Hey, so, one of the many things I stumbled upon watching random YouTube videos about Blade – for the memes, you see – was a comment saying that, apparently, there's a special little fact about those flowers Hajime is holding when he sees Kenzaki on The Bench at the end.

https://i.imgur.com/uSds5by.png

Now, flowers are far from an area of expertise for me, so maybe someone more knowledgeable can confirm or debunk this (all I can say is a quick Google search got me some images of flowers that matched the ones in the screencap well enough), but those red ones are a variety of the Gladiolus flower, the name of which is derived from the Latin word gladius... which means "blade". They're also commonly known as sword lilies.

This show had a really good finale.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz25b.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz25c.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz25d.png

Unreal. Thank you for finding that out! What an insanely deep reference for the show to make! Next you're going to tell me the bench Hajime sees Kenzaki sitting on was made from heartwood...

TIL the bench scene in Blade is one of the deepest and most intricate scenes in all of Kamen Rider.

Actually, Inoue's stuff can play out like where it plays off negativity as the norm that characters bounce off of on a regular basis, it's not treating positivity as something we should strive for and share, and pushing it to the side to let grayness take center stage. At least to others, when comparing his work to other work where there's much negativity, in this case, Ryuki to Faiz.

The movie acts as an Alternate Universe of the main series as well. Wait wtf, a base form Blade beating Joker? What is this inconsistency? And with everyone being a disaster, I've said before that I don't want for the existing non-asshole characters to be turned into assholes as well, like claiming that it's the only realistic or interesting way, or simply because people don't like that they aren't assholes, or even "not villainous". Other than the double standard treatment, it's also what can occur in different, multiple writers, especially from Inoue. You already know the Yuji turning evil part. I feel like Kenzaki is a bit of more asshole-ish here, I know he was a lashing out broken man at the beginning, but him here now demanding prestige as a heroic Kamen Rider (the new Riders are jerks, but still for him)? Mutsuki wants to live out a normal life actually, and was upset when he's told that Undeads will return. Hirose's demeanor seems contrating her guilt over her father releasing Undeads here, before the very end.

Name's Kamen Rider Glaive for Junichi Shimura (real villain), Larc for Natsumi Miwa (the girl), and Lance for Shin Magaki (the other male). There's a red herring where Larc would be the movie's villain, but the actual villain is Glaive. Rider wise, Glaive's arsenal was based on Blade's, while his Undead form is a stronger variation of the Joker. And yeah, truly stronger as Albino Joker (negative color swap of Joker and bodies are opposite); He can shoot energy beams from his hand, assume his own human disguise like Royal Club (and a human-wide Joker to disguise as various allies here), unseal Undead, and generate his own army of Darkroach. However because he was in shadows most of the time, he's not as skilled of a fighter, Hajime was weakened due to being recently unsealed when they fought. He's the plot twist villain which hides true nature type by doing fundrising to children, pretending to be one of the Rider allies (if acting as complete d-bag), before revealing his irredeemable true nature. I just wonder what are Natsumi and Shin's goals, they seem to be totally hostile personality-wise, and berates the former Riders as old-timers. Even Tachibana instructs them to work together. Assholes =/= villains though, so Glaive's true nature is still drastically different; and he's one of the most evil being in the whole franchise as well.

As a product of different writer (Inoue did write a few in the main, but not a primary writer), it happens and in no small scale. First, Blade didn't become an Undead, so if Kenzaki sealed Hajime, the Albino Joker would've won due to the nature of the Sealing Stone, as well as the fact that he would've been the last remaining Undead by default? Second, Spider Undead is sealed in the same manner that lead to the creation of the "improperly sealed" card, yet Leagle is never possessed by said Undead. Third, Shima?? He acts more like regular monster, also Girafa (Kanai) as well, acting like regular monster instead of a higher up.

Though the one in movie, it's actually unhealthy coping mechanisms (in this case, projecting their issues to others, escapism, becoming actual criminal and delinquent) to cope with problems when the problem become too difficult for them to handle alone. There are quite many cases of jerkasses and/or anti-heroes resorting to unhealthy coping mechanisms when they meet with a challenge too huge to overcome. Unhealthy coping mechanism is not to be ignored and treat as if it’s perfectly okay. It should be acknowledged that those characters made a mistake in using those coping mechanisms, and at the same time, extend some understanding to them. Kenzaki points out that as an adult, you should be mindful of the other's feelings. You know you actually had one of your stores looted last night.

