KAMEN RIDER SABER SPECIAL CHAPTER - “THE WORLD PIRATE ARRIVES, AS WORLDS COLLIDE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...erspeciala.png

Just a nice, fun, light adventure for two-thirds of the cast and a special guest-star.

It’s hard to really delve two deeply into it (sorry), since it’s mostly here to introduce Zenkaiger concepts to Saber fans, and vice versa. The Saberketeers need a hand to defeat a Sentai menace, and I’d assume that the Zenkaiger cast is going to need (wild guess) Yuri to give them a hand with a Megid. This isn’t the time for deep metaphors or complicated character dynamics; we’re in pre-movie mode, so the mandate is clearly Keep It Light.

And on that level, it’s great! It’s a frothy goof-off adventure, the kind where Rintaro can be confused by Sentai dancing and Touma can engage in wacky physical comedy. It’s strange that it took a Sentai crossover special to pull out one of the most basic tropes for a writer in a fantasy story – Touma’s writing accidentally gets the team into a scrape – but it’s nice to see the characters run through that story finally. The whole thing is real low-pressure, with a villain whose power makes things a little more difficult for the cast without ever being too dangerous to defeat. It’s warm-up fun for the summer movie.

The big deal for it is the appearance of Twokaiser, whom I found to be… fine. Diend casts a long shadow for any interdimensional tokusatsu thief, and Twokaiser definitely doesn’t challenge for that title off of this single appearance. He’s classically dismissive about suggestions of heroism, and he exists at a baseline of Untrustworthy. He doesn’t add a ton to the group dynamic (almost all of the problem-solving comes from Touma and Kento), and his initial scenes are the best the character got for me. He did the minimum of both selling his character traits and not getting completely overshadowed by a more beloved cast (of mine, anyway), so I don’t harbor any ill will against him or anything. He was okay, for an episode.

But this episode was more than okay, it was incredibly fun. It’s not really reaching for anything profound, but it would 100% get me to go see a movie with all of these characters. Mission accomplished, I guess!

—

YOUR CONTROL

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The lax security and discipline at the Northern Base was as bad as his sister had reported. It was a battle to get things up to his standards–but like all battles, it was one Ryoga was going to win.

That’s not to say it was going to be easy.

His early efforts to create a clear hierarchy of command – with himself as the second-in-command to Sophia, obviously – had thus far been… not as completely accomplished as he’d have preferred. Ogami had laughed. Daishinji had snickered. Kento had shaken his head and chuckled. Rintaro had commended Ryoga for attempting to ingratiate himself into the current team dynamic by telling a joke, but assured him that it was unnecessary. Mei had used vulgarity, including several terms he only realized were insults after a lengthy conversation with his more worldly sister. (Ryoga asked Reika to refrain from executing Mei, at least until the required paperwork had been presented to Sophia.) Touma had, strangely, been the most agreeable; he’d told Ryoga that any further activities as a swordsman would be reported immediately.

That had lasted about two days. Now, Ryoga and Reika were forced to conduct surveillance on both their fellow guild members, and an avowed pirate who attempted to steal Sword of Logos property. None of their activities were approved or commissioned. None of this was responsible, or even logical.

It had been an adjustment for Ryoga, operating under Sophia in the Northern Base. Security was disappointingly thin, with an unaffiliated bookstore serving as a secret and unguarded entrance to their most precious treasures. Basic operational management was utterly absent; for his first staff meeting, only Reika attended, despite his use of the word Mandatory seventeen times in the preceding email. (He’d taken the phrase Under Penalty Of Imprisonment out of his initial draft, on her recommendation. He should have known she’d be too soft.) He would say it was like dealing with children, but even the children of the Southern Base would be a more effective and cohesive unit than this group.

But one went into battle with the army one had, not the army one wished one had. He was going to make this collection of misfits and traitors into a diligent and respectful army of swordsmen. He just needed to make sure this random pirate they’d trusted wasn’t going to do anything suspicious.

Once Ryoga protected the guild from Twokaiser, he was sure he’d gain their respect.

I'm so glad you used that screencap as your header for this one. It's such a perfect moment of Touma realizing he screwed the pooch and everyone reacting accordingly. The plot being "Touma screwed up because he got too carried away and wasn't paying attention" is very funny to utilize.

Also I'm pretty sure a server I'm in ended up using Touma's expression as an emote too.

But yeah, it's a pretty fun special and honestly I'm just glad it exists? I've always found the specials they try to do very fun... for the most part. Gaim and ToQger alongside Drive and Ninninger are harmlessly fun specials with some nice gags. Ghost and Zyuohger while sticking to separate episodes, made the most out of not having a special by doing having an A and B-Plot separating some of the cast into a mini-crossover.

Ex-Aid and Kyuranger were glorified cameos that felt tacked on at best.

And after that there were no more crossovers... until now! I suppose what I'm trying to say is, it just existing is what makes me like it. Also I feel like Twokaiser is definitely stronger in his own series and also with his full supporting cast surrounding him. When he's on his own... especially when it's not the Main Zenkaigers interacting with him, he's... eh, at best.

As for our story... was not expecting Ryoga of all people to get the spotlight but I do enjoy you pushing him as the serious business "I need order" kind of guy. Definitely gives off that vibe when it comes to how formal he is with Sword of Logos tradition and such.

