2009 - Kamen Rider Decade (Series) - Ultimate Riders Review

Kamen Rider Decade, Masked Rider DCD, Masked Rider Decade) is the title of the first of the 2009 editions of the long-running Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu dramas. Decade, as its title suggests, is the tenth of the Heisei Rider Series, having begun with Kamen Rider Kuuga in 2000. It began broadcast the week following the finale of Kamen Rider Kiva and is featured in Super Hero Time alongside the 2009 edition of the Super Sentai Series, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.

The series ties in with the arcade game Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride, with Kamen Riders Decade and Diend using cards resembling those used in the game to transform and access various weapons. The catchphrase for the series is "Destroy everything, connect everything.". The series' English dub aired on October 20, 2012, 5:30 p.m. at Singapore's Okto Channel, Mediacorp.

Story

The story revolves around the nine parallel universes of the previous Heisei Kamen Riders merging into one, something that would destroy all the worlds. To prevent this, Tsukasa Kadoya transforms into Kamen Rider Decade and is told that to save his own world he must travel with Natsumi and her grandfather to the other Kamen Riders' Worlds called A.R. Worlds (Another Rider's World or Alternate Reality World) and defeat the other Kamen Riders. Along the way, confronting the mysterious Narutaki and the thief Daiki Kaito, they are joined by Yusuke Onodera of the World of Kuuga and Kivala of the World of Kiva.

Publication Information

Title : Kamen Rider Decade
Japanese : 仮面ライダーディケイド
Created by : Shotaro Ishinomori
Written by : Shō Aikawa, Shōji Yonemura, Yasuko Kobayashi, Kenji Konuta, Toshiki Inoue
Directed by : Ryuta Tasaki, Osamu Kaneda, Takao Nagaishi, Takayuki Shibasa, Hidenori Ishida, Naomi Tamura
Narrated by : Eiichiro Suzuki
Theme music composer : Shuhei Naruse
Composer(s) : Kōtarō Nakagawa
Country of origin : Japan
Original language(s) : Japanese
No. of episodes : 31
Producer(s) : Atsushi Kaji, Shinichiro Shirakura, Naomi Takebe, Kenichi Wasano
Running time : 24-25 minutes (per episode)
Production company(s) : Toei Company
Distributor : Toei Company
Original channel : TV Asahi
Picture format : 1080i (HDTV)
Original run : January 25, 2009 – August 30, 2009
Preceded by : Kamen Rider Kiva
Followed by : Kamen Rider W

To fit with the printing motif of the series, the main Kamen Riders of the series follow the CMYK color model: Decade is magenta, Diend is cyan, and Kuuga (Rising Ultimate Form) is black and yellow. In the Cho-Den-O Trilogy film Episode Yellow: Treasure de End Pirates, Diend is the primary character, emphasizing the yellow accents on his Diendriver and the enhanced Kamen Ride Diend card.

Kamen Rider Decade Episode 1 : Rider War

The Rider War, first revealed in Natsumi Hikari's dream, is a predestined event composed of many Kamen Riders called the Rider Army, all of whom were seemingly defeated by Kamen Rider Decade. However, Kamen Rider Kuuga survived the initial battle, assuming Ultimate Form to confront Decade once again with the two seemingly destroying each other in the ensuing battle. As Narutaki explains to Natsumi, the dream is a predestined event in which Decade will destroy all the worlds.

Episodes

Generally, episodes of Decade are titled similarly to the episodes of the series that they reference. Kamen Rider Kuuga 's episodes were titled with only two kanji and episodes of Kamen Rider Kiva have a musical reference and musical notation in the title. For the World of Hibiki story arc, the episode title cards are stylized in calligraphy similar to the styles featured in Kamen Rider Hibiki. For the World of Amazon story arc, the episode title had a reference from Kamen Rider Amazon episode 3. An episode arc also features a crossover with Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.

Rider War
The World of Kuuga
Transcendence
Second Movement
Qualifications of the Biting King
Battle Trial - Ryuki World
The True Culprit's Super Trick
Welcome to Blade Cafeteria
Blade Blade
Phantom Thief of Faiz Academy
555 Faces, 1 Treasure
Reunion Project Agito
Awaken. The Soul Tornado
Cho Den-O Beginning
Here Comes Super Momotaros!
Warning Kabuto is Out of Control
The Path of Grandmother's Flavor
Missing Hibiki
Journey's End
The Dark Riders of Nega World
Going Through the Complete Rider Album
Diend is Wanted
End of Diend
The Samurai Sentai Appear
Heretic Rider Go Forth!
RX! Dai-Shocker Invasion
Black × Black RX
Amazon, Friend
The Strong Naked Strongman
Rider War - The Prologue
Finale - The Destroyer of Worlds

Films

World of Stronger

For Decade 's S.I.C Hero Saga side story Masked Rider Decade: World of Stronger tells of how Tsukasa and the Hikari Studio crew enter the reality in which Kamen Rider Stronger takes place and meet up with the characters within, such as the original Yuriko Misaki. The first episode was published in Hobby Japan, June 2010.

Delza Army! Staff Officer Steel Appears!!
The Rhinoceros Beetle Riders Appear!!
Arrival! Rider Diend!!
Doctor Kate's Defeat
Kabuto War
The Chaotic World!
The Kamen Riders vs. Great Leader Rock!
Arrival! Kamen Rider Kuuga!!
Stronger Great Reconstruction!!
Riders Captured! Long Live Delza!!
Tackle, the Final Embrace
Farewell! The Glorious Kamen Riders!

Cast

Tsukasa Kadoya / Kamen Rider Decade : Masahiro Inoue
Daiki Kaito / Kamen Rider Diend : Kimito Totani
Yusuke Onodera / Kamen Rider Kuuga : Ryouta Murai
Natsumi Hikari : Kanna Mori
Kivala (Voice) : Miyuki Sawashiro
Decadriver Voice, Diendriver Voice, K-Touch Voice : Mark Okita
Narutaki : Tatsuhito Okuda
Guy : Kazuhisa Kawahara
Eijiro Hikari : Renji Ishibashi
Narration : Eiichiro Suzuki

Guest stars

Songs

Opening theme

Journey Through the Decade
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition : Ryo (of defspiral)
- Arrangement : Kōtarō Nakagawa, Ryo
- Artist : Gackt
- Episodes : Nine Worlds arc (first verse), New Worlds arc (second verse), In its first week on the Oricon Weekly Charts, "Journey Through the Decade" reached the #2 spot, having sold approximately 51,666 records in that time.

Ending Theme

Ride the Wind
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition & Arrangement : Shuhei Naruse
- Artist : Masahiro Inoue as Tsukasa Kadoya
- Episodes : 10-22, 28, Masahiro Inoue had been recording "Ride the Wind" with Shuhei Naruse released on April 22, 2009. Prior to its appearance in the series, Inoue announced the song's on his blog and that he would record it under his character's name.

Treasure Sniper
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition & Arrangement : Ryo
- Artist : Kimito Totani as Daiki Kaito
- Episodes : 23-27, 29-31 : On June 23, 2009, Kimito Totani announced on his personal blog that he was recording a new song for Decade. The Toei blog for Decade announced its title was "Treasure Sniper". Although "Treasure Sniper" did not have a release as a single, it and its instrumental are included on the MASKED RIDER DECADE COMPLETE CD-BOX boxed set. It was later released as the B-side to the single "Climax-Action ~The Den-O History~", the theme song for the Cho-Den-O Trilogy film in which Kamen Rider Diend is the main character.