There are beginnings, and there are endings. And it's because of those endings that there are new beginnings.

This episode... really, really hit a lot of great notes, and definitely made it one of my favorite finale episodes from Rider as a result. Again, as someone who writes fanfiction, the decision to pin everything on stories to help frame the final battle, it resonated with me in a deep way. Just like how I saw it resonated with you and others in their posts about the previous episode. While Saber had a fantastical fantasy theme to it, another important theme was the power of stories and what they mean to us, what they inspire us to do. So them going full in on that aspect of the show makes for a really special time.

There's so much about this episode that's great, Yuri giving his all in order to get Kento to where he's needed. The prior fight before that where Kento and Ren work entirely in desperate sync to beat the last Sage.

There's Primitive Dragon showing up again and fighting alongside Touma, which is such a pleasant surprise with some fun altered suit acting to show both Touma and the boy working in tandem. There's a wild edge to it, but it's somewhat refined. And it's really cool that he was able to get the drop on Storious as a result. In a finale where stories are important, Touma utilizing a form/friend that came from an Arc that had a fantastic ending because of Touma creating a new story... it's a nice warm fuzzy moment.

Then we get Wonder Almighty. I love that the call out is the other Riders and Luna speaking. I love how despite it being our usual "Base Form with New Trinket" like Realizing Hopper, that it's so much more unique. It basically is our All Powers in One power for the Wonder Ride Books. Getting to see a lot of minor books used again, some that hadn't shown up in a while, and seeing our trio all beat Storious back all to the tune of Almighty, it was a rather nice final battle which cemented Wonder Almighty for me as the best done of these finale battle forms.

And of course... the scene of everyone talking about their favorite stories. Back when Saber was airing there was a call for people to make videos talking about their favorite stories and send them in. I had a feeling this might've been what they were used for, but it was still heartwarming all the same to see it happen in the episode.

Circling back around to what I said at the beginning though. I do like that well... the world does end. But it's thanks to Mei's rallying of everyone through asking them to remember their favorite story, that everyone is able to take that ending... and then write a new beginning to overturn that ending. One story ends, another begins, maybe it's a sequel, maybe it's something inspired by the last story. Either way, one of the greatest strengths of humanity is our creativity and ingenuity. And Saber used that to allow a happy ending, even if it took a bit in-universe, for everyone as a result.

Again, fantastic episode, and I love how in honor of Touma, Kento decided to go for the most bizarre fashion choice I've ever seen. Also yes that was a Humagear, I believe that was the writer of the episode making a fun cameo in it as well.

Honestly I was curious as to what you'd choose for a base in terms of the story this time, since there is a lot to potentially use in this episode. Though an editorial note from Mei about Touma... it feels right, and I enjoyed reading it.

Smartest decision in an episode full of smart decisions: Kento running the bookshop in Touma's absence, telling stories with a bunch of kids like he and Touma and Luna used to. What a perfect way to honor Touma!

That's correct! It was writer Keiichi Hasegawa as that Humagear (which is funny on it's own with the idea that Humagear are just something that exists in this world, just constantly off screen) and on top of that the award Touma received was the Ikkei Hasegawa award, also named after him.

...on a more dour note, the ultimate endgame of Luna's presence in this series being to die to give Touma a literal power up is. Pretty sour to me. At least she gets to be a force ghost in the end...?

A wonderful finale. The appearance of the Primitive Dragon caused me applause. Yuri proved that he is not only a Mary Sue, but also a real knight ready to give his life for others. A trio of swordsmen together for the last fight.
Also, books. Saber lost to Storius in a sword fight, but overpowered him using the books. And this brings us back to the early episodes, with the swordsmen complaining that Touma lacks swordsman skills. And it also gives the right message that the pen is stronger than the sword for a young and not very targeted audience. And besides, it makes a funny pun, because Storius is defeated by stories.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber47a.png

