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Kamen Rider Saber & Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger- Intersecting Worlds Discussion
After Touma loses his WonderRide book, he meets a strange pirate from another world...
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Had a blast watching this! Though, I got in when the Saber SP was almost ending, but the Zenkaiger one with the Shindais were great.
I LOVE Sabela's Zenakiger-themed callout! |
I do enjoy that we had an easy way of starting and linking both specials together via Zox. Leave it to the World Traveling Pirate to help move things along!
I also like how we had Orihime World. While it was the same for both of the Specials, the fact that it was a more story based World this time helped link it to Saber nicely enough. Shenanigans were had and it was nice to have a bit of a breather given next week looks insane for both shows. |
Did anyone else get chills when Storious narrated the episode preview?
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Nuts I might actually need to watch Zenkaiger now lol.
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You know, at this point, it's honestly really nostalgic to have a lukewarm, moderately entertaining combination special interrupt Rider and Sentai for the sake of shilling a crossover movie in the spri-- er, well, summer, in this case, but still, close enough.
I quite enjoyed this episode of Saber, but you can definitely tell why it doesn't get to be part of the normal episode count. It's inevitably so completely disconnected from everything around it, like a glimpse into some parallel world where Saber is a way less serialized story, that it has basically no place being thrown awkwardly into the schedule like this. But then, I've never been one to complain about fun standalone episodes of shows, and this is totally one of those! It's not like, incredibly fun, mind you, but there's a lot to like about it. The biggest thing for me was that, since this episode IS allowed to disengage from the normally inescapable overarching Plot, we get to see Touma the novelist here, rather than Touma the swordsman, and I appreciated that. It's all these little moments that are hard to make room for in the show now: him suffering from writer's block, excitedly scrambling for something to write down some notes on when inspiration strikes, defending the quality of the books his store sells to Zox, and gleefully explaining the tale behind Tanabata to him. Touma being a guy who loves stories is one of my favorite aspects of his character (it's pretty relatable!), and it was nice to see that thrust into the spotlight again so much here, the same way it was nice to see Brave Dragon, Lion Senki, and Lamp Do Alangina all get to show up again. There's obviously an aspect to all of that where Nobuhiro Mouri is writing this with the expectation that Zenkaiger fans who know nothing about Saber are going to be showing up this week, and I think it succeeds at giving a broad feel for what the show is about, without really getting bogged down in exposition and details. I mean, a lecture on the whole history of Sword of Logos or something simply wouldn't have fit the tone here as much as having Touma making silly faces and Mei being on the receiving end of comedic injuries does. In terms of how the actual plot is structured, it's pretty much full power Zenkaiger all the way through. You've got a monster of the week with a creative and wacky ability, and the heroes have to figure out how to get around it. I thought the twist on how the particular power here works ended up being surprisingly clever, even, because honestly, Sentai villains doing things inefficiently for no reason at all would not be something I'd question too much. It was neat to see a proper explanation worked in there as a plot point. The integration of Zox into everything was, again, nothing mind-blowing, but he's acting like himself, and that's a cute enough concept for a crossover. It's kind of an interesting choice to consciously avoid having Zenkaiser and Saber together on TV, and while Zox's concept of a pirate who sails from world to world makes him a natural fit for a crossover, his abrasive personality makes him stick out like a sore thumb in this show. Zox is a guy who really wants you to know he doesn't care about things, and I feel like every single character in Saber is connected by how extremely upfront and honest they are about what they value, whether it's books, family, fighting, or the destruction of the entire world as we know it. Zox feeling like he's barging into this series unnecessarily kinda adds to the dynamic in a way, and watching this episode, it's easy to imagine Twokaiser going on to have an entire career of popping up in random crossovers to steal stuff, constantly getting questioned about why he's always dancing. Imagine him running into Kamen Rider Diend! Would they hate each other's guts? Would they have an unexpected mutual understanding and respect for one another? Touma was right -- it's a heck of a concept for a story! So yeah, at the end of the day, this is a very basic but harmless episode of Saber. I'm always happy to see the main trio in action, and I even got a two-for-one deal on hearing Almighty, but admittedly, it's not punching above its weight as a random crossover. It's about what you'd expect, and no more, but also no less. |
