KAMEN RIDER SABER: SWORDSMEN CHRONICLES EPISODE 2 - “AN EPISODE OF KAMEN RIDER KENZAN”

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What a hoot this thing was!

Kenzan’s a fun character to try and do an introspective spotlight special on, because he’s incapable of introspection. (He’s also not special? That’s so mean!) Kenzan gets frustrated at the barest hint of reflection or self-analysis, so an episode devoted to digging into his motivations and contradictions seems like a doomed endeavor. But this was the opposite of that? It was actually pretty great?

A lot of that comes from how Kenzan is passed around a few different characters, and how his own inner works are exposed through his thoughts on others. We get to see how differently Ren acts around Ogami (attentive, not super thrilled to hang around with some old guy); Kento (definitely doesn’t have a crush on him); and, perfectly, Desast (thinks of him as an obsessive fan). Ren can’t really interrogate himself, but through his deference, jealousy, dismissiveness, and boastfulness, we get the picture of a young man who clearly does not understand the stakes of this conflict. He’s someone who doesn’t know the genre of the story he’s in, and doesn’t know the arc that self-confident young men in this genre have to go through.

And then, we get the fight against Desast, which was delightful. It’s not the all-time banger their first one was, but I really love how Desast is, like, Lazy Momotaros here. (Or Momotaros At Home, if you prefer.) He just wants to fight, but he’s sort of conversational about it? He’s not leaping from out of frame when Ren least expects it; he’s just sort of hanging out and wondering if this is a good time to have another duel? It’s the best character choice in a show brimming over with compelling characters. I love Desast’s whole Wandering Swordsman thing, and how charmingly loopy his demeanor is. Put him on the Sword of Logos already!

Shorter episode this time, and a bunch of it was padded out with Episode 9 stuff, but I probably enjoyed this one more than the first special. Kenzan just works better as a solo character, because he’s so adamant about not having any emotional or intellectual depth. I don’t know why that stubborn insistence on not having any layers works here, but it sure as hell does.

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NOTHING AGAINST YOU BORED SPECTRE

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Shin-ichiro came to the park in the early afternoon most days to feed the swans. He didn’t care much for the noise of children, and even less for the distraction of teenagers, so he tried to choose a time when he might be the only one around. He was lucky; today looked to be just him and the impending swans from the nearby pond.

He’d seated himself comfortably on his favorite bench, set out his small bag of breadcrumbs, and waited patiently, contentedly. Just him and his thoughts for the next little while.

“Hey, you mind if I sit here for a minute?”

Shin-ichiro looked to his right, and to the man talking. He was dressed in some sort of costume. (A cosplayer? Had he heard that term correctly?) He looked like a cartoon devil, a mascot for a theme park of ill repute. Shin-ichiro wasn’t sure this was someone he’d want to interact with under normal circumstances, and certainly not when he was trying to relax.

“I’d really rather you didn’t. There are plenty of other benches, and plenty of other parks.” Shin-ichiro gestured to the benches across the park, to the park’s exit, and to any direction away from him.

“Thanks, man,” the cartoon devil said as he lazily sprawled himself out on the far end of Shin-inchiro’s favorite bench. “I’m looking for this kid I was gonna fight. You seen ‘im? Yay high,” the cartoon devil indicated a vague level of no discernable height, “and carrying a green sword? I swear I smelled him around somewhere.” With this bizarre, unhelpful description, the cartoon devil leaned forward, clearly expecting directions to his preferred destination.

“Uh, no,” Shin-ichiro volunteered. “I definitely haven’t seen anyone like that around. If you plan on fighting someone, I’d appreciate if you’d–”

The cartoon devil cut in. “Ah, hell, seriously? This kid’s impossible to find. Hey, you’re not a swordsman, are you? You and me could go a round or two, if you wanted. You’re only a few years older-looking than that Buster chump, I don’t think it’d be an unfair fight.”

That was it. Shin-ichiro was either being challenged to a duel, or possibly propositioned. Either way, he’d prefer to be far away from this costumed buffoon. He gathered up his bag and moved to leave.

“I’ll pass, thank you,” Shin-ichiro said curtly. He wasn’t entirely certain what he was declining, so it seemed safest to be vague. He rose to his feet. “Have a good day.”

“Aw, you’re goin’?” The voice came from behind Shin-ichiro as he headed for the park exit. “Okay. Hey, you see that runt with the sword, you send ‘im my way, okay? Help a guy out.”

“I certainly will,” Shin-ichiro lied as he walked briskly away from the cartoon devil.

“I owe ya one, gramps,” came the receding voice, followed distantly by the cartoon devil’s exclamation of “Hey, swans!”

The sound of Shin-ichiro crumpling his bag of breadcrumbs masked whatever noises followed.

This episode... I don't have much to talk about tbh.

