The Medusa and Gremlin skits are probably the last thing I'll see before I die. That's what's saved up in the last neuron.

And, shit, while I'd say there's no topping those, can you think of a Net Movie series better than Wizard joining the All-Showa Kamen Rider Police Force? Can you?!

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 29

This time on Whatever The Hell Inoue Felt Like Writing About: Hajime loses his memory, meets his conflict-averse doppelganger, and falls smack-dab in the middle of a Romeo & Juliet-style war between two street food empires! That’s basically it, because did you even read that last sentence!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29a.png

It’s a really fun episode, obviously. It’s very light-hearted, giving almost everyone in the cast a chance to either play straight man or comedian. Hajime even gets to play both! It’s also doing a thing I don’t think Inoue gets enough (any?) credit for, which is trying to foreground what it’s doing thematically. It’d be enough to just have the stuffed street foods, two of them, to represent Hajime and Ryou. It’s smart to have both families stymied by people thinking you can just shove something new inside and it’s going to be better. (I'd honestly be into that banana taiyaki.) But Ryou and his dad both give their family’s advice on takoyaki, which is that you have to honor the ingredients, stay true to them, and by doing so the whole snack tastes better. You don’t have to make it differently, you have to make it by understanding why those things are inside. It doesn’t need to have anything replaced, you just need to appreciate what’s already there. It’s a good theme to have if you’re doing a switcheroo/amnesia comedy, and I like how central Inoue makes that theme.

Also, holy shit, the directing and editing in this one is… you guys. I’m just going to talk about screencaps on this episode.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29-1.png

Opening scene with Medusa Undead Or Whatever. I love this angle on her, shot from below. The filter makes everything feel uneasy, unsafe, and the big metal railing shooting diagonally through the frame is a nice touch. She’s not a powerful looking woman, but this framing sells her as a terrifying opponent.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29-2.png

The whole first Team Blade scene is shot outside on the farm, with Kotaro looking for Natural and criticizing Hajime for being either someone who trusts in the people around him to make the best decisions for themselves, or a complete asshole, depending on who you ask.

But the scene keeps playing and we pull back through a window, over Hirose’s head, and we’re in a scene where she’s talking to Kenzaki and Tachibana about what happened to Shima and Mutsuki. Just a great camera move to get us from one tone to another.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29-3.png

Then we get them extreme dutch angles! Look at how obscured nearly everyone in this shot is. Hirose is washed out by the window. Tachibana’s got his head in his hand. Kenzaki’s the only one fully visible, and he’s so pensive that he’s all you need to see. It’s a shot that says that they are lost, with a huge sacrifice that either saved the day or doomed them all, nobody knows. And then they fade to black before the credits! It’s solemn as hell!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29-4.png

This is a little one, but I like the tracking a lot. It starts on the sign outside Mutsuki’s house, while Nozomi gets turned away by his parents. It’s only after she finishes talking that the camera pans left to catch her walking away from the front door. (All of that was almost definitely because no one felt like paying Mutsuki’s mom or dad for one nighttime scene with Nozomi.) Also, man, the vertical break of that sign and hedge are a great visual bookend to Mutsuki’s scene, which is next!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29-5.png

It’s not my favorite shot. It’s a little on the nose, with the spider web of mirror pieces reflecting… whatever is going with Mutsuki. (Spoiler, this is the last we see of him in this episode!) But it’s still a gorgeous shot, and there’s that vertical break of the wall on his left as he walks out of the shot, into a headlight, fading into nothingness. Great composition.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29-6.png

But, y’know, not just a dour episode of psychological mystery! It’s also a story where Hajime loses his memory and switches places with a pushy sexcreep named Ryou, so there’s going to need to be some gags. The Ryou ones are mostly based around how easygoing and ingratiating Ryou is, and how those would be the last words you’d use to describe Hajime, coming in just after Victorian and woolen. This shot is killer, with Ryou mugging it up, practically telling everyone that it’s time to par-tay, and everyone else frozen in shock. Even Kotaro’s dropped milk bottle stays frozen in the air, until Ryou finishes his shtick. Priceless.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29-7.png

I love this exterior shot. The room that Michi and Hajime are in is microscopic, barely enough for the two of them and the camera, so we get this nice shot of her out the window, doing a little bit of dialogue. It’s a pretty shot, a bunch of rectangles receding into the distance.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29-8.png

The blocking for this gag! Chef’s kiss!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...blade29-9a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...blade29-9b.png

Double chef’s kiss!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...lade29-10a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...lade29-10b.png

And then we hit the cliffhanger, crosscut between Ryou screaming in Tachibana-esque terror, and Hajime getting married to Michi in an attempt to solidify the takoyaki family’s standing in the cutthroat world of Japanese street food.

