[XW1n5t0nX]

And thus another Kamen Rider has been completed in Blade. How was the ride?

Story
The main idea of the story is pretty interesting in all honesty. 52 monsters with a Joker card that have to be sealed by the riders. Pretty interesting. Then if Joker is the last one standing the world will end because of his blood lust. That's also interesting, but not as much as the original idea. So the base idea of the Blade is story is a great one in sound. But...it was lackluster.

I was originally bored the first time I watched anything from the show and a full watch through has proven that it isn't all that boring. But too me at least the story never really got all that great. It was exciting in bits, but only because of a character story which pertained to that character outside of Hajime. Other then his and the early Tachibana and Mutsuki stories, the story never got exciting or all that interesting again for me. Tachibana's early story was honestly a completely missed opportunity to me for him to have a season long arc. Everything sounds so grand and epic, but it just falls short. It also doesn't help that they throw twist after twist after twist at you. By the time the show is over you're tired out because of how much shit they've thrown at you in the form of twists.

The twists and the overall lackluster story to me just make the show fall flat, especially since the show is what is most important. I'll give Blade the fact that it only had two episodes that are filler and that the rest is one solid ride, but the ride is lackluster and overall disappointing.

Characters
While the story was a bit of a bore outside of some bits, it was exciting when it came to the characters, somewhat. So let's address them.

Kenzaki being our main character gets a lot of attention in the show, which makes sense. Unfortunately the attention is undeserved. Out of every rider show I've seen whether it be beginning to end or taking a break after a bit, Kenzaki is in my opinion the blandest main rider/character I've seen which is a problem. I'm not saying he has to be the only interesting one, but nothing about him was interesting. He was your typical "I want to save everyone and everyone is good" hero which is annoying. Yes we have other riders like that, but they're played up in an interesting fashion. Shouichi felt it to be his natural instinct as Agito to do it, Shinji wanted the rider powers to be used to protect people instead of fighting the other riders, Takumi wanted to protect the dreams of others while trying to find his own, Kotaro wanted to save people from becoming just like him at the hands of Golgom. These are characters who have the same ideal but are executed in a way that makes them interesting to watch. Kenzaki is boring and should not have been the main character. He was overall the worst of the rider bunch.

Tachibana is where the characters start to get interesting, though he ends up being the second blandest of the bunch. He starts of really interesting though as the whole "Body being destroyed by fear and won't stop until he conquers his fear/s" is a great idea. But that gets ended by Tachibana using a drug. That's stupid. I wanted to see Tachibana wrestle with this for the entirety of the season as it could've presented some great drama and when he finally conquers it and gains great power come off as a compelte triumph. But nope, he takes a druggy plant bath and is cured. He was brainwashed, but that's boring as all hell. After being freed of said mind control by Sayoko, Tachibana just becomes bland, as bland as Kenzai. Such as shame, he had such great potential if they had carried on the fear idea.

But now comes who is quite honestly the BEST character in the show; Hajime. He is single handedly the only interesting aspect of the show and is the primary reason why I kept watching. He's neither human nor an undead, he's the Joker which is heralded as being the deadliest being on the planet because of his inhuman blood lust, something which he constantly struggles with. He uses the powers of the other Undead to keep himself as bay and even uses one of them to move about the human world. He rejects humanity but slowly comes to embrace it and want to be a part of it. This all makes for an interesting character. A good friggen chunk of the story is based around him, he's that interesting of a character. We see him grow from a cold inhuman being to one whose warm and embraces humanity and wants to protect it while struggling to keep his monstrous side at bay. It makes sense the story is devoted to him a good chunk of the time. Hajime's struggle with his Joker side, his path to embracing humanity, and thus his overall character arc and story is thus the single greatest thing of the show. Hajime should have been the main character, and in my eyes he kinda of his, but should have officially been the main character. He has so much more to offer then anybody else in this show.

Rounding up the rider bunch is Mutsuki who is fairy interesting for the majority of the show. A normal everyday kid who is thrusted into being a rider while overdone is pretty interesting. Throw in the fact that he's slowly being taken over by that which allows him to be the rider is also interesting albeit a little cliche. Mutsuki to me was like Peter Parker when he discovered the Symbiote, except the Symbiote won in this instance. Mutsuki's lack of self confidence and desire for power led to him being taken over by the Category Ace and transformed him into a powerful being. But even then he wasn't as strong as Leangle was made out to be and thus continued to eat at him. When finally free of the Ace Mutsuki still wants power and self confidence, but now wants to grow into it instead of just having it given to him because he knows how dangerous this can be. Mutsuki's struggle with the Category Ace and himself is what makes him an interesting character just like Hajime. Unfortunately Mutsuki does by the end get a little stale, though it is great to see him become self confident. All in all, Mutsuki is the second best in the show.

As for the rest, they're just sort of there. They're there simply to fill out the story and help move things along and a lot of them aren't interesting. Except for Amane, but for the wrong reason. I understand that Hajime is a father figure to her and that it's normal for a girl to crush on older men. But the level Amane is in to Hajime is just disturbing. She's literally obsessed with her and isn't in love with him as a crush is, she's actually and obsessively in love with him. This leads to a lot of weirdness for me and half the time it's annoying that all she does is cry for Hajime-san. Her bluntness is annoying as well, half the time I sat there wondering why her mother didn't scold/parent her for half the stuff she does. She's the most annoying character to me, but at least she's interesting. The rest of the cast is fairly throwaway and are pretty forgettable

Misc
As for the other aspects of the show, they're quite different in range. While the characters vary in quality the acting is actually pretty good and I'd quite enjoy seeing some of them in different shows or movies. The music was pretty good as most of the shows are and the themes are great. The action to me is one of the best aspects of the show and is some of the best I've seen, though it still doesn't even come close to touching the epicness of Kabuto's. The effects are pretty lackluster and just terrible in spots. The rider and Undead designs are fantastic, especially the Undead which are the best Kaijin I've ever seen (the final Category King being my favorite). The bikes are cool (I demand Black Fang now) and the locations are pretty nice.

Final Thoughts
In the end, Kamen Rider Blade is an overall meh to me. It has great action which is honestly the only consistently great thing about the show. The story is lackluster save for the bits I've already mentioned, the characters ranger from bland to purely excellent, the effects are bad overall, the designs are great, the music and acting are good, and the rest is just alright. Outside of Hajime and the action nothing stands out to me from the show or will probably be all that rememberable. Is it the worst one I've seen, no. Is it the best, hell no. It falls in the middle sort of like 555, though I will say Blade is slightly better for it's more concentrated albeit lackluster story. I don't regret seeing it and it makes me appreciate the characters behind the suits which I want to have the SHFs (and some of the Souchakus) of. But at the end of the day Blade is a show where when I look back on it all it'll produce from me is a shrug and a "meh." In a critical rating I'd give it a 3 1/2. In a personal enjoyment rating, it's a 3.

Favorite Character: Aikawa Hajime
Least Favorite Character: Amane
Favorite Rider Design: Kamen Rider Glaive
Favorite Undead Design: Final Category King
Favorite theme: Round Zero
Favorite OP Video: Video 2