About to start watching Kamen Rider Blade
 

Well in honor of this glorious new website, and cause I got a friend who will not shut up until I do, i am gonna watch kamen rider blade. I still need to finish on agito, but its hard when the only computer that can handle it is in another room

Blade starts off at a slow pace, and you may want to stop at times, but just keep going. Around the mid-teens it starts to get really good and your time/effort will really pay off.

Seriously, steal the other computer and finish Agito.

I really wished it was that easy HAHA I really love what i have seen of agito, but i need something to watch when i can't get on that other computer haha

finished episode 2 of blade, this show is insanely serious, so far i'm liking it, Garren is my favorite design so far, though we've barely gotten to see him :(

Yep, Blade has a very serious tone, but it does lighten up a bit, especially for a 2-part comedy episode written by everybody's favorite guy, Inoue! And don't worry, you'll be seeing more Tachibana-San soon enough.

^good, his design is partially why i was interested in Blade a little bit in the first place

I agree... and ignore Blade altogether. Despite all the bandwagon jumpers... I don't know how anyone can like that series. It's redeeming factor is its brilliant integration of its gimmick into the show. The rest = poop.

It's weird, I disagree almost entirely, but I can't justify calling the series good properly.
At any rate, if Rider shows were graded on a "quality hill", with the ground being "poor" and the top of the hill being "good" before going back down, moving from left to right as a series goes on, Blade would start at the bottom, begin a leisurely stroll upwards and eventually get to the top... at which point it would activate its awesomeness jet-pack, soaring to the hidden "excellent" level and never leaving.
I think the ending might have colored my opinion of the whole show though, and then I've only seen one episode of Agito, and then I've proven myself incapable of hating a Kamen Rider not named Shin.

You know what, just alternate between the two, that's how I've been playing catch-up since I started watching Kamen Rider.

The key to Blade is perserverance. As a massive massive fan of the series, the first 10-15 episodes are god awful. The BOARD storyline is dull, Garren is far too haphazard and all the weaknesses of Blade as a character are rammed down your throat. Only Chalice is really on form from the get go. Once you get over the opening hurdle, this series becomes good. Oh so very hella good. The focus shifts, the plot kicks up a level. The action improves. Yes, you have a new character introduced who is a dull pain in the ass, but he's thankfully only a secondary character, rather than a proper protagonist.

Blade was without a doubt the hardest Rider shows for me to get all the way through, so far.
I had to take a 3 month break at the half way point. The show is just very bland & boring. Even after the "half way" mark where it's "suppose" to pick up.
It was a grind to sit & watch. Without posting spoilers, When you can replace the last episode of the show with the Movie & get a far better ending to the series. It's kind of a piss off.

Yeah, but that's been done before. Look at Ryuki. It's a common thing in japanese fiction.

FINALLY you decide to get back to watching Blade. FINALLY.
I can rest easy knowing that Kenzaki has a potential new fan. =P

I have not watched Ryuki yet, but good to know.

I.......I can't agree with this at all.

Couldn't disagree more. I think Blade's ending is one of the best in the entire Rider franchise. Kenzaki is asked to choose between saving the life of his best friend or saving the world and he decides to go for option #3 - sacrificing his humanity so that Hajime can live. It's really emotionally powerful, especially when Hajime realizes what Kenzaki is planning and tries to stop him. The ending and the lengths Kenzaki is willing to go to to protect his friends is one of the big things that makes him one of my favorite Riders and that puts Blade pretty high up on my favorite shows list.

In fact, I'd love to see Blade get a US version that keeps the plot largely intact but makes Chalice female to make the Blade/Chalice relationship more of a romance. Doing that and keeping the same ending would make it even more emotionally powerful.

I will never understand the "Blade starts off slow" thing. I thought it was amazing from episode 1. Blade is the 2nd best KR series ever made IMO.

Yeah, I don't understand the "Blade starts slow" thing either, I thought it was great start to finish.

It really started as good as any episode of Faiz ever was. It just got better from there.

Also, NemyPred, Missing Ace does not offer a better ending. A less depressing one perhaps, but not better. The whole movie just feels "wrong" to me, like the writer was trying to compress 20 episodes of story-arcs and plot-points into 90 minutes. Everything is just kind of glossed over.

So without further ado, Wall Of Text, engage!

I also kind of admire the series' ending to the series for how ballsy it was. Ryuki and (mostly) Faiz have a decent reputation for their non-endings, but with Blade, it works. The show sets up an epic confrontation between two friends, with the world at stake, and then Kenzaki says "no".

Blade, doesn't have any really apparent themes, but I'd wager one of them is that Humanity, on the whole, is nice. Hajime and the Tarantula Undead both grow to like the less savage traits of Humans. Garren's love for Sayoko is what allowed him to fight in the first place. Mutsuki's girlfriend was, on top of how much Leangle sucks, the only thing keeping him from being a straight villain.

So it's only natural that when the time comes for them to fight, Joker is implied to want to be sealed, so as to save the world, and Kenzaki is still trying to find a way to save the world that lets Hajime live. In the end, he does something truly selfless for the sake of helping his friend, and that's the end, barring one or two depressing shots of Hajime Hallucinating Kenzaki sitting on a bench.

That's why Blade's ending is great.

Switchblade & Fish Sandwich (btw, that's an awesome name)

I certainly see & respect what you guys are saying. Personal tastes differ & I just can't see Blade in that light.

Now just in-case I break the internet with the above comment. let me balance it out.
*rage rage rage* *stomp stomp stomp* *rage rage rage*
Ok, we should be good now. :cool:

Nope, I'm seeing at least five black holes right about now, I think one of them is actually about to-*dies*

Joking aside, I suppose if I were capable of changing your opinion, it wouldn't be strong enough to be worth changing.

It makes me happy knowing there are Kenzaki fans. ; ;

I got to episode 10 of Blade in November. Still trying to push myself to keep going on.