The Shindai Siblings, they'll come around. Ryoga is duty-bound as ever, and Reika only follows him around because of her fondness towards him. It's a bit of an issue considering she's lost most of her independence, but at least I can see her doubts in her face when Yuri was explaining stuff. But I mean as your older brother, he is a bigger authority most of the time.

Then there's Ren. He finally gets his ass kicked in with Touma, and the latter calling him out for his catchphrase. Of course it stirs stuff in Ren and we even get a small scene with him and KentoSpada (nice to see the suit back, totally not foreshadowing). It does somewhat make it so that Kento and Ren's relationships is really one-sided. Ren looks up to Kento highly, but I don't think Kento treats Ren in the same level as Rintarou or Touma, but appreciates him considering he is his student somewhat. Only making it more apparent once Touma was in the picture and Kento was now focused about Touma and his father. Ren will come around as well, considering what Touma said to him last. Ren doesn't really have anything to prove anymore, but I do like that the website says he's still buddy-buddy with Dezast after this.

Now for Kento. Ppl don't really like him all that much, huh? It's okay. I like him for the dum dum he is. He's been proven wrong by Touma over and over again despite what Kurayami has told him all the same. And that scares him, I think. He's already failed his mission due to Touma. What was left that Kurayami told him? The future where Touma dies, and of course he doesn't want that. He snatches Kurayami off of Yuri's hands and heads off, probably hoping that grasping Kurayami ought to tell him something again. But the little bird flies over and tells him that the future has changed. Who is that bird? Not Tassel, but the voice did make me think Hayato. It'll be Hayato who will finally convince Kento to join his Touma's side again as Espada. The trio is back! And Hayato takes up Calibur once more, back in the path of justice! I don't think permanent for Hayato, at least I hope this is a one-and-done thing just to get every rider on-screen. I'd like to be that the series ends with most of the new generation of the swordsmen instead of having some of the old one, still.

Yuri's great here, he's had a streak of losing as X-Swordman so it was nice to see him stand up to Solomon solo, and finally make use of both swords to seal him temporarily. Really shows why he and Calibur are the strongest swordsmen.

As for Falchion, yeah, I don't think Mei's tactics worked fully. But I think I think that is what causes him take action and face Touma once more instead of sitting around and waiting it. Ready to see if humanity really has changed. This time with an Emotional Dragon to stop him, that or he gets rekt by Cross Saber.

Next week, the 10 rider team up against Solomon! I'm not exactly sure if this is it for Solomon, but something tells me it is, and we move on to the actual actual final villain. Storious maybe. Hopefully. I really like Storious!

We're 10-11 episodes away from the finale and so far Saber has been a very solid 6.5/10 for me. Not the best, not the worst, but when it really wants to do good at something, it can do it most of the time. Much like Zero-One, I really like the varying direction each episode and even bringing in new talent every once in a while. It's not perfect obviously, Q1 is still this fever dream of weird shenanigans where you can feel they want to tell something but everything is so bloated that it doesn't have the same hit as it's intended to have. The cast is nothing special, Touma's not really a special kind of protagonist, but I'm okay with that! I feel that it's not wrong to have generic protagonists like Touma every once in a while.

Especially when we had last year's Aruto whom didn't really have much character development (which is not a bad thing considering how proactive he is to the plot), a flat character with a unique turn near the end and whose actor had such a blast and heart at acting that made him worth the title of Reiwa's "Ichigou" according to his words..

Naito's not the best actor for his role (I think Yamaguchi, Rintarou, is a little better), but I feel that he really does want to put in the heart to his role as well, considering how hammy he is as Touma which I love dear god. In good hands, however, I think Touma can be a good protagonist, and one that is someone I could see getting better in future appearances. A Takeru-like situation. He's the protagonist that shouts out his heroic speeches, which is not everyone's cup of tea I'm sure, but again, I don't think it's wrong to have protagonists like that every once in a while.