INOUE FOREVER.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade29b.png

Next time on Jesus Who Even Knows: I’m pretty sure my birthday isn’t until November, but I’m not sure I’ll be getting a better gift than whatever I just saw in this teaser.

Bye Hajime. I hope his new life in perilous street food treats him better than being Chalice has.

I can't believe I don't remember these episodes at all, but it's already reminding me (or I guess it should be the other way around) of the Gaim Gaiden starring Baron, the one where Kaito meets a goofy doppelganger. I have to imagine there was some inspiration there.

The part of this most reminded me of Baron is when amnesiac Hajime remembers that he MUST BE VICTORIOUS and dedicates himself to making takoyaki. That core value of Dominance coming out in whatever field he finds himself is 1000% Kaito.

But, yeah, plot-wise, this is very similar! The comedy character tricking the stoic badass into taking over their weirdly-dangerous life, it's got some echoes of that Gaim Gaiden flick.

I personally feel Inoue's style of writing works best in these more outlandish episodes of Rider where he can just go wild.

He's a big swing type of writer, where it's got to be either insanely goofy or heartbreakingly sad. Anytime he tries to write a Normal Kamen Rider... it's like, why would you ask him to do that? Why ask the Cirque du Soleil to do a card trick? I want spectacle from my Inoue episodes, goddamnit! Weird psychopaths dying heroic deaths, or grim monsters from eternity getting married so a takoyaki crime boss can believe again! YOU CAN'T SHACKLE ART!

The head of the takoyaki chefs is Taro Suwa, who has multiple appearances in toku. Most notable roles he did are the Kyoryu Curry regular from Abaranger, ramen vendor in Kamen Rider Agito, and the pianist in one of the Kamen Rider Den-O episodes. Also another familiar face is Mio Fukuzumi who plays the serpent undead, and is most known as Wendinu from Hurricaneger. And she was also Mayumi aka the girlfriend of Ryo/Gills in Kamen Rider Agito.

Yeah when I realized this I really started gel with his work so much more. Heck, one of my favorite arcs in Zi-O is the Kiva arc not from a tribute perspective because that awful tribute, but from a Inoue-spectacle perspective. just the manhole covers.

Yes! Thank you! I knew I knew that dude from somewhere.

One of my favorite things about Inoue's writing is that, while SPECTACLE is the height and the width, there's always depth. This is a story that (so far) is about Kotaro not appreciating Hajime, and him (hopefully) finding out that there's value to Hajime's outlook and approach. It's not just wacky hijinks, it's thematically-grounded wacky hijinks.

He said he had no choice to reveal his Undead form when fighting Hajime in ep. 26.

Though for not taking away the addictive substance, in this instance, it's out of touch with reality as the Leangle belt keeps returning to him! It's truly inescapable here, it's not simply that he has to give up because he doesn't deserve to be a Rider, Mutsuki is right that he's chosen... by Spider Undead as his host. Kenzaki needs to accept this, he's been told several times as for now, previously by Tachibana, now by Shima, and instead focuses on dealing with Spider Undead instead of jjudging Mutsuki as for now. The only way this time was letting Mutsuki keep the belt and guide him to suppress the Spider Undead's influence, which Tachibana tries to do. Nozomi's proximity was also handled by Shima, as he can use the wind to deliver what someone says inside their heart to others (i̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶p̶e̶r̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶,̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶l̶e̶t̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶l̶e̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶).

With Tachibana being worthless here, just asking what do you think that Tachibana should do to deal with Mutsuki here? It seems that for now no one else other than Shima that can do it. And for talking with Nozomi.... him remarking about how he's used to be what Mutsuki is currently... the girlfriend part is (justificably) neglected here, something that strikes me the most here, while Mutsuki only let down Nozomi here (thankfully she doesn't react like she did at her debut where Amane guilt-tripped Mutsuki), Tachibana's actions made Sayoko outright died. Tachibana does something to help him but it was too late, he was hospitalized! When he arrived at the scene, Shima was already sealed.

