I'd say that is, at best, a secondary motivation. His main driving force is getting Kento-sempai to notice him.

Kenzan is a simple character. If he sees someone stronger than him, he wants to fight them so he can be 'as' strong as them. He's like Goku... if Goku were a green ninja kid. Maybe that happens, I've not seen Dragonball.

Also that's some good Dezast fanfic, 10/10 would share a bench again.

I can't focus too much on that plot, because I want it to resolve in a way that this franchise is probably ten years away from being brave enough to try. But, yes, that is one of Ren's core drives.

If I were to write a Saber book, it would be Desast wandering around town until inevitably he became a beloved folk hero. I love him interacting with normal people so much.

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 10 - “SWORDS UNITED, UNDER A SHARED BELIEF”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber10a.png

And here I thought that all I’d want to talk about was Touma’s outfit!

(It’s insane. It’s a black blouse with white dots, and it’s got front and back capes? I don’t understand how it works at all, and it’s either a new low point for men’s fashion, or a new high point for Touma’s fashion. I literally could not stop thinking about it through this episode.)

This one’s got a lot of ground to cover, and I honestly think it covers that ground magnificently. I didn’t emotionally key into the ending of this episode, and I think its big reveal is pretty well telegraphed at least three episodes earlier (if not seven or eight), but the way the episode leads you through the unification of its main heroes – only to shatter that with what’s sort of basically good news – made for a thrilling episode.

It’s maybe faint praise? I’m sort of saying this episode succeeded for me by cleanly laying out things like the heroes’ motivations, the villain’s goal, the heroes’ strategy, and the stakes of the battle. I was never at a loss for why anyone was doing anything, or how they were doing it. Creating an actual effective strategy based on observation and deduction? Drawn from stuff we’ve actually seen before on the show? Be still my heart!

That’s not to say that the emotional component isn’t here as well, it’s just… I don’t know, I found it sweet, but it sort of lost me at the end. I really enjoyed how much Touma and Rintaro are willing to highlight Kento’s moodiness and evasiveness, especially as they use it to offer up their support. Kento’s story to this point is that if anyone learned his horrible secret, they’d never be his friends again. And that’s honestly a fair thing for him to think, since he’s mostly been surrounded by Teammates and Co-Workers thus far. With Touma (and, to a lesser extent, Rintaro), he’s actually got someone to support him outside the structure of the Sword of Logos. He’s got a friend who will shoulder some of that emotional burden, and he never thought to ask for that. Touma’s method of looping their stories in together gives Kento the resolve to challenge Calibur, and win.

But then we get Kento finding out that Calibur (get ready for my shocked face) isn’t Kento’s dad, but Daichi, the previous Saber. This would normally be a good thing – Kento’s dad isn’t Calibur, the big enemy everyone’s trying to defeat! – but Daichi immediately goes Oh No Your Dad Totally Betrayed Everyone, so it’s a bit of a wash. (It also leads Kento to think Daichi maybe killed his dad, so we’ll see how bad this gets!) Added to that big reveal is the further dissipation of Touma’s Narratively Convenient Amnesia, as he finally puts together that the boy from his Two Guys, A Girl, And A Trauma Place memory is Kento, which is not at all new information for the audience. This is where I kind of lost my enthusiasm for this episode.

The Touma reveal is triply bad storytelling. First, and worst, it’s information the viewer has had for a while. Making the climax of your episode the hero learning information that is old news? Not great! Secondly, it’s Touma learning it at the least manageable time to do so, which is why Touma punting on interrogating Kento a few episodes back was such a groan-worthy move. The hero piecing together his past when it’s most problematic for the team is just such a stupid cliche. It’s lazy storytelling, and I’d hoped this show would be smarter than this. Finally, Touma’s furious at Kento for keeping this from him, which is exactly the opposite of his promise a few episodes ago, in spirit if not by the letter. The whole point of that scene was that whatever Kento was hiding from Touma was okay, because Touma wanted Kento to reveal it when he was ready. Now, it’s Touma going all WHY HAVE YOU BETRAYED ME, and it’s such a disappointing own goal that I can’t really care about the emotional distance between these best friends. It’s all cheap drama, and I dislike it immensely.

Other than, uh, that, I thought this was one of the tightest, best-structured episodes yet. Precise in its movements and economical in its developments, I thought this was the smoothest of smooth sailing.

I just wish it was in service of a better ending!

