Rivalry between Riders over the years Fresh fom Reddit

A post someone made about Blade got me to thinking about the subject of rivalry and how it's been used over the years, and I decided I would make a post since it's largely unrelated to what I feel about Blade.

Something that post made me think about was how I felt about Blade's premise with the rivalry between the Riders. It's hard to put myself in the mindset of what it would've been like watching these older shows as they were coming out, but I notice that the way I felt about the tropes of recent years (W-through-Wizard) HEAVILY mirrors how I'd probably feel about the rivalries in these older shows.

Agito was our first example of rivalry in the Heisei era, as it was the first Heisei show with this many Riders, and there isn't much basis for what to do... but I felt like they handled it reasonably well. Ryuki after that has a unique concept, a war between many Riders, and for what it's worth it delivers what it's trying to deliver. I would not be surprised to know that it was popular, it certainly seems to be a memorable one for a lot of people involved in the franchise at least.

But once you get to Faiz, it feels almost forced, like it's trying to live off of the success of this trope. And that's when we get to Blade, where I think - in this hypothetical situation where I'm seeing these shows as they come out - I'd probably be sick of this rivalry concept and dislike Blade a lot for that very reason. I feel like the reasons behind why they fight, while not always solid, are at least some attempt to stand out. So it isn't as bad as Faiz... just unfortunately using a tiring concept.

Which kind of makes me wonder if Toei acknowledged this when they worked on Hibiki, because in contrast to those last few shows, it thrives on the idea of teamwork and comradery, and as a result is trying to provide something fresh that unfortunately is not heavily appreciated since it's a little too different.

After Kabuto, the rivalry became what it is now; The secondary hero who acts on their own, occasionally gets in the way, but ultimately becomes an ally. I feel like that in of itself can be tiring and for that reason I'm cautiously eyeing Mach, but I feel like in recent years they have tried just enough to make each of them stand out by how they're written.

There's no real conclusion to this ramble... this is just something I've never really thought about and felt was worth giving a look at.

Submitted January 17, 2015 at 10:37PM by StormgazerGC http://ift.tt/1IQ8T4y