I’m giving it 10 episodes to see if it gets better than whatever it was I saw.

Just finished Saber. It wasn't bad. I mean, was it as hype as Zero One's first episode? No. But we can't and shouldn't expect every first episode to be that hype. Some series need a slow start to get the fires going.
As for the people talking about Touma suddenly knowing how to fight after transforming, if you pay attention to the very obvious dialogue and flashbacks, you can see that he's suffering from some form of memory loss. It might be a bit of a stretch, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that as a child he was being trained to be the next wielder of Rekka.

To be fair, I feel like the last few Riders have had plausible explanations.

Gaim: Kouta kinda had to get a feel for everything as he went along, but it also helps that he's already extremely athletic.

Drive: Was already a cop.

Ex-Aid: Emu was able to (somehow) transfer his gaming skills over to his Rider powers. There was also Parado.

Build: Sento had already been Build for a while by the time the show starts.

Zero-One: Was able to gain combat training via Satellite Zea.

Can't exactly remember much about Sougo or Takeru's debuts as their respective Riders, but I always assumed at least with Sougo that his status as the future Demon King meant everything was somehow naturally intuitive for him.

Sougo can be excused because the moves he pull in his debut were very brawler-y and not with skill.

Touma, on the other hand, was pulling Wizard-y sword skills already at the start. One can excuse that the Brave Dragon book kind of instilled the fighting knowledge in him, but we didn't see that happen. Also, no one mentioned the sword choreography here, it was good.

I personally prefer Saber first episode than Zero-One first episode.
Saber first episode is not the best first Kamen Rider episode but I really enjoyed Saber first episode.

It seems Megiddo are more dangerous and more powerful than any villains from Zero-One series...

And yeah, the Golem Megiddo as first monster are more powerful than Berotha Magia.

I definitely loved Blades sword choreography in the ending theme. It shows a lot of finesse in it.

I forgot to ask this before: since Calibur uses a voice-changer, we must know what he sounds like already or we're gonna meet his character's identity in an episode or two. Who do y'all think they are? My money's on the original Saber, it's so blatantly obvious he's important. He even reacts when Saber appears for the first time in years. It's gotta be him.

It'll be someone important (or they might pull a Isurugi) but unlikely that it's the original Saber. They were fighting on the same area when he saved Touma. Yeah, Calibur kinda disappeared afterwards but it wouldn't make sense for one person to bring or possess two Seiken Swordrivers.

Ah you're right. I forgot he was there in the flashback. Oh well, guess we gotta wait to get some real clues. ^^;

Emu just has those pro-gamer skills.

As for Takeru, he very much flunked his way through his first fight, with a bit of help from Yurusen.

I try to reserve judgement until episode ten; but frankly I already am getting a bad taste in my mouth; between the goofy narrator, excessive shouting and annoying as hell female character and touma being irritating while looking like an eyesore I don't have high hopes for this season. I hope I am proven wrong; but I fear everyone guessed correctly that this season will be a flop like ghost.

Well here's my "attempt" to subs KR Saber
Episode 1 (1080p)

I wonder if Saber is just a stop gap so they can save money for the next season, which will debut in Rider's 50th anniversary, which you have to do something special for that.

I really doubt the Rider execs would cut corners now for the possibility of making money in future when there's money to be made *now*. Plus, given how the teams for Rider seem to have some degree of independence (Saber was filming their first few episodes as Zero-One wrappd up their last), and how budgets for TV shows usually work - you have your budget for one series and that's it - it's very unlikely.

Thank you for the warm welcoming. I said that because I have been said lately that I can't synthesize my thoughts. :)

I would doubt that. I mean, Wizard was between Fourze, the 40th anniversary, and Gaim, the 15th heisei rider. Build also was before the anniversary season, Zi-O.

What I think it could be happening is that they were experimenting with the CGI. I say this because it caught my attention that in the ending sequence Saber was made in CG, while the other two riders were in suit in front of a green screen. I would prefer they still use green screen, specially since this season has a lot of capes and they just don't translate well to 3D models.

Anyway, I'm hoping the multiple riders give the show a lot more of a dynamic feel compared to Ghost.

Just watched Saber 1st episode, and the story could be better. The emphasize of interacting with children had never bode well for a kamen rider series; they're always are the most annoying episodes. Saber's motives and back stories have good potentials though. But what's up with Blade just standing right there not henshining?

Not as a positive or a negative, this seems very Sentai-like, at least on a superficial level. From how much the monster talked, to the monster turning giant, to the full CGI transformation sequence (as opposed to a simpler and shorter transformation effect like most Heisei Riders used), to having a special nomenclature for the episodes, to the dancing ending theme.

