*smirks* Nice save there, Androzani, but the second element part is semi-legit. Everything else is just my fan creation.

Group Henshin! Big fights! As Saber has proven evey now and then, heck, Reiwa for that matter, is all about making the flashiest and dynamic fights.

I remember there being sooo much hype around Sophia becoming Calibur, but I was more excited to just see everyone all together to fight. Well, everyone except Desast and Falchion (which I loved how Falchion returned and then Desast took his place, really enjoyed seeing him again along with Emotional Dragon Saber. Also, Bacht fixed his face too!), but we got everyone else fighting Storius.

Again, I'll probably talk more about Saber as a whole a little later, so we have the whole picture before I start running my mouth, since my mind is busy with other things over what happened in Saber, unfortunately.

Also, it's come to my attention there are Reika fans, not that I was knocking her down or anything, but she's still a bit of a sour grape in the group, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I don't dislike her, but I don't really like her too much either, or at least, not as much compared to the other characters (BUSTER!!! Buster fan quota fulfilled for not reading his Manga).

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 45

I feel like I kind of have to restrain myself from writing too much here, because this is such a hype episode of Saber it'd be easy to get carried away and go on some huge disjointed rant like I did with Super Hero Senki where I say way too much and yet still only say like 1% of all the nice things I could say about this particular Saber thing. Which I guess is maybe the story of every post I've made in this thread, but...

It's just, this episode and the last one, it feels to me like Saber hitting another sort of level-up moment like it did around Primitive Dragon's debut? I'm not sure if other people see it that way too this time, but the execution of both that calm before the storm and the start of said storm feel like they're going above and beyond what the show even seemed capable of up until now, and those standards were already raised high up by this point.

For 45 in particular, I mean, it feels like an event, for sure. It's a fundamentally well-structured script brought magnificently to life by a director who always seems to forget his job is directing tokusatsu and not drawing anime storyboards -- which is a huge compliment, because I love that about Teruaki Sugihara's style, and this episode is peak Sugihara. (I skimmed through just enough of the episode to be reminded of that bit at the start where we transition to Blades off of a reflection on Espada's sword, which is *exactly* the kind of not-traditionally-live-action sort of thing I'm talking about.) Not to downplay how much I like Hasegawa's writing here, of course. On top of how nicely it puts all the characters in place for all the cool action, there's still plenty of great drama in there, and as you can tell from my old post, this is where Storious truly, fully clicked as me thanks to his chat with Luna here, but like I said, I should probably not try and get too deep into every last thing all at once! There's a lot to love about this episode!

Aw, that's cute. Everyone should get to be a superhero for their kids.

Yeah, I mean, it's a little diminished by happening entirely in the Toku Caves (ask about their group discounts!), but Saber's version is tightly constructed and kinetically designed. I liked it a lot!

Oh, for sure, Reika being intensely off-putting and weird is sort of the charm? Once you're outside the She's Up To EVIL... Or Is She? part of her arc, Reika's a blast. She's just some weird, awkward lady that's a dynamite team with her weird, awkward brother. They're like if Touma and Mei sucked, which is a fun addition to the group dynamic.

There really is! Like, Mei! I didn't talk about it, because it felt like a cliffhanger that was about to resolve, but I love that Mei's contribution to this epic battle relies on her skills as an editor. She read Touma's story, figured out something important, and rushed out to help. She never needed to be a Kamen Rider! She's already got powerful abilities that no one else on the team has!

Zooous and Legeiel makes another appearence here apparently as a spirit who tries to talk some sense to Storious. Storious is now revealed here that he's the one who already had ulterior motives even back in the past, compared to anyone else, though actually there's a trigger why he got that motivation, he's the "truth revealed" part of villain origin. While actually Zooous and Legeiel were established as good people before being corrupted and here they seemingly act that way towards him, but that is the reason why they're exposed as fakes here created by Luna. The fake isn't because they used to be good but because they aren't corrupted here? From what the audience talked, didn't expect here for Luna to try making a confrontation. Also it's something nice for Mei to be concerned of a random woman who she didn't know was Luna at the end.

