[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

So yeah, the theme song changed. While this is the first time you’ve seen it happened, it’s actually a common thing in Tokusatsu whenever a retool happens (Ultraman Leo, Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters) and Kamen Rider has the monopoly on it (having changed the theme in Kamen Rider (1971), Kamen Rider (1979), this series and Kamen Rider Hibiki. Whenever compilations are made, the first OP is always the one included, though ELEMENTS (the song here) is the one that always gets performed at concerts, for reasons I’ll elaborate on below.

The group performing the new song, ELEMENTS, Rider Chips f. Ricky, subsequently went on to become a regular performing group for Kamen Rider, having contributed to the soundtracks for Kabuto, Ex-Aid and Zi-O, while also covering every Kamen Rider OP except Build and Zero-One (yes, that includes the Showa ones). They’re also one of the only acts you’re guaranteed to see performing at a music concert for Kamen Rider (by contrast, Super Sentai is likely to feature everyone they’ve had perform at least two songs in the last 15 years).

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I mean, I could go on and on about cool things in this episode. As much as I love the first opening, the second one's just as great. You can tell it's doing its job because Die described it as a promotion for a boy band, which is exactly what the Blade Riders are, and why I love them. Plus it has that shot where Blade destroys your television/computer screen!

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Originally Posted by Sunred

ELEMENTS seemed to be the more favorite theme song at the time. I like both theme songs but ever since this thread happened and re-listening to both whenever I had the chance, I think Round Zero by a tidbit is much more my favorite. ELEMENTS has better guitar riffs for sure and that ambience at the beginning is cool but Round Zero's piano/synth sections won me over I guess.

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

Blade Brave is way better than Elements?

Always has been.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

As for the new opening and ELEMENTs, I'm kinda eh about them though I fully admit it's due to bias. It's a fine song and a neat-enough music video sequence, but after 29 episodes, I naturally got attached to Blade Brave and the incredibly low-budget looking sequence of people just doing random gestures in a studio.

That kind of change was unprecedented in my Rider experiences, and I guess I just wasn't willing to accept it! I sure hope no other season has changes like that halfway through it's run and that they Keep their Beat!

God, it's fascinating to read all these takes on Blade's credits and theme songs. I appreciate the insight, mostly because I don't really have any feelings about either version of either thing? Neither theme song would crack my Top 10 for Heisei songs, despite Blade Brave wearing me down a bit as time went on. And the credits... I mean, the first one I had to stop watching because it literally gave me a headache to watch, and the second one is... it's fine? I usually don't even watch the credits, at a certain point in the run of a show. It's the thirty seconds where I'm checking my phone for emails or messages. If it wasn't for the new theme song, I probably wouldn't've even looked up to see the credits had changed!

Still, I love that folks have feelings about it that they're willing to share. It's not the hill I'd die on, but I'm glad other people dig it.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Anyway, this episode is killer, and while to its credit, it's not incongruous with anything that's happened before, I think you really see Aikawa shuffling all the pieces on the board exactly where he wants them right away. Part of it is maybe the natural escalation of being later in the series, but it comes off to me like he's got a real plan for this show he's eager to execute. There's just loads of characters and plot points being introduced and pushed forward, and a ton of just plain cool moments beyond that. Leangle beating up cops is super memorable to me, the new monster at the end that just eats Kenzaki's card when he goes to seal it, which is a crazy impactful twist on usual routine, especially when that fight was also the debut of the show's third and final insert theme, the ever grammatically questionable "take it a try", following in Rebirth's footsteps by being a character song for Hajime sung by his actor Ryouji Morimoto.

The explanation (or partial explanation, probably) of Hajime's deal, it's like the plot is about something now. Before, it was this nebulous There Are Undead And We Should Do Something About That, mixed with occasional The Undead Are Fighting Each Other stuff. It was... it felt like a premise, not a plot. This, it feels like a plot, and it makes all of the nuts and bolts of the superhero narrative more interesting.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

Episode 30, the start of what feels like a whole new era of Blade! (And funny how you'll immediately be side-stepping into the movie just after this 'shift'). I joked about Mutsuki being Spider-Man, but now he really is embodying him... specifically the one from the Spider-Man 3 movie. A black repaint of Leangle would actually be less on-the-nose than Mutsuki's current get-up!

I can't rave enough about Mutsuki's Let Me Explain What The Stakes Are speech that he gives to Tachibana. Doing some impressive card-handling tricks to give a straightforward bit of exposition in the most self-confidently menacing way possible... such a captivating change for Mutsuki! And, like I'd said before, it's extra great because it doesn't feel so much like a retool of Mutsuki as it does an evolution of Mutsuki.

Just a real big shot in the arm for the series with this episode.