This article is about a series entry (the 18th) in the Kamen Rider Series.
WARNING:This series contains scenes of graphic violence and occasional alcohol drinking. Viewer discretion is advised!
For the series' main character, Blade, see Kazuma Kenzaki.
Kamen Rider Blade (仮面ライダー剣,Kamen Raidā Bureido, Masked Rider ♠ or Blade), is a Japanese tokusatsu drama and the 18th installment of the Kamen Rider Series. Debuting as the 5th entry of the Heisei Era, the show premiered on January 25, 2004 alongside Tokuso Sentai Dekaranger on TV Asahi's Super Hero Time block, and finished its 49-episode run on January 23, 2005.
The show is the final series to run on 60 fps. Along with the standard insect motif of the Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Blade also uses a playing card motif, with each rider being assigned a suit from a deck of cards. The series' taglines are "Take the trump card of fate!!" (運命の切札をつかみ取れ!!,Unmei no kirifuda o tsukamitore!!) and "Now your power is at its peak." (今、その力が展開する,Ima, sono chikara ga tenkai suru).
Ten thousand years ago, a massive battle royal known as the Battle Fight 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 Fight 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.
Characters[]
All the Riders in the Blade Series, From Left To Right Clockwise : Glaive, Larc, Lance, Leangle, Garren, Chalice, & Blade King Form
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[]
From 2007 to 2008, the series was dubbed in English and aired in Singapore on Mediacorp Kids Central as Masked Rider Blade.
Notes[]
This installment celebrates the 5th anniversary of the HeiseiRider Series.