Yeah, here Sophia fights as the next Calibur. A really contrasting one where she's a woman in white with , embodiment of lightness like Yuri, but she became a dark-themed Kamen Rider, though she's the only one who is always straight up good as Calibur unlike the previous users, but she's doing that only for brief time here - like usual that non-Reika type of female got to be KR for only one occassions (even major characters like Poppy or Tsukuyomi before). And regarding the spirit of previous villains turned allies, those are likely not metaphorically, but them actually being there and assisting the swords(wo)men, also including Desast helping Ren here. The Shindai siblings are better off isolated like that, to only work with each other as they only value each other (though Ryoga may be making more effort for others), while others (even Ren) actually take not of each other's condition like Buster holding off by himself or Rintaro arriving to Touma's place.

This part shows Ren's change to become a better person by actually being concerned about another guild member not named Kento, Daishinji here. M̶a̶n̶,̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶"̶S̶h̶i̶n̶j̶i̶"̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶n̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶i̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶"̶R̶e̶n̶ ̶A̶.̶"̶. The SoL doesn't seem to hold grudges to the ones who strayed from them, except Shindai siblings, so here it's Ren opening up to others, though he still tells off Kento to not hold him back (wonder if that's just banter as it's Kento we're talking about).

Unfortunately, Ryoga is the similar kind of aloof jerk who only cares about fanatically following SoL's missions (still sort of for now too), other people being victimized by his sister is none of his concerns. Medias often deliberately not call out these kind of actions so that they can keep continue doing that as a source of comedy for audience (and not losing profits for the producers) - also bringing this up can get that person accused as having "no sense of humor". I thought other source of comedy is selective too like the goofy ones can come off as cringe instead of funny (the Sophia one isn't comedy though). Many of the audiences measure character sympathy by how entertaining or interesting they're, those who deserve to suffer are those who fail to entertain them or being too lame (being a loser, though there's a limit or that they can be liked due to their misfortunes).

She's not a normal human anyway, as she suspected herself. I'd rather that a non-human species to not be complained off regarding how normal humans work, but for someone like her, should be viewed similarly to, outright Kamen Riders or Megid themselves, in "logic".

Oh, I think it's just banter. It's Ren lightening the mood a bit, so that Kento can stop worrying about him and concentrate on the fight.

Narratively speaking, that exchange is also there specifically to illustrate Ren's growth as succinctly as possible, since he's speaking to his beloved Kento-kun like a person now, and not revering him as some idealized figure. There's really not a wasted moment in this episode. Did I mention I love how they're so dedicated to giving everyone a role to play that even the dead guys all get to show up? This show, man.

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 46 - “FAREWELL, MY DEAR HERO”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber46a.png

Writing these posts and threads the last few years has been incredibly strange.

It wasn’t ever supposed to be a thing. I didn’t write a lot, generally, or participate in fandoms. I’d lurk, but I didn’t really post or discuss. Ghost was giving me trouble, and – I don’t even remember why – I decided to post a thread about it here. And then I never stopped. Three years and six months later, I’m still at it.

I write these things for me, is what I always told myself. I’d write them just to get these ideas out of my head. I don’t know how true that is, really. I like the discussion, probably more than any sense of pride or achievement in an episode post. I like being in a space where stories are being celebrated, and feeling like I had some small part in shaping that experience. It’s never about definitive statements and unimpeachable arguments, but about sharing perspectives. Getting to see the different ways these shows affect people has been a daily delight, and one I’m careful to never take for granted. I like being around you all, when I'm writing this stuff.

It’s important, in any writing, to consider the audience.

Not… not in a sense of catering, or indulging, but in an awareness of the collaborative nature of storytelling. There’s what someone writes, and then there’s what the reader does with that writing. A story told to no one is just an idea; it becomes real only when it's shared. But the audience gets to decide what that story means just as much as – maybe more than – the writer. Stories get to change and grow with the size of the audience, or with time. You write something, and if you’re very lucky, someone else will read it. When that happens, your writing exists on its own, independent of anything else. It’s the best gift a writer can receive.

Touma and Storious are both writers. They’ve got similar origins – talented writer gets touched by the cosmic and gains power. They’ve got similar catchphrases, which I think is perfect. They both talk about deciding how stories end, but they’re saying opposite things. Because only Touma cares about the audience.

Storious wanted fame, notoriety, acclaim. When he found out that he couldn’t call himself the genius behind his poetry, he turned his back on the idea of human curiosity and endeavor. All creation was pointless because no one could receive credit for it. He wants to decide how the story ends because it represents regained control, and the chance to create something all his own. He’s an author who only writes for applause, and despises a world where he can't claim greatness.