I won't spoil you about what happened for Spider Undead, but Shima's sacrifice did an impact, as I've said above, it's something that only Shima can accomplish here.

There's a scene where Shima adviced Hirose to not let her face wrinkled, and Kotaro/Kenzaki missing the point that the beautiful woman refers to her right there, looking for others and Hirose taking a mirror. Also what they do here is trying to keep Shima alive by preventing him going sacrificing himself... though not really thinking how to deal with Mutsuki (Kenzaki said he doesn't want to lose him too).

I guess I meant that there isn't a Secret about Shima. He shows up, and at the end of his first episode we find out he's an Undead. Hajime, there's been a bunch of episodes where we are meant to be wondering about elements of his character.

But, like, that's the addiction metaphor. You don't cure someone's addiction by taking away the substance they're addicted to. An addict will always find more of what they want. In essence, they can't escape it. You have to address what's going on inside, manage the psychology, and then they can actually recover.

Kenzaki, unfortunately... this just isn't a tory he can take part in? The show really hasn't given him the tools to help Mutsuki out. Developmentally, Kenzaki isn't the character to reach a possessed teenager who thinks he's going to fight endlessly and lose his mind. Definitely more of a Tachibana and Shima problem to solve. I mean, shit, I'd love if the show had found a way to get Kenzaki involved, but the past two dozen episodes didn't really give him a way into this one.

I guess I would've liked to see Tachibana be more integral to the climax, if the show is going to spend so much of the episode focused on his feelings. I get that they wanted a downbeat ending, where Tachibana whiffs it again, but it just made me feel like the Tachibana scenes were unimportant.

They end up making Shima a meal that he's too busy fighting for Mutsuki's soul to go eat! It's not that the characters aren't in the episode, it's that they aren't in the story!

And, oh man, do not love that the show had several men telling the smart, competent team leader that she'd be prettier if she smiled more!

...And I actually get to talk about someone other than Ishida for once! This episode was directed by Satoshi Morota, who worked on Blade and Hibiki, and then also worked on every single Rider show from Double onwards, right up to Zero-One. I haven't developed the borderline obsessive worship for him I sort of stumbled into with Ishida, but the guy has definitely directed some gorgeous episodes of Kamen Rider, including Toucon Boost's debut in Ghost, which is one of my favorite Rider episodes ever, naturally. Good to know he was apparently already doing great work even back in 2004.

There's also a fun bit of trivia going on with the character names here I might as well point out, since Inoue likes to do that kind of thing. Rarely does the symbolism get more blunt than here though, where we have Hajime (始), a man whose name literally means "beginning", and his identical counterpart, yet the opposite of him in every way, whose name is Ryou (了), which literally means "ending".

And We’re back with the Rouse card Information Kiosk. This time, we have a pair of diamonds.

Absorb Serpent

A medusa-like monster that is hunting for the Joker, having the Tortoise Undead to aid her. Her hair changes to snakes and can be used as whips


* Suit: Diamond (♦)
* Category: Queen (Q)
* Effect name: ABSORB
* Card name: Absorb Orchid (アブソーブ・サーペント Abusōbu Sāpento)
* Consumption points: EP +2000

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20121110143111

Rock Tortoise

An Undead who aided the Serpent Undead as her bodyguard, attacking Blade and Garren to keep them from meddling in her affairs.

* Suit: Diamond (♦)
* Category: Seven (7)
* Effect name: ROCK
* Card name: Rock Tortoise (ロック・トータス Rokku Tōtasu)
* Consumption points: FP 1400


And since it was already mentioned, snake lady is the second inadvertent link this series has with Hurricaneger, despite the fact that, as far as I can gather (I haven’t seen Hurricaneger past episode 7 and it’s VS movies. The subs I have for later eps are just awful.), the two don’t have much in common.

The Takoyaki episode is such a bizarre trip, it's beautiful. The comedy, the symbolism, the Takoyaki, it's peak weird.

What's not to love?

I would've never known that about the names! Thank you! While they're a little straightforward, they're also probably better than what I came up with before learning Ryou's name: Hajime and Hajimenot

Is this a good point to mention that I think Kenzaki is an/the other Joker? From Karasuma's old "DOUBLEJOKER" password? Just putting that here. Please don't tell me if I'm right or wrong, I just wanted to mention it for future discussion.

