No, definitely, it's serving a good role in the episode for sure. I even consider it a particularly strong character moment for Ryouga? I like to think when he's doing his "do not anger me" bit here, it's directed at himself, and taken that way, him managing to stay his blade at the end says a ton about both how much he cares for Reika, and the pride he takes in being a disciplined warrior and all that. Plus, I think this is literally the only instance of Durendal actually using Kaiji as a sword? So that's a neat bonus.


Yeah, I mean, if I thought it was *that* huge a deal, I would've made a stink about where you were watching the crossover special, but at the same time, I don't think any suit is ever just a suit in one of these shows. Kento's already moved on by this point, yes, but I also think him only actually transforming into Espada again in this particular story acts as nice extra punctuation to some of the narrative beats in there. Kento's always been a guy tortured by his legacy, and I think between entrusting Kurayami to Yuri, defending his father's honor to the guy who took advantage of his righteousness, and properly reclaiming his own Rider identity, it all sorta fits together nicely to cement just how far he's come, you know? It's a tiny bit more of an event than just fighting some Sentai monster with his buddies, charming as that was.

Mind you, this is all coming from someone who was waiting months to see Espada again, rather than weeks, so like, of course I cared more about every little step of Kento integrating himself back into the group.

Youko was the pilot; you're thinking of Yuka.

You mean Yuka, right? Which one is Hikari? IDK

Seeing Keisuke Soma as Master Logos made me wonder if this was what people who watched Changeman in 1985 felt when they saw Burai in Zyuranger circa 1992, with the actor going from being the blue ranger with zero vocal talent to badass green ranger. :lolol
Because it was fun to see Soma go from a gold and navy-wearing sushi chef ranger back in 2009 to a maniacal villain rider in this. Loved loved loved Soma as Master Logos. :rock:
And for those who forgot or never knew I present to you Genta Umemori. :lolol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U98pbHUyG3w

You're both right. I was thinking "Yuka" but somehow ended up typing "Yoko." In my defense, their names are very similar. I also have trouble remembering, between Z and Taiga, which one was Haruki and which was Hiroyuki.

There's a lot more humanity to it, which is nice. I'll probably talk more about this in the Series Wrap-Up post (a week from... Friday?), but I think a lot of the unlikable aspects of Reika's character, the bits that rang phony, were all decisions to play her villainous role as a Sly Schemer, instead of a deluded true believer. So much of Reika's early stuff seemed like the actor trying to add a bit of mystery, but then the eventual reveal of her role as an unquestioning follower means that a) we pivot too quickly into her not really having any authority or initiative; and b) it misses out on what could've been a more compelling story about the pressures of command, or how to rally people around the idealized values of a faceless company. Instead, she's just a suspicious weirdo until she's a fawning sidekick. Not my fave!

I see your point, but I'd rather keep the momentum going on these final episodes. Sword of Logos is going to be right after the Series Wrap-Up post, and -- following Kurona's request/advice -- I'll just tack on Trio of Deep Sin and the Sabela/Durandal flick to the end of the thread, rather than do them after Revice.

I mean, no one's tossing Kamijo's name in here, so there's at least some awareness amongst our heroes that Kamijo took things way too far. Hayato was legit deceived by Master Logos, his actual boss, so there's a bit more cover to his motivations and morality.

Oh, I just meant that seeing the suit again was not that big a deal to me -- Kento being Espada full time again is a pretty big deal! I don't, uh, I don't know that the show made a big deal about it onscreen -- there's more weight to him rejoining the guild than there is to his first Espada Henshin back, if I recall -- but it's for sure nice to see him fighting alongside his friends in that classy suit.

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 41 - “TWO THOUSAND YEARS, TO WEAVE A SINGLE WISH”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber41a.png

I sort of hate how perfect Storious is for this show’s final villain.

I still don’t like him. I’ve found his presence over the last forty episodes to be more of a distraction than an enhancement. His new Scratchy Deep Villain Voice is maybe funnier than the voice he did for the HBV. He lacks the compelling theatricality of Isaac, substituting a grim menace that comes off pedestrian by comparison. He’s never been entertaining, and that didn’t exactly stop being the case this episode, despite it arguably being his highlight. I don’t like watching him.

But, goddamn, the idea of him as the final boss is perfect.

Storious is a man of stories, and he’s obsessed with endings. To him, a story is only worth telling if the ending resonates. The ending is why we tell stories, to his thinking. So he wants to end the world because that’s what gives the world meaning; before they die, everyone on the planet is boring, pointless. He wants to see how it all ends, so he’s going to end it. While a character like Touma might value the journey of a story – the place where we learn about others and invest in people – Storious is only here to shut it all down. The destination is all that matters to him.

It’s the best meta villain a season-long story could have, and I wish the execution were as exciting as the reveal. Storious was a lame leader of a lame group. He was frequently upstaged by the lousy CG of his headquarters, and he’s barely able to rise above the other scenes of an episode full of exposition. This show gambled big on asking an average actor playing an adequate villain to somehow level up into a final boss between episodes, and it just doesn’t happen. The show tries to get him there by providing a brilliantly thematic motivation, but the performance and presence is just… it’s just henchman level. It’s not a big boss.

The rest of the episode is solid enough, with a mix of exposition (Tassel!), uplifting camaraderie (Touma!), and bittersweet foreboding (Desast!).

Let’s hit that last one first, because it’s easily the best part of this episode. Desast takes up the Sword of Ruin, henshins into Kamen Rider Falchion, and proceeds to have an epic battle against Storious. (I love that Desast has fallen into accidental heroism because he’s having too much fun to let someone destroy the entire Earth right this second. Later, maybe. But not now.) Sadly, it’s a thrilling battle that leaves Desast probably almost dead, so he’s going to have one last duel against Ren before he goes.

(The Ren stuff with Touma… it’s okay? It’s a very incremental restatement of their status quo. Didn’t super need it here, but it’s okay as a reminder.)

Touma gets a much more upbeat plot, despite being told by Tassel that he’s destined to choose between Luna and his friends. It’s a feint by the show, though, because Touma’s well past the point of taking anyone’s word about what he’s destined to do: he’s going to decide how this story ends. So he’s like Why Not Both, and reiterates his goal to have all of his friends – Luna included – as part of his life. It’s a great swerve away from a more generic Touma Has To Make An Impossible Choice story, because he’s grown beyond other people limiting his choices.

