[Suzu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

That all sounds about right. I don't know, I never really had a problem with Blade's first episodes to begin with, so I've always found it strange how frequently they get treated like they're a completely different show. But me being in the minority in liking stuff people hate is hardly a new thing, I guess.

I super appreciate you noting that Kenzaki gets fleshed out decently right out of the gate, by the way. I remember joking as I was watching Blade that "did you guys know about my dead parents?" is his idea of an icebreaker (I can't really remember now but I felt he brought it up a lot early on, like the show was scared you'd forget), but I think a lot of those early scenes, especially his conversations with Kotarou, did a great job of establishing him as a lovable, kind of dorky and awkward dude who was very serious about saving people, even if he himself didn't really know it yet.

My mindset from back when I first watched Blade did play a part in not liking the first few episodes all that much, I even thought Kenzaki was kinda boring back then. (And now I like him just a little too much, lol) I was in a kind of difficult mental state in my early toku-days, lol
But every time after that, I actually enjoyed those episodes and discovered more and more each time, which is why I wrote that.

Actually, Kenzaki doesn't mention his parents all too much to other people, but there are a hell lot of flashbacks (or rather always the same one) in the first few episodes and he struggles with the loss a lot, so a lot of time is dedicated to him reflecting on that. He's actually rather awkward, socially, which he admits himself when he gets closer to Koutarou (episode 4, for reference), so he doesn't have many friends. Despite being a precious cinnamon roll and all xD His ice breaker in episode 4 is actually: "Hey, maybe I'm gonna die from using the rider system. Isn't it cool to die as a hero?!"