[ShyGuy]

Hard agree on the villains. As much as I love Blade overall, the villains are really bad for the most part. Like you said, Tennouji feels shoehorned in at the last minute, and on top of that he's so uninteresting anyway. Like maybe it wouldn't be as bad if he had some kind of intriguing motive or backstory, but his entire character is "generic business boss who wants power to take over the world." But even as bad as he is, I think Hirose's "dad" is even worse. His storyline is so repetitive, just constantly throwing out new versions of the Trial series, and then the reveal that he himself is a Trial...ugh. Just nothing about his whole arc worked at all for me.

All that said though, I consider Blade one of my favorite seasons, and I think I have a relatively easy time forgiving the shitty villains because at the end of the day, Blade isn't a show that revolves around heroes vs. villains. Of course it still has to have some role for villains, because, well, it's Kamen Rider...a franchise all about guys in hero costumes fighting guys in villain costumes! But it definitely feels like the villains were little more than an afterthought, especially since they could never play a major role at the very end. The final showdown between Kenzaki and Hajime was inevitable, there was no room for villains in a finale like this. They had to fulfill their narrative purpose, then be disposed of so that the show could move on to the conflict that actually matters. They're essentially just plot devices used to further new developments in the relationships and connections of the characters, rather than interesting and unique characters in and of themselves. Not that I'm using this reasoning to excuse the poor writing of the villains though, as plenty of shows can let villains serve that purpose while also establishing them as interesting and well-written characters in and of themselves. But Blade really didn't care to do that at all, and for better or worse, put all of its focus squarely on the heroes.

The villains are definitely the worst thing about Blade, but for me personally, the overall character work for the Riders clicks with me strong enough that I can forgive it without too much trouble. The Kenzaki and Hajime material in particular is something I like so much that it alone elevates the show very highly for me, regardless of anything else.