It is INSANE. It is the most hilariously specific response the universe could give me after a day of I Am Not Connecting With Saber. Uh, me and that show are clearly on some sort of wavelength! All hope is not lost!

When I was reading it I was really enjoying it, but I also had a moment of "... wait have I not seen this before...? OH this was in the episode, right, I remember now. Okay so he's just fleshing it out and writing more emotion into it, I like that; I'm enjoying his take".

The actual reality was far funnier :lol

I honest to god thought I was losing my mind. My anxiety shot up real high, real fast.

Also, I was real close to letting tonight's story be me quoting that earlier story in its entirety, but I won't do less just for a joke. It wouldn't be fair to Rintaro!

Wow, you're passing these trials a lot faster than I expected! :p

KAMEN RIDER SABER: SWORDSMEN CHRONICLES EPISODE 4 - “AN EPISODE OF KAMEN RIDER BLADES”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...wordsmen4a.png

I really do love this show’s cast.

It’s a strange thing, to feel so much warmth for characters but so much frustration with the story they’re in. I don’t love it. You get these random bits of plot that feel like a mugging; random and violent and over in an instant, but the wounds are on you for days to come. But then you also get these characters, where they’re like a supportive bystander in the aftermath, helping you to your feet and reassuring you that you’re safe.

I like Rintaro and Mei a whole lot, individually and together. Rintaro’s earnest naivete is so genuine and sweet that it feels like the best reaction to a decade of surly secondaries. Mei’s boisterous comedy never grates, and gives such useful insight to this world of idealistic novelists and chivalrous swordsmen. They’re the story I’m most interested in, their weirdly perfect romance.

This episode is nominally here to fill in some backstory about Rintaro, in regards to his upbringing and familial connection to the other swordsmen, but that isn't why it works. It works because Mei is great at understanding where Rintaro’s weakest, which is his imposter syndrome. Rintaro’s love for his family makes him feel unworthy of that love, but the twist for him is that he equates being a good family member with being a good swordsman, so his inability to see himself as a valued sibling makes him think he’s a terrible swordsman. It’s… it is a very jumbled way of processing the need for support and affection that a family ideally provides, and it’s definitely damaged Rintaro in ways that are hard for his friends and teammates to address. He just comes off as a guy that needs to loosen up, and that’s not exactly right.

Mei gets him, though. She sees all the weird connections Rintaro’s brain is making, and figures out the way to explain things that’ll allow Rintaro to accept his own positive qualities. She gets Rintaro to see that his constancy is what people need from him, not some all-powerful swordsman. They need Rintaro to never lose his own sense of right and wrong, his belief in his family, and his sweetness. The last thing Kento would’ve wanted was for Rintaro to become a brooding version of himself, resentful of an inability to prevent someone else’s fate. Mei knows that Rintaro being self-loathing isn’t a sustainable thing for him and gently nudges him back into shape.

It’s all very cute, and a prime example of how close this show is to being one of my favorites. I haven’t found much yet in this show’s metaphors (although that whole “the poison of pessimism” thing I said to Fish off-handedly is sort of rattling around in my brain), but I adore these stories that just let the supportive interactions of these characters take center stage.

God, I love this show’s cast.

—

SMARTER HEARTS

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...wordsmen4b.png

“Hey there, little missy,” the man at the front desk said to Mei. “What can I do for you today?”

Mei walked up to the desk, and set down her box of eclairs. She looked at the nameplate on the ledge of the desk: it read ‘Nachi, Building Maintenance’.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully, “I’m here to see a friend of mine. His name’s Rintaro. Black hair, blue coat… adorable but sort of embarrassing, like a too-loyal puppy? I heard he came here today. Could you tell me what room he’s in, or what floor he’s on?”

Nachi leaned back in his chair. “Rintaro? Oh, he’s here, but he ain’t on a floor or in a room. He’s up on the roof, brooding away.”

Mei squinted a little bit at the answer she got. “Brooding? Rintaro?”

Nachi nodded his head slowly, and clicked his tongue in the affirmative. “Yep. He came in all hang-dog, and said he wanted to brood up on the roof like Kento did. We asked him how he wanted it set up, and he said it should be how Kento used to have it. We said ‘Used to?’ and he said that Kento got poisoned by a rogue swordsman's blade of shadows, and disappeared into a purple mist. Which, y’know, me and the boys are real sorry about. That Kento was a good kid.”

Mei was taken aback briefly by the flood of details, but quickly regained her focus. Kento. Right. Of course.

“Thanks,” she said to Nachi in commiseration. “He… it was so sudden, and Rintaro was… they were like family.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Nachi responded. “Anyhow, Rintaro’s up on the roof right now, tryin’ real hard to brood, which – you don’t mind me saying, he’s not very convincing.”

Mei chuckled a bit. “No, I suppose he isn’t. He’s a sweet boy, though. I know he looked up to Kento. It’s a lot for him to deal with.”

“Oh, you can tell, to all of it. I expect he’s paying tribute to that Kento by following in his footsteps the best he can, tryin’ to be the Kento that the world was robbed of.”

“Uh huh.” This was a level of insight and analysis that Mei rarely got as she checked into a building and passed through the minimal security. Who was this guy? She’d heard from Touma that Kento would come here a lot, but this was getting weird. She needed to get up to see Rintaro before this guy psycho-analyzed her, and she was paralyzed with self-reflection. “I’ll uh, I’ll just go see how he’s doing then, if you don’t mind.” She moved towards the stairwell door.

“Sure, sure,” Nachi said as he waved her by. “You go on and see about your friend. He’s probably just waiting for someone to come let him know it’s okay to be loved, or that he doesn’t need to change himself to win that love.”

“I definitely will,” Mei said as she pressed her hip into the door’s push bar.

“Oh,” Nachi called after her as the stairwell door slowly shut, “and I wouldn’t say no to one of those eclairs, if y’all don’t finish ‘em!”

Once again another solid special. Not much to say here if I'm being honest since it would just be me saying, "Rintaro and Mei are so good guys!" and that being about it. Just some overall fun stuff and a nice way to end off the Swordsmen Chronicle specials.

As for the story... again, I just love that you've made an entire subplot regarding the guys who run the building that the Swords of Logos wielders brood/converse on. Makes for some real fun conversations like the one between Nachi and Mei.

These Swordsmen specials were such a delight. They took the ancillary nature of these things and turned something so offbeat but character-focused that made them goddamn near essential. Production team should be real proud of these episodes.

I love that this show has one dedicated Brooding Roof that Kento frequented and that in Kento's absence, Rintaro decided to keep the tradition alive. It's a beautiful tribute to the golden swordsman.

