You’re about at the point where Stronger starts getting really good. The Delza Army arc is fantastic.

Finished Blade after struggling to get through the first episode on three separate occasions. The first half was a challenge. Lots of interesting stuff going on, but it needed to take more time to establish the characters. It wasn't until Garren was introduced I started to remember who the characters were, and they'd all had a character arc before then!

Second half was more engaging though also dragged a bit. Pretty much everything related to Garren was gold, and the ending was brilliant. But overall... could take or leave.

Also watched the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Black. Cool visual effects, and the setup was engaging, but think I prefer the semi-serialized, more lighthearted approach of the Neo-Heisei stuff overall (if only they had less CGI!).

You did not lie. I just finished episode 33 so I have a few Delza-episodes under my belt now, and I really enjoyed them.

I love how the best part of Black Satan (in my opinion at least), General Shadow, was re-introduced as part of the Delza Army who now leads the hunt on Stronger.

And the Delza Army itself is really fun; I dig the classic horror-theme of the generals as descendents of famous monsters like the Wolfman or the Frankenstein creature, upgraded with modern mechanics. They all have their own goons and they all would like to rule so they constantly screw each other over resulting in really entertaining situations.

So yeah, this is much better than the first half so far. They only sad thing is, and everyone who heard of Stronger probably knows this (I knew it beforehand too), Tackle is no longer with us. Shame, I really liked her. But she went out in a glorious way and knowing that the team behind Stronger planned to bring her back but couldn't because they didn't have the time is at least a tiny bit comforting.

The only thing I didn't like was how weak Black Satan ended. The "Great Leader" was a complete joke, his suit was terrible, and the episode where he and Stronger fought felt like there were chunks missing as they just jumped over certain stuff and left it unfinished.

Oh well, it was nice to watch regardless. So now I'm continuing on the path of Stronger, I have a few more episodes to watch but I'm looking forward to them.

Also, I spotted this really neat little thing: General Shadow plays and fights with cards all the time, that’s his gimmick. Guess which now worldwide famous video game company started out by selling those cards?

https://i.imgur.com/4lOlC5d.jpg

General Shadow for Super Smash Bros. on Switch! :lol

Yeah, there's no more Tackle at this point, but Stronger isn't going to be fighting on his own for long.

I've only watched a few early Stronger episodes, and I am tempted to get back in based on the remarks here, but the episodes I saw just felt a tad slow! It's possible it needed some time to pick-up, and the Delza Arc might have been that pick-up!

Why did the series end so quickly? Stronger aired along the same time as Goranger, and they lasted far longer than Stronger, which took Kamen Rider off the air until (New) Kamen Rider (a.k.a. Skyrider)!

Nintendo playing cards also make an appearance in JAKQ, by the way!

The early episodes of Stronger definitely drag a bit. I think the show gets good once General Shadow hits the scene as he mixes up both our heroes and the villains and is easily the best character of the show IMO.

And when Black Satan is defeated and the Delza Army shows up it gets really fun.

From what I could gather the mainstream appeal just wasn't there.

It's a shame that they couldn’t realize all their ideas as some which were scrapped sound really cool. Tackle's powered up form for example.

That's so cool. It's like stepping into a time machine - today Nintendo is a giant in video games and consoles but back then they still made most of their money with playing cards and toys.

Although when Stronger aired they had already made their first steps into the video game market. Still, I find this very fascinating, it so interesting to think about how the times have changed.

Finishing up Blade, only a couple more episodes (plus the movie) are left.

Mutsuki never grew on me. First Rider of any show I pretty much haven't been able to stand for basically the entire show. I don't even like his 'look' in rider form. He's kind of a chitty character all the way around. Not likable and doesn't look cool in rider form.

Blade looks pretty cool, I prefer his gold and black Jack/King forms to his base form. Chalice looks pretty cool too.

The show reminds me a lot of Ryuki, and Agito. It's not bad but I can't say I'm in any hurry to rewatch it ever again once it's over soon.

Where as stuff like the original '71 Kamen Rider, Agito, 'W', Build, Amazons, Faiz....maybe Ex-Aid ( I loved Poppy, wish she had an SHF figure), I'm already looking forward to watching them again.

Blade isn't terrible but it reminds me so much of Ryuki or Agito I'd kind of just rather watch Agito. I'm not sure what I dislike about it,..it's just kind of there....it's watchable but nothing jumps out as being a fantastic design, or great story, or great characters,..it's just kind of...there.

I thought you were making a joke about how suddenly Tachibana is quite good at fighting the goons but I wasn't ready for this... awesome.

That's one hell of a way to end a show! I won’t spoil it here because I didn’t know about it either and the reveal was really cool, so if anyone else doesn’t know don’t look it up, just wait and see!

Tobei Tachibana is such The Real MVP

..he deserves an SHF. On so many Rider shows, and without even being a Rider, yet he raised hands and would knuckle-dust with the best of them.

Kazuya Taki should've gotten some SHF love too. he threw down alongside the Rider for like 100 episodes,....no special powers either but he never ran from a fight.

Started rewatching Hibiki again this week. I really do love everything about this show.