He's essentially a deconstruction of the sort of superhero power fantasy all kids have at some point.

And many adults.

Exactly. In fact, I feel like every Gaim rider, at least the main ones, is a deconstruction of this trope, but just different parts of it.

Seeing as I've only seen bits of Blade, Ryuki, W, Wizard, and Fourze, I'll take your word for it.

I'm thinking this with a lot of the show, as much as I much prefer a series with next to no filler waiting a week between episodes is bad enough, without all of the extra breaks they've had too. I might get more attached to the characters, and general hype train, when I can see how the story is supposed to flow naturally, with episodes back to back.

Episode 29 of Blade may just be one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

Yes! That episode was hilarious. The look on everybody's face when 'Hajime' is being upbeat and cheerful is priceless.

That's one of my favorite episodes :D

So twenty episodes into Kamen Rider Black and I´m still enjoying it. The overall story of the show moves rather slow but the individiual "filler" episodes are enjoyable enough that I dont mind. I mean who wouldnt enjoy an episodes that revolves around Golgom trying to steal tons of tuna? :lol

:lol

My personal favorite part of the show is Kotaro's ability to guess with 100% accuracy the fact that Golgom is behind everything.

I loved the episode with the Interpol Agent and Kotaros face when he learned that the guy didnt work for Golgom :lol

Nobody. Nobody wouldn't enjoy that.

Oh god, you are up to those two episodes of Blade. I'm so sorry.

Yeah, I love Black's individual stories, but I do wish they did more with Birugenia and then SHadow Moon. I also found Road Sector to be entirely pointless as it added nothing to the show other than stealing screen time away from Battle Hopper.

Yup they are really enjoyable. There are two or three I really didnt care for but I mostly really dig those. Birugenia just showed up and I like how he changes up the show a bit for now. Nobuhiko kinda reminds me of those damn dino eggs from zyuranger. The show manages to bring him up just enough so I dont forget he exists :lol

I've just finished Wizard and the show was better then I thought. People made Wizard seem lifeless, when it was really just the opposite.

I enjoyed the twist with Fueki and I really liked the fight scenes.

Now it's time to go else where the shows I've completed are W, Wizard, Ryuki, Kabuto and Decade.( I listed then fav to least.) So now where to next? I've heard Agito and Blade are pretty good.

Agito. Always go with Agito. It is (IMO) the best Kamen Rider show to have ever been made and is a contender for being one of the best toku shows ever made.

Blade all the way. Great story arcs, characters , villains fights, ending and overall awesomeness.

This. I'm only ~18 episodes in, but it's fantastic so far.

The problem with Wizard is that the last 7 episodes of the show render the entire thing utterly pointless. The Phantoms had no reason to exist. Haruto had no reason to have forms for each element. Beast served no purpose. Medusa did absolutely nothing in her entirety. And the "plot twists" were predictable right from the get go. Oh yeah, and those costumes... oh god those costumes!!!

Blade should be your next series. It is the best KR series of all time. Agito is a very good series, but it sometimes forgets it is a Toku show. Plus, the final battle is a let down. NEvertheless, you cannot go wrong with either series as both have great character development and stories.

I agree that the mage suits were terrible, Haruto being so different made no sense, and everyone saw the plot twists from a mile away... But I don't quite agree with everything else.
Albeit not well explained or properly fleshed out, Beast was a world building tool used to show that different types of wizards existed. While that never came into play all that much, his uniqueness was the reason the second Sabbath was thwarted. I think he served a pretty clear purpose.
Medusa was once again a story building tool and the catalyst for the idea of new Wizards through Mayu. But that's about it.
I think the Phantoms are probably the worst motley band of misfits to ever think themselves a real threat in Kamen Rider history. That said, Fueki tricked them to unintentionally seek out Wizards for him so he could begin a new Sabbath. They had their purpose, too.
I'll be the first to say Wizard is a flawed series, but I feel a lot of the criticism goes a little too far.

Ironically, as swift as I am to defend Wizard - it's my favourite Rider show - and as often as me and Dr Kain disagree, I HATED Wizard's ending. It was like they were put under so much pressure by the haters they just decided to change the whole show from the ground up at the last minute and it just didn't work at all.

For those last five to ten episodes Haruto suddenly became the character the haters painted him as, and practically fell out of his own show for a while there, meanwhile Wizard decided to start a plot usually reserved for fifty episodes creating this clusterfuck of an ending which was rushed and nonsensical. Hate on the Gate of The Week stories if you must, but I'd still rather a thought out, fleshed out, tale of ordinary people than a grandiose, operatic...cluterfuck of Rider chandeliers.

