It's a very good episode!

??? I don't get what you're saying here. Are you suggesting that it's not laudable for a character to rescue someone from depths of depression? How would that not be a moral that's worth following?

I think it speaks to Touma's empathy, sure, but also his acknowledgement of individual complexity. Kamijo was both a villain to Touma and a man to be idolized: a hero Touma literally dreamt about. Kamijo wasn't always Calibur, and it's nice of Touma to keep that version alive somewhere.

Sadly, it didn't make much of an impact. I, uh, I actually had to go back and see if his suit had actually changed or not! It's nice that we could get a more powerful Legeiel for Emotional Primitive Dragon's debut fight, but it's not like Legeiel had any cool new tricks up his sleeves. He was just tougher to detonate.

WHOA! 10,000 posts! Congrats! I salute you, with this salute from your favorite Kamen Rider:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio33b.png

Whoops! Here's the real Hibiki:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...sumisalute.gif

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 28 - “A PAST SET IN STONE, AND THE FUTURE NOT YET WRITTEN”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber28a.png

What better way to decompress after an arc so emotional that it generated a power-up with the word Emotional in it, than to spend twenty-odd minutes recapping the last six months of your life to the friends who experienced it alongside you?

A clip show by any other name, huh? There’s new footage, for sure: the fight scene at the finale, Master Logos introducing Reika’s brother as the next/last swordsman, Yuki making a minor return appearance. But the intent of this episode is to reestablish the storyline of this series, the end. We’re here to be reminded about events, and have certain causalities clarified. The point isn’t to do much more than reaffirm who the heroes and villains are, and what they plan to do next.

It’s not terrible, even if the amount of time people spend explaining things that they both/all experienced is pretty comical. There must’ve been a more elegant way to recap this information, right? It’s… I don’t want to say “lazy” to do it this way, because there’s enough fresh material to dodge that charge. But there’s an artlessness to having everyone talk like they got possessed by Tassel, and can’t stop rehashing their motivations, their triumphs, and their fears. It’s basic, which is a descriptor that I’d hoped Saber had left behind for good.

But, hey, at least everyone’s here? Desast shows up to watch a fight, which is at least bringing him closer to being in a fight again. Ren splits from the guild because of their No Kentos Allowed policy (Kento from Southern Base security is allowed; they get to have one Kento) and promptly finds out why that policy was enacted in the first place. Everyone else gets at least a couple three lines of dialogue. It’s a full episode, say what you will about its narrative value.

Definitely was not expecting to roll up on a clip show, first thing out from the last arc. These Unprecedented Times, I guess.

—

POWER DOESN'T RUN ON NOTHING

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber28b.png

“Let me tell you about my last six months! Well, I got super strong, and won a bunch of fights, and my best friend died. Other than that? Hmm. Nope, can’t think of anything. I don’t think anything important ended up happening to anyone else, either. Now I’ve got to go see my best friend, who isn’t dead anymore. We’re probably going to team-up and fight a whole bunch of people, which’ll make me even stronger. I don’t think I’ll be the strongest, though, because that means I can’t get any stronger! And I never want to stop getting stronger!”

“Sir, this is a ramen stand.”

Welcome to the new Reiwa Tradition Die! I would suggest expecting something around the time our true mid-season upgrades roll around for our Reiwa Riders!

I mean come on... incomplete mid-season upgrade with the problem getting solved eventually, and then a clipshow episode that gives us a fight to highlight the form happening? That's a mandate if I ever saw one.

Yeah I don't have much to say about this episode other than Tv-Nihon doing an April Fools special of this that cut out all the recap. I seem to recall a Game of Thrones opening, Ren complaining to Rintaro that the Swordsman of Water forgot to pay the light bill, Kento planning on meeting up with Gackt for his date only for Touma to confront him with the harsh reality of catfishing...

That being said, the things I do remember this episode for was being a good way to decompress, Ren's hilarious ass kicking and him just wandering off like a kicked puppy, our introduction to our final swordsman... and a very concerning scene involving Mei seeing Wonder World...

As for our story... I'm glad that we just have a "Sir this is a Wendy's" joke as one of these short stories.

===Zero Presents: Desast Walk===

Desast Walk #9:

"Hello, humans.

I'm Dessert.

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom!

'let us think of each
other fondly
o? mountain cherries!
for, outside of your blossoms,
there?s no one who knows my feelings'

Is that right?

That's good, that's like me.

It's more interesting to see them fall, isn't it??

They are not allowed to do anything bad to Mei! Only good things! Like, being a Kamen Rider! Or being named Interim Sophia!

Margin note for this Desast's walk: Desast is reciting poetry in this tweet. Specifically, Poem #66 from the Hyakunin Isshu, the classical Japanese poetry anthology that Karuta’s cards are sourced from. He’s well read, huh…

Also we now have a free range toxic ninja on our hands. I, personally, could not be happier ; )

I forgot that Saber did a clip show. I've never been a fan of these, but after watching Ultraman Trigger I have a lot more patience for how literally every other tokusatsu ever made has handled the concept better.

