Yeah, I really like how personal and unique these Berserk From stories can get, from something like Build's interrogation into whether technology will inherently be used for violence, to Saber's current exploration into how we can be empathetic people while still protecting ourselves emotionally. It makes for some interesting arcs!

Aren't the previous berserk forms also aren't the Riders leaning on a crutch? It wasn't purposely done by the characters (Aruto is the only one doing this, not any of the others), the agency is all removed, or at best, only from how they're risking it all by activating those berserk forms (e.g. Sento using Hazard form, but what he directly did is only using). But, you're ok with this berserk part isn't done directly by Touma but the form forcing itself in a fight? As usually, there are some people (not here) who complains when the hero got his culpability removed like the outside source being the one behind their wrongdoings.

As already said, Yuri will be safe (even with X-Swordsman not making himself invulnerable again), Yuri isn't in losing position against Saber Primitive Dragon. But yeah what can potentially happen is him endangering others like Mei.

I'd just fully consider Reika is being up to no good here with her continuing to do nasty stuff without any regards to the swordsmen's well-being (hehe... again unlike Sophia who does care), like what you said about lying about Master Logo's orders, with of course painting herself as relying messages from him, or including trying to bind Ogami to SoL's will by abandoning or even sacrificing them. Kagawa from Ryuki is the one who (attempts to) sacrifice his family himself, but here Reika forces another to do that. I guess at least, it's semi-right that the Master Logos may be more reasonable to be reasoned with via Touma and Yuri's plan.

Seems that all this time, it was Sora who likes Touma better, even though later Sora will also 'challenge' Touma into fighting Ogami and later run after Ogami. But here, it's Sora who vouches for Touma against Ogami, with the reason of how Touma never lies. Touma is someone who is able to fight untransformed, but these episodes lately establish that Touma doesn't stand a chance compared to Daishinji or Ogami in (sword)fighting, I wonder their 2's performance when fighting untransformed. Though Ogami insisting to look after the young is used as the reason to join Touma here due to Touma being still green in swordfighting, with now Ogami refering to him by his name. Otherwise, while Mei makes goofy lovey-dovey poses against Rintaro... here she reacts to Touma's fights by claps her hands in praying position watching it.

Anti-heroes aren't bad guys. They're subcategory of heroes, they're the heroes who has unheroic traits (opposite of anti-villain, who are villains with redeeming traits). They're good guys too, they'd be typically on the side of the protagonists even if they can be at odds. Many of those edgy assholes secondaries in previous series are anti-heroes.

I feel, if you wanted to make the crutch argument, Sento is the one to focus it around. Part of the Hazard Trigger arc is that dichotomy he sees between only being able to match Grease and Cross-Z charge by using it (and thus protect people/Banjou from them/himself), but also seeing it as something cursed that even thinking about using constitutes crossing a line and will render him as the villain. Whereas Aruto's driver gets gummed up the first time using MCH, and the drama centers more around his inability to sit back and not throw himself at someone he thinks needs help, even if the consequences have to be dealt with later.

I've been mulling over how these arcs compare and I'll probably do an attempt at analysis in a few episodes time but suffice to say it's interesting how they all get across different themes despite the superficial trappings.

I'm aware of what an anti-hero is! Tassel being Calibur wouldn't necessarily be a villain, which is why I offered options like Threat and Anti-Hero!

If you want to be reductive about it, every Berserk Form arc seems to be about interrogating the hero's altruistic/empathetic catchphrase. Sento's "It's time to start the experiment" becomes an arc where his inventiveness creates something too dangerous to exist, and his fears that his curiosity might be the wrong attitude in a world of perpetual war. Aruto's "The only one who can stop you... is me" delves into Aruto's need to protect all Humagears, but the trouble any one man will have when he declares himself the protector of an entire species. Here, we've got Touma's "I'll decide how this story ends" meeting a challenge where his empathy makes him both the only hope and perfect target.

Die found out Calibur was Tassel, I see.

