This is a good headcanon.

If Mei was in my Saber/Symphogear crossover, I'd probably have this as an eventual part of it tbh. It has the potential to be a very fun dynamic to work with.

It works great for me because, in a lot of ways, they're the most self-aware and emotionally healthy members of the cast. They're both sure of themselves, and happy with their choices, and willing to argue for their happiness. More than that, though, they want to help the people close to them find the same self-confidence and self-acceptance that they have. It's good that they have each other to lean on!

I initially didn’t recall much of this episode, until last night when I remembered Mei trying to change Bacht’s mind through social media. Why would you do that? As someone on Facebook put it.

Bacht: You’re right, Yuri. Humans have changed. They’ve somehow become worse.

Next time, I’ve got a lengthy post lined up.

I agree, a rather sparse episode of events, from which the attempt to introduce Falchion to social networks is most memorable. I think the show decided to slow down and more clearly define the current status quo of all the characters. As for Kento, only someone who has gone through the same thing can convince him, not Touma. But it's too early to give up on him, the guy still reached out to Ikazuchi.
The end of the fanfiction is very funny.

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 37

The thing I'm probably always going to remember most from this episode is Touma telling Kento not to just selfishly decide how the story ends, and before I can even finish thinking "That's rich coming from you, Touma!", he's already spouting off the catchphrase as he interrupts Kento's big chance to finally make good on the whole matrydom complex. For good and for ill, it's a very definitively Touma moment.

I can sort of broadly see how Die might be tired of Kento's brooding and Touma's utter inability to stop attempting to convince him with big heroic plaititudes he knows aren't going to work, but for me, this episode was still thoroughly engaging, in a lot of different ways. I don't think I was as exhausted by the Touma/Kento stuff, in part because I just like how relentlessly honest it is for their respective personalities, like I just said above, and also in part because I wasn't worried about how much longer the show would try to pump this well.

The way I see it, this episode basically *is* Kento hitting rock bottom? It's the one where he finally makes his grand attempt to heroically get himself killed, and gets *this* close to going through with it, only to have that opportunity denied in the end. It's like, what's next for the guy now, you know? I was asking that question with more eager optimism than Die maybe is, but you know, when it comes to these things, I can be a bit of a Touma myself sometimes!

Beyond that, there's also a million smaller things that made this episode super enjoyable for me. Mei and Bacht are great together, because of course. Finally seeing Rintarou and Kento together again for some one-on-one time was great. And Touma's fight with Ren is probably the standout of the entire thing for me. There's a bunch of things about the approach the show takes there that are just so totally Saber. This is only one part of it, but I adore how, in this episode about Touma utterly refusing to let Kento have his way, he still speaks of Kento's motivations to Ren with this sort of reverence. Because again, these characters are never enemies. Touma knows Kento is doing what he's doing because he'd give anything to save a friend, and Touma has to stop Kento because Touma would do the same thing in that position, exactly like he says here. These two are very much the proverbial immovable object and unstoppable force. Like, I don't know, I guess it was starting to get repetitive watching quiet brooding versus HEROIC SHOUTING by this point, but I feel like this episode still gave me plenty new to think about on that front anyway. Enough that I accidentally looped right back around to talking about that, at least!

I guess the one last thing I really want to make sure I mention from this one is that quick flashback of Kento talking to Ren about how he cares about being strong enough to protect what matters to him, but not about being the strongest. It's just kind of a great sentiment, for one thing, and it's something fun for our favorite hotheaded ninja to ponder in his arc, but it's also a super poignant reminder of how much of a good kid Kento is at heart. He's been sulking around in that potato sack for long enough by now that the stark contrast with a point in his life where he was holding together okay is extra strong. It's like, I just wanna see the poor dude looking that happy again that much more, after seeing that.

I recall the last time a mother substitute showed up was Shizuka from Kiva, who was a very different character. Sophia's a lot more involved with the Swordsmen and it's cool how she's always been more of a parent to those guys before a boss. The only reason why she got imprisoned for a dozen episodes was that she was too reckless in trying to help them and she even risked her life to protect them during the Northern Base siege.

For sure, I love the whole scene with Mei, Yuri and Bacht. Like what Mesnick said before about the 1000 year-old guys lacking a Rintarou on their team, well they didn't have a Mei either and it's cool how Yuri sees how invaluable Mei is to the heart of the current team, despite not having any powers. Yuri really wants to see if there's any hope left for Bacht after he rejected Touma's offer, so Mei is totally the last resort for redeeming him. If Bacht doesn't see the importance of humanity in a person as warm and caring as Mei, then at least they can say they tried their best. It's a cute scene anyway!

Touma does like Ren, he's one of his important friends that helped him to master the power of Arthur. It's just difficult to win an argument against him unless you can manage to fit "strength", "justice", or "fight" in every sentence. Touma's wise enough to realize that Ren isn't as receptive to preaching as the others, so there's no choice but to let him reach his own conclusion.