I'll admit when I saw that raffle scene with Rintaro winning the camera, listing off details about it, and then saying he was going to take a picture of his family, I was just dumbfounded at how it had somehow went exactly as your story did. The rest of the episode is nice and all (even if the Zooous fight flashback went on a little long for my tastes), and I really like the ending of this special, but I can hardly say anything after witnessing just how much you got right.

The special itself though is still good, I've pretty much loved every one of these Swordsmen Chronicles specials, and it's a shame to see them end, but I really did feel like this was a great ending to these specials, I really enjoy seeing all of the Sword of Logos members interacting together.

(Though unironically, I'm still stuck in wonder at how you perfectly predicted the raffle subplot in your previous short story, every plot beat went nearly the exact same way, how on Earth did you manage to do this?)

Yeah, I think I should mention that I have my own story tying in to a later episode. If you?d like, I?ll send it to you just before you watch that particular episode to avoid (unintentional) overlap.

So... Yeah... Episode 15...

Aka, the episode the show just clicked for me where it went from having fun with it to actually liking it. Where all the "buts" became so insignificant that it was just "I'm enjoing this!"

That said, hilarious that it seems to have had the opposite effect on you.

And because of that, I have some things to say.

First, on the table of contents, since it kind of feels like you downplay what it is a bit too much. It's a bit more than a map; it's more of a very quick summary of the world's history and every truth unknown to man, which would be rather interesting for both people wanting to remake the world and searching for something unknown.

Second, I love the parallels between Kamijo, Kento, and Touma in this one. They all are ultimately motivated by the death of a treasured person, but they took this in completely different directions. Unlike Kamijo, who abounded his comrads to burden all the world's problems himself, hello Kento, Touma keeps insisting that only by working with them can he achieve his goals. Adding to that, Kamijo abandons all his morals by working with the Mejgid, the creatures he fought before this all started, while looking for the easiest way to solve his problems, simply obtaining the universal truth and not really showing any care for the people he originally swore to protect since the methods justify the means for him. All wrapped in a sense of nihilistic hopelessness that anything he does won't matter since the world's end is already set in stone, wonderfully contradicting his catchphrase, which is also used in this episode.

And through it, Touma shows him true determination by fighting with his fallen comrat instead of being consumed by his loss and effectively becoming him as Kamijo did with Calibur.

It's just... YES! That is the stuff I come to Rider for and makes for a great "Big Damn Rider"-moment for Touma, even being able to reawaken the man Kamijo had buried 15 years ago, only for it to be tragically cut short, while also setting the stage for what's to come.

As I said, I think whenever Saber pulls together its story strings for a climax, it always delivers!

Yeah, I guess when Rintarou and Mei are such clear MVP's of the cast, it's not a surprise, but this was a great conclusion to a surprisingly solid little series. It makes a great pair with the Espada one, and builds to a really nice emotional payoff, where strong writing and some excellent timing with the theme song make a low quality photo from a cheap camera into a moment that mixes sadness and joy in this very particular way that's just perfect for remembering a lost friend. Not bad for a blatant scheme to get people to pay for another subscription service!

(I'd also just like to note that I think all three of us are starting to get at the same core idea here. I offered up my own definition, but I don't think the specific word choice is at all the important part. It'll be fun to see if this line of thinking takes Die anywhere down the line.)

Oh, and I barely talked about the actual episode, and it didn't come up in my old post, so let me just say -- I *adore* the whole table of contents conceit. The synopsis we got upfront for the show talked about how the world was created from a single book, and this episode starts giving us some wonderful hints to just how literal that might be. A lot of Calibur's dialogue in this one got me really hyped about where the story could eventually be heading.

At the risk of ruining The Magic Of Storytelling, lemme see if I can break down how the writing of that short story went.

The main thing is that I write these quickly. After watching an episode, I'll immediately write up the analysis part of the post. (That's... maybe 30 minutes? At most?) Then I'll take a little break for maybe fifteen minutes to reorient my brain towards Fiction, and then write the short story.

I'm always on the lookout during an episode for a thing to explore: a background character, a weird location, a dialogue-free scene, Desast... just something where I can maybe react to the feeling of watching the show in a more figurative way. For the Espada special, it was that little camera, and the flashback scene.

I just like Mei and Rintaro a lot, so that tiny scene of them both freaking out over Rintaro winning the raffle was, like, Yes. I want to know more about what happened after that cut-away, and I want to know more Mei and Rintaro's little date.

My writing style for these short stories, like my writing style for everything, is bad. I don't have time to let an entire story develop in my brain, so I basically just need to figure out how it starts, and write from there. It's First Thought Best Thought all the way to the finish line, which I mostly can't even see when I start writing. (I've maybe had an ending in mind before I started writing, like, a half-dozen times.) It's like I'm trying to finish a test in school, and it's half an hour until Pencils Down. For this one, I don't think I even knew the story was from Mei's POV until a few paragraphs in?

For the specifics of the story, it was pretty much just thinking about Rintaro, thinking about Mei, extrapolating out what their relationship was like circa that early episode, and then trying to get it all done quickly. Rintaro wins on the first spin because 1) he's on a mission at that point, and he's not going to waste an afternoon on a game, 2) it's more interesting if he gets it off the bat, because it's so unexpected, and 3) much like the Swordsmen episode, there's no time for more development. You gotta get moving.

The weirdest part was Rintaro also having done some pre-raffle research on the instant camera, though. As soon as he's like Oh It's An Instax Mini -- a thing I did a Google search on a few nights earlier after zooming in on the lens in Swordsmen Ep 3 -- and talked about how he'd read up on it out of desire, I was freaking out. It's... it's a very weird amount of overlap, those two specific points of their stories.

But, yeah, it was mostly just working fast and knowing the characters, as insufficient an answer as that might be. It's going to be weird for me forever!

Sure! I'll do my best to give it a read!

I'm glad you had a good time with it! It seems like an episode that either works brilliantly for folks, or it doesn't work at all. I definitely appreciated the show trying to draw more direct parallels between the two Sabers during their battle, but I just got way too distracted by how unbelievable Kamijo's details were. If this show gets a little better at pacing its mysteries and reveals, I'm sure I'll be right there with you for the next big climax.

I 100% teared up when Rintaro looks at Kento's picture. Rintaro's such a big-hearted doofus, and his desire to commemorate his family -- and probably finally feel validated and accepted -- had such a bittersweet pay-off with that moment. It was really the perfect Rintaro scene.

Tbf, the Book Club now made better impression on me with them whooping the Rider's ass untransformed, though otherwise, there's not much going for them for now yeah, but dunno (as a first watcher) if this'd be more like MetsubouJinrai.net in Zero-One, or just end up like Time Jackers. Otherwise (perhaps I've asked but forgot the outcome), do you only use the term generic for something not clicking with you? It does happen more to the disliked story part, for my experience yeah, like how primary Riders like Touma are the ones most often getting labeled as generic, with secondary Riders not, even when as you said, Rintaro was a breath of a fresh air compared to the Teruis or Fuwas (which'd mean being an edgy asshole is another 'generic' in its own right). I'd say there's no such thing as "generic" now, every fictional series had all ideas being done, redone, retold, and recycled ad nauseam.