(For those who haven't seen Trigger, it had about five clip episodes, including two in a row that aired just a month into the show's run)

Well, we’re at the episode that TV-Nihon used for their April fool’s post in 2021. I have some rather scattered things to discuss relating to it.

First off is a tweet I found where someone in the Japanese fandom added their own silly caption to one of the promo pics. I don’t have the URL to the tweet, but I do have a screenshot of the Google translated version, which I used to present the joke here.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FonyYgnX...jpg&name=large

“Kento-san, give that back!”
“I’m sorry Ren, but this book has to be sealed.”
“Seriously! Even though it’s Mei-chan’s gravure debut!”

And we meet our last Rider, in the form of Reika’s older brother Ryouga. While I’ve saved the best I have to offer about him for later, I do have a funny anecdote about his name, which caused the show to trend among Yu-Gi-Oh fans for a weekend.

Ryoga Shindai's name shares the exact same kanji (神代 凌牙) as Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal's Reginald “Shark” Kastle (also known as Ryoga Kamishiro in the manga and Japanese version).(Hilariously enough, both Ryoga and Reginald are antagonists who have younger sisters). Toshiki Masuda (Shark’s Japanese VA) noticed Ryoga's name was trending out of nowhere and curiously tweeted about this asking why.

His character’s onscreen sister Megumi Han also commented about the trend (wondering if this Ryouga had a younger sister), but I can’t find that tweet either (having some trouble in that department, it seems).

While I'm not one to defend those clip episodes... most of those did not actually count towards the actual episode count so I don't mind them too heavily. Though I will agree that the two in a row that aired like right after Episode 4 or so? Yeah that killed momentum to watch it pretty hard.

Granted... and this is why I'm even making this post. These clipshows likely have to do with outside factors such as trying to make sure viewership is stable. So if something is happening that weekend the episode airs that will likely cause a drop in viewers, they'll do the safe thing and put out a clipshow. They aren't there because they thought "this is the best place in a story to do a recap", they're there because they need to be.

Also if I recall the back to back clip episodes that aired during Trigger was around the same time that the Olympics were in full swing, which I think is also around the time there was a short break from SHT for a week too.

To be honest, I do not mind such episodes, but I agree that they deserve an appropriate fanfic. Also, is this the first time Yuri has explicitly stated that Touma is the chosen one or before? Also the first appearance of Ryoga. Get ready to see him in action, it's not for nothing that the guy was kept behind the scenes for so long.

Elemental*

Emotional was from the movie.

Ren's lucky compared to Daishinji though, since he only needs the large half of Fuusouken Hayate to Henshin. He gets a second wind.

If only all recaps could be as compressed as Ren's. Makes sense that the most action-focused guy in the show is the catalyst for the actual plot developments of this episode.

As a Kiramager fan, this makes Desast even cooler to me!

I've never met a fan of these. The examples you mentioned sound particularly bad, but I'd say the most painful has to be Zero One's Recap City.

I can't imagine what can possibly go wrong with a slightly-depowered Ren roaming the city, angry at both himself and the world. I'm sure everything's going to be fine!

Yeah, as a one-week thing, it's not bad... it's just not very clever in how it approaches its mandate.

Thanks for the info!

I don't think this is the first time, no. I know it's come up with Daishinji before (as a theory), but I want to say Yuri's mentioned it as his reason for hanging around.

GAH! Thanks! I am never going to remember that.

Ren definitely has a unique perspective on the events of Kamen Rider Saber, yes.

Funny you should mention that.

So, it's been mentioned how Desast's suit actor changed a few times during Saber. His original suit actor was Kazuyu Okada, well known for roles like Gold Drive and Blood Stalk, and he of course did an excellent job setting up the character. However when Zenkaiger started, with most of the starting cast being suit-only characters, Okada ended up transferring over there to play Vroon. A few other actors swapped in for Desast when necessary. (and kept doing great!)

That said, Desast's suit actor at the time of episode 28, as well as a few of the specials, was Shigeki Ito... who also happened to have just spent a year as Kiramai Red's suit actor! (...Somehow, this is something we'll get back to this later.)

Oh, that's a cool fun fact. He must have been channeling the "Hirameking!" for that specific Desast Walk!

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 28

They can't all be Time Vent, Die!

But I really do think this is a nice baseline clip show, and I don't really mind how these have seemingly become a standard midpoint thing for Rider now (we'll see if Geats keeps the trend up soon, I guess.) I also don't bemoan the mere existence of recap episodes to begin with though, so I'm probably more inclined than most to take it easy on something like this. The actual recapping here goes a bit further than just stating the obvious (love how they make Touma magically knowing how to be Saber right away into a plot point, for example), and it ends with a big slam-bang fight to reward the viewer for their patience. Even its position between big arcs is like, pretty much exactly where these things ought to be placed?

(Also, I totally can't blame you for the Elemental/Emotional mixup. Elemental Primitive Dragon may not be Emotional Dragon, but it is a very emotional dragon. Anyone would get confused!)

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 29 - “HIS TIME IS NOW, THE SWORDSMAN ENTERS THE FRAY”

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Rintaro!

