Kamen Rider Blade

Kamen Rider Blade
Genre	Tokusatsu
Created by	Shotaro Ishinomori
Starring	Takayuki Tsubaki, Hironari Amano, Ryōji Morimoto, Takahiro Hōjō
Composer	Kazunori Miyake
Country of origin	Japan
No. of episodes	49 (list of episodes)
Production
Producers	Jun Hikasa Saeko Matsuda Naomi Takebe Takaaki Utsunomiya
Running time	24-25 minutes (per episode)
Original release
Network	TV Asahi
Release	January 25, 2004 – January 23, 2005

Kamen Rider Blade (仮面ライダー剣（ブレイド）, Kamen Raidā Bureido, Masked Rider ♠ (Blade)), is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the 14th installment in the Kamen Rider Series. It was broadcast on TV Asahi from January 25, 2004 to January 23, 2005. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei. Along with the standard insect motif of the Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Blade also uses a playing card motif. Each Rider is assigned one of the suits from a deck of cards.

An English dub of Masked Rider Blade is currently being shown in Singapore on Mediacorp's Kids Central, starting from January 7 2007, Sunday.[1] Also, continuing the Heisei Kamen Rider Series in order, after the success of Ryuki and Faiz in the Philippines, it is currently being shown on local TV station in GMA 7 and started airing on March 24, 2007 (Weekends). It is also currently airing as Masked Rider Blade (가면라이더 블레이드) in South Korea and Malaysia.

Plot

Further information: List of Kamen Rider Blade episodes

Ten thousand years ago, a massive battle known as the Battle Royal was fought by fifty-two Undead, each representing a species fighting for dominance over all others. The winner was the Human Undead, known as Category Two of Hearts, giving dominion of the Earth to humanity. In the present day, archaeologists discover the sealed Undead, and accidentally set them free. Thus, a new Battle Royal begins.

Having developed the Rider System, based on the Joker's ability to copy sealed Undead, the organization BOARD equips two young men, who become Kamen Riders: Kazuma Kenzaki and Sakuya Tachibana fight together as Blade and Garren to protect humans from Undead and seal them. Also fighting Undead is the mysterious Chalice, a Kamen Rider whose purpose is unknown. In addition, a young man struggles to free himself from the control of the sealed Undead powering his own Undead-made Rider System, fighting as Kamen Rider Leangle.

Rider System

Rider Systems

Belt	Card	Main wearer
TV Series
Kamen Rider Blade	♠	Kazuma Kenzaki
Kamen Rider Garren	♦	Sakuya Tachibana
Kamen Rider Chalice	♥	Hajime Aikawa
Kamen Rider Leangle	♣	Mutsuki Kamijō
Movie
Kamen Rider Glaive	Ace	Junichi Shimura
Kamen Rider Larc	Ace	Miwa Natsumi
Kamen Rider Lance	Ace	Shin Magaki

The Rider System, initially produced by the organization BOARD, uses the power of a sealed Category Ace Undead to transform the wearer into a Kamen Rider. The transformation fuses the wearer with the Undead at a genetic level and provides the motif of the Rider's armor. The Rider System was modelled after the Joker's ability to fuse with sealed Undead, utilizing their abilities as needed. The Undead are captured by depleting their AP (attack points) and sealing them into blank cards, referred to in the series as "Proper Blanks". Once sealed, the Undead's power can be used to strengthen offensive and defensive abilities, by sliding the cards through a Rouzer, typically built into the Rider's main weapon. The Rouzer is also installed in Blade and Garren's bikes, Blue Spader and Red Rhombus, giving them the ability to use Undead power as well. The use of cards is similar to the 12th Kamen Rider installment, Kamen Rider Ryuki

The BOARD-made belts used by Kenzaki and Tachibana use a "Turn Up" mechanism to henshin, or transform, the user. The Leangle Belt built for Isaka, the Peacock Undead, used a similar mechanism, "Open Up". Hajime, by contrast, does not use a separate mechanism to transform, as his Rouzer is part of him. His Rouzer merely announces the card's power, much like the Rouzers of the other Riders do when transformed, and either transforms him into the form of the selected sealed Undead or lets him use an attack powered by that same Undead. The movie adaptation, Missing Ace, introduced three additional Kamen Riders that used new belts made by BOARD. The new belts were modeled after the Leangle technology and used the power of artificial Undead Keroberos Ace cards.

