Line #13 YMMV/KamenRiderBlade


1	* AssPull: [[spoiler: Tachibana abruptly showing up alive and well in the final episode in spite of his HeroicSacrifice in episode 47. No explanation is given for this aside from him just mentioning that Karasuma saved his life in the nick of time.]]
2	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
3	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoaMp3Q51Fo Kakusei]], sung by Ricky of Rider Chips.
4	** The [[https://youtu.be/VTN5HDQp7p8 Rider Chips version of the song]].
5	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovilFvQ8_Y BLADE BRAVE]], which really reels you into the mystique of Blade, with chord progressions reminiscent of [[Anime/SailorMoon Moonlight Densetsu]]. The chorus especially carries that "Sailor Moon"-esque spirit, which makes it all the more alluring.
6	* BrokenBase: Who is the real second Rider of ''Kamen Rider Blade''; Chalice or Garren?
7	** Those who argue in favor of Hajime Aikawa/Chalice point out his status as the Deuteragonist making his relationship with the main character one that receives more focus than the latter's relationship with Sakuya Tachibana/Garren. In relation, Hajime receives second billing in the credits and is also the second character to feature after Blade in the TitleSequence. He's also the only Rider to receive a SuperMode equivalent to Kenzaki's King Form while Garren only has a [[MidSeasonUpgrade Jack Form]] and Leangle has nothing.
8	** Sakuya Tachibana/Garren supporters point out the aesthetic contrasts between Blade and Garren that in any other show would be the ideal Primary Rider-Second Rider dynamic. Not only are their powers both based on the BOARD-designed Rider System (Chalice's originates from his nature as the Joker Undead, while Leangle's Rider System was designed by an Undead), there's also the contrasting nature of their animal motifs ([[JapaneseBeetleBrothers Kenzaki's Rhinoceros Beetle to Tachibana's Stag Beetle]]) and the [[RedOniBlueOni blue-red]] contrast of their suits. Additionally, Tachibana's BreakoutCharacter status and the fact that he is the second Rider to appear in the series proper (as well as having the first arc of the series being essentially devoted to him) provides extra fuel to the argument.
9	** Notably, Toei itself seems uncertain as to who is Blade's Second Rider.
10	*** In the ''[[VideoGame/KamenRiderClimaxHeroes Climax Heroes]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/KamenRiderBattrideWar Battride War]]'' games, Garren is treated as the Second Rider. But in the ''Ganbaride'' games, promotional cards featuring the Primary Rider in tandem with the Secondary Rider depict Chalice as the Secondary Rider.
11	*** Ultimately, ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' and related material conclude Garren as the Secondary Rider, who is often included with the secondary Riders. Despite the show's actual tribute to ''Blade'' featured the return of Blade and Chalice, not all the Legends who returned in the season had to be primary and secondary riders.
12	* CargoShip: [[NonActionGuy Kotaro]] X [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Milk]]. There's at least one lemon fanfic involving it.
13	* CompleteMonster: In the battle royale to become the dominant species, many competitors had good qualities, but these selected few only care about themselves and crossed the ultimate line in an attempt to achieve victory:
14	** [[AGodAmI Hiroshi Tennoji]] serves as the series' true BigBad and absolutely reeks of [[ItsAllAboutMe obsession for self-preservation]] and world domination by any means necessary. As the head of BOARD, he creates the Battle Fight by releasing the [[Characters/KamenRiderBladeUndeads Undead]] and manipulating his contracted Kamen Riders to take them out. As the battle progressed, he invented the Trials and the Titan Undead, all so he could buy himself time to create Kerberos, an artificial Undead with DNA from all 53 Undead that could surpass the Black Joker itself. Tennoji's invention kills the entire BOARD staff upon being born from the Stone of Sealing before he seals the artificial Undead to create a new Change Card. He uses the card to transform into Kerberos II before revealing his dream to create a new world order with himself as its ruler. Wishing to [[InTheirOwnImage remake the world under him]], his actions would produce countless tragedies throughout the series.
15	** [[BloodKnight Isaka]]/[[MadScientist Peacock Undead]] exemplifies how low [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative bastards]] can go. As the first Category Jack Undead, he designed Rider System 3, a belt that allows the user to transform into Kamen Rider Leangle. Unfortunately, that same belt requires using an improperly sealed Ace card that contains the Spider Undead, meaning that its user would be mentally enslaved by the Undead (as later seen with Mutsuki). After designing the corrupted Rider System, he brainwashed many people that he was going to use as expendable slaves to create his "Ultimate Rider". When this plan failed, Isaka turns his attention to Sakuya Tachibana and attempts to retrieve him as a prototype user. Isaka knows about Tachibana's subconscious fear and takes advantage of it to [[CurbStompBattle curbstomp]] him. Isaka tricks his defeated opponent to getting addicted to [[FantasticDrug Schuld Ketsner seaweed]], lying that the aggression-inducing plant would eliminate fear. [[spoiler:When Tachibana's girlfriend Sayoko notices her lover's addiction, Isaka [[HeknowsTOOMUCH smugly kills her]] for attempting to clean up her lover.]]