Of all of Saber's special episodes, I've always thought of this one as the one that I didn't know existed until three minutes ago.

The Gaim one is the most crossovery one I can think of (definitely not Ex-Aid), but it's also the one where Kouta's a colossal asshole about sending his best friend to a farm upstate with some weird train kids he just met, so this episode of Saber sort of wins the Most Fun Crossover contest by clearing an incredibly low bar of actually containing two shows' worth of characters and not making me furious at the title Rider.

Yeah, I can't imagine Ryoga finds the flat management structure and individual initiative of the Northern Base to be anything other than a direct assault on his sanity.

That's the main thing everyone brings up about it, honestly -- that you didn't know about it before. Sort of a cliche, really.

That's probably on me. I've had "I didn't know there was a Kamen Rider Saber/Zenkaiger crossover special" tattooed on my face since 2011. This is easily the third most pertinent it's ever been.

About every other hero part, there are those who are redeemed villains too. And here, it's perhaps the actual start of the Shindai siblings' redemption, with Ryoga opening up a bit to say nice words here. although still limiting himself, and apparently, the show portrays Reika's open fawning for Ryoga as her loosening up, even though she'd still be hostile to others in relation to Ryoga as what she warned the cast for Ryoga's actions. Ren kinda gains development here to not merely seek strength as in to physically overpower others, but also likely in deeper meaning of strength, seen in his determination, which does mean that Touma's words do stick to him. Though Ren being worried about Kento is his most persistent trait until now. I wonder if you fell for Kento's sulking at the beginning of which it's done as a misleading that actually Kento has rejoined the main cast now.

Outside of the main Riders' bottomless empathy though, it seems that there's a thing where humans (as Touma and Rintaro see him as) would be seen as inherently not irredeemable by those kind of Riders. The franchise has an approach where if they're human (more recently), they must be able to be redeemed, but if they're monsters, or human villains discarding their humanity to turn into one, it's the only time to be ok to wail on them. Other from that, though the main Riders having this kind of empathy is almost mandatory, seems that Rintaro also tries to get Isaac to join them, I mean that, he's already established as a nice secondary Rider, but dunno if it's almost similar level of empathy a secondary has to a main Rider for occassional few (among the franchise), or Rintaro's attachment to SoL, though Rintaro insisted that Isaac is a homo sapiens too as a reason to try to get him to join.

Seems to be wrong for Touma being infuriated part here, for Isaac, it seems that he too tries to get Touma to join him, showing that even Isaac sorta has a respect for Touma, in twisted way (no, this is ain't a redeeming trait, but talking about series treatment), of which as usual, the villains think they're doing the heroes a favor by preserving their well-being (for other methods, trying to corrupt the heroes like joining them by revealing that their actions will result in their suffering), as in "saving" him 15 years ago, but obviously, they can't comprehend about people caring about others' well-being, and thus Touma is infuriated by what happened to the others at the cost of his well-being, as he'd put others' well-being above his own. The only way he'd appreciate is if they save Touma without endangering anyone else.

About Solomon not mounting new offense, that'd be something later touched on (I guess). The difference here would be the usual, villain's smirk is gone due to their pride being wounded, reduced into raging lunatic who can't speak. I didn't think that the previous one has Solomon being beaten, though Saber did have upper hand, but just escaped. And regarding Solomon, there's a superb performance done by the Shindai siblings here to have Sabela be the one who takes the Wonder Ride Books back from Solomon.

No, but I thought it was very cute, him and Touma (and Mei and Rintaro) doing a goofy production of the story of Momotaro. It's just like when they were kids, which is how you know that Kento's back for good.

Zox! <3

So, you're actually watching this a decent few episodes before it actually aired. That's fine, from the 'Special Chapter' title you can tell that they wrote this one to exist somewhat out of continuity. Funnily enough though, the Zenkaiger half of this special is numbered for that show, and does contain at least One new development that means it's definitely in continuity for Zenkai!

...I'll have more to say about the Zenkaiger half of things during the Zenkaiger portion (as it it a show I absolutely adore!,) but I just want to start by saying I /promise/ Zox doesn't normally come off as Quite this Daiki-like. It's a matter of circumstance here- partially because he's temporarily in the 'crossover annoyance from another dimension' role, partially because this, the Zenkaiger episode following, and Super Hero Senki are 3 of the only 4 times the Zenkaigers were ever written by anyone other then Zenkaiger Series Writer Junko Komura. It's one of the Saber writers, Nobuhiro Mouri who wrote these three, (although Miss Komura has a supervisor credit.) To his credit though, while the Saber half of course has the vibes of a Saber episode, he does do a pretty good job getting into Zenkai Brain for the next half!

Ah yes, episode 43.5.

For the most part, I’m going to make this thread an explanation of much of Zenkaiger’s relevant etymology.

Tozitend = derived from “Tojite” (close) and “tendo” (heaven)

Twokaizer = portmanteau of “two”, “tsukai” (exciting) and “Kaiser” (German for emperor)

Zox Goldtsuiker = Zox is derived from “zoku”, meaning “thief”, while the “tsuiker” part of his surname is a corruption of “tsuika” (extra), since he’s the Extra Hero for Zenkaiger.

Wald = the English word “World” with the first syllable elongated to sound like “waru” (bad)

And worth noting that Orihime Wald is the only female villain in Zenkaiger… and not only does she only appear in Saber, they went with a male VA for reasons I’ll share next time.

