When people talk about Kamen Rider Decade, I usually hear the same complaints. The alternate universe Riders bothered longtime fans. Some people hated the recasts. Others still bring up the cliffhanger ending years later. Even now Decade tends to land somewhere between loved and hated depending on who you ask.

For me though, the story was completely different.

Kamen Rider Decade ended up becoming the show that pushed me deeper into Rider history than any other series. It wasn’t my first experience with Kamen Rider, but it became the series that sent me down a rabbit hole that honestly never really ended.

I Knew Kamen Rider Before I Really Knew Kamen Rider

Long before Decade aired in 2009, I already knew what Kamen Rider was. Like a lot of people in the United States, my first exposure technically came through Masked Rider. The funny thing is my experience actually started before that.

Back in the mid 90s there was a local collectible shop I used to visit on weekends. Looking back now, I think the owners may have originally been from Japan because the place was packed with imported merchandise and media that you simply could not find anywhere else.

There were Dragon Ball tapes, Gundam merchandise, anime VHS recordings, and all kinds of Japanese media. This was also the era of bootleg tapes recorded directly from Japanese television. Some still had commercials intact.

I actually watched Dragon Ball GT years before it officially aired in the United States because of those tapes.

One day I ended up getting my hands on a VHS recording of Kamen Rider Black RX.

No subtitles.

No dub.

No idea what anybody was saying.

And somehow I still loved it.

Then Masked Rider Happened

Ironically I was excited.

I already knew what Black RX was based on, so when Masked Rider showed up through Power Rangers I thought Kamen Rider was finally getting its chance in America.

Then I watched it.

Man…

Talk about disappointment.

I think by around the third episode I realized they had butchered the source material. I honestly don’t even remember if I finished the show.

It felt like one of those situations where you already know what something could have been because you had seen pieces of the original.

The Wild West Era Of Fansubs

As the years went on I got deeper into anime communities online. I spent time on NarutoFan, worked with Ani-CNews, and hung around message boards during the early 2000s.

Back then things were completely different.

There wasn’t streaming.

There wasn’t official simulcasting.

You hunted stuff down.

Groups like TV-Nihon would subtitle anime, Sentai, and Rider series and release them through BitTorrent. Looking back now, it really felt like the Wild West of fandom.

Somewhere around that time I started getting into Kamen Rider more seriously. My memory gets a little fuzzy after all these years because the shows blend together.

For a long time I thought Kabuto was my first Rider series, but I think Kiva may actually have been the first one I followed weekly.

Either way I eventually made my way through Den-O, Kiva, and eventually Decade.

Why Kamen Rider Decade Worked For Me

I know longtime fans had issues with Decade.

I understand why.

But I loved it.

For me, Kamen Rider Decade felt like a giant crash course in Rider history.

Tsukasa wasn’t just traveling through worlds. He was introducing me to entire series I had never watched before.

I ended up going backward and watching Blade, Agito, Kabuto and several others because of Decade.

Decade didn’t just introduce me to a Rider. It introduced me to Rider history.

The Toys Pulled Me In Too

The Decadriver was also one of the first Rider belts I ever bought.

I eventually picked up the Ride Booker and later the K-Touch too. Looking back now, that may have been the moment where I crossed the line from somebody casually watching Rider into becoming a collector.

And honestly, I think Decade deserves a lot of credit for that.

Because after Decade I started diving deeper into Sentai, older Rider series, Japanese Transformers shows, and media I honestly never knew existed before.

It opened a lot of doors.

Final Thoughts

The funny thing is I never actually went back and fully rewatch Decade itself.

I watched the movies.

I saw all the random appearances.

I followed the weird cameos and crossovers over the years because somehow Tsukasa became one of those characters who never really leaves.

Even when his story technically ends, somehow it never really ends.

Maybe that actually fits Decade perfectly.

Because for me, Kamen Rider Decade wasn’t really about ending a story.

It was about opening a door.