16	** [[MoleInCharge Shinmei]]/[[MonsterProgenitor Wolf Undead]] is the third Category Jack and is, like his predecessor Isaka, a [[ManipulativeBastard calculating scoundrel]]. Possessing the unique ability to revive human corpses as his minions and having infiltrated human society as an "Undead Hunter", Shinmei goes on random killing sprees and then sends his squad to eliminate his victims, hunting other Undead in the process. Pretending to be an ally of BOARD, Shinmei completes the Black Fang, a motorbike which he had stolen from the company, with the help of Kenzaki and Tachibana, massacring his own crew afterwards and intending on using the motorbike to seal every other Undead and become the strongest.
17	** ''Film/KamenRiderBladeMissingAce'': [[BigBad Junichi Shimura]]/[[BitchInSheepsClothing Kamen Rider Glaive]] is the real identity of the Albino Joker, the EvilCounterpart to both Kazuma Kenzaki and Hajime Aikawa. Joining BOARD as the replacement for Kamen Rider Blade, Shimura became the team leader of the Ace Riders and used them to further his own goals, starting by killing the president of BOARD and then releasing half of the Undeads, allowing them to massacre humans just to seal them again as part of a ritual that would grant him ultimate power, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness disposing of his two subordinates after they had served their purpose]]. Sacrificing Amane's life energy to have control over an EldritchAbomination, Shimura was an [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious monster]] whose need for power knew no limits.
18	* CreatorsPet: Mutsuki Kamijo. He's despised by the audience yet the staff likes him. Fortunately, he got RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap in the final quarter of the series.
19	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
20	** Yazawa/Capricorn Undead, despite only being around for two episodes, tends to be well-known by Japanese fans of this show, especially with his [[EvilIsHammy mannerisms]].
21	** Noboru Shima/Tarantula Undead, in spite of his short tenure, tends to be liked for being the TokenGoodTeammate of the Royal Clubs and being a helpful ally to the heroes.
22	** Ryo Mikami, Hajime's human lookalike, tends to be remembered for his LargeHam moments, ranging from his scream at the end of #29 to being Taiyaki Master Ultimate Form in general.
23	* EpilepticTrees: One of the fan hypothesis thrown towards Leangle is that his inability to assume King Form stems from lacking all 13 sets of Suit of Club Rouze Cards. Come towards ''Series/KamenRiderOutsiders'', it was revealed that Tachibana can assume Garden's King Form with little difficulty (albeit his armor is adorned in the Giraffe Stag Beetle motifs than all 13 Suit of Diamond Rouze Cards).
24	* FanNickname:
25	** "Kamen Rider Manga/CardcaptorSakura" and "Cardcaptor Blade", due to the series' premise of finding and re-sealing creatures into cards.
26	** [[spoiler:Fans on both sides of the Pacific refer to Kenzaki's unseen Joker form as the Navy Joker, after the primary color of the Blade suit. The S.I.C saga DID show a Joker form for him, but it was just the same color as Hajime's, although this was later contradicted by the Novel, which described it as being more akin to the Beetle and Caucasus Undeads. Most prefer the Navy Joker.]]
27	** "Habura Leangle"/ハブラレンゲル, which is a combination of Leangle and "Haburareru/ハブられる/To be left behind", due to Leangle's MemeticLoser status and the fact that his post Blade appearances has made him the frequent short end of the stick. His actor, Takahiro Hojo, also acknowledged this status whenever Leangle's recent reappearances is announced by official Kamen Rider news as a whole.
28	* FountainOfMemes: In its native Japan; other than the Ondulish "language" this series Riders (especially Garren, [[MemeticMutation for some reason]]) tend to cross over in other series fan art.
29	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The show is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4BMJ-cNXTY&feature=related ridiculously popular in Thailand]], gaining more viewers and selling more toys over there than it ever did in Japan. It is so popular, a Thai channel even ''made an after-school special featuring Kamen Rider Blade''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPPHUo-soMg&feature=related In terms of quality, however]], it never stood a chance against the original.
30	** Since Kamen Rider and tokusatsu as a whole was still quite obscure in the West while Blade was airing, the negative press around it was largely obscured, and by the time a sizable fandom had started to form, the far more favorable impression it had received (see VindicatedByHistory below) in retrospect had become more common; the benefit of having the entire series complete and able to be binge-watched rather than having its weaker episodes play out once a week caused its reputation in the West to be much better from the get-go.
31	* HarsherInHindsight: Sakuya Tachibana lost his LoveInterest Sayoko at one point of the story. Six years later, another character, also named [[VideoGame/GodEater Sakuya Tachibana]], lost her LoveInterest during the course of the story as well. [[spoiler: Thankfully subverted in the UpdatedRerelease, where said LoveInterest is revealed to be alive.]]