And I also wanted to note the appearance of the audience with stories about their favorite books. That's why I wrote that TTFC Direct Theater episodes are important.I am sure that it was the participation of the audience in them that inspired the authors to this unique idea. And this proves that the limitations do not fetter a real creative person, but only force him to look for new ways and develop.
Also, I can't help but mention that Touma was stuck in Wonder World for a whole year writing a new book. Because what else can a writer do? And it's funny that a part of the final was spoiled in the opening. It's also great that the villains have found peace.
It was a strong, emotional, wonderful finale. Saber is my favorite rider show and Touma Kamiyama is the kind of character I want to look up to (but for better or worse, I often don't have time when it comes to wardrobe).So I am grateful to you for the opportunity to relive this wonderful story once again.
But let us say goodbye to the show, but not to its heroes. There is still a lot of interesting (perhaps even ingenious?) ahead, so I look forward to your future posts.


Great choice for the final.

Technically, she has always been a ghost/fantasy/girl from another world. So the Moon, like a true friend, appeared when she was needed and disappeared again, because she had no place in the real world. I think if Touma and Kento need help again, she'll find a way to get back.

Yeah, the comment I left last time was meant more for this episode. I realised that after you replied. Sorry for the spoiler.

Anyway, two bits of trivia about appearances:

One of the people in the montage is a user on this forum, who entered the submission contest via a VPN, or something.

And the guy with the Humagear ears at the press conference is episode writer Keiichi Hasegawa. While the intent was that he is playing a Humagear, given that we never see whether he has the tattoo on his hand, and that we never see any other Humagears in this show or the next two, I choose to believe he merely owns a super-fancy headset.

And some writing trivia:

While I mentioned there was a reason they aged Luna up given officially, I can’t help but now think it was really so they could get away with killing her onscreen. At one point, the writer considered having her brought back in her child form in the new Wonder World, with Touma being similarly reverted, so they could make up for their lost time.

And to wrap this post up, here’s both a meme I found, and a recreation of Ren and Kento’s big improvised move against Kuon.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...9/IMG_1900.JPG

https://youtube.com/watch?v=4ICkNQy6RuI

My interpretation is that, as a result of everyone's favorite stories combining to save humanity from extinction, the world came back weirder. Someone's favorite story was, like, Kamen Rider Zero-One, and now there are random Humagears walking around. I like the idea that humanity accidentally made their world more fantastic, which makes Touma's absence a little more bearable for him.

It's always a little tacky, but I like how it's just another facet of folks using whatever skills they have to let Touma keep telling stories. For Luna, it's not really killing her or removing her from the story (she still pops up in Wonder World, after all), it's more her shifting into a metaphor that can be of more use in the battle at hand. She's a collection of stories, and now she's a collection of stories that can fight against evil.

It's great that Touma spent a year in Wonder World literally deciding the end of the story, and saving everyone that the Book Club had victimized. He's never been great with deadlines, but he always manages to fulfill his promises.

Huh! I'd've been okay with that, even if it sort of became redundant after the final scene with Touma, Luna, and Kento at Promise Park. It's still a new story, even if it's just an alternate version of a previous story, which fits in with the Touma/Storious debate pretty well.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 47

https://i.imgur.com/e5nvPz6.jpg

I didn't make the time to rewatch the whole show for this thread, but apparently this episode is another instance where I couldn't help myself. It's not like I needed to *remember* the episode, of course. A story like this is one I'll never forget. I simply wanted to experience it again precisely because I do still vividly recall all the amazing things in Saber's finale. From the perfect imagery of the hero literally being lifted up by a story, to all the clever refrains of old dialogue given new context, to the perfectly celebratory feeling of the final villain being defeated by three friends and nearly every book we've seen in the show.

And of course, to that moment when all seems lost, and not even the hero can save the world, until it turns out what can save it is the belief all of us share in the power of storytelling.