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 25 - “SHROUDED IN SMOKE, THE CRIMSON ASSASSIN”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber25a.png

Perfect episode!

It was so smart to save Rintaro for last. (I mean, there’s Ren, but even Ren’s got this look of What Did I Get Myself Into, so I can’t imagine we’ve got a lot to do on that front.) Rintaro is the most interesting character this show has, and I don’t mean that as a slight against this phenomenal cast of memorable characters. It’s maybe the best ensemble a Kamen Rider series has ever had… but Rintaro’s the standout. He’s loyal, but that loyalty is wrapped up in obligation and duty. He’s a good friend, but he believes that putting his own needs ahead of the Sword of Logos is heresy. He’s absolutely destroyed by everyone else’s actualization, despite wanting the best for the people he loves.

If you need to have an A-plot for the episode where the B-plot is Reika Makes Her Move, there’s maybe none better than Mei reaching out to Rintaro in hopes that the group schism which is giving Rintaro an ulcer can be brought to an end. Once again, the series is very smart about the tools it uses to pry swordsmen from the SoL. Like, we’ve seen Rintaro and Touma try to hash out their differences and find common ground before, but they just end up shouting past each other until it’s too late. But Mei! Mei’s always been the one who had Rintaro’s number, and knew how to get him to be okay with basic emotional states like Happiness and Pride and Anger. She’s the one who was integral to Rintaro and Touma seeing that they were stronger together than apart, and they were all stronger for being a group. I mean, it was the three of them who made that promise to–

Wait, weren’t there four of them in that promise?

Hey, Kento’s the new Calibur! While I’d suspected it as soon as Kento was Poison Smoke Cursed back a dozen episodes ago, I can’t pretend that this was either a too-obvious reveal or a bad one. It’s exactly who it should be, even if I can’t begin to guess what the show’s going to say he’s been up to while everything else was falling apart. If this is the episode where our heroes start to realize the scope of the forces arrayed against them, this is when you want Kento to return with a big ol’ question mark at the end of his name. We’re in a story where it’s nothing but bad options for our characters (Rintaro’s too ashamed and distraught to even Henshin, dooming Touma to yet another traumatic episode), so why not conclude it with their lost friend returning in the clothes of their dead enemy? It’s too deliciously macabre to avoid, and I’m glad the show saw the potential.

All this goodness and praise, and I haven’t talked about the happiest surprise of the episode: Reika’s super fun as a villain! Way too long after I’d gotten sick of her one-note laconic imperiousness, here she is as Kamen Rider Sabela to kick the shit out of Slash and Buster in one of the most epic fights this show has put on. I mean, she’s OP as all hell, at a level that will surely get scaled back as the series progresses -- like, her being smoke when she’s hit and solid when she’s hitting is the sort of power set that even Yuri would think needs nerfing -- but it all makes for a fight that I’m still replaying in my head. That shot in the beginning of the fight when they charge her, SMOKE, she walks towards camera, DUDES FALL. So good!

It’s an absolutely unstoppable episode, from haunting initial dream sequence to haunting final interdimensional therapy session. Y’all can bring up nearly any single second from this episode and I’m gonna go A THOUSAND PERCENT. Beautifully shot, exquisitely scored (Sabela’s musical motif!!!), breathtakingly performed, and wonderfully written. What an achievement. I hope everyone involved – even Ren and Reika’s actors – feel proud of this one.

—

FREAKS IN CHARGE

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

In classic Saber fashion, this episode has a lot going on (Primitive Dragon is a thing! Reika finally gives up on not giving into workplace violence! Kento is back and he's in his emo phase!), but at this part of the series, when everyone's established and it's not a flurry of introductions and new deep lore, it really works! Also, to steal a bit from someone else's thread...

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...559&height=418
AkibaSilver builds So-Do! Kamen Rider Sabela
There are a lot of contenders, but Sabela is probably my favourite Saber suit, full stop? I love the caramel brown mixed with the gold, the weird smokey cloud on the face, the sword being a rapier with a bloody book taped to the side, it's all so nice! This figure is the only Saber SO-DO I own, and I only picked it up recently because during the series I was in a delay-slash-rut, and I know if I get above a critical threshold I'm liable to feel the itch to collect the entire book gang. But, for now, it's just Sabela, and I'm happy with my gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss.