—

(I’LL CLEAN UP) THE MESS THAT YOU ARE

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/saber10b.png

Jun knocked on the door that led out to the roof. After a few seconds of silence, he opened the door slightly, and stuck his head out.

“Hi! Uh, this is Jun, from building maintenance? You mind if I come out?”

A voice answered back: “Sure.” It was subdued, a capitulation rather than an invitation.

Jun stepped out onto the roof, and walked towards where he’d heard the voice. He stepped around benches, and around inflatable globes, and around what looked to be a cardboard picture of a riverboat. He approached the young man he’d been sent to speak with.

“Hey, thanks for letting me up here,” Jun said. “You’re Kento, right?”

“That’s me,” Kento said with disappointment, eyes locked on the horizon.

“Sorry to bug you, it’s just… me and the rest of the guys were wondering if we were good to break some of this stuff down? It’s getting a little late in the day, and we’re hearing there might be rain tonight, so…”

Kento stared off into the distance throughout Jun’s meteorological trepidation and managerial concerns (assistant managerial concerns, technically), and only turned to face Jun when the last syllables of Jun’s open-ended statement finally trailed off into silence.

“Hmm?” Kento looked up at Jun with a strange expression. Jun couldn’t really put a name to it, but he was leaning towards Emotionally Defenestrated.

“I was just saying, if you were done… uh, y’know, brooding and the like – your schedule not ours, but we…” Jun tried trailing off again, to see if the awkwardness might trigger some basic politeness from the tall swordsman.

It did not.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Kento finally replied. “Today’s been a weird day. I don’t know if I’m ready to leave yet.”

Jun thought he’d try a different tactic. “Weird how?”

“I don’t know if you’d care,” Kento said deprecatingly.

“Try me,” Jun offered.

“Well,” Kento began with a sigh, “I’ve been in this swordsman guild, the Sword of Logos.”

“Uh huh,” Jun said as he began stacking chairs up quietly behind Kento.”

“And we’ve been fighting this guy Calibur for the last fifteen years. I mean, he’s a monster: betrayed the guild, murdered teammates, has been trying to bring about the apocalypse for months.”

“Wow, that’s rough,” Jun said as he gathered up empty soda cans and dumped them softly into a garbage bin.

“That’s not even the worst of it! This Calibur, he was my dad.”

“Families are tough, man, I get it. My mom got big into yoga recently, and won’t stop bugging me to go with.” Jun’s response was good cover for the sound of benches being dragged into the shed near the air conditioning units. He didn’t think Kento heard anything, based on the swordsman’s intense focus on the setting sun. Boy, this guy could brood.

“Well, twist, it turns out that Calibur isn’t my dad, he’s a guy that I thought my dad killed? But maybe this guy killed my dad? Oh, and HA HA HA,” Kento said sarcastically, “doesn’t even clear my dad’s name, since he definitely betrayed the organization I’ve dedicated my life to serving.”

“Woof,” Jun said, both in commiseration, and in relief after breaking down the last of the stage.

“I know! And it gets worse: my best friend found out that I’ve been lying to him about my dad, as well as about this girl from childhood that we were friends with and disappeared into a portal.” Kento sagged as he sat on the crate, the last remaining piece of exposed furniture on the roof.

Jun walked around to face Kento, and offered his hand to the seated man.

“C’mon, man, I want to show you something,” Jun said kindly.

Jun led Kento to the edge of the roof, and gestured to the town below. “You see all that?”

Kento looked down at the buildings, houses, cars, bicyclists, dogs… a bustling town, near the end of the day. As he took in the landscape, Jun quickly but quietly gathered up the crate, and stashed it in the shed. After a few moments, Kento said, “I do, yeah.”

“Well,” Jun said, “that’s the answer to your problems. You get me?” Jun had absolutely no idea what that meant. He’d exhausted himself cleaning the roof off behind Kento’s back, and hoped this would come off profound enough to finish the job.

Kento’s face brightened. Holy shit, it was working.

“I do, actually. Wow. I get it. Thanks, Jun, I really appreciate you. That’s amazing advice. I’m gonna take you up on it,” Kento said as he shook Jun’s hand. “I’m going to get started right this second. You can clean up now, if you want.”

Jun watched Kento walk briskly to the stairwell door and leave. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” he said to himself and the empty roof.

