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Kamen Rider Saber Episode 25- "The Crimson Assassin Enveloped In Smoke" Discussion
Touma seeks to learn more about the new powers of "Primitive Dragon" while Reika has a new trick up her sleeve...
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Before this episode airs let me just say that Szabla's design is awesome...except for the helmet. What the freak is up with the wonky blade placement?!? Why can't they put it up like the rest of the Saber Riders? It's honestly triggering me and ruins a perfectly good suit in my opinion. Of course, if you ike the design then good for you.
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And judging by next weeks preview... yep! Looks like Primitive Dragon is staying wild for a while. Which nullifies my fears that it's a two episode berserk form fixed on the third episode form like Metal Cluster was.
It lasting way longer, and having adverse effects on Touma's mentality is honestly great. |
Today's episode was such a nice treat! Sabela's debut was magnificent, I LOVE that the singer on Noroshi's jingle is a girl, too! We rarely see those happen! However, it seems given how she's acting this episode leads me to believe we might get a redemption. Given how enough talking and she can go wild on her beliefs about SOL. I wish I could say more about Sabela, but I'm just left speechless, man! Great suit, great sword design, great jingle! One detail that idk if it's intentional is that Reika's SOL uniform is similar to Rintarou's but in red. Contrasting her unwavering (for now maybe) devotion to SOL and Rintarou's wavering dedication.
Rintaro didn't transform this episode unfortunately, but I like how he finally gets to confront people again instead of sitting around being sad. We can see Ren have some doubts about his place in SOL, too. It was brief, but it was there. Glad to see Bremen Tetsuou back, too! Goodbye, Dragonic Knight. You were an awesome upgrade form, now you're just tossed away, just like that. Kamihoriuchi directed today's episode, BUT Fukuda wrote it. Seems like the two can really play off each other and do something really good. Next episode, Jaou Dragon Vs. Primitive Dragon! Dark form vs Berserk form, both clearly an evil-esque form, but both are used by two good people! This kind of match reminds of another fight, though. Dunno, but I feel like it's similar to another fight. Prolly something Blade-related. Kento's goals are very similar to the two Caliburs before him. Take all the Seiken to "save the world". Something like that. Looking forward to it! |
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I'm not sure about Rintaro & Ren. Will they make up for Touma or will one of them go evil? Plus with Kento as the new Calibur, I think Ikazuchi needs to either be returned to Kento again if free from Kurayami or passed onto a new candidate - Mei or a new recruit? |
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Say what you will about Reika as a character, that initial transformation was amazing. Also yeah, it turns out my eyes are messed up, as the red on her suit is actually maroon/crimson not pink.
Anyhow, her debut fight was also pretty good, her spamming the "disappear into smoke and attack them from behind, left, right, etc" trick while a bit silly, at least sold me on the idea that she'd be really difficult to fight in a sudden encounter like in this ep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, I'm sorry, but I just found Touma's transformation into Primitive this ep hilarious. Ogami warns Touma not to do it, and I'm in my seat going "Why? Just use Dragonic Knight instead." Touma slots in Dragonic Knight and all of the sudden Primitive jumps out of Sora's bag and bonks Dragonic out of the way right as Touma unsheathes Rekka, and I just start laughing. In all my years of watching Kamen Rider, I have never seen something just so absurd as a Midseaon power up item literally getting up and shoving the First Quarter power up item out of the way during transformation. Like goddamn, that was hilarious to me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote:
https://external-content.duckduckgo....6pid%3DApi&f=1 Except instead of a feather, Sabela's plume is actually a puff of smoke with the Noroshi suddenly coming out to stab you. Which honestly, I do kinda dig, if that was the reason for the odd placement. https://external-content.duckduckgo....6pid%3DApi&f=1 |
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Also, with knowing that he eventually faces off against Ren, I feel Kenzan will 1000% lose and it'll probably be the first sword Kento acquires. Probably, if they're going for him to acquire the swords for real. Which would kind of open up the scenario for Ren to either go to Touma for help and Touma to lend him Ikazuchi or he'd go to Dezast and do something. |
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Her helmet looks more like Poitrine's mask (The magical girl in Fourze vs Wizard). Given the magical girl henshin, I think that's what they're going for. Could be both, I guess. I've seen that style mask and hat together (Persona 5, Zorro sans feather), It's just there's almost nothing of the hat in the helmet. Either way, the smoke feather is cool.
http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1615092919 |
With subs, it seems Kento DOES believe he's the only one capable of saving the world which is why he's on a quest to gather the swords.