And, here’s a slightly special version of my showing off the toys and translations.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xgn_-n4BWJ0

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

Twokaizer! Steer to port! Exciting Revolution!

Ohranger! Steer to port! Super-powerful Revolution!

Shinkenger! Steer to port! Serious Sword Revolution!

Zenkaizer! Steer to port! Full Throttle Revolution!

Sempaiger! Steer to port! Senior Revolution!

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Special Chapter

You know, I got a strange sense of deja vu as soon as I read this bit, and sure enough...

...it turns out you and I had, well, actually pretty similar opinions on this episode, despite describing it in exactly the opposite terms. (We even both italicized "incredibly"; it's pretty freaky!)

But yeah, while I guess was I was hoping it would have just a little more oomph to it in some way, I did very much enjoy getting this random low-stakes standalone episode of Saber. It's got everyone's base forms, which is always a plus, and less superficially, the thing I definitely love most about it is how much focus it gets to put on Touma being a writer for once. Just those little things like him franctically searching for something to write notes on, or proudly insisiting to Zox that all the books in *his* store are interesting, they're things I still remember from this even now.

I missed having these silly little crossovers once they were gone, so to see it back for Saber -- and to see Saber do a solid job of it, at that -- was a nice little treat.

You can probably count me in on having more to say about the Zenkaiger episode too though. People who know how I feel about Zenkaiger can probably guess what I'm most excited to talk about. :p

As someone else who never got round to Zenkaiger (I haven't actually seen the Zenkai counterpart, I'll just have to assume Reika and Ryouga were brought back by to their own world by... oh, lets say, Moe), yeah, it's a fun piece which breaks away from the apocalyptic overtones to have fun, which sometimes you just need in a crossover like this.

Tomorrow, the role of Fish Sandwich will be played by Yumi Yamamoto

Yohohoy!

When it comes to interdimensional Tokusatsu thieves, I actually prefer Zox to Kaito (Daiki, not Goshikida). Zox is entertaining, he dances before his morphs and form changes, he has a good singing voice, he loves his younger siblings and unlike Kaito, he's not a yandere. I second what others have said though, it's a lot easier to appreciate how cool he is when he has the rest of the Zenkaigers and Goldtwoikar family to interact with. Zenkaiger Episode 20 is a Zox focus, so maybe you'll be able to appreciate him more soon.

I think you're being a little dismissive by calling them harmless. You know Toei had to stall Super Hero Time to accommodate these "Spring Gattai" specials, right? I specifically remember in Drive, when I was getting excited for the big debut of Deadheat Burst Mach, only to find out there was a crossover first and I'd have to wait a whole damn fortnight to see Deadheat Burst Mach. I was pretty ticked off about that.

So when I heard there'd be a Zenkaiger/Saber crossover, a year after enduring that terrible 6 week hiatus, I was even more ticked off. Fortunately, it only stalled Saber, since this special is basically an extra long Zenkaiger episode. I could tolerate that and I didn't think it turned out too bad.

Ideally, I would prefer that they stick to the Zyuohger/Ghost and Kyuranger/EX-Aid format, where the crossovers are limited to subplot and thus don't intrude on each other's stories, rather they attempt to enrich the morals of those stories, although I agree that Zyuohger/Ghost had better execution.

But I hope you can understand that while you may consider these specials fun and have the right to enjoy them as much as you want, they do have collateral damage for people who look forward to the show and don't want unnecessary tangents, for the same reason people don't like recaps.

In that case, I will cast Asanuma Shintarou to voice the role of Sh Ranger.

I can tell you right now, that I absolutely adore Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger. And this crossover they did with both is glorious.

If you thought the singin' and dancin' gold pirate with the funny name was weird, the Zenkaiger episode (where the Kamijou siblings get sent to the Zenkaiger World) is even more bonkers. Zenkaiger's plot is centered around parallel worlds, so this isn't just "let's crossover the two just for the heck of it!" well it is, but it actually kind of works, especially for Super Hero Senki (that I still have yet to watch).

I'll have more to say about Saber later. Eventually. Maybe.

I really enjoyed this episode, both on its own and in combination with the Zenkaigers part. And while it's mostly a TV commercial for SHS, it's interesting in its own right. To begin with, this is kind of a return to the first episodes of the show: there is a monster and our heroes use the knowledge from the books to defeat it. And lest they destroy him in half a second because of their development in all these episodes, let the riders lose their books. And to make it funnier, let the main character be to blame. By the way, I will join in the praise: this scene is gorgeous.
Zox is also a cool guest character. This hasn't been written about yet, but I really enjoyed his fight with the Shindais, with the books tossing around to distract the siblings guarding the library. Also the dance is great!
The fanfiction is great. It's great that you decided to dedicate it to Ryoga - the latest of the hero riders in a rider-packed show.
I also want to point out that it's a wonderful coincidence that we're discussing the episode where Touma showed his writing part (albeit not with the best consequences) on International Writer's Day!

Yeah, the Wiki had it as working between 39 and 40, so that's where I dropped it. Could've held it off for another few episodes of Saber, but... I don't know, I liked the idea of a longer string of Saber episodes right up to the finale.

Neat! Thanks!