It’s a decent enough episode, for how it juggles a fun fight and a library’s worth of exposition. I even liked the reveal of Storious’s motivation. I just wish it were a motivation for anyone other than Storious. Think how much more fun it’d be if Zooous was doing flips right now!

—

HELLO SADNESS

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber41b.png

Kento’s blood ran cold.

Luna’s absence had been an open wound in his life, and in his friendship with Touma. The battle to get her back had been fraught and painful. Everything in their lives hinged on Luna being back for good. Luckily, they’d found her. Touma had located a girl that had vanished through tragedy by never giving up on her.

But finding Luna never seemed to be as difficult as holding onto Luna. She’d barely materialized in their reality before she was kidnapped by Master Logos. Touma had saved her from apocalyptic sacrifice, but then she evaporated into glowing dust. Yuri’s friend had found her in the Wonder World, but it was only through the combined efforts of Touma, Kento, and Rintaro that she was kept from Solomon’s clutches. Everything about her seemed to exist in peril, continuously, almost gravitationally. They couldn’t ever seem to keep her safe for good.

Now she was with Yuri’s friend, who… what did they even know about him? That he’d been murdered at least once by Isaac? That he’d taken Luna to a place she was almost abducted from previously? That they had no idea if anyone else was looking for her? That she could already be captured?

Kento knew this feeling. This was the world he lived in for months, as he battled his friends to protect Touma and the world. This was fear, and guilt. It was him losing the faith that pulled him back from the brink of death. He felt it pull him back like all those foes who pulled Luna away.

He took a deep breath.

There was nothing to be afraid of. Touma had saved Luna. The end. It was over. She was safe in the Wonder World. Nothing was going to get to her. There was no reason to doubt their victory.

Kento was glad he could put this irrational fear to rest.

I think what makes Storious work for me... is why exactly you think it doesn't hit well. Like, you can tell that man is absolutely forcing his voice to sound like that, he's a guy who happened to get drunk on power and decided "Yo, endings are cool, I'm going to do this" despite sitting back for a good while and really not having the right engagement to end up as our finale villain.

He is trying to force a square block into a circular hole and damn it I will applaud him for that!

That being said the big star of this episode is Desast who gets to take up the mantle of Falchion for a fun fight with Storious and Charybdis who ends up getting a pretty beefy upgrade to his suit later on in the episode. But uh yeah... Desast's not looking too hot after that fight, huh?

And sadly on that note, no more new Desast Walks... yet.

Also wow. Uh. That story hit hard purely because this story of Kento reminds me of how sometimes I will suddenly jump to the worst conclusion of something before just barely pulling myself back. So um, bravo? I think.

And that's cool! A lot of my objection to Storious is just never ever finding him interesting as a character (except for a couple minutes in the HBV), and that feeling becoming so ingrained at this point in the series that it's virtually impossible to change my mind. It's not ruining the show, but I'm always going to like the idea more than the performance.

Sorry? Maybe?

The short there was really about two things that were on my mind. The first is that Kento's depression is probably going to be a battle forever with him, and it's not a villain he's vanquished. There's something within him that is used to making decisions out of fear, and not trusting his friends to take care of themselves, and he's going to internally push back on that for the rest of his life.

The other thing is that GODDAMN IT you have to keep Luna under a goddamn lock and key or she's just going to vanish when your back is turned. Like, Princess Peach thinks this girl gets kidnapped too often.

Yes, Storius is the perfect final villain for this story thematically. As for his behavior: remember, you wrote that we found Isaac in the final part of his 14-year plan? So this plan was only a part of the 2000 year plan of Storius and therefore everything applies to it too. He didn't show up bright throughout the show because he didn't have to.
It's also very interesting that Storius' relationship with Desast actually matches his HBV characterization as an indifferent creator. Only without the humorous grotesqueness of course.
Fanfiction is good.

I see you've come around on Zoous' flips! Proud of you

Sure, but my complaint isn't that Storious doesn't have the weight or significance to be the final villain -- it's that the actor/performance/direction isn't charismatic or compelling enough to match the effectiveness of the heroic side of the cast. Master Logos wasn't even mentioned for the first dozen episodes, if I can recall, and he still managed to be a captivating villain, thanks to the actor and the direction. Storious... no? Not for me?

I mean, all I'm saying is that Zooous's ridiculous, tension-negating flips are at least more memorable and entertaining than whatever Storious is going for. Don't put words in my mouth!

Obscure Saber trivia: did you know that, in addition to Storious and Zoous, there were originally three members of the villain group. To this day, nobody remembers who the third member was or what he contributed to the story.

His name was Kamen Rider Calibur, can't believe you would do this to my guy.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 41

Funnily enough, at the time this episode aired, I was not entirely sold on the thematic relevance of Storious as the big bad, despite enjoying his character well enough to this point -- pretty much the opposite of how Die feels. I liked the direction this episode moved him in for similar reasons, mind you, but it still felt like a few more pieces were needed to really click the guy into place for me as the show's ultimate villain. Of course, I also wasn't sold on Solomon right away either. But I can talk more about Storious later.

If there's one thing I most want to single out from this episode, it's absolutely got to be Tassel. Saber makes a real habit out of taking innocuous concepts from early on and giving them much more interesting dramatic context later on, and I feel like the move they pull here with Tassel is one of the finest examples of that in the series. His role in the show at the outset was to fill screentime and provide easy exposition, and it wouldn't have been that unthinkable for Saber to mostly leave him acting in that capacity. He's a wacky dude whose function as a storyteller fits the thematic trappings of this Rider show about stories. You don't need too much more, right?

But of course, throughout the show's run, he's been gradually wrapped more and more into the actual world of the narrative proper, and here, Saber takes another round of what could be dry exposition in a lesser series, and turns it into an opportunity to show us some true emotion from Tassel after all this time. All the dots you may have already connected by yourself if you were invested enough go from being implied subtext to outright text, and we have it shown very explicitly that underneath the colorful outward appearance, Tassel is a man bearing the profound sorrow of being unable to end a conflict that has dragged on for millennia. The hope he found in Touma then reframes a lot of his enthusiastic raving about the series in those bookend segments of all those episodes it took to get here by giving it a real motivation. I like to think I'm fascinated by these characters and their story, but even I can't compare to Tassel, the guy who is, beyond all doubt, Kamen Rider Saber's first and biggest fan.

