Daishinji just tries to stop these 2 due to his hate of infightings, this is likely not only something about him being peaceful but about how he's shy and quiet and thus won't like any loudness in his surroundings (more personal reason), but using 'good' reason to stop it in how fighting is bad. Sophia tasking Mei to guard the base with the key does show her entrusting her but, that still means that Mei feels as if she's relegated into mundane tasks anyone can do, though, unfortunately that no one sees, she executes three-point landing while discovering the projection from the key (though her trying to getting to know the key's function like that is a reckless move).

I'd not like if something adds temporary negative side for someone just for drama's sake, but here while Rintaro does have well intention to keep Kento from going off the deep end, this seems to display Rintaro's actual negative side which can be more prevalent later, about how he can be too rigid and serious, towards anything that is Sword of Logos related and its view, I think, won't help Kento's issues, and instead can seem demeaning (worse consequence than him not expecting Touma's tactics, and can turn him into.... kinda typical edgy secondary Rider type) like forcing Kento to give up his position. Rintario seems to 'learn' in the end that he too can be irrational but well uh....

I'd say this episode's stuff is mostly Kento's fault, but obviously it's intentional as his character flaw, and as someone already brooding before, it came to light for now, Kento's emotions really consume him as Rintaro warned, like outright making the worst assumptions about Sophia and Calibur and jumping in the conclusions for that. Kento's also someone who'd use other's suffering as comparison and competition, brushing off other's suggestion and advice due to feeling that their sufferings are not as big/comparable to his father issues. What Kento did in this episode costed Rintaro's well-being, and like Rintaro above, though Kento seemed to regret making Rintaro end up like that, doesn't mean it's the end.

I saw someone mention this in the Figuarts thread a couple days ago, before I saw Jaou Dragon in the show. It's a very neat touch!

I don't know if I'd say Rintaro has a negative side in this one? He wants to keep Kento safe throughout, and his only "failing" is in how he can't quite see the situation from Kento's perspective. But, then, that's universal? This whole plot is about how the narratives we construct to explain our world are invariably different than the ones other people construct, and how hard it can be to (figuratively!) get on the same page.

It's the same trick as Cross-Z, and I really don't mind them being bold enough to use it again within a mere few years because it's a REALLY good design choice!

Good golly, this is some great analysis. Y'all are rad

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 12 - “OUR PROMISE TO EACH OTHER, AT THAT VERY PLACE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber12a.png

Liked this one a lot, but I didn’t love it?

The big problem I’m always going to have with Narratively Convenient Amnesia storylines is that they’re inherently backwards-looking: the character’s past is obscured in some way, necessitating an incremental clarifying of actions and events that occurred before the show began. The core trauma/revelation is a prequel to the main series, and I sort of hate prequels? It’s storytelling dedicated to filling in blanks, rather than propelling characters forward; providing answers rather than asking questions. I want to see characters make new decisions, rather than learn why they made old ones.

As such… not a super-illuminative episode of Saber? We don’t really get additional insight into our characters, so much as reiterating their motivations: Touma keeps promises, Rintaro is a steadfast friend, and Kento’s going to Fix This all by himself. The addition of Luna’s name or whatever… okay? I don’t care. I can’t care, because Luna–for all her significance in flashbacks–isn’t even a character yet. She’s a plot point. Touma might as well have lost a stuffed animal that day, or a favorite book. I can’t care about her loss because there’s nothing there to lose. I don’t care if Touma finds her or not, beyond a vague That Would Be Nice For Touma feeling. I really hope this is the last we have to learn about Kento’s guilty conscience and Touma’s Narratively Convenient Amnesia, because I literally cannot muster up any enthusiasm for backstory about characters that only exist in memories.

As for the rest of this episode, it’s solid enough to still be in the upper tier of Saber episodes. There’s no greater sense of what Calibur and the Book Club are up to (every time Calibur says “universal truth” like it's an explanation, I roll my eyes so hard), but the tone of the episode is nicely settled in This Is Going To Get Worse Before It Gets Better, which makes for an enjoyable twenty minutes of superhero action and adventure. The focus is purely on Kento, Touma, and Rintaro, so everyone else gets very minor bits of business. (Favorite touch was Mei chewing out Kento for almost getting Rintaro killed. Mei’s great! I hope the show gives her meaty scenes in the future!) The whole story here is about Kento’s crushing guilt, and how his inability to share that burden has consequences for all the people in his life. It’s maybe not surprising or clever, but it’s efficient and effective.

I… this show is so special when it lets itself tell stories in the present with its phenomenal cast. When it thinks it needs to spend time with things that happened fifteen years ago, it becomes so much less compelling to me. And, like, I get it: Kento’s trapped in that moment he and his friends made that promise, right before it all fell apart for good, so it makes sense for the show to be trapped there as well. I just can’t find much pleasure in that storytelling. It’s nice to have a touching scene with Touma and Kento, but it’s a shame it needs to be grounded in events that we’ve only glimpsed in flashback.

—

BURY IT

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber12b.png

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

It was a question Kento got all the time. He wondered if he heard it more than any other.

He wasn’t okay, of course. He hadn’t been okay in fifteen years, since the world was saved and his was destroyed. Fifteen years since his father had betrayed the Sword of Logos. Fifteen years since Luna went missing. Fifteen years since Touma forgot him. Fifteen years since he’d been happy.

