Sure! I think a little flavor would be of benefit to both her and Mutsuki's story. As is, the actor is doing a ton of heavy lifting in making Nozomi's fears for Mutsuki have consequences, plot-wise. She makes their relationship feel valuable, worth mourning. The more she feels like a three-dimensional character, just like Mutsuki with his basketball and having a girlfriend (thanks, Tachibana), the more tense and alive the story feels.

I don't know that I'd put her character, pro or con, anywhere near the level of, say, Akari or Mari or Mana or Kiriko or etc. They're all secondary characters, while Nozomi is a tertiary character at best. She's along the lines of Haruka or Amane or Karasuma, where we need maybe one or two quirks and that's it. (Amane is mean to Kotaro, Haruka thinks Amane being mean to Kotaro is funny, Karasuma has somewhere else he needs to be right now.) Those other ladies, they need deeper, richer stories. Sometimes they even got them!

Oh, absolutely! Once again I was really just bringing them up because I felt their examples fit what we were talking about here.

Not that I'm aware of, really? The song itself, like every song in Blade, has the occasional comical misinterpreted lyrics (none of these are even close to as notable as kara miso!), but the actual visuals of the opening? If that gets used as joke fodder, I haven't seen it.

To be quite frank, I don't actually think it's that off the wall? Like, the only major difference between it and the second one is that the characters all went outside to pointlessly pose around for Elements. Neither one is particularly elaborate or has much in the way of visuals that truly tell you something about the show's story, especially when put up against how stylish Faiz and Ryuki's openings were just before.

I will say though, I've always found the way Leangle is added to some of those shots to be hilarious. Just creepin' in the background behind Chalice and whatnot. Mukki really learned a lot from Tachibana! :p

I am particularly passionate about Round ZERO~BLADE BRAVE. I will gush about it given even the slightest provocation. It's one of my absolute favorite Rider themes pretty much since I got into the franchise. Elements is a bit more of a jam, and I think has that extra place in people's hearts due to being associated with the "good" stretch of Blade, but as much as I love it too, Blade Brave just takes the cake for me with its more mysterious melody and cryptic yet pertinent lyrics. Especially because of the lyrics.

Pfft... Supporting characters as more than plot devices? What do you think this is, Kuuga? :p

Die, as your teacher, I am profoundly disappointed you haven't remembered your studies enough to know that Karasuma's main quirk is refusing to apologize for things that are his fault.

I relate to Nozomi because I too have very few distinguishing characteristics of my own.

I guess it's a question of scale? It's funny that Karasuma will take responsibility while refusing to take blame, the I'm Sorry You Were Offended of leadership, but it's insane that he can't spend more than five minutes with his desperate-for-direction underlings without having to flee the country.

Like, if I know someone who constantly mispronounces "adaptation" as "adaption", but they also like to set abandoned buildings on fire because they find the conflagration beautiful, I know which of those things I'm going to lead with when I describe them.

You apparently only need two for Tachibana to practically consider you as his own offspring, so Is Like Nozomi can get you halfway there!

KAMEN RIDER BLADE: NEW GENERATION SPECIALS

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: A new generation debuts! Can the most ignored members of society be the ones to save it?! Not here, because this is only four minutes long!

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

That was a blast. Not a lot to dig into, but a really funny set of minisodes.

Waiter and Office Worker are two incredibly fun protagonists, with an inability to put up with the humiliation of the working world that... look, I don't want to say these feelings are universal, but if you can't see anything in their stories that looks familiar, I envy you. I've certainly never assaulted anyone (and I'd never condone it), but the casual disregard people can have for folks in service, administrative, and retail roles, it's enough to give some pretty vivid revenge fantasies. Watching these two beat up dick bosses and asshole customers? Super cathartic, and probably the most I've ever instantly rooted for a character in the Kamen Rider franchise.

The chase sequence continues the hilarity, with Office Worker shoving Waiter into combat so she can run away, while chastising him for only wanting to save himself. Just some great comedic chemistry between the two of them.

The end sequence, with Mister Helpful, it's a solid conclusion to a super short series. They just Nope right out of his heroic call-to-arms, and don't even hear his certainty that they'll be the heroes he's expecting. A speech, by the way, that he gives while Kenzaki is loading a garbage truck in the background. Some neat swerves to this trifle.

I don't have any idea how successful this thing was at getting kids to want to go see a new Kamen Rider movie. The new Rider(s?) don't even do anything, the Undead fight happens offscreen, and it's almost entirely comedic. Is this what kids were looking for in the run-up to a new film? People working shit jobs and hating it? Two weirdos who'd really rather not be superheroes?

