Kamen Rider Blade

, is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the fourteenth installment in the Kamen Rider. It aired 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. Its encore telecast was first shown on April 5, 2008. Also, continuing the Heisei Kamen Rider Series in order, after the success of Ryuki and 555 in the Philippines, it is currently being shown on local TV station in GMA 7 and started airing on March 24, 2007. It is also currently airing as Masked Rider Blade in South Korea.

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.

Plot
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.

Characters

 * Chosen by the B.O.A.R.D. organization, Kenzaki uses the sealed Category Ace of Spades (Change Beetle) to become Kamen Rider. He has a good heart and believes in fighting to protect humanity.
 * Chosen by the B.O.A.R.D. organization, 25-year-old Tachibana uses the sealed Category Ace of Diamonds (Change Stag) to become Kamen Rider.
 * Though he looks 23, Hajime is actually the Undead known as Joker using the sealed Category Ace of Hearts (Change Mantis) to become Kamen Rider. In order to maintain human form, he uses the Category 2 of Hearts (Spirit Human) in order to take human form.
 * 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 gains a thirst for power as the Category Ace takes over his mind.

The Undead
The are the series monsters in Kamen Rider Blade. There are 52 Undead organized into four suits with the Joker (playing card), making a common Card deck.

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 can assume the form of any sealed Undead it possesses. More Jokers can be created if a human abuses the Rider System. In the movie Missing Ace, an additional white Joker is also present.

Missing Ace
is the theatrical release, first in theaters on September 11, 2004.

Four years after an alternate ending to the series, in which Blade seals the Joker, the characters have moved on with their lives: Kenzaki is a garbage man, Mutsuki has graduated high school, and Kotarō has published a book about the Kamen Riders to great success. The Undead have been re-released, and a new trio of Kamen Riders&mdash;Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider and Kamen Rider&mdash;have emerged from BOARD, now led by Tachibana. After recapturing two of the Category Aces, Kenzaki and Mutsuki join with the new Riders. When all the Undead are sealed once more, Glaive reveals himself to be the Albino Joker, a white version of the original Joker, and captures Kotarō's niece to obtain the ultimate power, sealing her in the Vanity Card. In order to free Amane from the card, Hajime is unsealed from the Joker Card and the four Riders are again united, intent on saving Amane and stopping the Albino Joker.

Specials
Kamen Rider Blade: Blade vs. Blade is a Hyper Battle Video, wherein a Trial-series cyborg pretends to be Kenzaki, who quickly discovers the fraud and fights him. During their battle, the other Riders bicker humorously about which Blade is the fake, which constantly results in their attacking the real Kenzaki. As with all Hyper Battle Videos, this serves as a device to exposit the Rider's various powers and abilities.

Kamen Rider Blade: New Generation is a television special made of a collection of vignettes which aired following certain episodes Blade, following the history of Kamen Riders Glaive, L'arc, and Lance. This is a direct tie-in to the movie Missing Ace.

Cast

 * Kazuma Kenzaki/Kamen Rider Blade:
 * Sakuya Tachibana/Kamen Rider Garren:
 * Hajime Aikawa/Kamen Rider Chalice:
 * Mutsuki Kamijō/Kamen Rider Leangle:
 * Shiori Hirose:
 * Kotarō Shirai:
 * Haruka Kurihara:
 * Amane Kurihara:
 * Nozomi Yamanaka:
 * Kei Karasuma:
 * Sayoko Fukasawa:
 * Go Kiryu:
 * Yoshito Hirose:
 * Hiroshi Tennōji:


 * Isaka/Peacock Undead:
 * Miyuki Yoshinaga/Orchid Undead:
 * Kougen/Eagle Undead:
 * Daichi/Elephant Undead:
 * Noboru Shima/Tarantula Undead:
 * Shinmei/Wolf Undead:
 * Azumi/Serpent Undead:
 * King/Caucasus Undead:
 * Hikaru Jō/Tiger Undead:
 * Kanai/Giraffa Undead:


 * King Rouzer Voice:
 * Narrator:

Suit actors

 * Kamen Rider Blade:
 * Kamen Rider Garren:
 * Kamen Rider Chalice:
 * Kamen Rider Leangle: and

Songs

 * Opening themes:
 * "Round ZERO ～ BLADE BRAVE"
 * Lyrics: Shōko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: Katsuya Yoshida
 * Arrangement: Akio Kondō
 * Artist: Nanase Aikawa
 * Episodes: 1-30
 * "ELEMENTS"
 * Lyrics: Shōko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: Miki Fushisue
 * Composition: RIDER CHIPS & Cheru Watanabe
 * Artist: RIDER CHIPS featuring Ricky
 * Episodes: 31-49
 * After his performance in "ELEMENTS," Ricky was made RIDER CHIPS' permanent vocalist.


 * Ending themes:
 * Lyrics: Shōko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: Cheru Watanabe
 * Arrangement: Akio Kondō
 * Artist: Ricky
 * Episodes: 2-23
 * "rebirth"
 * Lyrics: Shōko Fujibayashi
 * Composition: Yukari Aono
 * Arrangement: Cheru Watanabe
 * Artist: Sakuya Tachibana (Kōsei Amano)
 * Episodes: 23-31
 * "take it a try"
 * Lyrics: Shōko Fujibayashi
 * Composition & Arrangement: Cheru Watanabe
 * Artist: Hajime Aikawa (Ryoji Morimoto)
 * Episodes: 31-49
 * Episodes: 31-49

Video 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.