Touma only writes for his audience, to make people happy, to share a piece of himself with the world. He doesn’t care about accolades; he cares how his stories make readers think about each other, or understand themselves. His writing is a bridge between people, and he couldn’t care less if the materials of that bridge come from some magic book. The point is only ever the reaction from the readers, and the chance to see what they do with the story. He wants to decide how the story ends because everyone should get a say in storytelling, and no one should get to decide that for others.

It’s a lovely way of weaving this franchise’s empathy into this show’s exploration of fiction. The brilliance of fiction, of any writing, is in how each reader gets to decide what to take away from it. Storious calling Touma “my hero” is insulting to Touma, because it diminishes him to a character in Storious’s narrative; it robs him of agency and perspective. The point of storytelling is to allow for endless possibilities and interpretations, not to flatten everything into your conception of the world. It doesn’t matter where a story began, because every time it’s told to someone, it changes. Where ideas come from is pointless to consider; what an idea means to you as a person is much more compelling to talk about.

I like this show taking a beat before the end to really delve into the concept of storytelling, and how different storytellers feel about it. Just a refreshing, unique bit of business, right up until Touma gets kicked into a pit and falls into the void, never to return.

See you Wednesday!

—

ALL I ASK OF MYSELF IS THAT I HOLD TOGETHER

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber46b.png

If there was one thing Mei could do to help Touma – aside from why she left the bookstore – it was yell at people.

She’d always had a knack for motivating people. It’s what had gotten her the job as editor, and it’s what had made her an integral part of the Sword of Logos. She’d yelled at monsters, at evil Kamen Riders, at sulking swordsmen, and at sentient fictions. She’d cajoled, coerced, commiserated, confronted, and consoled. She’d found a way to get nearly a dozen super-powered strangers across the finish line, and she was certain she had more left in the tank.

She wasn’t entirely sure how to motivate a magical girl from a fairytale world, though.

For all their similarities in age now, Mei couldn’t say she related to Luna. Luna was the manifestation of imagination and embodiment of a dimension ruled by storytelling, and Mei was a couple purchases away from a free boba tea at her favorite cafe. (Next week she’d get it, assuming the world didn’t end first.) They weren’t really alike at all, except for knowing Touma.

Touma. Right. Of course.

As Mei looked down at the fading girl, she knew what Luna was thinking about. She felt weak, and unable to do more than fade away while Touma battled and lost. She didn’t have the strength to help, and so she wanted to spare him the sight of her death. She pitied herself, and cursed a world that would let things end this way.

Mei had been there before. But she knew that this was only the end if Luna stopped believing in Touma, and stopped believing in herself. The trick to winning in this world of diabolical masterminds and apocalyptic clouds was to get up, and push forward. Defeat was a certainty if you stopped fighting. If you kept fighting, anything could still happen. She’d seen miracles, after all.

Luna’s miracle was that she needed to get yelled at, and Mei had found her just in time.

This is such a good middle chapter of our final battle, everything is going to hell further, our heroes are slowly pushing their way through the Four Sages, everyone is just pushing themselves as hard as they can even if they've fallen down before.

And we get one of my favorite conversations in the series and the reason I believe Saber does its best when it puts the ideas of storytelling at the forefront. It very much was why I loved Primitive Dragon's ending, and them sort of cycling around and interweaving the concept of storytelling at the end here as much as they could... it really helps this final arc resonate as one of my favorites in Kamen Rider.

Touma and Storious' conversation before their big fight where Touma calls on everyone's Seiken in different ways... it's one of my standout interactions of the series. I know I talked about how I sort of commended Storious when he started up in Episode 41 as the final villain, but even I wasn't that convinced about him... until Episodes 45 and 46.

Of course we still get our cool moments, what with Daishinji and Ogami pulling a Piccolo and Goku on their opponent, Reika desperately using her brother's broken blade alongside her own sword to skewer their opponent as much as she could to kill him. While I don't think both are spectacular as Ren's finisher in the prior episode, they still hold a tremendous weight to them.

Though one of my favorite aspects is what Mei's doing. She reads what Touma left her and while making one small but important detour, does what she does best. She goes to her office and gets to work on something, making use of all of her strengths just as everyone else is doing themselves.

But yeah, certainly a cliffhanger to leave off on until Wednesday, huh?

Speaking of Mei though earlier, the story this time was rather nice. Glad to see Mei's point of view come in again in which she tries to figure out how exactly to motivate Luna, because Luna is also just as important to this fight as she is.

I always wondered why Mei wasn’t disappearing as well, considering that she got turned into a Megid once.