[Actar]

Hm... Remember when Kamen Rider was more cool than cringe? Just finished watching the first episode of Saber and... if I had to summarize my opinions, it would be that Saber felt more sentai-like than I would have preferred? I mean, in this one episode, we have goofy support characters, we have CGI henshins, we have a group of villains hidden in the shadows watching over the monster attacking, we have a literal growing/giant monster... an ENDING THEME? It felt very, very Magiranger to me, especially with the purple knight badguy.Other than that, there are some things I liked, and some red flags.

Pros:
- The suit designs are awesome.
- The belt and gimmick toys are actually rather cool.
- Admittedly, the CGI wasn't cringy and the action was quite good.
- The backstory/lore with the swordsmen is really fascinating.

Cons:
- Too many children. Sorry, but I'm just not a fan of child actors, even in kid's shows. The fact that our main character is a bookshop owner that caters to children is worrying.
- The monsters are yet again generic and don't relate to anything. I don't understand how they were able to nail the monsters so well in some series, but just fail to do so in other shows.

Other observations:
- We don't even have specific victims this time around? I'm not sure whether this is a con or not (as the victim thing has been done to death), but how on Earth are they going to make us care for what's happening each week and keep us emotionally invested? I'd love for a serialized story once again like Gaim, but with this premise and set-up? I highly doubt it's going to happen.
- The Ridebooks look to feature more heavily in the plot and mythos than the Progrise Keys, which is great. However, it remains to be seen if they will play any significant role in the plot or be weaved into it in any meaningful way. Like, are they just going to be given and handed new Ridebooks instead of having to at least earn them somehow? Urgh, I hope not.