I'm leaning to believe Tassel was the one who freed Kento. The moment Yuri started asking about Calibur, Tassel immediately says he's got an appointment and leaves and soon after Calibur shows up. The only thing that's left is to find out if Reika would be surprised that Kurayami is being used or she knows all this too, considering she's the one that took Kurayami. |
oooo yeah Femme Fatale rider henshin sequence let's go
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Ren starting to question the Sword of Logos and having an actual thought process is definitely a step forward for him as a character. I mean, not much but it's better than him being a one-dimensional immature child.
Also, if Ren actually does continue to question the SoL and this ends up with him defecting to the Northern Base's side, Touma and co. would end up with a trump card over Sabela because wind can blow away smoke (basically, wind beats smoke). This just got interesting. |
I think this is my favourite episode so far?
EVERYTHING worked perfectly here! Rintarou's dilemma is exactly the sort of thing I was wanting to see come out this status quo ever since the swordsmen split from Touma, and it... kiiinda makes me wish Primitive Dragon appeared much earlier? It gives much more legitimate reasoning to the drama and everything Rintarou's saying about struggling between it and his friendship (well. perhaps a little more than friendship according to Mei) with Touma is extremely compelling. I did enjoy his previous reasoning but that never landed quite as well as it was never truly dug into, but this one I have a far easier time getting into. ... maybe slightly upset that Tassel isn't Calibur? I really shouldn't be! This is fantastic drama and it's awesome to see that it wasn't spoiled by the next time clip, and for once I'm actually looking forward to seeing this character! But boy I was so so pleased with myself last week to see my crackpot theory 'come true'. Ah well. Still hoping on him being Kurayami! Reika is fucking badass holy shit. Like. Every single thing about the atmosphere and the leitmotif she took on in this episode, how ridiculously overpowering she is; this is awesome! Please don't mess this up Toei because you have a sick rider on your hands here! |
Am I the only one who loves Mei’s new hairstyle?
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What an insanely cool fight. The "I'll purge you lady"s insect theme and abilities are super compelling.
One thing I have to note about Saber is the constant use of flash-backs, even if they aren't used in the traditional sense. From a screenwriting standpoint, Saber appears to be struggling with establishing a whole lot of information. Even when it presents what is considered new information to the audience, it is still old information to characters (the seemingly omnipotent Tassel for example). To me, this is where the Ghost connections are most evident. Both series are very much focused on things that happened in the past. Anyway, I'm still enjoying the suits and action. I hope once all the in-fighting is resolved, there are most stakes and gravity to the series. |
Sometimes I think that this show is bad not because it is wholly bad, but because, from time to time, you can see some genuinely wonderful and inspiring ideas. It feels frustrating to me when the show intentionally tries to be disjointed in its storytelling, as so much of its individual pieces are already disconnected that it doesn't come across as the writers being clever, it's just... more of the same.
Having said that, it was lovely to see Rintaro's actor have so much to work with here. The scenes shared between Rintaro and Mei, and later Rintaro and Touma, were some of the best in the series so far, and they were genuinely moving. I wish there was more of this in the show, I will even swallow my dislike of the silly Primitive Dragon design if this storyline affords us more of these heartfelt moments, more of these scenes in which the characters properly get to interact with one another as human beings. Speaking of silly designs, as a whole, I really like the fact that Reika is a more active participant in the story, and, ah, I really like that red coat she wears. That's it. Her actual armour looks like someone's Gaim OC, it's horrid. Plus one for the red coat though. Gosh, is that where we are now? My favourite recent Rider design in the show is just someone's coat? Oh well. Back for more Rider vs. Rider nonsense next week, I guess. |
Man, Saber's really getting better and better. Love it!