I love him so much. I love how this show treats Rintaro returning to the fold as proof of Touma’s moral clarity. Like, if Rintaro thinks you’re worth following over the Sword of Logos, you are definitely doing something right. It’s not even that Rintaro’s some key soldier, or some secret weapon. He’s just Rintaro, and that’s the best thing for any group to have.

It’s an episode that’s sort of circling around two main topics that are vital to Rintaro’s sense of self-worth: What do we do when the things we believed in let us down, and what value do we have as people in the aftermath?

Those are both INCREDIBLY Rintaro concepts, which makes the episode interesting as a way of getting into his psychology, but they’re also key points that the series keeps coming back to. Saber’s a show with a traditionally (for Kamen Rider) skeptical view of large organizations. It’s also a workplace dramedy, so it’s not exactly a Blade sort of situation that’s all about demolishing some faceless organization to better express the diversity of human experience. It’s interrogating the idea of large groups, not necessarily advocating for or against.

For Rintaro, the Sword of Logos was a family, a job, and an organizing principle for his sense of right and wrong. Acts that supported the guild were moral; acts that went against the guild were immoral. Rintaro loved the people inside the guild who brought purpose to his life, and in doing so he loved the guild.

The transference of that love – how we imbue organizations with the same affection we gave to the people inside that organization – is a Big Deal topic for Saber as a show. There’s a cognitive load that comes with having to consider a mass of people as individuals, so it’s easier to think of them as part of a larger whole. But, at a certain point, we think of the whole instead of the people within it, and we start to value those people less. The Sword of Logos mattered more to Rintaro than his friends, despite his friends essentially being the Sword of Logos. Reika and Master Logos, they aren’t what Rintaro respected or loved about the Sword of Logos. Rintaro’s respect is for a dead master, and a delightful selection of apostates at the North Pole. We shouldn’t ever really love an organization, because an organization can’t love us back. An organization doesn’t have a morality to it, so it can’t teach us right from wrong. An organization is not a person, and it isn’t worth more than a person.

And yet, it’s not without value.

It’s probably the hardest thing Rintaro’s ever done, screaming on that parking garage floor about the Sword of Logos being bullshit. (Very nice of Durendal to check his phone or whatever while that deeply emotional scene was taking place!) It’s him not only acknowledging that his value system was screwed up, but having to do it while Touma risked everything to come get him. It’s embarrassing, if nothing else. Shameful. It’s Rintaro’s entire life exposed as empty gestures at best, jackbooted villainy at worst. He needs saving from the thing he dedicated his life to. It’s pathetic, and it makes him wish he’d made every decision in his life differently.

But, the thing is, the Sword of Logos was something people made, and a thing people believed in. That alone gives it value. If someone like Rintaro is willing to dedicate their life to it, it matters. This whole episode is about how an organization is improved by true believers, and how an organization that doesn’t value that isn’t worth believing in. But it can be made better; it can be turned into something worthy of its believers. If the Sword of Logos has been corrupted, it’s not something that’s permanent. An organization's just people, and it gains its identity from those people. It only needs better people in charge for it to be better.

Like every group, it just needs Rintaro.

—

YOUR HAND IN MINE

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They needed Rintaro. He just couldn’t see it.

Mei was excited to get the call from Rintaro, right up until he said he wanted to meet on Brooding Roof. That was not exactly the sign she was looking for. It most likely meant that Rintaro wasn’t yet resolved to join them all back at the Northern Base. Which meant that she’d need to try and convince Rintaro to return.

She thought she’d done it once, when he and Touma had that adorable shouting match about how great each one thought the other was. (She was still kicking herself for not recording that.) Rintaro seemed to finally realize that Touma needed him, and that the best way to make sure everyone stayed safe was to stay together. She thought she’d finally gotten through to him.

But no, because this was Rintaro. Stupid, loyal Rintaro. Stupid, cute, loyal Rintaro. Idiot.

He’d gone back to the Sword of Logos, probably because he hadn’t made himself sick enough from anxiety. Every time she saw him lately, he seemed on the verge of two or three breakdowns. He was as scared and sad as she’d ever seen him, and she’d seen him walk by an open-air pastry festival once.

She’d bet money that he’d chalked all of this up to him not being as strong as someone, or as smart as someone else, or as clever as whomever, or as brave as she didn’t know who. As much as Touma tried to tell Rintaro that the problem was the Sword of Logos, Rintaro couldn’t ever hear him. He probably told himself that the problem was him; if he could be more SOMETHING, everyone would come back and they’d all be a family again. He was the problem, he was surely telling himself.

Well, Mei was starting to agree with him.

Rintaro was the problem because he couldn’t see how much they all needed him. They were warring swordsmen right now, but if Rintaro joined them, they’d be a family. They didn’t need him to do anything other than join them; that was it. They didn’t need a cunning swordsman or a powerful warrior, they just needed that big, adorable dummy to come home already. He spent his whole life looking for a family, but he was the only thing that made them all a family.

So she’d bring him home. She’d let him know that they needed him. She’d get him to see it.

