[Switchblade]

Ah, Rintaro. One of my favorite homo sapiens on this entire cast. He is a great character and makes a really good counterpoint to both Touma and Mei. I still find it a little odd that he's Kamen Rider Blades, though. The name makes sense, but it still feels too close to Blade. It also feels a bit bland since most of the other Riders on Saber are named after specific kinds of swords and this dude is just rocking a really generic name for part of a sword.

The villains, on the other hand, are not off to a great start. It definitely hurts that we don't get to know their names or motivations for ages. They just hang out in their greenscreen base and act obnoxiously cryptic. I definitely remember finding that part of the show to be really weak.

One of the main things I remember about the show's beginning is that there was a bit of hype around the fact that Toei was using the Unreal Engine for CGI. The big fight scene with the bikes does look pretty neat, but if you suspect that the show isn't going to have the budget for this kind of spectacle every episode then you're probably making a safe bet.

Finally, I do love how the first two episodes both end with a new guy showing up at the bookstore riding a CGI thing. Saber likes to repeat itself sometimes and it usually does so in very silly ways.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I just need it to have more oomph, I guess. It's very mid-tempo, almost laconic. I need some heavier music for my superhero show!

I do not like this theme song at all. I kept waiting for it to hit the up tempo part and it never happened. It's especially bad when the show tries to use it as an insert song during major fight scenes, where the lack of energy is even more apparent.