So I decided to watch that ending part of them again, just to see what you were talking about and uh... I'll be honest I don't see what you saw at all? I just see a very confused Touma desperately trying to figure out what the hell is going on as all this new information to him comes crashing down. There is no "Why have you betrayed me Kento!" furious feeling at all in that scene for me like you say there is.

Aside from that like... weird divergence in how we viewed the scene... I'm glad you liked the episode! I thought it was a nice fun and focused one in terms of just having a central thing we needed to do, which was defeat Calibur for the first time. We finish up with the Duckling/Swan Megid from last time, get all three Wonder Combo's shown off together, and get a really nice fight scene leading up to that and happening after that!

Also we get Slash being crazy and cool and hell yeah, more Slash is always great.

That being said, Calibur doesn't seem to be giving up any time soon, especially with that shiny new toy he created.

Okay... I love this subplot you've got in your stories about there just being a crew that cleans up the brooding theater roof (A much cooler brooding spot than the Brooding Helipad in Ex-Aid imo) and you just had one of the dudes come and talk to Kento.

There's a very retail energy to the way Jun is doing his job while listening to a person. Trust me, when having to push carts and you've just got one dude talking and talking, you tend to act like Jun and do your job while trying your best to seem like your listening.

And then there's just him trying desperately to get Kento to clear off with random bullshit and it just... working. It's absolutely great. Really good story this time!

It's possible I'm overstating it. (I'm also exhausted, so take my complaints about this episode as maybe me not being in the best frame of mind for this part of the mega-arc.) It's some hyperbole, but my point was more that Touma is being very accusatory to the friend that he recently vowed to not be accusatory with when the time came for revealing secrets. I didn't love how predictable it was that Touma would absolutely be unable to keep that promise.

EDIT: Also, thanks for the kind words on the fiction! Not my favorite piece, but it came together in a fun way. Glad you enjoyed it!

Looking back on the original thread for this episode, this was the point where Saber started clicking for me. The characters were starting to gel and it was nice to see them working together. Also probably helped that we didn't get any more new Riders crammed onto the squad for a change. Early Saber spends a lot of time putting pieces on the board, often to its own detriment, but now that we're getting through the set up all that work is going to begin paying off.

I will never not appreciate a nod to this ridiculous and obscure sitcom title.

While I had a feeling that Calibur wasn't Kento's dad, but I honestly didn't expect it to be Daichi, I knew that he would probably be important later on, but I didn't expect him to be Calibur, besides that twist, I don't think I have the level of care that you have for this episode.

The episode is perfectly fine, probably one of the better episodes overall, but it wasn't as hard-hitting for me. One of the main reasons might be that most of the second half of this episode is just fighting, which is fine, it looks nice (Sakamoto did this episode too), but at the end of the day, fighting is the part I care for the least in Kamen Rider, so having 10 minutes of solely fighting doesn't work as well for me (I was recently watching Agito, so maybe the fact that in that show, the fights usually last about 2 minutes before ending is why I'm so hung up on this).

Besides that, I do agree that the first half and the reveal at the end were nice character moments, but I personally didn't care for this episode nearly as much as you did.

Well I told you that Calibur and Storious’ latest plan would lead to something, in the form of Calibur getting his own power up book before everyone else. More on that for the next episode.

And speaking of forms, in this episode, we see that Touma can use Dragon with Saiyuu-ger to make a two book combo. While neither Kento or Rintaro will be doing so with Pegasus and Cerberus, you can do it with the toys, as these two videos of mine show off (one was specially made for this thread, the other was one I made a while ago).

Wonder Alternate Combos

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6ByuBPnF6po

Sacred Lion Pegasus! Nagare Volume 2! The Leo constellation colouring the night sky pours down like a meteor!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=rZnHBGz3yeE

Three-sided Lamp Do Cerberus! Ikazuchi Volume 2! The demon and guard dog, weaving hellish lightning, that blooms crazily.

And from the same Facebook account that I shared a few memes from in the last thread (he partially rebranded as a Touma role play account to stay relevant), comes this (there was a bit at the start with more of the actual dialogue from the episode, but I think this works without it)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...3/IMG_3108.PNG

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...0/IMG_3109.PNG

Next time: let’s all go to the lobby…

Kento is already suffering, so he needs someone better than Ren needs. This is not that hard to find.

I will also join Enchilada645. I haven't rewatched the episode, but I don't remember any: "Kento, you betrayed me!". So this is either a false cliffhanger, or the translators screwed up. As for Toma's fashion, I think he still has enough time to surpass this outfit.

