This series is not bad though, but still it's far from perfect in the eyes of other Kamen Rider fans, even myself. Despite living up to the expectation as commemorating the 20 years of the Heisei Kamen Rider series, it still has many, if not all, downsides as to expect.
Design: I have no complaints for the Riders' suit designs with little to no asymmetrical design, including Geiz Revive, Woz Ginga, and even Grand Zi-O. The Another Riders live up to the main Riders they are based on, giving us the reflection of what would be that Rider like if it became a weapon of evil, a reference to the Cross of Fire that was mentioned in Wizard.
Plot: For a second there, though combining Den-O's time travel theme and Decade being the anniversary Rider who uses his predecessors' Rider powers as his own. Some of the arcs don't live to its expectations (i.e., Kiva not only due to the lack of the said Rider's involvement, instead we get an alien from a meteorite attempting to destroy the world; this is due to the fact that Toshiki Inoue of all people is the one writing those episodes). Shinichiro Shirakura elaborating plot points is not what you see in the past series. And this is why I'm not very fond of him. Lastly, my obvious complaint for the season is being Decade stealing the spotlight.
Characters: The only notable characters I'm grown up to is Woz, the OG Black Woz. Geiz going from "attempting-to-kill-Sougo to friends-with-Sougo and siding with White Woz to attempt on Sougo's life again and so on" kinda messed up the Second Rider trope where they start as anti-heroic foils to the protagonist before becoming close allies. Tsukuyomi, before her past is explored, lacks, if not entirely, 3-dimensional characterization than past female leads. And to quote troper readrunners' review: "Sougo himself didn't have much character development focus."
Villains: The Timejackers have no backstory of their own, save for Swartz. Heure and Ora spent most of their time as Swartz's errand boy and girl until they come to realize it in the endgame arc. Swartz isn't a very enjoyable villain either, and is much less of a fighter compared to past villains. Oma Zi-O's characterization is somewhat questionable once we found out his true intentions are. We thought this guy could be a heartless tyrant, or a fallen hero turned tyrant like Superman, but deep down he's actually trying to preserve his ambition as a king through present Sougo. In the end, he's pulling a Takumi Katsuragi 2.0.
Well, despite the flaws I've elaborated. It's been a sweet ride and Zi-O fills in as a fitting sendoff to the Heisei Era. Now with Zero-One coming soon, I bet the Reiwa Kamen Rider series should start anew with different trend that makes the new era of Kamen Rider differ itself from the Heisei Era. My overall rating for this series is a 7.5/10.
More like Decade S2.
This series is not bad though, but still it's far from perfect in the eyes of other Kamen Rider fans, even myself. Despite living up to the expectation as commemorating the 20 years of the Heisei Kamen Rider series, it still has many, if not all, downsides as to expect.
Design: I have no complaints for the Riders' suit designs with little to no asymmetrical design, including Geiz Revive, Woz Ginga, and even Grand Zi-O. The Another Riders live up to the main Riders they are based on, giving us the reflection of what would be that Rider like if it became a weapon of evil, a reference to the Cross of Fire that was mentioned in Wizard.
Plot: For a second there, though combining Den-O's time travel theme and Decade being the anniversary Rider who uses his predecessors' Rider powers as his own. Some of the arcs don't live to its expectations (i.e., Kiva not only due to the lack of the said Rider's involvement, instead we get an alien from a meteorite attempting to destroy the world; this is due to the fact that Toshiki Inoue of all people is the one writing those episodes). Shinichiro Shirakura elaborating plot points is not what you see in the past series. And this is why I'm not very fond of him. Lastly, my obvious complaint for the season is being Decade stealing the spotlight.
Characters: The only notable characters I'm grown up to is Woz, the OG Black Woz. Geiz going from "attempting-to-kill-Sougo to friends-with-Sougo and siding with White Woz to attempt on Sougo's life again and so on" kinda messed up the Second Rider trope where they start as anti-heroic foils to the protagonist before becoming close allies. Tsukuyomi, before her past is explored, lacks, if not entirely, 3-dimensional characterization than past female leads. And to quote troper readrunners' review: "Sougo himself didn't have much character development focus."
Villains: The Timejackers have no backstory of their own, save for Swartz. Heure and Ora spent most of their time as Swartz's errand boy and girl until they come to realize it in the endgame arc. Swartz isn't a very enjoyable villain either, and is much less of a fighter compared to past villains. Oma Zi-O's characterization is somewhat questionable once we found out his true intentions are. We thought this guy could be a heartless tyrant, or a fallen hero turned tyrant like Superman, but deep down he's actually trying to preserve his ambition as a king through present Sougo. In the end, he's pulling a Takumi Katsuragi 2.0.
Well, despite the flaws I've elaborated. It's been a sweet ride and Zi-O fills in as a fitting sendoff to the Heisei Era. Now with Zero-One coming soon, I bet the Reiwa Kamen Rider series should start anew with different trend that makes the new era of Kamen Rider differ itself from the Heisei Era. My overall rating for this series is a 7.5/10.