I mean, it's exactly what I want, but I don't know if the Kamen Rider franchise is best served catering to me?

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

Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: A movie! I hope!

So sorta-funny thing, I only watched the Missing Ace movie like a few years after I finished Blade, and by then I had forgotten a lot of finer details. When I saw these characters like Office Worker and Waiter appear in said movie, I spent quite a while thinking they were just regular members of Blade's cast instead of characters unique to the movie.

Anyhow, I can't speak to how successful New Generation Special is as an ad for the movie. I mean, if you did really like it, you might be disappointed if Missing Ace does not turn out to be a feature-length comedy about workplace hijinks! (Imagine a movie all about the crew of ORE Journal or something...)

The actor who plays the green rider Shin Makagi/Kamen Rider Lance is Takao Sugiura, younger brother to actor Taiyo Sugiura who played Musashi Haruno/Ultraman Cosmos in Ultraman Cosmos. Taiyo, the older brother, is also famous for being the husband of ex-Morning Musume member Nozomi Tsuji.

When I was just getting started on Kamen Rider, and all I'd watched was the first dozen episodes of Ex-Aid, I had a similar experience with the Ex-Aid/Ghost winter movie. Only recognizing the cast of Ex-Aid, and knowing that the story had people from the Ghost show, I thought the helpful cop that kept showing up was a supporting cast member from that show. Did not know it was Drive!

Everyone's in everything! There have only ever been eight actors in toku, and they just keep shuffling them around. Thanks for the info!

I think this is a good time to share the movie exclusive item for this movie, since it kind of illustrates my long-buried idea that Blade’s main reason for flopping was how unimpressive it was.

https://youtu.be/YXGP7loScOA


And to further illustrate my point, here’s the Super Sentai item for the same year

https://youtu.be/0yjQ1zeUUkY

Holding off the movie and new generation reviews as those are alternate endings... so don't be creeped out/surprised if that old post got brought up again in a very long time.

I thought that with what you said regarding the series criteria for characters that appear in more than 2 scenes, that they have to all get hugely beefed-up role, no distinguishment between any character level (or tiny/small difference between main or tertiary, etc.). So Haruka thinks those meanness to Kotaro are funny? Ew, lenient & permissive parenting, kind that is a big no.

Dunno if I misjudged you, but probably was talking about how I feel that you painted Tachibana in a dark light against Shinmei's organization (treating his behavior there like distrust as his fault), claiming Tachibana and Mutsuki as too close for what they are at one point, or saying Tachibana as the worst in ep. 27 for the lie to defend Mutsuki.

After talking about Nozomi's role and you still think this for Mutsuki? :cool:

I mean, why'd he be concerned about Hajime being a threat to every single life form? He doesn't care about anything, he just wants to wreak havoc, reminder he didn't only do that on Riders but also on civilians at the beginning. It's established that Undeads want to be a last man standing, Joker is just another Undead for him to defeat to win the battle royale, which means he's a threat for him.

DIO from JoJo (though I'm not sure if it's a right comparison to make). He's been regularly compared against Cronus though. I mean like, King also had the time stopping power (Dio is not the originator, but anyone having that power is compared to him like Cronus) though at certain area, but apart from that, he summons his monster form separate from main body to fight others, like how Stands work in JoJo, which is a fighting spirit manifested to fight others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2TklAV4E7w

Agito's heroine role is Mana btw. And favorite subject?? With a bit of chuckle, just saying, talking about favorite object can be real but not talking about them can be real too... many students declare nothing as favorite subject, for obvious reasons, and doesn't want to bring it up outside lesson. For outside hobby/job can be used to make characters much more of a person... Takumi was an opposite of that where (at the beginning) he doesn't have any dreams, drive, or anything. Probably real can be more broad than just that, and even those that commonly thought as unreal can be actually real, just not appearing much on fiction that they forgot about those.

... Maybe going into the movie without watching the specials was why I was so confused by the new cast. Am I the problem? No, it's the Rider multimedia approach that's wrong.

I hope I didn't make it sound that way? It's more that I want characters that have recurring appearances to have a distinct perspective, which Nozomi definitely has. I know what her goals are, what her fears are, and how she relates to a few different characters. I have a sense of who she is.

Beyond that, though, it'd be nice if, as Kurona said, she had a little more going on narratively. She has a bare-bones character, defined solely around Mutsuki. Giving some additional characteristics would've been a smart move for the show.

I don't remember all of those (the Tachibana/Mutsuki one isn't ringing a specific bell), but, yeah! Tachibana has a lot of problems! He's better than he was before, but he's not well.

He's a lifeform, too! Joker winning would be intensely bad for him, and I'd think he'd view the Riders supporting Chalice as a little hypocritical.

