Did we just become best friends?

Seriously, though; I haven't seen Den-O, but this is pretty close to my list. W was my first and still favorite; I get excited every time Shotaro pops up in one of the movies. OOO and Kuuga have two of the most likeable riders, and Gaim has fruit hats. What's not to love?

I'd put Fourze somewhere on my list, though, largely because my kids loved it; it's their favorite series, so that colors my perceptions. Plus, it reminds me of every high school anime, so it gets some nostalgia/familiarity bonus points.

If you like OOO and Kuuga, you might like Blade as well. Kenzaki and Eiji have a lot in common ^^

Blade's next on my watch list, so I'm hoping for good things. Sounds promising.

Blade starts kinda rough for most people, but it gets really, really good. Istill think it has the best ending of any Rider show.

Shame Blade's translation and video quality are crappy. I wouldn't recommend it for these reasons.

It sucks that none of the re-sub attempts panned out for this or Hibiki. Those shows desperately need new subs.

Really? I've been pretty happy with TV Nihon's subs so far, but I admit I haven't watched Blade or Hibiki. (And I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese, so it's not like I'd notice most problems.)

One gripe I do have, though, is that it seems like they throw in harsher language than is necessary. Maybe they're trying to match the impact of a particular phrase or something, but it seems weird to have actual swearing in a kids' show, even if it's only from time to time.

Blade and Hibiki were in the early days when Nihon was rushing subs out and didn't care if their translations were fully accurate or not. They aren't bad, but there are lines that don't make sense due to poor wording. Plus, the video quality is from the TV rips that were out at the time they were airing, which looked great for 2004, but then came 2008 and they start to look like old bootlegged VHS tapes.

Yeah, that's something that a lot of sub groups have been guilty of: using really strong swear words that aren't really the correct translation of the Japanese curse. Usually it's the word kuso, which is pretty much Japanese for "crap." It's a very mild expletive in Japanese, but some fansubbers decide to make it more hardcore by translating it as "shit" or even "fuck," which really isn't the way it's being used in the original language. TVN did that a bit in the earlier days, but it is something they got away from eventually.

But yeah, the Blade and Hibiki subs really suffer from low quality raws and sloppy translations. I assume TV-Nihon is aware of this, which is why they're currently resubbing Kabuto. :rolleyes

That's a shame about the quality. Maybe they're waiting for Blu-Ray releases of those series or something.

The "kuso" thing bugs me more, since my kids (10 and 5) are also watching these shows, and, though they can't keep up with all the subs, they can read. (I'm usually reading the fansubs to them and self-editing.) I'd prefer that they not pick up any new words to spring on Grandma. :) On the one hand, I suppose I should really be bringing that up with TV Nihon, but on the other hand, I suspect it would fall on deaf ears (or they'd point out that I'm getting their stuff for free, so I shouldn't complain).