This might just be my favorite part of your entire spiel. Which I absolutely adored. I enjoyed you just digging into what exactly is at the core of Rintaro's current arc. It's such an interesting dilemma, in which Rintaro needs to realize that the organization itself isn't who he considers family, but the people he bonded with within the organization itself.

It's definitely a brutal episode for Rintaro in which we get the debut of Durendal and his mysterious sword basically overpowers our favorite Swordsman of Water. I don't even blame Rintaro for not even going for his upgrades in this case, when you're going up against uh... whatever Kaiji does (they keep it purposely vague here but there are enough hints), then you're going to lose unless you know it's secret.

That being said, to those confused about how Kaiji works. You ever watch that one Futurama episode with the Harlem Globetrotters? That's your answer.

Not much to say but after a bit of a breather last time, we've got a strong return with an episode basically focusing on Rintaro's fallout with the Sword of Logos. Though I will say, hey! Sophia's back! I suppose Kento isn't that bad of a dude if he's at least willing to get her out of the Sword of Logos' hidden broom closet.

As for our story this time... it was cute. I love how Mei dreads the brooding roof, and how she can simultaneously call Rintaro stupid, but also compliment him at the same time.

No Desast Walk this time, so that's all from me.

It's time dilation, is how I'd describe it right now. Durendal's manipulating time, and cutting out chunks of it to change position and disorient his foes. Beyond his Ride Book shouting about TIME so much that you'd think it was a Zi-O Legend Rider item, there's also they way that Touma gets affected in a completely different room.

At least, that's my take on it!

It's a minor point in the face of what is just an overall excellent episode, but this particular Saber outing has probably my single favorite production decision in all of Saber. Please allow me to indulge in my own little bit of speculative fanfiction:

Long-Haired Freaky People Need Not Apply

"So we're doing a big showdown in the Sword of Logos's Southern Base. Rintaro is going to barge in demanding answers, Touma's going to follow him, there'll be some fight scenes with the Shindai siblings."

"Sounds like a good episode, do we have a shooting location?"

"We've rented out some space in a hotel to serve as the Southern Base."

"Does it look like the headquarters of a book-themed order of knights?"

"Not particularly. It looks like a hotel. That's where I'm hoping you can come in with some really creative set design to help sell it as a major Sword of Logos stronghold. Can you do that?"

"I know exactly what to do."

"What?"

"I'm going to take an 8.5" by 11" sheet of office paper."

"Okay."

"Then I'm going to print words 'Sword of Logos' on it. But in a really crazy sci-fi font so it looks more mysterious."

"I am loving everything about this so far. What next?"

"Then I'm going to take that sign and..."

"Yes?"

"Then I'm going to take that sign and tape it to a wall."

"That is perfect. 10/10 concept, no notes."

Well, the second arc is over, time for the main plot to move forward to arc 3.

Well, the Lords of Wise were introduced and died in the same way (entirely offscreen. Seems odd to give names to characters you aren’t going to cast actors for, but…

We also get to see Elemental Dragon’s solo function: giving an elemental boost to whoever uses it. Which, is limited to Saber, Blades, Espada, Calibur and Saikou, since the bigger books don’t fit in the “entirely a sword” Drivers. Speaking of which…

We meet the 10th Rider, Ryouga (or as one person dubbed him based on the aforementioned Twitter confusion, “Reggie”). And continuing the unintended Shark parallels, he has a deep sea theme to his weapon of choice. And Kaiji, like Noroshi, has a second mode for form changes that goes unused in show.

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

Kaiji Gyakkai! Wonder Rider! The time is now! Gyaa!

Kaiji Issatsu Tsuki! (界時一冊突き！World Time One Volume Stab!)

Kaiji Issatsu Giri! (界時一冊斬り！World Time One Volume Slash!)

And now, to close off, we have a new brother/sister character duo, so it seems only fit to bring up the last regular example in two different ways.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...4/IMG_1342.JPG

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...5/IMG_2399.JPG

Ah yeah, this is where Durandal is introduced so Reika's writing gets... really, really weird. It's the one reason I won't rewatch Saber

Terrific short story, with only one minor addition:

"Okay, so, we've got the big first fight between Blades and Durendal. We know it's going to wrap up in that parking garage from Touma's last trip to the Southern Base -- everyone knows Southern Bases have great parking -- but where does the fight start? What's a good, distinct location?"

"Oh, you're gonna love this: a hotel ballroom."

"Dang, that does sound pretty epic. But I feel like there's a touch it's missing."

"A giant red cone?"

"...you are reading my mind."

Ha ha, yeah, I think Daishinji mentions them for the first time in the clip show, and now the next week Master Logos is like I Killed Them All Off-Screen. That is some real Q1 Saber cause and effect!

Yeah, I'm already not loving how breathless she gets when her big brother is introduced as, basically, her replacement? Not a great start!

To explain myself better, I refer to the moral here as in keep holding on your optimism like Touma and you'd get rewarded for that (e.g. Touma getting Elemental Dragon at the end), in comparison to Kento who still wallows in his pessimism thus is blind to golden opportunities like Touma's triumph and it'd be set as his downfall. Of which if it's like that then it can be just assumed as the story favoring Touma.