Yeah, it's... there's a thing in Kamen Rider, and I don't know if it's a modern development or something innate with the pacing, where so much fun storytelling and characterization for the main Rider gets jettisoned as the series grows its cast and defines its villain. Basic stuff like Touma Writes Books and Touma Runs A Bookstore take on decreasing relevance as we get more Riders, more Megid, more masterminds, more backstory, more revelations, more toys, etc. It's like the show treats all of that original conception as a mix between a recap and a metaphor -- something to occasionally reference as a way of contrasting with the current stakes -- rather than an active part of the character's life or story. The bookstore becomes just another set for the characters to plot out strategy or lick their wounds; Touma's writing becomes a thing he'll hopefully get back to post-series.

Long story short, I was also very happy to see Touma's non-swordsman skills get used as a plot development this time out.

It's almost too fun for a dude like Rintaro, which makes it extra fun for me.

Man, "not a yandere" makes him a huge step down from Kaito for me! Diend and Decade being toxic ex-boyfriends is one of the best parts of that show!

I look forward to it!

This is such a Sentai development to me (someone who does not watch Sentai) and I sort of loved it. The monster making their books disappear until the heroes figure out the trick to getting them back, while wacky antics occur in the meantime, that's just a zero percent Kamen Rider plot. The Kamen Rider version is Calibur muting everyone's swords and forcing them to live with the trauma!

For some odd reason the Brave Dragon Jingle they use in both here and Super Hero Senki is a different take them the usual one the use in the show it's weird.

This trend actually goes way beyond show riders. In almost all shows with a fantasy, mystical or detective plot, the daily life of the hero, which initially takes up a significant part of the plot, gradually decreases until it disappears altogether. For some it takes half a season, for others it takes two or three, but the result is the same. And if the show goes on long enough, then that very fantastic / mystical / detective part begins to decrease, giving way to relationships between characters already beloved by the audience. And in combination with the ideas that have ended, this leads to the fact that the show becomes indistinguishable from all the others and loses what it was loved for. This is how even the best die, and that is why it is important to stop in time. Well, the tokusatsu approach of changing characters and atmosphere, where each season is a new show that keeps favorite (and not so) moments of the previous ones, is also not bad.

Huh! I hadn't noticed. Thanks!

I think its prevalence in Kamen Rider is that each season/series has to tell a complete story, where the hero defeats the villain(s) at the end and restores balance/justice/safety/love/Takumi to the world. It's a book, and a book has to work towards an ending. In longer-form series, multi-season genre stuff, they aren't built to end, so there's no significant pressure to keep escalating the plot. You can do a single episode that follows a supporting cast member, or an episode about some aspect of the workplace (for example) that went previously unexplored. If Saber took an episode out from Storious and Isaac plotting to destroy the world, and told a quick one or two-off story about a kid who needs to believe in storytelling, it'd probably feel jarring and poorly placed. Pacing-wise, it'd almost be a waste of time to do something more grounded and less superheroic.

But that doesn't mean I have to like it!

Yeah, I... I've also been feeling something like this for a while, and never quite had a way to bring it up. It's like these things are considered the identity of the show and hence the personality it takes on in marketing and the go-to for premises of crossovers, small stageshows, stuff like that? But it's an identity that is only kind of there in the beginning and is phased out quite quickly beyond Q1 either by stakes taking prominence or characters developing beyond that. The result is an image and conception and idea of the show that just doesn't match up at all with what's actually in it.

Not necessarily a criticism! Just... very interesting, right?

Yeah, I think Gaim is sort of the ur-example of this, where it started off as this show about dance teams and Legally Distinct Pocket Monster Battling and Kouta needing to get a job and then it resolutely did not stay that way in any sense. Thematically, it was still about Growing Up and Making Mai Into A Prize To Be Won, but aesthetically it was just about Kamen Riders fighting each other over collectibles, which is pretty much Heisei as a template.

It's always something I think about, when these shows kick off for me. Whatever I like about the early approach -- the little mysteries, seeing how the terror intersects with everyday life, characters juggling different responsibilities -- is bound to be a fleeting joy. It doesn't make the show bad, or even wrong to abandon that stuff, but it's a... like, an innocence that these shows always leave behind, and that's a little sad.

Wonder if that's part of why shows like W and Fourze are such perennial favorites too? Those two certainly never stop being a noir detective show and a high school show. Helps for both of them they were back when Rider plots were allowed to be more episodic though.

KIKAI SENTAI ZENKAIGER EPISODE 20 - “THE SWORDSMAN AND THE PIRATE’S BROTHERLY OATHS”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...nkaiger20a.png

Wow, this was… really great?

Like, really great. I’ve seen one other episode of Zenkaiger (the one with the kotatsu), and I vaguely recognize the main guy as also playing a character (the same character?) on DonBros, so I’m not coming to this thing totally cold. But it’s also not a series that I was prepared to dig as much as I did this time out. It’s utterly delightful.

I mean, a lot of that is the way it subverts the Damsels In Distress schtick that the Specter special sadly leaned into for its finale. When Magine and Reika showed up to the big battle at the pier, having already broken themselves out – because they are both superheroes, of course they could break themselves out – I was so goddamn happy. I like that this episode of a completely different show addressed the weird way these guys seem to, like, take ownership of women in the name of protection, instead of treating them with a modicum of respect and dignity. Zenkaiser (I don’t know any of their names except Vroom and Magine) helps center Ryoga by getting him to have faith in his sister, rather than succumb to fear and anger out of a lack of control. It’s very smart, and incredibly appreciated.