Saber is a mixed show, and would probably something that'd be hard to get ppl into, but I like it for what it is regardless.

https://i.imgur.com/0bDmVdi.jpg

Based on my critical viewing skillz, Kamijou's fighting style varies depending on his grip but he is similar to Touma in spamming special attacks. There's not much to Hayato since he's been barely seen as Calibur, so hope to see how he does in this one.

KentoCalibur is still similar to his fighting style whenever he's in focus, in which case, he's all about speed and doing flips.

Thanks god that Meisespada thing didn't became real,for god sake man if Mei became Espada i feel that will be forced in terms of writing and for Mei crazy delusional fanboy please this is just a kids show no need to take this so seriously.

I love Mei's characters and i didn't have issues with the previous female rider but i think Mei became Espada will destroy her CHARACTERS!

Show is flawed but overal good, it has some below average plot execution and some of the dialogue can feel kinda generic, but it has an entertaining cast, interesting lore, amazing fight and despite the main plot being rather simple, the show still manage to make it entertaining

I say this show is much better than people give it credit for.

Tbh there's more that i want to say, but i will wait until the show over first

I’m ready for Revice to start

This is too far in the other direction. It would have been fine either way

Okay, so if Mei does become a Rider in a future movie, then people will be satisfied. But if she doesn't, then what? Unlike Zero One, Saber has had a vacant Rider System with Ikazuchi for a long time, raising expectations for somebody else to inherit it. What happened in Real Time (which I watched yesterday followed by Book of Ruin) seems more like fanservice than anything that was actually earned. I don't want Mei to just suddenly be a Rider. That's not good enough. I want her to become a Rider, to show how she has earned that title and prove to everybody else that she is capable.

Anyway, Book of Ruin was an awesome movie and I'm really interested to see if Mei's attempt to show how humanity has changed might encourage Bacht to join the heroic side. :D

That didn't work out so great for White Woz.

I'd argue that they are both equally important, considering they were part of the promise with Touma and Rintarou.

Are you suggesting that Mei is too weak to fight alongside them? Remember that Touma used to rely more on his knowledge of books and roleplaying to compensate for his lack of skill as a swordsman. So with some training, I don't see why Mei couldn't eventually become a competent swordsman as well.

Feels like going backwards to me, but I guess you can dismiss this point as my personal bias.

Well yeah, cause he's the only one who has ever used it in the show. That doesn't mean somebody else can't inherit it, which would have allowed Kento to continue using Kurayami.

I can't speak for everybody, but the reason why I want Mei to become Espada isn't just to add to the list of Female Riders. Sure, that's a bonus, but more importantly, I like Mei as a character and what she brings to the group and I believe she has proven herself worthy to wield her own Seiken Sword.

She deserves that way more than Reika, who apparently has as much will as Necrom Specter and only does whatever Ryouga tells her.

Nah, Gaim is just bad in general, IMO.

Show's absolutely fun, I wouldn't say it's like breaking any ground or doing anything amazing, but it's just an absolute joy to watch each week. I'm a simple man to please, in my 9 years of watching Heisei/Reiwa Rider, there's only been one portion that's nearly burned me out on Rider.

*stares at job competition arc*
*shudders*

But really you're talking to one of the like five Ghost fans in the forum? So like... of course I like it! :lol

Also legitimately, this is a very fantasy/Kingdom Hearts-esque show where the power of friendship and bonds are strong and it's really just my cup of tea.

This is literally the only reason I need to explain why Saber is my favorite Reiwa Rider show. :lol

So that's you, me, Fish, Kurona.... Who's the fifth?

I'm glad so many people like Saber. For me, Saber returned my interest to follow the series every week. As if back to the days of OOO and the previous rider aired. although at first I followed because I wanted to know how the writer improved his track record from Ghost, I finally fell in love with him. I love books. I'm also an author, I really like red, and the hero with majestic flaps is my aesthetic. I think Saber is the embodiment of my ideal hero.

This, this is the point that i want to make, Mei is a great character and i'm not against her becoming a rider, but again does she become a rider is really a necessity in term of writing?

