Saber is one of the most qualified I Really Loved This Show recommendations of all time for me. A genuinely special experience, marked by sporadic bouts of anger and disappointment. In the aftermath, it's all worth it. But if someone hasn't started that journey yet? Ehhh...

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The thing about Saber I've realized watching Die go through it is that a given viewer's enjoyment of it, hilariously enough, probably hinges a ton on how much faith they're willing to put into it. If you decide after a few episodes it's not worth your time, and drop it outright, it'll only ever be some noisy and mediocre series to you. If you stick it out, believing there's a chance things will get better, you'll eventually find they do. And if you're as recklessly optimistic going in as I was, you'll be met with an immediately enjoyable show that only seems to become more and more so with each episode.

Every time I read Die say something about how formless so many elements of the show feel until context is provided later on that makes it all meaningful, I'm just reminded all over again how insane my connection to Saber is. Die's experience is probably rather typical of most viewers, I'd imagine. It's only reasonable to question the way some of these things are structured. But for whatever reasons, I was there from day one, already having a great time, and feeling more than generous enough to excitedly imagine what all those "Somehows" that would make a given element of the narrative important might turn out to be. I never doubted that these things were being done with purpose, which made it that much more exciting when everything did start tying together so beautifully. That's probably not the typical experience with this series, at all. But that's my story with Kamen Rider Saber -- a story of faith rewarded.

Honestly, I'm not even sure what I should be writing here? Between that and everything I said about the show in that old post for 48, and, well, everything I ever say about Saber, my broad opinions on the overall series are pretty covered at this point. It's a show that stands out as special to me within a franchise of shows that are special to me, and as such I have no idea how to condense those feelings. Did I love the story and themes? Did I love the characters? Did I love the action and the aesthetics? Well, how long do you want this post to be? I'll leave the answer to those questions as a very obvious "yes" for now, and probably take another crack at this when the thread as a whole wraps up, but needless to say, following Saber for a year was an experience I'll cherish forever. Ironic a thing as this is to say about the one starring a writer, I don't think I've ever found words that do justice to just how much I do care about this series.

I basically already wrote everything I wanted to say about this show in posts dedicated to the last two episodes. So just to reiterate, Saber is my favorite rider show and I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Let the path be thorny, but this is what helps to better remember and appreciate the journey. And also I note that after the end of the series, Saber never ceases to amaze. There is still a lot of interesting things ahead!

Which is great! It's awesome to put yourself so utterly in the hands of creators, and have it all work out better than you'd dreamed. That's a rare experience, and you're right to both treasure it and share it.

For me? If I can paraphrase Kamijo -- a character that still doesn't work for me, even in retrospect -- when my resolve failed, I still had hope. I didn't know it was all going to work out, but I always hoped it would. I've never been able to quit a Kamen Rider show, and I doubt I ever will. I always wonder what's around the corner: Does the show fix its flaws, change its focus, clarify its vision, live up to its goals? If there's even a spark of a better show in the one that's not working for me, I gotta give them a chance. I may not like it to start, and it may let me down in ways I have to call out, but I will always root for these shows to get better. When it happens? They'll have my sword.

It's certainly a more interesting show to talk about, for its pricklier parts. And yeah! We still have a week of ancillary content to go over, starting with today's Sword of Logos episodes!

On the topic of that ancillary content, here's a revised and expanded schedule for the next few days:

03/18: Sword of Logos
03/19: Anime
03/20: TTFC Episode 3
03/22: Final Stage
03/23: Trio of Deep Sin
03/24: Sabela & Durandal

Looking forward to seeing how weird Saber can get with its stage show!

Interested in if you'll watch what exists of Outsiders now? Having watched Saber you now have context for everything that currently exists in and has been promised for it

Yeah, but not right away. Finishing Saber, then catching up on three months of Geats, then Revice, then (probably) Outsiders.

