That's a great point actually, it's the human villains that are the major problem. I guess since Tennouji and Hirose get so much screen time between them, it's just easier to remember how awful they are compared to the generally more interesting Undead villains. Which makes me wonder what it could have been like if the Undead were the only villains, and we just scrap Tennouji and Hirose entirely. Expand the roles and characterization of the Undead instead, giving the last few of them more time and relevance. Sure they still wouldn't be likely to show up on anyone's list of favorite Rider villains ever, but it probably would have been better than Tennouji and Hirose!

I definitely have no interest in reading a story about how a very old Kenzaki hates himself and wants to die! That sounds like a bummer!

I like to think of him as always being Kenzaki, you know? Pushing his bike up a hill because it broke for no apparent reason. Needing to crash on strangers' couches because he forgot he needs money to pay rent. Amane getting a birthday card from him on different day every year, with a note about how he owes her another gift. The world having that guy running around for eternity... man, I'm tearing up again!

It's what I miss about the Phase 2 shows, now that I'm midway through Phase 1: there really aren't many mid-tier villains. It's mostly mindless beasts and a couple three gloating masterminds. Shows like Ex-Aid and Ghost and Drive and Build all had really memorable lieutenants, or even one-story monsters that had clever premises. Here, I think the reliance on Tennouji and U.N.D.A.D.... I think they'd've been better served by going with the King/Tiger Queen/Scissors Undead model of, like, four episodes to really delve into an Undead.

The downside with doing that, though, is you're basically just doing Kuuga again, and only four years after Kuuga aired. Probably would've garnered this show a completely different set of complaints.

I don’t really have a huge issue with the show’s villains because I don’t really think of any of them past Isaka as being major villains, even Tennouji. Blade’s real villain isn’t a character, it’s the situation that they’re all out in. The Battle Fight is what drives all of the show’s main physical conflicts and the show’s final struggle is about how to effectively cheat its system. Isaka worked well as an early, pre-power-up threat, but after him most high level Undead were lucky to last more than three episodes. I didn’t mind that because it still tied into the idea that the situation is the real problem.

I mean, yeah, Tennouji kinda sucks and feels more than a little pointless, but I guess I didn’t expect more from him? He was really just more of an extended distraction.

You're not wrong about the villains being beside the point... but that's also what makes them so disappointing? Like, it's not worth dwelling on individual Undead's lack of relevance to the overall plot, since they're only ever around for two episodes. But U.N.D.A.D. and Tennouji are in almost 10 episodes each. If a ten-episode character doesn't have a compelling hook or feel like a worthwhile thing for the show to focus on... that's not great!

Oh man did I show up late to this one. Alright, um... directly quoting everyone is basically out of the question if I don't want to spend several hours writing this one post... just need a good place to start then... Oh! I got it!

Perfect is definitely the only word for this finale. I'm trying to make this quick, so it's good I don't have anything I could really add. I always liked the dopey freeze frame of Kenzaki's face when they play the title card? The truncated opening is generally something I look forward to in Rider finales, and Blade having it pop up right after Kenzaki asks Kotarou to trust his plan to deal with Hajime, after running himself ragged using King Form... yeah, that's pretty much everything that needs to be established! The whole episode is an out-of-the-park spectacular finish to the show that leaves such a massive impression on people for good reason.

As for the discussion of themes, "failure" is a good one. There was a point after episode 28 (I went and checked) where you said you were having some trouble getting a handle on what the themes of Blade are, and while I didn't say anything at the time, because I like to avoid doing anything that might color your opinions, that remark hit pretty close to home for me when it comes to this show. I've seen Blade twice, and neither time did it feel like a show with a particularly cogent thematic core the way most Heisei Rider shows do to me. There's material there, for sure, but it doesn't leap out at me the same way it would in a show like Faiz, for example. I've been putting more thought into it during this thread, and the "conclusion" I've arrived at was as such:

Fighting fate, that was always the hallmark of Shou Aikawa's run as writer, and fairly specific to him. His very first episode is the very first time we hear Kenzaki say a variation on those words that would go on to become rather iconic thanks to the ending, and it always keeps popping back up in-between. For the first half of the show by Shouji Imai, I'd say the main theme, as best as I can sum it up in a single word, would be "doubt". Maybe "uncertainty"? This is reflected in the lyrics to both the opening and insert themes, and also by nearly every aspect of the plot, from how it's set up, to the struggles all three Riders face in that first arc.

Everything you said about how you see the themes, I think it ended up intersecting pretty nicely with how I feel about them, even though the exact lens and labels we're using are a bit different. Blade can be kind of a different beast compared to other Rider shows in this department, so I'm amazed they line up at all.

