Touma can be a very emotional Rider lead! I think his heroic outbursts are cute, buuuut I also think it's why Rintarou was the character I was most invested in at this point.

The shoulder is literally Peter Pan. And he's having a staring contest with Captain Hook's face, down by the literal hook... and I mean, there IS a fairy wing sticking off the back... have I mentioned Saber's designs are complicated yet? Honestly, the whole thing that makes me love the Wonder Combos so much is that any 1/3 of those suits would already be more than enough visual detail to take in, and they just have the audacity to smash 3 completely different motifs together and somehow make it look cohesive in its aesthetic.

Okay so fun fact... none of these books are actually any of the books that appear on screen, nor are they actually able to be talked about right now... because while not the hugest spoilers but... these are books related to a bit later down the line.

As someone who's been doing research for Saber at the point I'm currently at, it's interesting to realize and go through the motions of "Oh hey, Kamen Rider Wiki got it wrong, again".

Anyway thanks to people being keenly eyed enough we did get a list of books that Calibur uses to travel to Avalon. And I do find it neat while they aren't pushing monster suits out like crazy, there's at least props to show there are more Megid out there.

Without further ado...

-Gansekiou Golem
-Medusa Jaden
-Hanzaki Sanshouou (Salamander)
-Piranha No Lunch
-Getting Spider
-Drill Mandrill (someone was playing Megaman X when they made that name I feel)
-Ari Ka Kirigirisu (Ant and Grasshopper)
-Mienkui Ahirunoko (Ugly Duckling)
-Usotsuki Wolf (Boy who Cried Wolf)
-Akan Zukin (From what I can tell, red hood so little red riding hood?)
-Machine Uri no Shoujo (Little Match Girl I think)
-2 Books no one could even remotely make out.

So yeah, fun little set stuff they have going on that I appreciate. Apparently a lot of these books are on view at that new Kamen Rider Exhibit which is cool! I'd actually like it if someone took a picture of that display... or maybe hope that the Saber portion of the official Zukan actually released now and showed us them maybe, hopefully.

I think the reason why Saber is in such a hurry in Q1 is because the writers needed to show as many toys as possible and therefore had to sacrifice the plot. When they got over that, the story made a lot more sense. But speaking of me, I love the 'several separate plots that will intersect later, but not the fact' approach and I think that in recent shows, Saber has handled the sheer number of riders the best. With all the pluses of Geats, most DGP riders are closer to the Ride-Players from Ex-Aid and have less text on all of them than the Scissors in Ryuki had.

This is a very cool detail, in a post of cool details. Thanks!

It, y'know, helps that they're all blue!

So, here's a bit of a tease for Kamen Rider Die rewatches Kamen Rider Geats from 2026 or whatever: I love Geats probably more than Fish Sandwich loves Saber. Thematically, it's the apotheosis of everything Takahashi was trying to talk about in Ex-Aid and Zero-One -- how difficult it can be to work together when some/most success is zero-sum -- but it's also getting into some fascinating stuff about how dreams change as we get older, and the ways our goals inevitably crystalize as we learn more about the world's complexity, and how difficult it is to not give up in the face of societal indifference, and how the people who benefit from the status quo will take your dreams and diminish them while they profit off of them, and and and.

That it does all that would be enough to make me love it, but it also manages to drill into the specifics of a gigantic, ever-shifting cast with nuance and sensitivity... AND it has some of the best action directing I've ever seen on a toku show.

So, long story short: I'm going to push back on that description of the cast of Geats.

I'm going to agree with it, because as established; Scissors is the greatest character in all of Kamen Rider. Living up to his name was always going to be a difficult task, and I can't besmirch anyone for a near-miss!

Pal, if you think there's even a chance you can do better than "as much as" here, I'll remind you we've still got the rest of this series to talk about!

Apropos for Geats, I will implore you to remember that this does not have to be a competition! We can both love something without needing to defeat someone else's love! Those sorts of binary victory conditions are obstacles put in place by a society that would rather set people against each other than cede control!

Fantastic is a shade of blue, apparently.

:thumb:

That was a skillfully-written Mei focus fic! It was impressive how many varied thoughts she could think during the time she was suspended in midair and actually made me smile towards the end for how much she valued her connections to people that she mostly considered how her impending (and thankfully interrupted) death would affect them.

Yep, big Rintarou/Mei fan here. I recall the last time I was seriously invested in a ship in KR was Sento/Ryuuga, so I was glad that Saber gave me a new cute pair to support! Mei encourages Rintarou to get out of the base more often and satiate his curiosities about the world, while Rintarou values the heart Mei brings to SOL and is loyal and protective to her.

Damn, my favorite Ryushirou got left out!