That face sticker though, I forgot how nerve-wracking face stickers could be.

Also very good text story Die, 10/10 was worth the dramatic wait.

Well now, I was not expecting you to give this episode a perfect. I certainly thought it was good though, so I'm not about to complain lol. I just was not expecting you to go "I love it!" since you know, you can never tell with who watches what.

Still you hit the points rather nicely.

It is funny how you talk about how they're going to do something similar with this new Calibur only for... Kento in a potato sack to show up at the very end the episode after last. Okay I'm being mean, Kento in a white turtleneck with a potato sack over it. Seriously, that material he's wearing looks so uncomfortable just from a quick glance.

It's such a very strong moment to end the episode on. Where it's all just chaos and we get this sudden chilling moment of an old friend returning but not in the way anyone would expect. And it's not like this quiet moment dispels the chaos either, in fact I'm sure it just adds to it by how it just ends there!

Speaking of, Kamen Rider Sabela! I do love how we got super unorthodox with the elements the further we go out from the starting ones. Like sound was already kind of out there when compared to the other elements we had already seen, then you got stuff like Void, and now Smoke. I dig her design a lot and the mixture of smoke/bugs is cool as we get another Animal Wonder Ride Book! I shout it like this because the Animal style books in Saber probably are the least plentiful of them all. I don't have much to say but it was nice to see Reika take some action, and also put on a stylish red coat that very much clashes with the dark blues that the Northern base Wielders have on.

I guess I'm going backwards, huh? So let's talk Rintaro. A lot of people were kind of fed up with him not doing much at this point. But I don't mind if Rintaro and Blades took a backseat a lot of the time, purely because the drama with him is really compelling to watch. It's why I consider him a top tier Secondary Rider/Kamen Rider in general. It's very much story of saying, "What do you value more?" and "is this organization you devoted yourself to really worth it?" and it's definitely a huge hurdle given Rintaro's upbringing. It's going to take a lot more work than it did with Ogami and Daishinji, that's for sure.

Still, Mei taking initiative here in meeting with Rintaro to sort of talk him through everything, with Touma coming in at the end and both of them viciously complimenting each other, was definitely another standout of the episode.

Of course we also have the beginning, in which we get a horrifying nightmare sequence of Touma's fears as Primitive Dragon walks alongside a bloody path towards the only person left which of course is Mei. The sequence itself is shot so well, and I'm surprised they were able to get away with that imagery (mostly the bloodied Rekka) since I don't think it's something you'd usually see on these kinds of shows these days.

Uh yeah, overall, just like you I really loved this episode. One of Saber's best!

===Zero Presents: Desast Walk===

Note: We're back to google translate because I didn't have the sense to actually copy and paste the actual translations down somewhere and assumed the person wouldn't lock their account. So yeah! With that said, it is time for the next Desast Walk.

Desast Walk #7:

"Hi humans.

I'm Dessert.

Do you know why the sea water is blue?

Some people say it shows the sky, and some say it's a lie.

Well, I don't know, it doesn't matter which one, but half of what people say is a lie.

If you want to know the truth, read a book."

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 25

And so begins the era of Potato Sack Shirt Kento!

...I uh, I honestly don't know what to say about this one beyond just gesturing towards my extremely enthusiastic post about it from the time. Again, I was getting more excited and thus more in-depth each week by this point, and the only thing that's really any different about my feelings on this particular episode now is that Sabela's design did indeed grow on me a ton over time.

It's just... this is like a stupidly good episode of Saber, you know? As someone who probably would've been calling this series a favorite anyway if it had stayed on the level it was at in the first arc, a lot of what I remember about the experience of following the show around this point is just being repeatedly blown the heck away as it kept managing to top itself. Die's words about how you can point to any random second here as a highlight might as well be my own.