[Sh Ranger]

Kamen Rider Blade Q4 & Missing Ace: Heisei Era Complete!



Wow, okay! There's a lot to cover here, so I'm just going to try and talk about each point chronologically.

A Wild Chalice appears! That's the name of Chalice's Final Form, which is apparently on the same level as Blade King Form. While it looks fine enough on its own, I think the red and green combo is way too similar to Garren and I prefer default Chalice. Honestly, it doesn't really make much sense. I've already seen what the Category King of Hearts looks like from Decade and I think it's just kind of weird that Kamen Rider Chalice, which is just Hajime wearing Chalice's skin, gets this conventional power-up when nothing about that Rider System is conventional. It diminishes his reputation as a unique Rider. It probably would've been more appropriate if he just got that new weapon, like how Necrom's power-up was handled. I mean, Hajime already has 53 forms, I really don't think a 54th was necessary.

Hirose finally learns that her father is still alive. Well, technically, it's a Trial implanted with the memories of Yoshito. But his heart is also awakened after overcoming Tennouji's tampering and he still cares about Hirose after all. This is where Hirose's arc concludes with her feeling of obligation to atone for her father's sins, which doesn't go exactly as she planned. Even though Yoshito's actions were misguided and he's not completely blameless, this new Battle Royale controlled by the Rider System was a best case scenario. The real villain here is Tennouji, who's using the conflict to become a god and unfortunately, he used Yoshito to make that happen. So the real conclusion here is Hirose not only atoning, but also forgiving Yoshito's sins. It took a while to get here, but I think it was a nice emotional scene with Hirose carrying on her father's will to stop Tennouji and being able to move forward with her life.

I mentioned before how it's difficult to call Undead evil when some are merely fighting for the prosperity of their species. That's the harsh reality of the Battle Royale, that only one species can win, so while I don't condone them trying to eradicate humans, I can't exactly hold it against them either. It's eat or be eaten in this case. Hikaru gives the best insight so far in to what such an honorable Undead looks like, someone who doesn't so much hate humans, but will do anything to create her world of tigers, like how Heart from Drive truly cared about Roidmudes. I didn't expect her to last much longer than the average Royal Undead, so I was really impressed with how much character development she got. That's why she's getting her own paragraph here. She's sympathetic, since she finds out that winning the current Battle Royale, her ultimate goal, is impossible. Tennouji took that away from her, making all her fighting pointless. But rather than resign to becoming a card for his evil scheme, she uses her life to do some good for the human Mutsuki she befriended, sealing herself to save his human heart. If not for the Battle Royale, she probably would've been a hero. It's a tragedy, but there's also some hope, that even if your ultimate fate is already decided, what you do before then is always up to you and you can always choose to do some good!

If there's one thing I think Aikawa screwed up, it's Mutsuki. I thought I understood where his redemption arc was going, with Mutsuki gradually learning that his pretense of not caring about anyone doesn't actually make him stronger. Kenzaki showed how his strength comes from his love of humanity and Hikaru showed how power for power's sake is a waste of time. I could see that armor chipping away, like Mutsuki was on the cusp of realizing how much of an idiot he was being. But then his failed henshin in to King Form gives him a magical free ticket to his arc's conclusion. This is the part where he allegedly became a "true Kamen Rider", which is ridiculous since pretty much every Leangle scene after this has him getting beat up, even getting 1-hit KO-ed by default Garren! And who's even running his Spider Bar anymore? It's like his arc only exists to make Hikaru and Tachibana look cool, cause Mutsuki sure doesn't. I have no idea what Imai had planned for him, but it probably would've been better than this.