Ah, I guess you're right, Die. I mean, what can I say? It just wouldn't be in the Saber spirit to get caught up fighting over our conflicting viewpoints when we could instead come together and celebrate the ways stories resonate with us, and the lasting bonds we create by sharing those feelings with one another. I'm sorry I was being so Ren when I should've been being Touma!

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 8 - “THE ONE SEALED AWAY, ARTHUR”

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This is another episode where the character-focused plot was something where I respected the attempt more than I enjoyed the execution. It’s weirdly muddled in the way it simultaneously values camaraderie and individual achievement, when those feel like opposing forces. It’s tough to do an episode that’s both all about teamwork, but that teamwork is exhibited through the lens of Touma’s authorial direction and personal crisis. To put it another way:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/simpsons.gif

It sort of works? I don’t hate that the solution to a Kamen Rider Saber problem is that Touma wrote his way out of it. That’s the kind of character-based specificity I love to see, and it gave the final act of this episode enough heart to paper over the very very In Stores Now aspect of a monster turning giant-sized (for the first time ever!!! It’s not even a Medusa thing!!!) just so Touma’s new giant-sized power-up can make an appearance to save the day.

I try not to ever roll my eyes at the toy commercial elements of Kamen Rider – something’s gotta pay the bills – but I don’t think this story 100% landed due to King of Arthur’s inclusion. First, all of this cooperation adds up to a weapon that only Touma can utilize, which definitely reframes this story of teamwork into something far less egalitarian. (I mean, Arthur was a monarch, so I guess that checks out!) It’s a story that needed a Trinity Form-esque power to tie up its narrative threads, but we got Breaking Mammoth instead. Second, why did they not save the Jack and the Beanstalk book until this episode?! It’s got a goddamn giant in it! That’s why you’d need to introduce a giant swordsman!!!

Beyond that weird bit of incongruent toy promotion, I thought this was a fine episode of Saber. It’s nice to get every member of Sword of Logos together for a big fight. I like how earnest and supportive everyone is, to an almost eerie degree. (The way everyone just says “Touma” to Touma at the end, I was sincerely expecting all of this to be a dream, and Touma to be woken up by Kento back on Avalon. Why are they each saying his name like that? It’s creepy!) I like that Ogami claims all credit, to his son’s delight. I like that Mei’s a core part of the cast, instead of some weird hanger-on that she’s been treated as, mostly. It’s a solid The Heroes Win By Being Heroic episode, a heartwarming conclusion to a baffling, largely frustrating series of bizarrely-plotted episodes.

So, yeah, not sure this one worked great for me, despite admiring the attempt to ground the win in Touma’s specific skillset. The main problem is that… I don’t know if We Are All On The Same Page (pun absolutely intended) is such a natural fit for a workplace dramedy this early in the run? It’s cute, but like everything else in Saber, it feels way too rushed. (A lot of the last couple episodes would be great if this were, like, Episode 38 instead of Episode 8.) I can go along with it as a viewer because I don’t dislike this cast enough to fight against the tide, but I don’t feel like the show did nearly the amount of work as you’d need to earn the overwhelming delight at a resounding team victory.

But they’ve set themselves up for a more cohesive and coherent next arc, which I hope will be more to my tastes. My optimism has yet to be fully extinguished!

—

EVERY DOUBLE LIFE

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The patissier and the apprentice were screaming incoherently. It was not how today was supposed to go. Their trip into the city was for cooking supplies, and to sample the regional specialities. A day off from the rigors of baking. Training, you might even call it.

The apprentice could always use the training. He was a callow boy; convinced of his own superiority, but incapable of demonstrating it. A follower by nature, he chafed under the same restrictions and instruction that he craved. A mass of contradictions under a mop of hair. He was the patissier’s pride, despite his many shortcomings.

Because the patissier saw the greatness that was possible in him, even if the apprentice always fell short of expectations. He was a test of both the patissier’s patience and skill, which was exactly how the patissier liked it. He hadn’t always been a baker, and the rigors of that past life still informed everything about his current one. He created beauty, but worked like a soldier. He had as many contradictions as the apprentice, if none of the hair.

At this moment, they were also alike in one other key way: abject terror.

Abducted to another world. Menaced by a mythological creature. Forced to watch as other patrons of the outdoor cafe were turned to stone. They gripped at one another for safety, hoping that their partner could devise a method of defense, or at least calm their shattered nerves. They were each a disappointment, on every level.

As their screams reached a crescendo, the Medusa turned its gaze to them. They froze immediately, a stone statue of two men entwined in horror.

The next thing they knew, they were free.

It was barely a second, and they were standing back in the plaza. The screaming had stopped, and the relief cleared their minds. They need to run, immediately, in any direction that qualified as Away.

They raced towards a building, looking for refuge. As they barrelled through one door, another pair exited from the other.

Stopping briefly at the building’s entrance, the pair looked back quizzically at the other group’s alarming arrival. “What,” Oren asked Junoichi, “do you think all that was about?”