It's the best of times, it's the worst of times!

The best of times: I love how Desast's path has lead him here. He's the first to stand in defense of the world here, and not with having been talked into it by anybody, just of his own personal conclusions. And isn't the best first person to stand up to someone who's despaired so much of creation, his own disregarded former creation?

Cool as his fight was though, hate to see my guy hurt. Hang in there, bud...(?)

On the other hand. Tassel's exposition. I hate what he establishes about the Wonder World here, it makes this setting a nightmare for me. There's nothing less inspiring for me in a storytelling themed show, then making ~all human knowledge and creativity~ from this... ancient aliens type outside source. That's just kinda insulting to me- especially when its alongside the real world based stories like Peter Fantasia in this show. It's so... demeaning to credit that all part of the Magic Only Original Source instead of JM Barrie's authoral voice. Just don't like That Whole Deal much at all!

And even then for Isaac, his reception also can still be mixed, he can be considered thin villain with motives that aren't explored very well. Or for better part, he is considered entertaining but his villain stint can be revealed/done earlier rather than waiting until near the end of his arc. Though I also didn't find Storious entertaining or memorable, thus I can't say many about him here other than new legion-like voice, or that he was the one who corrupted Zoous and Legeiel back in the past, but Storious can be even more disliked for following reasons later. The performance and presence may be henchman level, but typically, central antagonists primarily care about how threatening they're as a threat in battle.

About you saying that it's an accidental heroism here, honestly, people should recognize more that there can be evil vs evil in media, and that someone isn't good merely just because they target bad guys (and that someone isn't heroic only because they created good outcomes, or the reverse of someone isn't bad when they accidentally created bad outcomes in a mistake). And there has been this stuff in many KR series like Gai vs Horobi.

I do think that this is Ren sorta opening himself up to Touma, instead of being petty and hostile like he is usually (still hostile, but less so, kinda like Shindai siblings). Now Ren instead sorta asking for guidance to him instead of being on denial for Touma's capabilities or him compared to Kento.

Dunno if I get you here, but actually taking a 3rd option is often what happens when people like Touma who strives to be all-necompassing in his care is faced with this impossible choice. Especially in stories considered more "childish" or light-hearted, this is often criticized in how the writers lack courage to really portray the situation as something that has no any easy way out with them always successfully taking that 3rd option that gives every party good outcome. Though as you said, it's a recurring theme for Touma to ignore destiny, but it still applies on how the situation here would be written later.

Yeah, technically there's Mei in it as a Rider..... Angela Mei and Mei Hanakawa. :lol

Yeah, Tassel serves this bizarre function of both Omniscient Narrator for the first half of the show, and then Integral Backstory Character for the second half, but it's all a straight line of him being super-excited about what Touma's going to do to save the day. It never feels arbitrary, the use of Tassel in the main plot.

Huh! I can't say it really bothered me, because... like, I think these things are always more allegorical than literal, even if a green-haired ancient dude is literally telling you these things. All of the Wonder Ride Book/Book of Omniscience stuff always struck as more symbiotic with human imagination than straight-up cause/effect. But, either way, I think it's fair game to disregard the specifics of what Tassel's saying, and just focus on the Storious Went Nuts of it all.

Sure! Ren's definitely more open to hearing Touma's point of view, which is a step in the right direction. It's just, this is all sort of where we left things a few episodes ago: Ren is soul-searching, and Touma is willing to give him space. Seems a little weird for Touma to show up to still give Ren space, but I guess Touma just felt like checking in.

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 42 - “SO IT BEGINS, THE BEAUTIFUL FINALE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber42a1.png

Very strong episode for Desast, maybe less strong episode for the rest of the cast.

Everyone else… it’s okay? We’re setting up an endgame that’s somewhere between 41 episodes and two thousand years in the making, so there’s going to be a little bit of ramping up. Tassel’s death is the major plot development for Storious’s slow-motion armageddon, and it lands as well as it can. There’s real pathos to Tassel’s sense of guilt – his dream of a better future for mankind ended up getting all of his friends killed – but it’s left behind by Storious in the next scene. The whole point is that it doesn’t bother Storious that he killed his friend, because he’s seen this all play out millennia ago. There’s an awareness of how far Storious has fallen from a more idealistic self, but he’s ready for all of this to end, and there’s no turning back. It’s a sad end for Tassel, but the episode sort of doesn’t really have anyone to mourn him, or any time to linger on it?

Desast, though! That guy’s got… well, not friends, sadly. Acquaintances?

The one-sided friendship between Ren and Desast, as Desast has played chummy brother to Ren’s mopey lunkhead, is one of the best subplots for this show. Ren’s so unaware of his own deficiencies that he’s never been able to see that Desast is what happens when you’ve got nothing to believe in besides power and battle. Desast, meanwhile, refuses to acknowledge his personal growth, insistent on undercutting his burgeoning humanity whenever it bubbles over. It’s two guys who are identical in their low standards for themselves, and yet they’ve somehow managed to become better people for their companionship.

The most fascinating part of all this for me is that Desast kind of isn’t wrong about his outlook? He frames it in a self-defeating way – living without friends or purpose – but this is a dude who fought to live, full stop. He wasn’t guaranteed anything, and almost no one would’ve cared if he died. But he fought to build himself as close to a life as he understood, and then he fought to defend it from Storious. He’s someone like Ren who doesn’t even understand how much of a credo they constructed from just punching in every day, rather than dressing it up in speeches and slogans. There’s beauty in living a life, even if you don’t know what it’s for. Not every story needs to explain itself, you know?

We’re not done with this story, though, which is another mark of ambivalence for this episode with me. We’re starting to explore things like Desast’s isolation and Ren’s ethics, but it’s just, like, raising the question this time. Artfully done, for sure, but there’s a big ellipsis where a cliffhanger should be. I like thinking about Desast and Ren and how hard it can be to be a good person when the world doesn’t think you’re capable of serious feelings. It’s an interesting subsection of this show’s thoughts on belief, and the necessity of curiosity in a world of expectations and assumptions. Ren and Desast are two more characters that don’t understand how to be more than what people see them as, and don’t get how to change the story that was written for them. But we’re just tossing that around, not really coming to a point on it yet.

