Post by Yuri Petrovitch on Jan 18, 2014 11:09:57 GMT -5
"Now, your power is at its peak!"
KAMEN RIDER BLADE
SYNOPSIS
(MASSIVE SPOILERS on the way here)
Ten thousand years ago, the Battle Royal was fought. Fifty-two beings known as the Undead fought for control of the earth. The final victor of the battle was humanity (the Two of Hearts), who sealed the remaining Undead in cards. In the present, archaeologists discover the Undead cards, and, thanks to the usual blundering that happens when people in Kamen Rider shows dig in the dirt (seriously, in a Kamen Rider show, anyone with a shovel is potentially the Harbinger of Ultimate Doom) and a new Battle Royal begins.
Thankfully, the organization known as BOARD has two Kamen Riders on the case to deal with the Undead. BOARD has developed the Rouse System--which allows the Riders to use the powers of Category Ace-level Undead to transform into their Rider forms and any Undead they have previously sealed into cards can be used with their various weapons, singularly, or in combination, to great destructive effect. Upon critically injuring an Undead, the Rider can seal it with a blank card, thus adding another one to its collection.
Everything seems like it's going OK, as the Riders are very good at their job. Only the veteran Rider, Garren, has a slight problem: using his system is causing his body to deteriorate (or so he thinks) This causes him to make an alliance with one of the Undead and he conspires to free all of them, who almost immediately destroy BOARD, leaving humanity defenseless against the Undead.
It's up to his backup--rookie Kazuma Kenzaki, aka Kamen Rider Blade--to re-seal the Undead, a task that he may or may not be suited for, given he'll seemingly have to do it single-handed.
Or so it seems at first. Kenzaki ultimately convinces Garren to break his alliance with the Undead and aid him in his mission, but not before the Undead Garren was conspiring with develops their own Rider technology and, ultimately, their own Rider: Leangle. The Leangle belt falls into the possession of Mutsuki, a rather weak-willed young man, who, thanks to the Category Ace being improperly sealed, is soon possessed by the Undead and becomes obsessed with being the strongest Rider. So in addition to battling more and more powerful Undead they also have to break and re-seal the Category Ace.
And then there's Hajime Aikawa, a rather standoffish young man who wants to be left alone and live his life. Hajime is--quite literally--the wild card. Routinely targeted by the Undead, Hajime is more than capable of defending himself--he can adapt the form of Kamen Rider Chalice [yes, the one in my AV] and has racked up an impressive collection of the Undead.
But Hajime is not a Rider like the rest. In fact, he's not even human--Hajime uses the Two of Hearts card to tranform into his human form and keep control of the monster that he is. Despite looking human in this state--he really isn't (all Undead bleed green, though this really doesn't make them Vulcans) Hajime is an Undead.
In fact, he is the most feared Undead--The Joker. Should the Joker win the new Battle Royal, all life on Earth will be destroyed.
Hajime doesn't want to win the Battle Royal. Hell he would even prefer not to fight at all--masquerading as human, he's found a surrogate family for himself, and, owing to Kenzaki's stubbornness, even makes a friend, who repeatedly sacrifices himself and goes above and beyond the call of duty. Their friendship and Hajime's fate form the crux of the final battle of the series.
With that said, Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the Blade Riders:
As things head toward the final battle and only a few Undead remain, it also comes to pass that BOARD has not, in fact, been destroyed, and they have changed their strategy substantially. Using artificially created Undeads (the Trial series) they begin targeting the Riders in an attempt to ensure a human victory in the new Battle Royal. More specifically, they target Kenzaki, who's power grows to the point where he can assume the power of all the Undead he possesses at once and assume the all-powerful King Form:
For a whole host of reasons, this may or may not be a Good Thing in the long-term. No one knows what using that much of the Undead's power will do to a human long-term . . . .
So, with 4 Riders, none of whom can be said to get on very well fighting each other while fighting the Undead, one of whom is both a Rider and the most dangerous Undead, another of whom is becoming steadily more deranged thanks to being possessed by his power, more powerful and higher-level Undeads conspiring to win the Battle Royal and the very organization that created the Riders having now turned against them, things don't look good for Our Heroes.
Fortunately, Kenzaki is the sort who will fight to the last against a fate he won't accept . . .
ANALYSIS
Kamen Rider Blade is an interesting series, at least structurally, as it doesn't really have the usual Kamen Rider "we set this over-plot up in the first five episodes and continue it to the end of the year. The Battle Royal stuff doesn't even get mentioned as critical until the final 12 episodes of the series, after all. Instead, it goes in a number of arcs. The first arc establishes the series--BOARD is destroyed, Garren betrays everyone and Kenzaki vows to stop the Undead and bring him in. The next arc deals with why Garren conspired with the Undead, then we deal with the advent of Leangle, then there's more of the mystery behind Hajime, then Kenzaki becomes King, then BOARD returns in conjunction with the Battle Royal and the final arc of the show.
It's an interesting way of doing things, and it gives all the Riders a turn as being a featured part of the show without everything getting so muddled any forward progression gets lost, which given Heisei-era Kamen Rider's obsession with having multiple Riders in every show is something the shows can struggle with--someone's gonna get underdeveloped, the more you have. And some of the arcs are quite good and really have some good moments in them. In fact, the friendship between Hajime and Kenzaki may be one of my favourite storylines in any Kamen Rider show ever.
But it has its drawbacks--and that drawback is that the scope and implications of the Battle Royal doesn't quite have the weight it seems like it should have, and generally feels a lot like just another arc of the show. It's a bit of a shame, as it really hold together well and makes for a satisfying end, but it doesn't really have the properly satisfying gravity that final battles should.
The characters manage to be interesting and capable of multiple dimensions without being too annoying--sure there are little tics, like Leangle showing up, growling about being the strongest Rider, reminding us he's possessed yet again and then wandering off until it's time to tie up his arc--but in general, the characters work. Kenzaki is idealistic and full of burning justice in the way that nearly all Kamen Rider protagonists are, and not only is that a consistent thread, but is the key to everything.
The design of the Riders is really great this time out, Making card-themed Riders probably wasn't the easiest design brief and it would have been really easy for everyone to end up looking like a slightly Japanese version of the Royal Flush Gang, but thankfully, that doesn't happen, and I like the brutalist, very medieval, look of the suits, especially Blade's King Form. Likewise, the Undead are amazingly well-designed, looking like the most metal human-animal hybrids one could conceivably devise.
It's a decent series, all told, but one that never quite comes together as much as it should. But it's pretty well accessible and I would recommend it to someone as a first Kamen Rider series without reservation. It's well worth a look.
NEXT WEEK
Seven years ago, the meteor crashed into Tokyo, and the Worms came. The Worms can mimic humans near-perfectly, and if identified, can molt into more powerful forms and move at blinding speed. The only thing that given humans a chance to match them are the Zecters, technology created by the ZECT Corporation that allows anyone who uses them to move at high speeds. But even the Zecters might not be enough, especially as the Worms might not be the only threat at work here.
It's up to the master of one particular Zecter to sort it all out. Souji Tendou--literally "the man who walks the path of Heaven, ruling over all."
In seven, it's Kamen Rider Kabuto.