I've said before that Mei is never at odds with Touma again since Kamijo's demise, and it extends to his work too, where now Mei isn't pushy to Touma to force him to complete manuscripts ASAP anymore, instead she knows that he can be busy doing his protecting the world job, but it's Touma himself who wants to write it despite his new Kamen Rider occupation. As a first watcher, so Ryoga is introduced earlier than I thought, of which it'd do a big disservice to Reika's character, after some praise for her as (ugh..) tough and cunning girl, and it's already seen here with her just fawning over her onii-chan.

I do think that the recap here is done better than some others as it's something already established in-universe where Touma writes his and his comrade's story as a book, thus he'd want to continue it with what happens recently, so there'd be an in-universe reason to recap, but I guess as you said, there still can be a room of improvement.

I guess you're right about Kento's actions now being an influence of his father, though it wasn't him being maddened or something to resort to that, and his future visions are still from Kurayami, but it was revealed that Hayato also saw the futures in Kurayami. So it's a parallel for both Touma and Kento, where they both carry a will from previous Calibur anti-villains who seek to achieve good via extreme means, Kamijo and Hayato respectively, but correc ttheir way. Touma obviously won't do something bad, but Kento doesn't quite correct their way, even if Kento's method is tamer in comparison. Ren's reaction to Kento is obviously opposite compared to Touma, where while Ren is eager to dispose Touma of when the SoL accuses him as being power hungry, here he vehemently denies that Kento can be problematic.

There?s a reason why, when the question is raised of what books characters would add to their arsenal, my answer for Reika is Flowers in the Attic.

So, here I actually have to strongly object. The relationship between Shindai is not what you three are talking about. Their relationship may be look like this, it may even be intentionally pretending to be it and in fact it is no less unhealthy thing, but it is not it. The future will clarify everything, the main thing is not to neglect the spin-offs.
P.S. And "Flowers in the Attic" is also not about incest, but rather about bad parents. Although the book does not hesitate to exploit this topic.

Speaking of episode, it's great to see that you care so much for Rintaro. Like other characters in this show, he must fall to the very bottom of despair, then to rise up and frighten enemies and inspire friends with a lion's roar.
Also, I can't help but notice that many of your fanfictions are dedicated to Mei, which is also wonderful. As far as I remember, she didn't get enough attention during the broadcast of the show, so I'm glad that this omission is being corrected now.

I've seen every bit of Saber spin-off media. None of them make it better, some of them make it worse. Very unwilling to agree-to-disagree here; it's just disgusting. Don't fill my email notifications with nonsense, thanks

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 29

This is an episode all about Rintarou, so naturally it's like the coolest thing ever. Considering the heights the last major story arc reached, it was kind of a question of what possibly come after Primitive Dragon that wouldn't feel like a step down. I think they found the perfect answer! This is another episode I probably don't exactly need to sell anyone on, so I'll just add how much I love that emotional conversation between Rintarou and Touma while Durendal politely refuses to interrupt good drama. It's another one of those exchanges I immediately think of when I think of how unique Saber's writing is among Kamen Rider. Just stuff like how Touma basically launches into a second confession of his love here when a simple "I could never leave you behind!" would completely suffice, or when Rintarou starts spouting nonsense about how the organization he devoted his life to might as well be destroyed, only for Touma to immediately walk him back from the hyperbole. There's just such a kindness to so much of this series, you know? I can't get enough of it.

Ah, but Switchblade, don't you see? The resemblance to a hotel is clearly a powerful bit of deliberate symbolism on the part of the show, representing how in this episode, Rintarou, much like a businessman on a protracted trip, realizes at last he needs to check out of Southern Base, and finally return home to his family after letting his job keep him away for far too long. Up until this point, Rintarou, overly focused on the demands of his occupation, has mistaken the Southern Base itself for that home, but now that the truth is revealed to him, that revelation is at the same time communicated to the viewers through the set design. Just some really strong visual storytelling going on here, and definitely nothing else. :p

I mean, I guess? It's the story explicitly stating (recurringly!) that there can be no success in pessimism. If that's the story favoring Touma, okay? I don't know if/why that story should take the side of a character that doesn't embody its morality.

Yeah, there's definitely something in the previous Caliburs that Kento and Touma are reacting to. Good point!

Thanks! Just as a base level, I find Mei really interesting. She's fought for her place in the cast, despite her not having any fighting ability. She's used her managerial skills to act as a glue for this bizarre group of swordsmen, and I like digging into that skillset.

Also, we're in a phase of the show (probably for good) where there aren't many outside perspectives to borrow, and that's where I feel most comfortable writing. I don't 100% get all these guys yet, and twists can end up making previous writing feel off, so it's easier for me if I can create a little more from outside observation. With Mei, she can have a slightly less rigid perspective than an SoL guy, which suits me just fine.

