[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Destroyman

Right, about to return to the world of the Bugmen, but I can't quite decide on which one. I'm thinking about watching OOO but I want to wait until TV-nihon puts all the episodes in batches. I'm also interested in Blade's aesthetic but I've heard that It has a very weak first dozen of episodes. And I'd be interested in Hibiki because I like the idea of musically based heroes & I have an interest in Japanese history & culture (which I'm guessing Hibiki has something to do with), but from what I understand it's not really a Kamen Rider show.

Anyway, what do you recommend?

First of all, if you don't want to wait on torrents KRDL has all of OOO - both the TVN and O-T versions - on direct download.

Blade does have kind of a slow start, but it is totally worth sitting through because once the show really gets going it gets very, very epic. I still think it has one of the best endings out of any show in the Heisei era.

Hibiki (anyone who's been paying attention knows what I'm going to say) is, hands down, my favorite Heisei Rider show. It has some incredibly original and distinctive elements to the cinematography that really make it stand out from the other Rider shows. The cast is full of deep, engaging, and likable characters and they all have really strong chemistry with each other. It's a very different show compared to all of the others, but if you can get past the initial differences it's well worth watching... for the first 29 episodes. After that it takes a massive nosedive in quality and, while not actually terrible, it becomes much more average, feeling a lot like some of the weaker parts of Faiz or Kiva (mostly because they all have the same writer). I usually tell people not to watch those episodes, but the first part of the series is an absolute must-see.

Dr Kain is right, though, that the TVN subs are not the highest quality video. KITSubs was working on a new version of Hibiki but that got put off when the raws were lost in the great filesharing apocalypse of 2012. As far as I know, no one has shown any interest in scrubbing Blade (which is a pity, as its the show that needs it the most - there are some weird aspect ratio issues at times and the translation is usually considered one of TVN's sloppiest). Don't get me wrong, they are totally still watchable, but it is worth mentioning.