Though Kamijo is far from one of the most despicable villains, actually an anti-villain (thus was sort on path of redemption after his fight with Touma here, easier to be reasoned with), I do think that what Kamijo did is too drastic when compared to the scale of the events, more like about how just a single dramatic event drastically changes one's outlook in life completely and totally. N̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶d̶r̶a̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶G̶a̶i̶/̶T̶h̶o̶u̶s̶e̶r̶'̶s̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶s̶t̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶Z̶e̶r̶o̶-̶O̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶.̶ It's more like how Kamijo now believes that the end justifies the means due to said single event (and even still feels that when encouraging Touma, thinking that to get resuls he may have to sacrifice his friends) and lump all humans together with Hayato and the ones pulling the strings behind Sword of Logos to deem them as all bad in previous episode.

The point of this was actually to show that the Sword of Logos aren't all benevolent as it appears, perhaps similar to how some people when little may think that factions meant to serve people like police force, military, or government are all good, but actually no like corrupt cops for example. But I do think that, though the point is actually pretty clear that the Sword of Logos became corrupt and lost its ways, Kamijo's actions are still vague as hell like, what helps him to expose the corruption behind Sword of Logos honestly in all the atrocity and ruthlessness he did (other than how Kamijo's a dangerous villain by accumulating all those experiences). Perhaps like before for what I said, more is still needed to be revealed for Kamijo, and he was literally backstabbed by Desast before that, all Kamijo did was the being power-hungry part, as if power alone will be enough to expose social problem. It's not enough to make it only about the Sword of Logos setup, but I just feel that Saber didn't really care about Kamijo's writing and only care more about establishing a premise.

Unfortunately Saber does have a reputation as a mediocre Kamen Rider show by the fanbase, though obviously opinions can vary like those that deemed it as badly executed in the first half but improved later. Otherwise, Mei's overall character so far is someone who is a normal human but is eager to prove her worth to the Sword of Logos, but, though I obviously won't look down on her moves here like the rousing speeches, that doesn't seem to be a move that'd prove herself to some audiences - they tend to acknowledge normal human's involvement like if they're scientists who is behind the Rider's tools or keeping up with superpowered in a fight as human. Regarding your story here, I kinda think Mei is more in the wrong regarding her treatment to Touma, like other than her pushiness, I kinda feel that Touma's shortcomings would be overlooked if Mei finds Touma hot or charming.

I'd think that for open-mindedness, it should mean that talks about stuffs that don't work with you is more open when there'd be someone defending or explaining the worth of it, and not brushing it off at least immediately. It can be perhaps hard to acknowledge the worth and instead still got reminded by the faults if you won't agree with the defenses but still. Obviously, not blindly agreeing with those explanations or praises (and in reverse, not agreeing with the complaints about the faults).

For the 'people' I mentioned there, I refer to the irl audiences who watches the show and make up the fanbase. There are villains who do justify like that, but the audiences buy those words like gospel... Your examples of anti-villains (except maybe Bacht) are not examples of those though, they're among most depraved villains in the entire franchise (Gai would be if they didn't shoehorn redemption for him), Gai is the "amoral psychopathic (though more like sociopathic) types who rely on good publicity" type, and though Ohma Zi-O parted amicably with his past self, he had tried to corrupt him (like Daguva) to see which timeline his past-self would destroy and how he would go on about it, his action didn't stop in making his world a living hell. It's not righteous justifcation alone that makes an anti-villain, it can be just ways to escape responsibility and get free pass or freedom.

We?re not quite there for me, but we?re on the cusp. The big plot point that made the show into something I genuinely anticipated each week is coming up in the next episode or two.

But for now, let me talk about Mei, since the subject is on the table. When the show first started I was positive that I would find Mei to be intolerable. I don?t know if I?ve ever mentioned this, but I wasn?t the biggest fan of Onari on Ghost and I saw a lot of signs early on that Mei was going to fill that kind of ?human cartoon? comic relief role and they did not instill me with a lot of confidence. I definitely didn?t expect her to turn out to be one of my favorite characters, but the show generally toned down the more excessive elements of the character as it went on and focused more on how she fit into the cast and less as a vehicle for slapstick (I say ?generally? because you can always tells when Fukuda was writing an episode as Mei becomes about 300% more cartoony).

For me, she?s probably the heart of Team Saber and a lot of my favorite character moments come from her interactions with Touma, Rintaro, and a couple of characters that haven?t been introduced yet. I also appreciate the fact that, at some point, she started standing up straight, although I don?t remember if she ever ditched the child?s backpack (I compared her to Onari above, but it?s more accurate to say that she was very much Shunpei 2.0 under Fukuda?s pen).

Also, fun trivia note, we are now at the point in the series where someone on this board began making constant posts about how much they wanted Mei to become the new Espada.

It's definitely a pejorative, but I think I try to only use it for concepts or plots, not for characters. Any character is likely to feel specific because of the actor, the costume, the staging, etc. But concepts and plots can get incredibly generic; I can't count how many Heisei shows leaned on Gathering Data in their early run of episodes to explain a villainous plot that just flung MotW at the heroes so they could show off form change gimmicks and collectibles. That's a generic approach, because it could be grafted directly onto a completely different show without altering much.

I don't think I'd ever consider a hero/main character on these shows to be generic, though? There are tropes and character types, but each writer and performer makes them unique.

Mei's great because she's basically the Editor for this group of weirdos: she's the one responsible for getting the best work out of them, to harness their individual efforts into something approaching a coherent body of work. That might mean assigning work, but it might also mean helping them through some mental blocks. Also, gorgeous. (Not exactly relevant to the conversation, but I thought it was worth getting on the record.)

And, MAN, I would love to see Mei become the new Espada. Don't think it'll happen, but I would be thrilled.

I'm going to chime in and second Rintaro and Mei being the stand-out members of the cast right now. Sure, Touma is our hero, the saver of the day, the protagonist/cheerleader to this group of swordsmen he met like 3 weeks ago, but solid, dependable, straight-forward-but-still-kinda-weird Rintaro and overly-energetic but responsible Mei... it's almost a shame their dynamic with each other is better than it is with Touma, but he has his own little thing going on with Kento, so I guess it's only fair the two "relatively" more stable characters get to pair off.

And I haven't had much to say about the Swordsmen specials, mainly because, while they're nice to fill in details around the edges of these early few episodes (and Saber really needs that breathing space at this stage), I struggle to remember the details of them. But that's not really a critique, they serve perfectly fine, great even, and while they're not Zi-O .5 episodes, maybe what we got is just as good.

