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07-13-2020, 08:29 PM | #1 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Hi! I’m Kamen Rider Die, and this is a thread where I watch Kamen Rider Blade. It’ll be me talking with other fans about a show I’ve never watched before, and it’d be awesome if you wanted to join us.
Before we get into it, I want to take a paragraph to remind/inform folks that DreamSword is doing a very fun thread called “DS Wants You! To Watch Toku(-inspired) Anime!” They’re currently taking a look at the Kikaider animated series, which… I mean, it looks very fun, but it’s still insane to me that there’d be an animated spin-off of a character who showed up in one episode of Gaim. One! And they got a whole animated thing that Kota never even shows up in. (I don’t know, maybe he will? Is that a spoiler?) But, shit, they made a whole prequel series AND a sequel series for those weird train kids who were in that one Gaim special where Kota’s like Maybe I Should Get These Weird Train Kids To Kidnap My Best Friend, so what do I know. Anyway, DreamSword is delving into some very cool corners of the toku universe (tokuniverse?), and you should all go check it out. Okay, let’s talk talking about Blade. I’ve done a handful of these threads before, some good (Faiz was fun, I felt like I had something to say about Build), some less good (never really got a handle on Ryuki I feel like, Kuuga wasn’t so much for me). They’ve all got the same basic Warnings And Suggestions, so let’s get those out of the way first. PLEASE DON’T TALK ABOUT ANY EPISODES OF BLADE THAT I HAVEN’T GOTTEN TO YET: I’m watching this for the first time, and I really like to experience these episodes as cleanly as possible. Please don’t spoil stuff for me. If you can, try and refrain from hinting at future stuff because that ends up coloring my expectations. Any episode I’ve talked about is totally fair game. Anything I haven’t gotten to, like… maybe make yourself a note and we can talk about it later? ALSO, PLEASE DON’T TALK ABOUT SERIES I HAVEN’T WATCHED YET: I’m eventually going to be watching Hibiki through Decade, and Zi-O on up. Please don’t mention anything from those shows. Thanks! THERE ARE SERIES I MIGHT RUIN FOR YOU, THOUGH: Not intentionally, but stuff might come up. In general, I’ve watched Kuuga through Faiz, and Double through Build. There is a chance I might talk about twists and reveals from those series, so if you’re trying to stay unspoiled… maybe skip this thread? Or watch all of those shows beforehand? I don’t go through a series super fast, so you could probably knock off whatever you’ve skipped and still read along with me on this. I don’t know. I don’t know how busy your summer is going to be. It’s an option, is what I’m getting at. MY APPROACH IS MAYBE NOT FOR EVERYONE: In case you haven’t picked up on it, I am trying to have fun with this. I love Kamen Rider, I love thinking about Kamen Rider, and I love talking about Kamen Rider with other fans. I care a lot about the themes and messages of a series, as well as the character development and performances. But I will absolutely crack jokes about every single element I love. It… just because I love it does not mean I can’t make fun of it. They are not mutually exclusive approaches to me. There will be posts where I talk about how some tiny detail breaks my heart (there is a sequence in Ryuki where cutlery is straightened that makes me cry when I think about it), and there will also be posts where I go off on weird tangents and make up names for characters. Sometimes they’re even the same post! I have a lot of enthusiasm for Kamen Rider, and it comes out in very weird ways. Consider this a warning. I AM ONLY DOING THIS SO I CAN TALK WITH FANS ABOUT KAMEN RIDER: When I do a post about a Blade episode, it isn’t a final word, it’s a conversation starter. If you agree with what I got out of it, if you disagree, if you’ve got a story about the episode you want to share, if you’ve got a funny joke, if you’ve got a question, I want to hear all of it. I’m very excited to hear what everyone else thinks of Blade, and I feel very lucky to get to explore it with you all. Please don’t hesitate to chime in! NEVER FORGET THAT YOU’RE TALKING TO HUMAN BEINGS: We’re going to be discussing art, and that means that we’re going to be wading into subjective waters. We are going to be talking about opinions, not facts. Please be open to other people’s views, and please be considerate when you have a disagreement. It is totally cool if you have a different take on what’s going on in Blade, it is very not cool if you make someone else feel bad for having a different take on what’s going on in Blade. Be a good TokuNation member! I think that’s it! All of the liability disclaimer stuff is in the bag (if you can read this sentence, you waive your right to complain about any of my opinions at a later date), and I think we’re good to go on Blade. Let’s have some fun! Quote:
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07-13-2020, 08:38 PM | #2 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 01