Rouze Cards

The Rider System derives its power from "Rouze cards", which are Undead beings that have been sealed into a card form. The cards are swiped through a Rouzer to activate the cards' powers. Each Undead belongs to a specific card suit and category. Generally each category determines how the rouze card will power up the Rider, but there are some inconsistencies. For example, some of Chalice's cards provide functions that were specific to him. Jack, Queen and King, the Royal cards, provided the Riders with the ability to transform into more powerful forms. However, only a few of these forms were activated during the series.

	♠ (Blade)	♦ (Garren)	♥ (Chalice)	♣ (Leangle)	Use
A	Change Beetle	Change Stag	Change Mantis	Change Spider	Facilitate the Rider's transformation
2	Slash Lizard	Bullet Armadillo	Spirit Human	Stab Bee	Enhance weapons attacks, except for Chalice, who uses the Spirit Human to assume a human guise.
3	Beat Lion	Upper Frog	Chop Head	Screw Mole	Enhance hand strikes
4	Tackle Boar	Rapid Pecker	Float Dragonfly	Rush Rhinoceros	Enhance speed and/or mobility of the Rider or their attacks
5	Kick Locust	Drop Whale	Drill Shell	Bite Cobra	Enhance kick attacks
6	Thunder Deer	Fire Fly	Tornado Hawk	Blizzard Polar	Provides an elemental enhancement to attacks
7	Metal Trilobite	Rock Tortoise	Bio/Vine Plant	Gel Jellyfish	Defensive support cards, except for Chalice's which executes a disabling attack
8	Magnet Buffalo	Scope Bat	Reflect Moth	Poison Scorpion	Offensive support cards, except for Chalice's which provides defensive support
9	Mach Jaguar	Gemini Zebra	Recover Camel	Smog Squid	Support cards with Blade and Garren's used more offensively while Chalice and Leangle's used defensively.
10	Time Scarab	Thief Chameleon	Shuffle Centipede	Remote Tapir	Special cards relating to the Rider's deck, each one provides a different ability
J	Fusion Eagle	Fusion Peacock	Fusion Wolf	Fusion Elephant	Recharge the Rouzer with AP and one of two cards necessary to transform into Jack form
Q	Absorb Capricorn	Absorb Serpent	Absorb Orchid	Absorb Tiger	Recharge the Rouzer with AP and one of two cards necessary to take on a different form
K	Evolution Caucasus	Evolution Giraffa	Evolution Paradoxa	Evolution Tarantula	Recharge the Rouzer with AP and one of two cards theorized to evoke transformation into King form

Other Cards

Several types of cards were introduced during the TV series and the movie, Missing Ace. In the TV series, Chalice is able to combine all 13 Heart cards into a "Wild Card". He uses this to attack with a special strike called "Wild Cyclone". BOARD's chairman, Hiroshi Tennōji, created an artificial Ace card, the Change Keroberos. Tennoji used this to transform into Keroberos II.

The movie reintroduced the Change Keroberos card as part of Kamen Rider Glaive's arsenal, with two copies of it used for Larc and Lance. Each new Rider had an additional artificial card to power up their attacks like the other Riders. The other three cards, "Mighty Gravity", "Mighty Impact", and "Mighty Ray", provided a finishing attack that was the equivalent of the other Rider's Category 2 and 6 combo attacks. The movie also introduced a special card called the "Vanity Blank", which was created from the 4 Evolution King Cards. It was used to seal Amane Kurihara into the "Vanity 14" card. This card was then used as a sacrifice to awaken Jyushin 14.