(Some of the reason I think he's a Joker is from sort-of dimly recalling the Ex-Aid video series he was in, and some of the plot points I didn't get from that before, and some of the stuff Medusa Undead Or Whatever said to Chalice, and it all combining to make me think Kenzaki is a Joker.)

...Y'know, nothing. I sat here for a minute and tried to come up with something I didn't care for, and, nope! All killer, no filler.

Now how can there be a 'Double' Joker if there's not even a single Batman?! Though I guess we have a Spider-Man thanks to Leangle...

I went and rewatched these episodes really quick (and then binged on a few random other Blade scenes afterwards) and yeah, still can't believe I didn't remember any of this! Funny thing is that superhero hijinks mixed with running a food stall doesn't sound like it'd be too out of place as a premise for a Kamen Rider season of today either.

I have a soft spot for Noir For Kids, when someone's using crime tropes but tweaking it just slightly so it's goofy enough for kids to be entertained by.

For the food stall Kamen Rider premise, that is definitely what they should've done with the Specter movie. They'd already set up that Alain opened up a takoyaki stand, right? Missed opportunity!

Also, hey friends, today's my one-year anniversary on these boards. It's been a year of talking about a variety of Japanese superhero TV shows (the names escape me) and tiny plastic action mans. This community has been outstanding, welcoming me in and letting me be consistently weird about the Kamen Rider franchise. Thank you all so much for a fantastic year. (Only in the sense of participating in discussions on TokuNation; the rest of it has been an unmitigated shitshow.) Thank you for being people I now consider friends. I'm very much looking forward to another few years of talking about these shows with you.

Looking back, though, there's one thing I'm maybe proudest of, one post that still cracks me up when I think about it. Self-indulgently, here's my favorite post from the past year:

I won’t say anything, but I doubt it was planned at this point in the series. Not only were they going through a staff turnover, but Shirakura (the producer) has gone on record as saying that he never allows his writers to plan the show ahead of the episode they’re currently working on, to keep it fresh and unpredictable.

Not actually related to this thread, but Shout came out with official English DVDs now and they also have the whole series up for streaming on their website.

The Comically Serious for Hajime? It's a common trope btw in various medias. For the part of it being thematic, it'll also probably depends on how insightful on the audience of picking up those, which is why by that, I'm so doubtful to label anything that doesn't work as (objectively) bad, it can be just that it doesn't get to someone but another gets it. Back on the episode part, the theme would just mean anything that is good, even if not about something related to Kamen Rider series? (as KR also tried to give good themes).

Can't say anything but good analysis on the directing here, those here are great, but I also don't like a few others like the face close-ups.

Speaking of tone, the tone doesn't shift here? That it's still a tragedy either way, with Kotaro fruitlessly looking for Natural, which just strikes to anyone inside the house that this is tragedy.

I don't know what makes Hajime agree to switch lives with Ryou. And it's obvious that the others would be puzzled with what's going on with Hajime that he suddenly becomes sociable and it's a blast to watch, but the problem would be, what if Hajime returns to them, what would be their reaction and Hajime's, that shouldn't be forgotten in-universe, or to me, it'd be a bit writing blunder to me to just suddenly have amnesia on this moment. Hajime also probably watched how everyone is joyful on his environment as an another part of humanity. But there's also a comedy here that I don't like, the part where Michi lashes out at Ryou like throwing stuffs. It's the domestic abuse type (though it's probably not noticeable with its comedic traits... but domestic abuse is a common form of comedy); where female on male violence is presented as acceptable (while vice-versa it's always bad), if not encouraged, where it's further justified if she's a tsundere (in anime especially, but here too) that it's justified as "she's actually flirting if she's verbally or physically abusive!"

