[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 44

...and this is where this two-parter definitely feels a little more worth it. I appreciate having one last breather before the final stretch, as well as the simple irony of Inoue writing a plot where the heroes turn a forced misunderstanding against the bad guys by revealing they already figured it out like half the episode ago.

I don't know if it's just from thinking about it coming right after Faiz, but episodes like these have a very straightforward superhero fare feel to them that it kind of seems like only Blade was really doing in that little era of Rider? A plot structured around the bad guys specifically coming up with a plan to defeat the heroes, and how the heroes react to that, I don't know. Kuuga, Ryuki, and Faiz were definitely all concerned with "destroying" the image of Kamen Rider to some extent (Agito maybe wasn't, but was still stylistically similar), and while I might just be forgetting something here, "evil doppelganger fools the protagonists" seems like it would be more at home in Super Sentai than it would be in those shows. It's very classic plotting, and Blade makes it the entire focus rather than a mere backdrop for more human drama.

I don't know. This is one of those things where I'm mostly thinking out loud. But I feel like I'm realizing from this thread that Blade's proudly classic flavor extends to more than just some of the design elements, and how much I love it for that. Faiz especially probably would've been outright ashamed to have an episode like this, making it all the more hilarious this an Inoue script.