If it not handle properly her becoming a rider can hurt her character or even the show, just look at Gai for example, before becoming a rider he is a cool, mysterious villain, then he got the Thousand driver and he become probably the worst character in the series and even brought the show overal quallity down.

Plus if she get the sword she has to fight a literal god complex psychopath that nuke the entire city without hesitation and in term of writting it will need a lot of convicing for Touma and co to let her fight, without making them looking like an idiot that doesn't care about her safety.

Beside even without a rider form Mei is already a hero and she definately show that you don't need a rider form to be great

Saber is - weird to describe.

The start is absolutely atrocious, really bad. Straight up the worst time I've had with a Rider show since Ghost.

When the show slowly started to find its footing, around the time Calibur bit the dust and it was Touma against the world it became... kind of good? Like, at least enjoyable? There was some genuinely great stuff going on there.

Currently we're diving right back into the "mediocre at best"-territory though. Master Logos is such a boring villain. I seriously hope they don’t intend to keep him around for the rest of the show and that the last Megid comes into play again. But what makes it passable is that the strong character moments from the earlier episodes still shine through sometimes.

So for me Saber is very much a mixed bag, but one most people will never find to be "mixed" because they would have to endure a terrible early chunk of episodes. And I can't blame anyone for not wanting to invest that time. I'm still not sure if the show as a whole is even worth it. I’m tending more towards "no".

I’ll claim that title.

Honestly I feel like that'll be soon, despite his delusions for grandeur and everything and his power, he's been exactly right in the spot of the main focus while Storious hasn't. If Storious was going to bite the dust before the end he would have done so before Solomon.

Like legit, given we're doing the big gather everyone next week and the result of it. I legitimately think Master Logos is just our drop off point for the new form. And that we won't have to deal with him as the main villain for much longer. Where we go from there? Who knows.

Then I suppose we're officially a Sentai now.

All the talk about Ghost being like Saber is really making me want to watch Ghost, so give me a week and I might just become the 6th. If you'll have me, of course.

Right, this is a Saber thread. Loved this episode, as usual, but it's going to take me a bit to put my exact feelings into words.

This is maybe one of my bigger issues with the show right now? He just has nothing going for him -- he's got nothing interesting going for him as a character; he has no actual relationships with any character aside from maybe Sophia; his motivation is "I'm crazy" and he feels so thematically detached from like anything going on. About the only thing I'll give him is that his actor occasionally gives an entertaining performance, but it's still dragged down by the script.

I've got a lot of issues with Saber beyond that - in particular I'm finding it hard to connect with, uh, any character? - but I think he and trident boy are the worst offenders.

Wooo, Ghost love! :lol Seriously good show

And here's one thing to make it all even worse: They have the perfect setup for this character, even mention it on the show, but muster no effort to flesh it out.

He was born in a line of "Masters", was forced to become something he never wanted to be. From a young age he was forcefully molded against his will. That is such a cool motivation for a villain, a child that just wanted to be happy and explore his own personality but was denied all of this simply because of his heritage.

What this show needed was maybe re-model the little boy dragon arc (which I love by the way, that whole setup for Elemental Dragon was great), and instead have Touma meet a little child in his dreams that grows older throughout every dream.

At first he meets a cheerful little kid that slowly becomes gloomier before aging into a teen who appears to be capable and kind but shows cracks through the facade, keep that whole thing going until eventually Touma realizes he saw fragments of Master Logos' life whose echoes were left in Wonder World or something.

Like, you have all the tools to make this character good, or at least interesting. The actor isn’t at fault, he's clearly capable. He's good at being a psycho, but only being a psycho gets old very quickly.

Honestly at this point Bacht of all things is the most compelling villain this show has. Okay yes, I really like his actor, but they at least gave him a proper backstory and try to interact with him in ways other than "I’m going to hit you with my sword real hard". The scene in this episode were Mei plays "ambassador of humanity" with her cute art pins and all was great.