And also: I like that Reika has a new friend at the end of the episode? It’s such a cute, sad moment. I don’t think Reika ever had a friend before. Her brother was up on a pedestal, and I definitely got the impression that everyone at work hated her. With, y’know, good cause, but still. So it was nice to see her make a friend (or more, your call) of her fellow superheroine hostage, and for her to have absolutely no idea how to communicate that to Magine. It was adorable, and one of my Top 10 favorite Saber things, even if it didn’t actually happen in a Saber episode.

Despite that high praise, I still don’t feel like I’m any closer to being a Sentai guy. It was all very charming, and a blast to watch, but it also sort of gave me a headache? It’s very on. There’s a manic energy to this episode/show/franchise that’s fun to dabble in as a tourist, but I don’t know if this level of energy is what I’m looking to experience over fifty-odd episodes. It’s– it’s a lot. I am a grown man with the interests of a hyperactive child, but I am not actually a hyperactive child. This is probably a great show to watch while you run around your living room, but I’m too tired to do that.

Still, a very fun little team-up of some outgoing Sentai guys I don’t know super well, and the two most unfriendly and taciturn swordsmen that Saber had to offer. Very clever to build the two-parter around Orihime and Hikoboshi, since it gives you two similar enemies to fight across two different shows. It’s honestly set a pretty high bar for Super Hero Senki to clear, but this episode’s deft handling of mismatched teamwork has me feeling fairly confident in its chances.

We’ll find out for sure tomorrow!

—

YOU! ME! DANCING!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...nkaiger20b.png

An excited Rintaro pulled Ryoga aside. “I heard you and your sister were taken to a parallel world?!”

Ryoga stopped his patrol of the Northern Base’s main meeting room. “That is correct. I detailed it completely in my after-action report. You should have been included in the message chain.”

Rintaro was animated, more so than Ryoga preferred. Of the many swordsmen of the Northern Base, Rintaro was one of the few that Ryoga thought had potential in the Sword of Logos. To see him so… unprofessional, it was disappointing.

“Oh, I read it thoroughly,” Rintaro said excitedly. Well, it looked like he wasn’t a lost cause yet. “I found it fascinating. The mix of cultures, the strange machine-people, the similarities to our own history and traditions…” Rintaro seemed to gaze off into the distance. “I was wondering if I could ask you some further questions about your adventure.”

Hmm. Ryoga wasn’t fond of the word “adventure” to describe a military operation. It smacked of the same overly-romanticized nonsense that Touma’s imagination had infected the Northern Base with. However, Rintaro was one of the few swordsmen to take his duties as seriously as Ryoga and his sister, and it would set a bad precedent to rebuff him now. Better to let this run its course.

“You may ask,” Ryoga agreed.

Rintaro leaned in closer to Ryoga, and asked with a hushed voice, “Were the heroes of that world always dancing?”

“They were,” Ryoga said gravely. “And there were songs, and declarations, and poses. So many poses. It was horrible.”

“But, weren’t they able to help you defeat the villains with those same dances? And didn’t you participate in one of the declarations? I just thought, with all of the danger that Storious and Isaac pose, that we might see if it was possible to integrate additional fighting styles or techniques into our training. Perhaps a small dance tutorial could–”

Ryoga gripped Rintaro sharply by the shoulders to stop his rambling. “Rintaro, no. You can’t go down that road. I honored the customs of my hosts, to help save my sister. I would suffer any ignominy for her, even dancing, although I’m thankful it never came to that. But we must be vigilant as soldiers of the Sword of Logos. We must maintain our dignity. We cannot sing and dance before a battle, no matter how much we might want to. This conversation is over.”

Rintaro had a confused look on his face. “‘No matter how much we’... did– did you *want* to sing and dance before a battle, Ryoga?”

Ryoga decided to patrol Liberation, immediately. “I SAID THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER.”

Probably one of the best episodes for the Shindai siblings if I'm being honest. Both of them being fish out of water in a very different setting made for a really nice and cute story.

And I love how despite Saber titling the first half as a non-numbered episode, Zenkaiger embraces the Zenkai-Brain insanity and pretty much says "Yeah no this is canon and within the episode count and it's the introduction of our sixth's super form".

Now while I get that Sentai can be a bit much, I am curious if you'll ever get back to Donbrothers at some point? Since, having seen both, it's a very different beast than Zenkaiger. And I'm curious if you'll indulge in some Donbros-Poisoning.

(Note: Zenkai-Brain and Donbros-Poisoning were terms actually used by the production staff of Donbrothes I believe)

But yeah, overall a surprisingly solid episode for Ryoga and Reika, in which I saw a lot of people who weren't usually hot on the two, actually enjoy this episode because of how they were portrayed.

Also glad to see more Ryoga short stories, the idea of this super serious guy actually getting infected by the over-activeness of a Sentai and letting it slip is rather fun.

You writing Ryouga as the overly officious email guy is making me want a Durendal So-Do to put with my gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss So-Do Sabela, stop doing the work of an 18 month old Kamen Rider show and selling the merch.

