[Switchblade]

All the talk of Showa Rider recently has gotten me to finally do something that I put off well over a year ago: finishing Black RX. I finished episode 38 last night, so I have less than 10 episodes to go. I really don't see why this show got so much hate for so long. Yes, it starts off with a big tonal shift from Black, but as the show goes on it does get more serious (by Showa standards). Kotaro is still a great main character and I generally like his supporting cast - Reiko is great, the Saharas have gotten far less annoying, and the only thing keeping Joe from being a great character is the fact that I get pretty tired of every third word out of his mouth being "Aniki!" The villains, likewise, are mostly really good, too. Maribaron, in particular, is relatively well developed for a Showa general. The only real letdown is Dasmader, who is up there with Archbishop Wing and Dr. Maki in terms of villain impotence (he joins the cast mid-season as an observer meant to get General Jark and co. back on track; in practice he shows up once an episode to announce that this is their last chance to defeat RX, then never does anything when they consistently fail... at least until episode 38, where he finally decides to execute one of the generals for failing, only to be immediately stabbed in the back by Jark). I'm having a lot of fun with this and I regret waiting so long to finish this series up.