What will you say to those not abiding by that? ̶A̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶m̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶"̶r̶e̶s̶t̶r̶a̶i̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶I̶n̶o̶u̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶e̶v̶e̶r̶"̶ And again, informing more, those that had problems with Inoue I talked with, like you do (where you pointed out in Faiz where his sense of humor is definitely his strength), they also admit that he works better with parts like more comedic stuff like Changerion and Gouraigan (what they mentioned, this episode would qualify too perhaps), or at writing slice of life special (like this episode, so don't take this as me dissing this episode, I and others can appreciate this episode while not being blind) or being restrained (including that person I talked who had problems, they started with saying he did some really good work before talking about stuffs that makes him uncomfortable). Just that they won't be blind on him with his actual worse stuff which outweigh those good like the gross part in another that is being normalized. He's polarizing that he had both those 2 within him. So for saying he doesn't get enough credit of, they do give him that, but acknowledge his infamy. This also applies to akinoame, the reviewer I put at my signature, they give some defense to Inoue and stand by it (like writing Jetman and Agito), but they had limits on that and won't be blinded, for their case the problem being the...

Still, he can have his sthick but don't let it resort to something for example (not talking about this episode, but others); characters being OOC to fulfill that, leaving numerous plot hole to abide with his sthick, or the writers fighting with each other in the plot, due to the clashing style.

No, these episodes aren't him at his wildest, because for TV series, Inoue's on a leash, where it's agreed that he works better when restrained. But when not, his wildest is something seen at the Rider novel adaptations, where it's insanely edgelord-y, bordering on gross and disturbing things.

Oh, that's your favorite thing you'd done on this site. That clears up this mystery!

...I really hope #3 is writing those "Tezuka is a s*** roommate" gags, by the way. That joke didn't have much longevity, but it was amazing while it lasted. Much like Tezuka! :p

The tone doesn't shift so much as it darkens. The outside has some bits of levity, with Kotaro sniping at Hajime and Amane sticking up for him. Even the missing bird is, like, it's a bird? It's probably going to be okay. When the camera pulls inside, the room is darker than the bright outdoors, signifying that this part is serious. It's about a dead ("dead") friend, a lost ally, and a bunch of guilt.

They are welcome to their opinions!

I didn't really think beyond the first two, but if I'm picking a third thing, it was getting to talk about this scene from Build:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...isorasento.gif

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 30

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: Ryou, abandoned! Street food stands, in conflict! And the debut of Taiyaki Master Ultimate Form: Special Turbo! (Also Garren or whoever gets a new form, if you care about trivial details.)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade30a.png

It's late, I'm stuffed, and it's the finale to an Inoue fill-in. Let's get to it.

In a lot of ways, I should dislike this episode. It's not like Hajime needed to go on this journey, emotionally. This brief sojourn into a... not a simpler life, but maybe less Evil Monsters From Eternity life, it didn't really illuminate anything for Hajime. None of the core cast really grew at all because of this story. Kotaro's brief friendship with Hajime dissolves by the end, with Kotaro not thinking it strange that he weirdly got along really well with Hajime for a day and a half. Tachibana gets a Rouse Absorber, and it's done in a traditionally half-assed Inoue way. (At least Blade had to earn his Rouse Absorber through emotional growth. Garren gets handed the Absorber and the Queen!) It's a story that only matters for characters that we're likely to never see again.

And, y'know, writing it out like that, I guess I don't like this episode a whole lot? It's a step down from last episode, with more time given to the traditional Superhero Story elements. The Ryou/Michi storyline flourishes are great, but the Blade/Garren fight, along with Hajime's return to Amane, are the most perfunctory We Have A Quota story beats. It's a story that never really was about more than Ryou, and that makes it kind-of an unremarkable conclusion.

Like, it never really figured out what it was trying to say about Hajime, and that's a big knock against it. We never got to see what he was getting out of being Ryou, since he spends the entire story in a semi-amnesiac fog. He doesn't end up caring for Michi or the takoyaki gang or whatever. He just wanders into Ryou's story, and then wanders right the hell back out at the end.

Ryou's story, though, it's cute! It goes hard on being ridiculous, which is the stuff that works great in this one. The actual Hajime Is In Danger And The Team Needs To Stop The Undead, holy shit does no one involved in the making of this episode seem to care about that storyline. All of the momentum and tension is in Ryou reclaiming his life, and that part's hilarious.

I loved that Michi was able to convince Ryou's own father that the nearly-monosyllabic, dead-eyed Hajime was actually his son. (Bonus points for him declaring "I have two sons?!” when he first sees Ryou and Hajime together. Dude thought he'd miscounted his offspring all these years!) It's a great gag that, despite being a different personality entirely, people who've known Ryou for years accept that the talkative coward is somehow the imposter. It's a ludicrous premise, and I love that the show committed to it.

