, it shaped everything.

Kuuga would probably be up there, establishing a tone and astehtic for Rider's return in 2000 and following series. Besides that and Den-o, I can't really think of any.