The gate of the Week stuff bothered me, because it felt like the show didn't do much to advance the plot, and it didn't help that the only interesting Phantoms were Wiseman and Phoenix. I thought Haruto was ok, but he was also just kinda boring. I feel like I should finish Wizard someday. I dropped it at like episode 36, because I didn't have enough time, and it failed to hold my interest...but I might pick it back up one of these days.

But the Gates of The Week, at least until the mess of an ending, WERE the plot. It was a classic, almost showaesque, structuring about a superhero helping people which is why I don't get how people can call Haruto boring. Sure he isn't quite as a bombastic as other Riders, but he has a wickedly dry sense of humour and a proactive approach to superheroing I just think he's really great.

The Phantoms were largely forgettable admittedly, I always thought the suit designs were really cheap looking but I thought Wizard had consistently fantastic action which made up for it somewhat. In a superhero show like this, if the action is good enough, the plot doesn't bother me too much.

Black Episode 16: I really enjoyed this character of Ryusuke, and if this was a Heisei Era show he probably would have been the secondary rider of Black, this guy was totally awesome. It was great to a friend of Nobuhiko, who knew who Kotaro was. I really enjoyed more that Kotaro knows he has someone else fighting too. Their deception against Golgom was great to see too. I miss Battle Hopper but definitely see the use of Road Sector makes a lot of sense because of how fast and powerful it is. Also enjoyed the soccer skills used to fight in this, and how they fought against each other. It's great so far.

Spoiler warning.

The Gate of the Week stuff could have really used some variety like haivng Haruto actually fail for once. It would have made much more sense for the Infinity ring to be born out of his disdain for his failure as opposed to Little Miss Wallpaper nearly dying. Or they could have killed her off sooner and that the Infinity power was from the Philosopher's stone. There, the second half of the show could have been the Phantoms trying to obtain the stone from Haruto and he found that the powers of the stone were turning him into a worse Phantom the more he used it. In fact, they could have went along that Chimera was actually a man transformed into a beast because he relied too heavily on the Philosopher's stone.

Oh my god, there is so much potential Wizard could have done over what we got. Outside of two stories, I really enjoyed the first 43 episodes episodes of the show. It was not until like 45 when things went down hill on a massive level.

The problem with Wizard is that its too damn safe and doesn't do anything with its concepts. Wizard relies too much on Rider cliches and acts like it doesn't exist with its peers. Whereas recent shows like Fourze, OOO and W had creative original plotlines, and concepts, Wizard feels boring. The most anyone in Wizard gets is a slap on the wrist for consequences. (Except for Koyomi but you can argue that her turning into a ring and being in Haruto in the Wizard epilouge movie gave Haruto Infinity Dragon Gold which is a positive). I know not all Rider shows have such heavy consequences as death of the main characters, but Wizard's premise of dying to become a phantom is already heavier then W OOO and Fourze's monster premises. Death is a natural part of the Phantom cycle and for Wizard to not feature it is a crime against its premise.

For being such a proactive Rider, Haruto doesn't get the Infinity ring in a very fitting way for his character. Yes I undertand the "Inner strength his own magic" business, but he could have trained up to get it, or spent an episode working on his own magic, or something other then, "I cry and I get a final form."

The only reason I'm happy with Infinity is that for a Rider who is "devoid of emotion" it sure puts a firework up the haters and lights it when they realise without emotions Haruto would have never had a final form. So fuck the haters.

My problem with Infinity was that the writers had no idea how to have him use it. One moment he is taking out grunts with it and then goes back to his standard form to fight the Phantom. WTF?! It was over powered and added nothing to the show.

It looked cool as shit though, wonder if the Figuart goes cheap these days...

This.

But also this.

Black Episode 17: This was great to see Shadow Moon, and what's happening to him, and to learn more about his sister and their relationship when they were younger. The Tapir Mutant was interesting didn't expect to see that. Definitely Kotaro needs to protect her more with Golgom basically getting advantage of her.

Black Episode 18: This was fucking phenomenal with the introduction of Birugenia. He was definitely threatening with his eyes even in his purplish/pinkish armor. He had a great introduction in manipulating the mutant, having the advantage against Kotaro in both of the fights, and having some sort of envy/spite that he wasn't up to be a century king. I am glad they introduced a more powerful villain that will push Kotaro even further to see how powerful he is. Also great to see Battle Hopper for a second, even though I was waiting for him to charge down Birugenia. Till I see more of him he reminds me of Apollo Geist right now. These Showa series may not have a connected storyline but they do evolve and change though which is awesome.