Got it, thanks! I've never done the JoJo's series, books or anime. It does sound a little similar to Clock King!

It's a nightmare, and this is coming from someone who's spent his entire life invested in American superhero comics publishing.

I'm sure I still haven't seen everything that came out alongside Kamen Rider Ghost! Probably some random net special I missed.

As long as you've seen the one with Poppy and all of the Alain specials, I think you're good.

...and in looking for those links, I see that there are four episodes that lead in to the terrible summer movie, and those weren't in my TV Nihon download.

A nightmare.

You're forgetting the one where key deep lore girls summon Kaito Kumon and Takeru summons Gaim's eyecon through the emotion of "Didn't I kick your arse already?"

KAMEN RIDER BLADE MOVIE: MISSING ACE

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: It's four years later! The old cast all became assholes! The new cast are all dicks! INOUE FOREVER!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...issingacea.png

Can you believe there was a time when I disliked Inoue?

Way back in the Kuuga days, he wrote some of my least-favorite episodes in a series that... I was not the correct audience for, let's say. I hated those episodes so much that, when I found out he'd be (more or less) solely responsible for Agito, 555, and Kiva, I was dreading it. I thought it was going to be so infuriating to watch that trying to express those feelings on these boards was going to get me banned. I'm pretty sure I referred to him as my nemesis?

Now, I love him. I love his Kamen Rider stories. I love his monumental assholes and the ways they protect humanity. I love that in stories of people being insufferable to their friends and family, there's a message of hope. I love that he uses stories of conflict and strife to warn against enjoying stories of conflict and strife. I love that he believes in the innate value of broken people.

And, holy shit, everyone in this is a goddamn disaster.

It's a movie that acts as a hypothetical sequel to Kamen Rider Blade, setting itself four years after Blade sealed Hajime, the last of the Undead, and saved the day. In the meantime, Kenzaki has found himself cleaning up garbage, a testament to his desire to help others and the fact that being a Kamen Rider doesn't actually convey any marketable job skills; Kotaro is a celebrated author, turning the tables on his former freeloaders by becoming rich off of their story; Hirose is more concerned with her impending wedding (to a groom WE NEVER SEE, I mean what in the hell, I would've bet money that it was Takumi from Faiz) than getting the old team back together; Amane is a shoplifting, petulant teenager; Tachibana is cosplaying as Shinji from Evangelion's dad with a newer, creepier BOARD; and Mutsuki is moping his way through life in a post-Leangle haze.

It's the last one, Mutsuki's story, that becomes a way into the themes of this movie for me. He's someone who feels absolutely lost in the aftermath of being a Rider. Being Leangle shattered him, but the shattering was at least a feeling. Everything afterwards has been him forcing himself back into a shape he'd grown out of, a world he'd thought he'd left behind. Becoming a Rider again... the danger, the risk, it's like a dream come true. It's the same for Kenzaki, where he seems almost desperate to become Blade again, no matter the fact that he can't Henshin, or that there are three perfectly capable heroes to defend the world against the Undead.

Speaking of, hey, our new heroes! Why did no one tell me this was a Sentai crossover? I'm not familiar with the normal story of Ace Sentai Shufflengers, but I loved what I saw of them in this movie. They're just a collection of surly assholes, and I'm A-ok with that. Shufflenger Red and Green have that great chemistry from the New Generation specials, but now it's amplified into some Take No Prisoners snark. Every interaction is a chance for them to put somebody in their place, and if there's no else around they'll just crack wise on each other. Shufflenger Gold is all backhanded compliments, deference as offense, and an attitude that might as well be a big flashing Do Not Trust This Dude sign hanging over him. Not much of a shock when he turns out to be the movie's villain!

It takes a long time to get there, though, with a bunch of plot twists and bizarre mechanics (Amane needs to be the sacrifice, but then it could also be Kenzaki or Hajime?), but that's not really what the movie's about. It's about crisis, and how that looks different whether you're inside of it or outside of it.

For the men and women who spent a year fighting the Undead, it's almost a relief to return to it. They understand that world. The pain and sacrifice are familiar, almost welcome. A world without fighting the Undead makes them cruel, makes them distant. The crisis is what defines them.

For Amane, it's the opposite. All the crisis did was take from her, in ways that redoubled her most primal wound: her father abandoned her again. Hajime was sealed by Kenzaki, presumably for the good of humanity, but that's only something someone inside the crisis would know. She's an outsider, and she only gets to suffer.