It's really what separates Touma from every other lead Rider, I think, him doing that. Anyone else would've been like Yes And We'll Bring Them Down Together or something, and it would've felt heroic and powerful. But Touma's right there to push back on Rintaro's uncharacteristic nihilism, and ask him if he'd really be happier with the Sword of Logos gone forever. Because he knows that Rintaro just wants this thing he believed in to be worth what he's endured; the last thing Rintaro wants is for his entire life to be erased. It's nice that Touma's a guy who won't even let his hope fade on the evil organization that is trying to systematically eliminate his friends and destroy the world!

I can see that, but only because there was a piece of paper taped to the wall that said "Sword of Logos." Never would've gotten there without that.

Rintarou's unyielding loyalty is one of his most admirable heroic qualities and yet, unfortunately, Master Logos exploited that to turn him against his friends, much like he did with Touma's empathy. An important part of loving something unconditionally is the ability the think critically and the courage to admit when it's in the wrong. SOL isn't bad, but it is broken, due to Master Logos turning it against the tenets it was established to uphold. Rintarou's love for SOL hasn't faltered, on the contrary, he loves it so much that he's found the resolve, thanks to Touma giving him a little nudge, to punish the traitor for perverting the organization's noble cause and restore it to something worthy of that love.

Pretty much. It's confusing for Touma since he has to try and figure out what's happening in real time battle, as well as learning his own powers as Elemental Dragon. While we being spectators, it gives us more time to understand. So yeah, Durandal is the Swordsman of Time, who uses a book about marine animals of the ocean. This is cleverly symbolic of Norse culture, where the ocean is used as a metaphor for time and limbo, a bridge between parts of a person's life.

While I agree that the spin-off does slightly improve Reika's character (which is a talk for later), I don't think that retroactively makes her more tolerable in the show, nor does it justify any of her abusive behavior. Kumon Kaito had a similar problem, where he wants to commit genocide to make a better humanity for vague reasons, as his backstory for that only comes up in Gaim Gaiden Balon. That kind of content should've been in the show, not a spin-off released after.

I'd suggest Medic Roidmude is an example of this done right. She's a terrible person, but then it's revealed that she only became a terrible person by accidentally absorbing negative emotions from other terrible people that she healed. And that important content was in the show, where it should be.

Furthermore, even if you do try and look at the Shindai siblings in a (relatively) healthy way, that doesn't stop people from ignoring it. As mentioned in the Zero One thread, the dark side of the shipping community has certain, uh.... Idiosyncrasies, that the way this is being depicted in the show is basically just pouring gasoline on a fire. My advice for anybody who wants to enjoy Kamen Rider Saber is just to ignore the Reika stuff as much as they can.

No offense, but agree to disagree is pretty essential for any healthy discussion and debate. I dislike Reika as much as the next guy, maybe even more considering how harshly I criticized her in Episode 25, but people are going to have their own opinions, y'know. Also, you can turn off notifications in settings if it bothers you that much.

That's why I said that, because that's not a discussion or a debate for me. I'd also rather not turn off notifications for the sake of avoiding one topic when it's useful to me otherwise.

Also, uh, I like Reika! In fact at this point when I was watching the show she was the single Saber character I was actively enjoying! I just heavily dislike this one trait she's given from this point on (and in fact like her a lot in future specials where she's far away from Durandal and hence gets to be a fun character).

Have to say, despite that, you've been doing a pretty good job nailing this so far! The one time lack of future knowledge failed you is when you perfectly note-for-note predicted the plot of a future spin-off! You've seriously jelled with these characters in such an on-point way

Rintaro suspects Reika as the traitor when he reports to Master Logos. Hmm... spending your time turning the group against each other and accusing others as traitor, and ends up making themselves look like the acutal traitor. Where do I have seen that? It's kinda ironic that, Rintaro's the one who got to learn the real traitor in SoL, despite him being the one who tries to prevent anyone else from going on that path, by simply directly talking to Master Logos. Makes me wonder why was Kamijo going on power hungry path for years to seek out the traitor that Rintaro only got a simple solution of. Rintaro's gotta be the one to tell others about this information as he rejoins his friends, him being the one who succeeded in doing Kamijo and Touma's job despite being the one not wanting to.

I think that Touma and Rintaro's strain doesn't escalate into something as big as I thought, not a complaint/praise. At worst it was Rintaro's emotional outburst to Touma which even Mei thinks it's like a lover's quarrel. Though it's also a contrast to Kento, who still keeps going on his path after witnessing Touma's success. Though Kento seemingly freed Sophia, and the barrier for Northern Base returns as Touma gets severely injured at the end. Ryoga's Rider form, Durendal, is time based of him easily dodging attacks. It's also shown that Elemental Dragon can be used by non-Saber Riders as a buff like Hyper Muteki in Ex-Aid Ryoga is the opposite of Rintaro here regarding his loyalty to the SoL, where his is without conscience thus he'd blindly follow their darkest goals without second thoughts, thus he can't be reasoned or bargained with, in addition to his seemingly unstoppable Rider form.

Yeah as Touma says, the SoL can be tried to be restored into their usual philosophy, it doesn't need to be destroyed when he cherishes it so deeply, but the fact is there can be corrupt members in any organization, even when it's something meant for noble causes, like in real life for corrupt cops. Though for now, Rintaro defects from his family organization. For opposite though, it's also unwise to assume someone as totally being bad only because they're a part of an organization that is infamous, including when they won't ever perform their dirty work, like trying to convince others to stop going through that path.