I did like it, though. Touma is very likable, probably the best kind of first impression I think a main Rider could make. I really liked the aesthetic of the show, though I am just a sucker for book/literature aesthetics in general. And although I disliked Saber's suit from just looking at a still picture, I've really warmed up to it upon seeing it in motion.

The only downsides I can really think of is that I could see myself getting sick of Mei if they don't give some depth to her character fast. And that guy from the beginning and ending who looks like Willy Wonka fused with an Oompa Loompa... I am undecided on.

I could see a twist happening much later on where he ends up being the main villain, or the person who created the Wonder Ride Books, or otherwise becoming important to the plot, and if that does happen I don't think I could ever take it seriously.

I know I can't really make a judgment call from the first episode, but it certainly didn't leave a bad first impression. In the end, I'd say I'm really looking forward to the next episode.

I don't know how I feel about that. So much happened in that episode, but it still feels like nothing happened. I guess I'll give it a few more episodes, but I don't have high hopes.

unpopular opinion though: I actually liked the girl.

The not-so-rumor is that Toei thought Build was going to be the last Heisei show so they went all out in budget and finality.

Still, it's very unlikely that a stop gap theory exists because I highly doubt any company has a financial plan that supports a purposeful down year to ensure the next one. Just too risky. One bad series can really hinder the following seasons (and sometimes entire franchise) like what often happens in Sentai.

Ending dance reminds me of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger.

After rewatching with Subs, I can so far say with confidence that this series is trying desperately to capture the flailing failing Super Sentai audiences with the kiddies it revolves around. Man, this was the weakest/lamest KR debut episode in DECADES. I just want to chuck the screaming girl sidekick character out of a bullet train, she’s AKIKO from W levels of Annoying, and this is the FIRST EPISODE....amazing after the dynamo of the first Zero One episodes.

At least it's not totally obvious who Calibur is this time around (like the minute Gentoku pulled out the Bat bottle I was like "Finally" instead of "OH MY GOD WHAT")then again It took me till after I watched episode 2 of Build to realize Ryuga was gonna become Cross-Z(his GF died AKA THE MOST OVERDONE SECONDARY RIDER TROPE EVER, and then I realized Ryuga means dragon in jappanese and Cross-Z is dragon motiffed I didn't even notice the character tag in the preview/op/episode 1 having Cross-Z's colorscheme but that made it more obvious in hindsight, I somehow thought Bloodstalk wasn't gonna be Souichi and in hindsight disappointed because the hints were there and totally obvious tbf those 2 episodes are EASILY Build's best episodes IMO.)

yeah can't say I'm surprised with the reception then again it's episode 1 but the most important episodes to any show are the first few, and it's not that it's impossible for a show that has a weak first few batch of episodes to get popular(Shows My Hero Academia where it's agreed that the beginning arcs/episodes are the worst parts of it) but generally speaking you can tell a show's quality by the first batch of episodes

I don't like this comparison. MHA was quality from the beginning, it just needed to set up the characters and world before it could do anything interesting with them. This first episode was an underdeveloped mess of too many ideas and annoying characters.

I wouldn’t say it’s the weakest, but that’s mostly because of Zi-O. This was definitely rushed, but Zi-O’s premiere was basically three episodes smashed down into one.

Decade S2 is only good because of Decade.

and we alrerady got a meme he is not a normal homosapien why couldn't they just say he's not a normal person I mean this does allow for meme and make this more memorable but you get the idea trying to sound positive but AS SOON As we found out who was writing this my expectations went down a cliff, and my caution went through the roof and for good reason by looking at these posts like someone in a discord told me "oh Ghost's slice of life" ok you still need good writing to make a good show

That line in particular combined with Touma saying that he feels like he's forgetting "something very important" at the beginning already sorta tells me everything I really need to know.

Potential spoiler alert: Touma's actually from the world of books, and the reason why he's immediately good at fighting with a sword is because he actually was trained to use them, but he got amnesia or something after he landed in "our" world as a kid.

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Also, this is only a minor nitpick but after seeing the subs I really just have to say something about it:

Gee, Touma sure seems to make promises a lot, and he considers said promises extremely important. I wonder if there's going to be an arc or event where he inadvertently fails to keep one and gets depressed.

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Aside from that I thought this episode was fine, it suffers in the same way a lot of first episodes do with trying to introduce and setup everything it can in a few minutes, but other than that it was fine.