Characters

• Kazuma Kenzaki / Kamen Rider Blade (剣崎 一真 / 仮面ライダー剣, Kenzaki Kazuma / Kamen Raidā Bureido): Chosen by the B.O.A.R.D. organization, 22-year-old Kazuma uses the sealed Category Ace of Spades (Change Beetle) to become Blade. He has a good heart and believes in fighting to protect humanity.
• Sakuya Tachibana / Kamen Rider Garren (橘 朔也 / 仮面ライダーギャレン, Tachibana Sakuya / Kamen Raidā Gyaren): Chosen by the B.O.A.R.D. organization, 25-year-old Sakuya uses the sealed Category Ace of Diamonds (Change Stag) to become Garren. At first he thought that the Rider System was flawed and using it extensively would ultimately consume his life. But it turned out to be his fear is the reason for the system's malfunction. But with aid from Isaka, with his girlfriend dying, Garren managed to overpower his fear and defeat the Jack Undead.
• Hajime Aikawa / Kamen Rider Chalice (相川 始 / 仮面ライダーカリス, Aikawa Hajime / Kamen Raidā Karisu): Though he looks 23, Hajime is actually the Joker using uses the sealed Category Ace of Hearts (Change Mantis) to become Chalice. In order to maintain human form, he uses the Category 2 of Hearts (Spirit Human) in order to take human form. He lives at Jacaranda Cafe with the Kurihara family.
• Mutsuki Kamijō / Kamen Rider Leangle (上城 睦月 / 仮面ライダーレンゲル, Kamijō Mutsuki / Kamen Raidā Rengeru): As a weak-willed 17-year-old high-school kid, Mutsuki was chosen by the Category Ace of Clubs (Spider Undead) to become Leangle, though reluctantly at first. He then gains a thirst for power as the Category Ace partially takes over his mind. But, later he is redeemed.
• Shiori Hirose (広瀬 栞, Hirose Shiori): One of the few remaining B.O.A.R.D. members after it was attacked by the released Undead, 20-year-old Shiroi helps the Riders by detecting the Undead on her Undead-searching computer.
• Kotarō Shirai (白井 虎太郎, Shirai Kotarō): An aspiring writer, 23-year-old Kotarō helps Kazuma and Shiori's mission by giving them hospitality. He loves to drink milk.
• Haruka Kurihara (栗原 遥香, Kurihara Haruka): Kotarō's 29-year-old sister.
• Amane Kurihara (栗原 天音, Kurihara Amane): Haruka's 9-year-old daughter, a rude girl who has feelings for Hajime and was in fact the reason he developed mentally. In the Missing Ace ending, a heart-broken Amane became a sukeban at age 13.
• Kei Karasuma (烏丸 啓, Karasuma Kei): 48-year-old Professor who created the Rider system. The President of BOARD.
• Nozomi Yamanaka (山中 望美, Yamanaka Nozomi): 17-year-old girlfriend of Mutsuki.
• Yoshito Hirose (広瀬 義人, Hirose Yoshito): Shiori's father, the one responsible for breaking the Undead's seal in a fit of madness, dying in the process.
• Hiroshi Tennōji (天王路 博史, Ten'nōji Hiroshi): The Chairman of BOARD who intentionally set up the series of events in the fake Battle Fight, so that he could have his warped dream of a new world order, with himself as ruler. In the end, he was murdered by the Griffa Undead.
• Sayoko Fukasawa (深沢 小夜子, Fukasawa Sayoko): Tachibana's girlfriend from college. Being a nurse, her office was open to Tachibana whenever he needed to rest. She attempted to help him before she was killed by Isaka/Peacock Undead for her interference in his plan. Because of her death, Tachibana's fear ceased, and she was avenged by Tachibana sealing Isaka.
• Go Kiryu (桐生 豪, Kiryū Gō): a former member of BOARD which was to be the first user of Garren. Kiryu had a warped sense of justice, using his prosthetic hand to electrocute petty crooks. Eventually, upon the discovery of Leangle, he briefly used the Leangle belt, recognized by the Spider Undead as a more suitable vessel out of like-mindedness. But once defeated, Spider Undead abandoned Kiryu for Mutsuki as the Locust, Deer and Jaguar Undeads mauled Kiryu on command.
• Ryo Mikami (三上 了, Mikami Ryō): Hajime's exact look-alike. As part of the Iroha clan, he makes takoyaki and is a bitter rival of Michi's clan. Fed up with his life, he swapped identities with an amnesiac Hajime. However, he returns to reclaim his place, aiging Hajime in fighting the Serpent Undead.
• Michi (未知, Michi): Ryo's girlfriend. Although she is a daughter of the rival clan, who makes taiyaki, she is also making takoyaki, supporting Ryo. When Ryo and Hajime changed their identities for a while, She discovers that her boyfriend (actually an amnesiac Hajime) has hidden abilities, and eventually fell in love with him for a second time. Through Hajime, she made the two rival clans reconciliate with each other. In the end, she and Ryo were married after they discovered that Ryo and Hajime were two different people.
• Jin Ichinose (一之瀬 仁, Ichinose Jin) - a young street musician who befriended Hajime after the latter had left Amane for personal reasons. Jin is a prodigal son of a prominent composer, who is a disciplinarian, who wants him to become a musician like his older brother, but Jin, being a misanthrope, wants to be independent and away from mankind on the boat he worked hard to get and ready. After Jin saw the transformation of Hajime into Chalice, Jin overtime severed his ties with Hajime after his battle with the Shell Undead resulted with Jin's boat being burned down.
• Umi Ikuhara (生原 羽美, Ikuhara Umi) - a young girl who saw Kenzaki transform into Blade. She made a lot of trouble to Kenzaki, because she wants Kenzaki to be her "superhero." Through Kenzaki, she learned the true meaning of protecting people, since she believes that no one will protect her, now that she is an orphan (her parents and her brother were killed in an earthquake).
• Rei Kamioka (神丘 令, Kamioka Rei) - a photographer who is a close friend of the Kurihara Family who employs Hajime as an apprentice. When she examined the picture of the place where Amane's father had died, she found out that Hajime is in the picture. She at first thought that Hajime killed Mr. Kurihara but later realized his innocence. She also saw Hajime transform into Chalice, but she was saved by him when the Eagle Undead attacked her.