He didn’t say any of that. He never did. He took that part of him, the part that spent every waking minute working to undo the shame and guilt of his father’s actions, and buried it under the mask of the man he hoped to be someday; a man who took joy in his friends and the life he lived.

He looked Touma in the eyes, as he’d done before with everyone he cared for, and said “Yes.”

It was strange how easy it was to lie to the people who loved him. He’d had years of practice, but he always thought it should hurt more. He wondered if the shame he felt for his father’s betrayal, and the lives it had ruined, left him incapable of feeling it for anything else.

It could be that. Or maybe it was that this lie was in service to his debt to Touma, another invisible kindness to his childhood friend, to spare him the hardship of the truth. He’d been glad that Touma couldn’t remember Luna, as cruel as that might sound. Better to leave the pain to Kento. It was his oldest friend, these days.

But those days were ending, and they were ending now. He’d made up his mind, and there was nothing for it now but to see it through.

Kento smiled at Touma, a smile that was almost honest in its relief, and said, “I know what must be done.”

He turned towards the door, and readied himself to destroy Calibur. He’d hated Kamijo for his monstrous villainy and incalculable cruelty, but he almost appreciated the symmetry of their upcoming battle. To go back to the spot where his life stopped, and close that book– no, to rewrite the ending? It was the sort of symbolism that would make Touma proud. He was going to fix this, in the place where it all went wrong.

It was finally going to be okay.

I admittedly don't have much to say on this episode.

While I do think you were a bit premature to say last episode "This is when Saber gets good", I will admit I do think there's a general rise in terms of how the show is handled as we get closer and closer to the end of 2020 with each coming Saber episode.

Kamijo vs. Kento though? Probably the highlight fight for me, mostly in what I like to dub as Kento's last stand. You can tell he's really out of it mentally when for the past two episodes he's ignored doing the usual callout for his attacks, merely prepping them before going forward.

There's something gripping about him just charging forward, zipping around, batting away the army of dragons before unleashing one powerful strike... only for us to see him once night has taken hold, just on the ground in defeat. Pretty good scene, and honestly a scene I was looking forward to write my own variation of in my crossover story.

I think the only other thing I have to say is... oh hey, Tassel is out of his house! I feel like that also sort of helps push how dire/intense this entire scenario that he's not isolated from us anymore. Especially since tattered cloak man from Avalon came to visit him in the last/this episode and was with him at the very end as well.

As for the story, a nice sort of look into how Kento views the whole situation, not much else to say.

It's so serious of a cliffhanger that it'd be inappropriate for Tassel to do his normal high-energy comedy, but, like: we have to have Tassel bookend the episode. Him and Hooded Stranger showing up was a nice way to make that happen, while also providing some hope for Kento in the next episode.

Not much to say for this episode. But I do have a slightly classier meme (in that it comes from a fandom VIP on Twitter and Facebook)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...4/IMG_3122.PNG

Yeah it'd be your personal pet peeve to hate prequels instead of it being something bad, but really, investigating a past isn't something that is only about filling in blanks. Filling in blanks and propelling characters forward aren't mutually exclusive. The solution to deal with something in the present and new decisions made for that can be done by discovering something in the past. Though I'd agree that Touma's childhood with Kento and Luna are so blurred for me to be invested at this point, compared to, the traitor for SoL (at least IMO), as that is the past event that affected the present cast more clearly, Kento's dad for obviously Kento, and Daichi for Touma and more. Though even then, it can be something that is more than just That Would Be Nice For Touma.

About Kento, this part seems to touch upon about how someone can perform similar actions and outcomes at first glance, but in context it's different. Previously Kento was consumed by hatred and vengeance, but now Kento has more clear head to deduce the locations of the opened gate to have Kento track down Daichi and face him. There are some audiences (not here, and not exclusively Saber) who don't take into account for the context behind an action and dunno if this'd be viewed as wasting time as they ended up doing the same thing.

Actually I kinda like that Mei didn't leave out Touma regarding Kento, she mentioned both Touma (and him first) and Rintaro instead of having a tunnel vision for Rintaro at that time or acknowledging Kento as hot. About Ogami's advice on Kento for his actions being reckless and can cost his life, that should be a reminder that, making a reckless action or decision that leads into them dying isn't inherently heroic or 'sacrificial' (or both that "it's heroic because it's sacrificial"). as shown by Kento here that he could've died due to being consumed by hatred and vengeance making it selfish one, not due to any sense of nobility. Though Rintaro carries a professional air, I guess he's an example, for now that is actually nice thus he claims him and Touma are friends, instead of viewing it as something 'weakness' or 'detrimental' for the mission despite Rintaro chastising Kento for being consumed by his emotion.

It can seem good that here Touma actually failed to arrive in time, creating this scene. And it's something ridiculous that Touma takes so much time to get into Kento, in opposite to where usually in toku the heroes arrive just in time to aid, here Touma arrives, probably still in 1 city, by nighttime, when he started to ride off since daytime.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 12

This episode marks the Diago Speedy's third and final appearance in the entire series, from what I remember, which is clearly at least as tragic as anything involving Kento in this episode. I like that bike!

...

Okay, I mean, obviously Kento's crushing guilt and continued inability to avoid making self-destructive decisions even as the people around him try their best to support him is probably the real tragedy here. Especially when it's this well portrayed. The simple visual symbolism of how night is gradually falling as Espada and Calibur fight especially, it's the sort of on-the-nose thing that fits so darn well it's hard to complain. Helps that Nakazawa's direction makes the fight itself so cool.