Going back to how great I think Blade's designs are at conveyance, it's worth pointing out again that Leangle's armor is already gold, implying his raw strength is already on par with the Jack Forms. Of course, winning fights is also a matter of skill...

Inoue actually wrote two more episodes of Blade later on, so it appears your true final encounter with him happened without you realizing it. A misunderstanding, if you will. How appropriate!

It's not quite that underused, but Die definitely shouldn't be expecting everyone to only be using their powerup forms from now on. Although I always thought it was simultaneously neat/weird that the Rouse Absorbers, like the Faiz Accel before them, just are on the Riders' wrists once they get them. Like every figure made of Blade or Garren that doesn't include those is technically very specifically representing the first half of the series.

Also, while we're still on this subject, I definitely side a bit more with Die in this case. I don't dislike Garren's Jack Form, but Blade's is a lot more immediately striking in a good way, I find. I have a real soft spot for it, even though it doesn't seem to have a lot of post-series popularity.

Still really looking forward to the Kiva thread!

I'm looking for ways to disable notifications specifically for it! Might chip in for the first episode or two, but... I've been making a joke about my disdain for it, but in reality, my bigger problems with the show are things that are not fun to discuss. You want any payoff Fish, you're gonna have to PM me for it!

First Blade Opening is good and looks cool, you guys are just uncultured

Oh there is absolutely no Blade OP 1 hate comin' from this house. That thing is beautifully stupid, confusing and wonderful in a way that can only be described as Quintessentially Blade, hence why it's an amazing opening!

All I am gonna say is Bandai owes us a plethora of Ryo the Taiyaki Master merch. I'm talking figuarts, figure-rise standard, SHODO and SO-DO figures, t-shirts, a CSM taiyaki cooking mold, replica uniforms of both taiyaki and takoyaki houses, etc. If they can give us ONE AB of a muscular comedian robot why not Taiyaki Master. :lolol

It has Mutsuki in his evil hat, that's how you know it's good!

SO-DO Chronicle Ondul Set, featuring Taiyaki Master, a wall for Tachibana, and a guide on how to do your own Ondul.

Thanks! And yes! If I ever come off as being firmly against anyone else's opinion, please know that it's a joke. It in no way bothers me if people like something like Cosmic States, even if I don't get it. This is all art, even the suit designs (sometimes especially the suit designs), and that's never something I want to be confrontational about. Sometimes there are jokes, though!

Internally, I think the show implied that the Snake Undead's venom might've caused Hajime's amnesia. Or maybe I just inferred that?

I'm not sure I'm getting your question right, but I think you're asking why I was down more on the second part, despite the Ryou stuff working as well as it did in the first part? I'm always going to be a little more lenient on first parts than on second parts. The first part of a story, it's all possibilities. By the time the second part is over, it's more clear what some choices meant or what got left out. Basically, it leads to me loving a first part maybe more than I should, and criticizing a second part maybe more than I should.

Like, think of it as me giving the first part an A, and the second part a B-, so both episodes together would maybe get a B or a B+.

It is almost exactly like Kusaka delivering the upgrade to Takumi, except not nearly as fun. Faiz treated it like a huge imposition, with Kusaka flinging it at Takumi, never even getting off of his bike. Blade plays it fairly straight, with Tachibana being weirdly honored by this dumb thing that came in a box that Hirose just hands to him. Tachibana's so proud of it, and it's... I mean, it's not not funny, but it's still not that funny.

And, yeah, Kenzaki gets handed his as well, but there's at least a minor subplot about him needing to make himself worthy of it before Shima hands it over. If this show is suggesting that Tachibana is more innately heroic than Kenzaki... no. No way.

I'm not even sure what the ceiling is on what I'd pay for a Taiyaki Master SO-DO. I'm even imagining a switch-out front plate for Turbo Form. Oh, to dream!

If nothing else, he's the hero of this thread!

And so ends the last episode of Blade that I truly enjoyed until one very later on. Rest in peace, Early Blade. You will be missed.

Also included, those sound effect standees like that Ex-Aid FINAL STAGE set had, except it's just six copies of "TACHIBANA-SAN!"

Tachibana doesn't need to reach a heroic ephiphany because they coded his Rouzer to account for him probably having another crisis whenever he uses it.

Six fun phrases!
"Tachibana-san!"
"Have you really betrayed us!"
"MY BODY IS BREAKNG DOWN!"
"SAYOKOOOO!"
"Waa~ay!"
"I'm the strongest!"

