[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It doesn’t cross any lines, it isn’t some abomination. But holy shit did I 100% not care about the Blade/Garren story in this. Just, absolute disinterest. If someone else wants to take a run at it, be my guest.

Alright then, looks like it's time for a surprise guest edition of Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Blade, now with 100% less Kamen Rider Die!

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 25 (AGAIN)

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: (0M0)「スリップストリームだ！」



Okay, first things first, the direction in this episode is out there in places. 24 and 25 were helmed by Kenkou Satou, seemingly a pretty minor name in the scheme of Rider, having only directed a couple episodes of Agito, and about a half dozen of Ryuki, from what I could find. Without going back to check all those other episodes, I can't say if this is Satou's trademark style, or something unique to these two, but the camera is trying as hard as possible to be dynamic here. There are just enough stretches of normalcy to prevent it from being a gimmicky mess, but once you notice how many titled angles and shots where the focus is anywhere but the center of the frame there are, it's hard to un-notice. Whether that's to the episode's credit or its detriment, I'll let you decide.

As for the actual plot, there's a chunk of it about Kotarou and Hajime, but I mean, does that really seem important to anyone? Obviously the real draw of this episode is all the bike action. Just an absurd amount of bike action. Tachibana and Kenzaki are hot on the trail of the Wolf Undead, who has gained incredible power thanks to riding on his brand new super bike, which is called Fang, for maximum edge factor. He's basically unstoppable, and the fact he's on wheels means he's also great at running away, so Blade and Garren spent a lot of time just trying to catch up to him. If the episode put any effort at all into making that look exciting, it might've even been fun.

I uh, I really wanted to come in here and do a thing where I talk this episode up half-sarcastically like it's the most amazing piece of television ever made, but the fact of the matter is, I'm not being given much to work with. This is an episode that goes all in on the action, and that makes it real awkward that the action is its biggest issue by far. There's a plot going on here that's completely absurd, yet draws enough out of its premise to feel sincere. Tachibana and Kenzaki getting nostalgic about their old days at BOARD, and having what seemed like a chance to have some of that normalcy back turn out to be a cruel trick, I love that. The Wolf Undead could've been after a super-powered BOARD toaster oven and I'd still love it. Centering it on a bike is goofy, but goofy is rarely an issue when you're talking about Kamen Rider. I've always remembered this storyline extremely fondly as a cool two-part adventure that really lets Blade and Garren feel like a duo, and after rewatching (half) of it, I'm still going to be thinking of it that way.

I've also developed a much keener sense of good action direction over the years, and I'd be lying to myself if I said this holds a candle to anything Kuuga ever did on a motorcycle. This is some bare-bones bike action. The definition of quantity over quality. It never, at any point, amounts to anything more than people driving in straight lines or taking nice, gentle corners. There's no clever use of geography, no epic ramp stunts, heck, even the big "strategy" moment of Tachibana declaring they need to use the slipstream to avoid Fang's weird energy wave attacks is immediately undercut by them just straight up not doing that. There's an as-himself super special guest star in these episodes, Tatsuya Yamaguchi, who I'm sure is a great racer, but even his big "look mom, I'm on TV" sequence is a whole lot more driving in straight lines.

That's really the whole story with this one. It's an entirely inoffensive hero vs. villain plot that you could pick up and watch without too much in the way of context. Aggressively simple, even. And, you know, I have said before that it's okay for Kamen Rider to just be light entertainment every now and then. Nowhere is that more true of Blade than here. Despite the more serious vibe of Chalice's side of the episode, this is one you really don't need to think about at all, and despite the fact that I just spent all this time chewing it out, I can't help but love it all the same. I mean, I'm a sucker for bike action. Bare-bones or not, I see a Kamen Rider on a bike, and it makes me happy. There's a magic to these two episodes I can't describe anywhere near as well as all the things that are decidedly *not* magic about them. They have a style all their own that feels weirdly out of sync with the rest of Blade, as though Aikawa wrote this two-parter before 22 and 23 as a warm-up, and was shocked when someone from Toei saw the script poking out of his trash can and went "hey, we should use this!"

Wait, no, that's an insult again, isn't it? Man, I really can't make myself talk this one up, can I? I'd better stop trying before I dig myself any deeper. I guess at the very least I now understand why Die didn't want to do this. I feel like such a jerk right now.



Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: ???「そうだ！それだよブレイド‼」