Nine Worlds Saga – Part 1 of 3
The series can be divided into two parts, namely the Nine Worlds Saga and the New Worlds Saga. The first part, obviously, is about Decade’s journey through the nine Heisei Kamen Rider Worlds while the second part is about Decade’s journey outside the nine Heisei Kamen Rider Worlds that will eventually lead to the show’s finale.
We will now start in Kuuga’s World. Tsukasa, in this world plays the role of a policeman and the police are fighting monsters labeled by them as Unidentified Lifeforms or as scholars would like to call, Grogi. In this world, Kuuga, best known as Unidentified Lifeform no. 4 is fighting the Grongi Tribe with the support of Officer Yashiro which he affectionately calls his Ane-san.
Same plot like the original except for one thing, Yusuke Onodera is Kuuga. A rather cocky, straight forward guy who receives a belt from a man named Narutaki who warms him about the demon named Decade.
One thing that I liked about this arc is that it has the same like that of Kuuga. It has its same dark tone especially when the Grogi Tribe will turn humans into Grongis. One of the few things that I can praise in this arc is that based on the episodes that I watched, the Grogi language has no translation via subtitles, which pisses me off because I don’t understand what the hell are they talking about and also one of the things that I liked in this show because its separates them from the humans.
First impressions on Yusuke Onodera, he is not like Godai but he has some of his traits. He at first wants to become Kuuga because he wants to impress his Ane-san but later on, he slowly gained his purpose on why he must transform into Kuuga. He wants to protect the smile of his Ane-san and later, the smiles of everyone that he met.
When I first saw Narutaki I was like, great, not another guy in a trench coat! But unlike any other guy that appeared in a trench coat, he did something and that is, summon the Hoppers and let them kick Decade’s ass. Narutaki made a big impression because of the fact that he knew about Decade before Decade become… well, Decade.
This arc first introduced to us the Final Attack Rides. To be honest, I find this idea rather stupid since it felt like Toei’s lame excuse in saying, “We want more toys for your parents to buy for you.” They can STILL sell more toys if they just reproduce the previous nine Heisei Riders respective belts or any previous merchandise found in any of the nine other Heisei shows.
Overall, the first arc was really great and set the standard on how the other arcs must be.
Next up, Kiva’s World in this is the world where the Fangire and Human races are living together in peace and harmony. To those who remembered the end of Kiva, Taiga and Wataru decided to create a better world were Fangires and Humans are living together. Taiga’s company is making a research on alternative sources for human life energy and Wataru was the best example between the harmonious relationship between humans and Fangires.
Let’s go back in this AU. In this AU, Spider Fangire is kinda… weird. Sure he is weird in the sock puppets and liking both Megumi AND Yuri Aso back in Kiva but in this AU world, he is friendlier. Anyways, AU Wataru is a kid, Garulu, Bashaa and Dogga seems like they don’t have human forms and they have a different voice, Castle Doran is exposed and what’s surprising, there is no AU Taiga in short, Wataru is the King of all Fangires… for now.
Just like the original Wataru, he has his own doubts if he can do a good job as the king since the previous King, according to Garulu is gone for a long time, and its Wataru must accept the throne as the King. Based on this situation, it felt like, what if Wataru was in Taiga’s position since the beginning of the series?
Since I haven’t talk about the Decadriver, and since this is the arc in which we saw the Deacdriver’s full potential, let’s talk about it. The card-based Rider System was first used in Ryuki. That said system, IMO was quite experimental. Since you need to use your card if you want to get your weapon, especially if you are Ryuki! Later on, Blade used a similar card-based system which is really cool since it’s like you must do a certain combo of cards for you to perform an awesome attack. Kinda like playing Poker. Now, in Decade’s card-based Rider System, it felt like the Ryuki System executed more properly. It’s like, Ryuki created it, Blade developed it and Decade perfected it.