So here Kento is shown to be also doing his part of talking down civilians, similar to Touma further taking promises seriously to convince Takuto to fulfill it. I guess this'd strengthen the part of him being more of a fundamentally good person, instead of just a redeemed bad guy tagging along with the heroes (though there's still already an extensive part of him being at odds with the heroes), or that the earlier part of him was just him being 'heroic' due to going along with the main character (e.g. Micchy in Gaim) - thus the part of him being hellbent on revenge against Calibur was a genuine being caught up in emotions rather than his inherent dark side taking over. Ofc, with the problem of the promise being monster attacks, Kentouma both serve as the "security guards" for the childhood friends meeting up here.

So regarding Saber part, it's shown that someone like Sophia also can loosen up a little to join in the cast relaxing, which is good for her. Other than Kentouma, the focus here also seems to be done on Ryoga for some reason, who, initiates a duel with Rintaro, which makes sense as previously Ryoga was the evil counterpart of Rintaro, with both having trouble with socializing, but Ryoga is fanatically loyal to SoL's cause without a shred of conscience at that time. Thus like how Rintaro initiates a duel with Touma back then to convey it, now Ryoga repeats that with Rintaro. With now Ryoga seemingly fully opening up to the others, the 'traitors', more than Reika who's still only at best explaining Ryoga is while staying hostile to anyone not him. I wonder why for this part you think Reika is awful here as since Ryoga came, being deadly jealous of others approaching him is also a consistet part of her.

Regarding Revice, I only wonder how'd you feel regarding your view about families in KR when you get through it, especially that you watched Geats first which have (reverts into) more typical KR families. Honestly, I'd think that the Vice humor part is jarring here, like the fart jokes? It doesn't represent Revice at all. Regarding Rintaro, I guess it's good that his dork part is still consistent here with him making an awkward 'confession' with Mei due to misunderstandings, which ofc he meant actual official family instead of just a group with actual familial feelings. But the general consensus of Rintaro is that he's just there, for some of the audiences (also one of the secondaries that feel overshadowed by tertiary, Kento). I'm not into these crossovers but at the end it seems that the Saber part has something moving forward with SoL solving the Master Logos problem with it being turned into a council of four, of which for some reason only Ryoga got appointed as one of its members without Reika. Ren reacts more amicably to the group with his journey, though the focus is still on his interactions with Kento.

You're still going to watch Pretty Den-O after Saber though, right?

She's always been protective of her brother, but this is ramping things up into a more irritating jealousy angle that... I mean, it's problematic, I think we can all agree. Even if you end up viewing it as a sibling's devotion, or an idolization, it's still super weird that this grown woman is infuriated by her brother maybe-flirting with Mei. It's not that funny, and it unnecessarily harms Reika's character.

After Revice, since Revice is starting up (currently!) April 13th, and I got non-Kamen Rider stuff for at least the last week of this month. Pretty Den-O for sure will happen later this year. I have not forgotten! We'll cover the post-Revice roadmap in more detail as Revice wraps up.

For me, Saber is a show that I tend to associate with Black RX and Drive: three shows that I thought started off really weak but that eventually found their voice and turned into something really fantastic by the end. Between the heroes and villains it probably had more characters than it really knew what to do with most of the time, but I think it generally did a good job of doing justice by the majority of them.

I will always look back fondly on the time when Touma, Mei, and Yuri were the main active characters while everyone else just hung out in a library getting gaslit by Reika. I loved the whole storyline around the Primitive Dragon books and how that was ultimately resolved. I appreciate Kento for cutting past several episodes of misunderstandings by just openly explaining his plans and motivations. I respect the show for finding a way to take its worst character and give him one of the most emotional fight scenes in the entire series. There's a lot to credit this show with, but these are probably the elements that stuck out to me the most.

I really appreciate that you're doing your best to keep current with Geats, by the way? I can tell from just the handful of things you've said about it in this thread alone that Toei seriously did just go ahead and prep the exact Rider show you'd want to see in celebration of you finally catching up to the newest series. It's like, vicariously exciting to me to think that the back half of that series is what's waiting for you on the other side of the sorta-finish line of this years-long journey you've been on.

