Kamen Rider Blade

Kamen Rider Blade (仮面ライダー剣（ブレイド）), is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the fourteenth installment in the Kamen Rider Series. It aired on TV Asahi from January 25, 2004 to January 23, 2005. It aired alongside  for Super Hero Time 2004. 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. The series catchphrases are "Now your power is at its peak." (今、その力が展開する) and "Take the trump card of fate!" (運命の切札をつかみ取れ!). It aired along side Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger for Super Hero Time 2004.

Blade was later released on DVD by Toei. There were twelve volumes released with the first eleven having four episodes per DVD and the twelfth volume with five episodes.

Story
Ten thousand years ago, a massive battle known as the Battle Royal was fought by fifty-two demons known as the 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 (Board Of Archaeological Research Department) equips two young men, who become Kamen Riders: Kazuma Kenzaki and Sakuya Tachibana fight together as Kamen Rider Blade and Kamen Rider 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.

Shirai Residences

 * Shiori Hirose
 * Kotaro Shirai

Jacaranda Cafe

 * Haruka Kurihara
 * Amane Kurihara

BOARD

 * Kei Karasuma
 * Yoshito Hirose
 * Hiroshi Tennoji

Category Ace

 * Beetle Undead
 * Spider Undead
 * Mantis Undead

Spade

 * Locust Undead
 * Deer Undead
 * Trilobite Undead
 * Jaguar Undead
 * Lion Undead
 * Boar Undead
 * Buffalo Undead
 * Scarab Undead
 * Lizard Undead

Diamond

 * Bat Undead
 * Zebra Undead
 * Pecker Undead
 * Tortoise Undead

Clover

 * Mole Undead
 * Jellyfish Undead
 * Squid Undead

Heart

 * Plant Undead
 * Moth Undead
 * Centipede Undead
 * Dragonfly Undead
 * Shell Undead
 * Human Undead

S.I.C. Hero Saga
The S.I.C. Hero Saga side story for Blade is titled Kamen Rider Blade: Day After Tomorrow (仮面ライダー剣 -DAY AFTER TOMORROW-) follows the story of the series after the finale and features characters from Missing Ace. The new character introduced in the story is Joker (Kazuma Kenzaki ver.) (ジョーカー（剣崎一真ver.）). Two other special editions of the Hero Saga stories also feature Blade characters: Hero Saga Special Edition: King featuring Kamen Rider Garren King Form (仮面ライダーギャレン・キングフォーム) and Hero Saga Special Edition: Clover featuring Kamen Rider Leangle Jack Form (仮面ライダーレンゲル・ジャックフォーム). Day After Tomorrow ran in the February through May 2007 issues of Monthly Hobby Japan magazine. King was featured in the May 2008 issue and Clover was featured in the June 2008 issue.


 * Chapter titles
 * 1) The Melancholy of Mutsuki Kamijō (上城睦月の憂鬱)
 * 2) The Howl of Hajime Aikawa (相川始の咆哮)
 * 3) The Blunder of Sakuya Tachibana (橘朔也の失策)
 * 4) The Mentality of Kazuma Kenzaki (剣崎一真の心情)

Tasogare
Kamen Rider Blade ended years ago but to those who don't know, series head writer Sho Aikawa wrote a short story called "Tasogare" that ties up loose ends of the show's finale.

The story is about a dying old woman (Amane) who tells her grandson the story of the 4 Kamen Riders. The story covered what happened to the 4 after Kenzaki went missing after his fight with Hajime.

Hajime lurks around Amane, and stayed by her side during her last moment. He looked exactly the same as they first met. Mutsuki Kamijo, Shiori Hirose, and Kotaro Shirai died due to old age. Kotaro's book about Kamen Rider was so popular that it later became a TV drama and merchandise, which made a lot of money for the Kurihara family.

Tachibana became the head of the BOARD. He kept on researching on the Undeads and did experiments on himself. He gained long longevity from his research and kept an eye on the 2 Jokers. He is also Amane's health insurance.

Tachibana found information about an unknown beast attacking armed insurgency in Africa. The beast was trying to keep homeless kids safe from the war zone. That beast is likely to be Kenzaki in his Joker form.

