The most shocking moment was when Touma tried to convince Kento that they could change the future by working together as friends, only for Kento to finish his sentence, implying that he's already seen that option through to its hopeless conclusion. It's tragic that Kento was forced to see so many futures leading to the same end of the world and the only one where he can succeed, where he can save all his friends, is the one where he has to seal their Seiken Swords and sacrifice himself all alone as the last Swordsman. He may have been cursed by Kurayami, but he's choosing to stay cursed, by giving in to the darkness that consumed him.

This reveal explains Kamijo's line to Touma from before, "What would you do if you knew the world was destined to end, no matter what you do." Kamijo was chosen by Rekka for his strong will, so he found renewed hope in Touma's determination. But Kento basically has the worst mental state for dealing with Kurayami's visions, although I do think Calibur looks good on him. Make Might A Just No Matter Dark Joke. There's something in that Engrish line from Jaou Dragon's jingle that nicely summarizes the various Calibur-users' means of saving the world, at the expense of so much that's important to them.

It's high praise for you to call it one of your favorite episodes ever, but I can't blame you. This is a serious turning point for the show that manages to keep the uncomfortable status quo of Touma having to fight against his friends even after integrating most of his friends in to Team Saber. Kento is obsessed with following the cold logic in those visions, but Touma will continue to believe in the power of emotions, his promises and the ideal that he can create a future where everybody can be happy together. There's a lot of stuff to look forward to in the third arc!

Oh Rei, I was wondering when you'd show up here. Always good to have another person to give Saber the praise it deserves. It's my favorite Reiwa Rider show for sure and when I compare it to Heisei, I think it's going to be hard to top for this era.

Thanks! It's convenient to have them all in one place like that.

Time to Mashimashi and Shake Hands!

Yeah, I was definitely sitting on a time bomb. There was no way I could talk about Episode 25, without talking about that crazy scene. It's weird, I thought maybe it would be easier on a rewatch knowing what comes after, but nope, still grinds my gears. Feels like shock value that's just there to make me dislike a character I already dislike. It's not a completely bad episode though, I did enjoy the argument-to-love-confession between Touma and Rintarou that Mei helped to facilitate.

Interesting opinion you have about Mai anyway, I don't think I've ever heard anybody call her terrible before. It's true that she doesn't do much, other than boosting morale for the dance groups and generally being one of the few characters who isn't corrupt. Just another example after Zack that the most benevolent characters in Gaim are also the weakest. Even as Space Goddess, she doesn't do anything.

Yeah, I think for Kento... I think it's less him having been consumed by darkness, and more him not pretending he wasn't consumed by darkness years ago. This is his natural state, and I think we're in a mode of the characters coming to grips with that. He can still be reached, but this isn't some rough patch he's going through or whatever.

And you know what, I respect that. I still gel with Elemental Dragon, colors and all, but I can get why it isn't exactly pleasing for some. Though I am glad that you understand why it looks that way.

Wait… both of the Zexal OPs? Yes, this is when Ryoga/ Durendal shows up

I know, my question was about why that is depicted as the driving motivation behind Kento's actions as Calibur.

I think you somewhat misunderstood my attitude towards the characters. I have no complaints about characters who do not make a material contribution to the victory of the heroes. Even the lack of emotional input does not bother me. By inaction, I mean the lack of desire, not the ability to intervene. In Gaim's finale, Mai had the power to change the world in her hands. She couldn't use it, but she could choose who to give it to. And I don't even blame her for having doubts between Kota and Kaito. But she is terrible because she never chose, because of which Kota had to kill another friend, and this time it was conscious. I hope I have made my position clear enough.

It wasn't specifically about Calibur, and more how it's a pattern in Kento's decision-making for the entirety of his life. He's a guy who's always finding a reason to take on a burden.

And this is the reason. Well, unless my memory and translation fail me.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 27

https://i.imgur.com/mY2REMn.jpg

...Man, I genuinely don't even know where to start. Like, I've kind of dodged really digging into how much I love all the episodes in this arc, in part because it's like, thankfully I wrote most of it down around 2 years ago, but looking back at my post for this one, I feel like it's underselling how much this one means to me, even with all the praise I gave it?

It's like:

Yeah, I think that sorta starts to get at it. It's like I said earlier -- what makes so many of these berserk form stories so memorable, and what keeps it from feeling as repetitive as it ought to when Zero-One did it literally the prior year, is how they're all saying something very deeply unique and specific to their particular series. Build's always gonna be the one to top, right? It's not just that Hazard Form was legit scary in that debut, it's that the process of us getting from that to RabbitRabbit, seeing Takumi Katsuragi's weapon become the hero only Sento Kiryuu could create, it's a perfect microcosm of so much of what Build was exploring, and that one-two punch of form debuts easily stands as one of the all-time greats in the entire franchise.

And Elemental Primitive Dragon is easily at least on that same level for me. I mentioned how I misunderstood the design of Primitive Dragon at first, and considering Die made similar comments, I suspect that might just have been yet more deliberate intent on the part of the designers. The easy assumption when you first see it is that the hand is this primal force, clutching its unwilling prisoners within its cold grasp, but the reality is completely different. That claw on the book, it's actually a torn up page, because Primitive Dragon's whole gimmick is that its story is missing. The illustrations on the book even bring to mind a black hole, because the truth is that it's a wounded creature, desperately reaching out for something to fill the void where its heart once was.

So of course, inevitably, the thing it finds to fill that void once and for all is another hand, reaching back to help.

It's like the simplest, corniest thing ever, and so perfectly, beautifully Saber in every aspect. We were presented with this uncontrollable raging beast, and through Touma, we grow to understand its motives, empathize with its pain, until eventually, that unknowable creature becomes a friend, and that bond becomes the strength and hope needed to save the day.

Ghost was always extremely good about these things too, you know. To this day, I am immensely fond of Mugen Damashii for how it made Takeru's own empathy for the people around him into rainbow-colored superpowers, and much the same way I have an infinite fondness for that form, it should probably say something that Elemental is now handily my preferred version of Primitive Dragon, even though the original one should clearly be cooler. This episode's emotional climax is just too perfect for me to not end up feeling that way. It perfectly incorporates Touma being a writer, it fits excellently into the overall themes of the series, and is frankly just the kind of heroism I like to see in a story. Heroes and villains alike can destroy obstacles in their path, but only a hero will choose to heal something.

I don't know if this is exactly one of my all-time favorite Rider episodes, viewed as a standalone thing, but it is an unimpeachably crucial episode when it comes to why Saber is a series that means as much to me as it does.

This is the end of the Primitive Dragon arc. What makes this berserker story also unique is that Touma does not defeat or subdue the Dragon. He becomes his friend and uses his talent as a writer to come up with a happy ending for him . After that, everything else fades into the background, but it's still worth saying goodbye to Legiel and noting that the Megid trio has turned into a duet.
P.S. The idea to focus fanfic on Rintaro is very unexpected.