There's a thing we do, mentally, in times of crisis. It's something we're probably all doing right now. We adjust to it, no matter how hard it is, because the alternative is to be crushed. It's a defense mechanism, and it's healthy. We become flexible, doing what we need to do psychologically to get to the next day. The problem is, if we become too used to the crisis, we start to expect it. It's not about being flexible until normalcy returns, it's about reinventing yourself as someone who can thrive during the crisis. It's just, in general, the nature of a crisis is to be finite. They end, eventually. Now that you've remade yourself to thrive in a crisis, what do you do when it's over?

For Team Blade, you spend four years denying what you've come to crave, until you're confronted by the very human cost of that heroism. Amane is the face of everyone who's lost someone to the world-shaking battles the Riders overcome on a weekly basis. She's a girl who's suffered too much already, and it's time to let her be happy. The heart of this thing, no pun intended, is about Hajime and Amane's connection. What the rest of the cast goes through, it's cute and funny and sad and weird, but the throughline of this thing is a girl who keeps losing her fathers, and a world that won't stop killing her fathers.

Still, for all of the thematic work about the ways we can get addicted to conflict and the people ground up as a consequence, this thing is a blast to watch. The combat is fantastic, with a scale you only get in a movie. Dozens of monsters get dispatched by a half-dozen Riders, and Hajime gets beat up in some beautifully-shot sequences. (That Rider Kick in a rainstorm! In the second scene!) It all looks terrific, even the Final Fantasy-esque final form for Shufflenger Gold. Just a real fun movie to watch.

I really dug this film. The opening is excitable and weird, and the end is bittersweet and kind. It's a pseudo-sequel about how it's better to remember the past than dredge it up. There's a quick-change license plate that says MILKY BOY, and a teenage girl who misses her dad.

Inoue Forever.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...issingaceb.png

Post-Credit Additional: I only caught three Faiz cameos, and I'll be checking the Wiki after I post this to see if there were any I missed. I got:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...bladefaiza.png

This salaryman scene, with Yuuji and Murakami;

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...bladefaizb.png

And the cop that chases Amane, who I'm pretty sure was Kaido. Fun fact! I had to look up Kaido and Murakami's character names, because I'd already forgotten them! And I watched that whole series a month ago! What is wrong with my brain?!

Gosh, I really only remember Missing Ace for all the parts that bugged me. Like it's amusing to me now with the knowledge of the New Generation Special in mind, that two of the three thirds of this 'New Generation' are just unceremoniously killed off by the last one who turns out to just be an evil monster.

The thing that bugged me most honestly was the stuff with Amane. It's a reasonable conflict, that after these years, she's still upset over Hajime disappearing, and nobody else have it in them to properly explain what happened to him. But like... Maybe at least let her know that he's very much 'gone' or 'dead' instead of making her think he just up and left? Also there's like no actual resolution to that? She doesn't ever actually see Hajime, but just vaguely thinking she heard him while unconscious is not enough for me to come off like this plot thread is sufficient.

Otherwise, I find the film just 'okay'. Compared to the big spectacles of Paraidse Lost or even Episode Final, Missing Ace feels a lot more low-key, but there were plenty fun action bits too. I do still laugh a little at the end of the climax, where the three remaining Riders transform and pose side-by-side all triumphantly before rising up towards the giant super-Undead... before getting immediately smacked down, and Blade then just goes and does it all by himself anyway.

I feel like that's a common problem for a lot of these Before We Had Legend Rider Appearances movies. There's this fun new status quo, complete with new characters and conflicts... that basically get abandoned halfway through for Your Old Favorites. I expected the New Gen Riders to not really matter, and therefore I was not disappointed!

I'm just really into the Hajime/Amane relationship, I guess, because I love that that was the story Inoue wanted to tell with this movie. Like, her loss, and his sacrifice, and that's it. That's the whole story. Everything else becomes fan-service.

For her never seeing him and still changing, again, loved it. I love that their connection was that deep? That she knew he was there, even if she never saw him. I found that all very sweet and touching.

The whole gang never telling her what happened with Hajime... tougher to defend! Some of it is 100% artificial conflict, where It's Safer If She Doesn't Know is a gigantic cop out. Tough plot point to defend, and not my favorite writing choice.

On the other hand, I've got to assume that telling a 10-year old girl who is intensely protective of her surrogate father that he was actually a monster from eternity and Kenzaki trapped him in a trading card to keep the world from ending... maybe it's better to just say he left and roll the dice on her needing therapy as a teenager? Clearly, this is a No Good Options situation.

In their haste to win they day, they all forgot that Blade hadn't debuted King Form yet, so all their efforts were wasted. It's that classic Kamen Rider Blade enthusiasm, getting them into wacky scrapes!