Tachibana sadly doesn't get much focus since the staff change, which feels like Aikawa wasn't sure what else to do with him. But he does get a few memorable moments that show his development and how cool he actually is sometimes when he's not making another epic fail. Like when Yoshito locks him the robot fridge and tries to convince him to go along with the plan by telling him they can revive Sayoko. But Tachibana remembers her wish, that she wouldn't want that and so neither does he. That's the wake-up call he needed to see that Yoshito isn't on the side of justice. And there's a big one just before the finale, where he's about to seal Hajime, until he hears an emotional phonecall between him and Amane and he can't bring himself to destroy that relationship. So he chooses to have faith in his friends that they can find an alternative. That's the act of a true hero, rejecting the path of cynicism that possessed him for so long, in favor of a little hope. It's also cool to note that, since Garren sealed the penultimate Giraffa Undead, he's therefore the Rider who decided the outcome of the Battle Royale. However, another way of phrasing that is that Tachibana caused the apocalypse.... His intentions were good though!

The finale is all about Kenzaki's and Hajime's friendship and rivalry, as the aforementioned apocalypse forces them to clash once more. Fate leaves Kenzaki two options, either seal Hajime to save humanity or let the world end. Kenzaki doesn't see Hajime as an Undead. He sees another human, which is similar to Takumi's and Kiba's final battle. To save humanity by sacrificing a human is a betrayal of his belief. He failed to save his parents and he doesn't want to fail Hajime here. Even if Kenzaki can't fight fate the way he wanted to, at least he can outrun it. Choosing to become an Undead to force the Sealing Stone to restart the Battle Royale is the ultimate "screw you" he can give. Fate is all about ending and change, but Kenzaki's action leaves it open-ended, a status quo that will continue indefinitely. It's bittersweet, since they both get to live, but Kenzaki migrates to probably the other side of the world, having to abandon all his friends. I knew the bench was a thing, but I didn't understand until now what it meant. That bench is the symbol of Kenzaki's and Hajime's camaraderie. Even though they can never see each other again, they're eternally together in their mutual sacrifice for humanity. Like looking up and seeing the same sky.

Overall, Kamen Rider Blade easily makes my top 10, as you can see below. It maintains what's new and fresh about Heisei Rider, while returning to the roots of heroism and sacrifice that started with the Showa Era. It brings both of those philosophies together in a way that makes sense and gives a very meaningful and satisfying story. Sure, there's the fountain of memes that this show is both famous and infamous for, but disregarding that, I think this show has a lot of heart and defines what a Kamen Rider should be, as someone who always holds on to hope. Even with the dreaded staff change, it still felt like the same show rather than an inferior sequel, although I did miss the novelty of Imai's writing style. But it's a credit to Aikawa that he was able to take the wheel so suddenly and my only complaint is that it merely lost a little flavor. I enjoyed watching this show for sure, especially whenever Tachibana did something foolish.

It's taken me about 13 years to get to this point, but now please look at My Complete Heisei Rider Ranking:

1) Faiz
2) Build
3) Fourze
4) Ghost
5) Wizard
6) Double
7) Kiva
8) Blade
9) Decade
10) Drive
11) Kabuto
12) Den-O
13) Ryuki
14) OOO
15) Zi-O
16) Hibiki
17) EX-Aid
18) Agito
19) Kuuga
20) Gaim

Every four of a kind needs a kicker though. So I'll share my thoughts about the movie as well.

Missing Ace is set in an alternate continuity, as is often custom for Phase 1 summer movies. Unlike the others, this is an alternate future where Kenzaki sealed Hajime and stayed a human. Those ugly-looking cyclops Riders from the World of Diend made their debut here and both versions of Junichi are even portrayed by the same actor. I feel like Inoue's summer movies can be hit or miss, but this one was pretty good. There are a few plot holes, like how both of the Jokers were apparently destroyed even though that should be literally impossible. Other than that, it was entertaining with Inoue bringing out all his exaggerated comedy tropes and Leangle even got a win against the Category Ace of Spades. Amane was here, but portrayed by a different actress, presumably to appear closer to 14 years old, which is ironic when you consider that Amane was portrayed by the original actress in Zi-O. Nothing against the new actress, but I would have preferred if they stayed more consistent. I also understand now why ELEMENTS doesn't sound like an OP, since it seems like it was originally intended as an ending theme here.

I've still got a Showa backlog to complete, so next up is SkyRider.