I really love when kids' questions accidentally spark existential crises in adults. With Sora around, this will probably not be the last time I go to that well.

It's crazy how much my enjoyment of this series goes up when there's just a tiny bit of decompression to it. Like, gimme one friggin' scene of people having a basic conversation about how they fit within an organization's eternal battle against the forces of darkness and I eat it up. It doesn't seem like a huge ask!

Didn't say this before but Kiriya's a slight exception, I'd think he's the one that I can actually consider misguided (of which the term is often thrown around towards anyone with a glimpse of sympathetic traits, like outright villains venting their dark past in destructive way) at the beginning of the series of thinking lying is better path than brutal honesty, refused to work more due to being suspicious of Hinata than ego, and he's the one who became friends with Emu after clearing up their misunderstandings, just before his Game Over (ep. 12) - this is also the reason for me to think that closest ones are those who has less conflict between each other, I'd view Kiriya as the main Rider Emu's the closest with, other than being early too, despite more rocky beginning (with Hiiro also distrusting Kiriya).

Yeah, he has a good design, despite the 'flamboyant' aspect of the form, other than pink (or is it actually magenta?), his accents also look like candy drops. It's due to it being based of the Gingerbread House from Hanselnuts to Gretel. Otherwise, Daishinji's problem is about his damaged weapon that he has to repair now, and I'm kinda confused (not only Saber's case) about the weapons still existing after the Riders de-henshin, or weapons that spawn when they henshin or equipped an item on their belts to summon it.

I agree with this, don't make them de-henshin in the past without new actors.

I don't believe I ever made any posts about these? Which hopefully doesn't make it sound like I don't care abut them, because I absolutely thought they were quite enjoyable. It's just... I don't particularly have anything to *say* about them, for the most part. This first one for example, it's uh, it's about Slash and Buster... it makes them feel more fleshed out in a way complements the series proper... I feel like I'd just end up literally describing the concept like that? Which means they generally nailed what they were going for, I guess, but they really have a way of putting me at a loss for words... like, in a good way though! They speak for themselves, basically.

If there's one thing I could say, it's just that I really like the dynamic this one focuses on where Ogami and Daishinji are emphasized as the designated veteran duo? It's a strong way to distinguish them from the rest of the heroes, and give their characters a flavor that's unique in the show. They're both guys who have just kinda been at their jobs for a while now, and I dig that whole vibe a lot.

I've had to defend her a little before, but, "one of the most hated ever"? Nah, I think that's a slight exaggeration. Out of all the Saber characters, Angela Mei's character gets a lot more (often justified) criticism in the Western fandom, despite apparently having a cult following in Japan. That's for another talk though.

Sophia definitely goes through a lot of undeserved treatment for someone who just wants to support the Swordsmen the best she can. So I'll be sure to point that out and express my sympathy when the time comes.

Basically, the only difference between a Swordsman and a normal homosapien is that the former wields a Seiken Sword, while the latter doesn't. I think the weirdest part about Ogami's and Daishinji's aging though is that 20s Ogami still looks in his 30s, while 30s Daishinji still looks in his 20s. Daishinji's actor is actually younger than the actors of the core 3 Swordsmen and even a few months younger than me, but for some reason he was cast to play a 30s character. After Gai though, I think it's a little easier to suspend disbelief and I enjoy the theatrical performance of Daishinji's emotional shifts.

Slash's Onjuuken Suzune is my favorite Seiken Sword, so I want to talk about that as well. While gunblades are pretty typical weapons for Riders, in a show where everybody has a unique sword, you got to have a gunblade, you know? The way Daishinji accidentally breaks Suzune for 15 years by ignoring its cries is kind of like getting a cool new video game that breaks your PC cause you didn't spec-up enough. It builds up Suzune as this really cool sword, while showing that Daishinji's job as a swordsmith shouldn't be taken for granted. Like Ogami said, the only reason why the Swordsmen can continue to fight is due to Daishinji's regular maintenance. I love Suzune's upbeat jingle as well and all the "Yay"s that would make even the Build Driver envious.

I guess it depends on whether it's part of the Driver, so it would disappear, or if it is the Driver, so it wouldn't.