For everyone else, it’s a lot of setting up the board. Storious is starting his incursion on the Real World. Luna is, as always, as slippery as an eel. (That Mei post-credit thing! THE SECOND SHE TURNS HER BACK ON LUNA! NAIL THAT KID TO THE GODDAMN GROUND!) The swordsmen are getting ready for the finale, just like they were fifteen years ago. It’s solidly dramatic, but mostly just preparing things for the climax.

But that’s still a few episodes away. In the meantime… this was okay.

—

THE WORST HAS YET TO COME

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber42b1.png

Daishinji could do this.

He had suffered greatly for the Sword of Logos. Being a swordsman was a constant struggle against the forces of darkness to maintain balance between this world and the Wonder World. He’d lost friends. He’d abandoned the guild to save the guild. He’d lost his sword, twice. He had weathered adversity, and done it without hesitation. He’d never wavered in his sense of duty. The swords were put here to guard mankind, and Daishinji could do no less.

He leaned on his friends in those times where he came closest to giving in, but this time, he’d be on his own. He just needed to hold out a little longer, stand his ground, and he’d be free of this pain.

He could eat this rice ball, and tell Sophia it was good.

Seasonal allergies hitting me real hard tonight! Sorry this was short/bad!

Funnily enough both of my favorite gags this episode involved food. The first was with Daishinji and his Jelly Filled Donut, in which he's put on the spot and everyone is like "You can do it" silently as Sophia watches him eat her cooking.

The next is Desast getting mad at Ren for not eating his Red Ginger. This is a quintessential Desast scene for me if I'm being honest.

As for the rest though, we're very much still in the setup phase for endgame and this was an episode I didn't have much feeling on before and even now. There's some cool moments to be had, the Touma vs. Desast scuffle was fun to watch in a saddening way, in where Desast would normally brush a wound like the one he got off... except he can't. And it's clear he's living on borrowed time.

So yeah, star of the episode is Desast with Daishinji at a second place because of Jelly Filled Donut mishaps. Which, speaking of the story this time... not much, but I do like how simple it ends up being because really, you just need a good inner monologue by Daishinji to sell just how desperate he is to not offend Sophia.

No Desast Walk... yet. We'll be getting back to it soon, like really really soon, don't you worry.

Yes, this is a pre-episode. It seems to me that if the show had the same pace as at its beginning, then its events would be divided between 41st and 43rd. However, I like it. The death of Tassel, the suffering of Desast, the moon reminds of itself, the fun of the swordsmen. So I'm glad this episode exists.
Fanfiction is funny. By the way, I also remember this moment of onigiri.

Yeah, I don’t recall much in particular about these last two episodes. Or at least I thought I didn’t, until I remembered this tweet from Robin Furuya (Storious) of a picture he took with Les Romanesques TOBI (Tassel). You will not take the latter’s death scene seriously again after this.

https://mobile.twitter.com/mynameis_...544101888?s=20

Victor Oh Victor...

sorry.

*From Kamen Rider Saber official

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5afC4PVEAEzuQF.jpg

Imagine fighting in the DGP to grant the desire of Mei as Rider, only to get this result.

Hey, nice rhyme. However, I think this was a strong episode for most of the characters.

This episode made a lot of people feel bad for ever suspecting Tassel as the villainous Calibur. He's genuinely as kind and amicable as he appears and yet he's suffered on his own for such a long time. For those first 1000 years, he didn't even have Yuri. It's so tragic how desperately he tries to appeal to his last living oldest best friend, that even after getting fatally stabbed by him, he just apologizes for everything and blames himself for introducing Storious to the power that drove him to such deep despair. It's a surprisingly powerful and emotional scene for two characters we've never seen interact before.

It's also an omen that the show is about to get serious, as the man who opened the show and greeted us with Bonne Lecture to lighten the mood is suddenly gone, heralded by the encroachment of Wonder World on the human world, the sky turning Red like Ganma World used to be and Fukuda's return to the show to write the final arc, after several episodes written by secondaries.

I'd also like to talk about the interaction between Saber and Desast, since this is the first time outside Saber x Ghost where we actually get to see them fight both physically and verbally, with Saber retracting his previous cold statement about Desast not having real emotions and now fully acknowledging that his sadness, anger, excitement and will to live is as real as it gets.

As Storious reveals here, Desast was created on a whim as basically a "concept character", the sum of three unrelated stories carelessly mashed together, a character with no place in the narrative, discarded and left to do whatever he wants. But Saber argues for Desast's right to live, that even an artificial life granted as an afterthought is still a miraculous life and Storious is wrong to call that life worthless.

While Desast denies wanting friendship and meaning, to hide his vulnerability, he truly wants to feel alive and find a place to belong in the world. Somewhere along the way, without realizing, he found his own place in the narrative, in Saber's battles, Ren's pursuit of true strength and the world he loves too much to give up when there's so much left to experience. Storious decided to bring the end of everything, but Desast who wants to live can no longer stop his own story from ending. However, he can decide how his story ends and he can turn the page for a story that will succeed him.

Rintarou/Mei is still my favorite in this show, but Daishinji/Sophia is seriously cute as well!

Desast's defense of red ginger's honor is the clearest representation of Desast's burgeoning self-image, and I totally love it. How DARE Ren say that it's wrong to make things spicy and dangerous! Lots of people like it when things are unpredictable, Ren!

Yeah, it's less of a "Part 1 of 2" and more of a "Beginning Of The Finale Arc".

Nice to see their friendship wasn't tainted by a trifling amount of homicide.

Weirdly, I never suspected Tassel of any nefarious agenda? He just seemed too nice and generous for this show to pivot into him being anything other than a force for good. Another show would inevitably reveal that the kind, enthusiastic goof was secretly a villain. I mean, Geats -- for sure. But not Saber. Wrong show for Tassel to end up being a jerk!