(Similarly, I like that when Team Blade has Ryou telling them what happened, Kenzaki's just like Oh That Wacky Hajime Trying To Get Out Of Fighting. I mean, it's normally insane to suggest that someone got replaced by their doppelganger due to narratively-convenient amnesia, but Kenzaki's bemused dismissal is equally as insane. But I love that choice in the writing! I love how dense and unobservant it makes Kenzaki! It's so stupid it's great!)

The rest of the Ryou story, it's formulaic, but the specifics are bonkers enough to forgive it. Ryou's suit of armor is... have they made that into a Figuarts yet?! The design is perfect, which is a lot more than I can say about Garren Jack Form. (The gold 100% doesn't work for me. Too busy!) It's a neat way for Ryou to feel like he's on Hajime's level, and just a hilarious bit of costuming. The light-up taiyaki! Brilliant.

Overall, this one was fine. The Ryou stuff was appropriately insane, but it's a bummer that Inoue couldn't figure out what he wanted to say about Hajime. It's like this story needed another half to it, and we never got one. Pretty fun, still, but not as relevant as I'd hoped for.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade30b.png

Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: New characters! An attack in Team Blade's living room! And probably a lot less emphasis on putting seafood inside batter!

What is the point of the show continuing if we're not following the adventures of Kamen Chef Taiyaki Master Extreme?!

I'm now extra surprised I didn't remember these episodes since Garren's Jack Form debuts here, but I'm also not at all surprised I didn't remember that a form debuted here because it's as if this writer goes out of his way to make those feel like afterthoughts. Still though, I can't say this wasn't fun, and as brief as it was, I kinda got invested in this conflict of food stalls? I might have found stronger feelings for it than I ever did some of the BOARD stuff...

Congratulations by the way of your one year anniversary of 'dying' and becoming a Ganma. Right up there with your montage of Houjou's finest moment, my personal favourite series of images in that thread was where Hikawa just runs away from Shouichi in favour of any other sensible reaction (I mean same).

The success of the Ryou story puts the absence of a Hajime story in such stark relief. It's like, if these episodes found a thing they were trying to say about Hajime, they'd be flawless. But instead, Hajime gets his memories back, story's over.

Ha ha, thanks! It's been a neat experience, talking about these shows.

Hikawa is kind-of the proto-Tachibana, isn't he? Such a weird disaster of a man, but worth rooting for all the same. He tries so hard to be worthy of helping people that he keeps failing them. But, man, when he finally figures it all out!

Once again, Die's way ahead of me here, but just like the last time this happened, that's only proof that we're dealing with some top tier meme material.

Learning Ondul the Easy WEEEEEEI! (#14)

https://i.imgur.com/lrDS6lcl.png

Hajime's doppelganger Ryou starred in two of Blade's most memorable episodes, and the fact that said episodes were intentionally shooting for comedy can only help when it comes to creating some memorable memes. The sheer absurdity of Taiyaki Master Ultimate Form is matched only by his sheer awesomeness. How cool is he? Well, he:

- Is the Master of Taiyaki (duh)
- Debuted his final form before Blade himself, and right in the proper episode 30 range, at that
- Has his legendary "Special Turbo" ability, easily putting him alongside Riders like Faiz Accel in terms of pure speed
- Successfully fought an Undead without a Rider System, a feat unmatched by any other human
- Was deemed important enough to be included as a playable character in Blade's PS2 game, allowing fans the chance to see him go toe-to-toe with some of the toughest opponents from the series, and win

It's a pretty impressive skill set, to be sure, despite not including the ability to speak Ondul. We're kind of past the point in the series where the actual slurred speech was any sort of problem, which means there aren't many of these lessons left, and they'll be more about the Ondul culture in general. And of course, the Taiyaki Master is hugely popular in those circles, with his memes often being directly associated with Hajime, and, of course, the obligatory appearances in the remixes.

Honestly, considering how commonplace Figuarts with actor likenesses are becoming, it would not surprise me if Bandai decided there was a market for a Taiyaki Master figure. It wouldn't even be the weirdest thing they've ever tried to sell to collectors.

Interesting to note that that the gold is an improvement on Blade, but apparently throws Garren's design off, by the way. And his Jack Form gets a way more weightless debut. Tachibana just can't stop screwing things up!