Oh, and on the topic of Mei becoming a swordsman, it's on idea I'm not super enthused by. I think it's a reaction to recent shows deciding everyone has to be a Rider to matter, as if you can only contribute by personally detonating monsters. And I get it, but I feel Mei's role in the story is different? It's not a position I can defend well, especially when the SOL really needs some EDI stuff ("We've seen older Kenzan as a woman! You can't rely on that one token, Sophia!"), but idk.

I wonder if you'd think Rintaro's one of the main hook of the show (which at this point, I get it), and also as a nice secondary Rider, what kind of story you'd expect for him later on in the future, perhaps other than conflicts like him against Kento in ep. 11. As regarding fanbase, the most loved character in Saber by fanbase is someone not introduced yet at this point (but has made some cameos). I'd say though as the other comments including yours said, Rintaro has an introduction of him rubbing Touma and Mei the wrong way and dat smile, his lack of experience seemingly did more damage to him than just thinking that valuable family is being a good swordsman. There's also a later irony, regarding in how Rintaro chastises Kento for not being good at handling emotions.

Not at first, but perhaps Mei is learning to get through people better (at least in comparison to how she treated Sora before where she's hella pushy, though that's 1 time), at least starting from the person she loves. I do think it makes sense though to try cheering him up using something she knew made him happy before like the tickets or the eclairs. The one that gets him to open up is when Mei brings up about the reason behind Kento's actions, so perhaps by this, it's that you gotta bring up the topic that is directly related to someone's grief (but it's still not guaranteed) instead of using something else as a distraction to try 'forgetting' it, then instead reminding how strong Rintaro is from that including, how Kento looks up to him for that. Rintaro has problems in socializing, including to Mei herself if she remembered their first meeting, Mei should continue to guide him against the human world and also socializing.

Yeah, Touma... not really my guy at this point? I much prefer nearly any other pairing/grouping of characters, since they've got more weird edges. (Like, we haven't even seen Touma run a bookstore or struggle with a deadline in a while, which are his main things!) Rintaro's earnest helpfulness and lack of any amount of guile is such an unusual way to tell this story, where he comes of like the better-socialized brother of Tsurugi from Kabuto. And Mei! Mei's this lady who throws herself into any dynamic and figures out how to make it run better, which is a great Civilian role for a show like this.

For sure! They make a great pair, with Rintaro as her guide to the superhero elements of the story, and Mei as his guide to the regular world.

I got so caught up in the spectacle of that scene that I totally forgot to give due praise to Mei here, so thanks for bringing that up. Her simple contribution of heart is absolutely critical for encouraging the Swordsmen to do their part for Touma's sake.

Yeah, tell me about it! I've watched this twice now (feels like thrice after reading your surprisingly accurate fanfic though) and cried both times. After several episodes of high stakes fast-paced action, this subdued moment to reflect on all that our weary Swordsmen have been through and specifically, how badly Kento's tragic death has affected the usually cheerful Rintarou, to make him feel like a helpless failure, before Mei gives him that sweet pep talk assuring that Kento truly believed in him even knowing he was about to die.... Those emotions just punch me in my heart all at once! I'd thought Episode 15 was already an appropriate place to conclude this arc, but then we get this simultaneously tearful and inspirational encore with Blades Retsuden that says so much with so little. This show is always so full of pleasant surprises!

This also brings to question the motivations of Hayato, Kamijo and even the Megid trio for seeking it. Like, sure, Universal Truth, exposing the traitor, generically evil world domination, etc. But to an end that's still left to our imagination to wonder why they would believe it worth obtaining at all costs. Just makes all those unknown variables even more ominous to find out, what could be so terrible to induce such empty nihilism and apathy for human lives.

Got to love the Zooous flips.

Oh yeah, people IRL can be self-righteous about that way of thinking, which may imply they have biases for those characters they're defending. Anyway, I do think Oma Zi-O and Gai would fit the antivillain label though, albeit on the extreme side.

Oma Zi-O considered himself to have succeeded in becoming the greatest kindest demon king even after murdering half the planet and he's definitely not dependent on publicity since everyone hates him and even his IWAE man is secretly in cahoots with Quartzer to usurp him. Zi-O VS Decade also implies that overuse of his powers to create and destroy worlds turned Sougo insane, so his sense of morality is no longer in check with reality.

Gai is a narcissist, whose delusions of moral perfection are enabled by the validation he receives from society and the formative childhood trauma that pushed him to be 1000%. When revealing his involvement in Ark's corruption, he's totally oblivious to his culpability, instead citing humanity's malice for making Ark inclined towards genocide. Gai believes he merely provided an education and insists that Ark's conclusions from that are its own. Notice how it's only when his publicity is threatened that he's forced to evaluate his morality, where he realizes that he's actually a terrible person.

Haha, that was me. :lol

I mean, why not? What, with Ikazuchi being vacant now and the ED theme's Mei/Espada comparisons. Not sure what specific criteria a person is required to meet to get chosen by a Seiken Sword (other than arbitrarily having god kanji in their name), but I think Mei ticks most of the boxes for sure. On the topic of fanfiction, I actually read a series where an author ran with this idea.

Yeah, this show's character stuff... boy, it's just really good?

I mean, this is Kamen Rider. Various reasons people have caused mass monster attacks include:

- Promote their video game
- Hungry
- Drug money
- Showa villain / showa villain reunion, organisation probably has "EVIL" in acronym
- Funny

The Book Club Trio just don't have enough personality, unique motivations, or honestly enough breathing room to make their motivations that interesting. The show's emotional core is on the Kamijou betrayal, pivoting to the SOL, which leaves the Meggido hanging around because, hey, need someway to produce MOTWs before the show inevitably forgets about that being a thing. Being given something so wooly, in the same episode as the show reorients itself, doesn't really make them stand out as characters, it just adds a little fluff to their goal to remind you "Yep, there is a point to this!".

Not who I was thinking of, but I'll take it. Didn't want to call out names.

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 16 - “SAVING THE WORLD, THE RAY OF LIGHT”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber16a.png

A couple days ago, I complained that I couldn’t really see much thematically in Saber that connected with me. There were platitudes, and speeches, and catchphrases, but the topics weren’t particularly engaging to me. With this episode, I think we’ve really hit on something that I like thinking about.

What’s more valuable: An organization, or the people within it?

