These first generation Swordsmen do look quite familiar...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtlwfoCX...g&name=900x900

Holy! You're right! And someone else said that the other two look like Master Logos and Tassel... If that actually turns out to be true, that's some great foreshadowing and would be totally in line with the book leading towards Avalon talking about the sword of light and shadow being the first swords to be created way before it was actually confirmed by Yuri way later.

According to the website, the story of Saber only accelerates from here on out. Interesting to see where this goes.

I might not be seeing the same thing everyone else is seeing, but... Storious, Legeiel and Zooous? But with medieval fantasy clothes that I wish they were still wearing because they're way more interesting than their modern outfits?

I've been wanting more backstory on the three villains since the beginning, and theorizing since the first "turn a human into a Megid" plot that maybe the other Megid were also human at some point, so I'm very curious to see if anything comes of this.

Yuri is like the new secondary rider saikou more so than rintaro. It seem like they make up whatever comes along like its time to give the villain some backstory and usually the best one is some family ties and depths with the heroes. Cliche twist, but depend on execution not expecting high hopes from first third of the series.

This might be my favaorite episode yet. We've got everything Touma and Daishinji hashing things out, the villians actually succeding, lots of lore being dumped out, Touma conviction being tested and strengthened and even briging up the fact that Touma has been more reliant on his upgrades then actual skill.

The episode was directed by Teruaki Sugihara the main director of Lupat and Zero-One who you might reconize his work from 1st episode, Rampage Gattling debut and Reiwa The First Generation from the Kamen Rider side of his work. So yeah love the imagery in this episode.

https://i.redd.it/czfu16hzs2g61.jpg

I gotta say, I liked this episode.

It was really cool getting some more in-depth lore on the world (shame we had to wait half the show to get it, but I digress). The fights were awesome, especially Saikou's powerup (gives me more Ex-Aid vibes than Slash did).

If the series keeps this up, I'll probably recommend Saber on the basis of "bad first half, amazing second half".

It makes sense that Yuri would be related to both elements. As Saikou, he is both a sword and a person, who summons a shadow cast from his own light to wield himself when not being wielded by another swordsman. Calibur, in both of his forms, also has an ability to interact with shadows, which would probably make him a good opponent for the otherwise invincible Saikou Shadow.

According to Daishinji, all the Seiken Swords have their own voices that he's able to perceive thanks to his heightened hearing. This could explain why the default forms are still relevant if a swordsman's power is determined more by the strength of the connection between their will and the will of their Seiken Sword. It's like how Saber wasn't able to unlock the full power of King of Arthur until he proved himself worthy and maybe that's how future forms will work, like controlling Primitive Dragon. It's about using the Seiken Swords as an instrument of will and the philosophy of what makes a Kamen Rider a hero rather than just a weapon.

It looks like Ogami already has faith in Daishinji's judge of character, as they go way back. Daishinji's challenge to Touma was mostly a test to see if his sword was still as strong as his pen, figuratively speaking, so Ogami will probably just want to confirm his righteousness for himself as well, before he commits fully to being his ally once more. Their loyalty is to their mission, not SOL specifically, and they're a little older than the others so they have the experience and wisdom to make their own decisions.

Rintarou and Ren are definitely going to be the hardest to convince. Rintarou is conflicted between his loyalty to SOL and the promise he made with Touma, Kento and Mei, all of whom he considers family. Ren's still just kind of being an a**hole right now.

I think Saikou X Sword Man does the humanoid power-up for non-humanoid Rider thing better than Lazer Turbo. I like how it's not so much Saikou shapeshifting in to that form but rather possessing his own shadow in a way similar to Den-O Climax Form and Zi-O Trinity. He can move around the suit fluidly, becoming a leg or an arm when necessary. It's such a cool and unique concept for a Rider!

Yeah, that's what we're seeing as well.

Very interested in their backstory now for sure, since this means they were probably good guys at some point. Although it's hard to imagine for some of them since Legeiel is such a stereotypical villain and Storious just seems to get creepier each time he shows up. Zooous has his backstory with killing Kenshin and now his rivalry with Rintarou and I'm looking forward to seeing how that subplot develops. But maybe the way they are now was due to something tragic and terrible happening to them 1000 years ago. Perhaps, they were also manipulated and wronged like Hayato was and this is all just part of greater scheme shrouded in mystery.

I think the other three could be Tassel, Master Logos and Sophia. I don't trust this Master Logos dude, since Reika serves him directly which leads me to believe he's the source of the corruption. Allegedly, SOL collect the Seiken Swords and Wonder Ride Books to protect the world from the Megids, but maybe that's just a convenient excuse to hoard them for purposes yet to be determined, another part of the elusive ultimate truth. I'm abandoning my previous theory that Tassel is evil, since he and Yuri seem pretty tight the same way Daishinji and Ogami are.

OH! GOSH! Did you see that? Was that character development? Was that plot development? Too bad it was bookended by the introduction of what I feel to be possibly the ugliest suit design since Ex-Aid, but at least maybe Yuri will be useful now? :p

I don't know if my standards have just dropped over the past twenty episodes to the point that I will take this as a "good" episode, but it was a pleasant surprise not to have to ask myself why I wasted the last 23 minutes or so when the credits finally rolled on this one.

I haven't gotten to this episode yet (I'm a little behind), but I have to say this:

I disagree with every single word in that sentence.

I don't want to start a fight or anything, but our opinions of this show couldn't possibly be more different.