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Well this was just delightful, wasn't it? And I mean, this was incredibly fun! I was even going to be bummed out about this, too! Because you know, this is the first episode of Zenkaiger not written by Junko Koumura, and even though she's still credited in a supervising role, it's sort of sad to see that happen, when the show has gotten so far with nobody else's help, and I was starting to genuinely expect her to be pulling a Riku Sanjou on Kyoryuger and just write the whole show herself. But then like, this episode is every bit as amazing as usual? And then it's also sort of better, because it has characters from Kamen Rider Saber in it, and I'm extremely biased? Really pleasantly surprised by this one! Maybe Nobuhiro Mouri deserves a lot of credit here for nailing the show's style so well, maybe Koumura just did that good a job whipping the script into shape, heck, maybe Zenkaiger is like, cosmically incapable of doing wrong, but I really felt like this one didn't miss a beat, right from them having Secchan randomly spinning around 2 seconds in. All the comedic timing and everything you'd expect from this show if you're a fan is totally present and accounted for, and apparently no amount of Kamen Riders showing up is enough to get in the way of that. Characters talking over each other, absurd situations, and even an emotional scene where Kaito talks about the importance of trusting in the people you care about while dressed as a cheerleader, because why not! Zenkaiger is just that kinda show! If you're reading this right now as someone who only watched this because of the connection to Saber, please do yourself a favor and take this obvious hint -- Zenkaiger is well worth your time, and everybody else's too. And of course, the proof of that, as usual, is in how despite all the madness, there's a totally cohesive story being told with a solid little arc to it. Zox is used super well here, and I think the plot makes a smart decision is setting up the idea that Flint being in danger would be motivation for him to help, only for the mere thought of that happening to end up giving him the push he needs. I don't think I'm going to describe how much I liked this part well, but there's a surprising amount of subtlety to how it plays out, and you see a warmer side to Zox without it feeling like any kind of drastic change. Ryouga comes out of this one looking pretty great too, and a lot of that is precisely because he doesn't always look so great! It's a very natural extension of what Saber has been doing with him and his sister in recent episodes, and as I've established in those threads, I am unironically way into this direction. If you're reading this right now as someone who only watched this because it's an episode of Zenkaiger, with no knowledge of Saber, allow me to note that this is a guy who was introduced as a hyper-serious and threatening servant of one of the show's main antagonists... and now he's getting himself tangled up in ropes swinging his sword around like a crazy person while cartoonish sound effects play to highlight his humiliation. It's amazing. And also, in this case, it stresses how much he genuinely cares about his sister, which is nice. Nothing too elaborate, but it's obvious at this point Ryouga's no complex character, and this episode of Zenkaiger demonstrates pretty nicely how that doesn't have to be such a bad thing. I especially like how he phrases his response to Gaon saying he must be super fond of Reika. Ryouga isn't complex, but he is defined, and that counts for a lot in my book. At the very least, it gelled with Zenkaiger's style quite well. Then of course, on top of all this, the episode is just plain fun, with all sorts of cool beats like getting to see the Riders doing Sentai roll calls, even if it takes a lot of prompting in Durandal's case. (This sort of meta awareness about toku tropes is just one more of Zenkaiger's many qualities, by the way.) I even got to see Gaon do a Rising Impact! I never thought I'd get to see that, but I did, and now I'm super happy, because that was so awesome! Also awesome was getting to see Magine and Sabela team up, but I don't think I'm the person most excited about that. I think having Durandal and Sabela of all characters be the ones in this crossover was a pretty bold move, and it makes me wonder if their more comedic current selves have found popularity with children or something, but I know for a fact there's one good reason to have Reika in this show, and that's that her actor, Angela Mei, is actually a MASSIVE fan of Magine, as it turns out! I only found out about this a little to prior to this episode airing, and I'm glad I did, because it explains an awful lot about this episode! I can tell you right now, if I was a guest star on Zenkaiger, I know I'd want to hug Magine too, so with that context, I am both deeply envious and extremely proud of her for living that dream. It's a party, at the end of the day, exactly the way a crossover of this sort ought to be, and the fact that they were even giving the stars presents certainly speaks to that. Again, I adored this episode. It should've been weird that this is the big debut for Super Twokaiser, but after watching it, I wouldn't have it any other way. As a huge fan of both shows involved, this rocked. |
Wonder if anyone noticed that the two episodes swapped VFX/SFX styles.
Saber's trio are far more noisier in their attacks, and get to do stock footage transformations again, while Zenkaiger's side not only reuses Kamen Rider finishers flawlessly, they get real time transformations, and the attack sounds are more... Kamen Rider-ish? It's a neat detail I saw. |
This is maybe the most I enjoyed watching Saber in a long time, just something really fun about seeing our cast of book-loving nerds get menaced by a goofy sentai monster. It's a very fun and serviceable crossover with Zox threatening to steal the show. I had nearly forgotten there was a time back when Saber had their own weekly monsters and Touma would use his storybook trivia to beat, so this was weirdly nostalgic. Plus, just seeing the main trio teaming up with TwoKaiser is very neat.
And once I managed to get my blood to stop boiling at the mere sight of the Shindai siblings, the Zenkaiger episode was mostly okay too. Granted, I would have been a lot more delighted had the crossing over Saber characters been... literally anyone else (Yuri would have been my ideal pick). If absolutely nothing else, I'm happy for Angela Mei that her dream to hang out with Magine has come true! |
I liked this crossover special.
I liked how Touma, Kento and Rintarou were clapping after seeing Zocks (I swear I saw a magazine that spells his name this way) transforming. Loved it when Rintarou asked if the dancing was absolutely necessary when transforming. He's so wholesome. And I enjoyed how goofy the Zenkaigers were next to Ryouga when they were waiting for him to join the roll call. |
Honestly, and considering I'm usually just ambivalent towards them, I really think Sabela and Durendal were at their best during the Zenkaiger episode.
