Saber September Scans
 

Some of scans for this month

Ryuuki : "okay Toei you can copy my Ouja homework but change it enough so we don't get caught okay ?"

Toei : *presents Caliber*

I'll need clearer pictures eventually but I'm really digging the monsters, especially the fact that we're getting monster forms for the Villain Commander's like immediately.

It seems Caliber's sword uses the same tech as the Seiken SwordDriver. The placement is different, but it has the same sliver bit that scans wonder rider books like on Saber's sword:
http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...2&d=1598442608

Speaking of which, now that I have a closer look at the two, why are the crossguards for both Saber and Caliber pointing down? The whole point of a crossguard is to stop your opponents weapon from sliding down the blade and cutting your hands.

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Buster uses the Genbu wonder ride book, which is no surprise.

Saber also gets another form using what I assume is the Needle Hedgehog book.

Also, yeah interesting to see all three generals have monster forms right from the get-go (probably them avoiding what supposedly happened with the Time Jackers), I assume the monster forms are all based on a different genre like the wonder ride books.

I hope there aren't too many drivers like Zero One this time. Thst was honestly overload.

The combining mecha thing looks cool. Perhaps part of a sci-fi book arc?

It would be very neat if the legend rider books all feature each legend rider's respective sword!

Unfortunately the combining mecha appears to actually be from the Tomica Hero - Earth Granner toyline:
https://www.taghobby.com/wp-content/.../07/eg0401.jpg

A Kiva Wonder Ridebook.

I must have it!!!

Shouldn't it be

Ryusoulger : "Okay Saber you can copy my Gaisorg homework but change it enough so we don't get caught okay?"
Saber: *presents Caliber*

:lolol

How come there's a whole bunch of new pics for Buster but nothing for Espada and Kenzan? I'm curious to see Slash as well since a sound elemental knight would be similar to an Oni.

I like how Calibur's Driver is more conservative than the SworDriver with only one book slot and the sword sheathed on the side.

I can kind of see how Saber's form changes work now. The right book affects the right torso and cape. The middle book affects the head, middle torso and both legs. The left book affects the left torso and cape. It's so complicated though!

The "sacred animal" part is the most annoying since it's basically just Zero One. Since when were hedgehogs sacred anyway? This is the third hedgehog in Rider in 4 years with Zi-O being the only exception!

I'm actually hoping Saber is an improvement over Zero One, since sad to say, I thought was disappointing. Imagine the irony in that Saber was better the Zero One, since Saber's writer is the same as Ghost and Zero One's writer was the same as Ex-Aid, with Ex-Aid coming after Ghost, and then the opposite now.

Buster is cool - the rest really doesn't look all that interesting to me sadly.

Oh silly me! My desire to see mecha in Kamen Rider was overriding my sensibilities!

I guess this works too yeah ^^. Im less familiar with Sentai so Gaisorg didn't come to mind and what struck me the most about Caliber/Ouja is the visor. It's like it could legit be a "survive" ouja (the snake evolving to dragon etc).

I also wonder where Espada and Kenzan are. I guess they won't necessarily appear in the revealed order if Buster is here. But Buster being older maybe means he is a mentor to every other member of SoL so they make the daddy of the group be here first.

I'm glad the vilain trio appear in monster form quite early too. Like someone said it was one of the main problem about Time Jackers in Zi-O. They give me Roidmude trio vibes kinda.

Apparently they're considered sacred in China (specifically the Northeastern region). Where its one of the Five Great Immortals in northern chinese folklore:
狐仙/胡仙 Húxiān — Fox Immortal
黃仙 Huángxiān — Yellow Immortal, the Weasel God
蛇仙 Shéxiān — Snake Immortal
白仙 Báixiān — White Immortal, the Hedgehog God
黑仙 Hēixiān — Black Immortal, who may be the 烏鴉仙 Wūyāxiān — Crow Immortal

It could also be related to the Chagrin, which is a type of demon in SMT:
Or it could be something else entirely, but those are the best explanations I can find right now.

Thanks for the explanation! Those Chagrins sound kind of ominous.

I'm REALLY liking how simple some of the form changes seem to be. They're literally just sleeve changes. The shoulder pads and gloves don't even change. That probably means we'll see everyone use quite a bit of RideBooks. It'll be a very easy gimmick for So-Do to replicate(not that they ever had issues before) and other action figure lines, hopefully.