If you look closely, he changes form by scanning the Anxiety Queen and Fragile Jack cards, sooooo...

Tachibana, transforming using the cards of "Guy who got me addicted to steroids and killed my lady friend" and "Mad laughter medusa monster", is a well-balanced human being!

CUT FROM EPISODE 23 I THINK

TACHIBANA: Okay, Mutsuki, if you're going to be a Kamen Rider you have to understand how these cards work. For instance, this is the Category Ace that I use to transform into Garren.

MUTSUKI: Huh. Is this a typo?

TACHIBANA: Wh--what do you mean?

MUTSUKI: It's just, this says Catastrophe Ace on it.

TACHIBANA: everything in my life makes sense now

MUTSUKI: Are you crying, Mister Tachibana?

TACHIBANA: That's my secret, Mutsuki: I'm always crying.

MUTSUKI: Hey, so, did Kenzaki need an apprentice or Oh you are still crying never mind we'll circle back on this later.

MUTSUKI: "Hey, why does my card say 'Calamity Spider'?"
TACHIBANA: "Look kid, we already know you and the belt are cursed, may as well roll with it until it bites us in the ass."

Kenzaki's just says Blue Eyes White Dragon

insert yugioh joke here

note since I've heard there was some executive medeling in this now I'm starting to wonder what was planned and what wasn't I think Hajime being connected to the Undead was always planned but maybe not the specifics

of course NOW that we're WAY(no pun intended) Pass that point of the series I found this for the first time in years(unfortunately the best Blade Shitpost got taken off of Youtube)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfW-7bwEog8

Kenzaki would totally run a Blue-Eyes deck because "It's got lots of attack and it's cool!"

Tachibana hasn't played the game since 2008, and is still a little confused by everything above Fusions. His deck runs about 5 archetypes all medley'd together and yet he still somehow pulls a win on occasion.

Hajime runs some obscure archetype you never paid much attention too, has some weird ass summoning mechanic you're not quite sure is legal, and at least one of his cards is in a foreign language.

Mutsuki wants to use whatever won the latest championships but doesn't have the money for it.

I'm a mix of Tachibana/Mutsuki here

Would like to add that takoyaki is a very Osaka-centric food and Morimoto the actor who plays Hajime and Ryo is from Osaka.

I look away from this thread for a little bit and come back to find like a page straight of nothing but Tachibana jokes and people sticking up for the show's (amazing) first OP. I said Blade would be a party, but this is even better than I anticipated. Y'all are making me so proud right now! :p

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 31

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: The Undead take pity on Team Blade by clueing them in to what the stakes of this series actually are! Kotaro and Hirose get in on the action, and it goes poorly! And Nozomi is back to absolutely crush it in her one scene!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade31a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade31b.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade31c.png

I just think the actor playing Nozomi does a great job? It's a thankless part, really. She exists to worry about Mutsuki. She doesn't seem to have any interior life, or any goals outside caring about Mutsuki.

But, like, I believe her when she's worried about Mutsuki. She tries to hide it under false confidence, that she's not really that worried about Mutsuki because he's fine, it's no big deal, he's going to be fine. It's this incredibly thin veneer of sociable, where she's clearly worried out of her mind, but she's trying to be present in the moment. The level of it is perfect, where her laughing something off is as heartbreaking as her breaking down and crying. It's just some great, naturalistic performing. A+ for making something out of nothing.

And, y'know, pretty great episode for acting, I have to say! There's a ton of plot to get across, but it's all done with an eye towards getting enough small moments with each character to feel dramatic, and not just a flood of exposition.

Like, Kenzaki. He's got to spend a bunch of the story in a more straightforward Hero role, racing to fight various monsters. But there's a brief scene between him, Hajime, and Tachibana just as the story kicks off that I found really charming. It starts with Kenzaki and Tachibana wanting to find Mutsuki, and Kenzaki suggesting they enlist Hajime. (This is laid out in a scene in Tachibana's apartment, which, holy shit. With a ton of work, you could maybe call his apartment unlivable. It's a testament to how broken Tachibana is, and I'm wondering if Kenzaki didn't ask for his help just to get him out of that sadness factory.) When Hajime basically tells them You've Already Lost Mutsuki Forever, Tachibana gets huffy and needles Hajime about what he's even doing fighting the Undead if he clearly doesn't care about people. As Hajime has a full-on freakout over a vision of a ruined world, including a dead Amane and Haruka, Tachibana takes the stunned silence as an opportunity to look down on Hajime's lack of empathy. (The hypocrisy!) He says that he can't trust people who keep secrets, and then proceeds to try and hide from Mutsuki's despondent girlfriend. (The double hypocrisy!)

