Let’s Watch Wednesdays Week 16 Kamen Rider Blade 46-49

I have to say that this was an EXCELLENT finale to the series. Really brilliant way to end a series, resolve everyone's individual plots, have a bit of depression in the mix, and still give mostly everybody a positive outlook. Loved the ending. Even if huge portions of this show were uninteresting to me, the ending really improved things.

Well... Wow. I was not expecting that at all. That was great. From my experience (and completely in my own opinion) most SS/KR finales don't inspire any sense of doom and destruction in me. That did, with all the shots of rampaging Darkroaches, and the overwhelming feeling of futility as no matter how many were cut down, they just kept on coming, and Hajime accepting his fate, and trying to be sealed.

Throughout the episodes there were some more great moments, like the showcasing of Tachibana's tactics in fighting, both against Mutsuki and King. One of my favourite details was when Kenzaki and Hajime are talking just after Kenzaki's become an undead, and at first the blood round his mouth is red, but it becomes green. A little thing I know, but I liked it. I liked that moment when the two policemen look up at the ceiling and it's teeming with Darkroaches too. And then, Kenzaki, presumably, just diving off the cliff into the sea to get away. Just fantastic. If it had been me, Tachibana would probably have actually died, but that's a minor quibble. Mutsuki didn't do a whole lot over these eps except get beat up really did he?

So... it didn't look like the Kerberos card was with the others at the end when Karasuma collected them up, and the movie's called Missing Ace. Coincidence?

This is probably the best finale in the history of Kamen Rider. Those of you who haven't seen it yet are in for a treat.

Yes.

And here it is, the final week of this incredible series. First off, episodes 46 and 47 were just amazing despite Tennouji's earring changes places again throughout the episode. Does he have something against wearing it on his right ear when he is going to be watched by Kenzaki and gang? :-p

Anyway, it is really cool to see all of the riders not only fighting all together, but even getting to see them riding their bikes and transforming together. Really makes this moment feel like the end is indeed near. Speaking of the end, that final fight with Tennouji was pretty amazing. I also love that there was a thunderstorm occurring during it as I love thunderstorm battles just as much as I love night time battles, and we really do not get too many of those in Toku shows for some reason. I feel it really adds an additional type of atmosphere to the fight, especially on battles with big villains like this one.

Poor Mutsuki though. He gets hurt once again, at least, I think he was hurt. He seemed to lose that cast pretty quickly. I swear, these riders are all Undeads themselves for they never stay hurt for more than 2 minutes. Nevertheless, that battle between Garren and the Giraffe Undead (even though it is a beetle) was great to watch and another broken helmet. THAT IS AWESOME!!! But alas, with Joker the last Undead, what happens? Cockroaches inherit the Earth.

DA Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck?

No wonder he is called the Joker Undead, we always make jokes about how the cockroaches will survive anything and that is exactly what Hajime really is, a cockroach, making the joke be on us. I could so make a Tony Montana joke right now, but I'll save that in case Bandai ever does a Figuart of the Joker Undead (which they better!!).

With that said, I kind of wish Tachibana had stayed dead, as it kind of ruins the moment, but when there is no body, death is not guaranteed. It was still a neat idea though during episode 48 that the only two riders left were a teacher who started out in the series as a student and a new student. The highlight of these episodes is easily the fantastic final battle between Kenzaki and Hajime. Not only is it great to watch (could use a little lightning though), but it is also quite tragic as Kenzaki pretty much sacrifices his happiness for Hajime's. I remember this episode have such controversy when it first aired, but I feel it really fits with Kenzaki's character and everything that had been being built up throughout the series. Plus, it makes it feel quite conclusive while leaving a little open if they ever wanted to revisit the Blade universe again. Honestly, this is one of the most satisfying conclusions to any Kamen Rider series, which really helps seal this series as my favorite Kamen Rider series to date.

Finally, story and characters aside this show has some truly incredible designs, lighting, cinematography, and most of all, a truly epic score. The first opening is down right incredible, but it is the music throughout the show that really helps the shows mood and themes. I just cannot get enough of the theme used for Leangle when he first appeared, the Artificial Undead's music, and then the various battle tunes. It is a shame Toei never released every single track from the show, but at least they released the majority of it. Overall, it was a real pleasure to revisit this series, and see things I had either forgotten or never noticed before, as it reminded me of why I love this show so much.

Overall, I like this series since this is my first time watching. Lots of plot twists and different characters are introduce! Many characters develops, thought Kenzaki didn't develop much, he was bland since the beginning!

Tennouji surprised me when he planned out that Kerberos will eventually get sealed by Riders, so he can used the card to transform into an Undead.

Finally, I'm glad to know the whole story of how Hajime met Amane's father, even when it was a brief moment.

I didn't expect to see Chief return from Tibet. Too bad he didn't mention anything of that Undead assistant.

What Kenzaki did in the end, becoming an Undead and disappearing without anyone knowing his whereabouts was totally Kenzaki-like.

Still sad, Amane didn't know of Hajime's Joker form. Would have been an interesting turn of events.

That was a good ending, though, not as good as agito, or rykui, but better than kuugas, even if they were virtually the same. But there is one glaring plot hole, they already mentioned freeing the human undead before the end of the battle fight, and after it was over mutski tried reviving Shirai, well why didn't he revive Shirai BEFORE the end of everything? he was the only friendly undead, everything would have just stopped at that moment, and its not like he needed to be sealed anymore since the category ace was under control.

Other than that one plot hole I think they did a relatively good job, though I really hope our next LWW choice is in HD, its getting hard to look at these 10 year old files covered in video artifacts.

Yeah, I'm going to have to disagree there. Blade did not reset the world, making the whole Battle Fight non-existent nor did it skip out on showing us the final battle.

THey did try to unseal him, but they couldn't. THey didn't know he could only be released before a certain point.

That is why I opted to watch my Region 2 DVDs. Plus, it's not like anyone is going to resub Blade any time soon, and even if they do, it will take them over a year to do so.

I said it was better than kuuga's, and I liked ryuki's ending, it had a lot of meaning behind it, even if it did negate the whole series, it was an ending that stuck with me after I saw it. This ending was nothing special, It was a good ending to a pretty good show, but it's not really going to stick in my memory. and If you ask me, that's the first thing they should have done when mutski got his will back. "shirai and tiger lady let themselves get sealed to save me, Now is the time when I should release them as they don't want to attack humans" it would have solved everything with the joker problem months before it was an issue.

And I meant I would prefer something with a better raw file as both blade, and nexus, had pretty bad raws and at times were hard to view, and not everyone has access to dvd's.

Agreed with literally everything you said

I still love Ryuki's ending. And while Blade has had it's moments and had a pretty great ending, overall the series just doesn't work for me. It's good but it's nowhere near the top of the list for me.