But as I said earlier, I hope the Megid come into play again because even though they are a bit on the one-dimensional side, their status as former... guardians of Wonder World I think? Or at least among the first humans to enter it? I forgot. Anyway, that connection alone makes them more interesting than Master of Logos.

Also, Trident Boy has one thing going for him: When he was standing by all the atrocities being planned without remorse but rebelled as soon as bad guy was like "I’m not Master Logos anymore", that was kind of great. Reminds me of the "You’re fired!"-line from Robocop and such, I like that. And unlike Master Logos they’re clearly setting up more character development for him and his sister.

I was absolutely taken aback when they gave him a decent story and motivation! He's probably one of the better characters on the show just from the single episode he comes back

We also might want to remember him for being a villain seeking world destruction who was approached with a reason for not doing it being "We have Instagram nowadays by the way".

I know what they wanted to accomplish with this dialogue, show him that humans are connected and can easily help each other, but I can't think about a possible outcome being that he sees influencers advertising crap and just decides to blow up the Earth twice now.

So during the fight with Solomon, Kento strangely uses Jaaku Dragon despite using Jaou like 95% of the time he's been back, Solomon being basically a god, and the others using their most powerful forms.

...

They... they didn't use their only Jaou Dragon suit for Solomon, right? Surely not? There's no way, right?

Given the reuse of certain footage, I'm pretty sure the reason they had him as normal Calibur was for that shot at the climax of the fight. They probably didn't want to have to do a form swap.

And even then, there's literally only one part of Jaou Dragon used for Solomon, so chances are I feel like they have a spare or something lying around. It's just Jaou Dragon wasn't necessary for this episode's story.

But weren't Saber and Blades' base form in that 'flash forward' too?

I think that's exactly what they did, but since Solomon only uses the helmet, it probably won't be too hard for them to paint it back to Jaou Dragon colours if they ever need to. Thouser was not so lucky...

Now that its on my mind, wouldn't it be really funny if Brave Dragon suspiciously is never seen again after Cross Saber debuts?

No I'm talking about the specific shot of Calibur walking forward before stabbing the ground. They reuse that shot specifically, that's probably why they went with base Calibur.

Can I be included on the Ghost fans list? I like Ghost, it's a fun show for what it, and I do appreciate the actors on it. Plus, it's got some real cool aesthetics, and Ghost Grateful Damashii is still by far, one of my favorite forms ever.

That just means the superior Jaaku Dragon suit gets more screentime.

Anyways yeah Master Logos really isn't doing anything for me he's just kinda of the crazy dude with a god complex.

The more the merrier. Welcome to the club!

Truth be told, I'm looking at Master Logos as someone's whose a stopgap villain for Storious, since Storious clearly has an agenda ongoing while Master Logos acts as the current villain. And as a stopgap villain, he's not bad. He is kinda boring, yea, but for what he's doing, not bad.

Honestly if there's a criticism I have for Saber, it's that we don't necessarily get a lot of development for the villains. Only one who remotely got anything close to development was Reika I think.

Yeah, something tells me he dies this week or next week. It doesn't help when there's a form debut, incomplete Omni-force, and the trend of the Q1 villains being the final villain (Evolt, Swartz, Horobi).

Definitely hoping it's Storious, since not only do I prefer Storious over Logos, I'm down for a kaijin final villain. Even if they just repaint his suit and have him hold Caladbolg, I'm fine with that. Tho, if they straight up just give him a rider form, that's fine with me too, it just means there's potential to get a Storious SHF lol.

https://dryedmangoez.com/images/Drye...r27-(1014).jpg

I'm definitely still a little worried about Solomon's role in the show. It's maybe a testament to my blindingly strong love of Saber that I don't already hate the guy, because as I mentioned, these sorts of Gold Drive types, when they aren't Gold Drive himself anyway, tend to rub me the wrong way. The repetition from series to series is a lot of what bothers me, to be fair. There's this paradox going on where the debut of an unpredictable new main villain Rider in the 30's is now ironically predictable, and I think they really need to step away from this pattern for at least two shows in a row before it can be fresh again. And you know, obviously that's not all Saber's fault.