I'll always feel like this show missed out by not having a modern traditional There Is Someone The Riders Need To Help Each Fortnight structure to its early stage, but there's some fun to be had in an Episode 10 that features a big mess of characters having major emotional hurdles to overcome. It's a rough takeoff, but then you get this view you know? Sort of makes it feel worthwhile.

Hey, it's the least I can do to shine a little light on the sitcom that brought the world the comedy stylings of future superstar Traylor Howard.

I like when shows are well-oiled machines, so this episode's attention to detail and solid setup-payoff structure really worked for me. Even the mysterious presence of Very Tall Sword Lady only serves to turn up the pressure on Kento, and further reinforce his belief that he and he alone is responsible for stopping Calibur. It's a neat way of adding alternate opinions, before having Touma and Rintaro offer to shoulder some of that responsibility.

Also, I'd suspected Calibur was Daichi since we were first told it was Kento's dad, because a) Calibur did not seem to give a shit about Kento, and b) the Law Of Conservation Of Characters meant it needed to be someone we'd already seen on the show, and that was pretty much just Daichi. What clinched it for me was when someone (Sophia?) was looking at a picture of her and Kento's dad and Daichi, and I was like It's For Sure Daichi.

I really like how Saber's fighting style changes with the Journey book. He gets more acrobatic, the stance is like a primate... it's just a very fun alteration to Touma's normal style, and I love it.

I sometimes embellish for comedic effect and frustration! I was making a minor Blade reference, to highlight the weirdness (to me) of Touma's reaction to Calibur's identity and Kento's secret. Touma doesn't really think Kento betrayed him! It was an exaggeration! The rest of that paragraph should provide context for that joke! I'm sorry it was poorly phrased!

See, this is a problem.

I did not know you were doing this bit at all.

Had you included a sentence about how Kento was like sticking just barely out of the corner of a building, then I would've figured it out.

It’s the kind of joke that really doesn’t work in a text only form.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...8/IMG_3076.JPG

Today I will attempt to catch up on Saber, work has been keeping me from joining in this watch tbh.

I'm sorry it was-- oh! Uh, that's great news! Hope you enjoy the episodes!

Cmon guys, it’s fine, move on lol

I don't mind taking my lumps! Sometimes you do a bad job, and it's okay to have people tell you that you did a bad job. It doesn't mean I can't also make light of it, though!

Yeah, the answer to "Who is Calibur?" isn't the most exciting twist ever, considering it's just some dude we've only seen in Touma's singular flashback of him. However, I think the new question, "Why is Kamijo Calibur, instead of Hayato?", is where this plot gets pretty clever. It doesn't immediately change anything we've learned about Hayato, he's still the original traitor, so now we need to find out why is Kamijo continuing to wage this war against SOL in his place. I appreciate how they got this twist done early, so they can move the mystery from the transparent "who" to the more obscure "why".

Sometimes it's easier for people to spill their heart to an outsider, since there's less fear of being judged by them. Even Daishinji seems better at talking to his friends than Kento does.

Calibur was holding that picture in the Megid base. I like how that scene was shot so that Sophia and Hayato were in the dark and Kamijo was in the light. It's literal foreshadowing! There were other theories about Calibur's identity, even Tassel of all people (notice how his house goes dark when he starts talking about Kurayami)! But that picture left little doubt that it was Kamijo.

I think it's a shame that Rintarou and Kento didn't make more use of their powers, or like maybe we could've seen Kenshin using Pegasus Lion in the flashback. I also wanted to see the alternate Issatsus, since there are unique sounds for those in Rekka, Nagare and Ikazuchi. Oh well.

I didn't get my turn though. :p

Yeah, it's a lot more compelling to me to learn how the guy we saw fighting Calibur 15 years ago is now Calibur. Also, I just... I just really love that Kento was like My Dad Didn't Betray The Sword Of Logos and then Calibur -- who is not taking any questions at this time -- is like LOL NOPE. It's such a fun reversal on what you think is going to be the redemption of Kento's dad's legacy, and then the villain is like No That Dude Sucked Too.

It's just a really good gag, you guys.

Just gonna throw it out there Kenzan is Ryutaros 2.0. :lolol

Ah, yes, that episode.

Whenever Saber starts pulling several plot threats together, a lot of the groundwork the series lays really gets to shine.

Sure, the twist isn't that surprising, but as others said, it is well executed and brings up many more questions.