After 30 Episodes there is not much I can say about Black except that I´m still enjoying it. Its a pretty good show but I doubt it will break into my all time favorite shows. At least so far it doesnt have enough going for it for me. The episodes are entertaining and some of them are downright awesome but I dont kow its not really enough to keep my attention. Maybe its because of Kotaro who is without a doubt a really likeable protagonist and I like those but beyond that there is not much to him. He is a typical stoic heroic protagonist but there is something about him that doesnt make him as likeable to me like other Showa Riders (Hongo Takeshi comes to mind).

Maybe I sust need to finish it and see what I think about it then but right now I´m enjoying it but its not as spectacular as I heard people talk about it.

One thing I realized about Black is that I can't marathon it like I can with other Rider series, probably because, at least as far in as I am, there hasn't been a real overarching story arc. The individual episodes are great, don't get me wrong, but I never get the feeling of rushing to the next episode to find out what happens next, because the show isn't meant to be watched like that.

Still a really good show, but I do prefer my Rider shows to have the plot gradually develop from episode to episode.

I know what you mean. My main driving force at the moment is to get to the part where Shadow Moon finally enters the show :lol
Having a show that is written in a typical episodic format is always hard to marathon.

It depends though. I have no problem marathoning Black because I have no problem marathoning Sentai. The Showa era of Kamen Rider were very episodic in the same terms Sentai has been. It wasn't until Kuuga when Kamen Rider started having huge story arcs that would run throughout the entire series.

Anyway, El, only a few episodes to go. :)

NVM

He stole it earlier in the episode and Tachibana was in on the "Save Mutski from the Spider Undead" plan so he wasn't as fierce trying to get it back.

And thus another Kamen Rider has been completed in Blade. How was the ride?

Story
The main idea of the story is pretty interesting in all honesty. 52 monsters with a Joker card that have to be sealed by the riders. Pretty interesting. Then if Joker is the last one standing the world will end because of his blood lust. That's also interesting, but not as much as the original idea. So the base idea of the Blade is story is a great one in sound. But...it was lackluster.

I was originally bored the first time I watched anything from the show and a full watch through has proven that it isn't all that boring. But too me at least the story never really got all that great. It was exciting in bits, but only because of a character story which pertained to that character outside of Hajime. Other then his and the early Tachibana and Mutsuki stories, the story never got exciting or all that interesting again for me. Tachibana's early story was honestly a completely missed opportunity to me for him to have a season long arc. Everything sounds so grand and epic, but it just falls short. It also doesn't help that they throw twist after twist after twist at you. By the time the show is over you're tired out because of how much shit they've thrown at you in the form of twists.

The twists and the overall lackluster story to me just make the show fall flat, especially since the show is what is most important. I'll give Blade the fact that it only had two episodes that are filler and that the rest is one solid ride, but the ride is lackluster and overall disappointing.

Characters
While the story was a bit of a bore outside of some bits, it was exciting when it came to the characters, somewhat. So let's address them.

Kenzaki being our main character gets a lot of attention in the show, which makes sense. Unfortunately the attention is undeserved. Out of every rider show I've seen whether it be beginning to end or taking a break after a bit, Kenzaki is in my opinion the blandest main rider/character I've seen which is a problem. I'm not saying he has to be the only interesting one, but nothing about him was interesting. He was your typical "I want to save everyone and everyone is good" hero which is annoying. Yes we have other riders like that, but they're played up in an interesting fashion. Shouichi felt it to be his natural instinct as Agito to do it, Shinji wanted the rider powers to be used to protect people instead of fighting the other riders, Takumi wanted to protect the dreams of others while trying to find his own, Kotaro wanted to save people from becoming just like him at the hands of Golgom. These are characters who have the same ideal but are executed in a way that makes them interesting to watch. Kenzaki is boring and should not have been the main character. He was overall the worst of the rider bunch.

Tachibana is where the characters start to get interesting, though he ends up being the second blandest of the bunch. He starts of really interesting though as the whole "Body being destroyed by fear and won't stop until he conquers his fear/s" is a great idea. But that gets ended by Tachibana using a drug. That's stupid. I wanted to see Tachibana wrestle with this for the entirety of the season as it could've presented some great drama and when he finally conquers it and gains great power come off as a compelte triumph. But nope, he takes a druggy plant bath and is cured. He was brainwashed, but that's boring as all hell. After being freed of said mind control by Sayoko, Tachibana just becomes bland, as bland as Kenzai. Such as shame, he had such great potential if they had carried on the fear idea.

