Kamen Rider Saber Episode 28- "The Past To Write; The Future To Draw!" Discussion
 

Ren has defected from the Sword of Logos.

I mean it was inevitable but wow spoilers much???

Well, that was quick and simple.

I'm not gonna lie, I like where Ren's character is going, judging from the leak set photos and most likely this episode. It don't seem like he's joining Touma's side anytime soon.

"We want Mei to transform! Not Reika!"

Toei: Aight. Turns her into MOTW

Very cool, Toei.

Also, yeah this was pretty much a clip show, but... good? It gives some nice recaps and gives into some insights on Touma as well about him being an author. I think.

Also, pretty weird that Kento has to seal the two swords of Hayate to completely seal Ren away from it. Ren just manages to get away, I guess. Dezast is there, he's just watching.

Next episode, more Rintarou x Mei! And the good boi finally gets his eclair! And... SHARK RIDER?!

While I’m really concerned about both the Megid and Master Logos plans, It’s what Desast is up to that really troubles me the most. Because whatever he's planning gotta spell MAJOR trouble.

I love this episode. I'm very excited to see the new rider next episode, and I wonder how Kento's gonna transform now.

Unless he gets a recolor of the second half of Hayate from Desast, gets a weird half-blank form from using one half of Hayate, or is able to transform anyway due to the main part of the sword seemingly still being usable, I dunno if he'll transform at all.

You mean Ren. Not Kento.

And I feel he'll become a Megid.

Oh, yeah, seems like Durandal is also a water swordsman (I think) and uses an animal-type book called... Ocean Story???

Him and Sabela are probably also the rider brother-sister rider duo.

The Wiki site is calling it "Ocean History"

his name could also be Durendal, based on the sword of the same name
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durendal

Oh, darn, I knew I got something wrong. Now I feel stupid. lol

Ah so its a clip episode? How important would subs be for this episode?

remember when this show's plot can basically be summed up as a game of Among Us now everyone is betraying everyone

The episode is a semi recap at least for the first half. Seems like there are some lore bits and character stuff being explained through those.

Touma makes some neat comments on his author-ness and also some lore about some two hooded guys. Very important.

Rewatching with subs and there's some neat info.
-Lost Memory is Touma's best seller, it didn't imply this was his only book, just that it was really good and won the newbie award.

-Office lady (forgot her name lol) wants Touma to write a sequel for it, to which Touma wants to... Write his experiences as Kamen Rider Saber for its sequel.

-Besides Master Logos, there are 4 ppl that are the ones who basically approve of SOL's policies. Dunno if these guys are riders or kaijin. Maybe the latter or not at all.

-It was Master Logos' plan to isolate Touma from the group and harness Rekka's true potential. Dunno if Reika has some ulterior motive, tho, or is just gonna go along with it.

-Not from the episode, but Sabela and Durandal's belts are called the Royal Sword Of Logos buckle. Basically, Master Logos' royal guards, I guess.

-Rintarou will pull a Suzaku and attempt to change SOL from the inside and settle the organization's issues still as their own swordsman. He will, of course, lose to Durandal which will give way for his upgrade: Ice Beast Senki.

-The Charybdis Megid can now speak, much like Dezast. I will miss its creepy female laughing sounds. The Megid have also continued to get some Alter Ride Books, meaning they killed people again. Weird to see this just handwaved.

-Ren defects from SOL and gets the 2nd half of Hayate sealed. He is still able to transform, but he lacks the sword's wind powers.

We like to rag on Ren as much as we like, but I actually legitimately felt bad for him here. Togashi did a good job acting like this childish brat bawling his eyes out here which was coming for a while now ever since Kento became Calibur. Love to see some more of him soon!

how do you know that's going to happen? i think there's something about mei that we dont know about.

It's already said that if you, a regular human, sees the Wonder World, you're connected to it. This makes you ripe to be turned into a Megid by the, well, Megid.

It's the most easiest guess one can make. Mei will turn into a Megid via Storious or Zooous, this will give Rintarou the perfect scenario into obtaining Ice Beast Senki and save the day. Rintarou's form debuts always involve Mei in some form, so this would be par for the course for him.

Then for those two to hook up in an eventual Blades V-Cinema.

The absolute most important thing this episode had to get right was getting Brave Dragon in there somewhere. Okay, so like, obviously it's not that important, but this show had a real streak going where every single episode that debuted a big upgrade for Saber would have Brave Dragon in the following episode. Dragon Arthur, Crimson Dragon, Dragonic Knight, and Primitive Dragon all did. And as for after Elemental, Brave Dragon IS there... in the form of recycled footage. I'm calling that good enough! I mean, the episode is primarily a clip show anyway, it's still featured prominently to the point we even saw Kamijou as Saber again, and we're also getting some Lion Senki action next episode, so it's all good!

Moving on to things that are perhaps of actual importance, I really enjoyed this episode. Not a shocker in of itself, but this time around, it was less because I felt like I was watching Ghost, and more because I felt like I was Ultraman Nexus.

I mean, Keiichi Hasegawa writing the script? Protagonists trying to uncover the mysteries of their shady secret organization? Heroes flashing back to the traumatic past that motivates them? Occasionally doing all that in the form of a big expository scene of people talking in a room? Sounds like Nexus to me!

It works, too! What I'm getting at here is that Hasegawa is good with this sort of thing, and the result is that I wasn't even that conscious of this being, in essence, a recap episode. Because those recap scenes are smart about how they recontextualize and repackage the old material to clarify things viewers previously had to fill in the blanks on. It's nothing groundbreakingly creative or clever, but it's clear this was written to get the show's regular viewers seeing a bigger picture rather than catching up potential newcomers or anything, and I thought that was neat. They picked a good spot to slow down and look back, rather than forward, for a second, and introducing the thread of Touma writing a sequel to the novel he based on his memories of Luna was a great way of signifying that.

