[TheRaizin]

This thread isn't really necessary since it can be discussed on the discussion thread. But I'll humor it.

It's Blades. We can make all the jokes how Saikou is the secondary because of he's always with Touma and gets to transform more often than Blades for now, however, he is for all intents and purposes taking up Espada's slot as tertiary rider. I think there might also be scheduling issues since I believe it wasn't Eitoku who played King Lion on ep 18, you notice how lower the chest plate sits. I am not also 1000% sure, but I do recall Eitoku being part of Zenkaiger or something and he also got an injury as well? That might be some connection Blades' disappearance.

Now, on the topic of "Secondary rider", we joke that Saikou is the secondary since he is always partnering with Touma instead of Rintarou. Now, I'm not sure if this was a conscious decision by Toei, but since Fuwa, secondary riders are no longer completely treated as "Main Rider's partner" and is instead somewhat having their own journey. Fuwa, for most of Zero-One is mostly either partnered with Yaiba or on his own doing stuff. He only occasionally teamed up with Zero-One but had his own kind of separate story.

This is true for Rintarou. He had his small share of team-ups with Touma, but was sooner eclipsed by Kento who had a stronger connection and relationship to Touma. I'm confident he'll get his screentime back, he is due for an upgrade after all on April and he shows up this week in Fantastic Lion for some reason.