I was aware of that meme! You sort of can't exist in a Kamen Rider space post-2021 and not have seen that meme, regardless of your familiarity with Saber. It's very goofy to look at, both in and out of context.

"Chaotic" is the right word! "Rushed" might be another, but... man, I can't care anymore about this show's, uh, unique thoughts on pacing. Another show might've spent at least an episode with Luna as part of the cast, instead of having her abducted before the opening credits; but that would be another show, not Saber. This is the show that's going to have Luna slip through Touma's fingers like she was just deposited from the Realm of Butter. This is the show that's going to have Ogami and Daishinji choose to go confront Kento, mostly to be immediately held captive by Reika. (She's having a great episode... right up until she gets fired.) This is the show that's going to have all of this happen in about seven minutes. But WHO CARES. It's like complaining about them saying Henshin!

Ah yes and speaking of Luna... I do have thoughts on her.

She is a girl.

That's about it sadly.

I was honestly unsure of this? Because, like, girls frequently (but not exclusively or necessarily) have parents? And I don't think anyone has ever said what Luna's probably-grieving probable-parents have to say about Touma questing to save Luna. I know this is Kamen Rider, and All Dads Are Dead, but is there not a family member out there that could be introduced to make Luna feel a little less like a figment of Touma and Kento's imagination? Which is, frankly, where I'm expecting this whole plot to end up?

This ain't, like, some fatal flaw in the narrative or whatever. But it would help things feel like a real rescue, and not just some survivor's guilt.

Oh, and specific of memes, I found that Sky Bridge scene to be less hysterical and iconic than this reaction from Mei:

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

I must've laughed at that for maybe a minute. The way it might as well be this show's "TAKKUN! ORPHENOCH!", I hope she says it every episode from now on. I hope she says it in every Legend Rider appearance. I hope we get MEI FROM SABER V-CIN: OH NO HE'S GOT A BOOK.

Yeah this episode... never lived down the effects on that bridge sequence. But it's hard to feel too terribly sorry for it when Saber's handling of Luna is one of the things that makes it hardest for me to root for it.

One of the sillier Desast's Walk photo sets: if you're unfamiliar with the gesture since it's more popular in Japan, that �� in the second pic is a mini finger heart. ...Keep trying to make friends, bud.

(...well, the emoji would be there if this board supported it I guess :P)

So, aside from the Touma run, there’s a lot of BTS stuff about this episode I can talk about.

The reason Luna hasn’t aged in 15 years, according to the producers, is because she is the embodiment of childlike imagination and wonder. You know, that thing that typically vanishes when you grow up.

Kento picking up Kurayami instead of Ikazuchi proved pretty divisive with people who weren’t liking this arc. So the guy playing Kento took to Twitter with his own take on things (I was going to share this regardless of the whole content of the story)

“Thank you for watching Kamen Rider Saber!

Everyone has a lot of things to think about.
Why didn't the sage pull out the thunder sword?

My way of thinking is that Kento has begun to understand that the future will change, but the dark black sword is a memento of his father, and he cannot let go of it now.”

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1fZZ-OU...jpg&name=large

Also, this was the last episode before the short lived “Fansubs blitz”, wherein someone sent a cease and desist letter to TV-Nihon, and although a lot of people had reasons it could be a fake, it scared them into stopping subbing Sentai and Rider for a few months (more exactly, 9 months for Sentai, 15 months for Rider, with them resuming with Donbrothers and Geats respectively), and removing the episodes and movies they had subbed from both from their websites (with their later releases being on Nyaa under then name “Anon”). Other subbing groups were also specifically scared to the point they stopped announcing new releases, or putting them on their own sites. But since hey still uploaded to Nyaa, in effect, it didn’t change much in the long run, beyond making more people look at Nyaa.

Understandable! I think this episode was my favorite usage of Luna so far, but it's still just focused on Touma's emotions and needs; she might as well be the puppy he lost as a child, for all she contributes anything to the plot besides needing to be saved.

Ha ha, I never even thought to wonder about this. She was vacuumed up to a nega-dimension! Why would things like Time and Age work the same there? Also, boy, that explanation sure makes it sound like she's not a real Homo sapiens...

Ah yes, we are here!

I personally really like this part of the show. It's very cheesy, and the effects do not help that, but it feels earnest and earned!

I could probably gush a good amount about it, but I feel I'd echo previous opinions a bit too much.

That said, I can add something really cool.

Remeber in the Avallon arc when I said one could actually read the books they were using for research?

Yeah, one of them talks how the blades of Light and Darkness are the original Seikens and have a connection, which is fantastically brought back the fact that it's revealed that Yuri is the wielder of both in the past.

Like I said, Saber has lovely details.

Oh yes, this memetic episode. Pretty silly, but very soulful. As for the Luna, I'll probably postpone the discussion about it until later episodes. For now, I can only say that we see her through the eyes of Touma and Kento, and therefore perceive her accordingly. Therefore, it is worth waiting until she gets the opportunity to prove herself as a person. Although, I agree that she could have been given more screen time.
And, of course, Kento's hesitation, reflected also in your fanfiction.. The plot continues to give him reasons to go astray from the path of Calibur, and Kento even notices them, but stubbornly ignores.

This is the result of what Kamijo seeks in the beginning, series-wise for you.

As a fighter, perhaps he'd provide some extra stuff with time-based powers to Sabela's smokescreen. But with Ryoga doing the same stuff as Reika here, kinda questions why Ryoga is introduced in the series which just reduces Reika into fawning over him. He's just a male Reika that is made by diminishing said female's role as if this is something to show that only men can take charge (I'm not someone who fawns over her 'toughness' previously before this but still).

This shows Falchion's abilities where as a phoenix, he can simply revive himself, and is instead sealed within the Book of Ruin and placed in the Southern Base's forbidden library by Master Logos, who can release him later.

Yeah, Bacht is released as a parallel to Kento, where they're "allies" but also nuisances to their respective factions, Northern Base for Kento and Southern Base for Bacht. Both are enemies to swordsmen but Kento only does that as he believes that sealing away their Seiken will prevent the doomed future, while Bahato won't stop until he's killed every last one. Bacht also pulls everyone is the same as me stuff here against Touma, which is some villain's move to justify their deeper imperfections or even convincing the hero to spare him due to breaking their moral code or something when they 'cross the line' by killing him.