We get a lot of payoffs for emotional arcs that have been building up over this arc and I love it! Also, I already loved Sabela's design in the scans, but seeing it in motion, god, it's just soo good. Great balance of gold, black, red, and white. It just pops so well! Straight up, probably the best Saber suit until now, in a season with phenomenal suits through and not a single stinker for me! Next week can't come soon enough, a sentiment I've been feeling for a while now with Saber. |
I just... really like Sabela's henshin and fight... like a lot... wow. There's plenty of other good things I noticed in this episode, but all I can think to talk about is just fangirling over Sabela. And it made me realize that in addition to more female riders, I also really hope we get more transformation items with feminine voices.
I should start watching magical girl anime, shouldn't I? |
...When did Saber get this good?
Like, I mean, I knew this was a Kamihoriuchi episode, and I expected something better than usual because of that, but I figured that'd just be me praising some pretty visuals and maybe making another dumb 神回 pun, you know? This episode goes so far beyond that, and it's blowing my mind a little, even as someone very used to being on board with Saber. And of course, the visuals are REALLY good. When you talk about giving berserker Kamen Rider powerups a big impact, you're going to be talking about Kamihoriuchi, but having him work with Primitive Dragon only makes it all the more apparent how different it is from something like Hazard Form in Build. Touma's nightmare at the very start is a wonderfully directed scene; it might as well be Kamihoriuchi signing his name on the episode. It's genuinely a bit unnerving, with that initial pan out from Saber's hand, revealing in turn each of the Riders who have fallen by it, but it's the subsequent pained screams from Primitive Dragon that truly made it for me. We're not dealing with some emotionless human weapon, or the personification of malice itself -- this is a wild animal lashing out in rage at everything around it because it's long forgotten any other way to express its profound sorrow, and that is an interesting story concept right there! Immediately, without much in the way of real dialogue, it's easy to understand Touma's concern about losing control, which drives a fair bit of the episode, while subtly planting the seeds to get the viewer looking as Primitive Dragon as something more complex than it seems like, which is clearly driving the next several episodes. All of that is only the first couple minutes of this episode, and it really never lets up from that point. I'll mention here that Sabela is indeed pretty freakin' cool, because I'll forget to later if I don't now. Again, Reika is an interesting character with a great performance behind her, and I like that the episode went out of its way to make her awesome evil instead of just evil. It straight up revels in how bad she is in such a fun way. And unlike Primitive Dragon, she gets a cool new music track that I'm pretty sure is actually from the show's composer! (The way it kinda fades up to cut to Rintarou and Mei especially is straight out of countless Gaim scenes.) The suit itself only kinda does it for me? I like everything it's going for with the classy soulless career lady vibe (check out that collar!), and I even think the weird angle for the head-sword is like, is chic the right word? It just fits the rest of the design's language to me, and it matches how she holds the sword when transforming like it's supposed to, so all that's good. And actually, looking at it closer, I just noticed there's a neat sort of Kabuto thing going on where an entire insect is going up her whole torso... you know what, I think I'll let Sabela rattle around in my brain for a while before making any big judgements. Kinda seems like a suit I'll grow more fond of with time and/or seeing it do lots of cool things in the show. Anyway, getting back to the meat of the episode, I obviously adored Rintarou's side of the plot. It's a perfect blending of what Kamihoriuchi is amazing at, which is really letting the emotions of the characters carry the scenes, and something I loved about Fukuda's writing on Ghost, which is how great he can be about creating engaging, meaningful dramatic conflict between characters who are both fundamentally good people. There's such a humanity to those scenes. Landing Touma and Rintarou's big conversation on the beat of them being so unable to stay mad at each other they start shouting compliments was so incredible I can barely begin to describe how much I loved it. This cast is so awesome, you guys. And this episode is, too! It's got a million things going on, as ever, but the show has found a groove where it can make it all easy enough to digest, and keep the story tense and exciting while it's at it. I mean, having all the stuff it already does, and then ending it on f***ing Kento coming back as Calibur for the cliffhanger is basically showing off. I'm sure there will still be at least a rough patch or two going forward, but man, Saber has been knocking it out of the park these last few weeks. |
Gonna toss out a theory I've had since Yuri first showed up. I think Kento is like Yuri know in that he is bonded to the sword of darkness. I'm not sure how that could effect the plot but it's an idea that I can see leading to good character conflict.
