Saber January Scans
 

Some of Saber January Scans

This suit appears shockingly understated? Like not even just among the Saber riders, but it looks like something that's waiting for something else to pop on top, like Plat Form or Transient. I have to assume there's a gimmick to this new guy that's yet to be seen.

The gimmick is that Yuri becomes the Saikou sword. The suit is called the Saikou Shadow which he conjures to wield the Saikou sword, but as the scans shows, others can wield the sword such as Saber

yeah looks like KR Saikou is the sword itself and the wielder is a clone using it.

after Zero-one with its "Belt is actually the gimmick" joke, we're reaching "the rider is actually the toy itself" point.

Huh! That's a really fun idea, and pleasnatly surprising to me since it all-together gives this impression that the next month isn't just going to be the new guy showing off how cool he is, which has been the hard tradition for so long.

I wasn't expecting Saikou to be black!

Okay that didn't come out right but seriously, I was expecting him to be like Hyper Muteki level sparkly.

Interestingly, he has a hinge across his chest and shoulders Future gimmick?

With how Saber has handling the motifs in their suits so far, it would have been too easy and almost generic to make a Kamen Rider whose element is light. Where there's light, there's always shadow. That's the idea they're going for and I love it. The RKF is going to look great, too.
Since Saikou is a quarter 2 Kamen Rider, he should have something to make him really unique from the huge cast that we already have, and they definitely nailed that. Saikou is probably the most blatant way that this franchise has ever advertised a toy(it literally has its own shadows to swing it around and show off lol), but I think it really works here.
The Ride Book has the same hinge at the same location. His upgrade is slated to arrive in April, so it's definitely related to that.

Hazard build. Make sense, but some feels like there's a light form later on. Or the dude end up being a sword for majority of the series for saber, but occasionally pops up in dream sequence for advice like musashi from ghost.

Before sentient sword like Saikou, we have Banno Driver and Ark Driver :D

Felt like there should be a part 2 since this barely cover the entire January.

Don't forget my boy Kivat Bat the 3rd.

Huh, so I guess we were wrong to guess his form based on the image on the sword. Granted I have a feeling that might come into play later.

Still this is pretty unique, and hey! A 2nd Quarter/New Year "Rider" that isn't an enemy but helps out? That's actually a first I think since Mach?

They were sentient drivers or items but not really "Riders" themselves. Riders were Gold Drive, Ark one etc...

Here when you say "KR Saikou" the image you should picture in your mind is not humanoid but just the sword. I think that's a first (Well, there was Lazer who was a bike I guess. Not humanoid).
But I have no doubt that any figurine branded "KR Saikou" will be released as a humanoid "Saikou Shadow" holding the sword. But technically, the rider is just the sword x)

Honestly, I really love some of the photos included in these scans, they look like older shows that were shot on film. I miss that aesthetic.

Alright it took me a while with a lot of "zoom an enhance"-ing, but I think I figured out what wonder ride book Saikou uses.

The book itself is named "Kin No Buki, Gin No Buki" which translates to "Golden Wepaon, Silver Weapon" which I think is supposed to be referring to Aesop's "The Honest Woodcutter":

That would make sense.

thought the final form would be light themed

I really like Shadow Saikou's design, it's very simple but it still looks awesome and I like how it resembles a de-sparkled version of the figure in the book. It's also neat that even though we had a villain associated with Darkness, now there's a warrior of Shadow who seems to be on the side of good (unless Yuri turns out to be part of the evil within SOL).

does this mean a human will eventually possess this sword to be a full time rider?

First post here.
This is incredibly interesting. Though the shape of the "Kin No Buki, Gin No Buki" Wonder Ride Book is rather odd, from what I see of it. It doesn't look like it would make a part of the Spreads that the other Wonder Ride Books do. What a weird shape.