Saber... it's so weird, because I can't say I ever got on its wavelength fully, and yet I don't think it ever altered its approach to placate disgruntled viewers. It's like it just reached an equilibrium with me, where it was just Saber, no description or elaboration required. It did its thing, and I took what I could from it.

Geats is the easiest Kamen Rider show I've ever watched. I love the topics it was talking about in the first quarter (who is allowed to have dreams in capitalism; how dreams are turned into products and resold to dreamers; how dreams change and grow as we get older and learn about the world), and I'm psyched to see where it goes next. And that theme song! SO GOOD!

Also, "sorta-finish line" is right. Fun to catch up with the present, but these threads aren't disappearing after Revice.

KAMEN RIDER SABER: SWORD OF LOGOS SAGA

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Ha ha, who asked for this?

Literally the only good parts are the ones whose goofy yet heartwarming antics are the most incongruent with the specials' overarching narrative: Ren and Desast, Reika and Ryoga. Those couple scenes buried in the back half of the second part are maybe the only redeeming qualities of a two-part special that quickly and decisively reminded me of everything I disliked about Saber.

Like, Kamijo. This could’ve been the special that made sense of Kamijo’s incredibly weird personality and objectives. Instead, the chronological retelling just makes everything he does more ridiculous and inexplicable. Every attempt to soften his villainy by portraying it as misguided just makes him look like buffoon, and his motivations still feel abrupt and unconvincing. He should come off as a guy that tried to make sense of his best friend’s depression and fell into the same trap of pessimism that doomed Hayato; instead, he mostly comes off as a guy that abandons everything he ever believed in to honor the ghost of a friend he didn’t seem all that close to. Hayato’s fall makes sense – he’s scared for his child, and succumbs to a fatalism that destroys any hope he might try and bestow upon his son. Kento’s fall makes sense – his guilt keeps him from prioritizing his desires in a healthy way, so he invites more shame and guilt as a way of defining himself. Kamijo’s just some weirdo who was a hero right up until he became a Megid-collaborating apocalyptic psychopath.

It doesn’t help that, by laying things out chronologically, we’re left to shrug at how little explanation goes into the mechanisms that drove the early story. Luna’s never been seen, until she is, the very second Isaac is telling someone she’s never been seen. Calibur teams up with the Megid for power, and then does nothing for fifteen years. It’s all… none of this deserves to be taken literally. The backstory of a show like this should work on fairytale logic, the Once Upon A Time of it all; explaining it makes it so much worse. The second Kamijo tells us that he didn’t really curse Kento into an early grave – he actually shunted him to a nega-realm for safe-keeping, but got murdered before he could explain any of that to anyone, he wasn’t really a villain you guys, not really – he becomes a pathetic character that reads like the world’s most unnecessary and hilarious retcon. Let him be a doomed villain, not some ineffective dope. There’s weight in mystery, and this show’s early run – typified by these specials and their recap – frequently ruined it by trotting out terrible explanations.

Oh, man, was this thing not a good idea to produce. It’s worse answers to not great mysteries, and done in a way that exposes how much these shows evolve over time. That evolution is usually great: these shows become more themselves, honed like a blade. Specials like this, that attempt to connect all the dots, just end up revealing how much was rethought since the premiere, and how different the show has become. It’s trying to add logic to emotion, and it’s maybe exactly the wrong thing to do.

The Ren and Desast play rock paper scissors and hard hats was my favorite part of this special tbh.

Also past Espada and Kenzan are probably the most hilarious Riders ever. In that they transform, finisher, then promptly get killed within 10 seconds.

Like I know people like to laugh at Dark Necrom Pink, but our past Kenzan looked at that fight, and said "bet". It's funny when I can say that Dark Necrom Pink of all Riders put up a better fight than Past Kenzan.

The weirdest part of the Desast And Ren Are Lonely Boys scene is that it's not long after Desast has murdered two swordsmen? It's like, what are you trying to say about Desast with these two scenes? The whole Sword Of Logos Saga is very weird about whether horrible actions have consequences if you're sad inside.

