[TF RyuShin]

I love both Drive and Blade. For Blade, I know the first quarter could be quite dull since the pacing was quite slow and it shows how hammy Tachibana was. But, oh boy, you are so dead wrong if he became a slump later since he totally ROCKED and BADASS later. You can't say uncool to how Tachibana was very cool when he met Isaka and asking if the Undead killed his girlfriend calmly before badassery insued. I would say Blade's weakest point was around 20s since it only focus the Rider mainly as, well, Rider fighting MOTW. But after, episode 30, everything got so hooked up later, especially due to the awesome King Form! Even Blade has the most awesome and tear-jerker ending in the entire franchise. Basically, Blade is really solid despite a really dull start.

Drive itself is a much better version of Blade in my opinion. It has a very good pacing in the start and toys weren't getting in the way to the plot. Even, they handled Handle-Ken and Door-Ju's debut so properly. It's quite rare for a Rider series to exclusively make a debut episode for weapons. Though, it was quite a bit stall since Gou's debut since he merely appeared to be Shin's sidekick for whatsoever. But, it's indeed Chase is the best character in Drive due to his development from a monster machine to try to be a human. I must say after Gou's involvement with Banno and Nira got in the scene, the series had been escalated so much better. They even fleshed out Shinnosuke's character much better here too.

The villain was interesting too, especially Heart. Boy, you couldn't say no to Heart-sama. He could be one of the most interesting and developed villain from all franchise. Indeed, he's a villain but he is so noble and not cheapskate unlike his comrades. For Brain and Medic, nothing to say except they got more developed later in the 3rd quarter. I'm just disappointed due to how well the villain was written but they were executed in so poor manner, especially Medic. Due to all built up to her, I think she should desrve a much better death than that.