It’s an interesting way the show chooses to explore this question; namely, by having this close group of friends IMMEDIATELY fracture and fight at the first whiff of dissension and/or betrayal. Kamijo only yesterday suggested to Touma that the Sword of Logos is up to no good and that Touma might have to choose between honoring his promise and siding with his friends, so here’s Reika to turn everyone against each other to draw out Yuri. It’s a plot that, in typical Saber fashion, eschews a slow burn of character-motivated paranoia and natural workplace incompatibility by just having Reika take control of the Northern Base, whisper lies into everyone’s ears, and then wait for the sparks to fly.

There is some actual character-based conflict, though, which is why this episode worked for me. While Reika pushes everyone into a standoff, things only get really bad when Touma suggests that the guy who murdered Kento and conspired with despotic fiction monsters might have a point. It’s the sort of empathetic A Broken Clock Is Right Twice A Day argument that lands easily with a fellow SoL outsider like Mei, where both she and Touma can telescope out Handling Kento to a point where he’d’ve likely become Kamijo, therefore finding some possible humanity within Kamijo. But it’s got about zero traction with the soldiers who’ve been risking their lives to defend multiple worlds from Kamijo’s nihilistic zealotry, and the people who loved Kento the most. It’s a neat escalation throughout the argument, because a lot of it just comes down to both sides not being willing to hear the other out. Touma’s goal of ferreting out a traitor was always going to piss off his coworkers, and his inability to appeal to their sense of justice dooms this friendship to failure. Reika might’ve lit the fuse, but this bomb was already there.

Not that this is, like, the smoothest episode around. We’re in a transitional space, where we’re getting some restated background on Touma’s overall goals (Luna, traitor) as well as the Book Club’s revised plan of attack. (I really love the little fortnightly Kamen Rider stories where someone gets turned into a monster and the Riders have to find some way to liberate the victim, so this is already more interesting to me than a random Megid showing up in a plaza.) There’s a lot of side-stories filling out this already-packed episode of heroes battling heroes, which doesn’t do the components a ton of favors. There’s a lot of ground to cover on the Touma section of this episode alone, leaving the book victim stuff to feel slightly irrelevant at the present. It’s not a distraction, exactly, but it doesn’t add anything to the main story.

(That said, we did get to see something I’ve been waiting for since the second episode: MEI’S WORK! It’s been in the credits without being in the show to an almost hysterical degree, where it felt left over from a version of this show that Covid made impossible. But it’s here! Sort of! Very happy to finally see Mei in a different context.)

I was pleasantly surprised by how much this episode came together for me. When Kamijo’s warning took about eight seconds to make Touma an outcast from his friends, hunted as a traitor, I was like That Was Fast. But then the show pulled back the reins a bit, and let the characters’ lingering resentments and lack of shared history pit the Sword of Logos against Touma and Mei (and debuting swordsman/sword-man Yuri) in a way that feels inevitable. It’s an episode that starts exploring something I find fascinating, which is how we imbue organizations with power and personality due to the people within them, but then forget that said power and personality is only there because of those people. Touma and the other swordsmen see the Sword of Logos as something worth protecting or destroying, but it’s really just a collection of people. We lose sight of that to our peril, which is what everyone discovered this episode.

—

AREN’T WE ALL FOUND OUT

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber16b.png

Yuki was glad to see that Mei was coming along as an editor, even if Mei wasn’t quite there yet.

Mei had greatly improved as a writer, since coming on staff. She’d grown in her ability to multi-task. Mei was a strong communicator, who forcefully argued for her point of view in editorial meetings, in emails, and once by yelling at a coworker at a coffee shop on her way to work.

(The HR intervention was mercifully brief, and both sides came to an understanding regarding editorial hierarchy and professional boundaries.)

It wasn’t really Mei’s writing or editing that Yuri thought needed improvement. It was Mei’s managerial skills.

Mei had done as solid a job getting work out of Touma Kamiyama as could be expected. She might get his work turned in at the very last second of the deadline, but it was always in a t the deadline. They’d never needed to bump one of Touma’s scheduled pieces, which was a rarity for an author as young as he. (Sadly, it was a rarity for an author, full stop.) Mei made sure that the magazine never suffered a setback if she could prevent it.

But all of that was just for one author; a magazine editor was responsible for an entire staff, plus countless freelancers. Yuki wondered if Mei had it in her to provide structure to a group of people with their own goals, their own levels of experience, and their own personal baggage. Mei was a talented young woman, and an absolute dynamo when it came to cheering on a writer, but could she somehow motivate an entire organization to put in the effort to cross the finish line, when they were all exhausted and ready to quit?

Yuki wasn’t sure.

But she’d help Mei get there. Part of running an office well meant trying to elevate the people you worked with, having faith that they’d find new reserves within themselves. Yuki hoped she’d be able to impart these lessons to Mei. She’d make the time, once she was back from her camping trip.

Yuki looked out the window, lingered briefly on the floating fairytale world that hung in the air, and saw Mei as she was exiting the building. She smiled as she saw Mei going through paperwork, organizing it as she walked. It was nice to see her so dedicated to her job. Mei stopped as she saw someone across the courtyard. It was Sayaka, from the HR complaint. Sayaka had brought up a concern at the last staff meeting that the magazine was running too much fiction and– oh no. Mei was shouting now, waving her arms. Sayaka was moving away from Mei. Mei was following, quickly.

Yuki raced for the stairs. Maybe she could have one last conversation with Mei before the camping trip.

Parts of this episode bothered me. I think that it might have worked a little bit better to break up the team if they had waited maybe more than one week from the bit where everyone commits to being friends and allies forever. Or maybe if Reika was trying to be at least a little subtle about gaslighting all of the non-Touma Riders. Ultimately, though, it's hard to care because splitting the cast into Touma/Mei/Yuri and Literally Everyone Else is a decision that leads to some of Saber's best episodes to date for reasons I will talk about in a few days.

Secondly, I get to do something that I haven't had a chance to do since we were back watching early Heisei shows: casting trivia!

I think it's no surprise to say that Koichi Sakamoto directed this episode as his style is still instantly recognizable. What's fun, though, is that he brought along some friends from his time working on Ultraman Geed. The couple with the baby who are briefly spotlighted are Hideyoshi Iwata and Mayu Hasegawa, who played Zena and Moa, respectively, on Geed. The baby is their actual daughter.

Touma's editor is played by actress Hitomi Hasebe, who had a minor recurring role on Geed but was also - and much more importantly - DASH officer Mizuki on Ultraman Max, my personal favorite Ultraman series.

Okay so right here? I feel this is where we finally shift gears and this is the point where Saber starts finding a sort of... new identity so to speak. Which is what I assume a lot of people say when they mean Saber gets better after the start since we aren't in Q1 anymore thanks to the introduction of Saikou.

It's a rather slow episode with a lot it wants to say, but I really enjoyed it as our last episode of the year. It makes a pretty strong impact in many ways, and it very much demolishes the old status quo we'd been building up the past 15 episodes.

