Trial of a Kamen Rider

And now...



Final Form Spoiler Warning!

(Including spoilers for the original Ryuki. And possibly Blade. Don't say I didn't warn you.)



Kamen Rider Decade Episode 7: "The Super Trick's Real Perpetrator"
Written by Aikawa Shô
Directed by Nagaishi Takao

In this age of leaked photos and magazine scans before the magazines even come out, it's easy to know a lot of the big surprises well in advance of the actual episodes airing (I'll discuss a big one down below.)

We already know about the second Rider, Diend, and in some places we knew about him when Decade had barely gotten beyond episode #1! We don't know when exactly he appears, but he could turn up next week, or next month (when the toys are slated to come out, hint-hint.)

But they did manage to keep one thing under wraps, which I'm sure few people will care about besides me, but here it is: Abyss having a giant robot shark with guns. That was cool, and I had no idea it was coming at all! It was an actual bonafide surprise. I love it. The pre-credits sequence was a massive "What the hell!?" moment for that alone. Pity Bandai has been so lax about doing villain toys lately. I want my transforming mega shark thing toy!

As I said last week, it's kind of a bummer that Decade only gets two episodes in a world before moving on, because it could have probably used one more in this one. That, or they could have cut down on the flashbacks (both to the Rider War, and the multi-Decades vs. Knights battle from last week) to free up a little extra time. Because I think I speak for everyone when I say...

What happened with Odin?



I mean okay, I can forgive them for killing him off rather quickly. Odin had a whole series to be the king of the ring in. I don't think anyone expected much more than a cameo appearance here. But he just stood there! Either Knight's Final Vent is faster than it looks, or Odin seriously underestimated something. Also, it kind of looks like Knight aimed right for his belt, or possibly his groin, but I won't dwell on that.

I know it's another world with another version of (insert Rider name here.) And all the big badasses (Lion & Swallowtail Fangire, numerous Grongi, Verde) have been toned down to allow things to move quicker and give the new villains more screen time. But man... Odin's almost the same as the old one. He's still the big man on campus. He's still a teleportin' cheater. He still does the Odin Pose™.

He's even still got time-travel capabilities, which is a MASSIVE oversight on the part of the justice system as it means he can just go back, see what really happened, prevent the crime from occurring in the first place, set himself up to have like a million trillion bucks in the future, and then play "Johnny B. Goode" at the school dance.

Which is just what Ren intends to do (minus the last part.) I mock-complain about Odin's demise here, but I have to admit, the logic is fairly sound. Ren battles and defeats the Riders, trying to find the Time Vent card so he can go back and prevent any of it from occurring in the first place.

This might smack of rest button writing, but then... if you're reading this, you've likely seen Ryuki, or at least heard about that ending. You know what I'm talking about. It's strangely fitting (I just hope they don't repeat this trick again!)

It's funny that Ren actually recognizes Odin as the one he needs to beat. So what was up with killing Scissors and fighting Decade? Other than the need to fulfill both (killing Scissors and fighting Decade) in order for this to be both a celebration of all things Ryuki and part of Decade.

I guess if you examine it too closely, Tsukasa is really just arsing around until he gets caught up in the ♬ TIME TRIPPIN' RIDE ♬ to the past, but since it never actually happened now, who cares?



On the other hand, all this does sort of set up for a massive time-loop since everything had to have happened to make it all not happen! But this is Kamen Rider Time Travel, which operates under its own set of often-varying laws. Even if its logic isn't 100% bulletproof, for my money Den-O still does it the best since the series is built around time travel.

Nago & Wataru's time-travel escapades took some big leaps, basically helping to ensure the future by becoming part of the past, but you knew that was gonna happen one way or another. And I don't even want to get into Kabuto's Hyper-shenanigans, beyond "he went back in time to save his own ass so that someday he could do just that...I think".

And then there's Time Vent, which here turns out to be the literal Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card for Natsumi. It works a little differently here than in the original show, since in that it didn't seem to involve Odin and Kanzaki flying through time and crashing onto somebody. Too bad, I would have liked that.



Natsumi rejects Narutaki's offer of premature release earlier on, in one of the most interesting bits of the episode. He describes himself as a prophet, warning her of Decade and the danger inherent in being around him. While it's clear from the end that Narutaki doesn't exactly have the best intentions either, I do wonder just how right he is as far as the "Decade = Devil" thing goes.

On that note, Natsumi's cell looks like a restroom mixed with a broom closet.

And on that note, the regulars. Tsukasa gets thumbed this week, if you felt denied last time. His special power did seem to be entering the Mirror World, as we never saw Onodera manage this. He also finally comes face-to-hat-wearing-face with Narutaki, as well as getting a sneak peek at the next new enemy in one of the best bits of the episode.

I liked his two big speeches, the "I believe in people only because Yuusuke does" one, and "We are never alone". The latter one is especially nice since it's followed up by Shinji's "We're a team" line. The importance of the team (Tsukasa & Onodera, Shinjji & Ren, and then Tsukasa and Shinji) was a big theme this week. A sort of bookend to the climax of Episode Final.