For the most part, the purpose of the Sword of Logos is to gather all the information together before the final fight with Isaac. And whether they converge or not, this is secondary. Plus, as far as I remember, there was a rather long pause between the first and second episodes. It was also great to see the previous generation of swordsmen, because the legacy of swords is exactly what I like about the concept of local riders. Saber existed before Touma and will continue to exist after him, which opens up a huge scope for stories.
I will also note the tea drinking of Ryoga and Reika. First, their thoughts are voiced, literally showing how and why they mean so much to each other. Secondly, I would advise you to pay attention to the fact that Reika was not supposed to become a rider until she was chosen by Noroshi - a seiken that even the sword-obsessed Daishinji considered lost. This will play a role in Shindai's special.
P.S. Also, there will be no more fanfics at all, or is it just the SoL that doesn't deserve them?

Regarding you liking Reika's antics here while not for ep. 48, are you viewing her idolizing Ryoga separately as her irritating jealousy to others who interact with him? Because I do think that the infuritation comes from how much she adores him, she'd keep the most precious thing to her away from others. Unless you're thinking that only the adoring part can be done without that jealousy (but Reika's a jerk so, not a decent person like Juka Tendou, the irritating jealousy is expected). Otherwise, Ren and Desast actually get along better than I expected here, I mean they do in their final battle, but previously it was them being unwittingly pulled towards each other while only showing clear dislike, but here they're playing games together with them casually making suggestions like for Desast to enjoy the food slowly and better.

I do view Reika's jealousy antics as sibling's devotion, but that, along with Kamijo's part here, is the reason why I don't put caring for family or loved ones on pedestal as much as many other people. Devotion toward loved ones can mean, literally only towards them, but mistreating everyone else enough to be apathetic or is ok with screwing them over for the loved one's sake. Regardless of Kamijo not making sense, I gotta say that Kamijo seems to be someone who only cares about his comrades, or perhaps only Hayato. What he only cares is the issues between his comrades. He may only have viewed his swordsman duty as an obligation to please his comrades, instead of actually doing that for genuine desire, to not care about that in comparison to searching what breaks the SoL apart, like teaming up with Megid to accomplish that. It's what happens when someone is only shown getting along with their comrades and doing good to them, doesn't necessarily mean the outer circle is a part of it. Then it'd be quite unreasonable to assume Touma is similar to previous Caliburs of being drunk with power as he has shown more devotion towards the public he protects.

To explain, the part 1 would be done between ep. 16-17 (16.5), and the part 2 is done between ep. 35-36 (35.5). Kamijo is a (anti-)villain regardless if he's an ineffective dope or pathetic, because he has done bad things. Otherwise, seems that there are more shown regarding Isaac, in how he'd talk about protecting the world to the swordsmen, while ofc keeping his smarmy nature. So Isaac didn't really bring up about the reasons why he'd want to protect the world at that time, but perhaps was just the type who lies against other swordsmen, though he slipped a bit against Hayato who is now more suspicious. Later he only talked about the world being boring to recreate it in his image. If Sophia already existed long ago when Daishinji and Ogami are "young recruits" (even if same actor), then that should mean Luna is significantly older than Kentouma too. Daishinji displays his lack of social tact more here, being outright rude to people sharing their stories or the way they're talking. The first Espada and Kenzan, Kyoichiro Shinsen and Amane Kagami, looks incompetent as fighters to be killed because that their attack launches the opening themselves.

The reason for Reika's disgusting behavior is not her jealousy of her brother (it is rather a consequence), but that she idolizes him and tries to be him. Hence the sudden outbursts of emotions, both negative (with Sophia) and positive (with Magine). Ryoga is not emotional by nature, while Reika tries to be like him, crushing her true nature. Well, the consequences have to be reaped by those who were unsuccessfully nearby.

Yeah, I like the acknowledgement that this organization isn't just Touma's support system, it's a group that's got hundreds of years of people acting as guardians against evil. They're not, uh, great at it, but they're definitely there!

