The first official crossover of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider



Way back on September 2 and September 9 of 1995 - Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers had its crossover with Saban's Masked Rider (which was based on Kamen Rider Black RX) called "A Friend In Need" for three parts, with the second and third episode aired during September 9, 1995. I would have never imagined that years later an official crossover between Super Sentai and Kamen Rider would take place.





Kamen Rider Decade in my own point of view is a really horrible series which I couldn't warm up to except the Shinkenger Arc and the World of Black RX arc. However I"ll focus on Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and Kamen Rider Decade crossover which are episodes 24 and 25 of Kamen Rider Decade. It's pretty much a reverse of what happened in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers with Saban's Masked Rider. Instead of bringing the Shinkengers into the World of Decade, the main cast of Kamen Rider Decade were instead brought into the World of Shinkenger.





The two-part crossover was written by Yasuko Kobayashi. Personally, I think she's done a better job writing the whole script than Shuky Levy and Shell Danielson. What I thought was going to be another disaster ended up much better than "A Friend In Need". The whole script was done better especially with how certain people were introduced. Note I'll be using pictures from Orends Range (who has presented a well-done critique)and Super Sentai Images





Wow what a troll this guy is huh?



Samurai Sentai Shinkenger gave us glimpses of the crossover. In the closing scene of Shinkenger Act 20, Daiki/Kamen Rider DiEnd steals away Genta's Ika Origimi. I always thought of Daiki as an irritating troll and thief who chooses to steal anything he considers "that world's treasure". In Shinkenger Act 21, Genta's screen time was considerably lower considering that he was chasing after Daiki. The Decade/Shinkenger crossover shows both Shinken Gold and DiEnd duke it out. For more than once, I think Daiki is one annoying douchebag who fortunately is not in the same level as Masato Kusaka in Kamen Rider Faiz.





Now enter Tsukasa. as a retainer of the Shiba household...



In Kamen Rider Decade, Tsukasa's attire changes to blend in and in this case, he becomes a retainer of the Shiba Household for two episodes. The photo studio suddenly appears into the World of Shinkenger. Everyone was shocked to find out that they have entered into strange new world. This world is a "World Without Riders" - and the World of Shinkenger is trying to expel the Decade to maintain its balance.





One got sick, the other managed to stay healthy.





The roles of Kimberly and Mako had a huge gap in terms of writing. I always thought that Kimberly getting sick, staying in bed and later forced to fight Repellator (the monster sent by Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa) alone was plain bad writing. In the Shinkenger and Decade crossover - it's fortunate Mako was healthy for the whole crossover. I don't know how I'd react if Mako was also sick for the crossover considering I was already pissed off enough with Kimberly being sick!







Too bad Repellator never got this awesome!









The epic team up is finally realized!

This results to a rather epic clash as the Shinkengers, Alternate Reality Kamen Rider Kuuga and Kamen Rider Decade team up to defeat the monster. Chinomarako releases Moose Fangire and Eagle Undead to aid him in the battle. The team up could have not gotten any better. There were really lots of cool action scenes with special effects to complement the whole scene. I thought how Chinomarako was carried out to be much better than how Repellator was carried out in the crossover. While Repellator was on Earth fighting a terribly sick Kimberly while the others were on Edenoi in "A Friend in Need", Chinomarako does something rather interesting. He gets the DiEnd Card in the first part and becomes an evil Kamen Rider. I just love the badass design of this guy and how he creates an imbalance into the World of Shinkenger.This results to a rather epic clash as the Shinkengers, Alternate Reality Kamen Rider Kuuga and Kamen Rider Decade team up to defeat the monster. Chinomarako releases Moose Fangire and Eagle Undead to aid him in the battle. The team up could have not gotten any better. There were really lots of cool action scenes with special effects to complement the whole scene.





Ecto Phase Activate! Nope it's actually Kamen Rider Black RX!



What was not surprising for me was that after the World of Shinkenger, the cast of Kamen Rider Decade prepares to leave for the World of Kamen Rider Black RX. The next two episodes would feature Tetsuo Kurata play as two versions of his iconic character Kotaro Minami. The first version of Kotaro became Kamen Rider Black RX while the other version remained as Kamen Rider Black. I thought the next two episodes were pretty good as well.



Final thoughts on the Shinkenger/Decade crossover



Sad to say but I will always have Kamen Rider Decade in my bad books. I always compared my dislike for the show to Saban's Masked Rider. On the other hand, I still feel like the whole crossover was a nod to "A Friend In Need" especially how the cast of Kamen Rider Decade would enter into the World of Black RX for the next two episodes. Some may disagree with me and say it's probably just a coincidence and I respect that as long as they don't spew hateful comments since I respect people who share a different opinion from mine.



Later on, we would also get more official Super Sentai and Kamen Rider crossovers. The Super Hero Taisen movie was mega-crossover movie involving the Super Sentai teams and Kamen Riders where they are taken from their continuities and merged into an entire movie, followed by Super Hero Taisen Z which included other Tokusatsu heroes. Ressha Sentai ToQGer vs. Kamen Rider Gaim and Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. Kamen Rider Drive were TV movies similar to the Super Sentai vs. Super Sentai post-series crossvovers such as JAKQ vs. Goranger or much later, Ohranger vs. Kakuranger which started the annual tradition of yearly crossovers.



While I may not like Tokusatsu as much as I used to but I hope Toei will continue to explore the potential of Super Sentai vs. Kamen Rider for a newer batch of children.