It's such a fun choice to make for the first episode. I was totally prepared for a Saber/Blades installment, which would've been fine (I think they've got a fun dynamic), but it's so much more interesting to spend time with Daishinji's slightly withdrawn swordsmith and Ogami's boisterous warrior.

...man, that is an insane paragraph to have to read. At this point, I'm just gonna go with Swords Age Differently and not wait for this show to explain itself.

It's very cool! My entry to the franchise through Ex-Aid means my expectation is always that weapons should also have form changes, and it's very considerate of Saber to meet me halfway.

So I've never seen this one. Not sure why or how I missed it, given I was pretty all-in on Saber at the time (but only at the time; still haven't gotten around to any of the post-series content). I don't have much to say about it, therefore, but I will mention that these two are probably the best examples on the show of something that's been bugging me about Kamen Rider since at least Fourze: I really dislike it when weapons on these shows are obviously just plastic toys. Now at least Rider upsizes them from the DX versions (calling you out, modern Ultraman), but I find it hard to shake off suspension of belief with some of these things. Slash's pink plastic and Buster's floppy piece of foam are definitely major offenders here.

Ha ha, my first-ever Kamen Rider weapon was the Gashacon Breaker -- a weapon I would gladly pay Complete Style Gigantic money for if they made one -- so I am probably the last person in the world to decry a show's weaponry being too toyetic.

But even outside of that, I think it's a natural hedge for this show's collection of swords. I don't know if any toyline for kids could get away with large, bladed weaponry, so a design ethos that allows for bulky, stubby swords... I think that's just corporate self-preservation?

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 9 - “HARMONIZE, THE SWORDSMAN’S RESONANCE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber09a.png

In what I’d hoped would be a brand-new phase of Saber’s storytelling, with a firmer hand on how to tell its story, we are very much in some Traditional Saber territory, for better or worse.

Let’s start with the Worse!

As soon as Storious opened his mouth, I knew I wasn’t going to love this episode. It’s another scheme that’s pulled from thin air, as three random Alter Books and a whole bunch of Wonder Rider Books will now give Calibur all sorts of crazy power. It is, as always, the dullest way to kick off a Calibur plot. He just stands in the room waiting for a new Book Club hoop to jump through – usually accompanied by a totally random Megid – and then we get to watch him jump through it in the most straightforward way possible. There was a time, once, when this show had Calibur and the Book Club and Desast and a Megid all working in unison, to manipulate our heroes into a cunning trap. That episode feels like it belonged to a different show, for all the similarity to this episode’s basic-ass monster attack premise. This one’s just A to B to C, with no particular cleverness needed from the Sword of Logos. It’s barely worth thinking about, thankfully -slash- sadly.

But, speaking of Slash!

He’s the Better, obviously. As Tassel’s introduction and catchphrase suggested, it’s time to meet a new swordsman. (Also, a new swordswoman, probably!) The only spark this episode had was in its introduction of Daishinji’s Kamen Rider identity. It’s the smartest part of the episode, mostly because of its dedication to getting incredibly dumb.

Much like Daishinji’s personality changes when he becomes Slash – wild and uninhibited – this episode shifts gears in a major way for its middle third. It’s like a rock song, where there’s no nuance or intricacy; it’s just loud, fast, and fun. Every Rider gets to detonate a monster, and turn their back on the explosion. Slash gets multiple form changes, both of them gloriously garish and stupidly fantastic. Touma gets his Wonder Combo form, Crimson Dragon, and it’s slick as hell. The whole fight scene against Calibur and the Ducklings was so jaw-dropping (and reminiscent of the killer Geats action scenes I’d watched just before starting Saber) that I had to look up who the director was: OF COURSE IT WAS SAKAMOTO. Love how he moved the camera during the Calibur/Saber portion of the duel; easily the best brawl this show has had to date. This episode is only really concerned with introducing Slash, but it made that introduction so indelibly wild that I kind of don’t hate that decision.

There’s nominally a Touma plot here, where he starts the episode wondering what to write about, and ends the episode deciding to write about his friends, but… that’s literally the whole plot. There’s no, uh, middle section of that story, unless you count Fighting A Bad Guy. It’s the sort of bookend sequence that could’ve landed on nearly any of the last five episodes, and I don’t even know why they bothered with it here.

