[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylarking

So ZI-O has Became Decade Season 2.

People are definitely saying that, but, boy, I really don't see it? I mean, yeah, Decade's in it; and, yeah, Tsukasa's just come to the conclusion that he needs to destroy this world, but that all feels almost incidental to what's really happening within this story. You could just as easily say that the series began as Build Season 2, if that's the criteria.

It's... I don't want to use the word "dismissive", because I think this thread's already had a discussion over how many assumptions that word makes. But it's reducing an intensely complicated set of shows into a few obvious signifiers, and I think that's weirdly disrespectful to the complexity of both shows, and what their creators were trying to say.

I mean, I don't love what's going on in this show right now! It's not fun to watch! But I don't feel like it's become Decade any more than I feel like it became Blade or Den-O or whatever. The problem is that it's lost its characters amongst plot machinations, and I don't remember that being a huge Decade problem?

(Maybe it was! I legitimately don't remember! I don't retain this stuff super great!)

Like, the key thing for Decade was Tsukasa feeling manipulated by the universe to be something he didn't understand, in a way that might disappoint the people who believed in him. Metaphorically, it was his ability to define himself being removed. We may yet get there with Sougo, but I don't think he's trapped into one action in the same way. He's got choices, even if they don't make a ton of sense. His metaphorical struggle is inherently different than Tsukasa's. He's not someone looking for a place to belong, or a world that'll accept him. He's trying to figure out how to avoid becoming a person he fears. His choices here are about how he can use his power to protect people, rather than accrue power for its own sake. It's two different things?

And, sure, the worlds are colliding at the end of Zi-O! That's a little familiar! But I just can't see it as more than this show scrambling for an apocalypse when it really wants to talk about people.