Just thought I’d point out that like Ryuki’s movie, a lot of stuff about the lore in this movie was later changed when introduced in the show (no doubt, due to the changeover in staff) So don’t expect them to mention humanity winning the previous battle fight.

I’ll also point out that Elements was originally written for use in this movie, but when the turnover happened, the new regime wanted a new theme song and rather than write a new one, they poached an existing one (which isn’t strange. Only Hibiki had a new OP written especially to go along with it’s retool).

Anyway, now for the reason why I’m here. The Rouse Card Information Kiosk. And you’re about to see why I renamed it.

Change Beetle

The Undead that provides Blade with his power to transform. He possesses exceptional power.

* Suit and Category: Goro Sakurai
* Effect name: CHANGE
* Card name: Change Beetle (チェンジ・ビートル Chenji Bītoru)
* Consumption points: +3


https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20200603052634

Mighty Gravity (マイティ・グラビティ Maiti Gurabiti)

Allows the Glaive system to channel its power into the Gravity Slash attack, based on Blade’s Lightning Blast.


https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20200603050935

Mighty Impact (マイティ・インパクト Maiti Inpakuto)

Allows the Lance system to channel its power into the Impact Stab attack, based on Garren’s Burning Smash.


https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20200603050844

Mighty Ray (マイティ・レイ Maiti Rei)

Allows the Larc system to channel its power into the Ray Bullet attack, based on Leangle’s Blizzard Crush.


https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20200603050825

Albino Joker (アルビノジョーカー)

One of two embodiments of death within the Battle Fight. The Albino Joker (アルビノジョーカー Arubino Jōkā) is Shimura's true form. A second Joker that rose to power after Hajime was sealed in the movie, he strives to create the Vanity Card using the power of all four Category King Rouse Cards. One of the most fearsome powers of the Albino Joker is that, even without having won the Battle Fight, (although he may technically have, considering Hajime was sealed away), he is able to generate an army of AlbiRoaches without the help of the Sealing Slab.
Unlike his counterpart Black Joker, Albino Joker has a lot of abilities, making him the most powerful Undead.
* He can shoot energy beams from his hand.
* He can assume his own human disguise, similar to the Royal Club Undead.
* He can unseal Undead and force them to loyally serve him as in the movie, all Undead try to help Albino Joker hunt Amane rather than go rogue and fight among themselves.
* He can generate his own army, the AlbiRoaches without the help of the Sealing Slab.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20200603052151

Fourteen (14)

The powerful being known as Jashin-14, intended to be given to the winner of the Battle Fight.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20121209050603

Vanity (バニティ)

A card composed of the 4 Category King Undead and a human sacrifice. Intended to be used to release Jashin-14

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20130302160225

To be fair, I think I actively prodded you into that line of thinking. Actually, you know what, let me just give everyone a quick recap of Die's complex relationship with Inoue. I mean, while we're on the subject anyway, right?

Missing Ace is a good movie. I've never considered it a great one, or one of my favorites though, so it was really cool to see you getting so much out of the story here. I don't have much to add other than the regularly scheduled reminder that this Kamen Rider thing you liked visually was directed by Ishida, and, although I can't squeeze a whole post out of it, just know that Leangle gets an unending amount of s*** from the meme crowd for using that Float card at the end when Blade and Garren are soaring into the sky on their majestic sets of golden bird wings.

Here ae my barely coherant thoughts on Missing Ace from 3 months ago. And I [mostly] stand by them!

So like this hit really close to home right now, and just how it can feel like the crisis never ends (which for some people it doesn't).

Since I haven't super been following this thread, I just want to wish you all well. Sometimes the hardest thing to do can be to take care of yourself.

I thought they'd already mentioned humanity winning the earlier Battle Fight on the show? Karasuma, I think, mentions it as the reason why humanity is the dominant lifeform, and that leads to Kotaro getting very excited theorizing what other animals could've won.

Neat to know that Elements was almost a one-and-done! And thanks for the card info!

I knew I could count on you for the flashback. Thanks for the exhaustive detail! When I see it laid out like that... I feel like he and I are going on a journey, you know? It's really something magical.

I'm a big fan of structuring the movie around the emotional clarity of Hajime and Amane's story. His absence through the film gives a ton of weight to the climax, and creates a strong sense of finality to the ending. Just a super smart choice, I think. However...

...it's so in keeping with the flaws of Blade The TV Show to have Blade The Movie not really have Kenzaki looped into the emotional stakes of the film. He's a hero, and he wants to do heroic stuff, he's still a very sweet boy, but this isn't really a story for him. It's totally fair to wonder if maybe the title Rider should've been the focus.