Speaking of which, I LOVED that the ending battle took place in the real world, again mirroring that movie's final battle. They even kept the "out of nowhere" V Buckle. It's handy when you want to have Ryuki running around with other Riders that can't go into the Mirror World. There's a kind of interesting line about that I'll get to later, as it left me a little puzzled.



Onodera got it rough this time. Not physically (stop snickering back there), but emotionally. His defense of Ren ticks off Shinji, because it means Natsumi's no better off if the guy who is the real culprit isn't the real culprit. Things seemed to iron out by the end. I just hope we get some more Kuuga action soon!

I kind of like how him being such a sweet person didn't go over well. He should be the optimistic, upbeat one like his predecessor. And then we get to see how this kindness and faith in people conflicts with the moody personalities (and worlds) of other Riders.

It's like, if the old Godai really did stumble into the old Ryuki, he'd probably be a little put off by how everyone was out to kick each other's butt. Of course, Onodera's right in the end, and I like to think that did something to convince Shinji to give Ren another chance.

Also, it's telling that Natsumi namechecks Yuusuke in her defense of Tsukasa against Narutaki (helluva sentence, that.) She sees the importance he has on her photographer friend. He's the other one who gives Tsukasa a kick in the rear whenever the latter doesn't seem to know what's going on, or is too busy getting in a slapping match with the Rider-of-the-World.

I have a bad feeling this is going to lead up to them having to fight each other again some day, but I'd be thrilled if it's the opposite and the whole friendship is building up to show how Tsukasa & Onodera have made each other better people.

And we now know what happened to Gramps and the chicken this week. Of course, that turns around at the end, where just this once, (almost) everybody lives Rose, everybody lives! I was pleasantly surprised, I expected someone to bite it, and it would probably be Ren. Grandpa really needs to move that chain though.



Now, Ren & Stimpy Shinji. Their two episodes are up, until we see them again (I would be surprised if we don't.) I'd say that overall, they were pretty okay. Like Wataru, they did the job they were hired for.

I've come to a conclusion on the new Rider actors: I actually don't mind them at all, in this storyline as it's playing out. They work within the parameters set for them. I'd liken it to the revamp movies. Kikawada is good as the movie Hongô because he is a different take on and old character. The plot, love it or hate it, sets it up for that version.

If they'd had Fujioka back in THE NEXT, it wouldn't work unless he was playing his Hongô, going Segata on everyone in the school and then booting Chiharu out of the movie within the first 5 minutes. And if there's ever a "bring back all the old Riders" special/movies/series, it has to be Fujioka because the movie version Hongô just doesn't work there.

What I mean is, if they could really get Suga & Matsuda, I'd want them to be playing THE Shinji & Ren from the TV series (or TV series with movie ending) and not alternate versions like this. Maybe that's just me. On the flip side, if this were the original Ryukiverse, I'd say get the original actors or don't bother at all. The new guys work only because of how the story's set up. They are bound by the context.

The new Shinji doesn't look much like the old one, but there was a moment or two where I thought his mouth looked a bit like Suga's. I'm grasping here though. Character-wise, he's got a bit of the old Shinji in him, and I liked that despite his seeming willingness to kick some Knight butt last time, he never fights with Decade.

Ren turns out to be innocent, they work things out regarding his job situation, and as mentioned above he's kind of crucial in helping to solve the case by making it never happen in the first place. Well, Shinji does the dirty work, with help from Tsukasa who somehow just hitched a ride. And Kamata hitched on as well.

As I sussed last week, Kamata turned out to be the killer, despite his excellent defense logic ("I was outside drinking coffee and not turned into a Rider. Explain that!") I do have to say the way in which he killed Momoi last time sure didn't match up with what he did here; a silent strike at her neck somehow became a big honkin' energy sickle that loudly smashes the window and leaves a huge tear in the furniture!

I can overlook it though since it's a kickass piece of foreshadowing; check out the shape of the thing, and consider who Kamata turns out to be later. Clever, clever, clever.

Also, was it just me, or when talking to Shinji & Ren (and unconscious Natsumi), Momoi mentions some news byte about "things other than humans" entering the world, and then brings up Kamata. Creepy.

The whole "past & future Kamata" scene was funny. Somehow, he managed to not get stuck in some time loop of him merging into himself, even if it was the past one, rather than the future one, doing the merging. Because like, he's basically erasing his past self there. I think. It's weird how freaked out the past one was; you'd think after the other stuff he's seen, it would be just another day out. On a fanfic note, I loved that they did the merging time lines thing here. Oh yesssssssssssss.

I've seen elsewhere people wondering if it means Shinji & Tsukasa both have doubles now; I can only assume the same thing happens with them later, off-screen. Either that, or they unintentionally created Ryuga & Dark Decade. Or the writer just said "hopefully no one will think about it that hard" like I am.



Apart from the Knight vs. Odin battle, there's the big final rumble between the Decade/Ryuki team and Abyss. This was a lot of fun, and as mentioned I loved that it was all in the real world. We even get a little untransformed tussling with the monsters!