That was one of those moments the series defiantly piqued my interest from fun watch to actually kinda invested.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 10

https://i.imgur.com/b1T9Lsb.jpg

And, complete with their very own "one for all, all for one", this show's Three Musketeers are officially formed! (Mei would be d'Artagnan, of course.) I think about this scene a ton. If there were ever a single scene that sort of represented the entire show, this is... well, one of them, anyway -- I'm not great at picking favorites. Rest assured, it's way up there, though. The chivalrous camaraderie of it, the gentle emotional support, even the lighthearted way they have Mei add that levity right at the end, it's all classic Saber. A really fantastic moment from an episode that's pretty dang great all around.

But uh, while I hate to break the whole spirit of unity and brotherhood and all that...

As well as you should be! If you remembered my lessons, Die, you would know that Kenzaki's iconic quote was actually phrased as a question, rather than an accusation! :p

(I genuinely was only 50/50 on whether that was a deliberate Blade reference until you confirmed it though.)

In all seriousness, however, I think you're going WAAAAY too hard on the episode's ending in that post, even beyond that particular line. You're talking about Touma there the way everyone I knew talked about Faiz before I met you. It's like the show used a storytelling tool you aren't personally fond of, and everything related to it warped -- even if ever so slightly -- to fit that preconceived perception. And like, that's just how opinions work, and I don't want to totally dismiss what you're saying there as baseless, but just... dang, I guess I needed to vent a little too? I can understand why you'd be frustrated by Narratively Convenient Amnesia, so I only hope you can in turn understand if it's sort of upsetting to hear a plot thread in a show I love this much described as "bad", "groan-worthy", "stupid", "cliche", "lazy", and "cheap", all in the space of a single paragraph.

I thought your story this time was pretty cute, by the way! Sorry I haven't been commenting about those at all! Feels like you're sort of starting to get in a good groove with them lately.

Yeah, I think Episode 10 is a turning point for the show, in how it's trying to clarify a lot of the messiness of the previous episodes, and create a more immediate and pressing threat to our status quo. This is definitely a step up from previous Book Club and Calibur plots!

Ha ha, I did not think we were going to be of one mind on this! And that's okay!

I can't pretend that seeing this show start off on a path of Touma graciously declining to learn the terrible truth behind his friend's melancholy didn't also set a destination of me being furious when that truth was revealed at the absolute most disadvantageous time in the most uncontrollable way. It's just a giant bummer for me, to see this show improve in leaps and bounds across a variety of what I found to be weaknesses, only to conclude with one of my least favorite dramatic tropes.

I don't... I hope that doesn't come off as unfair or vindictive, though? I definitely tried to make clear what I thought the episode did well (and I think it did a bunch well!), even as I tried to explain the specific reasons for my dislike of that climax. I never ever ever want to be dismissive of these shows, even if I'm using words like Lazy and Cliche. Writers screw up! They make bad decisions! But, as I've maybe tried to live today, that's okay to call out? I don't think it lessens the scope of the show, or preclude the possibility of future greatness, to say that the conclusion to Touma's Narratively Convenient Amnesia was maybe not the most dramatically interesting option available.

But, y'know, you and I are coming at this from two different angles, even beyond our personal biases. I've only got ten episodes to judge, and no idea where these relationships and developments are going to go. You've got the length of the series, and a year's worth of (typically insightful) writing to go along with it. I would probably feel equally aggrieved if someone wanted to diminish an emotional conclusion to an Ex-Aid episode, if I felt they were ignoring relevant information to fit a preconceived notion. I don't know if I was doing that here? Or, if I was, know that I didn't mean to be unfair, and I'm sorry it was poorly phrased.

It's very okay! :thumb:

I know you more than well enough by this point to know you would never actively try to be unfair to a show (and I don't think the criticism itself is unfair!), and the absolute last thing I want to do is dictate how you're "allowed" to express your honest opinion on a piece of media. I honestly feel pretty bad for bringing this up at all when already received similar sentiments from several people. I'm sorry if I poured salt on the wound here, Die.

You didn't! It would be super-hypocritical of me to spend several years telling two generations of Kamen Rider shows what they're doing wrong, and then bristle against other fans pushing back on my opinions. I'm more than happy to engage in a discussion about these shows, even if that discussion occasionally focuses on why I would have some of these specific opinions and choose to voice them publicly instead of examining them more closely and not voicing them publicly.