No more fanfics, I think. The Sword of Logos special definitely didn't warrant one, and I just... I think I like them being done when the series is done. I hope that's not a disappointment to anyone!

I mean, that's the implication of the first part -- that the Sword of Logos was a good workplace but a terrible group of friends, so they were unable to help Hayato in the way that he needed. Everything is Duty and Oaths, but caring about each other is more measured and distant.

Honestly given the final fanfic's content (again, love bookendings) and probably how limiting the content from here on is going to be, you've made the right call I'd say.

Yeah, like... I wanted the final one to have Touma in it, and I'm not sure how integral (or available) he'll be for the last few pieces of content? Maybe he'll be on the Sword of Logos's Satellite Of Love for the final specials, conveying his support via a single day's worth of filming! I don't know!

Sounds appropriate for a special called Sword of Logos Saga.

I agree that Kamijo's development seems like more of a reach now. I would've expected him becoming Calibur and joining the Megid to be events dotted throughout those 15 years, but this implies he saw one Kurayami vision and suddenly everything was clear to him, while Hayato and Kento were filled with doubt and took a more realistic amount of time to arrive at their respective conclusions.

However, I ultimately enjoyed this special for filling in the gaps in the lore and showing us what the previous generation of Swordsmen was like. We learn that while Daishinji has been working for SOL longer, as a swordsmith, Ogami became a Swordsman before him. We get to see how Kenshin fit in the group as a cheerful and friendly man just like his protege Rintarou. There's some other stuff here that gets elaborated on in the Buster manga as well.

A Swordsman Killer is going to kill Swordsmen. That's just what Desast does and that's what he was notorious for. He even told Ren in Episode 41 that he was responsible for Kagami's death, but thanks to SOL Saga, we know he killed Shinsen as well.

It's humorous how Kagami's defining trait is that she mostly talks about training to get stronger, like that's something universal to Kenzan users.

You've been consistently writing them for months, you deserve a break. I enjoyed reading them. Whenever you decide to write another fic, it should be when you feel inspired, not to meet expectation.

I can ignore Reika's weird brocon behavior when it's limited to interactions with Ryouga. That's a problem between siblings. It's mostly when that turns violent towards others like Mei that I draw the line. I guess I should commend Uchida for his attempt to push back a little on Fukuda's and Hasegawa's escalation of the Shindais' dysfunction. It's not much, this tea party scene, but I appreciate the sentiment.

I definitely enjoyed these more than Die did, but they're also another example of a Saber thing that sort of slipped through the cracks without any particular post from me. They didn't leave enough of an impact to be some super memorable thing which I can eagerly bust out some elaborate counter-opinion on (and you know I'd love to do that!), but I thought they were cute enough for what they were.

To be fair, I don't think you're meant to watch these specials back to back- you're supposed to watch the episodes in the first bluray set, see Desast kill two dudes 15 years ago (lol, go ahead bud,) then watch the episodes with the second bluray set, then see a cute ramen battle. There was probably a gap in their writing/filming too, so it just goes to show again how the show evolved and decided how it wanted to portray it's characters over time!

It's like the pilot episode for Sword of Logos: The Old Generation, where all of these new swordsmen get one (1) defining character trait, and it's simpler if they can be proto versions of our usual cast. It's hard enough to remember which new face is which, so Espada is absolutely going to wear gold, and Kenzan is absolutely going to talk about getting stronger.

I'm glad they didn't make you as angry as they made me!

Maybe! I think there's something to be said for narrative coherency, though --even if we're thinking of these as two separate specials, the wacky Ren/Desast/Shindai stuff doesn't exactly sit well alongside Kento's emotional annihilation. There doesn't really seem to be an overall story being told with the scenes and characters they chose to spotlight, which makes the unevenness of the two halves stand out to me.