I talked about how Saber's hectic nature really makes it feel like Touma sort of just got shoved into a job and is trying to roll with all the new coworkers and information he's working with. And like, I'll continue to say, I feel like that was on purpose in a way because like... just the whole fallout of everything.

It's wonderfully done in a way that I enjoy greatly. While the Swordsmen have a camaraderie with Touma, at the end of the day he's a newbie and if a high ranking official from their work tells them something is suspicious? Who are they going to trust immediately? Likewise on Touma's side, the minute he sees the Swordsmen waltz up, all looking prepared to fight if he disagrees... I can't blame him for immediately jumping to the traitor argument. Touma's always been an emotional guy, and he really let his emotions get the better of him in how he was trying to explain his side of the story.

Speaking of emotional levels, it's nice to see the different reactions all the Swordsmen have. Ren and Rintaro are obviously the most emotional, with Ogami and Daishinji being more reserved though Ogami is still fairly loud when it comes to all this.

It's why I don't mind the very clear shift to Rider vs. Rider this show is setting up, because I like it when it's done in different ways. Geats does it in a fun way, setting up competitions and only ever really having Riders brawl occasionally. While Saber built up a team of heroes only to take a sledgehammer and shatter them entirely.

Anyway Yuri debuts this episode! He's a sword! I have not much to say on him other than I love the Saikou Drivers jingle "I am the best!" looping over and over again is hilariously catchy to me.

Also hey, we've got some other named characters showing up besides our usual characters. I suppose Covid restrictions got a bit lightened up around this time so there's definitely a sense that the world feels a bit more lived in than before.

Speaking of named characters... the story! It was interesting to see you do something for Yuki here, since I wasn't expecting it. I always do like when you do these sort of introspection stories, and having her think about Mei and how far she's come/how far she still needs to go, is really nice.

I too actually enjoyed this episode, while I had some issues with how fast it took the Sword of Logos to think that Touma is a traitor, considering how he acted once they confronted him (him taking the word of a traitor who murdered Kento instead of trusting them), I would probably also think he was a traitor.

There were some minor problems I had with the episode; I didn't really care about how many side things they had going on. Like the New Year's thing which I'm pretty sure is just there so that the audience can get a feel for the relationship of the Sword of Logos before the supposed betrayal, but if you've already watched 15 episodes of Saber, a movie, and 4 specials, then this just feels like an unnecessary addition. Though, as I said, these things are pretty minor, all things considered.

I don't have much else to say on this episode, but I did actually enjoy it a bit, it wasn't the best exactly, but it wasn't the worst either, just a pretty good episode overall.

It's hard to get too mad at Saber having Kamijo's warning come to fruition almost as soon as he said it to Touma, since, like, that's this show! At this point, finding fault with a storyline that gets rushed out the door as soon as its introduced is like getting mad that they all use swords. It's just the aesthetic of the series.

But, yes, it all happens incredibly fast, and with virtually no real effort on Reika's part. I think that's sort of the point, though...

...because, yeah, these people don't really know each other, and they've placed different amounts of trust in the Sword of Logos. For Rintaro, it's practically his identity, so Touma saying I Suspect Foul Play is like telling Rintaro that his dad is a villain. For Ogami and Daishinji, they've just spent 15 years cleaning up after the last Saber who decided that the Sword of Logos is the enemy, and here's this kid who should've never gotten a sword in the first place, racking up all this power, unaccountable to the safeguards they respect. For Ren, when your opening move is to suggest that Kento's murderer was maybe just misunderstood, you have already lost the argument. There are all these guys with reasons to mistrust Touma instead of the institution they've dedicated their lives to, and that's not even counting Touma's, uh, fiery nature.

But for Touma, he doesn't... there's nothing in the Sword of Logos for him but his friends, and Kento, and he's okay interrogating the organization if he thinks it'll keep his friends safe. He's doing this for them, and he's not sure why they can't see that.

It's such a fun episode for digging into how we value organizations over people, and why we do that.

Yeah, it's mostly there for a little humor before everything blows up, and to gild the lily a bit, by having farther for everyone to fall. I like seeing these goofs hang out, and do their weird individual schtick (Rintaro acting like a human encyclopedia, Mei trying to nope out of cleaning) for the last time in a little while.

I?d complain you beat me to it, but you forgot two points, so I can still share something.

Iwata has also been the suit actor for every major Ultraman since Max, except for Ginga

This episode’s other minor guest star, Kaito Yamagiwa is the grandson of Eizo Yamagiwa, the director on the 4 70s Ulta shows (including Sakamoto?s personal favourite, Ultraman Leo)

And this is also writer Keiichi Hasegawa’s first time working with Hitomi Hasebe, since Ultraman Max was the one Heisei Ultra series he didn’t write anything for (which is saying something, because he?s basically the Inoue of Heisei Ultraman, in terms of output, to the point one of his wiki pages says he?s written more for the franchise than anyone else)

And I’ll mention that Hasebe is marked as a regular (which someone else I know found laughable, for reason you?ll see in a while), which wasn?t revealed until the final episode was done airing. She announced she was a part of the series after the episode aired in… a unique way.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...8/IMG_3912.PNG

And also, after a few episodes of hints, we see the Sword of Light and meet the man in the hood… both are Yuri (a name which fits into the show?s theme naming by translating from Russian as “light of god”) And his book is essentially a super mode one in all but name, so it has 4 jingles… which are actually two jingles in Japanese and English, but I digress.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qyV7GWSt2fo

Gold or Silver?

Two become the shiniest one!

As for the episode, I remember sharing an argument that someone else on another forum had tried and failed to use to rationalise how quickly everyone turned on Touma over some new woman. And while I don’t remember more than the exact specifics (maybe Fish can help with the words), I had a better time convincing people of it than he did.

I remember two years ago this episode caused a lot of controversy and I'm glad it doesn't happen again. I mean, yes, you can't blame the knights for seeing the story "Saber defeated Calibur and became Calibur himself" repeated. Just as one cannot blame Tom for not thinking of a secret investigation, because he did not expect such a reaction from his friends.
Also "Who is this sword shining?" stuck in my memory for a long time. But about Yuri, perhaps, I?d better write in more detail through another episode.
Also, since Reika is no longer referred to as "incredibly tall", it should be noted that she is only one meter seventy-two centimeters tall.
Also, wasn't the first episode of TTFC Theater planned for today? I would just like to talk about this mini-show, especially since during the Saber's broadcast failed to discuss it.
P.S. Your story is nice.