Like I told Kurona earlier, I am okay taking my lumps when I write something that either offends or disappoints! Failure is a natural part of trying, and we should never stop trying. I learned that from Blade! Which is a show I quoted from and it lead to people being offended and/or disappointed!

Oh, and speaking of things we feel very differently about? I keep forgetting to mention how much I dig Touma's right-off-the-runway bold sense of fashion? All his outfits were apparently thought up by the same person who designed Jin's suit in the later half of Zero-One, which explains a lot about Touma's fashion sense. But like, I think it works! Considered in the context of being the show after Zero-One, especially, it makes for a nice contrast with how barely-business, mostly-casual Aruto's outfits tended to be.

Get out. We can't be friends anymore! This is too contrary of a take, even for you!

Touma's outfits are the greatest in the franchise, rivalled only by Shigeru Jo Stronger's stupid S shirts

KAMEN RIDER SABER - THEATRICAL SPECIAL: THE PHOENIX SWORDSMAN AND THE BOOK OF RUIN

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/phoenix1a.png

TAKAYAMA JIN!!! That was a very pleasant surprise. Did not know he’d be playing Falchion in this movie! I don’t want to be that Kamen Rider fan, but: hottest male Rider? Maybe! For sure my favorite Secondary, depending on how you want to apply that term to Amazons.

Less pleasant was finding out that this wasn’t a movie, it was only a 22-minute long theatrical short. I was honestly looking forward to a larger Saber project, something where the production team could stretch out a bit, try and spend a little more time on the connective tissue of their story. I wanted some time to really luxuriate in these characters’ stories, you know? Relax a bit.

Instead, I got the last twenty-two minutes of every single Kamen Rider movie, where the villain’s apocalyptic plan has reached fruition, and only a team of Riders–gathered at the quarry under moonlight–can do enough form changes and finishing moves to take out an army of mooks and allow the titular Rider to manifest an upgrade that will save the day. Half of its meager runtime is devoted to Henshins and Finishers, with almost no actual narrative shared between its non-Touma cast. (I think they each get a catchphrase? That’s something!) There’s no setup or escalation or humor or mystery. It’s just (to borrow a phrase) a climax, right from the start.

With that out of the way… I don’t hate it? It’s specifically going for a primal Ur Kamen Rider story: Destroy Vs Protect, Light Vs Dark, Existence Vs Nothingness. Falchion’s motivations are pointedly barren; he just wants to destroy everything because everything will eventually be destroyed anyway, so what’s the point of existence. Touma stands in opposition because there’s always a Kamen Rider to stand in opposition. Falchion’s view of conflict as an eternal battle for power is offset by Touma’s view of conflict as a way of resetting the board; a turn of the page to allow for a new story. What looks to one person like a single unending narrative is, to another, an endless array of fresh starts.

It’s a movie (or “theatrical short”) that I sort of appreciated for its attempt to harness the limitations of its format in order to create something unique, while at the same time finding it to be a headache-inducing short film where everyone showed up screaming and somehow got louder from there. I never ever enjoyed movie finales as much as the build up (it’d be nice to get more Jin in this movie!), so a project that’s just the finale is always going to be a struggle for me to enjoy. I did end up liking its subtext–it’s a fun deconstruction of Kamen Rider movie stories–while not liking the text a whole lot.

Emotional Dragon’s a real neat upgrade form, though! I like Touma being more powerful for his ability to access his emotions!

—

THE BEAST AND DRAGON, ADORED

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/saber/phoenix1b.png

Tsuyoshi was disappointed in himself, but he had to admit: this was actually a pretty cool apocalypse.

He should be thinking of his friends, or his family, or his plans for the future that would go unaccomplished. Instead, as he stared at a gigantic book floating in mid-air that was displaying a superpowered battle from an alternate dimension, all he thought was that this was going to be a more bad-ass extinction of humanity than he’d previously expected.

He’d grown up aware of things like climate change, or terrorism. The current pandemic had largely receded into the background, but it was a daily reminder about the fragility of civilization. A friend’s mugging last week let the prospect of street crime intrude on his idle thoughts. These things… it was all part of life, and it was often more boring to contemplate than terrifying. Mundane.

This was the Winning The Lottery version of his demise, and that maybe had reoriented his immediate priorities. He didn’t even reach for his phone, to find out how his parents were faring in this new world of glowing, airborne monsters and catastrophic sky portals. His mind was focused on the gleaming superheroes, and the shouting accompaniment of their weaponry.