Ryoga is also someone who has unyielding loyalty to SoL though. So I guess, what'd make Rintaro's a heroic quality is his conscience that he follows, while Ryoga has none of that to be devoted to SoL's cause no matter how dark actually it is. He'd follow their darkest goals without second thoughts, making him someone who can't be reasoned or bargained with.

My people have a saying: "If you see the word "sex" in the questionnaire and just indicate your gender, then everything is okay. If you have other thoughts about this, then the problem is not in the questionnaire, but in you." But yes, the media has a long history of flirting with shippers, including very deviant ones. But, again, this indicates a problem in society (or even humanity as a whole) rather than in a particular work. Do not bring such topics money, they would be remembered once in a hundred years, and then by accident.
Speaking of the Medic, for me the trio of main Roidmudes were suffering from what I call the "Loki Problem". It's when the villainous character, the good character, but the sucks as villain . As for the Medic, it was mainly other Roidmudes who suffered from her, and it was difficult for me to sympathize with the killer machines, so she never caused much negativity. But the story was good, yes.

I think there's also a sense of the tides, how they move in and out during the day. There's a real High Tide/Low Tide feel to Durendal's effects.

Aw, thanks! This whole project has been really fun, and I think a huge benefit is that the show has such a massive cast of intriguing, unique characters. I'm not saying I couldn't've run the same gimmick on Zero-One, but it would've probably only had a couple three distinct viewpoints to examine: Humagears, humanity, maybe MetsubouJinrai. There's a real apropos binary division to how Zero-One's doing its storytelling, while Saber has this fertile territory of workplace dynamics that gives everyone a different perspective on the events of the series.

I'd think part of the problem Kamijo faced was that Master Logos wasn't ready to reveal himself yet? We're in the endgame for his scheme, and he's very excited to crush Rintaro's spirit before he crushes his body. Fifteen years ago, he was probably trying to be a little more stealth about it all.

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 30 - “FOREVER CONNECTED, EVEN WHEN APART”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber30a.png

Interesting episode! Not one that was a blast to watch, but one that’s pretty appealing in its subtext.

The beats of the story… not that great? We’ve got our reformed SoL (minus a wandering Ren), complete with Sophia at her post, and it all gives an air of Q1 storytelling: the Book Club are doing some vague scheme, Touma and Rintaro are buddying up for the potential save, the Southern Base is nowhere to be found, and Zooous wants to brawl with Blades. It’s a little formulaic, basically mashing up an early episode’s weightless Megid plot with a more recent Megid Has A Grudge Against A Swordsman plot. There’s a little bit of additional juice from how much the cast is firing on all cylinders, but the structure here is nothing to rave about.

The thing that makes it work, though, is how it’s both a story about two dudes needing to save some lady, and a subversion of that type of story. It’s about Rintaro Needing A Win, to the detriment of Mei’s actual personhood, but it’s also highly critical of stories about men needing to salvage their self-confidence while a woman is in peril.

Like, the thing I love about this otherwise-problematic story (Mei’s more or less off the table as a character after the opening, which, as a Mei fan? NO THANKS!) is that it’s hyper-aware of the optics on this, and leans into it in order to subvert that trope. The point of this story is that Rintaro, for all of his caring about Mei, is only thinking of himself here, and therefore can’t possibly be the hero this story needs.

Rintaro, from the first scene, is completely in his own head. He feels ashamed at his actions that inadvertently supported villainy, and longs to prove himself to his friends. He needs to prove himself. When Mei’s in danger, he needs to save her. When he begs Touma to save her, he needs to feel the worthlessness of not being able to save her. This is a story where Rintaro reframes Mei’s peril as a story about his own redemption and/or suffering, which keeps him from being either effective as a swordsman, or helpful as a friend.

And, y’know, your mileage may vary on how successful this episode is at digging into the toxicity of these types of stories. It’s indulging in tropes specifically to dispute them, but it’s still indulging in them. I really appreciated how it tried to say something about how much we should valorize the men who bravely reorient narratives onto their emotional suffering, though. It’s easy to feel bad for Rintaro, which, sadly, makes it easier to forget about Mei.

Other than that plot, not a lot going on this time? We’re clearly setting up a few threads that’ll pay off later (Sophia reaching out to Kento, Desast reaching out to Ren), but here, they’re just intriguing cutaways from our main action. This is one of those episodes that pretty much all A-plot, with little else to dig into.

I liked that A-plot, though! I’m a sucker for any Rintaro/Mei story, and I really enjoyed how subversive this one was with Rintaro’s rapidly deteriorating confidence and calm. He needs a win real bad! That’s not great for Mei!

—

DON’T THINK ABOUT ME

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber30b.png

It honestly was a pretty nice roof.

Mei wasn’t going to say she regretted the times she’d complained about coming here, but she was definitely beginning to see the appeal. There was a refreshing isolation to the roof, which was a benefit she’d found herself in desperate need of this afternoon. (She definitely did not need the stage and inflatable planet, but that was apparently a non-negotiable part of using the roof.)