But yeah, while I skipped on the Zenkai episode, I'm glad they decided to bring back the crossover for the special anniversary? I know someone mentioned it being a waste of a week which could go to a "proper" episode, and we've been ragging on Kouta sending Mai off to be a ToQger (She'd have been a great ToQger! The Shadow Line would have never turned her heart into an apple, or whatever!), but the Gaim/ToQ special back when I first saw it all those years ago was a nice change from the Super Hero Taisen "Everyone must fight for no reason for the first 90 minutes of movie" model, and while the others were alright - even if I'd completely forgotten there was a whole Ninninger/Drive one, yeesh - and this one comes closest to that ideal I have in my head of what a crossover between Rider and Sentai 'can' be? The heroes complement each other, without just shouting about heroics or justice or abstract ideals, and they're fun!

It's their best outing yet, for sure. Ryoga gains some vulnerability, Reika shows her strength, and both of them get to be SUPER DUPER FOR REAL weird. It's exactly what the two of them need to feel like part of the team.

Oh, 100%. Inoue Forever, which supersedes the Sentai of it. I only fell off of it because of other stuff, but I plan on bingeing it this summer. I liked the five or so episodes that I watched!

Ryoga has an org-chart revision of the Northern Base hierarchy that would increase efficiency by 12%, minimum.

It really hits the notes of a summer crossover in a much more pleasant way than the various Taisens. There's a tendency to be more playful and comedic, with less of a pressure to shoehorn in Legend Riders or every form change or the Sentai Red Class Reunion at the quarry. These are just little overlaps of character traits, and everyone leaves at the end like they attended a heartwarming LARP camp. Short and sweet. What's not to like?

Kamijou... IT'S SHINDAI YOU MORON!!! YOU DONKEY!! YOU DOOFER!! *Slaps myself with a plastic sword*

I didn't think you'd straight up go for the Zenkaiger one, and yet, here we are. Not like it's too much of a challenge, since Zenkaiger doesn't have a plot you need to know fully to understand, which I do enjoy.

Now, as stated before, I absolutely ADORE Zenkaiger. It's probably one of my favorite shows ever. So, all the shenanigans from the cast gave me joy, and seeing the Shindai siblings have to deal with it kind of made me like them a little more than what we see in Saber? They even got to have a role call!

Heck, as I was told, Sabella hugging Magine at the end was because she was a fan of her, which is such a sweet and wholesome moment that is just one of the many reasons I love this show.

So, anyway, I love Zenkaiger a little too much.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger Episode 20

Okay, a lot to talk about with this one! First of all, the real reason you describing the Saber chunk of this thing as "incredibly fun" was so amusing/spooky to me was because I consciously said it *wasn't* that as a setup, where the punchline was me in the next post immediately describing the even more enjoyable Zenkaiger half of this crossover as, you guessed it!

But who cares about that stuff. I'm really just here to talk about Magine, because I happen to be a huge fan!

How much do I love her, you ask? Let me put it this way -- she's just about the only thing in a thread about Kamen Rider Saber I'd rather discuss than Kamen Rider Saber. Yeah, that much. Like, I'll attempt to spare you all from me getting too deep into it right now, but for the sake of Die having context, since I'm pretty sure he hasn't heard any of this from me before, Magine is just the best. It'd be underselling it to even say she's by far my favorite character in Zenkaiger. Indeed, even over the course of a whole year of writing posts about Zenkaiger episodes, I never truly found the words to properly express just how much literally every aspect of her character appeals to me. Even right now, I'm still defaulting to enthusiastic yet vague rambling, which always seems to happen when I try this. But I'll keep trying! I'll take any chance I can get to talk about Magine, because even far enough removed from Zenkaiger for Donbrothers to already be over, my bottomless affection for the most adorable tokusatsu hero of them all will never waver.

There is one person out there, however, who I must humbly admit surpasses even my own excessive infatuation with Magine, and that happens to be Reika's actor, Angela Mei, which should start explaining a lot about this episode.

She was extraordinarily vocal about it on Twitter from pretty much the moment Zenkaiger started, as far as I know. Just week after week of constantly making sure to mention how cute Magine was in a given episode of the show, or just like, in general. Just as a random example, here's her happily displaying the papercraft figure of Magine from an issue of TV-kun she made during breaks in filming. Just, nothing but the deepest raw affection, all the time. The woman is literally the self-proclaimed mother of Magine. And clearly the staff on these shows caught wind of that, because Nobuhiro Mouri was kind enough to write a script that seemingly exists at least 50% solely as wish fulfillment? It wouldn't be that surprising if Reika hugging Magine was just some improv bit, but no, it was right there in the script and everything!

The episode is already great on its own merits, but that extra meta context really elevates it into something even more heartwarmingly fun. My favorite little anecdote about this whole situation is that Angela Mei apparently couldn't quite work up the courage to ask Magine's suit actor to take a picture with her, only for the staff to be right on the ball with that too, with the end result being a Tweet with the two resulting pictures, and text that reads simply "My Tanabata wish came true." This is what living your dreams looks like, people.

https://i.imgur.com/Rg6qF5M.jpg

So yeah, that's... uh, wait, I guess I barely talked about the actual episode, didn't I? Ah well, past me can cover that stuff again. I'm going to go ahead and use what little attention I can bring myself to give to anything besides Magine right now to mention the other thing that's important to me personally about this one, which is that this crossover changed the whole way I watch tokusatsu to a level I can only appreciate now, in retrospect.