I guess I could argue that Kenzaki is the star of the movie, even as it's about Hajime and Amane, and maybe that's a good substitute, but I feel like I'm making excuses for it. Definitely not a flawless film!

There's a great moment at the end of this movie where, regardless of what they've all just gone through, everyone gets together to celebrate Amane's birthday. They've all fought and suffered, and she's not even aware of what the stakes were for a battle she never knew about, but the story gets to end on this one girl feeling like it's okay for her to be happy.

It's not a celebration of victory over violent monsters, or a remembrance of the cost of that victory. It's someone, by herself, overcoming years of emotional turmoil, while her friends and family are there to celebrate her.

Just, man, yes. The value of empathy in a world of violence. That's my favorite Kamen Rider theme, and I think it's important even in a world that doesn't have monsters from eternity. I hope everyone is keeping things together, and that we're all on the other side of this someday soon, ready to be happy.

This is only tangentially related, but at the risk of kicking back up the "who's the secondary Rider" argument, I happened to notice lately that Hajime always gets billed in the credits second, behind only Kenzaki himself. In the first OP, that initial sequence of everyone ends with Tachibana, so he's kind of acting as a bookend, but for Elements, it's explicitly Blade>Chalice>Garren>Leangle, right from the very first shots of everyone's helmets.

I guess to loosely tie this thought back in with the movie, it kind of seems like Hajime was just always intended to be core to Blade's overall story. I mean, I'd even make a joke about him being the "heart" of the movie, but you already did that.

Maybe it just takes more work than the film could manage to make Kenzaki's character more directly invested in the plot? I mean, we have established that, by design, he's more of a follower than a leader, and also tends not to think too deeply about things in general. It seems like if you don't know what you're doing or just don't consider it an issue, it would very easy to accidentally write stories that don't give him a lot to actively contribute. Maybe! I'm mostly spitballing here, and a new guy just started writing the show at the point you're at, so it might be better to not get too deep into this until you've got that extra perspective on how you feel Kenzaki is or is not handled differently under Aikawa's pen.

So, yeah, not to get too far ahead of stuff that I might feel differently about in a few days, but this is something I was thinking about during the first Aikawa As Showrunner episode.

I think Kenzaki is central to the plot, but he's not (currently or previously!) central to the themes or emotions. As a more direct character, one who is substantially less traumatized than the other three Riders, he's not really someone who gets to have Big Emotions or the sort of sweeping, thematically-rich stories the other characters have.

But! As the show becomes more about plot machinations and combat against the Undead, he's your guy. He's the one who's front and center, driving the plot. Tachibana only gets invested when it's something he can feel guilty or ashamed about (those emotions are his rocket fuel), Mutsuki has broken bad, and Hajime is maybe more of a WMD than a fellow superhero. Kenzaki is all that's left, and he doesn't need any outside force getting him to want to save the world.

The movie's got to be about more than plot, though, and that limits Kenzaki's usefulness. He's okay in the middle section, as it's the kind of hero stuff he excels at, but he's a bystander in the beginning and end because those things need some complicated emotions. Kenzaki's most complicated emotion is confusion over why people keep secrets!

Kamen Rider is so good my friends.

Part of me want's to say this is because of the suit ranking (Spade > Hearts > Diamonds > Clovers) but I really don't know.

In my experience, card-based Toei hero shows have 5 archetypes.

A spade-themed character who ends up in the background (Spade Ace, Blade, Cure Sword)

A diamond character who’s the strongest of the ensemble (Dia Jack, Garren, Cure Diamond)

A heart character who gets shipped with the spade character (Heart Queen, Chalice, Cure Heart)

A clover character who’s probably the weakest of the bunch (Clover King, Leangle, Cure Rosetta)

And a fifth character who’s much more badass than the others (Big One, the Missing Ace riders, Cure Ace)

Considering how bittersweet or depressing the previous two rider movies were prior to this I actually enjoy this movie. Of course, no other summer rider movie will surpass the Kamen Rider W summer movie but this movie I say is a favorite. Kiba and Murakami as two interviewers who bicker with one another was fun to see as well as Kaido. Personally the best scene of the movie was the first time we see the new gen Ace trio strut their stuff early in the movie. One of the best choreographed scenes ever.

I really loved the whole vibe of the New Gen Riders. They flood the zone when they're interacting with the old crew, keeping them totally off-balance. For all of their little internal dramas, they present a unified front of Eff You Dad that I found really entertaining. Good team, sorry to see them go.

Also to note is while it is not obvious in their suits, the fact that their Ace card is the cerberus/kerberos, the three-headed hound of Hades, goes really well with their said team dynamic.