This time on Kamen Rider Blade: It’s the first episode! We meet our gigantic cast, Tachibana lets loose a biblical plague on BOARD, and Kenzaki fights Another Agito. (???) Sort-of a rough first episode, man. Not… probably not going to be my favorite premiere ever! Starting the series with the title character already a Rider, it’s maybe not my favorite framework for a show. It feels like you’ve missed out on the easy exposition of someone figuring out their name, their powers, the enemies, the stakes, and now you’ve got to do all that with a much higher degree of difficulty. Like, the audience still needs all of that information, right? So it needs to be brought out from a supporting cast member, or dropped in via flashbacks, or exposited from some separate group, or or or. It’s not like you can’t do it that way, it’s just so much more difficult. It’s easy to spend so much time looking backwards, filling in blanks, that you don’t leave yourself a lot of room to tell the current story of the show. (For example, I think Wizard handled it fine, while Agito made it such a big dumb mystery that it smothered some of the better elements of the show. Build… sort-of split the difference?) Jumping into a series with Kenzaki as Blade and Tachibana as Garren, it’s disorienting. Within a few minutes, though, you get all of the key info: they’re Riders, they work for BOARD, they’re hunting Undead. Tachibana has been at this a little longer than Kenzaki. Tachibana is not in great shape, and Kenzaki maybe doesn’t take this all as seriously as he should. Also, cards. It’s all… I don’t know, it’s just information, and comes at us so so fast. There’s all these people, and I’m given little flashes of what their deal is, but… I don’t know, it wasn’t connecting? It was like I’d started at Episode 20 and there was all this weight to these scenes, but it was lost on me. With a first episode, I’m at a distance. I don’t know or care about any of these people yet. Starting in media res, starting with character relationships established, starting with a main character partly down their path, it’s hard for me to invest in these people, let alone feel anything when stuff starts to go sideways. Which, man, that was where this episode kind-of lost me. I barely have a handle on what’s going on or why, and then Tachibana takes out BOARD. It’s a betrayal by a character I don’t know, which emotionally wounds a character I’m not that invested in. I don’t… why would you do this at the end of the first episode? Why assume that it’s going to mean anything to the audience? You’re blowing up a premise that you just set up, and even then it’s not nearly the most interesting premise in the show! Why make that the end of your first episode? And, yeah, man, not nearly the most interesting thing in this show so far! That goes to Kotaro, who is the bright spot for me in the first episode. I love his energy, I love his smarts, I love how he gets the best scene in the episode out of the title character. That’s a supporting cast all-star, if they’ve got that move available. It’s a fun way to potentially fill in Kenzaki’s backstory, to have him interviewed by someone in the cast to get at all of those little details and plot points. Moreover, I’m real into it if we get Kenzaki’s feelings on what happened since he became Kamen Rider Blade. I’d hope that would be where the series would go with it, but, between BOARD getting taken out/mildly sidelined (hard to tell!) and all of the stuff that gets introduced about Kotaro’s family, I don’t feel that confident in making predictions about where this story is going. Which, god, so many characters in this thing! I don’t know that we needed to meet Kotaro’s sister and niece, or start learning about their Mysterious Tenant, in the first goddamn episode, but they’re here, and they’re alright? It’s a cute scene, and it’s nice to learn more about the only character I really connected with so far. (Wow, Kamen Rider Die gets immediately invested in the dude who wants to write about Kamen Riders. SHOCK SURPRISE.) But, seriously, it’s too much. It’s a real Too Much premiere, if I’m being honest. They backburner the most important part, giving me a reason to care about Kamen Rider Blade, in favor of a series of twists that are so airless and irrelevant that they might as well not have happened, and character introductions that might as well have been a Previously On Kamen Rider Blade. It’s ten pounds of story in a five-pound premiere. And, look. I like Kenzaki! He’s got some fun comedic timing. I like his underdog take on being a masked hero. I like that he’s not got it all together. I like how he gives jokey, bullshit, self-deprecating answers because he’s haunted by loss and rage. (That dream sequence! Yes!) I like his time with Kotaro especially, and if that’d been the premiere, I’d’ve been so much happier. But this thing’s nearly all plot, all premise. There’s so little space for spark, and no space for themes. I don’t know what I’m supposed to care about, what I’m supposed to want to happen. I want to care about these people, and this show seems to want me to care about their world. Just… not what I want out of a first episode. Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: Slaps! Anguished men! Children in danger! And I guess a new Rider maybe!
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Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 08-10-2023 at 11:33 AM.. |
07-13-2020, 08:42 PM | #3 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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I'll have loads of other things I want to say besides this, but before I do anything else, especially since this is the first not-Die post in the thread, I need to make an announcement. I'm retiring from translation policing to pursue a career in education. So pull up a seat for the first of what may become many installments of...