KAMEN RIDER SABER: SHORT STORY MANGA ANTHOLOGY

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These Anime shorts… just completely my speed. I love how ridiculously deep-cut they are, and nothing could be more straight from my brain than an in-character prelude to the closing credits dance number. I was never the biggest fan of that thing until this very second. The rolling arm motions are for a lottery machine! Rintaro counts in French because fencing terms help him remember the moves! Mei says STA-AFF with a weird, addictive pronunciation! No one wants to hear out Touma’s concerns regarding the choreography! All of these insane details (RINTARO’S EXPLANATION OF THE SLASHING MOTION!!!) made me go watch the closing credits again, and I loved it so much. This bizarre, non-canonical short absolutely made me appreciate Saber more as a show.

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Nothing’s going to top MetsubouJinrai Game for me, probably, but an entire short where Zooous gets clowned on by Storious and Legeiel, Storious gets clowned on by Legeiel and Zooous, and Legeiel gets clowned on by Zooous and Legeiel? Outstanding. Incredibly funny, throughout. Huge props to the creative team for having Legeiel’s actor mention that he has maybe one definable trait, which is so mean. The costume stuff for the other two is minor in comparison to No One Knows Why You’re Here, and I love that this ridiculous sub-series went there. Easily the best use of the Book Club, and it’s not even a contest.

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Saber’s a very earnest show. There’s a disarming sweetness to it, where interpersonal disagreements are as catastrophic as any apocalypse. Like, Rintaro is the first new Sword of Logos guy we meet in the show, and he’s just the most direct, caring dude. That’s the template that everything for the SoL swordsmen spins off of; even the jerks and dummies are never cruel, really, just misunderstood. So it’s delightful to see that – short Kento – they’re all hot-headed assholes here, with Sophia being an impulsive and chaotic leader who is electric-shocked and superfluously-skateboarded enough to really scream at Ogami. It’s perfect? I wouldn’t trade the sweetness of Saber for nearly anything, but this story about five members of the Sword of Logos disintegrating into acrimony under the pressure of an escape room is kind of making a good case for itself.

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I really love how much Sophia hates Daishinji in this? She just absolutely destroys him here, and it’s exquisite. (“I don’t trust Slash today” is a catchphrase equally as heroic and memorable as “I’ll decide how this story ends!”) Between that and her Trash Tassel introduction, this is maybe the most I’ve ever enjoyed Sophia.

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Yuri is a terrifically bad scene partner, leaving Tassel to fluster his way through the weakest one of these shorts so far. There’s good gags in it – Saturday Dad is the funniest version of Tassel’s opening narration – but it’s a more uncomfortable form of comedy than the rapid-fire version of the other shorts. This one lets non-sequiturs hang in the air, and allows a brusque Yuri to steer an increasingly disjointed pre-credit sequence into nearly Dadaist waters, but it’s more clever than it is laugh-out-loud funny. I liked it okay, but there were long strings of me nodding approvingly, rather than cackling like a lunatic.

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Aw, that’s a let down. I thought this was going to be actual flubs, not just more ridiculous versions of scenes we already saw. I wanted to hear these actors lose it! What I got instead was cute, but not exactly the heights of humor that this series hit previously. Sophia being an on-set diva was probably the best part, with Storious’s fixation on Corn Soup being a close second. Everything else… it was fine? Weird, not super funny.

As a whole, I thought this series was exceptional. Incredibly high marks for the first four episodes, and a few gems scattered in the final two episodes. Saber really came through on these animes!

Funny cartoons. It was nice and interesting. Also, the last two not so successful episodes were most likely made by a different team, because I recall that they appeared much later. Although, maybe it's just the translation was a little delayed.

These anime shorts are always the best thing. I don't even like 01 or Saber and I had a blast with them! Can recommend them without hesitation. It's a shame Revice's still aren't subbed...

I only ever watched the first four when they came out.

I think the last two came out later so I never did? Though it doesn't seem like I'm missing much tbh.

I do agree with those who think that Saber is a series that got more improved in later parts (of which the next one, Revice, would be the opposite), though there are ofc, many who'd think Saber stays mediocre all around.