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 32

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: Kenzaki rescues Hajime from King! Hajime's secret/secrets is/are revealed! And Tachibana throws in his lot with another untrustworthy dude and risks tearing apart Team Blade because: Tachibana!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade32a.png

It's a solid episode of Blade, with a ton of reveals, but... I wasn't really feeling it?

I mean, I really liked the Hajime and Kenzaki stuff. It's so specific to the two of them that it transcends the usual You Should Be My Enemy But You're Really My Friend tropes. There's that moment when Kenzaki tells Hajime that he had a crush on a girl in the first grade, there's a secret, now tell me one of yours. And Hajime laughs it off, because it is ridiculous, but he softens when he finds out that the secret Kenzaki wants to know is, basically, did Hajime hurt someone to look human.

And, he didn't. It's not that kind of show. Hajime's story is about the steady erosion of the Joker into a man, and maybe even a hero. He's seen these laudable aspects of humanity, and he's trying to understand them. Kenzaki sees that, sees how he's so much more than a monster, and wants to protect that. It's the joke of Kenzaki, that he's an uncomplicated man, made into a strength. There's so much going on with Hajime, Chalice, Joker, whatever. But to Kenzaki, he's just Hajime. That's it. Uncomplicated.

We see the benefit of Kenzaki's outlook again, earlier, in a small scene with Kotaro. Tachibana has learned horrifying details about Hajime, and forbids Kenzaki from rescuing him from King. Kenzaki's frustrated, and doesn't know what he should do. So Kotaro makes it plain for him: a friend is being held captive by a monster. What do you think you should do? And Kenzaki's out the door, ready to save his friend.

It's not flashy stuff, and it doesn't have a ton of nuance to it, but it's still pleasant storytelling. In a show filled with murky, complicated Riders, it's nice that Kenzaki can be earnest, straightforward.

Especially compared to Tachibana, because... ugh.

It's not that he's doing anything out of character or anything. He doesn't trust the Undead, at all. They've killed his girlfriend, possessed his student, and generally been a colossal pain in his ass. Finding out that Hajime is also referred to as a "savage murder machine”, that's going to have him looking for any way possible to keep everyone safe.

It's just, Hirose's dad? That's who the guy controlling U.N.D.E.A.D. is? And he shows up in Tachibana's hovel, doesn't explain why he's faked his death, doesn't want his daughter to know he's alive, is totally consumed with trying to wrest immortality from monsters from eternity as though that were in no way problematic, and just wants to give Tachibana the login to read all of Karasuma's secret documents.

And Tachibana is all in on it. Just laps it the hell up. Reads the info, decides Hajime has to die, declares that there's no other way as though he didn't only come to this conclusion in the last half-hour... it's just a bummer of a plot.

Again, hard to say Tachibana isn't acting like Tachibana here. Him getting suckered in by some suit and fighting Blade because of it, that's like his main solution to every problem. (Hirose cracks a joke when she sees Tachibana and Kenzaki cleaning up the window U.N.D.E.A.D. broke that Blade and Garren must've had a fight!)

It's just, man, he buys it so easily this time that I'm like My Dude. This guy has earned none of your trust, and now you are dedicated to what he helped you learn. It's one more time that Tachibana is making the worst decision possible, and, I don't know. It might be one too many? I get that he thinks he's doing this to save Kenzaki the heartache of doing it himself. I get that we're talking about the end of the world. But it's just one more dude in this story who's like Hajime Must Die, and it stopped working for me.

Like, maybe, maybe this part of the episode could've worked for me if it had been the first time Tachibana broke from the group. But, god, this is like the seventh terrible decision he's made that's put him at odds with the rest of the group, and... change the record already, man.

Did not love the Tachibana stuff, but really liked the Hajime/Kenzaki stuff. Not an overall winner of an episode for me, but not a total failure.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade32b.png

Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: Garren fights to destroy Hajime! Blade fights to save Hajime! And Amane gets yelled at by Hajime because sometimes Daddy has had a long day and he just needs a little bit of Quiet Time and he didn't mean to be loud and he's sorry!

And yet, somehow, multiple people thought it would be a good idea for Tachibana to be responsible for reforming Mutsuki into a more capable, less combative Rider.

Tachibana.

For me, I was probably more okay with Tachibana going along with Chairman-person because 1) like you said, this is kinda old hat for him, and 2) at the point of this story, I just saw the chairman as a device to deliver exposition and not even as an actual person so I basically saw Tachibana's actions as entirely him deciding on his own that Hajime is the enemy. This isn't really a defense and more like 'one problem canceled out another potentially worse one'.