The Undead

The Undead (アンデッド, Andeddo) are the series monsters in Kamen Rider Blade. There are 52 Undead with each set of 13 representing a suit, plus the Joker card, making a common card deck.

Ten thousand years ago, the Undead were created by the will of 52 species' collective urge to be the domainant force on Earth. These Undead, incapable of dying, fought in a massive battle royale known as the Battle Fight, with the winner granted the wish of their species' dominance over all others. The loser in each battle would be sealed by the God ofthe Undead, in the form of the a stone slab called the Stone of Sealing, in forms similar to the Proper Blank cards in present time. The powerful Undead known as Joker was also in the battle, but represented no species. If Joker won, all life would be destroyed, and the Battle Fight would restart. The winner of the previous Battle Fight was the Human Undead, and the world has been populated by humans ever since.

In addition to being split into four suits, the Undead are also divided by Category, with the "Royal" Undead being of a much higher power level than the rest. The Categories Jack, Queen and King are all capable of disguising themselves as humans, and are capable of much higher forms of thought than other Undead, forming plans of depth rather than just blindly attacking everything nearby. The Category Ace Undead, whose cards power the Rider Systems, are also very powerful, but lack the form-shifting abilities of the high-class Undead. Finally, the Joker is a unique Undead who can assume the form of any sealed Undead it possesses. More Jokers can be created, if a human using the Rider System simultaniously fuses with all 13 Undead of their respective suit for too long. In the movie Missing Ace, an additional white Joker is also present.

Trial Series

The Trial Series are artificial monsters created by BOARD, combining human and Undead DNA with machinery. They cannot be sealed with Proper Blanks; in fact, Blanks are absorbed, allowing them to recover quickly. The Trials were developed to interfere with the Undead Battle Fight. In early production sketches, they were referred as "Undeadloids." Each letter stood for its name, with the exception of Trial B, which is unknown; originally, it was supposed to be called Trial "General." As for the others, "D" stood for "Damned", "E" stood for "Evolution", "F" stood for "Fake", and "G" stood for "Ghost."