Oh, almost forgot! There’s that aforementioned new swordswoman! And growing suspicion that Calibur isn’t who anyone thinks he is! But no details are forthcoming, so I don’t have anything to say about that!

I really enjoyed the Slash action sequence in this one, don’t get me wrong, but there’s basically nothing else here besides that. I’m never going to be super in favor of a show trading out narrative momentum and character drama for a big ol’ fight scene, but I guess I can make a slight exception for a fight scene as grandiose as this one, and an expansion of the very charming Daishinji’s role on the show. It’s a bit of a wash!

—

THEY WRITE BOOKS ABOUT THIS SORT OF THING

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber09b.png

As Touma looked over the sea of notes, he felt adrift. Could all of this have really only occurred over the last nine weeks?

It seemed absurd, when he saw it all written down. The people he’d met, the battles he’d fought, the places to which he’d traveled… nine weeks? It was enough incident to fill months; years. To fill books, not a book. To fill a series. To fill a library.

He didn’t hurt for inspiration, that was for sure. He just needed a start, any start. A single one of those notes. Something to–

The door chime rang. A delivery of books from one of the store’s vendors. The box was opened, the packing slip removed, the items checked off for order accuracy, the inventory entered into the Point of Sale system’s database, the one damaged book set aside for replacement (after quickly filling in the requisite fields on the vendor’s website), the books shelved in their sections, the box broken down for recycling, the counter cleaned of detritus.

There. The work completed, Touma sat himself back to his wall of notes. What if he started with–

The phone rang. A question about a particular title, and whether Touma’s store stocked it. An affirmative response, followed by a trip to the shelves to verify its current availability. Yes, still there. Yes, he can set it aside. Thanks for calling.

Okay, back to the writing. He–

The door chime rang. One of his regulars, a local family. He spent time introducing the two children to some gorgeously-illustrated picture books, and then chatted with the parents while the children made their picks. The topics included the weather (a little drier out, thankfully), the nearby restaurant openings (a ramen cart that Touma raved about; an ice cream shop that the family had recently tried and enjoyed), and what had been enjoyed on TV (Touma didn’t watch TV, but he was happy to let others share their excitement). Once the children had decided on their books, Touma thanked the family for their visit and waved as they walked out the door.

That was fun, but he needed to get a start on this–

The phone rang. A question about an upcoming book, and whether Touma’s store would be carrying it. A quick check online indicated the book would be out next month, and Touma assured the caller that he’d have copies on the day of release. A quick note made to call the interested customer back when the book arrived, and Touma placed the phone back on the cradle.

Okay, now–

The door chime rang. A confused looking woman, who inquired about the location of a nearby business. Touma gave the directions quickly (it was a common request; why did everyone come to the bookstore to ask directions?) but pleasantly, and wished the woman luck on her search.

Now–

The phone rang. A question about a book, and whether Touma had it in stock. It was a popular title, so Touma assured the customer he had one as he walked over to the… hmm. It wasn’t there. Maybe it had been misfiled? No, it wasn’t in the section at all. Maybe it was moved to another part of the store? Touma apologetically informed the customer that he didn’t seem to have it in stock, but would certainly have a copy shortly. The customer replied that they’d needed it today, for a gift, but thanked Touma for his time.

With the phone call ended, Touma scoured the store for the book. No luck. Checking his inventory database, a copy was clearly indicated. Where had it gone? Giving up after considering the various possibilities (theft; database error; hallucination) Touma reset the stock level to zero, and hoped he wouldn’t lose any further sales in the wait for a reorder.

Okay, he could–

Touma dropped the pen. He’d forgotten to write out this week’s email to his customers, with updates on events and the list of new releases. He quickly typed out the new information into his template, and scheduled the email for the next day.

With that out of the way, he could finally get started on his writing. He looked over the notes for a moment, ready to grab the first one that caught his eye.

Behind him, a banging noise, and a young woman’s plaintive cry. “Geez, what’s with you, do you have writer’s block or something?”

This episode is our proper introduction to Kamen Rider Slash. I've talked about how he's my favorite Rider already, but man is he so cool. There's an elegance to his standard form and him just switching to a loud mouth rocker when we get a musical form in the mix is also really nice. Also the first time that an extra Rider in this show uses their main armament before Touma does since Touma got to use Jackun and 3 Little Pigs before both Buster and Kenzan did.

