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Kamen RIder Saber Episode 44- "Open The Last Page!" Discussion
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08-01-2021, 03:22 PM
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Fish Sandwich
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
Well, there was a bit of a break there, but Saber is pressing forward once again, and it's good to be back!
And hey, speaking of being back, I've gotta hand it to the show for thinking to have the sages from Sword of Logos become
zombie mini-bosses
for the final arc? That's such a beautiful example of how simultaneously manic and elegant Saber's plotting can be, and I love it. Because it was sort of weird, right, how the show introduced that whole concept and then brushed it under the rug immediately after? But then now it's suddenly relevant again, in a completely different context? It's
insane
, as a way to structure a story, for sure, but I also think it's genuinely commendable at the same time how often Saber goes out of its way to pick up random loose plot threads and tie them more into the overall story. There's a real sense the show tries not to let anything go to waste, even if there ends up being a big gap between the setup and the payoff.
And as a mini-boss squad to give everyone in the ensemble someone to fight, this is a strong concept, I feel. It's not exactly making it more personal than usual, per se, but there's a specific concept here -- master swordsmen under Storious' complete control -- that's a lot more defined and easy to grasp the weight of than if he just had a bunch of strong monsters with the gimmick of being strong. It's something I've long appreciated about the way fight scenes are constructed in Saber, where the drama of them often focuses more on the skills and abilities everyone has rather than their raw power. It makes for a great little battle watching these four dudes just sending everything that gets thrown their way right back at the heroes.
(And while I'm on the topic of that fight, I'd like to mention Touma just smashing the button on the Xross Saber with his entire fist when he sees Storious about to blow them all up. I don't call attention to Kousuke Asai's suit acting in this show
anywhere near
as much as I ought to, but characterful moments like this are all over the place, and they always make me so happy to see every time. Apparently this one was extra impressive to me, for whatever reason, too, if it finally got me to bring this subject up again.)
Kamen Rider Storious is also pretty cool! There's definitely a part of me that feels he's one of those bad guys that
really
doesn't need to be a Rider in the first place, but hey, Solomon won me over eventually, and I also like that new (well, "new") suit so much I might be willing to pay the price of having that title continue to be thrown around so casually. It's just a new head on an eviler looking cheap repaint of Solomon's already cheaply repainted body, I know, but I still maintain that body works great, and that new head counts for a lot. Stroious' horns were always my favorite part of his monster suit, and his face was my least favorite, so the new look is seriously appealing to me. I think the book faceplate shtick is awesome; totally devoid of any emotion in a way that makes him seem so much more inhuman and intimidating, and a plain clever use of a big motif for the series to boot.
Sort of surprisingly to me though, even though it shouldn't be, is that despite being the big debut of a cool new suit and squad of goons for the final villain, this episode places most of its focus simply on the emotions of all the protagonists in reaction to that development. That fight is maybe like five minutes at most early on, and from there out the episode is almost exclusively people talking to each other. And it's REALLY good!
Like, seriously, this episode kind of floored me with how admirably it took that huge ensemble and gave almost all of them a proper "thing" to do. It all starts with Kento specifically being the first one to give a pep talk back at the base when everyone is feeling down, which is very true to his arc, as he gave up on giving up a while ago, and would naturally no longer be swayed by the thought that there's nothing they can do to save the world. You get to see the Shindai workout routine, and Ryouga showing what qualifies as politeness for him at the moment. (He's learning!) Daishinji's working on swords while Ogami's looking out for the younger crowd, and his family too. Kento checks in on Ren, who's clearly doing a lot better now. Rintarou and Mei get a scene together because
heck yeah
the show hasn't forgotten about that either.
And then you've got a really touching meeting where Touma, Kento, and Luna get to finally reaffirm their friendship after so long apart, a scene that runs the gamut from the comedy of Touma playing pretend yet again, to the sorrow and catharsis of him expressing his regret over failing to keep that promise all those years ago, with the through-line of those disparate tones being the ever important human
warmth
at the center of Saber that makes me adore it the way I do. Absolutely wonderful scene all around.
"But it isn't it kinda weird that Luna--"
Yeah a little! But really, it's to the credit of how touching and heartfelt that scene is that I'm mostly ambivalent about Luna just kind of randomly being a different person partway into it. Like, I sort of see the vague outline of why the show wanted to do this the complicated way it did; why having her still be a small child was helpful
then
but not
now
, and how it maybe reflects this sort of idea they've been building of Luna becoming more consciously aware of her own existence and all that. I'm not exactly opposed to the idea, and the way that scene plays everything is so perfect that it can only make me even more okay with it.
And then
and then, the episodes truly ends with yet another new vocal song popping out of the blue in the last quarter, (with lyrics by Shouko Fujibayashi again because Saber just likes me I guess), even replacing the normal ending theme for a really somber yet determined sequence of everyone readying themselves for the battle ahead, and I mean,
where do I even start?
I really liked that Touma was holding Rekka there instead of the Xross Saber, for one. I loved how nonverbal the camaraderie was throughout, especially with how Reika, Ryouga, and Ren all join the group as they're walking along. Just in general, the way it's shot is brilliant, something no doubt thanks to Sugihara's particular skills as a director. And then there's how the lyrics sync up with what's on-screen.
...There's such a
weight
to it all. It's a scene that's hard to imagine coming from any other Rider show out there the same way, and I can imagine it even less in a Sentai. It's Saber completely owning all the hard work it did over the past year, building this group up, tearing it apart, and building it up all over again even bigger, to make you feel the impact of just... nine people walking along the street. That's literally all it is, but it's like the important thing ever, because it's Saber, a show were the heroes working together for the common good can't be taken for granted, and yet is also
inevitable
. This show is the best.
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 03-12-2023 at
05:58 AM
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