In addition, outside the short story, Kamen Rider 555 was supposed to have an extra episode where Kenzaki meets Takumi. Sadly, this was never released in public and the whole story was only brought up the Kamen Rider BLADE DVD round table discussion.

Cast

 * Kazuma Kenzaki (剣崎 一真): Takayuki Tsubaki (椿 隆之)
 * Hajime Aikawa (相川 始), Ryō Mikami (三上 了 Mikami Ryō): Ryōji Morimoto (森本 亮治)
 * Sakuya Tachibana (橘 朔也): Kousei (Hironari) Amano (天野 浩成)
 * Mutsuki Kamijo (上城 睦月): Takahiro Hōjō (北条 隆博)
 * Shiori Hirose (広瀬 栞): Yumi Egawa (江川 有未)
 * Kotarō Shirai (白井 虎太郎): Terunosuke Takezai (竹財 輝之助)
 * Haruka Kurihara: Kaori Yamaguchi (山口 香緒里)
 * Amane Kurihara: Hikari Kajiwara (梶原 ひかり)
 * Nozomi Yamanaka: Arisa Miyazawa (宮澤 亜理沙)
 * Kei Karasuma: Kazuhiro Yamaji (山路 和弘)
 * Sayoko Fukasawa: Urara Awata (粟田 麗)
 * Go Kiryu: Nozomu Masuzawa (増沢 望)
 * Yoshito Hirose: Junichi Haruta (春田 純一)
 * Hiroshi Tennōji: Kohji Moritsugu (森次 晃嗣)
 * Isaka: Yasukaze Motomiya (本宮 泰風)
 * Miyuki Yoshinaga: Mika Hijii (肘井 美佳)
 * Yazawa: Atsushi Korechika (是近 敦之)
 * Takahara: Yasufumi Hayashi (林 泰文)
 * Daichi: Kairi Narita (成田 浬)
 * Noboru Shima: Kazunari Aizawa (相澤 一成)
 * Shinmei: Masashi Kagami (加々美 正史)
 * Azumi: Mio Fukuzumi (福澄 美緒)
 * King: Makoto Kamijo (上條 誠)
 * Hikaru Jō: Akane Hamasaki (浜崎 茜)
 * Kanai: Akira Kubodera (窪寺 昭)
 * Voice of Rouzer: Takeshi Sasaki (佐々木 健)
 * Voice of King Rouzer: Fumihiko Tachiki (立木 文彦)
 * Narrator: Jūrōta Kosugi (小杉 十郎太)

Suit actors

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

Songs

 * Opening themes
 * "Round ZERO~BLADE BRAVE "
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: Katsuya Yoshida
 * Arrangement: Akio Kondō
 * Artist: Nanase Aikawa
 * Episodes: 1-30
 * Episodes: 1-30


 * "ELEMENTS"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: Miki Fushisue
 * Arrangement: RIDER CHIPS & Cher Watanabe
 * Artist: RIDER CHIPS featuring Ricky
 * Episodes: 31-49
 * After his performance in "ELEMENTS," Ricky was made into RIDER CHIPS' permanent vocalist.


 * Ending themes
 * "Kakusei" (覚醒)
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: Cher Watanabe
 * Arrangement: Akio Kondō
 * Artist: Ricky
 * Episodes: 2-23
 * "Rebirth"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: Yukari Aono
 * Arrangement: Cher Watanabe
 * Artist: Sakuya Tachibana (Kousei Amano)
 * Episodes: 23-28, 30, 47
 * "Take it A Try"
 * Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: Cher Watanabe
 * Artist: Hajime Aikawa (Ryoji Morimoto)
 * Episodes: 31-32, 34, 36-37, 40, 44
 * Episodes: 31-32, 34, 36-37, 40, 44

Video game
A video game based on the series was produced by Bandai for the PlayStation 2. It is a fighting 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.

International broadcasts
Continuing the Heisei Kamen Rider Series in order, after the success of Ryuki and 555 in the Philippines, Blade was shown on local TV station in GMA 7 and also on Cartoon Network Philippines, as well as reruns on TV5. It also aired in South Korea as Masked Rider Blade (가면라이더 블레이드 Gamyeon Raideo Bureideu) in 2006 and run at NTV 7 in Malaysia in 2007 after the last episode of Kamen Rider 555.