[Kiwami]

I have watched the first 10 episodes of Blade so far and I can only continue to praise this show. Since I watch them without any schedule and forget things quite easily I even made notes about some things I want to talk about.

First of all, the character arc of Tachibana is great. I love that the belt isn't destroying his body for no reason, it's his own fears that slowly kill him. That's some heavy shit right here. His arc is far from over though, the big bad undead guy (the Neo from Matrix wannabee) just operated on him and now he seems fine but is of course obliged to help the bad guys. But I like everything about this so far, especially the involvement of the female doctor who's name I have forgotten.

Next thing I want to mention is Mr. Milky Way, Kotaro Shirai. What a fantastic support character. He's our human sidekick who goes for the laughs, but man is he well done. That speech he gave to Tachibana about how worrying is what makes us truly alive and lovable to others is just amazing. I think we all have these situations where we worry over nothing and fall down a hole, and in these situations, you really need someone like Kotaro who just pulls you back up. Also, his comedy is rather subtle and thus enjoyable, I cracked up when Shiori told him he drinks too much milk and will turn into a cow, and his immediate response was "Sweet, then I could drink my own milk"

Next up is Hajime, who has now left the residence because of the bomb and the Undead threaten to harm his foster family. I think he has lots of cool stuff going for him too, especially now that Kenzaki knows he's Chalice and they fought. He's now traveling with some homeless person and gets some life lessons that way.

Kenzaki currently hasn't much going on solo but is involved in both Tachibana's and Hajime's development and that works for me.

I also quite like that the chief of BOARD is involved again and that they get some answers early which helps to focus the story.

The action is really good so far, that fight with all three Riders and one Undead in the research facility was awesome. I also quite like how the Rouze cards are combined as finishers, Thunder and Kick for Blade and Flame and Uppercut for Garren.

One random thing I noticed, when Tachibana is still suffering and they have him resting in the residence with the chief being there, there's a scene where Kenzaki's actor jumps up to aid Tachibana and rams a hanging lamp with his head full force, that shit had to hurt real bad, but he kept rolling, that's what I call a professional