32	* HilariousInHindsight:
33	** This series is filled with things that would be awesome {{Mythology Gag}}s if this series had aired about ten years later. A wind-powered Rider whose Rider Kick lifts its Rider in a cyclone, and who is associated with black and the joker? [[Series/KamenRiderDouble We'll see it again five years later.]] Also, a password at one point is "Double Joker." And we'll be seeing the JapaneseBeetleBrothers with a RedOniBlueOni dynamic again in ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto,'' though with the colors swapped to fit the trope better. Also, the card names are two words: the effect and the animal the sealed undead is based on. This makes the card Blade uses for changing "Change Beetle," a phrase we'll become very familiar with in ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto.''
34	** The Joker Undead defies whatever connotations its name implies, by being quite possibly the scariest monster in the show, despite being armed with just a knife. [[Film/TheDarkKnight Heath Ledger would do the same thing some years later]].
35	** As noted on the main page, the series plays with the GottaCatchEmAll trope. The first episode of Blade with English subtitles was uploaded to Toei's official Youtube channel on February 27th, 2021 (aka the 25th anniversary of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'')
36	** One of the Orchid Undead's victory quotes in the 2005 video game adaptation is "The winner in the end is me," which would later be one of Series/KamenRiderGeats' catchphrases, the series of which premiered 17 years after the game was released.
37	* HoYay: A lot between Kenzaki and Hajime. Especially given the ending. Moreso given the tone and content of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2c6r7rzxP0 this song]].
38	* ItWasHisSled: Thanks to the ending's status as a major meme combined with how it is referenced directly in the majority of Blade's reappearances in subsequent material, TheReveal that [[spoiler:Hajime is actually the Joker Undead, who had undergone a HeelFaceTurn prior to the events of the main story]], and that the series itself ends in [[spoiler:Kenzaki turning himself into a Joker Undead and ending the battle in a permanent stalemate at the cost of ensuring that he and Hajime will never be able to meet again]] are fairly well-known twists in the ''Rider'' fandom.
39	* MemeticLoser: Despite all the hype of being the “Strongest Rider”, Mutsuki not only proves himself easily manipulated, but never gets a Jack or King form. This has not gone unnoticed.
40	* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/KamenRider See this page for examples.]]
41	* {{Narm}}: There's a lot of this in the ''first ten'' episodes of the series alone, mainly due to Kenzaki's actor slurring a lot of his lines as mentioned above. Some standout examples include the aforementioned scene in episode 1, and Kenzaki's reaction to Tachibana telling him that [[spoiler: the Rider System will eventually destroy both of them]] in episode 3.
42	** In general, early on, the way a large amount of the dialogue was pronounced was so bad that viewers in Japan had to rely on ''MediaNotes/ClosedCaptioning'' to understand what the characters were saying. And if you thought it was bad trying to watch the series in a language you were a native speaker of, imagine being a fansubber.
43	** Tachibana's scream when approached by the Trilobite Undead makes it ''very'' difficult to take the scene seriously, thanks in part to his exaggerated facial expression and wobbly, almost singsong delivery.
44	* NightmareFuel: [[NightmareFuel/KamenRiderBlade See here for examples.]]
45	* NeverLiveItDown: Tachibana's betrayal of BOARD hasn't been forgotten by the fandom even as of 2023.
46	* RetroactiveRecognition:
47	** Creator/KazuhiroYamaji (Kei Karasuma) later voiced Emperor Yodon from ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' over 16 years later.
48	** Mika Hijii (Miyuki Yoshinaga/Orchid Undead) later starred as Kaoru Mitsuki in ''Series/{{GARO}}'' several months after ''Blade'' ended.
49	* TheScrappy: Amane, due to being a ClingyJealousGirl for Hajime, to the point that she absolutely cannot function without him around, making her attachment to him just creepy. There's also the fact that she's incredibly disrespectful to adults, including her own mother, and especially to her uncle. [[spoiler:This [[TakeThatScrappy bites her]] in the end when she returns and turned into Another Blade in ''Series/KamenRiderZiO''.]]
50	* SignatureScene: The ending of the first episode, where Blade, while fighting an Undead, asks Garren if he's a traitor and Garren just stares in silence as Blade struggles.
51	* VindicatedByHistory: During its airing, ratings and toy sales in Japan dropped to a huge low for Heisei Kamen Rider, with people citing the poor character development and stiff acting from the lead actor during the first half of the series (with the "Ondulish" meme being made largely to mock the latter). It wasn't until the 2010s when people started to look upon the series more favorably in retrospect, especially since the second half (which had a switch in writers and improved acting) was seen as GrowingTheBeard, with the ending in particular being held up as one of the strongest in the entire franchise. It also helped that the series was now available with high-quality sound on streaming services, making the infamous "Ondul language" easier to understand from the get-go; in fact, it was a common occurence for a Japanese fan to watch it on streaming services for the first time and express confusion at why people were making such a big deal about it.
52	* {{Wangst}}: Mutsuki's childhood trauma from being kidnapped and locked into a safety box as an infant was brought up early in the series, apparently reinforcing his resolve to become a Rider... at least until the trauma's resolved and the Wangst is all that remained.
53	* TheWoobie: Kotaro is not only mistreated by both Amane and Hajime, but he also got his heart broken and ultimately struggles into being helpful, especially since he is incompatible with any of the Rider Systems, which he becomes upset about at one point.

Context YMMV / KamenRiderBlade