[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

So, I’m caught up to episode 32 (skipped the movie because backlog). I’m firmly entrenched in the new era of Blade, which I will freely admit is my preferred part of the series. After what seems like a hundred Mutsuki focus episodes we have a main plot again (finally?). I love how the show just kicks into high gear at this point and almost every episode has some kind of major plot reveal or twist. The show really doesn’t slow down much from this point and it becomes really engrossing on a level it never quite reached before.

The plot is definitely in full swing, and there's a much more consistent hierarchy of characters. Before, you'd get a bunch of Mutsuki episodes, or a bunch of Tachibana episodes, or a bunch of Hajime episodes. Now, it's Kenzaki's show, and his reactions to what those other characters are doing is the core of the storytelling. It's way more about How Is Kenzaki Going To Deal With whatever, instead of the previous era's nearly anthology format. It's definitely a more consistent, plot-oriented effort than before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

The other thing I really love is how much of the early plot points suddenly come back into focus. Remember how Hirose had a dad and he’s the guy that unsealed the Undead? Yeah, here he is, being all villain-y. Here, have a Sayoko reference for good measure. The part that really impressed me is how this is all with a new writer. You can tell that Aikawa really took a long look at the show and its lore before taking over, then carefully worked as much of it into the story’s resolution as he could. That is not something that you’ll see with the other two shows that lost their writer.

Yeah, and, weirdly, there's not really anything he threw away? It's not like the new era started and Kotaro and Mutsuki were gone and there was a brand-new team dad or whatever. (Well, Undad, but he's only the team dad of Team Tachibana, the world's first self-negating team.) It's just a slight reorganization, largely invisible. Like, I don't know that I'd've picked up on there being a new writer if no one had told me? Quality-wise, I don't find it noticeably better or worse. It's got strengths and flaws, and they're different strengths and flaws from before, but it's still an imperfect show. And I think that's actually nice for the cohesion of the series? It doesn't feel I'm watching Aikawa's Kamen Rider Blade, but I'm watching Kamen Rider Blade by Aikawa, if that makes any sense.