The bulk of the proper new material with Kento is similarly quite solid without being too exceptional. Just a real good standard Sakamoto fight, albeit with a level of digital effects for Elemental Dragon's powers I'm going to be surprised if they keep up consistently. It seems like some part of Saber or his sword is constantly glowing with raw energy in that form, and that can't be good for the budget, even if the variety of different powers is a lot of fun to watch.

Calibur fighting with Kenzan beforehand is much less crazy, but maybe a little more clear because of that, and, you know, I'm hitting a point where I'm also actively excited to see Kenzan, so that's nice. I probably said this whenever the last time I brought him up was, but Ren is a character who could easily go from being one of the least interesting characters in the show for me, to one of the most, and his rude awakening here was a big step towards... whatever exactly it is they've got planned for him. But I'm here for it, is the point! Even Ren's actor -- who if I remember right, is one of the cases that happens frequently in Rider where it's his debut role -- you can tell he's massively improved from his first couple episodes last year, and that's cool. I like the idea of Kenzan being this youthful character who grows and (hopefully) matures over the course of the show, and that's naturally reflected in the performance too.

So yeah. Excited to see where Ren goes. Excited to see where Rintarou goes. Excited to see where Kento goes. So on and so forth. There's kinda only so many ways I can say this every week. :p

I'm not used to Kamen Rider doing the mid-series recap/set-up episodes, but they're a staple of Garo and Ultraman. I've seen versions of this with much less action or plot development, so I'm not egregiously offended. And hey, we got more of Ultraman Max's Mizuki and I'm always fine with that.

Also, my theory that Ren is obsessively in love with Kento has definitely been reinforced.

I just thought that was canon tbh :p

Huh you know I just realized we got one of these style of episodes around a similar point last year.

Reminder that when we got done with Metal Cluster Hopper we got a sorta recap episode with some action thrown in at the end too. Wonder if this'll just be a Reiwa trend or not.

I honestly wouldn't mind them becoming a trend if they continue to be as good as this one. I can't remember the last time a clip show episode slipped so much new information in, whether it was pointing out connections and plot threads from the past that we might've missed otherwise, or the new plot developments that happened at the end.

Also hey, is this the first episode that hasn't had a Tassel intro or outro? Or did previous episodes not have them either and I just didn't notice?

Also, how much you wanna bet that sequel Touma wants to write will play a role in creating his final form?

His final form is gonna be a quill-sword. It just has to be!

I'm still betting the Wonder Story pop-up book has something to do with the Final Form.

I miss being greeted by Tassel. Hate him at the first time, stole my heart since king of Arthur arc

First in a long time, I actually watched this live. Given that it's kinda half-clip-show, I got a lot of it anyway.

Damn, they actually made me feel bad for Ren, that's unexpected. Still, what was he expecting, approaching Kento? Also, apprently there's an in-universe reason for him not immediately detransforming; the front sword reads the books, while the back sword provides the power. So since the front sword got sealed, his transformation wasn't cancelled but he won't be able to transform again.

Mei catches up on exposition she missed, and will probably turn into a Megid soon.

Charybdis has been resummoned again, and can talk now. They're very clearly going for "Desast, but friendlier/more subservient." And speaking of Desast, he finally pops up again.

We see Durandal, our next and maybe-but-let's-not-kid-ourselves final Rider, though he doesn't transform. He's also Reika's brother. Maybe we'll get a Shindai family Premium Banai set (both swords and books, maybe even the Royal Sword of Logos Buckle and Holder). I'm still pretty sure Master Logos himself is gonna transform at some point.

Well, while this episode technically had some plot, it's mostly recap and foreshadowing, so definite filler.

Ren doesn't really have quite a good grasp on Kento's situation as no one really told him. So, of course he'd track him down in hopes to work with him again. Good on him, though, to abandon SOL the moment he finds out Kento is alive and the organization deems him an enemy without reason. Also, huh, I thought it said the sword won't be able to provide him his wind powers. The website says in loose english translation "The sword will not be able to draw its original power." So, not directly saying he can't transform anymore, I guess. But we'll have to see.

Also, yeah, we're definitely getting one big two-pack of a shindai siblings narikiri set along with the royal SOL buckle.

I just noticed the pun in this episode title. Writing and drawing, two big creative activities, but why drawing when none of these characters are artists?

Because "draw" can also mean drawing a sword.

Huh. Never thought of that. Best episode name yet.

Yeah...it definitely seems like Ren is going to become a wildcard of sorts....likely going to align with Desast to become more powerful.

A pretty good recap episode with lots of new information to make it relevant, and I'm all for it. And finally Dezast returns to the spotlight, been wondering what he's been doing, granted we still don't know in that regard.

And I gotta say, I'm glad they they remembered Touma's occupation and somewhat explained his sword skills in the first episode.

Now with Mei seeing the Wonderworld, it's pretty clear she's going to become the damsel in distress soon enough, that and Ren and Rintarou (next week) leaving the Sword of Logos, leaves Sabella and Durandal with (totally not evil) Master Logos. Though I'm still wondering how they'll handle the rest of the season, given we still have Dezast running around, Sophia still held hostage and possibly Tassel, and of course, Luna. Now I don't want to jump to conclusions here, but I see a few ways this series will end, but that can wait for another time (I'm too tired as of writing this to bother).

Next week: Durandal appears and Rintarou leaves the SoL.

I just want Ren to become a Megid as he won't be joining Touma as of a while.