But I guess what I was hoping for with Master Logos that it's evident the show is consciously avoiding at this point is having him fit in with how the other Kamen Riders in this show are written. A massive part of why I fell in love with Calibur right away was the idea that this was a guy who explicitly used to be a hero, and as we found out more and more about his motivations, that fact became more and more significant. The most dramatically engaging conflicts in this show have always come from the clashes between heroes and other heroes. I have no doubt this is part of why Saber is considered to have "gotten good" during the second arc. Even a character like Reika, who was an overtly antagonist force, was also someone convinced she was acting for the good of the world.

It's why the Megid trio being used so sparingly has never been a huge bother for me? There being monsters running amok to generate plots is useful, but when there's something more interesting to focus on, Saber has never hesitated to shut them out of the spotlight for a bit, because they are very much the guys who are there to be evil and nothing else. I think all three of those guys are fun and charismatic enough, despite being so simple, but I'm also glad they never overstay their welcome.

What I'm getting at here is that I'm also less worried about Solomon, having realized that despite technically being a Rider, Master Logos is very much another one of the monsters in terms of characterization and narrative function. With Storious being entirely uninvolved in current events, it seems evident that this is merely Master Logos' turn in the spotlight – a peak for a character who admirably drove the development of the real stars over the past couple dozen episodes, and who will politely leave after bringing that role to a conclusion. Touma set out to find the true enemy who broke the bonds of trust between the swordsmen, and after a bumpy road there, he's poised to reunite the entire gang and then some, all in the name of finally defeating that dread foe behind the whole mess.

Like, it's a pretty logical conclusion for this huge arc, and if Solomon is only around for three episodes of the whole run, then my usual complaint about these evil Riders hijacking the entire story would kinda fly out the window, wouldn't it? I can hope, anyway.

At any rate, just like he was before taking up a sword, Master Logos is still making room for some nice drama with the protagonists, which means I can finally say all these paragraphs in that I still really really liked the episode! (Hard to believe how short these posts used to be back in September...) See, I know Solomon being so shallow is entirely deliberate because this is the kind of show where Touma going off to advance Kento's arc is interrupted by Ren showing up to demand Touma advance his arc first. Piling on plot threads like this is just classic Saber, and you'd better believe I'm all over that.

First of all, that Saber/Kenzan fight is great. Touma finally checks that last box on the list of friends to fight with, and I adored how he actively calls back to how many times he's done this before. It's kind of perfect to have this be the last of these matchups. Touma is maybe the character with the most growth in the show, thanks to all the different voices he's listened to, and then Ren is... literally the exact opposite of all that. It's a good scene for the both of them thanks to that contrast, and I'm honestly starting to see the appeal of Ren as a character now, which is praise for Saber I honestly wasn't sure I'd ever be able to give it.

It's also good because the seemingly random Ren roadblock for Touma serves as a way to also give Rintarou and Kento some one-on-one time, and I'm as glad they got that as Kento is. It's not super complicated or anything, but it balances out the focus to remind you that Rintarou is not a third wheel in this friendship, once again calling back to that promise they made, which I was happy to see. And while Kento doesn't elaborate on what he means when he says Rintarou has changed, you can see his growth too in that he's now talking strictly in terms of protecting the people who matter to him, rather than going on about duty and the like the way he was back when Kento was running off on his own in the first quarter. Like, I know it's easy to take for granted, but a lot of these guys have really matured over the last half a year!

So yeah, it's still cool seeing Kento take those baby steps to get there himself, it's great watching this trio taking on the big bad guy together, it's great seeing Touma making heroic declarations, it's great seeing seeing Yuri being Saikou as always, and this last one is jumping back a bit, but you know what? It's even great seeing them pull off a comic relief scene somehow involving Bacht. Love this show.

Wow, lot to process.

Mei becoming Espada.....doesn't need to be a thing. She's literally more on Sophia's path of becoming the replacement guardian of the Southern Base once Logos gets bookended. Which is why the books work around her.