The system has some Ryuki’s imperfections such in the form of Attack Ride cards and Blade’s Change cards in the form of Kamen Ride Cards and Form Ride Cards. Having a card based system for this show is really good idea. If you read or seen scans of the Kamen Rider Spirits manga, Judo, Badan’s Great Leader can transform into the main Riders in the manga by doing their respective Henshin pose. In Decade’s case, he can’t do that since from Ryuki to Kiva, they need a respective device that doesn’t pop out from their waist for them to transform. So a card-based is the best choice.
The plot of this arc was a bit mediocre. It is about the return of the previous King and he wants his throne back from his son. Sure, this arc has its own moments but it felt like the writing was a bit rushed. What made me raised my eyebrow in this episode is that Kivat the 2nd doesn’t appear in this arc, instead, Kivat the 3rd was the Kivat armor you need for you to be proclaimed King of all Fangires. In the original, once you have the 2nd’s armor, it means you are the rightful King of all Fangires. At first I didn’t understand why the King must get the 3rd armor since its weaker compared to the 2nd’s… until the Nega World arc came.
In this arc, Yusuke Onodera is now part of the main cast of the show thanks to Kivala. Kivala is also part of the Kivat race, smaller compared to the Kivats that appeared in Kiva. She seems has the ability to walk through various dimensions like Narutaki and transport someone via this ability. Because of Yusuke being transported in Kiva’s World, he became a member of Wataru’s court.
This where I started to like Yusuke as Yusuke Onodera, sure he didn’t transform much in this arc, but he proved himself worthy. He was like the “conscience” of the both Tsukasa and Wataru. This is the one of the plot points in the show that I was disappointed that the writers didn’t continue in pursuing until the last few episodes and the movie came.
Overall, this arc was quite average in terms of writing, and a little disappointing to Kiva fans.
Next up, Ryuki’s World in this world, the Mirror World is exposed in the general public and trials are held via the Rider Trial System. In which according to this episode, is the fairest way in judging a criminal… by having lawyers, prosecutors, closest friends and witnesses fighting each other. Whoever wins the said Rider’s verdict will be the final decision.
Oh. My. Gosh. If a lawyer will saw this arc, he will react really badly about this. I mean, it’s both barbaric and stupid AND entertaining! Okay, ignore the last word but these shows the unlimited possibilities on Ryuki’s Rider Fight concept. I mean, I could write a fanfic about a Rider Battle Butler Tournament in which Shinji is just a regular guy who accidentally became the butler of a certain girl and was forced to battle for her. A perfect example of this show’s unlimited possibility in terms of battle footage is the US adaptation of the show, Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.
This arc is about Natsumi being involved in the crime and she is being judged using this Trial System. Enter Shinji Tatsumi, a photographer of the Atashi Journal in which Natsumi meets its editor in which she investigates about the Riders in this world. Shinji saw Ren “running away” from the crime scene.
Ren and Shinji is a team of journalist who makes award winning articles for the Atashi Journal but left the group three years prior to the series. Shinji was chosen to fight in the Trial thus, like the original, he becomes Ryuki same goes with Ren.
I love AU Shinji’s personality! It’s a complete contrast on the original Shinji which I hated since he wants to stop the Rider Battle which is inevitable. Thank God for the Episode Final movie its the only time I liked Shinji!
The theme of this arc was the two minor themes of the series but a sort of major theme in the Episode Final film, namely Trust and Friendship. Trust because in the original show, if you part of the Rider Battle, you don’t know who you will trust since maybe one of them will kill you if the need arises. Friendship because in Ryuki, there is a minor plot involving the developing friendship between Shinji and Ren but in this arc’s case, Shinji and Ren are once best of friends but later, their friendship was severed.
There is one big moment in this arc that surprised me is the appearance of the King of Hearts/Paradoxa Undead in the form of Kamata aka Kamen Rider Abyss. If you remember, the Paradoxa Undead never made an appearance in the main series since it was sealed from the very beginning of the show.
It was Narutaki’s experiment that made Kamata appear in Ryuki’s World. To be honest, it felt like a card is playing a different kind of card game. It was one of the moments of this show that really surprised me until now.
Overall, this arc is one of my personal favorites.
We will take a break for a while now. Next up, Blade, Faiz and Agito.
