Huh, Igadevil's on this forum? Cool.
Thought I'd bring this thread back up, since I'm finishing it up at the moment.
Blade really stood out to me as the Heisei show with the hands down best OP EVER (Elements) it took me a while to really get to it, though, because at the time I was juggling a whole ton of other series. First OOO, then Den-O, then Kuuga. But now that I've finished those, I thought I'd get back to Blade because it was doing good from where I left off.
On the topic of Elements though, as much as I absolutely love the song, I must admit the type of tone I saw in the OP's video initially made me wary of trying out Blade.
As much as I like it, the same punching scene and just the overall tone of the opening itself made me wary that the show would try to go emo with the concept or something. I say emo, but worst case scenario it'd try to follow some of the tropes you'd see in pretentious "deep" anime. A little strong use of words for a kids show, but what I'm getting at is that I expected something along the lines of annoying, brooding characters, cynicism for the sake of a "cool factor" and the like.
And I'm a guy who loves stuff like Den-O, so that tone never sits well with me.
But when I gave the show longer than one episode, I noticed my initial impressions MONTHS before were completely wrong. Instead of trying to be "cool" and "edgy" by being emo and pessimistic, the story treats those traits as completely detrimental.
Blade's positive attitude and determination is constantly considered naive by his superiors (and in Blade's case, yeah, he is naive), but it turns out that those are the qualities that make him perfect for the Rider system's technology, making him more powerful under the correct emotional conditions. Garren on the other hand is a pessimist and constantly doubts himself despite talking a big game, and it's his way of thinking that creates a backlash which literally causes harm to his body when he uses the Rider System, because he prevents himself from fully being in sync.
It's basically Spiral Power three years early!
Moving on, my favorite single line in Kamen Rider.
だいじょうぶですか橘さん?!
I don't think I'll ever stop laughing at that line. I wish I could adequately explain why.
In the very first scene of the show, Blade bursts through a wall like the Kool-Aid Man and shouts the line at the top of his voice as if he had Tourette's syndrome. He says the line ALL the time, too (cause Garren gets his ass kicked constantly when tries to fight solo until he goes through his character arc), just not screaming.
I'm currently at the point after Garren gives up his belt after avenging his girlfriend's death.
Is it just me or does Leangle live at the same exact house the Horse Orphenoch did before he died?