Abyss makes an interesting remark, about the fact that if they lose there, they lose their life as well. So what about dying in the Mirror World? It's not made entirely clear. I suppose it might go along with my theory last time that losing in the Mirror World didn't necessarily mean a fatal defeat. But here, you lose, and that's the ball game.

Abyss uses his Final Vent, which seems to also be a Unite Vent. And at the beginning of the episode, he uses a Strike Vent to summon the big combo shark. Bwuh? My two guesses for the reasoning here are 1) they wanted to keep it a surprise that the big shark is a combination of AbyssSlasher and AbyssHammer which is, admittedly, a pretty lame theory, or 2) Abyss haxx.

I actually think it's the latter, as you'll notice when his Contract Monsters go kablammo, he's fine. No Blank Form for you! Or he's got more Monsters somewhere.

The fight's cool, and of course we get another of those wacky Final Form Rides, Ryuki DragRedder (or Ryuki DragReder as the card says, take your pick.) Like Kuuga Gouram, note that he's not turning into the actual DragRedder, but a variation that still has bits of... er, Ryuki in him. If you don't believe me, check this out.

Ryuki's headless upper torso is now his tummy. Yikes. He sure is shiny though. The transformation again looks painful, especially since his legs split apart at the... okay, let's move on.

(Consequently, the toy came out the same weekend. Whee! It's pretty good, though be aware that someone might have forgotten to paint one of DragRedder's eyes, so it'll need some touching up.)

I liked that this time, the FFR had something to go up against itself/himself. I mean okay, they could have just summoned the real DragRedder, and had Ryuki help Decade against Abyss (who's badass enough to handle both of them at once.) Well, Bandai had to step in somewhere I suppose.

It does give us a chance to see Decade doing Ryuki's version of the Rider Kick though, which was awesome. After going back and seeing a clip of the old one (via Dragon Knight) I was doubly impressed upon watching this again and seeing just how close to the old one they stuck in terms of editing the scene.

It's nifty how quickly he switches to-and-fro also; Kuuga did it, but somehow it felt more noticeable here (in a good way.) It helps that Ryuki's FFR can swirl around like that, and that so much of his weaponry came from DragRedder's body anyway. It somehow kinda fits.

I also like that we got to see fully-armed Ryuki, with the sword and both shields on his shoulders. He looked like that waaaaaaay back in the early publicity stills, but I don't recall it happening very often in the show (If memory serves, he does it in episode #6 against Volcancer, I think.) That was cool.

Decade again sneaks in his catchphrase, and there's a little visual nod to the final battle in Episode Final. Or maybe it's a happy accident. Both this week and last week I keep meaning to talk about the director, but that's so big it's an entry unto itself! I'll make a mental note to do that someday.

And again, I want that OST! As much as I admit it would have been even cooler with some old Ryuki tune here, I enjoy the new music, particularly during this fight once Ryuki makes his change.



And then of course there's the denouement. I knew this was coming. In fact, I'm quite possibly the one who first broke the story in English elsewhere. But even then I knew months ago that the other alter-ego of Kamata/Abyss would be showing up eventually, thanks to a little inside info from Nirasawa himself. Not how they'd go about it, but at least that, at long last, the King of Hearts aka Paradoxa Undead would see life outside of card form.

And yet, it's still an awesome scene, although I envy the fans out there strong enough to avoid spoilers, for whom this will come as a total surprise. It's without a doubt one of the coolest twists I've seen, and had I not known about it in advance, this entire review would have just been a stream of profanities and the occasional "cool" "this rocks" and "awesome" (as it is, it's only about 80% that.) When the green blood drips down Kamata's hand, it was a real "oh sh-" moment.

I mean seriously: the evil new Rider in the Ryukiverse turns out to be... an Undead! It's scarily similar to another fanfic idea I've had for a while, though in a way even cooler because I liked the Undead A LOT. Both from a design and characterization standpoint. I mean okay, they can't all be winners, but the Undead have a pretty high success rate; I can actually remember what almost all of them did and when they showed up!

And here we've got one who was only ever talked about and shown already sealed up in the original Blade. It's great how they tied the two card-using Rider series together in this way. I'll talk more about him next week, but no doubt I'm really excited to see how he turns out.

Excited enough that I can overlook the fact that Aikawa takes next week off and turns writing duties over to Yonemura Shôji. Who has, to be charitable, not the greatest track record, though he did do Kamen Rider G, which I should talk about one of these days, and he turned in some good Kabuto episodes.

Still, Aikawa, not writing the Blade-based episodes? Huh?

So the jaunt to Ryuki's World was, all in all, interesting and a bit nostalgic, which sounds about right for Decade. Abyss was a cool addition to the mythos, and there was plenty of fightin'. It is, after all, drawing from Ryuki. It makes me want to go watch the original again. Right after I get through V3, and Kuuga, and...

Oh and that last shot is the perfect lead-in to to Blade's World.

Next Time: Well, in case you haven't figured it out yet, Tsukasa & co. go to Blade's World. And they're staffing BOARD's cafeteria. And fighting Undead. And Chalice is now an old guy. And Kamata is there, waiting in the shadows...

***