Ghost being good? I'm gonna have to go mute on that one. Literally one of the few KR series that I did not enjoy, save for Spectre. In comparison? Light years of a difference in direction of story. And without the 'learning is fundamental' aspect of it all. Still, go read some books kids, too much TV aint good for you.

As for this episode, it's definitely building to that whole grand battle of swords, final form bit that we're kind of used to at this point. Every episode has said the same sentence to describe the troupe. "Touma is going to gain greater power". It's like he's the KR version of the CW Flash. We get it. He's gonna get all the power ups (*cough* toys) and beat the bad guys.

However, that doesn't mean it hasn't been enjoyable. To have such a large ensemble cast and keep enough time for character buildup? Hadn't seen that since Gaim. Touma started out as a character that was Harry Pottered into the Swords of Logos, and now look where he's managed to take it. And he's not doing it in an obstinate "I get there because I'm lucky" kind of way. He's plainly stating that he's going to win because he refuses to allow others to dictate how he wants his life to go for himself or his friends. It's relatable. And relatable to all ages. Each character as well has managed to flip their own beliefs and arcs in a way that makes their increase in strength believable too.

So yeah, solid 8 out of 10 so far for me.

Can I be the Sixth Ranger? I love Ghost. Even have the Ore Icon.

Speaking of Ghost.... Akari never became a Rider. I'd love it if Mei became a Rider, but it's not a dealbreaker for me. Like someone else said, she'd have to earn it. Even then, she's the Heart of the group, and it seems she'd replace Sophia in the future. Inb4 "Kamen Rider Riposte" Vcin--

-In other news, holy cow I love that group shot of all of them with the swords and its night and it's epic and aaaaa?

EDIT:
Oh dang. I love this show to bits. Yeah, it fell flat in some areas. But it certainly was a unique take on multi-rider shows. Felt more like a Sentai.

Yet it had that cheesy "friendship" ideology that makes me love games like Kingdom Hearts or shounen anime like Gurren Lagann (note: have yet to finish GL even now, need a DVD set 'cause I know I'll love it).

I certainly loved looking forward to it each week. The show grabbed me from episode one. Whereas everyone hated on the CGI and rushed setting of the first arc, I felt it was fine since Touma was kinda the audience surrogate, learning things on a need-to-know basis as we did. No wonder the arc felt so fast-paced. A full-on war wasn't gonna slow down for the newbie.

As the show progressed, it got better with its pacing, though it was still breakneck pace. Which was fine. Gotta hand that to Fukuda and his writing friends. Funny that a show about writing (mostly supernatural swords- but writing, too, kinda) had a ton of writers.

Speaking of writers, as of this episode, head writer Fukuda's written 12 episodes of this show if my counting is correct. I find that fascinating. Even though laying the groundwork for toy releases and plot beats is hard, I'd imagine, I still find it interesting how he managed to write so many episodes. I know it's not Ex-Aid or Build with both head writers doing most of, if not all, of the episodes. But I still find it impressive. Good job Fukuda! *clapping*

"Remember who you are, Kento."

This was a really good episode, and from what I'm seeing in this thread, it seems people have really warmed up to Saber, and this makes me happy in a way. From the moment I saw his design, I was already won over, and every other Rider introduced in this show has had amazing designs, and the aesthetic overall was a really fun one.

But I'm losing myself now, so back to the episode. I actually really like what they're doing with Ren, he's come so far as this "guy who wants to be strong" to now questioning his ideals while still holding onto his beliefs that his Master built up for him, and I think it's been handled very well.

Saikou dual wielding the Seiken of Light and Darkness was a really cool scene, heck, the whole Solomon fight was great, seeing the three leads struggle against a powerful Dark Rider, reminds me of Ex-Aid which I enjoyed.

And that moment with Yuri using Mei to win over Bacht was rather cute, I almost thought she was going to give him an éclair for a moment.

Next Week: Uchuuuuuuuuuuuuu Kitaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!