I dunno if this part has been shown yet, but Storious was the one who is never good at the first place, as in the past, Storious was the one who is already self-serving from the start, with him gaining the power as the means for it, but he managed to corrupt Zooous and Legeiel, who were actually nice before. Otherwise, this episode does display that Tassel's kind and generous, despite probably some suspect that he has ulterior motive behind his cheery disposition, but perhaps it's already subverted in previous episodes, like when Mei got a bit mad about Tassel not interfering, but it's revealed that he's not a part of this world, thus it's about he can't, not he won't. He also has guilt complex to blame himself for others' misfortune, which actually would further show his niceness, even if this'd often come across as a 'weak'/'annoying' trait in other characters. N̶o̶t̶ ̶G̶e̶a̶t̶s̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶.̶.̶ ̶N̶a̶o̶m̶i̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶D̶e̶n̶-̶O̶.̶

I guess it's what Ren is still unaware of something, even if he does aware now that battle-lust isn't going to give what he needs for his soul searching. But you've liked Desast since beginning, and him being very strongly written here should be a good reason of him being one of Saber's most popular characters. There's tragic things happening to him here with Storious discarding him, and him slowly dying, and can't heal anymore. Though it'd still be different for how Desast is an outright bad guy unlike Ren, regarding being a good person is hard.

I'd say that this continues to show that Mei's deep (non-romantic/lust) care for Touma extends by proxy to do the same to Luna, where Mei's only concerned about Luna being alright even when she falls into a puddle. Luna though, she kinda alternates between disinterested or concerned to ask Mei if she's alright or walking away from her twice. Though this really shafted Kento hard, to not be included as if Mei overshadows Kento in that friendship group. I'd agree more with Daishinji explaining that the onigiri isn't that good to Sophia, but not in demeaning way (though it'd be a challenge too for Daishinji) where Sophia already apologized and encouraged him to be honest.

Maybe it can come from how he's supposedly apathetic with just apparently acting as a bystander that doesn't interfere and only sit back and watch.

I think a lot of it is just Ren being unable to think outside himself, and appreciate what he's got. He's always wanted to be stronger, and to impress people, but that's looking for approval to fill a void. The problem isn't even that Ren doesn't fight for a larger goal; the problem is that Ren can't be comfortable in his own skin, with his own achievements and failings. Desast is genuinely happy with a life that's just palling around with a like-minded friend, and that's a contentment that Ren is completely baffled by.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 42

You know, I really do love what a humanizing touch it is to have Sophia being embarrassingly bad at cooking, and I think I love that detail even more now, because it just clicked for me after like a year and a half that they almost certainly put that scene in this episode specifically to contrast with Desast, another artificial creation of some evil mastermind who has had significantly less luck finding a life for himself beyond a purpose a villain no longer needs him in.

It probably goes without saying that I was as invested in what was going on with Desast as everyone was (is Desast actually the single most popular Saber character?), so instead I'll talk a bit about Storious, because this is the episode where his new direction immediately starting clicking for me. That scene with Storious killing Tassel is some fantastic emotion on the latter's end, of course, but what surprised me about it the most was how the show actually allows Storious to react to it. How, very intentionally, he even drops the cheesy extra evil voice during their conversation, right up until he drives that sword through his former friend.

Later on, speaking to Touma, Storious describes Tassel's death as being "not particularly beautiful", without further elaboration, but given everything we've learned about our new big bad lately, I feel there's a very clear implication there -- Storious is upset that Tassel made him go off script.

Everything Storious is doing right now, it's all about having people playing the exact roles they've been assigned in this ongoing tragedy he's put himself in charge of enacting. In of itself, that's the beginning of a thematic specificity to his motivations I was hoping for after last episode, so that's already pretty great. (I can't begin to tell you how much I love him calling Touma "my hero".) But on top of that, we get a tantalizing hint of so much more depth to Storious with how shaken he clearly is for a moment as Tassel appeals to the man he once was, even in his very last moments. It's a death that isn't "beautiful", I think, because Storious envisioned a gloriously hopeless scene where the ultimate villain remorselessly strikes down one of mankind's greatest protectors, who would no doubt be defiant to the end, foolishly fighting back to no avail, or at least hurling some condemnations at the villain with his final breaths. But instead, Tassel tries only to get through to him as a friend, and if Storious was able to stand that, what he most certainly can't abide by is that there was even a single moment there where those pleas were almost working. It's why I like the detail of him dropping the silly voice, too; it implies that's merely a conscious affectation Storious has adopted believing it makes him more convincing in his role, and he's starting to break character.

It's a huge blemish on Storious' perfect narrative, but in my eyes, it's a scene that does a whole lot to make the story of Kamen Rider Saber that much better.

Yeah, it's... I think it's relevant that this scene is private? It's not Storious as the Master Villain, taunting his foes with his Ultimate Power or whatever. This is Storious trying to be a hardcore psychopath with the one guy alive who knows it's all bullshit. It's Storious getting found out, and being a little vulnerable, and then rededicating himself to fulfilling his 2000-year objective. There's a whole I Know, Right? aspect to Storious doing his villain schtick with a friend who knew him back in the day, and that's a little sweet and sad.

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 43 - “THEY CLASH, SEEKING VALUE IN THEIR EXISTENCE”

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All I want to talk about is the fantastic direction of this episode, and how it elevated every single storyline.

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There are so many close-ups on the Desast mask, which I feel is sort of unusual for a kaijin character. He gets close-ups here that the heroes get; he gets close-ups that human faces get. It’s immediately telling us that it's okay to empathize with Desast in this story. There’s a fragility to Desast’s character – emotionally and physically – that the episode wants you to feel.

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So much space between Ren and Desast in this first shot of the two of them! They can only be vulnerable when they think they’re alone, and we’re already keeping them apart.

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I love this haunting image of Desast’s conception of his death that debuted last episode, and I also love the accompanying image of Ren as a witness. Ren’s still processing what Desast is to him: a mentor? An aggravation? A warning? A friend? All of those? None of those? He’s here in this shot to try and understand what it might feel like to watch Desast die, and work backwards from that feeling to put a name on their relationship.

