The problem with Blade (and this is not a knock, I swear) is that the first few episodes were pretty poorly translated at times. So a lot of people's first impressions of the series were affected by this. Same with Hibiki. Granted, that was at a much earlier stage in TV-Nihon's group. Things have changed now, where we don't see as many big mistakes. Unfortunately, this is the only way a lot of people have seen the show.

I don't know, for me it was always more of a pacing problem than a translation issue. Blade's early episodes feel very slow compared to how a lot of the other shows start. It was better on a rewatch, but I think that, more than any other Rider show, Blade really took awhile to kick into high gear. It might have something to do with being the only Rider show not to start with an origin episode (Hibiki was already an established Rider, too, of course, but it did still start with Asumu's introduction to the world of the Oni - Blade just plunges us into the deep end head first). It's kind of hard to really get wrapped up in the story when it takes several episodes to really get your bearings on who everyone is and what exactly is happening.

Part of that problem is alleviated with a better translation, because the who-what-and-where is so confusing in the early episodes of Blade. Without the translation errors, we have an easier time "getting" the plot elements that are being established.

For example, in Hibiki TV-N completely misses the fact that he's on Yaku Island because he needs special wood from there to repair his drum sticks. And the big kicker was the fact that Hibiki resembles Asumu's father.

Both of those bits of information were completely different in TV-N's original releases, and they were said in passing dialogue. It was easy to miss them (we needed two other translators, AND a printed script to get the dialogue right) but it's something that not a lot of people knew watching the original release!

You know Hibiki really is something I'd like to get around to watching. Though I know somebody (maybe Switchblade?) said it was fantastic..... only until like episode 37 or something? :lol

I love Hibiki. It's so different from the modern Rider shows, and so much closer to one of ishinomori's original stories. There's a strong connection to nature, and characters acting like real people. The entire cast is incredibly likeable.

But that doesn't translate to toy sales in Japan. So starting with episode 30, a new writing staff is on board. A lot of guys from Faiz (and Kiva) on staff. And the whole thing goes south. The cast keeps it together, but the ending was totally out of left field. So much so that the cast (most vocally, the actor that played Hibiki) complained about it.

But it's still worth the watch. We retranslated the first two episodes. We have more on the way, but the high quality raws we used are gone now that Filesonic is dead. And we're kind of bogged down with projects, right now!

I'm currently only watching Fourze atm, though I should really finish up kuuga, only a few eps left of that.

Gonna start rewatching Faiz with a friend soon, that's going to be fun!

29. And you can totally watch it up to 29 and feel like it's a good show that got cancelled before it got to really get to the end but still managed to pull off a pretty decent, if rushed, conclusion.

Or you can keep watching and see everything get all Faiz-y.

Either way, give it a shot - it's an absolutely amazing show.

To be fair, Inoue isn't that bad a writer when he feels like trying, though not having watched Hibiki, I've no clue how hard he was trying.

Yeah id like to stay away from Faiz-y if possible. Hibiki has such a radically different look from most Rider shows though. That alone drives my interest. The suit designs are stunningly unique.

been really busy lately, but thanks to my friend tyler he convinced me to watch Kamen Rider Hibiki...... MY GOD, IT IS AWESOME, this is the second time that i have eaten my words when it comes to watching kamen rider, i originally never wanted to watch den-o.... yeah ive seen EVERY MOVIE, EVERY EPISODE..... i was addicted, like magiranger!

but im watching hibiki,and thanks to kitsubs and my friend rich, im watching Skyrider. that is awesome, also gonna watch black when i get the time to, probably in 3 weeks or so