• Trial B (トライアルＢ, Toraiaru Bī) (39-40): An Electric-Type Undead disguised as Shiori's father, Yoshito. Originally, his program was to protect Shiori by her father because he was dying. Before he died, he transferred all his memories to the Trial. He is reprogrammed by Tennōji to continue to monitor the fixed Undead battle and remove potential threats. He dies saving Shiori from Trial G after remembering his original programming.

• Trial D (トライアルＤ, Toraiaru Dī) (31-35): A Capture-Type Undead sent after Kenzaki, who is one card away from attaining King Form. Trial D was destroyed by Blade's King Form.

• Trial E (トライアルＥ, Toraiaru Ī) (35-36): A Shooting-Type Undead based off of Garren's data & DNA. Destroyed by Blade King Form's Royal Straight Flush. Another appeared in the Hyper Video Special Blade vs. Blade, disguised as Kenzaki wearing a red scarf, it copied the Blay Buckle and transformed into Kamen Rider Blade. He fought the real Blade to a standstill with the clueless Tachibana and Mutsuki unable to tell the obvious difference.

• Trial F (トライアルＦ, Toraiaru Efu) (37-38): An Energy-Type Undead used to capture Kenzaki. Evolution Paradoxa (Category King of Hearts) Undead's DNA is used. Destroyed by Wild Chalice's Wild Cyclone.

• Trial G (トライアルＧ, Toraiaru Jī) (40): A Fighting-Type Undead which was based off of Leangle's Rider data; he managed to defeat Hikaru Jō/Tiger Undead and fought off all four Riders. It was about to kill Shiori until Trial B intervened remembering the original programming his creator gave him. Destroyed by Wild Chalice's Wild Cyclone and Blade King Form's Royal Straight Flush

Media

Kamen Rider Blade was released on several different mediums. The 49 episode TV series originally aired on the TV Asahi network Sundays at 8:00 AM. A movie and video game based on the TV series were later released.

Episodes

Main article: List of Kamen Rider Blade episodes

Movies and specials

• Kamen Rider Blade: Missing Ace (Theatrical Movie)

Four years after an alternate ending to the series, in which Kazuma Kenzaki (Blade) seals the Joker as the final trump, the people the series revolved around have moved on with their lives. Kenzaki is a garbage man, Mutsuki has graduated high school, and Koutaro has published his book about the Kamen Riders to great success.

However, many of the Undead have been released, and a new trio of Kamen Riders have emerged from BOARD, now led by Tachibana. After recapturing Change Spider and Change Beetle, Kenzaki and Mutsuki join with the new Riders; Glaive, Larc and Lance. When all the Undead are sealed once more, Glaive reveals to be the Albino Joker(a white version from the Original Black Joker), and captures Koutaro's niece, Amane by using the 4 Category King card to seal her. In order to free Amane from the card, Aikawa Hajime is unsealed from the Joker Card and he sacrifices himself to destroy the superweapon, saving Amane.In The End, Amane-Chan believed that Hajime's Spirit will always be watching over her and protecting her.

Running Time: 74 min Theatrical/ 90 min Director's Cut

• Kamen Rider Blade: Blade vs. Blade (Hyper Battle Video)
• Kamen Rider Blade: New Generation (TV Special)

"New Generation" is a collection of shorts which follows the history of Kamen Rider Glaive, L'arc, and Lance.

File:Kamen rider blade ps2.jpg

Cover of the Kamen Rider Blade video game

Video game

Main article: Kamen Rider Blade (game)

A video game based on the series was produced by Bandai for the PlayStation 2. It is an action game that featured many of the characters from the TV series. It was released only in Japan near the end of the TV series on December 9 2004.