I forget exactly what my motivation for doing it this way was (I think just the fact that the discussion thread was one thing?), but I made it a point to write the posts about each episode together, and post them back-to-back, really embracing the crossover nature by making it a kinda-sorta crossover of the way I wrote posts about both of those shows. (Zenkaiger happened to be another show I was already writing about every episode for.) There was just one problem with me trying to do that on good ol' Saber Sunday, though -- fansubs weren't out for the Zenkaiger part yet, which meant I simply watched the episode raw. Despite having a functional enough knowledge of Japanese to ~mostly~ follow stuff unsubbed in a pinch, I was still making it a point to wait for fansubs of the latest Rider and Sentai episodes, because, like, I'd been doing that for about a decade. Why stop now?

This was the very first time I'd ever broken that little rule I'd kept for myself, and it ended up becoming a whole new habit. I had a whole side-project going during Zenkaiger where I was writing about every Sentai premiere ever, and as those posts got longer and longer the closer I got to the end, I started watching Zenkaiger episodes raw more and more often simply to get those posts written earlier, and give myself more time to work on whatever tome I was writing that week. Somewhere along the line, my attitude completely shifted, and I was watching Donbrothers raw from the get-go just because I wanted to. I'm literally not even sure who in all is subbing Kamen Rider Geats, because I've only watched one episode of that show with subs.

It's worth noting that even before all this, I'd often watch random spinoff stuff (like the Ghost crossovers!) raw simply because I don't want to forget I still need to watch them by the time they finally get subbed, but this random episode of Zenkaiger still marked the start of a pretty dang significant shift in how I engage with these shows. Just one more reason to look back fondly on it!

It seems like a pretty lovable show!

She's definitely great in this episode, even before the triumphant finale, and the fight scene before that hug. I like how she gets all emotional about wanting to do Tanabata again, because she had such a good time for her first one, and then Zenkaiser's like But We Only Do It Once A Year, and she gets theatrically upset, and then Zenkaiser's like What If We Were The First Ones To Ever Do It Twice, and she's all cheered up, and I'm like YES. That, and her realizing that she was definitely going to get chained up by the bad guys once she identified herself as a member of Zenkaiger. Both terrific moments, and I think I just covered everything she did in the episode as being notable and fantastic.

I'm getting on this wavelength of yours!

Well here we are, at part two. I’ll start with more etymology.

Kaito Goshikida: five-colour world person.

Juran: derived from “Jurassic”

Gaon: onomatopoeia for a lion’s roar

Magine: Derived from “Majin” (Mage), but with the last syllable sounding like the onomatopoeia for nervousness.

Vroon: Onomatopoeia for a car starting.

Yatsude: From Saburo Yatsude, Toei’s equivalent to Alan Smithee

Bokkowaus: Derived from bukkowausu (to destroy)

Barashitara: onomatopoeia for disassembling.

Ijirude: From Izil (tinker)

And I totally called Fish would go into details about Magine. To explain my initial response, Yumi Yamamoto is Angela Mei’s real name. I’ll also mention that the embrace between the two at the end was not in the script. And this fangirling was notable enough that it was being referenced during Donbrothers.(In the midst of jokes about Sononi and Mezool becoming fast friends due to their shared goal of experiencing love, and then fast enemies due to the former’s mission to destroy overwhelming desire clashing with the latter being… well, you know)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...2/IMG_1189.JPG

And I mentioned last time that Orihime Wald was voiced by a man, and I’ll reveal why here. The same VA - Soichiro Hoshi (who Toku fans may recognise as Birca from Go-Onger, and for dubbing over C K Lee in Power Rangers, while Cartoon Network fans may recognise him as the Japanese VA for Ben 10 and several characters in Bakugan) also voices Hikkoboshi Wald (it was the idea of one of the associate producers, to tie into the Tanabata theme)

And we end this two parter with a demon escaping his seal. I’ll use this chance to mention that one early plan for the series was for the giant sword in the background of Wonder World to turn out to be a prison for a demon king that would become the final boss.

Great fun episode. Fish Sandwich has already covered the entire behind-the-scenes story, so I'll focus on the aspects that were left untouched. Despite its frivolity and crossover nature, in those 20 minutes the episode also managed to talk about Ryoga's relationship with his sister and give Zox some development. In general, playing on the similarity of these two as older brothers, despite the fact that they are completely different in character, is very interesting. And the moment when Durandal uses his time dilation to hit the monster at the same time as Twokaizer! In a word, a wonderful episode and one of the best crossovers between Riders and Sentai. But still, it would be more correct to compare Senki with Taisens, both because of the duration and because of the crowds.


A great fun fanfic that's a good continuation of the previous one. I liked it very much.

This only just occurred to me, but I feel like it says a lot about Zenkaiger that you described that episode that way instead of as "the one with Don Momotaro", which I assume is why you were watching it in the first place? I think you might already be a fan of this show without knowing it, Die!

I showed him that episode as part of an event in a Discord server we’re mutually in. I was in charge of the event that week (it was supposed to be a one-off, but then I got given the authority to make as many events as I want) and went with a “Donbrothers Preview” theme (the other featured episode was Ohranger 15).