This next stretch of episodes is what I remember most about Blade, how it really needles at the stuff about Hajime's nature as Joker and how Kenzaki does everything he can to help people no matter what others around him think. I like to believe it must be a fun feeling to have seen Missing Ace right in the middle of it all, because that movie might have set in the feeling of 'all the undead must be sealed eventually, including Joker', but once you're back to the show, you're like 'but do they!? i dont want that!'.

Thinking more about it, the idea of the pivotal information about Hajime coming from Hirose's dad makes Tachibana's turn so much dumber to me. If it had been a conclusion he'd come to on his own, or something he'd somehow pieced together, y'know, fine. Don't love Tachibana always being the weak link in the team, seems a little repetitive, but fine. (I mean, he's more of a weak link in this episode than Mutsuki, who is possessed by a Spider monster from eternity!)

It all coming from someone else, someone who broke into his home and has just the shadiest vibe and most troublesome history, it makes Tachibana feel like too much of a sap to me. It's not that the show hasn't established Tachibana as a gigantic dope, but, man, is that the side of him they want to keep showing?

I'm sure this all sounds like splitting hairs. I'm not certain there's a version of Tachibana Fights Kenzaki To Try And Kill Hajime that I'd be super excited about. I'm not even sure why this story point bugged me so much. It is all massively in-character for Tachibana! I feel like it's the Hirose dad stuff. The manipulative feeling of it is so transparent, this dude so has an ulterior motive, that it's frustrating to watch Tachibana get manipulated into trying to kill Hajime. Because he doesn't really need to be manipulated! He really has never liked or trusted Hajime! So having Hirose's dad put his finger on the scales, an episode after Mutsuki does the same, it's just so unnecessary to me, and it makes Tachibana too much of a pawn.

All of the tension in this episode is from being told that Hajime is a problem and still hoping he'll be safe. The show is leveraging all of our interest and support of Hajime, and then ladling it onto Kenzaki through his defense of Hajime. Super smart way to transfer some of Hajime's heat to Kenzaki.

Well, Hajime’s been using this card for ages now, but I’m finally allowed to tell you about it.

Spirit

The sealed form of the Human Undead, the ancestor of humanity and the previous winner of the Battle Fight. He was sealed away by the Black Joker, who uses his card to assume a human identity.

* Suit: Heart
* Category: 2
* Ability Name: SPIRIT
* Card Name: Spirit (スピリット Supiritto)
* Consumption Points: N/A

This is such a small thing, but it's probably one of my favorite moments from the entire series. There's just something so natural about the idea of Kenzaki spending an entire episode thinking really really hard about what he doesn't want people to know about himself and then effectively coming up blank. A sort of childlike earnestness to him genuinely trying to earn a secret out of Hajime just by telling him one of his own, which would be presumptuous even if the secret he came up with was at all a big deal. But, you know, even though he's incapable of being smart about this, his concern for a friend is as genuine as it gets, and that's why we root for him. It's a really smooth bit of writing with these two characters, and the kind of thing Aikawa's episodes excel at, going right back to his first few and moments like Kenzaki telling Hajime "I want you to understand why people help each other" when asked about his motives for supporting him.

The Tachibana plotline here, though! I remember being more than a little frustrated with it watching the show originally, and also much more recently, I remember not finding it a big deal at all on a rewatch. I'm not if anything actually changed in-between. Like you said, it's both entirely in-character, and also fundamentally a bit unsatisfying as a viewer. I can't blame you for not being into it.

It took me a while to vibe with Tachibana's stupid decision, but I think I eventually came around to liking it. He thinks he's doing his best, but as usual, he's a screw-up.

Where did the Human Undead get those jeans, though? Were they brand-new jeans he stole? Were they a gift? Are they jeans from eternity? That is the information I crave.

It's honestly a great bit. It's so well-observed, you know? Hajime is the most withdrawn, secretive person in the cast, while Kenzaki is the most honest and open. Watching Kenzaki try to think like Hajime, to get him to open up, it's precious. It's adorable. He's a very sweet boy!

I think it's the repetition, as well, that bothered me about Tachibana's poor decision-making. I get that Tachibana is bound and determined to fail his friends in the name of helping his friends, but there's a point where I'm bored with him doing it from the jump. If there had been a bit more deliberation, a bit more uncertainty that this was the right plan, I'd be more lenient on it. As it is, it feels like he's looking for an excuse to fight Blade.

It just felt rushed, maybe? Like, deciding to kill Hajime and fight Blade doesn't really feel like something he wrestled with enough. Maybe if there'd been a scene where he talked to Hirose and/or Kotaro before he went to kill Hajime? Some sense that he realizes that killing someone they've fought with is going to cause problems?