But yeah, not much to this episode in terms of monster of the week plot really. Fun fact about these ducklings though, in my story currently for Season 2 of it I've only used those six, and the Medusa trio thus far for it since man do they fill out some fodder ranks nicely. Kind of helps since there's a lot more dense stuff happening on the other side of the crossover, so I'm not too bummed about them not having a lot to them though the Medusa trio definitely have more uses than the Duckling ones.

Anyway Sakamoto! If your series doesn't have much in terms of out of suit physical fighting and you're suddenly getting out of suit physical fighting? It's absolutely Sakamoto taking the lead in terms of the directorial work.

Also since we got a new character in today, and I forget if she's named or not, but anyway... fun fact! Did you know that every Swordperson's name has some sort of version/reference of 'god'/'deity' in it. This was a method people used back when Saber was airing to see if potential new characters could be potentialy swordspeople or not.

As for the story...

how dare you

I... you just went for my throat with that. Touma was already relatable enough but you just went for the jugular in how I sometimes operate from time to time. The abrupt interruptions, the things that need to be done, the not getting anything done!

AHHHH!!!

... that is to say.

Good Job.

They didn't name her, but I've seen Incredibly Tall Sword Lady in enough random Kamen Rider places (Girls Remix for sure, I want to say) to immediately do the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing gif when she walked in. Excited to learn her deal!

The idea that Touma could get any writing done while running a bookstore (SOLO!) is by the far most fantastical and unbelievable concept in this entire series.

I have to agree with you on the plot of this episode, besides Slash appearing and the mysterious girl with a Wonder Ride Book who's probably relevant to the plot, there's hardly anything else that seems relevant to the story at large, it's just your basic Megid plot that isn't very interesting. Though onto something I do actually care for, Slash, I love his suit(s), it's hard to describe, since there's so much going on with his suit, but it just really appeals to me. Besides that, I didn't really care about this episode, Sakamoto's great action direction does pull it up a bit, but even with that, I can't ignore how barren this episode is of any real plot progression.

Believe me, this scheme is going to have some long term payoff, as will Daishinji using King of Arthur to make a better book (and that’s where the former book’s narrative significance ends).

And our new girl. She’s played by the part - Filipino Angela Mei, who is part of a group of actresses/performers called 01 familia, who are basically to females in Toku in the new 10s what D-Boys were to men in Toku during the mid-2000s to early new 10s (of course, I say that like we didn’t just have a D-Boy as the previous Blades two episodes ago), in that they’re seemingly everywhere Aside from having an actress in all three major Tokusatsu shows this year (Hikari Kuroki in Ultraman Z and Nashiko Momotsuki in Kiramager), they’ve also had some major appearances in other more minor capacities (two of them were the main guests in the TTFC theatre specials, while another was a small but important role on Donbrothers). We’ll start to see what she’s up to next time as well.

Oh right I didn't get to talk about this since I think I was too busy getting stabbed last night by the short story.

Crimson Dragon is pretty good for a Wonder Combo, I think what helps me like it more than Fantastic Lion is the fact that the Eagle chest for Saber is very flat in comparison to how bulky and popped out the Lion chest is.

They've just got that exuberant Ex-Aid thing, where they're so goofy and busy that it's hard to logically critique them. They just look exciting and fun!

01 Familia sounds like an idol supergroup made up of actors from Zero-One and Revice.

I will always gravitate towards red suits, so it's difficult for me to objectively consider why Crimson Dragon works better than Fantastic Lion. That flatter chest piece... maybe that's a positive? I think it's just a prettier palette, which is super subjective, but it's all I got.

hahahahahahahahaha

Regarding Reika, I'd say that she got quite a number of fans before that happened, though can't further talk about it.

About the Calibur part, Sophia seems to be fine to try to confront him, even not flinching when she got attacked other than Ogami saving her. Wonder what was Sophia thinking in the attack (or if it's really Ogami defending her).

Slash has a case of split personality for his personality change to become a wild one when using Bremen no Rock Band. His flamboyant design also provides a contrast where the user is the shyest member, with a Kamen Rider that has powers come from sound. It's ironic that Touma's worry to Daishinji before was to try keeping him out of the Arthur book as he's not a swordsman, but obviously, Slash saved them from the trouble of the Ahiru Megids.

