[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Sunred

Well, you finally did it. I am glad you liked the ending and as others have said, myself included, it is like climbing a mountain when watching Kamen Rider Blade. You start with the rough patches of Karamiso Creek, go through the dark and murky Category Ace Forest, and after you free climb the monstrosity that is Darkroach Canyon, the view is awesome. It's lonely and a few scratches and bruises here and there, but the end justifies it all. So with that said, looking forward to your take on Hibiki.

It's funny that you'd mention climbing a mountain, because I think I used "it's not like scaling a mountain" in a metaphor I used to describe one of the show's themes. (About 1/3 done with that post.) Totally coincidental, and we're using the metaphor for different things, so please don't think it's a shot or anything!

The series as a whole is a weird ride, for sure. It makes a lot of choices in production that are maybe not great, but it made a lot of choices in pre-production that keep it from ever being unwatchable.

I'm also looking forward to Hibiki! Might be a minute, though!

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

Well as promised, here’s the post-show media and its various divergences on what happens next. Your mileage may vary on which is better.

*snip*

And I’ll say this now. I won’t be doing anymore recurring threads until Kiva (maybe Den-O), so for now, I’ll just be a drop-in, voicing my thoughts and sharing random trivia.

You did amazing work! Thank you so much for contributing all of these details! Don't be a stranger!

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Originally Posted by LeviathanBlossom

The audio drama is fun; it's a 10 Years Later story with the first two chapters summarized up there. It describes Mutsuki as essentially being professionally successful and mentoring people, Hajime as still being at the Jacaranda with Amane and Haruka, Tachibana as inexplicably In Charge Of Things and good at it, and then Kenzaki is just riding around on his motorcycle with Hajime's photobooks in a backpack. There's a cute bit where he's getting the bike repaired and talks about how he loves the way the photographer sees the world.

There's also the bit where Hajime's professional photographer name is an anagram of Kenzaki's name. At the end of the drama, Kenzaki calls Hajime and then hangs up without saying anything, and Hajime just sounds wrecked.

Listening to the audio drama on the same day as watching the Blade series finale is not advisable, lol

Extra-canonical material aside, and as much as I like Blade overall, the finale is the one thing that I think it absolutely nailed. Seeing it get so much love today is fantastic

It's a truly excellent finale. Just dials in on what's most special about the series (Kenzaki!) and lets it shine. Doesn't try to do too much, you know? Knows exactly what it wants to say.

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Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

Blade is the third Rider series of the 2000's I've seen, after Decade and Den-O, and I wasn't ever sure what I was expecting. I've been watching since Wizard, I know how a modern Rider series works, with the new toys, new powers, and the occasional new twist they pull as things inevitably develop. But Blade was something very different. Occasionally weirder than it deserved, far more subtle in its story beats at times, and at times seeming worlds apart from, say, the concurrent 01. It was unsure at first, but I grew to love it, the characters, their bonds, and then you get to the finale, and the bench hits



I may have cried a little. I'm told it's normal.

I don't know what it would feel like to see Kenzaki smiling for his friend and not want to cry.

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Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

Also you gotta love Karasuma for coming back now, of all times, to sit around and do nothing. Typical management behaviour.

I like to think that Karasuma never went to Tibet. He's been in Japan this whole time, monitoring Team Blade, waiting for the most crucial moment to help them... and then waiting another few days to finally show up.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Oh man, I love the ending to that Ex-Aid miniseries. It is a fantastically clever use of Blade’s lore - “Nice pocket dimension you have here, sure would be a shame if the only Undead on it was a Joker...“ I always appreciate when psst Rider appearances honor the original show’s story, especially after so many years of Black and Black RX hanging out together despite the fact that they’re the same guy.

I was wondering if you’d seen that miniseries/how well you remembered it, but I didn’t want to say anything that might spoil Blade’s ending.

I, sort-of unfortunately, watched the Goriders mini-series a lot more recently than I watched Ex-Aid. (I guess I never downloaded it?) Probably within the last year, so it's fairly fresh in memory. My protection against it spoiling too much (really any) of Blade is that I didn't completely understand the context of the climax. I mean, I got what was happening, that's why I liked it (Kuroto set the victory conditions and then Team Ex-Aid used them to beat him!), but I didn't really take a lot of it with me when I watched Blade. As the ending got closer, I think some pieces connected better, but it was very very minor. Nothing that gave the story away.