I mean it's obvious like a question I always have with these shows is how and why does our MC know how to do this/immediately know to do this as soon as he get's the transformation gear.

preview was shallow honestly feel like we needed a bit more time to establish this stuff at least the op was amazing as is the ed

While I definitely feel like there was a lot of visual spectacle being shown off and us jumping straight into the action to where it might be overwhelming... it doesn't really feel like they were trying to cram that much stuff into things.

Like the episode is clearly here to show us, "Here is our Male MC, here is our Female MC, this is their usual interaction and dynamic. And now we're going to introduce them into this mysterious and action packed plot." all the while sprinkling little things, like the villains plotting something, Blades himself observing the situation given well, it's not every day you see a random Homo-Sapien transform into a long lost knight.

I really didn't feel like they were trying to feed to much to us, they were just giving us like the bare minimum in order to hook us. And it feels like, with Blades taking Touma to the Sword of Logos HQ in Episode 2, we'll get more detailed answers about just what is going on.

This is one of the things I loved about the first episode of Ultraman Z.

I can safely say that this was, indeed, episode 1.
Good golly gosh, was this a first episode. Par for the course for first episodes, because I'mma be real with you. After marathoning Ghost, Zi-O, and rewatching Den-O, Kamen Rider and pilot episodes go about as well together as a butter flavored lollipop.

I'm sure they'll explain what the fuck is going on, but for the time being, this was decent spectacle for the debut of the new character.

Pretty much a given as part of character growth.

I haven't seen the subs yet since I'm still waiting for TV-Nihon. Who are you using? It can't be Over-Time.

Your theory regarding Touma's backstory is plausible but an alternative explanation for his mastery of sword is roleplaying. He's shown to roleplay with kids while reading them a book so he might have some self-taught experience using a sword while pretending to fight a bad guy which shows that books have educational value.

For a guy who values promises, Touma makes them too lightly. I value promises as well, which is why I hardly ever make them. A reputation for unreliability is better than a reputation for dishonesty. So unless Touma is that confident in his ability to keep them all, it's a dangerous risk and could come back to bite him.

Gemn Corp released some the other day: https://genmcorp.cc/kamen-rider-saber-01/

To be fair, in most cases just transforming turns you into a badass. The only season where you have to have training beforehand is Hibiki. Or do you really think that guys like Emu, Kouta, Sougo and Mutsuki were already martial arts masters?

I keep seeing that homo sapiens joke going around, and can't help but think how perfect it is Kamen Rider Blades is the thing in this show immediately generating god-tier memes from episode one. Just makes me real happy.

Anyway, I've become weirdly obsessed with Saber in a very short span, and after watching it a few times, I think I've narrowed down the two beats in the episode I love the most:

- That little kid walking up to his mom when they get reunited at the end and asking if she cried. It's the equivalent of Aruto's "I guess this is one way to make people smile" from Zero-One's premiere when it comes to being this really heartfelt moment that ties everything together. After thinking about it, I eventually realized why. Touma taking the time out to inspire that kid to be brave has literally nothing to do with him being a Kamen Rider and fighting. It's by becoming Saber that he's able to eventually put things right, yes, but him being there to emotionally support a child happens either way, and I love that the premiere of this show felt that was something important to put in.

- Blades popping in on that lion at the end like it's the most casual thing ever. What a note to end the episode on. The willingness to just be weird for the sake of it reminds me a lot of shows like OOO or Fourze, and that sort of... playfulness, I guess, I think it makes for an entertaining show. Like, yeah, in a more serious show, he could just walk into that room normally, but what fun is that, you know? Is this a fantasy series or not?

Oh, and, as for Touma being good at swordfighting, given the whole bungou ni shite kengou shtick, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole joke is that a stroke of the pen and a stroke of the blade are functionally the same to him. I kind of doubt it's something the show plans to directly address, either way.

So, I watched Saber and I found that I enjoyed it. It felt odd though, like it was missing scenes. Like I felt that there needed to be a scene of us seeing the kid's parents crying and the kid needed to closer to tears.

I really like Touma, he's a very nice young man. I like that he's good with children and chooses to interact with them. It's a very kamen ridery aspect of his character. I like his willingness to protect even though it felt a bit out of nowhere (again that feeling of missing scenes).

I actually like comic relief girl she just comes off as a fairly normal person who's dealing with someone very eccentric.

Monster design was cool, and I love the effects for the bubble magic and the book stuff. The CGI looked a lot better then normal too, like PS2 graphics and not PS1 graphics.

I may have more to say later but those are my immediate thoughts.