That was the weirdest part for him, in the fall of man. All of the music. As he watched a besworded swordsman battle an orange nihilist in a fairytale world, Tsuyoshi marveled mostly over how cacophonous the conflict was. Every sword slash was announced by a cry from the heavens about books or dragons or swords. It was less like a war for the right to exist than a wrestling match. It was entertaining, which isn’t the word he thought he’d ever use as he watched his world demolished.

There was a young woman about his age in the crowd, and she was trying to console a worried child. She talked about Kamen Riders, and about one called Saber, and he wondered how much of it she was making up to ease a scared child into their shared demise. It all would’ve sounded ludicrous to Tsuyoshi a day ago, but now he was watching a costumed superhero yell about humanity’s inherent ability to improve, so nothing seemed out of bounds.

All that talk of heroism and sacrifice… Tsuyoshi briefly considered that this might not be the end of the world after all. Imagine that. An apocalypse prevented. As he stood in the crowd and watched the shouting swordsman cover himself in a variety of dragons, Tsuyoshi actually felt a bit of optimism about the future. He could feel the crowd’s energy rise to meet the swordsman’s, everyone cheering on the finale of this theatrical duel. The hero could win. The world could be saved.

There was a flash of light.

Tsuyoshi jerked awake on the bus, and noticed his stop was coming up soon. He walked to the doorway of the bus, and exited when it stopped. As he walked towards his apartment, he saw a sign asking for volunteers for an afterschool program. Some local high school needed additional support from the community, apparently. Tsuyoshi’s schedule was full: work, family, friends, dating (which he needed to get back to, judging by the young woman in his dream)... he certainly couldn’t spare the time to tutor a teenager in math.

But as he took a step past the sign, he stopped. He thought about that dream, and the heroism of the imaginary swordsman. (He almost lingered on thoughts of the young woman, but he quickly refocused his attention.) He wasn’t sure what it all meant, but he found himself hopeful in a way he wasn’t usually. Maybe…

He reached for one of the tags with contact information, and tore it off of the sign.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber - Theatrical Special: The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin

It's worth noting that since I was watching this film when it was released on home video, much later into the show's run, there's a bit of blatant hinting I do in that post about what are still future events to Die. That being the case, for Die's sake, I'm going to go ahead and quote that post with the possibly spoiler-y bit removed, as well:

So yeah, needless to say, I love this movie. I mean, it's a shame Saber didn't get a big bombastic solo movie, or the usual winter crossover with Zero-One, of course, but what we got instead was like, an absolute peak representation of the insanity of Q1 Saber, making it a perfect sort of sendoff to 2020's stretch of the show. It's one of those movies where I was excited for it right away just because the bad guy looked cool (I mean, it's Jin in a heavily retooled Ghost suit, how can you go wrong?), and when I finally had the chance to see it, it didn't disappoint.

It's always funny to me when we can describe a Kamen Rider project in broadly similar ways, while coming to completely different value judgments about those projects. Like, we're saying incredibly similar things, but where you sort of shrug off the lack of character development and overemphasis of action as accurate if largely irrelevant, I'm over here like That Makes It A Miss For Me.

I think that's fascinating. Thanks for sharing your perspective!

Also, Emotional Dragon's Wonder Ride Book is a pop-up book, which is the best idea this show has had yet. It's a power-up so strong its breaking out of the book!!!

And so we have Kamen Rider Falchion showing up! He's pretty cool, especially given the fact that most of his suit is reused from the base Kamen Rider Ghost transient suit.

If there's one thing Toei and PLEX are good at, it's utilizing the blank slate that is the transient forms from Ghost to make new Riders out of. It's honestly insane how well they manage to do it at points.

But yeah, here we have Bahato (or Bacht) whichever you prefer. He's an interesting dude, a very simplistic goal and resolve, which clashes against Touma rather well.

While I get that this movie being the last act of a Rider Movie isn't everyone's cup of tea... I do actually enjoy it. I feel like if they did anything else, like a detailed plot, it'd come off as like just a movie version of what's in the show. Which technically it is just a movie version of what's in the show given the fact that the full blown Saber insanity is on display here with how we just go full throttle, full speed right from the get go.

There's just something really cool and mythical about these color coded armored warriors fighting through hordes of enemies while shouting their own quips, beliefs, remarks at what's going on around them. Like, just the idea of Knights shouting and calling out to each other or their opponents, it really fits the fantasy vibe that Saber's trying to go with.