For one, not only is Sabela not obsessing over her brother, but we get her brother obssessing over his sister's safety, something we don't get as much Kamen Rider Saber. Honestly, if Saber had stuck with this episode's characterizations of them after they defected from Master Logos, then they wouldn't have been hated as much. |
Why is this crossover more fun the the entirety of Saber?
Also an interesting choice of characters to crossover. You'd expect Kaito to appear in Saber's world or Touma to appear in Zenkaiger's world as per the usual crossovers but this one actually remembered other characters besides the main ones and I think there the fun was giving the spotlight to these characters that don't get to shine as much in their own series. Though if I'd compare the 2 episodes, I think the Zenkaiger episode was the better one. Saber's episode didn't feel like it belonged in the main series and much of the time was wasted on searching for the missing books that were with them all the time, while Zenkaiger's episode felt like any normal episode and didn't feel out of place for it. |
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I wonder if that hug was in the script.
But anyway I enjoyed the double bill. I know the Saber section was lacking since it felt like it was with Gaim on how the plot just suddenly stopped, like when Demushu leaped into the real world at the end of the episode, then all of a sudden we have that Kikaider special. I think it shows the weaker aspects of a serialized story telling. But something like Zenkaiger doesn't have that issue, and is able to tell a single story. It's funny to think we get more out of the siblings than we do from the main show. When Gaon was using the Zero One Rider Gear, I half expected him to trip after using it, in spirit with the show. |
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Even when other things get mixed into Zenkaiger it ends up being pure fun. That they could take Durandal's insanely serious nature and actually have him come off light hearted made it worth the watch.
That hug was everything that most of us as fans and the kids I'm sure feel with the characters and story lines. It's like a hug of years of effort and love. Every time the name Orihime was mentioned I was wondering when Ichigo Kurosaki was going to pop up from behind a bush. But ultimately, the best is when you have a running gag between two shows where everyone asks "Do you really need to dance"? Yeah Zox, do ya? Although I will say, for jamming in Super Twokaiser, it wasn't awful. Just jammed. What wasnt....was the Rider gears. I had a moment of squeal watching Zi-Os, Zero-One's and Sabers powers being used. Although I get it, from both time, and from the Rider era, they only have three Riders to go on, it would have made so much sense to just include Build's gear for Vroom. I mean, if you're going to give the scientist Rider power to anyone, Build and Vroom is literally a perfect match. Help me out though. Right at the end of Zenkaiger, the statue at the end...what was that? |
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It's neat how instead of the main heroes crossing over, in both of these the "visitors" were the last and most anti-heroic members of their respective hero groups (at least until if/when Stacey turns good). Especially for the Shindai siblings, I hope some of the characterization they got in Zenkaiger carries through when they return to Saber, because this is the best they've ever been. For a second I almost wondered if Reika would choose to stay in the Zenkaigers' world! But I suppose as a swordswoman she has to put her responsibilities first (and I doubt Toei would ever let a crossover special have that big an impact on the status quo).
Also I love how Touma trying to teach Zox about the value of books, which seems like it was supposed to be a wholesome moral to encourage kids to read, ended up making more problems because Zox took it to mean books were worth stealing XD I'd expect nothing less from a world pirate. Quote:
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Vroom's suit actor was even in Build too! Playing Evol, but ;P
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Damn you Over-Time for making that Assassin's Creed joke had me thinking it was part of the script!
It's a genius move of letting the Shindai siblings be the guest of the special since they were vastly underutilized in Saber. I wonder if the actual Superhero Senki will acknowledge this special? If so maybe the Kamen Rider Gears can appear again, since it feels like Sentai got the short end of the stick in that movie since Saber is the only one that has a special form. Quote:
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It's a double feature (That's super late to the premiere)!
First, Saber: Lot of fun seeing Zox interact with the Saber cast, especially every time Zox transforms, noting him dancing and in awe every time. Also was really nice seeing the trio's base forms used again, and the story using Orihime as the base for this whole arc was genius. The way these specials revolve around Zox and how they fit perfectly into the Zenkaiger universe was really clever. Now for Zenkaiger: I was a little conflicted on how I'd feel having the Rindai siblings represent Saber for this crossover, but given that they had the least spotlight out of the whole cast and especially how they were handled here was great! Ryoga having a hard time dealing with the glorious shenanigans of the Zenkaiger cast was a joy and how everything they did always made me feel: "That's definitely something they'd do" made me smile the whole episode. Heck, they even made the siblings more likable here which is reinforced by the fact that Reika's actress is a Magine superfan (I'm sure we'd all give hugs, though I'd give everyone in Zenkaiger a hug to be honest) , made this feel special. I kind of wish Super Twokaiser's debut wasn't included in this crossover, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. I loved all of the Saber cast's reactions to the Zenkaiger cast the whole way, even using Kamen Rider gears, which Secchan even acknowledges, even giving the Rindai siblings lines for the roll calls. Anyway, great episodes for what looks to be a really fun movie, and I look forward to seeing it! After the break: Saber reaches the endgame with Kamen Rider Storious (Whenever you can't beat 'em, become them), and Zenkaiger has a doppelganger situation. |
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