Though I can say his memory is faulty, since he was there when I had episode 29 as part of a “sports” event (alongside Gaim 37. He noted the irony that the solo hero franchise had an epsidoe about a teamwork sport, but the teamwork franchise had an episode about a solo sport). Another event had Zenkaiger 26 (alongside Transformers Super Link 39, as part of a “Black Repaint” event), but he wasn’t there for that one.

I also can't delve two deeply into this, as this is a midway part of an another series, and I usually won't watch a series which is aired midway.

Mei here only asks Touma for ideas probably slightly (yeah, since Kamijo's death), but this is the one where Rintaro actually defends Touma to tell Mei off that she shouldn't be too pushy, as he understands writer's block. An evolution for Rintaro's social awareness (also him being the one to tell Mei instead of the other way around of her being his social "guide")? Touma screwing up people by making the Wonder Ride Books disappear kinda highlights attachment being weakness - though it got Mei to do the "finishing" job of handling the henshin. Reika displays her brother worship by being possessive of him of even other males getting affectionate with him, so she's still a hostile person after "changing" sides. I'd also think it's nice that "Orihime" can contain many puns as done by the villain here.

I guess from what I get in this episode, he's really a morally grey anti-hero type who does good not out for the goodness itself, but he only cares for personal gain and not so much for anything else (people can care for both others and personal gain, but he's not one), befitting of a definition of pirate. I thought this'd be unusual for a perhaps major Sentai to be like this, but, well, he's not the main character so it makes more sense that he can be less heroic than characters like red Sentai.

Haha, I like how you use Ryouga's stoicism for comedic effect. If the show did that more often, I think he would've been a much more endearing character.

Well, now that Fish has started this, I also feel obliged as a Zenkaiger fan to properly represent my favorite.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/77/e9...97d2b29f1e.png

Juran quickly became an inspiration to me. A lot of people were depressed at the start of 2021, following a year of dealing with you-know-what. It was the same problem for me. Going in to Zenkaiger, I was hoping it would once more show people the true meaning of justice that Super Sentai is loved for, to remind people what it's like to be a hero and hold on to hope in the face of despair.

From the first episode, I got pretty much exactly what I wanted in Juran. Without going in to too much spoiler, he's introduced as a fun party-loving dude who's trying his best to adapt to his sudden new co-habitation with humanity. When Tozitendo show up and start terrorizing people, some of the humans lump all the Kikainoids with them and Juran is left to deal with the invasion on his own.

However, despite that prejudice towards him, prejudice in general being what I'd consider as one of the show's main themes, Juran still goes out of his way to protect a scared human kid from Tozitendo, as it was simply the right thing to do. This act of heroism stabilizes the relationship between humans and Kikainoids and that feeling sticks throughout the whole show, as an exploration of alternate worlds becomes the stage for a celebration of people's differences. None of that would've been possible without Juran's spontaneous moment of selfless heroism and that's why he's always at the front of my mind when I think about Zenkaiger.

Thanks for the acknowledgement and likewise, I respect your opinion as well. It probably helps that Zenkaiger/Saber is like my favorite SHT pair ever, so while I'm against the concept on principle, I was glad that the content was actually okay and not too harmful, even though I'm not exactly the Shindais' biggest fan. Everything is disliked by someone, but I can't truly begrudge the existence of something that has the potential to make someone happy, even though I personally don't get much out of it.

Oh, good choice! Inoue writes the best Yuji focus episodes.

Neat! Thanks!

Yeah, it's... I don't know if the episode did as much with this as I'd've liked? It basically just uses one overlapping character trait to move Zox from Completely Selfish to Ugh Fine I'll Help. Like, Zox didn't need the Wonder Ride Book for anything, so him giving it back to Ryoga is the most minor assistance he can provide. (Taking on the monster was a little more assistance, but that one's purely him trying to protect his sister.) The idea of the two of them wanting to protect their sisters is a linking element in the episode, but it never felt like a big deal to me.

Ha ha, I completely forgot that that episode is the cameo from Don Momotaro! My memory is the worst. To wit:

I very dimly recall this episode, now that you've described it. It's the tennis one? Right?

People keep telling me that Zox has a slightly more heroic attitude in the main Zenkaiger show, so it might just be how he comes off as a guest-star written by a different writer.

Thanks for sharing that! I don't know that I got a lot out of Juran in this episode -- it's VERY overstuffed -- but I liked hearing how much he meant to you. I like when these shows connect with people!

Oh, you know, now that we're talking about it that way, I just realized I could've said something much more concrete about Magine for once by mentioning how a lot of what really attracted me to her right away was how she's a hero whose arc is all about overcoming her own fears and trepidation to gain the courage to stand up for what she wants in life, and how that sort of archetype always resonates with me, and how it's also extra on-point for a character pulling from Magiranger for her design motif, and...

...I mean, none of this has to do with Saber at all, but like I said earlier, I'll take any chance I can get.

(Zyuran's also real cool, though! Really feels like the heart of that whole team in a way.)

Oh, misunderstanding. Zox is not a more heroic character in the main show. He's a pirate, first and foremost, and they only barely got him to stop robbing people (in this world) and he will still endanger civilians without direct Zenkaiger intervention. Part of the theme of Zenkaiger is adjusting and dealing with alternate world views, so Zox plays into that by giving them someone with no respect for the general social mores of their world that they have to try and corral and work with/around anyways.

Charm point <3