Theme songs

• OP1 - Round ZERO ~BLADE BRAVE by Nanase Aikawa (相川七瀬, Aikawa Nanase)
• OP2 - ELEMENTS by RIDER CHIPS Featuring Ricky
• ED1 - Awakening (覚醒, Kakusei) by Ricky
• ED2 - rebirth by Sakuya Tachibana (Hironari Amano) (橘朔也 (天野浩成), Tachibana Sakuya (Amano Hironari))
• ED3 - take it a try by Hajime Aikawa (Ryōji Morimoto) (相川始 (森本亮治), Aikawa Hajime (Morimoto Ryōji))
• MOVIE - ELEMENTS by RIDER CHIPS Featuring Ricky

Production

Cast

• Kazuma Kenzaki / Kamen Rider Blade: Takayuki Tsubaki (椿 隆之, Tsubaki Takayuki)
• Sakuya Tachibana / Kamen Rider Garren: Hironari Amano (天野 浩成, Amano Hironari)
• Hajime Aikawa / Kamen Rider Chalice: Ryōji Morimoto (森本 亮治, Morimoto Ryōji)
• Mutsuki Kamijō / Kamen Rider Leangle: Takahiro Hōjō (北条 隆博, Hōjō Takahiro)
• Shiori Hirose: Yumi Egawa (江川 有未, Egawa Yumi)
• Kotarō Shirai: Terunosuke Takezai (竹財 輝之助, Takezai Terunosuke)
• Haruka Kurihara: Kaori Yamaguchi (山口 香緒里, Yamaguchi Kaori)
• Amane Kurihara: Hikari Kajiwara (梶原 ひかり, Kajiwara Hikari)
• Nozomi Yamanaka: Arisa Miyazawa (宮澤 亜理沙, Miyazawa Arisa)
• Kei Karasuma: Kazuhiro Yamaji (山路 和弘, Yamaji Kazuhiro)
• Sayoko Fukasawa: Urara Awata (粟田 麗, Awata Urara)
• Go Kiryu: Nozomu Masuzawa (増沢 望, Masuzawa Nozomu)
• Yoshito Hirose: Junichi Haruta (春田 純一, Haruta Junichi)
• Hiroshi Tennōji: Kōji Moritsugu (森次 晃嗣, Moritsugu Kōji)

• Isaka / Peacock Undead: Yasukaze Motomiya (本宮 泰風, Motomiya Yasukaze)
• Miyuki Yoshinaga / Orchid Undead: Mika Hijii (肘井 美佳, Hijii Mika)
• Kougen / Eagle Undead: Yasufumi Hayashi (林 泰文, Hayashi Yasufumi)
• Daichi / Elephant Undead: Kairi Narita (成田 浬, Narita Kairi)
• Noboru Shima / Tarantula Undead: Kazunari Aizawa (相澤 一成, Aizawa Kazunari)
• Shinmei / Wolf Undead: Masashi Kagami (加々美 正史, Kagami Masashi)
• Azumi / Serpent Undead: Mio Fukuzumi (福澄 美緒, Fukuzumi Mio)
• King / Caucasus Undead: Makoto Kamijo (上條 誠, Kamijō Makoto)
• Hikaru Jō / Tiger Undead: Akane Hamasaki (浜崎 茜, Hamasaki Akane)
• Kanai / Giraffa Undead: Akira Kubodera (窪寺 昭, Kubodera Akira)

• King Rouzer Voice: Fumihiko Tachiki (立木 文彦, Tachiki Fumihiko)
• Narrator: Jūrōta Kosugi (小杉 十郎太, Kosugi Jūrōta)

Suit actors

• Kamen Rider Blade: Seiji Takaiwa (高岩 成二, Takaiwa Seiji)
• Kamen Rider Garren: Yoshifumi Oshikawa (押川 善文, Oshikawa Yoshifumi)
• Kamen Rider Chalice: Makoto Ito (伊藤 慎, Itō Makoto)
• Kamen Rider Leangle: Jiro Okamoto (岡元 次郎, Okamoto Jirō) and Jun Watanabe (渡辺 淳, Watanabe Jun)

References

• Official website from TV Asahi
• Official website from Toei TV
• Kamen Rider Blade on DVD
• Rouse Card Collection