Anyway, it's the next part I liked a lot. (Why am I writing so much tonight? I think my filter evaporates when I write these too late at night. I want to write less, but I can't stop letting every thought out.) Kenzaki tries to get Hajime to open up by, y'know, not being a confrontational dick. It works a little, and Hajime asks Kenzaki if he doesn't also have a couple things he doesn't want to talk about. And Kenzaki's like Hi Have We Not Met Before. It's adorable. Kenzaki is the most upfront, no-filter dude of all-time (he's my icon tonight), and the idea of keeping anything a secret has him pondering it like it's a Zen koan. Even the word Secret, in his mouth, sounds weird to him. It's a nice beat in the story.

Tachibana doesn't really get a similar scene, but he plays a great, inquisitive foil to the new Smooth Criminal Mutsuki. It's Mutsuki, of all people, that lays out what's going on with Hajime. He uses a deck of cards to explain the significance of the Joker in the Undead's battles, and how Mutsuki's going to take him out and save the world. It's a new steel in Mutsuki, he's charming in his menace, but it's only an amplification of his old motivation. He's going to get stronger, he's going to be the best Kamen Rider, he's going to defeat the Undead. It's just, now we know what Leangle is getting out of it, and the real complexity of the conflict.

The newest Undead, Clock King, gives us the rest of the info, and I love how he conveys it. There's this exasperation he has when he's talking to Kenzaki, and I get where he's coming from. This all feels like super relevant stuff, and it's downright bizarre to only be getting it 18 episodes before the series ends. It puts the show into a new gear, one that gives the villains a new perspective and makes the heroes feel unbelievably in the dark. If I were an Undead who's watched the Kamen Riders working with the Joker for half a year, I'd be just as frustrated at their ignorance. I get why he's shitposting about them!

That shitposting, though, it's got some ups and downs to it. I really liked how the Clock King plot gets Hirose and Kotaro back into the action, in ways that feel organic and unforced. They're great characters, and the show should be utilizing them more. But OH MAN was that Net Cafe montage hilarious. It's so serious that it's almost a parody. The determined gaze of Tachibana with a big INTERNET CAFE layered over him pretty much broke me. Maybe it's too late at night, maybe I'm punchy, but it all looked so goddamn dumb. I don't know.

That aside, I really liked the first episode in the new era of Kamen Rider Blade. I thought the new theme song was fine; the new credits were bland and felt like they were promoting a boy band's new single; and the science man with his U.N.D.E.A.D. or whatever was something I'd feel more like talking about next episode. But the bones of this one were really strong, with information that clarified the stakes and adversaries with unique perspectives. It's a great foundation for the rest of the show.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade31d.png

Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: Mutsuki versus Hajime! Blade versus Garren! And Hajime versus shirts, I guess! All this... in a few days, because I've got other stuff to cover first. Thursday will be the four New Generation specials, while Friday will be the Missing Ace movie. Saturday will be the return of regular Blade programming. See you then!

Effort Post No 2 time.

So yeah, the theme song changed. While this is the first time you’ve seen it happened, it’s actually a common thing in Tokusatsu whenever a retool happens (Ultraman Leo, Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters) and Kamen Rider has the monopoly on it (having changed the theme in Kamen Rider (1971), Kamen Rider (1979), this series and Kamen Rider Hibiki. Whenever compilations are made, the first OP is always the one included, though ELEMENTS (the song here) is the one that always gets performed at concerts, for reasons I’ll elaborate on below.

The group performing the new song, ELEMENTS, Rider Chips f. Ricky, subsequently went on to become a regular performing group for Kamen Rider, having contributed to the soundtracks for Kabuto, Ex-Aid and Zi-O, while also covering every Kamen Rider OP except Build and Zero-One (yes, that includes the Showa ones). They’re also one of the only acts you’re guaranteed to see performing at a music concert for Kamen Rider (by contrast, Super Sentai is likely to feature everyone they’ve had perform at least two songs in the last 15 years).

Also, the new middle-aged guy introduced here is played by Junichi Haruta, who’s one of the few actors in Tokusatsu to do his own in-suit action. This is his first time appearing in Kamen Rider (and only time, until W Returns: Eternal), but he’s been a regular in two Super Sentai series (Goggle V and Dynaman) and one Metal Heroes Series (Juspion)

And now, on with the Rouse Card Information Kiosk. I might not be here to do the movie, because I’m going to be away when you watch it, just thought you should know.