Kento isn't a lost cause. Touma can clearly see his hesitation and his lack of resolution. Kento's willing to sacrifice himself as he thinks it's the only way to save both Touma and the world. He wants to believe in Touma, but he's scared of the future that will lead to, the future he can't see. The scene where he thrusts Kurayami in the ground was from the flashforward we saw in Episode 26, so this was his big chance to sacrifice himself and now Touma's cut that path off, literally. Kento only has two options left, it's Touma's way, or wait for the end of the world. Only one of those has any kind of hope.

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I'd say that Mei was actually annoyed by Yuri for legitimate reasons, as his lack of humanity knowledge in present time can make him tactless or do outright questionable decisions. But now lately she seems to be happy to be needed by him here compared to before, focusing more on her being seen as important by the SoL other than just the basekeeper? Otherwise, it's a good scene for Mei to make use of mundane human stuff to try dealing with a supervillain (though for some reason, Bacht didn't try to attack those 2 there), though it'd be something that easily backfire to use social media, as actually it's deemed as something that exposes humanity's true nature, making Bacht even more hateful of humanity (though here Instagram is the one represented, if it's Twitter...).

Guess I'll take back my previous words about the Shindai siblings for now. They aren't on redemption path yet, they were just fighting the other traitors, in Isaac before. Only that Isaac is actually a deserving target unlike the main cast. It was only a temporary teamup between enemies against common threat previously. Thus it clearly explains why Ryoga is still standoffish to them, as regardless of Isaac he still sees them as traitors. Touma's terrible pitches here is slightly fought back by Rintaro who insists that the Shindai siblings may have their own reasons and beliefs to continue on their path, instead of how others should follow Touma's path of forming power of friendship.

About Ren though, actually it's not often that someone beat some sense on him, thus I'd like Touma explaining something to him better, as actually yes, the more important thing in justice is compassion for others, power is only the means for an end or just something that allows you to stand up against threats instead of quickly getting killed. Having only power would corrupt, even in Ren who is an SoL member and is someone who doesn't care about civilians' fate and only about proving his strength by beating others, enemies or allies. Though ofc, Touma should only give him some clues here but not keep doing it later on.

Sophia has said in earlier part of the series that recklessness is not bravery. I'd say that what Sophia says here is something important to note that being a hero (or at least, die heroically in a redemption for Kento here as he has been an anti-villain so far) isn't necessarily about sacrificing yourself and that it's ok for them to take care of themselves. As some people (irl) would think only sacrifices would count as one, or even thinking that taking care of others means you can't ever take care of yourself. I think that regardless of failure to sway Kento, Rintaro would want to protect him thus he'd join him in the fight to ensure his safety from his self-destructive ways, even if Kento would still be hostile.

Now I wonder how you'd feel regarding the next series, regarding this, if you'd want the part of that people who don't want to be helped can't be helped (which is true as trying to force it upon them will only make them push back), and that this is the bad consequences of trying to do good, becoming overly nosy, to think that what you do is for what you think is the best outcome for them. Personally I wouldn't mind for this stuff to be told to children, as I'd think presenting this stuff in purely rose-colored glasses way of this always succeeding can make them eventually being disillusioned of good when it doesn't go the way they hoped/expected from this show. And that it should be known that not taking action doesn't mean that they're apathetic or doesn't care about those people.

Perhaps it also can be that Mei's attempt is also half-hearted and isn't unnoticed where Mei finds Bacht scary (she can be shallow at least earlier, but this one's for good reason) and would be not anywhere near him and she stays as far as possible from him when trying to convince him. And that she only agrees to convince him due to Yuri's orders (albeit she did a fine job in that). About her role as the heart, not only Mei, need the defense for that in general as that role is often dismissed by the audience as useless or insignificant.

Mei's an optimist! She'd definitely rather think of social media as a way to connect with people than view it as a source of pain. Or maybe she's just lying to Falchion to get him to join the team and defeat Solomon? You pick!

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Ha ha, SAME! I sort of couldn't believe the show had the guts to try and block Kento's single-minded determination and inability to consider concede with Touma's somehow different and more heroic single-minded determination and inability to concede. It's a bold choice!

As funny as it was, it worked for me because it's Touma basically shouting that he'd do the exact same thing as Kento, and he's not judging him for that, but they both need to find a better alternative than sacrificing their lives for their friends. It's a little hypocritical, the way Touma's saying it, but I feel like it's more about these two knuckleheads having the exact same instincts when it comes to saving their friends, and that's why they can't find a middle ground in this scenario.

Well - and I like Mei a whole lot - she's also one of the only non-swordsmen that Yuri knows. If he's trotting out a representative of humanity to convince Falchion that people have changed, it's basically Mei or Sora. I think Mei's the better choice, for sure, but it's not like the roster was very large.

If I find time soon, sure! (And if it's a non-Saber thing, you can always PM instead of putting it in the thread here. I might get backed up and not get to it right away, but I'll always get around to it. Thanks!)

Yeah, I think it's more that Isaac has moved to the top of their List Of Asses To Kick, and Touma's crew has just moved a little further down.

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