But now comes who is quite honestly the BEST character in the show; Hajime. He is single handedly the only interesting aspect of the show and is the primary reason why I kept watching. He's neither human nor an undead, he's the Joker which is heralded as being the deadliest being on the planet because of his inhuman blood lust, something which he constantly struggles with. He uses the powers of the other Undead to keep himself as bay and even uses one of them to move about the human world. He rejects humanity but slowly comes to embrace it and want to be a part of it. This all makes for an interesting character. A good friggen chunk of the story is based around him, he's that interesting of a character. We see him grow from a cold inhuman being to one whose warm and embraces humanity and wants to protect it while struggling to keep his monstrous side at bay. It makes sense the story is devoted to him a good chunk of the time. Hajime's struggle with his Joker side, his path to embracing humanity, and thus his overall character arc and story is thus the single greatest thing of the show. Hajime should have been the main character, and in my eyes he kinda of his, but should have officially been the main character. He has so much more to offer then anybody else in this show.

Rounding up the rider bunch is Mutsuki who is fairy interesting for the majority of the show. A normal everyday kid who is thrusted into being a rider while overdone is pretty interesting. Throw in the fact that he's slowly being taken over by that which allows him to be the rider is also interesting albeit a little cliche. Mutsuki to me was like Peter Parker when he discovered the Symbiote, except the Symbiote won in this instance. Mutsuki's lack of self confidence and desire for power led to him being taken over by the Category Ace and transformed him into a powerful being. But even then he wasn't as strong as Leangle was made out to be and thus continued to eat at him. When finally free of the Ace Mutsuki still wants power and self confidence, but now wants to grow into it instead of just having it given to him because he knows how dangerous this can be. Mutsuki's struggle with the Category Ace and himself is what makes him an interesting character just like Hajime. Unfortunately Mutsuki does by the end get a little stale, though it is great to see him become self confident. All in all, Mutsuki is the second best in the show.

As for the rest, they're just sort of there. They're there simply to fill out the story and help move things along and a lot of them aren't interesting. Except for Amane, but for the wrong reason. I understand that Hajime is a father figure to her and that it's normal for a girl to crush on older men. But the level Amane is in to Hajime is just disturbing. She's literally obsessed with her and isn't in love with him as a crush is, she's actually and obsessively in love with him. This leads to a lot of weirdness for me and half the time it's annoying that all she does is cry for Hajime-san. Her bluntness is annoying as well, half the time I sat there wondering why her mother didn't scold/parent her for half the stuff she does. She's the most annoying character to me, but at least she's interesting. The rest of the cast is fairly throwaway and are pretty forgettable

Misc
As for the other aspects of the show, they're quite different in range. While the characters vary in quality the acting is actually pretty good and I'd quite enjoy seeing some of them in different shows or movies. The music was pretty good as most of the shows are and the themes are great. The action to me is one of the best aspects of the show and is some of the best I've seen, though it still doesn't even come close to touching the epicness of Kabuto's. The effects are pretty lackluster and just terrible in spots. The rider and Undead designs are fantastic, especially the Undead which are the best Kaijin I've ever seen (the final Category King being my favorite). The bikes are cool (I demand Black Fang now) and the locations are pretty nice.

Final Thoughts
In the end, Kamen Rider Blade is an overall meh to me. It has great action which is honestly the only consistently great thing about the show. The story is lackluster save for the bits I've already mentioned, the characters ranger from bland to purely excellent, the effects are bad overall, the designs are great, the music and acting are good, and the rest is just alright. Outside of Hajime and the action nothing stands out to me from the show or will probably be all that rememberable. Is it the worst one I've seen, no. Is it the best, hell no. It falls in the middle sort of like 555, though I will say Blade is slightly better for it's more concentrated albeit lackluster story. I don't regret seeing it and it makes me appreciate the characters behind the suits which I want to have the SHFs (and some of the Souchakus) of. But at the end of the day Blade is a show where when I look back on it all it'll produce from me is a shrug and a "meh." In a critical rating I'd give it a 3 1/2. In a personal enjoyment rating, it's a 3.

Favorite Character: Aikawa Hajime
Least Favorite Character: Amane
Favorite Rider Design: Kamen Rider Glaive
Favorite Undead Design: Final Category King
Favorite theme: Round Zero
Favorite OP Video: Video 2

Definitely don't agree with you at all, but its great that you did watch the show in its entirety.

I'm happy that I finally did. At least this way I'm not buying all of the figures just because I like the designs, I'm buying them because I like the designs but also like and appreciate the characters behind them, though some more then others.