Evolution Caucasus

An immortal creature that is the ancestor of the caucasus beetle, which belongs to the Category K of Spade Suit. Unlike the other main Undead, the black body color is close to pure gold. Weapons include a destructive sword called All-Over (オールオーバー Ōruōbā) and a Solid Shield (ソリッドシールド Soriddo Shīrudo) that can withstand a shock of 150 tons. His human form is known as King (キング Kingu)

* Suit: Spade (♠)
* Category: KING (K)
* Effect name: EVOLUTION
* Card name: Evolution Caucasus (エボリューション・コーカサス Eboryūshon Kōkasasu)
* Consumption points: EP +2000

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20121110113813

Time Scarab

King’s subordinate who can stop time.

* Suit: Spade
* Category: 10
* Effect name: TIME
* Card Name: Time Scarab (タイム・スカラベ Taimu Sukarabe)
* Consumption Points: FP 1800

The mysterious creature the mad scientist created.

Here’s what I found after doing a facial composite.

Spider Man (蜘蛛男 Kumo Otoko, 1, 13 & Rider vs Shocker) is a monster created by Shocker. It was the first monster that fought Kamen Rider 1 and was killed by the Rider's trademark Rider Kick.

After reading this, I assumed Die was just exaggerating for comedic effect as usual, but I just want it to be known, the pay at BOARD really is that bad.

https://i.imgur.com/5GUtLkvl.png

Anyway, this episode is killer, and while to its credit, it's not incongruous with anything that's happened before, I think you really see Aikawa shuffling all the pieces on the board exactly where he wants them right away. Part of it is maybe the natural escalation of being later in the series, but it comes off to me like he's got a real plan for this show he's eager to execute. There's just loads of characters and plot points being introduced and pushed forward, and a ton of just plain cool moments beyond that. Leangle beating up cops is super memorable to me, the new monster at the end that just eats Kenzaki's card when he goes to seal it, which is a crazy impactful twist on usual routine, especially when that fight was also the debut of the show's third and final insert theme, the ever grammatically questionable "take it a try", following in Rebirth's footsteps by being a character song for Hajime sung by his actor Ryouji Morimoto.

I mean, I could go on and on about cool things in this episode. As much as I love the first opening, the second one's just as great. You can tell it's doing its job because Die described it as a promotion for a boy band, which is exactly what the Blade Riders are, and why I love them. Plus it has that shot where Blade destroys your television/computer screen!

OP 2 is very memorable to me, if only because my first exposure to it was a meme where Blade smashing the computer screen cut right into the Ryuki OP!

ELEMENTS seemed to be the more favorite theme song at the time. I like both theme songs but ever since this thread happened and re-listening to both whenever I had the chance, I think Round Zero by a tidbit is much more my favorite. ELEMENTS has better guitar riffs for sure and that ambience at the beginning is cool but Round Zero's piano/synth sections won me over I guess.

Come to think of it...

Fish, surely the first OP has some sort of significance in Ondul Culture, right? It's so bizarrely off the wall and mystifying that it's gotta have memes associated with it!

Blade Brave is way better than Elements?

Always has been.

Episode 30, the start of what feels like a whole new era of Blade! (And funny how you'll immediately be side-stepping into the movie just after this 'shift'). I joked about Mutsuki being Spider-Man, but now he really is embodying him... specifically the one from the Spider-Man 3 movie. A black repaint of Leangle would actually be less on-the-nose than Mutsuki's current get-up!

As for the new opening and ELEMENTs, I'm kinda eh about them though I fully admit it's due to bias. It's a fine song and a neat-enough music video sequence, but after 29 episodes, I naturally got attached to Blade Brave and the incredibly low-budget looking sequence of people just doing random gestures in a studio.

That kind of change was unprecedented in my Rider experiences, and I guess I just wasn't willing to accept it! I sure hope no other season has changes like that halfway through it's run and that they Keep their Beat!

God, it's fascinating to read all these takes on Blade's credits and theme songs. I appreciate the insight, mostly because I don't really have any feelings about either version of either thing? Neither theme song would crack my Top 10 for Heisei songs, despite Blade Brave wearing me down a bit as time went on. And the credits... I mean, the first one I had to stop watching because it literally gave me a headache to watch, and the second one is... it's fine? I usually don't even watch the credits, at a certain point in the run of a show. It's the thirty seconds where I'm checking my phone for emails or messages. If it wasn't for the new theme song, I probably wouldn't've even looked up to see the credits had changed!