But yeah, as fun as they are, these episodes never really do lock in on something to be *about*, and that's maybe a bit of a shame when that extra little spark of focus and actual meaning could've propelled them to straight up best-of-the-series level. As it is, it very much feels like Inoue just holding down the fort for half a month while Aikawa gets ready to take over as writer, which is, uh, exactly what they probably are, so I mean, it's still mission accomplished! Hard to complain too much about this episode when it's still hilarious.

For the US. I live in the UK. See my problem?

Anyway, I digress. While Die seeing Garren’s Jack Form is a surprise because he’s watching it now, if he’d been watching this when it first came out, he’d have known about it from the toy version. https://youtu.be/Zgu1_VJG-zU

Also, the fact that only Blade and Garren have Jack forms is part of the joke of “Leangle is the strongest”, since he never receives any such upgrades in the tv show. Didn’t stop the designer from giving him one though.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20190202184905

Hope you liked the OP for this show (I know I didn’t), because his is the last time you’ll hear it.

And that, I believe, is the last of Inoue you'll see in Blade until the movie. I remember this in particular because, like, this was a special moment for me. Blade was my final Heisei series so when I got to these episodes I was like "... oh my god I'm finally done with Inoue". Slight difference in how we see the guy's writing!

Which, like, I guess I'm gonna go ahead and represent in Jack Form Feelings? Because I actually think the gold is by far the worst part of Blade's Jack Form; it's just way too gaudy and tacked on, but for Garren it fits with his colour scheme much more and feels a lot more subdued due to it. And while I don't have... too many complaints with Blade sticking a knife at the end of his sword, Garren upgrading to bayonet is just awesome.

Yeah, Jack Form just doesn't cut it for me as well. I love the wings/cape but I don't know if the gold paint job was neccessary.

I wonder if fans were cosplaying as Taiyaki Master Ultimate Form back in the day? I have to assume they were. Unlike an actual Rider suit, you can't make Taiyaki Master look too homemade, you know? Probably a half-dozen Ryou's running around the next year's Comiket.

It definitely feels churlish to complain that a two-episode fill-in is only telling a funny, thrilling story about non-show characters, rather than something that affects the main cast and makes for a perfect pair of episodes, but here we are. The Ryou story, there's really nothing I'd change. It is flawless in its lunacy. It's just, man, the entire cast of the show can forget about this story, and that sucks!

Poor Leangle, stuck in that form forever because his newly meaty paws can't close his belt.

I'm watching the movie on Friday, so, not that much of a break for me!

The gold works better for me on Blade because his palette, silver and very dark blue, comes off more neutral so the gold pops. The blue is so dark it's almost black which is a great contrast to the gold.

For Garren, it's that gold having to compete with a lot of red, and even some green. It's too many contrasting colors for me.

tfw I didn't get to this thread in time to make this joke tbf you could use it to summarize the entire second half of the series, I feel like this is the reason why so MANY People for the longest time were confused as to who Blade's secondary Rider really is the first half of the series/Shoji Imai written episodes put more emphasis on Garren, the second half/Sho Aikawa written episodes put more emphasis on Challice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH3qYYSOo4k (It feels like he also didn't really know what to do with Mustski other than be edgy/and well see for yourself)

what's he been up too lately(Honestly see him as Extremely hit and miss but yeah he's at his best for one off episodes like this where he's allowed to do whatever the hell he wants)

His most recent Rider stuff was the Kiva tribute in Zi-O; Rider Time: Ryuki; and the Ghost/Ichigou movie. Which, uh, the only other thing he did post-Decade was the OOO part of W/OOO, so I guess he's just not into Phase 2 Rider's style of doing things. I'm sure Die is mourning over never being able to get an Inoue-written Ex-Aid spinoff.

yeah him writing Gaim/Ex-Aid/Build might have been his "I'M BACK" Moment he's been longing for since Jetman but on the other hand he'd probably do his usually Inoue schpiel and it'd go about as well as Faiz so it really could have gone either way (IDK If I've made it clear but if I had to pick a worst show of the 2000's it'd be Faiz) Heck I kinda want to rewatch Jetman too see if it holds up or is the type of show you like when your young and haven't seen very much Toku because it's "Dark/Cool/not Power Rangers" but facepalm/cringe/groan/laugh your ass off/call bs on when you get older(A LOT of Inoue's stuff could be described this way tbfh)

Not able to chime in as much on these episodes as I’d hoped to. My town got hit by the derecho on Monday and I just got cell service back last night, waiting on electricity.