Well yeah this one is a mystery, about Touma's childhood and who was together with him or who is the girl Touma failed to save that time. Wonder if you or some people'd think it's Sophia.

The case that it is both a correct and incorrect answer.I don't think this is a spoiler, but I'll hide it just in case.

I didn't (I feel like she'd've greeted Touma the same way Kento did if that were the case?), buuuuuuut...

Now is maybe a good time to remind people that spoiler tagged things aren't spoiler tagged in the thread notification emails I get, nor are they spoiler tagged when I quote other posts. If we can just keep spoilers/spoiler hints to ourselves until after they appear in the series, that'd be great! Thanks in advance!

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 9

Gosh, I don't know why past me is pretending I wasn't already deeply in love with Saber by this point. I'm trying to be vaguely objective and level-headed in that old post and it honestly weirds me out that I used to be capable of talking about Saber like that.

But yeah, I guess if my response at the time was also mostly "I liked the action and Slash", this is another case where I can't be too hard on Die for not seeing more in it either. (Although I'm totally sure I'd have plenty to say if I sat down and rewatched it.)

For now, though, needless to say, Slash is the man. He's like *this* close to being in the absolute top tier of my favorite characters from this series, between how much both Daishinji's personality and his entire aesthetic as a Rider gel with me. And, if I might take a second to do some retrospecting here, there are a couple things that make his debut in particular a little special. He even has that line after he transforms about making his long-awaited debut (or whatever you wanna translate 満を持して登場 as), and there are two particular things I feel like that was deliberately pointing to.

One is that Daishinji's actor, Hiroaki Oka, is a particularly big Rider nerd within this cast, to the point I recall there being an anecdote about him going on about CSM toys or something at the show's announcement press conference, so possibly more than anyone else here, he was psyched to finally take the stage as a Rider himself. (Another anecdote I fondly recall is that he was apparently a natural when it came to dubbing over the action scenes -- normally a hurdle for most, with all the unnatural grunting and whatnot -- to the point Sakamoto couldn't believe it was his first time doing it.)

Two is that Slash was, weirdly enough, the only Rider so far who wasn't on the show's poster, so despite knowing the name for a while, as I remember it, we never got a look at his design at all until some images of the DX Suzune's box started hitting the web, not too long before he was going to finally debut anyway? Maybe I'm getting this wrong, but I don't remember him being in any magazine scans beforehand, which was really unusual. Someone please correct me if I'm forgetting something here.

Aw, this is a very sweet anecdote. I'm never mad at actors for whom these shows are just a job (a lot of people work really hard at jobs that are not a major part of their lives!), but it's a neat plus when one of them turns out to be a dork about the fandom. I remember really warming to JK in Fourze after the Net-Movies game show stuff, where he was very invested in Riderman. I was already in the bag for Daishinji (he just makes a lot of fun choices in his performance) and Slash (THAT SUIT), but this kind of elevates him even more. Thanks for sharing!

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

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...wordsmen2a.png

What a hoot this thing was!

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

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

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

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

—

NOTHING AGAINST YOU BORED SPECTRE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

None of them make Ren less of a shithead.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'd rather talk about something related to this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Huh! Interesting! Thanks!

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

I'm getting that impression, yeah!

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

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

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

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

As much as I see people saying that these specials feel like deleted scenes, I can confirm they in fact AREN’T. All of these shorts are written by one Kaori Kaneko, who wrote none of the episodes they’re meant to tie into. And based on behind the scenes reports, the disparity isn’t the episodes is not due to deleting anything. The episodes were simply rewritten after they were halfway filmed at the behest of the higher ups, meaning that they didn’t have time to rewrite and fefilm the completed scenes. It’s more likely the shorts are going off the original versions of the scripts than being made up of deleted scenes.

But that still makes them deleted scenes, not literally, but in spirit. On the plus side, given that Saber's episode count not enough for it`s story (whereas most other rider shows have the opposite problem), any additional content is welcome.