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Are Touma, Rintaro & Mei still friends regardless of being on opposite sides? I just hope Rintaro still really cares about him.
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Welcome back Rintaro, the show finally gave you something to do. I was pretty disappointed he was getting pushed to the sidelines so much, but man did his return to the plot proper pay off. Takaya Yamaguchi absolutely crushes all the emotional beats
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Yes, mommy. :o Sorry, where were we? Man, this was a good episode. We had a couple of main threads here and I really liked how they both turned out. Sabela's debut was fantastic. Reika is still an absolute dumpster person, but I love her look as a Rider - both in and out of suit. Her powers are great, too. I'm already all-in on the Biorider style smoke morphing (using her powers to let Daishinji's shots pass harmlessly through her and into Ogami was just... chef's kiss), but the overall agility and grace to her movements, too. Also digging both the butterfly wings and crazy Iron Spider-Man arms. Saber's suits tend to run very hot or cold for me, but this one is a winner. I don't have a lot of hopes for Reika as a character (got some unfortunate flashbacks to Yoko and her even more unfortunate "I must serve the strongest man" deal here), but I'm definitely liking her as a Rider. Outside of the action, I also absolutely loved the confrontation between Rintarou and Touma. We've been seeing Rintarou looking shakier and shakier lately and this episode just kept piling more and more angst onto him. There was definitely some catharsis in that whole confrontation with Touma on the roof (cannot stress how much I enjoyed Mei's "what is happening and do I ship this?" reaction, by the way), but then the show immediately throws Rintarou into a "put up or shut up" moment and he is still clearly at near breaking point. The whole conversation was still great, though, and I really like seeing the characters confront each other and come to some form of reconciliation while still standing by their convictions. Also, Kento's back. Ren will care way more than I do. I trust the show to do better by the character now, but I still don't have very strong feelings one way or the other. Quote:
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Why do I have a feeling that the book Sophia made was the book she passed on to Mei?
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The difference here with Reika is that it's at least obviously being framed that her devotion to Master Logos is really really not a good thing, while Yoko was... not. That.
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Saber continues to amaze me. Like, right from the very beginning - from the first minute - this episode was the most amazing thing.
That whole dream in the beginning was genuinely terrifying. Everything with Rintaro is so strong and personal. The Sabela fight is just outstanding from start to finish. (with a tiny hint at future character development) That rooftop talk! "I'm scared that I could hurt everyone without even knowing" Just, WOW. I'm feeling so much from this episode. Once again, all of the characters get some little moment in the spotlight. (Touma and Rintaro are the focus, Mei is still doing everything she can, Ogami and Daishinji are trying to solve Primitive Dragon and defend the base, with help from Sora, Ren is still learning to use his brain, Reika gets to Henshin and kick some butts, we see what Sophia is up to, and Yuri is... still pulling his weight in fights.) And Kento is Calibur! Almost everyone saw it coming, but that doesn't take away from the impact much. (for me at least) Also, did Mei just ship Touma and Rintaro? Cause I'd be very okay with that. |
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Seriously though, I'm glad they didn't try to make her overtly fanservicy, because that would've been extremely awkward for multiple reasons, but between this shot, the form-fitting silhouette in her transformation, and her stepping on Slash, someone clearly knew exactly what they were doing. It seems Sabela's going to play the femme fatale archetype to the hilt! (Hai! Aruto jaaaa naito!) Quote:
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