Still, I love that folks have feelings about it that they're willing to share. It's not the hill I'd die on, but I'm glad other people dig it.

The explanation (or partial explanation, probably) of Hajime's deal, it's like the plot is about something now. Before, it was this nebulous There Are Undead And We Should Do Something About That, mixed with occasional The Undead Are Fighting Each Other stuff. It was... it felt like a premise, not a plot. This, it feels like a plot, and it makes all of the nuts and bolts of the superhero narrative more interesting.

I can't rave enough about Mutsuki's Let Me Explain What The Stakes Are speech that he gives to Tachibana. Doing some impressive card-handling tricks to give a straightforward bit of exposition in the most self-confidently menacing way possible... such a captivating change for Mutsuki! And, like I'd said before, it's extra great because it doesn't feel so much like a retool of Mutsuki as it does an evolution of Mutsuki.

Just a real big shot in the arm for the series with this episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcDYNCd-bxg

Hey since the title theme just changed, I figured it'd be a good time to post this English Cover of Round Zero/Blade Brave. It's one of my favorite covers.

My favorite thing about the new intro is that it humorously displays something no one would ever notice otherwise, which is the height disparity between some of the actors and their suit actors. This isn't something that's at all relevant normally, but it always stands out to me at the very end of the intro sequence here. When they're all standing at the edge of the cliff beside each other, it really shows that Hajime is a pretty small guy, while Kenzaki is easily the tallest of them. Then it shows them transform, and all of a sudden Blade and Chalice are the same height, with Hajime and Kenzaki both gaining/losing several inches of height respectively. Like I said before, it's not something anyone would ever really notice normally, but the height disparity between Kenzaki and Hajime is really noticeable, especially when they're standing right beside each other in this shot. So when they transform and instantly become the exact same height, it just strikes me as amusing every time.

Sure you can explain it away in the story since Hajime is basically a shapeshifter whose height changes per form, but that doesn't make the visual effect shown in the sequence look any less funny to me. :lol

Wow! That was great! Thanks for sharing it!

It really says a lot for the actor, that his presence feels so much larger than his height, you know? When he was playing Ryou, he felt like a tiny guy that'd get murdered by the weakest Undead. When he's playing Hajime, he feels like a dude you would not want mad at you. There's an intensity he has as Hajime that makes him a lot bigger in my memory.

But, yeah, he's so small! He's a SHODO in a cast of Figuarts!

...oh my god i'm totally going to put a shodo chalice next to my figuarts blade when i've got them both

I used to think Elements was the better song. Now, after actually watching Blade, I think I prefer Blade Brave? Neither are my *favourite* opening per se, but Blade Brave would do pretty well in a Top 20!

What if her doesn't have other interior life, and only caring about Mutsuki, is actually the reason why her worrying about him being believable? Also like I said before, this worrying aspect of her was utilized by Shima for Mutsuki repressing. Not pulling off the cliche tragic life type (outside debatably what she's processing through), but she doesn't seem to went through a lot, but she seems to only have Mutsuki and nothing else for her life (I mean, going through a lot that she only had him to confide in). Here she somehow ends up in Kurihara household where its the place that Mutsuki "dumped" her (And Amane getting a bit reprimanded for her behavior, though a bit too light), asking when Mutsuki went there again, trying to visit him.

Now again, deconstructing the monster's motivation (though Hajime has conflicting part with it), that, what would they do if they achieved what they want? What would you gain as the last Undead standing, being all alone? (this is a battle royale game, dunno if the winner will be given something, but Hajime's hesitation probably says otherwise). Like in Ex-Aid, Poppy asking what would Bugsters do after killing all humans and having no one else to play. This breaks down on how some of the goals they pursue won't be worth it at the end presumably, thus rendering what they do as futile and proably sparks some changes, though those characters can be too thick-headed to convince (but probably not for audience). And Tachibana still has limits to not work with Hajime, when he paints himself as a bad person. Also, btw, Tachibana was broken only for first 15 episodes due to him facing mortality, culminating in him ending it by killing Isaka, can you, uh, let go of the status quo for Tachibana after ep. 15 onwards? (or probably explain more why he's actually still broken all this time) Tachibana and Kenzaki was a case where primary and secondary Rider just had regular teamwork without much tension, in contrast to Blade's 2 direct predecessors, Ryuki and Faiz, who had this chance rarely or never. Tachibana also was, obviously more tolerant to Mutsuki than Kenzaki is, using his past broken moments as a guide.