The show didn't touch upon it, but I think what sticks to me is that other than her main romantic interest, Mei becomes more tightly- with Touma since Kamijo's death, where they're almost never at odds with each other anymore, but it seems to be writing stuff rather than 'development' or something considering that the flashback of them first meeting with each other is more similar to the part post-Kamijo death. I'd still think that in this part Saber's mystery isn't really compelling to be followed with too, even though this is all important somehow is what mysteries do.

But even with the improvements compared to the beginning, there are still shortcomings later like I think, for informations, the reveal of Sophia as a Luna clone, but it being something redundant and unused (or, minor part of Sophia's attempted sacrifice), and with adult Luna being played by different actress. There's also still arcs that lasted too long like Kento's fatalism. I'd still think that the finale fight scene won't necessarily need Four Divine Sages who are important part of SoL, of which it's also not touched upon in the fighting style they invented part in the series. I'd think that Xross Saber's power is used well though there are parts of it only using swordmanship, don't understand the people who find the form underwhelming.

I'd also like for the story premise to be more directly used, but it's only done in specials like the Zenkaiger special of entering stories. I'm interested in how Touma solves problems with his knowledge of books and creative thinking, but even then I'd also think the later part focuses more of his friendship speeches rather than that, which is what people complain about him. I'd agree that Rintaro is a more enjoyable secondary Rider than I expect him to be, but Rintaro isn't that well-liked from what I get by people, for him being lacking in the series with even him being considered overshadowed by Kento in how significant they're and about Touma's relationship with them. Yuri and Desast are the most well-loved ones, but among fandom Saber has extremely polarizing cast in Ryoga, Reika, and Ren, while it also got some of the most hated characters in all franchise for Sophia and Luna. I often see you showing disappointment for KR's villains, and it seems that Saber won't (likely except for Isaac, or the Shindai siblings at the beginning), I wonder if you now, or long ago, has accepted the fact that KR is bound to have underwhelming villains, like the Book Club for Saber's cast.

- The genuine tidbits about the choreography were easily my favorite part of the first short, at the risk of downplaying how great the humor is. It was super neat finding out at least some of those movements are actually conveying something.

- Eigo de Megido should've just been a real show. Just those three actors, flexing their overseas roots while staying mostly in-character, week after week as some quasi-educational YouTube side project airing alongside the show. Would've *easily* made this trio into genuinely popular characters. Or maybe I just think that because I actually do like all these guys and thus thoroughly enjoyed this short. (It's also the only reason I remember Legeiel playing the piano.)

- Seeing so many of Saber's characters acting this unlike Saber characters was also a treat.

- I maybe have less to say about these two though. They're still great! I fondly recall trying to solve all those brain-teasers alongside the cast!

- As is quite common when Die is less enthusiastic than usual about a thing, I'm actually more enthusiastic about the fifth short than I am most of the others. The style of humor is totally my speed, and I like how it captures how awkward it must be trying to be friends with a guy as aloof as Yuri. I like to think every casual conversation with him goes this way.

- The sixth one is a nice little bonus, I guess. It was nice of them to get Reika and Ryouga in these shorts somewhere!

Anyway, yeah, to echo what others have said, these shorts are a Reiwa Rider tradition I'm glad to have around. Here's hoping it keeps up for Geats. (and also that I actually find Revice's somewhere before that...)

Interesting! I don't know when these were produced, but the first four feel very Q1, while the last two feel very Q2/Q3. 5 and 6 are post-Kento's encursening, at the very least.

This definitely had my favorite version of Sophia, as a smiling tyrant who maybe hates everyone but Espada, and it's a huge improvement over most of her scenes in Saber.

I don't know that it's worth going out of your way to get, but I think 5 and 6 still had some fun gags to them.

I don't know if I feel it's "bound to", no. Like you said -- Isaac! He's a great villain, and he's in a whole bunch of this show. I liked the Storious stuff thematically, even if Storious himself was never that exciting to me. I think these shows always manage a few interesting villains and bosses through their runs, or I probably wouldn't watch them?