Also, I kind of weirdly agree with everything DreamSword said, even though I also don't at all? Well, except the bit about the Black Fang episodes. Die and I both watched that second part, posted about it, and we both agreed it was basically a total misfire. It's Bike Action without the Action. Aside from that though, yeah. Early Blade definitely has a more unique sense of atmosphere compared to the more standardized supehero antics later on, and that's one of the things that keeps me coming back to those early episodes so much. The complaints, I don't feel personally, but I wouldn't really argue most of those flaws aren't there. Some of the overarching villains are a bit of a sticking point for me, but the fun of the week-to-week Undead with human forms always overshadows that in my memories. The gamut of motivations and personalities those guys had is something I don't think many other Rider shows offer. Some of them are very atypical antagonists, to the point a guy like Shima can even just be a protagonist, no questions asked! It's totally wild and I love it.

And, before I forget to mention it for the millionth time: have we never just taken a second in this thread to sit back and appreciate how gloriously absurd the name "Battle Fight" is yet? Because that's gotta be one of my favorite terms in the entire lexicon of Kamen Rider. Might as well have called it the Combat War. :lol

Wow, surprised someone actually got what I was trying to say in that big ramble I did, haha. Glad to hear someone else can see why the inherent weirdness and style of the early episodes could be a point for drawing someone in.

And it's okay that neither of you understand the inherent coolness of Black Fang, a motorcycle made almost totally out of spikes driven around by an Undead monster. I understand, we're not all fans of metal, afterall, lol.

Not gonna lie, I just totally assumed that you all had already made fun of the label beforehand in some string of posts that I'd missed. Because yes, it is very silly, haha.

When I watched Blade for the first time a few years ago, I actually thought the term "Battle Fight" was some weird translation quirk with the subs. I just assumed it was a case of the translators getting a bit too literal resulting in a silly but technically correct name, and it probably made more sense in Japanese. Then when I started this rewatch, now that I have a lot more familiarity with the sound of the Japanese language, I realized they were actually just straight up saying "Battle Fight" and that's seriously what it's called. :lol

It's a show where it's very difficult to see what it's trying to say. The character stuff comes through clearly, and the story isn't terribly convoluted, but the thematic stuff is murky at best. I'm not sure if it's a result of the writer switch? It probably is. It's easier to make a plot line up, or to get the voice of the characters right, than to tell someone else's story. Maybe if the first writer had finished, we'd've seen something that made some of those early episodes feel more crucial. Maybe if the second writer had done the whole series, he'd've started seeding some big ideas early. As it is, it just doesn't feel like a show that had something it was trying to say as a series. It definitely had characters it wanted to tell stories with, but I feel like most thematic interpretations are going to be brought by the audience. Which I'm okay with!

Battle Fight, from the same show that referred to two completely separate characters as only "Hirose" without thinking it would be a problem, and called the well-meaning but useless sidekick whose house everyone lives in from the show after Faiz "Kotaro". It's about what I expected!

I guess if you don't remember much, I will now note what episodes I'm discussing with, in this case, episode 42.

I wonder for here, what does Hirose have in relation to the main players in this episode; Nozomi, Mutsuki, and Tennoji?

Well, even if Mutsuki wasn't a chode (and now for once, listen here about him), it was only 1 person and that probably can give a not well impression too. Or in inverse, as you've seen in a comment, Mutsuki being a waste and not worth saving for her. Both sides could've get criticism regarding that. And... Nozomi tolerates all of this Mutsuki more, than him missing their date in Kurihara household. I will stood up to the phrase of "save someone and won't let her fer stand" as pseudo-Kamen Riders (her declaring no fear is epic... but if the monster went berserk on her... nothing would save her as she's a normal human.. not talking Mutsuki because her feelings for him is what holds him apart)... but unfortunately, normies only associate with anything Rider-ish as in fighting and be a killing machine, and dismiss something like you elaborate here.

And yeah, at the end, finally, Tiger Undead is another Undead who redeems herself, becoming another non-malicious Undead like Shima (Shima has full Rider sensibility though, Hikaru can't compare), even working with Tachibana.

As I've told you before (and I wasn't trying to spoil, with Mutsuki having yellow glow in ep. 30-ish, he was Yami Mutsuki), Mutsuki was possessed by Spider Undead all this time until now. And Shima's sacrifice began to take effect here, with help from Hikaru's. And probably you'd be disappointed with this one (unless you'd think Mutsuki's insecurities which leads him to be possessed makes him also responsible, but still, even if those are more interesting, never treat your or anyone's headcannon as real ones), but Mutsuki is forgiven because all of his transgressions were Spider Undead's act, and, well, "I need to be stronger" is part of the reason why Spider Undead can possess him, so yeah, the villain here is always Spider Undead (and possessed Mutsuki was anti-villain with him doing bad things but none are in control/what he wants). He's not someone who would resort into doing all the bad things he did from ep. 30-ish to 42, it's all Spider Undead's doing, and as it've been said in ep. 40-41, it was Mutsuki being possessed (and it probably shows that the cast also knew what's going on with Mutsuki). And the fight... wow, it's one species fight, Spider vs Tarantula (Shima's).