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