The parts I usually disconnect with are either repetitive villain schemes with not much to key into (the Book Club plots) or mysteries that I don't have the info to solve/energy to puzzle out (Calibur). When a show loops the early villain plots into compelling guest stars (Wizard) or makes the mystery of a villain less of a thing to focus on (Ex-Aid), I'm fairly happy. Or, you can go the Geats route and make everything just drama that springs out of character conflicts -- which is the thematic core of the entire series -- and I'm thrilled.

If only Net-Movies were still a thing! We definitely would've gotten ten more of these informative (?) shorts, and the world would love these three knuckleheads.

TTFC DIRECT THEATER: KAMEN RIDER SABER, ACT 3 - “SABER VS SHADOW MOON, AND…”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/ttfc3.png

Wow, best one of these, for sure. And not even because of either guest star!

It’s all because of Kirigirisu, who returns yet again to ineffectively menace Saber and basically come off like a hammy creep. Which, y’know, is the perfect vibe for a pseudo-stage show! You want hammy villains that work the crowd for boos, and also make small talk with strong-armed hostages. The bit where Kirigirisu not only knows a fact about this audience member’s hometown, but does a whole Thanks For Coming So Far To Join Us thing… it’s the best. It’s exactly the right tone for something that’s trying to charm an outdoor festival crowd.

And then to follow it up with the glorified clown show of Shocker Training? So fun! So much dumb fun! I honestly checked out once the superheroes showed up, I was so into Kirigirisu as a dude who transformed a civilian into a Shocker grunt and then got mildly irritated that the stunt show wasn’t going to plan. But Saber was heroic, and Shadow Moon was villainous, and Ichigou was Classic Ichigou, and that’s all at least fine. The beginning half, though! That was perfect!

Man, I feel like this one shouldn’t be missed? If you haven’t watched any of these TTFC specials, definitely check out this one.

Yes, a cool and funny final episode of this show. Cult guest stars, good audience work, and Kigirisu is really adored in these three episodes. Maybe not much can be said about TTFC Direct Theater, but it gives a lot of fun and positive emotions.

Honestly, putting Saber against the first (pseudo) Rider to use a sword seems like a stroke of genius.

If you haven't seen any of these local stageshows before, you might not know that it is in fact an EXTREMELY common thing to just have Shadow Moon show up as the villain! He makes sporadic appearances as a sometimes-big-bad in certain crossover movies, but local stageshows just can't get enough of him. It's honestly more shocking to me they didn't bring out Red Shadow Moon in this stageshow

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/96/07/50/9...eced27280a.jpg

Apparently they decided that then Ichigo would be very off topic next to the red hero and villain. Although why not make the first rider a red version?

Oh right, Red Shadow Moon exists! Admittedly I'm surprised to see a full on suit of him since most times I think I've only seen figure/3D game models represent the form.

That being said, that suit looks hella nice. They really should use it more often in like live action productions.

Well, I don't know about for sure, given that we're back to no Rintarou with this one. Still a silly enough bit of fun though. I'm kind of pleasantly surprised the three of these ended up being different enough to have different things to talk about each time. Not only are you not going to find another one of the three that pumps the old Shocker grunt comedy well (a classic that transcends eras!), but you can even see them experimenting with the visual style a bit and everything.

These were fun. Not really anything more than I expected, but it was nice to have this thread as an excuse to experience more Saber things for the first time. Now I've just gotta read that Buster manga at some point! (and also maybe find the two of these they apparently made for Revice... hopefully whenever someone decides to get the anime shorts out there!)

It's cute. It's a cute series of specials.

Yeah, after Shadow Moon's frequent Taisen appearances, I am now zero percent surprised when he just pops up whenever. Shocker needs a bruiser to take on Saber? Why not the guy from over 30 years ago that doesn't really have any connection to anything that's going on, and isn't even an anniversary character? Sure! No follow-up questions!

I feel like Rintaro bowed out of this one to better cheer Touma on from the audience. He's probably just behind one of the excited children!