Sure, Trial B is a robot, but it's obvious that there's a bunch of ineffective refusing violence as easy solutions, other than Trial B which are actual living beings like Riders in Ryuki or Sawada in Faiz, and that participating in that is seen as naive.

I'm thinking on how Hajime is trying hard not to return into Joker form, where it's seen that if he returned he goes back into Joker's primal tendencies. I'm thinking that becoming Human Undead (a.k.a Hajime) or probably others gives Hajime different demeanor, cooling him down.

Yeah, it's probably a good thing that they didn't show us the beginning of this fight, since it makes it easier to headcanon some insane fight with Blade, Garren and Leangle all contributing to stop the Joker, leaving Kenzaki to finish it off. Or maybe a big rock fell on Hajime? No wrong answers to this one!

I feel like their goals are just to troll the Classic Riders, and they are achieving their goals.

For sure! I think the show establishes the Human Undead card as being the primary thing that keeps the Joker from being a relentless killing machine.

OK, sorry for this, but can you address my other replies regarding the movie, like the coping or the plot continuities?

The fact is Blade actually names all the characters (monster of the weeks are written on the card). If you chose to be ignorant about it, then it's not the show's fault. And for phase 1 and phase 2, how good/bad probably shouldn't be measured solely by comedy alone. Or that, about being less light-hearted, addressing darker themes at times can be good, evoking feelings in a sense of despair, grittiness, realism. And obviously, either (anything obviously, which is why not judging by lack of an aspect alone) works only if used right, and no unnecessary utilization. Like for some, comedy can feel, trivializing or downgrading the emotional content (it still depends on context, if it's the audience or the series' mistake in this take). And even then, well, you did say that it doesn't mean phase 1 isn't funny, but comedy isn't necessarily about over the top stuff like phase 2 has, like there characters are extremely exaggerated and openly animated in traits, where phase 1 is more grounded, like the "headquarters" such as Kotaro's house compared to CR.

They already exist before they met the classic Riders, and that's what I ask, what are they striving for as Riders (time without classic Riders). They're being a dick to classic Riders, but classic Riders existing or not, they became Riders.

Can you remind me of what you said? I must've missed it.

Posting in the credits... that's completely not the same as having characters in a show say it. That's making the viewer have to do more work just to be able to talk about what's going on in the show. It's not great storytelling! As a million other TV shows demonstrated, you can have characters say a new character's name once or twice in an episode without ruining the flow. And, man, they had two different characters on this show that they spent a half-dozen episodes as only "Hirose"! That's a problem!

Wasn't a value judgment on the shows, just citing an element I enjoyed that doesn't feel as prominent. And, yeah, I would never feel comfortable judging a superhero program solely by comedy. But it's nice when it's there! For me!

I think they were just doing a job. The New Generation specials painted them as frustrated and unemployed, so getting paid to pummel monsters seems like an end in and of itself.

Fun fact, the whole Kamen Rider as a job approach was inspired by Odoru Daisousasen/Bayside Shakedown, a famous cop drama series/movie franchise in Japan. Apparently they drew inspiration from Bayside Shakedown's way of portraying Aoyama the protagonist(played by Yuji Oda) and the other police officers as not a band of superheroes but as regular people.

Neat! Did not know that. Thanks!

I think Blade, as a show, had a really fun thread about how what starts as obligation (Kenzaki trying to save people after losing his parents; Hajime protecting Amane and Haruka) can grow into a deeper, more fulfilling motivation over time. Can't get that unless you start with it being a job, though!

Gotta be long then..

Not them being posted in credits, but actual name calling in the show, everything gets this treatment on Blade at least iirc. Hirose for both Shiori and Yoshito is a problem yeah (and I joked about that before), but the others that you still relegated with nicknames are all already called by name (well, for fun of this thread it's your call, but gotta correct saying they aren't refered by names though). Like Isaka, SAYOKOOOOO (this one..), Trial B, Kaimioka, etc.

Ah, my other point was also written there: comedy isn't necessarily about over the top stuff like phase 2 has, like there characters are extremely exaggerated and openly animated in traits, where phase 1 is more grounded, like the "headquarters" such as Kotaro's house compared to CR.