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My absolute favorite motif in this episode – and this shot’s example of it is when I knew this was going to be an all-image post – is characters in spaces too large for them. It’s letting you know that the narrative is indifferent to suffering; the characters are going to have to weather hardship and come out the other side, no one’s going to help them. It’s a nice visual reinforcement of Saber’s recurring themes of self-determination and self-actualization, by making the direction itself something that exists at a scale that isn’t concerned with centering a character, or emphasizing humanity. It’s all over this episode, not just in the Ren and Desast scenes, and I like that throughline. We’re in a story bigger than the characters’ ability to handle it, so they need to start leveling up.

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This whole introductory shot of the Sword of Logos is done backwards, which is really interesting. We get these contextless close-ups, and then we get the establishing shot. Beyond being nicely disorienting, I like how it reduces the scale back down to something intimate. We’re not as unfocused and spun-around as Ren, we’re with a cast who is completely focused on averting the apocalypse. Plus, it gives everyone a little bit of body language to establish their emotional levels re: Things Have Gotten Pretty Bad.

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A lot of really lovely long takes in this episode, which adds to the tension and trepidation. This one in particular has this terrific single diffused spotlight on Desast at the end of the row of columns, making him a slightly ethereal destination, rather than a character. He’s something Ren can’t stop heading towards, even if he doesn’t completely get the significance.

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Great shot of Desast pushed into the corner. It gives him a sense of powerlessness, unable to grab focus or wrest control of his fate. He’s dying, and this is his only chance of having a death with any meaning to it.

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I love how childish these shots make Ren look. There’s no heroism or elegance to his initial fight with Desast, only copied moves and pathetic tantrums. The shots here aren’t sweetening the emotions, or providing judgment – they’re raw and unsentimental. Ren doesn’t get to look like a hero, he gets to look like a petulant child that measures himself against everyone else. He wants to be more powerful Than. It’s always Than someone else. He can’t beat Desast because the fight itself means something to Desast, and Desast won’t believe in anything other than the fight. Ren will always lose because he needs something outside himself to grade him, to praise him. The power the other swordsmen have over Ren isn’t necessarily a creed or a code or an ideology; it’s the will to ignore what the world is telling them and fight for their own beliefs. The specifics of that are irrelevant. The power is in the resolve, and the hope that that resolve might be equal to the task.

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And then this is the turn, when Ren pushes aside the expectations of others and declares his right to exist on his own terms. He’s not avoiding reflection or searching for meaning, he’s content in his own skin. He doesn’t need to emulate Kento or surpass Touma, he just has to be Ren, because Ren is pretty cool. Desast is right there with him, arguing for his humanity by reminding this world who he is.

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Desast is so proud of his sword son! And that his sword son is going to murder him in glorious battle! He's basically saying Come Hug Your Sword Dad, Sword Son! THIS SHOW, YOU GUYS!

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It’s the first shot at this location, but the aftermath. Ren’s made it to the place Desast started, bathed in the same light of self-acceptance. He’s finished his journey.

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The camera’s mostly on Ren for Desast’s death scene, which is probably just how Desast would’ve wanted it. We’re here to see how Desast’s lessons have changed Ren, and how this scarred-up swordsman is able to process what’s going on. It’s all very closed-off and quiet, which is always the smarter way for these deaths to go, I think. Touma pawing at a dying Kento, I sort of bounce right off of. But Ren staring down at a dying Desast, honoring his friend by letting the fight just be a fight, that’s a gut punch if this show ever threw one. It’s these two weirdos having only swordfighting to connect them, but letting that be a relationship as resonant as a million conversations.

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And the director lingers so long on this empty shot after Desast disappears! Gorgeous! It’s all empty space and silence, nothing to mourn. It’s a shot that refuses to blink or look away, just locked in on Desast’s absence. So good!

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The storyline with Touma and the returning Shindai Siblings (who were definitely not absent due to them filming a Zenkaiger episode) is your more traditional tokusatsu action extravaganza, but it’s no less entertaining for it. The shots vary between the exquisitely framed ones above – Touma rising up from the Shindais’ unwavering duty to express his eternal resolve, Touma as the new heart of the Sword of Logos – to slow-motion battles across staggering landscapes and sets. It’s jaw-dropping in how much it puts movie climaxes to shame.

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This little post-credit scene of Ren on the bench, eating his food with the red ginger flakes to honor Desast, but then staying true to himself by not denying that they’re gross… it’s this whole outstanding episode in one funny, touching shot.

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And then the pathway through the woods, full-color and vibrant, with the road stretching off into the distance. It’s quiet now, emptier, but full of possibilities. It’s a space to explore, not to hide in. It’s one story ending, and a new story beginning. It’s lovely, and a little sad.

What a phenomenal episode of television.

—

A SISTER’S SOCIAL AGONY

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Reika was protective of her brother.

She was sure that this would come as a surprise to many of her recent acquaintances. The various swordsmen of the Sword of Logos likely saw her as a taciturn but dedicated warrior; perhaps a bit too inflexible, but she knew they secretly respected her for sense of duty. They could cover it up in disinterest and threats and jokes and several intense battles, but she knew she’d gained their respect. They couldn’t see the devoted sister, only the formidable warrior and unflappable leader. They were blinded by her competence.

Her brother, however…

It galled her that no one else seemed to be aware of Ryoga’s many heroic and admirable qualities. He’d attempted to smooth over the earlier friction of their civil war against the guild traitors by applying his highly-regarded intensity to the many failings of the Northern Base, but his efforts were thus far unsuccessful in rehabilitating his image. He was a man of deep pride, and for that he was routinely mocked and belittled. She’d had to stay her hand countless times, watching sleight after sleight go unremarked upon. She’d hoped that the swordsmen’s respect and admiration for her time as their leader would transfer to her brother, but it seemed to be a lost cause.

Until now.

They’d recently been the victim of one of Isaac’s cruel plots, and Ryoga had been forced to battle his sister and her teammates. Through Ryoga’s impeccable character and unstoppable resolve, he’d thrown off the shackles of control and staved off disaster. Unfortunately, Buster and Slash had been minorly effective in buying Ryoga time, and therefore needed to be thanked. She offered to do it on both their behalf, seeing as the two Northern Base swordsmen held her in such high regard, but Ryoga had demanded to do it personally.

This was going to be his moment. He was going to show the sincerity of his appreciation, convey the gratitude inherent to his code, and they’d see his nobility like she did. They were going to laud him as they should have from the start. They were going to love him like she did.

