[Kurona]

Well I wanted to watch Dragon Knight but it's, uh, blocked in my country. Guess I'll have to do something else then.

...

BLLLAAAAAAADE BRRRAAAAAAAAAVE




Episode 1 was just fantastic! It reminds me of OOO's first episode in some of the best ways; it manages to throw just SO much in there but still tell a coherent episode and story and give me a good idea of the basic setting and characters. I was fully expecting Episode 1 to be a slow thing of Kenzaki joining BOARD and becoming Blade at the end to set up a status quo, but no; not only is that ancient history, BOARD GETS COMPLETELY DESTROYED!!

It's shocking just how quickly it gets on with things and how much it starts in the middle. About the only thing I didn't like was the whole fight-in-the-dark thing; this is something I never like in media and it feels especially frustrating coming off of Shinkenger which did have multiple night battles but were all very brightly lit and it was clear what was going on. Still, from the next time it looks like this isn't going to be a trend.

Also happily surprised to see a Café as the base once again, since something about that setting is one of my favourites! ... but maybe I shouldn't be surprised as I'm slowly realising just how many series that's a thing in. Kuuga, Ryuki, Den-O, OOO, Build; and they definitely feature prominently in Kiva, Wizard and Gaim as well. Decade and Zi-O kind of have a similar set-up too despite using a photo studio and clock shop...

The kid is adorable and I love this family already but all I can think of when I look at her is how she's fated to become Another Blade