TV-Nihon

I stated it in my follow-up post. I said I was "vague" about my question. So now I know what you think and its close to what I think, that Kenzaki just drives off to the other side of the world or something at the end. I never intented it to be, "What did he turn into?" because I knew that, I was wondering something else and I apologize since I SHOULD have been more specific.

The ending in Blade was actually the reason I became a Kamen Rider fan in the first place. Seriously. I was one of those "Sentai lover/KR hater" folks until I happened to watch the ending on TV one day and it intrigued me so much that I started following the series and eventually branched out to the whole franchise.

The ending was definitely bittersweet, but it was an understandable ending based on the whole situation at the end. However, it still left me wanting more, since there were a good number of questions still left unanswered by the end.

ShuGO wrote:Have you seen that no one of the Kamen Rider's main cast get other main role after the series?

Yeah! Morimoto Ryoji (Hajime) appears in the yet-to-be-released Movie Edition: Kamen Rider Den-O & Kiva: Climax Deka, but that's a minor role as a detective. Amano Hironari (Tachibana) also appeared in Sh15uya, I think, but not a main role either.

spincutEdge6272 wrote:

ShuGO wrote:Have you seen that no one of the Kamen Rider's main cast get other main role after the series?

Yeah! Morimoto Ryoji (Hajime) appears in the yet-to-be-released Movie Edition: Kamen Rider Den-O & Kiva: Climax Deka, but that's a minor role as a detective. Amano Hironari (Tachibana) also appeared in Sh15uya, I think, but not a main role either.

Kenzaki and Kotarou were in the movie Master of Thunder. Young Amane played Niko's friend Mu in Sexy Voice and Robo. I've seen pictures of Mutsuki from what I presume are screenshots of some jdrama. I thought Hajime's actor left acting to pursue a music career, same with Tachibana's actor.

I thought <Tachibana> also played
(Sh15uya spoilers)

Spoiler

the tattoo artist villain guy (guy in the zeppelin)? Or was that the third TheBee or something?

takenoko wrote:Kenzaki and Kotarou were in the movie Master of Thunder. Young Amane played Niko's friend Mu in Sexy Voice and Robo. I've seen pictures of Mutsuki from what I presume are screenshots of some jdrama. I thought Hajime's actor left acting to pursue a music career, same with Tachibana's actor.

Hes(Tachibana) only released 2 albums, I don't think its gonna progress anymore, since it was in 05, and its 08 now. Haven't heard anything on him since then.

Just thought I'd add my very late thoughts on Blade's ending, since it was a pivotal toku moment for me:

After Ryuki and Faiz, I had somewhat expected Blade's ending to leave me unsated and a little sad. However, the fullness of it, and the way it locked up the plot so tightly, all based on the sacrifice of one man...I really loved it. To this day, Blade's ending is one of my favourite TV series endings ever (not just in the toku genre).

Blade had a very, very rocky start. But damn if it didn't follow through once it got on track. And it all led to a moment that I was -certain- the movie had spoiled...and then I was proven wrong. I did not ever, EVER expect Hajime to survive the series. And the way they did it + Kenzaki sacrificed his humanity were both done not hamfistedly or rushed, but in a way that was driven entirely by the characters themselves.

I dunno, rambly now. But I'm still waiting for a Kamen Rider series to end as utterly satisfyingly for me as Blade did. The final episode arc remains one of my favourite set of toku episodes ever made. It was just so...complete.

This series is the first ever something that makes me cry
I never thought of the ending...
All of my guesses are wrong....
Also, dramatic ending...
Just,
I CRY!!!
Want more for Blade!!!

Definitely an amazing ending. The show hooked me right at the start. My first Kamen Rider <3

From my limited experience with Kamen Rider, I was beginning to fear that the writers stopped caring about the project around the time there were 15 episodes left. Blade completely blew that out of the water. This series had the most satisfying conclusion of any tokusatsu series I've watched (so far!).

No, it wasn't a stereotypical happy ending where the world is saved and everyone joins hands and sings as they ride off into the sunset. However, it was the perfect ending for this series. Even though there was a part of me that would have liked to see all of the characters get that ridiculously happy ending, the rational part of me realized that to do so would have cheapened everything the characters had been put through to that point. The story had drilled home the point that a sacrifice was going to have to be made. Being the true hero that he was, Kenzaki lived up to his promise to protect everyone in the world, fight fate, and shoulder the necessary sacrifice.

Even though I had already figured out what Kenzaki's goal was, it was the execution of that final episode (particularly the showdown between Kenzaki and Hajime after Kenzaki becomes an Undead) that made it so epic. The green blood dripping down, the Blade buckle falling away to reveal the Joker belt, Kenzaki's sad smile...it was perfect.

The biggest surprise in the final episode for me was Tachibana's return. The first few seconds I felt like his abrupt return cheapened the impact of his sacrifice two episodes earlier, but it felt like it made more sense as the episode progressed. (It doesn't hurt that I'm partially in denial about harboring a crush on Hironari Amano.)

Great casting, great plot, great development, great series. Sorry Kiva, looks like I've got a new favorite.

As a general note, I'm very amused that the Kamen Riders usually turn out to be the very thing that they're fighting.

Spoiler

Faiz is secretly an orphnoch, Kiva is secretly half-fangire, Kabuto, well, he's not a worm but Sasword is secretly a worm.

Is this a tradition harking back from the original series?

>The biggest surprise in the final episode for me was Tachibana's return

It was supposed to make people who were questioning whether it would end like the movie. Since up to that point, people were using Tachibana's death as an argument that the movie was alternate universe