It mostly does its job in that it continues the little thing that Desast and Ren have going, with a fun fight sprinkled in. Really it does what it needs to and I enjoy it. I also think that Ren gels the best with Desast when it comes to people he interacts with. There's just something about the two that just... work together somehow to where Ren doesn't come off as annoying as when he's interacting with the other Swordsmen.

As for the story, a Desast focused one, and one from an outsiders perspective? Ooh... now that is a good time! There was a very nice self-contained uncomfortable vibe to it all, what with the man just wanting peace and Desast blissfully unaware of this and being... himself.

"Hey, swans!" made me giggle by the way, there's just something cute about Desast pointing it out much to the man's chagrin.

Again, didn't watch this, but knowing what I know about how the show plays out I wish I had now. I'll be vauge, but there are elements of this that will continue to play out throughout the show.

None of them make Ren less of a shithead.

You're going to want to save that nickname. I promise you it will be much more useful later.

Unlike the first Swordsmen Chronicles, I don't have much to say on this one. I do like how prideful Kenzan is, and more of Desast is always nice to see, but besides that, this honestly just felt like a segment of an episode of Saber.

I still enjoyed this special, but I personally think the first special was superior, just because it felt slower paced and it seemed like we learned more about the characters and their origins. Whereas this episode is mostly filled up with a fight, which is fine, I'm not going to complain that a Kamen Rider show has fights, but I wish the runtime was filled with a bit more substance.

Of course, the special was still enjoyable, I just prefer the first one by quite a bit.

The one where Kenzan’s stock footage transformation was used for the only time (which is odd, given the purpose of implementing the stock footage).

But yeah, this definitely gave people who saw it, at least in the west, more of an insight into Ren, which definitely influenced their perception of him come Q2. I can’t speak for the Japanese side, though I did see a gag comic where Leangle and Ryugen get visited by someone with a blurred face, identifying as “Novelist T.K” asking for advice.

Ok, I can actually talk about something again, and it's probably gonna be very negative.

Not on the stuff, I liked it all well enough and made me a bit more interested in Ren at the time, so, did its job well.

I'd rather talk about something related to this:

#This, and by extension, this special series in general feels like it was made around footage that had to be cut, unexpectedly. And you can tell, even without watching the specials. The editing in Saber's first arc is... not good. It often feels like in between frames were cut, just instead of frames, it were small scenes, often not longer than a few moments that make everything feel smoother. It makes this arc feel rough in a frustrating way.

And these specials feel like they ended up the dumping ground for these scenes in a way.

Weirdly enough, I still thought it was the best Reiwa first arc before Geats xD

That said, not the worst version of this I've seen. That, honor(?) goes to Ultraman Trigger which somehow managed to have such frantic pacing and editing that every episode felt like 2 full episodes crudely stitched into one. So, at least Saber is not the worst at it xD

Ren is generally either loved or hated. As well as some other characters in the show, and the series itself as a whole.

Ren and Desast are on the same wavelength, which continues to not say particularly flattering things about Ren!

Ha ha, thanks. I definitely see Desast as an oblivious/goofy troublemaker, which is probably going to get me in trouble later in this series when it turns out he eats two babies everyday or something.

But now he's maybe a lovable shithead? I don't know! I guess we'll see after his next in-series appearance if I suddenly have a soft spot for that knucklehead.

I think that's fair? It's a real Your Mileage May Vary situation, where your affinity for different characters/pairings are going to make some of these specials work better than others.

Huh! Interesting! Thanks!

I don't think you're wrong, even if COVID makes these decisions a little easier to understand? It's weird how Episode 9 just has Buster show up out of absolutely nowhere to fight Calibur solo, despite leaving early in the episode accompanied by Kenzan. Why is he by himself all of a sudden? Why does he just randomly show up when Calibur does, despite Calibur spending the rest of the episode in a completely different place? Some of its just, like, Toku Geography, where characters and locations are situated wherever it would make the story move quicker, but some of it feels like the continuity of the episode has been sliced out. These specials help, but, man! They shouldn't have to do basic things for these episodes!

I'm getting that impression, yeah!

Yeah, agree. It honestly feels like everyone is still trying to figure out the new writing space, so to speak. If you are used to a normal Rider episode runtime, adjusting can be rather hard if you lose like 2-3 minutes each week with such a cast.

It does get better, though, which comes bundled with the fact that the series manages to nail how to use its frantic pace well. When Saber finds its footing, it doesn't let go of the gas peddle, it just knows how to blast along, which is a very unique feel

I'm looking forward to this new, better Saber people keep talking about!

In the meantime, it makes sense in the light of COVID restrictions that, if you've got to shave off a scene each episode, it's more sensible/safe to shave off the scene with multiple people talking to each other in a space. It's just, yeah, you really need that scene to explain why all of the other craziness is happening?