I didn?t forget these things; I didn?t know them. Very cool trivia, thanks.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 16

https://i.imgur.com/WB0qufP.jpg

I only sort of realized it at the time, but if there was exactly one moment where I can say I truly fell in love with Kamen Rider Saber, when I knew it was going to be a show I'd pretty much never stop thinking about, that would stick with me forever, it was probably watching all the other Riders gang up on Saber this way. There's that part in there, where everything slows down and the sad music kicks in, as we see Touma's face and hear his thoughts, and he's just scared and confused and hurt by what's happening, as much emotionally as physically, and I found that kind of profound in a way I'm still not sure I can properly articulate.

But you know, I even tried again in the episode thread a few hours after already saying basically the same thing in my original post, so looking back, it's clear this really did leave an immediate lasting impact on me:

(Oh yeah, and I guess this episode also aired while we doing the Kabuto thread! Still a little spooky to me that Die has caught up to himself like this!)

But yeah, the gist of it is like I said at the time: I was shocked to be watching a Kamen Rider show where I felt this level of emotional significance to the heroes beating each other up, and putting how wrong Saber managed to make that feel in context of the show up until that point, it kind of locked in that I was never going to complain too hard about anything the first quarter had done to get here. For whatever flaws the storytelling in Saber had up to this point, they did an amazing job building to this twist in the narrative, and the moment itself was delivered in a way that exceeded any expectations I had about how well the show could pull it off. And I was on-board with this show from day one!

...All of that means I'm also extremely relieved to see it worked well enough for Die, too, naturally, because this episode means so much to me it'd just feel vulgar trying to argue about it? It's sad enough watching Touma fight his friends! I don't want to be adding onto that in real life! :p

(I still wish somebody would've translated Yuri's use of saikou as "brilliant", by the way, but this is actually about as good?)

IIRC people already do but still I hope here Reika's stunt here would get her actually viewed as villainous at worst by people, instead of being viewed as something empowering or competent like Yua at the start (before the reveal of her being at cohorts with ZAIA). And actually, Kamijo's words quickly had already displayed some truth here in at least Reika herself here.

For Rintaro, I mentioned his behavior to Kento in ep. 11, other than at the end, as his negative trait, and you didn't believe it for obvious reasons, but it was a buildup for his behavior here, of him having a blind loyalty towards Sword of Logos and his duty-bound approach would also mean he'd jump into blaming Touma over Sword of Logos mainstays. And for Ren (the one who is anti-heroic among the current Rider group), obviously he's a shit-stirrer and would have no qualms starting a fight with Touma especially over something Kento-related. I'd think Ogami and Daishinji's turn against Touma was something that happened too quick though, or at least, again for me, suffers in lack of what's shown during Hayato or Kamijo's time with them (if they'd emphasize the past betrayal moments as the reason), like what was them as a person like when they're together with those 2 and was them strikingly similar to Touma, or that they're just starting conflict for the sake of it. But this seems overlooked here as characters starting shit seems to be your type but I hope it's still acknowledged as just one's preference instead of the only way for writing good stories.

Mei here seems to have a different approach against Touma other than trying to shield him at the end, of which instead of just being pushy to get him to work, which is likely to be expected after what Yuki said about the manuscript's deadline, but now she asks about his concerns, and Sword of Logos-related. Like questioning if Kamijo is someone that can be trusted in his words, which, yeah, sometimes villains just can have a point, doesn't mean it liberates them from the wrongdoings in their actions, if there's someone that can come up with a less ruthless plan like Touma. Also similar to how in W Akiko later is more open to Shotaro's input instead of asserting her chief position (+slipper whack). This'd also actually shows how Mei got more integrated into Sword of Logos circle. Though Mei's still shallow in how she deems a guy as weird.

Yeah, here's the character who is seemingly the most loved by fanbase for Saber, Yuri. Other than his debut showing off his power to fend off all the 4 Riders at once, it also has funny factor in how he literally henshins into a sword and had it just flying to decimate all 4. His behavior is also no less of that to be ecstatic in meeting Touma instead and missing his stare.

You're mistaken here regarding anti-villain label. Extreme anti-villains are those who have very little or limited amount of bad traits/moments, edging them closer to outright hero antagonist (if they're antagonistic ofc). Reminder that the 'anti-' part of anti-villain refers to the redeeming qualities which makes them less bad and the more extreme they're the less bad they're.

I think that there are so many utterly depraved villains in fiction who are described/depicted as being outright insane (also creates the stereotype in how insane equals violent), like Banno in Drive, that insanity feels like one of the main roots behind their villainy, instead of a justification (also no for 'mental illness as excuse for poor behavior'). And it's true that Ohma Zi-O is deluded in thinking he became greatest kindest demon king, but that only serves to drive his villainy even worse by committing and escalating worse and worse actions without signs of stopping, opposite of acting as a redeeming trait.

To play along with him reforming, there can be a cases too where straight villains got redeemed, their atrocities before shouldn't be downplayed including as anti-villain. And as you said here, Gai is a narcissist, and like above, it's also a mental illness (personality disorder), and say no for 'mental illness as excuse for poor behavior'.

It's a tricky turn in the plot; I can see people having issues with it.

Yeah, I think the second half of this story escalated it nicely from Reika Is Turning These Friends Against into Wait These Guys See Their Roles Very Differently. Touma's a part-timer, and mostly on his own specific quest, while the SoL is an organization that existed before Calibur's turn and will exist after Touma's ouster.

That's tonight! And thanks!

The thing that worked the best for me in that whole battle was the Rintaro of it all. Guys like Ogami are very interested in deescalating the situation, and Ren's just pissed off, but Rintaro is furious at Touma's seeming disregard for everything Rintaro believes in. It's not frustration or sorrow at the tragedy of their friendship disintegrating, it's that Rintaro clearly misjudged Touma this badly, and now everyone has to suffer for it. I love how this show leverages Rintaro's best trait - his steadfast loyalty and sublimation into groups - and turns it into a bridge Touma can't cross. So smart.

I definitely don't think Ogami and Daishinji are stirring shit here. Ogami is the main voice of reason before the fight starts, and he's just trying to disarm Touma so things can get discussed safely. Ogami and Daishinji missed two of their friends going off the deep end and endangering others, and are not keen for a repeat.

Yeah, the start of this arc, it's not that I don't get it - Touma suddenly asking "Hey gang, I know Calibur was trying to cause the apocalypse and all, but maybe he had a point?" is going to get everyone's heckles up, from Ogami and Daishinji's more rational "Touma, put down your sword and lets talk this out", to Rintarou's "You would really accuse the SOL like this? HAVE YOU REALLY BETRAYED US?" to Ren's... I mean, Ren has probably been looking for an excuse to fight this new contender for the former-Kento's affections for 10 episodes now.