Learning Ondul the Easy WEEEEEEI! (#1) There's absolutely no getting around the onslaught of memes when talking about Blade, so any aspiring Kamen Rider fan needs to be prepared with the knowledge of how this one particular series became such a source of humor for the fandom at large. Let's get right to the point and familiarize ourselves with the basics. What the heck is an "Ondul"? Blade quickly became infamous among Japanese viewers when it was airing, especially early on in the series, for the consistent trouble the actors had delivering their lines clearly. Words being slurred together, mispronounced syllables, and questionable emphasis turned into easy fodder for jokes, and one line in particular from the first episode reigned supreme above all others as the symbol of the entire quirky bit of fandom culture. Kenzaki's shocked reaction here would be written in Japanese as: hontou ni uragittan desu ka?! That is, it WOULD be written that way, if Kenzaki's high-tension delivery didn't leave it sounding to many a Japanese ear like: ondurururagittandisukaa?! A textbook example of the show's poorly articulated dialogue, the first bit of the line, "onduru", was taken to be the name of the "language" the characters were speaking, resulting in the creation of オンドゥル語 (ondurugo), literally, the Ondul language. There are a few different ways the term could be translated. I think I've seen both Ondulish and Ondulese, but for simplicity's sake, I'm just going to be calling it Ondul. But how big a meme can this "Ondul" language really be? HUGE! It can be huge! Darn near every character in Blade gets in on it at some point or another, with fans being more than happy to share the quotes at any opportunity. What started as genuine frustration at difficult to understand dialogue quickly became affectionate ribbing from fans actively looking to mishear things for comedic value. Ondul's influence hangs over the series' reputation to this day, and two characters in particular are its patron saints. Hang around the right circles long enough and you'll come to know them as (0w0) and (0M0). This might be a good time to mention that Blade's Riders all come with their own emoticons too, inspired by the designs of their helmets, naturally. They also get used for super-deformed fan art quite often. (0w0) is Blade himself, Kazuma Kenzaki, perhaps better known as Kenjaki, prince of the Ondul planet. His excitable nature makes him more liable than anyone else to speak in a rushed, incoherent manner, earning him his royal position. This is to the point he's famous for saying "Heshin!" instead of "henshin". Similarly iconic is his propensity for shouting "WEEEI!!!" during battle. The corrupted "Kenjaki" comes from how Tachibana frequently pronounces his name. (0M0) is Garren, Sakuya Tachibana. Of course, most people just call him Tachibana-san. He's known in Ondul as Dadiyaanazan, or "Dadi" for short. This is inspired by Kenzaki's pronunciation of his name, which should really tell you what a duo these guys make. Tachibana, for his part, is arguably the real face of Blade-related memes, with an absurdly huge number of fondly remembered moments throughout the series we'll be getting to in due time. Well gosh, all that sure is a lot to take in. How about we just focus on the premiere for now? That's a swell idea! Unfortunately, that won't actually help keep things shorter! Blade's first episode isn't even a goldmine of memes so much as a straight up treasure chest full of perfectly cut diamonds. This introductory lecture has gone on plenty long already, so I'll stick to mentioning the three main scenes that generate the majority of memetic lines for the episode. - The ending, with literally everything out of Kenzaki's mouth being a flagship meme. "Why are you watching?!" (naze miterun desu?! -> nazemiterundisu?!) being right under "Have you really betrayed us?" in terms of popularity, with both gaining a fair bit of traction even in the English-speaking fandom. Springing out of this, the visual of Garren leering from behind a wall is also a cornerstone of Ondul culture, despite not directly involving speech. - Tachibana's confrontation with Karasuma, with the distorted flashback direction doing little to help make the already screamy dialogue easier to understand. Again, every single line is quite popular, but "Shut up! I've had enough!" (fuzakeru na! mou ii! -> fujakeruna!moai!), and his downright incomprehensible rendition of "If you get in my way, then who knows what'll happen to BOARD!" (ore no jama wo suru nara tatoe kono bo-do demo! -> orenojamawosurunarakataippuropoppodero!) being standouts. - Kenzaki's conversation with his landlady, entirely for his lines. Again, every single one of them. It's not as iconic as the scene that gives the meme its name, but this one is what really proved Kenzaki the undisputed master of the Ondul language. That concludes today's lesson. With this knowledge in hand, you should be more than ready to start diving into the wonderful world of Blade memes! Students wishing to do some extra studying are encouraged to go over the below video, which complies every instance of Ondul in the first episode. https://youtu.be/1JO-hxdagUc
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07-13-2020, 08:45 PM | #4 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Getting back to Very Serious Opinions about Kamen Rider, though...
You're basically expected to feel this way about Blade's premiere. Everyone does. I vividly remember thinking I double clicked the wrong file or something when I first watched it. I think there are actually a lot of very smart things about it, and benefits to the decisions it makes that pay off later, but all of that, it's only really easy to appreciate on a rewatch. This is part of the reason it became a bit of a laughing stock in Japan at first. I don't think Ondul started anywhere near as playful as it became later on.