This was Blade’s answer to Ryuki’s Megumi arc and the second in a bi-annual trilogy of mid-show bizarre comedy stories. The last chapter will be in Kabuto and it is every bit as bonkers.

This was also the first/penultimate (I’m pretty sure) appearance of Garren’s Jack form. Episode 30 also serves as the farewell to another part of Blade that’s been around since the beginning. Not the writer, but the theme song. As of the next episode, Blade Brave will be replaced by a new song and an opening sequence that looks like it took effort.

on one hand prefer op 1 but think op 2 is good too

I don't know, I did get a Net Movie where Emu and Parado have to solve a bunch of word puzzles and then defeat a monster by saying Thank You, so it wasn't a total wash.

Sorry to hear about your storm damage! My house and work managed to escape unscathed, but I've got a few friends that are out of power until Saturday. Hang in there!

I don't know that I ever liked the opening credits (they pretty much gave me a headache), but I did warm to that theme song. It's got a real catch finish, you know? Either way, I'm excited to hear/see/experience the new one!

Just that thinking about some things you seemingly force others to be the same like Fourze's Magnet States vs Cosmic States, or uh... Jean. But in other times some differences are given free pass such as Jin's type of comedy! Now a bit confused on what to think and predict, and certainly dreading the former part (I fear this in any place I go), especially if it's regarding Inoue. No offense, just that all of these seems blind for Inoue for some reason to me, which made me inform that those that had problems acknowledge some of his good parts like slice of life or comedy, overall being better on leash, but his extreme edgelord and screwing up parts aspects aren't ignored.

Hmm yeah, what I'm dreaded for the next part of the episode, Kotaro just rolling with it and not thinking/remarking anything weird about Hajime being suddenly a goofball, and it happened. Probably the theme of previous episode was spot on, but also, probably all of the stuff in previous episodes was run on Rule of Funny, anything like logic be damned, before or after that part. Hajime getting amnesia also wasn't really explained, as long as it leads to those gags. I guess, the amnesia doesn't truly apply to Hajime switching to Ryou, the influence extends to the whole cast, that is why! Consistent treatment of every main cast, Hajime just got it first! :p Still, I wasn't expecting a reaction with the story being entirely Ryou's, what makes this downturn response compared to the previous episode where the gag given seems enough despite seemingly no focus on either? For Tachibana getting Jack Form, does it remind you of Kusaka giving Takumi the Axel? Also, in a non-Inoue episode, Kenzaki was also handed the Jack Form by Shima, on a similar way too for me. But the part of him actually turning into a swordsman, with that bayonet on his weapon though.

Cooking competition! Though there are other series that the cooking competition will come to mind first above this one. And as you know, Blade is one of the most memeable series (with Ondul language), but this part is not as prominent as others (read: underrated) like "TACHIBANA-SAN!", "SAYOKOOOO", etc, but also shows that memes don't need something hard on being ridiculous. The dilemma part of Ryou father being confused on 2 identical strangers are gold which his father just suddenly forgets his son's whole behavior (not Michi cuz she knows Hajime is not Ryou, but wants for him to be treated as one due to being more manly). But switched to original Ryou without any thought after him becoming a "Rider".

Which to me, unfortunately, it's a shame that the reaction afterwards won't be shown, with Kotaro just rolling with usual Hajime. Kenzaki not believing Ryou's proclamation is a nice idea that didn't get realized. I want to see how the team reacts when they got their usual Hajime back, or Hajime's reaction to the team talking about him as being friendly before, which he's anything but. Also I forgot to talk about this, as there's no place in previous episode, but the most gold joke between those 2 IMO is Ryou introducing himself to the group, which is begun by saying "Hajimemashite", a Japanese introduction word with Hajime's namesake on it as a stealth pun! (I've always thought for the word hajimemashite, when hearing the name Hajime, honestly).

I think there might be a language barrier, so rest assured, he really hasn't been forcing opinions onto anyone. It's all jokey, and done in a way that makes it obvious he's joking; he's never actually tried to force his opinions onto anyone and he's actually gone above and beyond to be as respectful as he can be. I mean, heck, he puts up with me saying I don't like Inoue every two seconds! ... for the moment...