If this all worked out, they were even going to love him like they loved her.

One of my favorite episodes in Saber, wholeheartedly. It's such a fantastic climax to Desast and Ren's characters and it was this episode that fully made me turn around on Ren to being like... "You know what? He's a fine kid" in terms of like, finally accepting him after being very fed up with him at the start of the show.

Like, there's just so much fun stuff to pick apart with in the fight, I could be here all night. And oyu picked some really good moments. I love Ren trying to imitate Rintaro because he thinks that's what he should do and it not working. I like Desast using Kyomu because it does have negation abilities, so that means Ren can't go super crazy with wind elemental techniques.

I love the visceral hits each of them takes all the while the music builds up to a wonderful slow ballad insert by I believe Mei's actress. Just... everything about this fight is so good, and on that alone, this episode already made it really good for me. The post credits scene was also just, really nice to see tbh.

Of course we have all the other stuff which while despite furthering the plot, was very much our B-Plot for the episode. That's not to say it wasn't entertaining though, there's some fun small moments.

Like Reika having a slight look of shame after seeing all the trapped souls in books, because as I said, despite the Megid playing in a whole other ballgame, she realizes that if she hadn't been blindly following orders and didn't split up the Northern Base, then some of these people would be saved.

Then there's the final fight with Charybdis who's just using everything in his arsenal, to which everyone else fights their hardest too. Touma pulling out Kaiji to swap with Ryoga was pretty cool, ngl. And of course we see that Charybdis is basically everything Storious wanted out of Desast and more, the chimera Megid basically becoming the pot to allow every single ingredient Storious collected to cook and create the new Ride Book.

So yeah, real good episode. My highlight of course is Desast and Ren, but the other plot stuff was also really good.

As for our story, it's an interesting insight into Reika... of which I think this is the first time you've used her? I think. I might be forgetting... but still, rather nice.

Now then, what you've all been waiting for...

"The Desa-Ren combination has settled things.

It was fun

Thank you."

http://www.tokunation.com/forums/att...1&d=1678506909


Desast Walk #17 (Quote Retweet):

"Hey, Akamichi Ren.

I'm Desast.

I had a good time, too.

Thank you."


http://www.tokunation.com/forums/att...1&d=1678506909

http://www.tokunation.com/forums/att...1&d=1678506909

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Ren's storyline is the quintessential Saber plot, because it has to be grating and annoying at first in order to eventually be poignant and transcendent. How much that destination is worth the journey is, appropriately, where Your Mileage May Vary.

I think it's the first Reika short? I knew I wanted to do something on that apology scene, and I'd already done Ryoga and a ton of Mei, so I thought I'd see what was there for me. It really clicked when I decided that Reika 1000% does not see that everyone hates her, and that she definitely thinks Ryoga is a great brother that she needs to protect by being the cooler sibling. I kinda love these two oblivious jerks now?

Also! Thanks for all the Desast Walks! They were great!

No problem, I just wanted to make sure you had like, the best Saber experience ever and that meant having the most complete Desast experience you could. Which is why I wanted to make sure you could view Desast Walk as you went through the story as intended.

Well, I have more to say about his one.

The song playing in the big fight, “Will Save Us”, was written by the director specifically because he thought the scene needed a sad song playing in the background, resulting in this being composed. Though as to why it’s sung by Mei’s actress - maybe neither Ren or Desast’s actors can sing?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RwTpPPUUmD0

This is also the last episode to be written by Takuro Fukuda, in the rare instance of a Toku show having a different writer do the finale (with Metalder, B-Fighter Megaranger and Wizard being the others I can think of). In this case, it’s because the producer saw how well received the V-Cinema for Ghost was, and told him to focus all his energies on the one for Saber, to try and make it even better. Given the reactions on Twitter, I’d say it was worth it.

A very powerful and tragic episode. It's actually impressive how the writers made the viewer sympathize with a kaijin without a human form, without giving him much extra attention or even giving a tragic backstory. I would even say, making the lack of backstory his tragedy. It's also an important growing up moment for Ren's character and a demonstration of how he can end up if he keeps fighting for no reason. Mei's song only enhances the tragedy of Desast's last fight, and when you listen to it, tears immediately come to your eyes.
The main plot, pushed into the background, is also very good and dramatic. Starting with the scenes at the North Base, so contrast with the fun in the last episode. Ending with thousands of people caught in the book who could not be saved. Well, and a duel with the gained strength of Kharibder in order to comply with the norms of an action show.
This episode once again casts doubt on whether Saber is really the most lightweight show of the Reiwa era. It also makes you feel that the finale is near, and with it the farewell to all the beloved characters of the show.
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Fun fact to defuse the drama a bit. Since the show did not show how Ren takes Kyomu after the battle, and this character has a lot of haters, I came across streams where the audience thought that he just left the magic sword of the void lying around in an empty warehouse. And only in this frame they realized that they were mistaken. Alright guys, even Ren isn't that reckless!

Fanfiction is cool!

The unlikely master and pupil relationship Ren and Desast had was one thing I liked as the show went on.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 43

An understandable reaction to a Kamihoriuchi episode! But uh, yeah, obviously this one is real good. Pairing this director with Fukuda seems to result in stuff like this a whole lot, and I'm all over the symmetry of them being the same team that introduced Kenzan to begin with. Oh, how obnoxious we all thought that kid was! The show as a whole had maybe come a long way since episode 6, but together with Desast, Ren in particular had managed to turn himself completely around, and it's just great to see.

Like, I'm not even sure what real insight I could offer about this episode, because it landed so well for people already I'd probably just be saying things everyone knows already.

Funnily enough, though, one of the most memorable things in here for me is actually just Rintarou's little conversation with Luna. It's a scene that comes to mind a lot when I think of how much I love that dude, and the adorable light tone of it sticks out in an episode that's otherwise juggling both a very poignant story with Desast and majorly dramatic overarching Plot threads. Ryouga's trouble expressing gratitude is great too, but something about Rintarou being his usual not-suspicious self makes for a perfect bit of levity.