I find the transition of playing cards to the Undead as a clever plot mechanic here, as Joker is a card that can be played as anything else, it goes the same for Hajime a.k.a Joker, that not only he's a 53rd number, but like the Joker card, he can be played as anything else, which translated as him transforming into any other Undeads using their card. For Mutsuki acting like this, it's ambiguous if he's regular Mutsuki or Yami Mutsuki (possessed by Spider Undead), with the yellow glowing effects beside him.

That new Undead, King, is the character that seemingly made to rile us up (and could be likable if it work wonders). He's a gigantic troll that just messes with everyone because it amuses him, like riling up a man to chase him up so he got Kamen Rider Tiger treatment, and also ruining the Riders by making shitposts about them, picking the right moments like Mutsuki being possessed and beating up cops, making Riders seen as evil, like real life human trolls do (which means, should be grateful that there are no superpowers at real life, if there is, those shitposting trolls will use them to cause havoc like King is while being unstoppable that others are ordinary human).... don't tell me you had/wanted to do this and also rationalizing/justifying it or others that do it (read: wanting others to suffer) with you getting why King was frustrated?! And his powers! He seems to summon the monster form separate from himself to fight (while he also can protect himself), and he can Pause in a certain time space. With Blade being most memeable, I wonder why King isn't compared with a certain character from the most memeable media that both summons spirits to fight and stop time? For Kotaro and Hirose, they're beaten up in this episode though by King?

Count me in! But not the cards part, it's too overused. Mutsuki's deal is between Mutsuki and Yami Mutsuki. Someone getting an artifact that holds mysterious powers, but he got involved with a spirit/living being who is far more morally bankrupt inside that artifact which keeps possessing him.

The thing is that we haven't seen enough of Nozomi outside of scenes about Mutsuki, so it's impossible to know if she has nothing but Mutsuki in her life. She seems to care about him, but not in an unhealthy, obsessive way. She's just got the Doting Girlfriend role, which means that her value to the narrative is in how she supports Mutsuki's story.

And, to be clear, I'm not trying to suggest that Nozomi needs a hugely beefed-up role in the story. Her role is to support Mutsuki's story, just like Mutsuki's role is to (theoretically) support Kenzaki's story. There's a hierarchy to this type of storytelling.

So, within those restrictions, I think Nozomi does a great job.

I've tried to explain it over the last few weeks? I don't think of Tachibana as someone who had a brief freak-out and is now totally healthy. He's a guy that has massive psychological problems, some of which he's overcome. It's awesome that he's not working with a monster from eternity to humiliate his former co-workers, but almost nothing about how Tachibana acts on this show feels like a tip-top mental state.

I read it as the two of them, Spider and Mutsuki, being in sync. It's not a battle between the two of them anymore. They're unified in their goals.

From his perspective, Hajime is a threat to every single life form. Seeing the Kamen Riders working with him, portraying themselves as heroes, he's got to think they're the biggest idiots around. I don't agree with him trying to villainize the Riders, but I 100% get how he could be frustrated by their cluelessness.

Sorry, I'm not getting the reference. Feel free to share it!

I think really it just helps if you know a little something more about the character to make them feel a bit more real; just something that makes them much more of a person, and an outside hobby or job can do that. Looking at examples throughout Rider you've got Hina Izumi from OOO being an aspiring fashion designer; Akari Tsukimura of Ghost's cast being a scientist in the making; Mari Sonoda from 555 wanting to be a hairdresser. These traits allow these characters, at least in my opinion; to stand out a little more among other heroines in the franchise because they have their own goals and interests outside what they meant to the main character.
(this isn't to say they're the only ones or even the best ones -- heck, my personal favourite heroine in Rider is and probably always will be Agito's Sumiko Ozawa. Just some good examples I could think of that fit the bill here!)

So here for instance, it might have benefited Nozomi if say... maybe she said her favourite subject was History; or she mentioned she was in an Astrology club; or maybe there could be one of those trope-y scenes Toku oh-so-loves where she reminds Mutsuki that they had promised each other they'd help reach their dreams or yadda yadda. Nothing much, just that dropping small details into a throwaway line or two would help make her feel more real!

As-is though, she does still fill her intended purpose quite well; and as said it's acted quite well too! It's just nice when these characters can feel more like people than plot devices too.