TBF in Ex-Aid's case he wrote the whole thing he didn't write the entirety of Zero-One and then there was the pandemic and TOEI not giving them enough time to properly flesh/resolve everything

Forgive me if I missed it but did these scans still not show what Kenzan uses to Henshin? Because I would've guessed it'd be his own sword since he has a similar buckle to Buster.

Suit designs for this season are looking pretty great! Still not a fan of Saber's asymmetrical eyes, but beyond that the magic knoghts look is pretty cool! I especially love how Calibur looks like a mix of Ouja and Ryuga!

Even before the pandemic, I felt the show was pretty weak compared to Ex-Aid, mostly plagued by inconsistent story and characters and things happening just because. I felt that first arc was when I enjoyed the show the most, and then it went downhill from there.

The more I see of Saber, the more I'm liking its aesthetic.

It's certainly growing on me! Kamen Rider Belial- uh, Buster, I always liked but I think the others are neat. I still can't get over Blades' chest, though...

It looks like Saber's bike is called "Diago Speedy", which is an amazing name.

As a super robot fan, I was excited to see a chest lion, but in practice, it looks a little odd indeed.

I think the eyes having pupils is a step too far for the animals on the armor.

I will say however, if Blades ever gets an upgraded golden form, that form is gonna POP.

That's the thing -- chest lions are awesome on super robots! On, like, actual people who don't have chonky blocky aesthetics... hm. Not so much.

I really love how Buster's sword is mostly hollow. I assume it was done to keep the props and toys from being too heavy, but it also looks cool and fits with Buster's more mechanical aesthetic.

The last time we gotten elaborate generals monsters like riders was drive? At least more than one. Recent years we shift to rider like or just rider generals for the villains using the same gimmicks and fodder motw that gets reused a lot with minimum recoloring in suit paint.

The suits are growing and surprisingly the late reveal for kamen rider dad buster looks the best. The dragon and lion look way too plastic/fake . I guess that's what they're going for. I prefer more detail in bad cgi ryuki and wizarddragon more.
I feel like recent rider and sentai toys are more shonen anime like with kyoryuger plastic dinos and song while less trying to be realistic with non diecast like props even inside the show. Even 01 neon yellow weapons look off. I can see why some people got turn off by the dinky sword driver this year along with the book gimmick. The execution in design just isn't there.

Lion senki the water rider reminds me of the secondary rider for exaid and 01. He doesn't look like the type that will stay massively relevant and go buddy toe to toe with the main rider like geiz or crossz banjo from zio and build respectively. If caliber isn't a ouja, then he's def will be a pallad/jin or horobi.

I really hope Saber & Blades will get along and become good friends.

Geiz wasn't really buddy buddy either. He was the "Im not your friend (but deep inside I am)" type of secondary rider, which is kinda what Hiiro and Fuwa were (especially Hiiro. He was always harsh to Emu but always acted to help him even in secret).

I can see Blades be like that yes. IIRC there is some kind of gimmick about him that he can't resist food or something.
His name, Shindo Rintaro, is made with some "serious" kanjis meaning "new temple" or "ethics/morality" but also a silly one like "fat" (food addiction).

So he'll probably be that serious face dude (like "the mission/training/loyalty above everything" kind of speech) with one particular silly gimmick (can't resist food).

The middle books aren't for sacred animals though? The right books are "God Animals," but the middle are just your run of the mill standard "Animals."

Yeah, the middle books are for "sacred animals" to distinguish them from regular Zero One animals.

Sweets to be specific, and the press material suggests Touma is gonna use it to his advantage. :lolol

Touma: Hey Rintaro, teach me how to get super good with this swordplay stuff.
Rintaro: One does not simply get "super good" by a few sparring sessions. It takes years of practice and discipline.
Touma: *points to a giant wedding cake and a truck full of chocolate and candy* How about now.
Rintaro: Welcome to DO-OR-DIE SWORDFIGHTING 101.

So you guys also noticed that both Saber and Zero-One have like an all black helmet and a "mask" for a faceplate right?


Calling it now, every Reiwa Rider will follow this trend and the 10th Reiwa Rider will switch Legend Rider Masks on his belt.

The real Reiwa Rider trend is getting back Heisei writers in reverse order! Ex-Aid's writer for Zero-One, Ghost's writer for Saber... look forward to Wizard 2 in 2023!

Put me down for someone who wants Kamen Rider Shinobi for 2022!

So if we follow this pattern Shinobi will be an Urobuchi series? That's a bit concerning

I don't think I've seen that mentioned anywhere, where is that from?

From Tokunation no less!