Apparently Kamihoriuchi just thought Asuka Kawazu had a particularly pretty and clear voice, which I don't think he was wrong about. I really appreciate the extra effort to just make a whole song for this one episode, by the way? There have been a few moments in Kamihoriuchi's Saber episodes (Tassel's death last episode, for example) where it seemed to me that he clearly had this very specific vision for how he wanted a scene to play out, and would use stock music to allow the editing and everything to fit *exactly* the right way, but the music itself would end up sticking out as sort of "wrong" to me, even though it's a totally valid way to go about that. Here though, we've got an original composition from Shuuhei Naruse, which fits Kamen Rider without a doubt, and while it's still very different from Saber's usual musical style, the result sticks out in a good way instead of a bad one for me. It really does add a ton to the scene that you probably couldn't quite get with the usual BGM or just silence.

Oh, and just for the record, this episode is also the one before the crossover special originally aired, if that's of any real relevance, given how little the exact placement matters. It was very polite of Storious to delay his apocalyptic plans for a week to give everyone time for goofy spinoff adventures!

So I'm just going to steal my own quote from nigh on 2 years ago now

And then qualify them a little. Because I'm using the word "should" a lot in that post, which I think it me speaking about the Kamen Rider genre conventions these two inhabit. Ren is the cocky rival, and Dezast is the "I don't care about your goals, I only care about a good fight", who we've seen before a bunch of times. And yet, without making either of them really have a massive arc, or even one single inciting event besides "meeting each other", it's shifted them, not really away from those initial one-note characterisations, but just fleshed them out, added additional flavours like red ginger, and quietly given them room to work off each other. These two have never really been the stars, or even close to it, so having a full episode devoted to Dezast's tragic death and Ren carrying on his will and lessons, it's a little like Gaim randomly deciding the Oren/Jonouchi plot needs a whole episode and Mai to sing a tragic song about them. And, it honest to god works. It's brilliantly done.

Also, Will Save Us is really good? Very haunting, lots of power in the vocals, and I think it works having something unique for the fight because of how little Ren and Dezast have to do with the rest of the SOL or Megid gang at this point. This isn't another point of Storious' apocalyptic tantrum, or Touma winning over Ren and Dezast to be part of his squad, this is just between the two of them.

Neat! I'm looking forward to... Trio of Deep Sin? Is that the one?

I mean, Ren doesn't love swords like Daishinji loves swords, but he wouldn't just leave a powerful magic sword in a random warehouse! C'mon, people!

It's a hard plotline to dislike!

I like the implication, between this episode and Episode 2, that Rintaro has one extensively practiced speech for meeting new people, and it is incredibly weird and briefly counterproductive. (Dude! Stop telling people you aren't suspicious! It's very suspicious!) It's nice that the weirder edges of these characters don't all vanish in the crucibles of their character arcs.

Yeah, it's a strong episode for meeting Ren and Desast where they live, rather than shoehorning them into Rintaro or Kento's arcs -- the lesson learned here is to stop measuring yourself against other people, and their successes, and just concentrate on the things that make your life complete. It doesn't matter if it's small, or personal, so long as it makes you happy. Nice to have an arc like this, that doesn't depend on sketching out a personal manifesto.

I guess it can be one at a time but changing as it goes with time, including Desast's change like Storious discarding him. Desast tries to corrupt Ren as someone with similarities, so it'd be kinda a "toxic" friend type (someone being rather "amicable" doesn't necessarily mean doing good to them... kinda like Woz to Sougo), but later he'd value him more to the point that he gets mad at Touma for "negatively" affecting Ren - of which Touma's words also got through Desast here.

Now here we got Ogami being irritable to Mei again, instantly assuming the worst of her when Luna escapes. This one's seem more obvious to me in his squabbles, so it really is that Ogami kept holding a little grudge to Mei for unwittingly neglecting Sora before. Luna can show concern towards people who got in misfortune like Mei before, but she seems to be rather aloof too to walk away again, from Rintaro and bluntly stating that he's creepy (not unjustified, just a remark). And I didn't get that vibe from Rintaro here unlike his debut.

So Ren's end arc is about be yourself type, to stop comparing himself to others in positive way for Kento or negative way for Touma. This is perhaps subtle when comparing himself to others will hold him back by figuring out how to be strong like those 2, and thus he should fight his own way? And that he seems to regress back into purely battle hungry compared to his growth before of not all of that anymore before by refusing to fight Desast. Regardless, Ren displays his 'cool' battle capabilities by matching Desast untransformed (but with weapons) for some time.

Desast here intends on dying but make his last moments a dignified one which he succeeds in getting through Ren, with Ren also helping to do so by giving full fight to him. By this Desast is turning into Ren's version of Kento's Hayato.

From previous talk, though Reika became comparatively better, would say she's still a jerk here, regardless if what she did is meant for laughs. It's still an expected, but violent reaction for her to attempt slashing Mei off Ryoga. I kinda think that Ryoga may be more approachable than Reika for him at least the one started making attempts to get more open... which got exploited by Mei. For both too, them working together with the main cast involve them being control freaks who must have anything they say obeyed, but not vice-versa, that'd still display some superiority complex towards the 'traitors' of the guild, and just cause infighting in said team. Though the Shindai siblings are still among the best fighters as shown here, kinda like that Sabela's scent was her weakness at one point to get her trackable.

Other than him actually trying it, I'd also think that after defeating Desast, Ren is no longer dismissive towards Desast where him rejecting his suggestion is not done out of shooing Desast away, but out of just the dislike of the red ginger, but admitting it sincerely to Desast of thinking it's not for him. Albeit Ren's taste was the right one, this can actually counteract Desast's dialogue of Ren being fine by himself, that, Ren is fine to not follow that suggestion from others like Desast himself.

Even Desast corrupting Ren... it's more just getting him to be happy with his development and desires? Ren's a guy who was taught that strength was all that matters, and then couldn't achieve the same strength as the people around him. He kept wondering what his flaw was that was holding him back from similar success, but the flaw was thinking he was flawed. He'd never be happy as long as he compared himself to others, and that's all Desast was trying to get him to realize.

This was one of my favorite episodes of the season and I really enjoyed how much heart they put into Desast?s final battle. I also will forever resent the show for making me emotionally connect with Ren. That is an irresponsible use of the show?s most unsympathetic douchebag.

Also, gotta love that song. I am 100% down with anything that uses Nier?s musical aesthetic.