Also just getting to see these cool variations on the finishers that you know are never going to show up again at all is real nice. I like it when we get different styles of finishing moves for the same forms and stuff, especially with a movie budget added to them.

Also I think my favorite Touma moment is at the very beginning. Not anything he said to the kid by the way, just the fact that he has the audacity to hang around in a park space reading his own goddamn book. It's hilarious, it's egotistical, it's incredible honestly.

Another one of my favorite moments is at the very end where everyone is just hanging out and running ahead to play in the park... Kento is sorta just standing behind. Ogami notices this and being the dad he is goes and wrangle Kento to get him over with everyone else. It's a very subtle moment, but I really like that.

Saber Emotional Dragon is also very cool. Before the Shield Raise Buckle there was Emotional Dragon's shield that got repainted from Fourze's. It's very amusing but also really cool how well they transformed the shield from a shuttle to a fantasy-like one. Emotional Dragon also does some cool bits of work at making a very enhanced base Saber form. Brave Dragon is cool, but you know what'd make it cooler? More dragons to cover the blank spots!

Oh and we bring back the lighting the prop sword on actual fire and letting the suit actor swing it! Always a fun time when we get to do that!

Other than that... I do enjoy how Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra yet again gives us another banger track in Taju Roko, the movie's end credits theme. In which we get probably my favorite credit sequence of Rider in general?

There's just something fun about seeing all the Riders show off in a little story popup book before transitioning to who they are outside the suit and little snippets of like daily life. My favorite being Rintaro who is keeps trying to enter a convenience store only to back off at the last second. My boy, just enjoy yourself! lol

As for the story... given the small little overarching plot of the three different minor characters being there at the start and end, I had a feeling you were going to do something like that. I also find it amusing how you went for the "Man... I didn't think I was going to die by something so cool" route with Tsuyoshi and his thoughts.

... oh, man, you're watching this movie before you run into that. I didn't even consider that as a Saber experience someone could have! Very interesting!


Talking of interesting experiences from you I often don't get to see, it's fun to see you running into a lot of 'new' conventions that for most Toku fans, are strikingly familiar -- because they're what Super Sentai usually has! The ED dance, the ~25-minute 'movie'... like, it's just funny to see someone be surprised at that runtime when that's just something a lot of us are used to, just not in this exact place :lol

Like said Sentai movies I do feel that same way as you? It's mostly the climax of the movie with a very basic plot and thematic structure shoved in mostly because you literally need one, and I didn't get a lot from it. Even Jin I found a little disappointing? I wish he played up his part just a LITTLE more, even if you can't go full Amazons. God I wish they could go full Amazons...

It's a division in the fandom I noticed a lot when covering all of those Legend Rider movies a while back: there are fans who tolerate the beginning parts of films to get to the explosive finales, and there are fans who tolerate the explosive finales so they can enjoy the beginning parts. I'm definitely in the latter camp, but that's just my tastes.

I wanted to try and do something that followed the movie's plot, about Kamen Riders as examples for better/happier lives, but with a little more introspection to it. Happy with how that one came out! Thanks for reading it!

Yeah, I got teased by some friends earlier today when I was confused as to whether the 22-minute file I was about to watch was the full movie or not. They're like Same As Sentai, and I'm like I Don't Know Them. I feel like someone turning up on the boards and wondering if they're going to make toys out of these belts and weapons. Please enjoy my naivete!

I think he sort of did? Before I even saw his face, when a slouchy Falchion was dragging his sword behind him as he lurched away from the camera, I was like I Know That Body Language From Somewhere. It's totally the same way Jin drags his belt in Amazons! That felt like an intentional choice in production, and it made me laugh when I found out it was Jin.

I can see where you're coming from, but I'll always be Team Gaoh/the late Hiroyuki Watanabe, personally.

I saw it at around the same time you probably did and I honestly had no idea that this special was set so early in the series. I wish I remembered it better, but pretty much all that stuck was Falchion and the new form.

Falchion is cool.

Heck, I love all the Saber Riders designs. They're just really fun!

But this movie/special/short, I daresay I'd recommend to who've never seen Kamen Rider. It's pretty much a self-contained story, with a bunch of great action, and a cool new form for Saber. It's a simple upgrade, but I do enjoy it.

So, in short, I also really enjoy Saber.