It's going to gnaw at me the rest of my life that I didn't submit a video when they were asking for them. I only have myself to blame, for failing to imagine just how serious they were when they said those clips would be used at an important point in the final episodes. In an episode directed by Ishida, no less! But at the same time, I've never felt all that bad about missing out, really. It's not like Kamen Rider Saber needed me specifically to cheer him on, and that's what's so beautiful about this scene. It's Saber putting itself out there, practicing everything it's ever preached, and proving its point by putting faith in its viewership that they're enthusiastic enough to come together and celebrate the ways we connect with stories, simply because they were asked to. Without that meta context, this would still be an utterly incredible conclusion. With it, it's one of the most profoundly moving things I've ever seen in Kamen Rider, for sure. Possibly in general. For this show that started under such uncertain production conditions, arguably stumbling out of the gate, to be here after a year, crossing the finish line with this much grace, having built this much for itself, it just something to behold, plain and simple. Touma's thank you is as straightforward as can be, but the weight behind those words is immense.

As ever, I could go into detail about any number of other things from this episode while I'm at it, but the other thing I really feel the need to call special attention to right now is the song that's playing as the world falls apart here, Timeless Story. (It was used at the end of 45,as well.) It's essentially a "with lyrics" version of Kamen Rider Saber's usual theme, and (alongside Super Hero Senki) is maybe the reason I properly think of that music as his main theme, instead of the other track directly associated with him that most people probably think of immediately when they think of this show's music. Timeless Story is just this really good, very grand version of that theme, and the entirely English lyrics, hard as they can be to pick out, really describe Touma's whole drive as a character perfectly. I think that's what makes the use in this episode work so well, is that while it sounds like it fits the despair of what's happening, the words are all about the importance of hanging on to hope in times exactly like this. There's a pretty clear to relevance to lyrics like

Now we shall see our new story
At last it's time to keep the promise
Strongly, believe in yourself to the end

So yeah, pretty great song in my book, and thanks to this thread making me want to go listen to it a bunch, I even found out there's a video of the show's composer, Kousuke Yamashita himself, conducting a proper orchestra arrangement of it, as if it weren't a grand enough song already. Definitely worth a listen for any fan of Saber! It's not every day a toku show gets a piece that sounds like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFNNvO_4Gbk

So it'd be also the reason why Kento's vision failed (to his relief), that the reason the world's ending isn't because of straightforward apocalypse but a doomed plan. I'd say that, Storious feels the most similar to a number of KR movie villains as he's the one who wants to end everything, of which I've seen many of them like Barlckxs wanting to end everything as motivation, usually related to the KR generations, while Storious is related to stories in general. O̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶y̶ ̶S̶t̶o̶r̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶s̶ ̶b̶l̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶(̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶x̶e̶c̶u̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶y̶p̶e̶)̶.̶ S

Mei does contribute here but dunno that, this seems to be the type where someone shows surprising capabilities to contribute at the end despite others doubting them. I guess I'd like to see this part of contributing being a more consistent part of her instead of the finale to give surprises for the audience in how she accomplished it if it's meant to 'prove' herself as I think proving means this part should be a more consistent trait (Rintaro previously see her as a loved one). This was the actual part where it's shown that Primitive Dragon is now safe to be used, where previously they went to Elemental Dragon. This part is the downgrading part to face the big bad but in actuality it won't finish off Storious. But the "downgrade" is taken even further in Luna's sacrifice to create Wonder Almighty, that gives Touma the Brave Dragon-looking form Saber but has the powers enough for final big bad, using the CGI beasts of everyone instead of the swords Xross Saber does. Yeah, the Reiwa trend that time was to give the actual final form the same looking as the base form.

Ren's smile among with others now feel more consistent here compared to the Arthur part, as in this part he actually becomes a better person to others that aren't Kento, at least shown with Daishinji. Now it seems that finally the Shindai siblings warm up to them in them smiling a little, though I think Ryoga's the more open one like what I think before. Apparently it's the promise for Mei to make sure Touma completes the deadline. Touma reuniting with others at the end also feels like Takeru coming back to life at the end, as these 2 seem to have most the cast shilling for them. Among all though, Kento still seems to be the closest to him as he's the one who is an old friend while others are newer. Storious was established as already evil from the start but here it's him being like the other 2 Megid generals and sincerely thanking Touma as his 'hero', like Bacht regaining his sanity.

I really liked this finale. I'll admit that I don't remember a ton about the big fight itself, but I loved the emphasis on stories and storytelling as part of it. The montage of readers is one of my favorite moments in the whole series and something that really speaks to me as a writer.