It just happens really, really fast? I get the argument all the speeches about everlasting teamwork from the last several episodes make this even more crushing when the fellowship does splinter in twain - if I were more unpleasantly cynical I'd say it's a scathing critique of Kamen Rider protagonist's tendencies to throw these out whenever - but the fact remains, this all goes down in about the same length of time they'd spend on a bike chase in Phase 1 Heisei. Plus, it always felt like a big leap to me Touma would just take Calibur's words at face value, especially when (minus one Ren), everyone he's met from the SOL has been genuinely decent? Maybe it's a worldbuildng thing, because even now, after having watched the entire show, I still have no idea how big or powerful this organisation is supposed to be. Covid restricions, I know. Maybe Touma had a dramatic confrontation with the person who restocks their magical library bookshelves and that's why he thinks the SOL is more shady that its letting on. It's not that I don't like the path the show wants to do - definitely more "traditional" Rider with a lone Touma and a bunch who distrust him - but how it got there is a little ungainly, and I think I let that colour my thoughts on this arc, which is kinda a shame.

But enough about that, cause here's Yuri! He's cool!

I think where this point worked for me is that there's that scene where Mei and Touma talk about Kamijo's warning, and sort of unpack all of the trickier parts of it as potential goal. There's them acknowledging that Calibur was a crazed killer, and he's solely responsible for the death of Kento... but also Kento was a guy that risked himself and others in pursuit of the truth, so maybe Kamijo's a guy that just took his desire for answers to the wrong place? And Kento was looking for the truth about what happened to his father, so investigating the SoL is honoring that deathbed promise.

Like, it's a story not so much about Touma turning against the SoL, as it is Touma not understanding how much of themselves his friends put into the organization. Also, even if Touma was uncertain about the veracity of Someone In The Sword Of Logos Is Up To No Good, four friends rolling up and telling him that Reika said he was a traitor is probably going to connect a couple dots for Touma.

One thing I read that made me laugh slightly is someone pointing out that while we get whole scenes of Ogami, Daishinji and Rintaro being misled by Reika, Ren doesn’t even get such a scene, implying that she didn’t even need to try with him.

Ren was just wandering by; he's not even sure what everyone else is mad about!

TTFC DIRECT THEATER: KAMEN RIDER SABER, ACT 1 - “SABER, LET YOUR HEART SHINE!”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/ttfc1a.png

I don’t… know what this is?

It’s some little twelve-minute bluescreen video, with Unreal Engine backdrops and one non-suit actor. (Smile! From Zero-One! Which is nice!) The whole thing’s like a one-act stage play, but filmed? I don’t know why? It’s very, uh, rough. It barely looks professional, even by the comparative standards of TTFC Special and Stage Play and COVID. I don’t understand why it’s like this? Or what it’s for?

As its own little Fight Scene Plus Moral special, it’s fine. A character we’ve never met before has a problem that’s only revealed when it becomes crucial information to conclude the plot, which is a thoroughly Saber way to tell this story. The stunts are stage show-esque, with a lot of tumbling and long takes, rather than the more robust and energetic camerawork we see on TV. It’s all very simple, is I guess what I want to say about it. It’s like the type of Saber story you’d put on the back of the box for the show-adjacent breakfast cereal. (Saber Flakes: “I’ll decide how this complete breakfast ends!”) It’s cute, at best. There’s virtually nothing to unpack or analyze, because it’s not really trying to tell a story with any depth. It’s a 12-minute stage show on the internet.

Nice to see Smile again, I guess!

—

WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/ttfc1b.png

Well, that was that.

Junki called off from work. He told his parents he wouldn’t be coming by for dinner tonight. He texted friends to let them know he might be unavailable for the foreseeable future. He let them all know that he was fine, but that he needed to keep cheering for Kamen Rider Saber.

It was only through the grace of the crimson swordsman that Junki was returned to the real world, instead of eternally imprisoned by an army of black-and-silver mute monsters. Junki knew he was delivered from evil, and he owed his life to Saber. When Saber commanded that Junki keep cheering, that was exactly what Junki intended to do.

Well, Junki wasn’t sure if “commanded” was the right word. While he was hopeful that Saber had saved him due to heroism, there was a fear that Saber would be a wrathful savior. Junki wasn’t certain what might happen if he stopped cheering for Saber: would the monsters return, and Saber might be unable to summon enough power to defeat them; or would Saber return, and angrily smite his subjects for failing him? Junki thought it best not to tempt fate, and decided the most rational course of action was to just keep cheering.

He’d never really cheered anyone on before, though, so he had to do some research. He’d tried yelling WE LOVE YOU SABER and LET’S GO SABER, but that wasn’t a long-term plan. For one, his voice was giving out after only a few hours of shouting, which meant he’d very quickly be physically unable to follow Saber’s instructions. For another, his neighbor’s shouted threat to break down Junki’s door and quiet him for good meant that, again, Saber would lose the required cheers. So that was a wash.

He tried prayer, but… that wasn’t really “cheering”, was it? That was asking Saber for help, and he certainly didn’t want to be a distraction or a nuisance. Saber wanted support, not a burden.

It was a Google search for “cheering on costumed people” that brought him success. It was for an idol group, but Junki figured the same advice would carry over for a superhero. Not only would he be able to cheer on Saber, but he’d be able to get his life back. He could see his parents. He could see his friends. He could sleep and eat and bathe, without worrying that the selfish minutes would bring doom upon him. He could even go back to work.

He’d have to go back to work, actually. The Google search gave him the helpful tip, but only a full-time job was going to keep him in Saber’s good graces. Junki added the items to his Amazon cart – DX swords, Figuarts, plush dolls, art prints, plastic statues, card sleeves, Blu-rays, CDs, rubber coasters – and hoped this was enough to cheer Saber on.

I know it can be rooted from the past betrayals, but O've mentioned my point of where my problem is that there's something lacking of what's shown during Hayato or Kamijo's time with them, when they're together with those 2 like how they were as a person (other than Kamijo in flashback displaying determination) and if they were strikingly similar to Touma or not, or that they're more like just another member of the Sword of Logos, or even worse..... something like Ren.

Ah yes the exitensial crisis of cheering Saber on. Cute little fun story in which I had no idea if you'd even do one because I only just now realized what this was a couple of hours ago.

Funny that I'm starting with the story this time because uh... I'll be entirely honest again, I forgot these things existed?

They're this weird sort of miniature stage show thing that I guess and I mean I'm really guessing with this theory, it was sort of meant to be a replacement for like... the actual stage shows that used to happen back before the pandemic started.

And I do not mean the Final Stages or Special Stages that exist that are performed on a large stage. I'm literally talking about the one's that would happen at theme parks, small outdoor stages and the like. If you look up correctly on Youtube you get a fun variety of stageshows, like Ghost teaming up with Blade and Chalice, Ghost, Wizard and Kiva teaming up, Build fighting the Build Bugster alongside the CR Riders, etc.

At least... I can only assume that's what this is supposed to be given this was made during uncertain Covid times, I think.