The day had started off pretty well, which was a pleasant change of pace. After weeks of frayed friendships and devastated swordsmen, they all got to welcome Rintaro home. He even had his first eclair, which was as dumb and adorable as Mei’d hoped. There was normalcy again; at least, as normal as a group of sword-wielding superheroes engaged in a battle against rival apocalyptic groups of book-obsessed lunatics could be. It was nice, for a moment.

And then she became a pawn for one of the book-obsessed lunatics to fight Rintaro, and the day got substantially worse.

She tried to feel bad for Rintaro, but the truth was she was more scared for herself. Rintaro would blame himself, and scream about things, and she was sorry for that. She’d heard the lies the Megid used to demoralize Rintaro, and they were laughably transparent. She’d never doubted Rintaro’s strength, or his conviction, or his abilities. She knew he’d try hard to help her. She felt bad about how Rintaro would believe the lies, though, because it was just how he was. If Touma ran on hope, Rintaro ran on hopelessness.

But her thoughts today hadn’t stayed for long on Rintaro. They came back to her own sense of shame, for how little she’d been able to stop all of these tragic events. The people caught up in this horrible scheme, the collateral damage of everyday folks; not warriors like her and the Sword of Logos, but innocent bystanders. She’d been helpless to watch as they all became pawns, just like her.

That was the worst of it: the helplessness. She’d always assumed she’d go out fighting, just like the rest of the guild. Maybe bravely protecting one of her friends. Maybe saving some civilian, at the tragic cost of her own life. Definitely something that’d go viral. (She’d been certain of that.) Instead, she was cocooned within a gossip cat monster that gaslit her friends while it slowly digested her. It was like watching a TV show, and learning you’d die at the end of it. It felt… impersonal, which made it all the more horrifying.

So she sat here on the roof, dwelling on her shame and fear and guilt and anger. It was a change from her usual outlets of berating whoever wronged her and venting on social media, sometimes simultaneously, and she welcomed the change of pace. It reminded her of the friends she’d leave behind soon, and the connection grounded her just a little bit. She thought of Kento, and Touma, and Rintaro.

Rintaro. If he could get over feeling like he wasn’t strong enough to save her, maybe he could be strong enough to save her. If not, at least they’d have this roof.

It was always going to get worse before it got better for Rintaro tbh, and this is an episode that continues that.

I feel like this is probably the best of the human turned Megid plots purely because it's a character we know this time.

I'll be real, call me whatever you want but... I never got any of those feelings of toxicity out of this episode? Like, idk, it just felt like two people desperately trying to save their friend as one of them is currently trying to figure out how to get back into the groove of everything and believing he can't because of how out of the loop he's been.

Aside from that, a fun note is that Touma used the Daishinji technique again during the opening fight, that's rather nice.

Also I enjoy how you've really just taken to having the brooding roof as a major recurring character in your stories at this point. Really nice.


Desast Walk #10:

"Hello, humans.

I'm Dessert.

I've never been to a real ocean before.

The sea breeze caresses my cheeks, the sun shines on the waves, and the scent of the shore escapes me.

It's not a bad feeling.

This is something you don't get from reading, right?

But it's too bright for me."

If I view it as a straight-up story about Mei being put in danger so Rintaro can learn to believe in himself, I'm probably going to check right out of it and feel a little gross for the production team. If I look at it as a group of creators trying to deconstruct those same types of stories, though? Instantly more entertaining for me.

Yeah, the plotline for Mei this episode...

I think people have generally tried to be hopeful about Reiwa, about it being an upgrade for Rider's female characters? How true that is series to series under close examination is it's own matter, but at least visually: hey! It's basically standard the tertiary rider is a Girl now! Big win for Women, right?

Which ends up not looking great for Saber, the notable exception. And it's not just lacking a female tertiary that clouds Saber's handling of women, but the actual female characters are largely... well. When we finally get Reika as a female rider, she immediately gets derailed to (weirdly) fawn over her brother. Sophia gets kidnapped (due to actor obligations, but) with barely an impact on the narrative for ages. Luna... is not a character! She really just exists as motivation.

Mei, at least, breaks the doom and gloom by being generally a delight. She's got energy, she's got spunk! Love to have her around!

But... she /is/ in that more traditional supporter/helper role. And then times like this, when she gets damseled to further Rintaro's despair during this arc for him... Eh. Even Saber's Best Gal can't quite escape, huh...?

In all honesty, the most I remember from this episode was the whole “Mei turns into a Cat Megid” beat. To the point I actually wrote a one shot for it which soon devolved into its own AU. I should really finish it sometime.

Mei-gido

Oh, you made an interesting point again. Speaking of plot deconstruction, that is, this type of parody, when clich?s are not ridiculed or elevated to absurdity, but are simply shown with increased attention. And then some viewers may perceive it as a satire, while others directly, depending on their preferences. Perhaps there is something similar here. Well, or the writers just made a plot that will help finally restore the relationship between the titular characters so that they meet the upcoming difficulties in their best form.