This is the one of these that most makes me go "man, I wish that was just in an actual episode", and thinking about it... it's probably because it made start feeling invested in Kenzan? All the rest of these, it's like a bonus chapter for characters I already loved, but this quick little exploration of Ren's whole... deal, does such a good job at setting him up for future storylines it ends up feeling way harder for me to just look at it as mere extra content. That's always kind of the struggle with a spinoff like this, I suppose. If it isn't some wildly disconnected original story (like Decade/Zi-O), or a fourth-wall demolishing comedy bit (Net Movies), being too good can paradoxically feel like more of a problem than being bad.

I don't know about any of this stuff, but what I can say for sure, straight from the official website, is that the entirety of Swordsmen Chronicles was actually filmed alongside episodes 9 and 10 (hence why they're directed by Sakamoto), and Kaneko apparently only had proper scripts up to that point to work off of. Which is uh, about as wild a story as I'd expect from Saber's production early on. But yes, the bottom line is that, even if they might be criticized for feeling like it, the Swordsmen Chronicles episodes were not genuinely assembled from material left on the cutting room floor, in case anyone believes that.

I forgot to specitfy "at this point" (ep. 9). A̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶a̶s̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶r̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶R̶i̶n̶a̶ ̶C̶h̶i̶n̶e̶n̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶4̶0̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶p̶o̶r̶t̶r̶a̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶e̶n̶i̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶m̶m̶u̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶g̶i̶n̶g̶.̶

Quite glad to have Kento actually try to stand up to Touma against Ren even if it wouldn't be effective, as Kento points out about Touma's creativity being something advantageous over other swordsman and keeps him on par with the others (though forgot to say this, last episode displayed Touma as another one of the characters who can fight untransformed after fighting as KR for a while, along with Rintaro and Kento). Though of course, Ren being fleshed out more here doesn't reduce him being shithead in how he's typically close-minded to only accept power, and he's more certified social darwinist here in his fight with Desast to outright think might makes right (dangerous mindset). Albeit this likely explains why he 'agrees' to team up with Touma with him starting to wonder about the kind of strength he displays after reaching Avalon.

Jokes aside why put him in Sword of Logos? He's evil, unless it's about being redeemed one. Desast claims him and Ren are more alike after the fight, but Desast only laughs over Ren's philosophy (though it's really immature so..) throughout the fight, I wonder if Desast is doing that to provoke Ren or something.

If Only These Bonus Episodes Were Slightly More Inconsequential is such a specifically Fish Sandwich criticism for Saber, and it made my day. Thanks!

Sure, Kento's got some valid defenses of Touma, but I think it's more that Touma is his childhood best friend, and Ren is some bratty kid from work. I don't think Kento was going to stand around while Ren disparaged Touma, no matter the justification.

I am still here btw, just sort of vibing and enjoying the thread.

Glad to hear it!

I've still yet to watch the Swordsmen Chronicles.

I'll probably have more to say about Saber later. I really haven't been dropping by this thread.

Desast's line regarding Ren, "He's definitely one of us.", got a lot of people speculating on what he meant by that. While Desast wants to fight Saber the most, he has this weird kind of friendship with Ren due to their mutual love of fighting, not that either of them would be eager to admit it. Ren's philosophy of "justice is strength, strength is justice" (which I recall TV-Nihon actually got backwards somehow) is still the same as before, but his confusion at Desast's suggestion of absolute strength shows a new angle, that other than his black/white perspective, he actually hates the idea of putting a cap on his strength, which is one of his few good qualities. As I mentioned before, constant self-improvement is an important part of a ninja's lifestyle, so reaching a point where that's no longer possible would be worse than death for him. Why settle for infinity when you can strive for infinity+1.

Despite not writing for the show, through these Retsudens and most recently Sabela & Durandal, I think Kaneko has great insight in to Saber's side characters, while her scripts are always full of engaging and often humorous dialogue. As expected from the person who brought us Rider Time Shinobi!

Agreed. Recruiting the notorious Swordsman Killer to SOL would be like recruiting a taxidermist to the veterinarian clinic. It's a terrible idea!

That's fine! It'll be here for you when you're ready.

I mean, I definitely assumed that Desast was once a member of Sword of Logos, even if none of the active Swordsmen are aware of it. But that's just a guess!

And good catch on Ren's motivations! His whole thing is Getting Better Through Combat, which is not a path with a destination to it. Much like Desast -- perhaps too much like Desast -- he needs better opponents to sharpen himself against, like a sword.