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07-13-2020, 08:50 PM | #5 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Quote:
But, sincerely, thank you for the information. It is exhaustive and exhausting, but mostly exhaustive. You are, as always, my hero. (please don't send a swarm of insects after me kthx)
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07-13-2020, 09:03 PM | #6 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
Getting back to Very Serious Opinions about Kamen Rider, though...
You're basically expected to feel this way about Blade's premiere. Everyone does. I vividly remember thinking I double clicked the wrong file or something when I first watched it. I think there are actually a lot of very smart things about it, and benefits to the decisions it makes that pay off later, but all of that, it's only really easy to appreciate on a rewatch. This is part of the reason it became a bit of a laughing stock in Japan at first. I don't think Ondul started anywhere near as playful as it became later on. It's all just how much stuff there is, when a pared-down concept would've let me feel something for the characters. I don't know. I'm not sure what you should cut? I feel like letting the first episode be the BOARD stuff, and letting Kotaro (and that whole side of the plot) wait until the second episode, that might've been smart. But the Kotaro stuff is great? And it's probably going to be harder to get funny Kenzaki to move in with some nosey reporter after Tachibana betrayed him? Tough to say.
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07-13-2020, 09:10 PM | #7 |
I got nothing
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 148
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So welcome to Blade my favorite installment of the Phase 1 Heisei era. I guess if Fish is gojng to explain the actual fun parts I’ll do the explanations for the riders themeing.
I feel like the playing card and the standard insect theme is pretty obvious with the undead being sealed into cards and Blade and Garren having a spade and diamond theme respectively but the themeing also goes for their names and weapons (rousers). The spade is also known as the suit of swords and is where his name and weapon comes from, while the diamond is also known as the suit if coins with Garren being a “corruption” of Galleon a type of coin from Harry Potter* I don’t know how a gun fits into that but it’s the only real odd part out of all the riders. Also unrelated but the names for their bikes are Blue Spader and Red Rhombus respectively. *Harry Potter was really big at the time and was the souce of the magic themeing for Magiranger that aired a year later Last edited by Zatyme; 07-13-2020 at 09:24 PM.. |
07-13-2020, 09:27 PM | #8 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
Quote:
I feel the playing card theme is pretty obvious with the undead being sealed into cards and Blade and Garren having a spade and diamond theme respectively but the themeing also goes for their names and weapons (rousers). The spade is also known as the suit of swords and is where his name and weapon comes from, while the diamond is also known as the suit if coins with Garren being a “corruption” of Galleon a type of coin from Harry Potter* I don’t know how a gun fits into that but it’s the only real odd part out of all the riders.
*Harry Potter was really big at the time and was the souce of the magic themeing for Magiranger that aired a year later I'm less into the beetle and Whatever Insect Or Animal Garren Is motif, but I've watched too much Kamen Rider to start suddenly being irritated by bug motifs. It'd be like a Sentai fan getting upset at dinosaurs, you know? It's like, pick a new franchise, then. Thanks for the additional info!
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07-13-2020, 09:31 PM | #9 |
I got nothing
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 148
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Garren is a stag beetle, making Blade the first instance of the Japanese beetle brothers showing up in Kamen Rider
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07-13-2020, 09:31 PM | #10 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,426
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The media res opening doesn't bother me, honestly. Like Die said, you get a lot of the basics pretty quickly and I never really felt lost and confused.
About the concept, at least. So there's this thing about Blade that made my first watch-through kind of difficult (and I've read it was an issue for some others, too). 2004 must have been a year where there was a really popular hairstyle in Japan, because it took me a few episodes to get the facial features down enough to clearly tell Kenzaki and Kotaro apart (and Hajime, to a lesser extent). Hair is one of the main characteristics I use to distinguish people and it took me a good 2-3 episodes to really get everyone down. It really threw off some of the scenes in the premiere. Now, watching the premiere again I know who everyone is, but there's another issue that really stood out to me and it's something else that Die mentioned: man, this episode is overstuffed. Coming off of Faiz, in particular, there is so much stuff going on here. Faiz really eased us into the show - episode 1 is all about Yuuji and Mari, 2 brings Takumi more to the front, 3 and 4 are focused around Keitaro and Yuka, etc. Blade throws Kenzaki, Tachibana, Kotaro, Kotaro's sister and bratty niece, the sister's border, BOARD, BOARD's chief, and Hirose. That's a ton of characters and concepts for 23 minutes. That would be hard to follow even with proper enunciation. It's also kind of ironic, given Blade has a reputation for its slow start. Not a universal opinion, but Blade is one of those shows that picks up a lot in terms of action and story as it goes on. It's always been one of my favorites. And finally, a couple points of cast trivia: you probably recognize Tachibana as Principal Hayame from Fourze, but Kotaro's niece, Amane, was on the show, too. She appeared in several episodes as Ritsuko Usaka, the head of the school's witch cult. |
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