[Sh Ranger]

This time last year, most of us were struggling through the workplace competition arc. Saber doesn't have a workplace competition arc, therefore it's currently on track to become my favorite Reiwa Rider show.

Kamen Rider Ghost is my fourth favorite Heisei Rider show, mostly due to how the theme of heroism is explored through the different perspectives of the Parka Ghosts and I specifically remember Robin Hood's line about how justice means something different to each person. Takeru is already a pretty heroic guy from the start, but the wisdom he gains allows him to reach out to people and connect them. Since connections is a part of the theme of death, with how death isn't the end, everything people do has an effect and the power to leave a legacy behind to help others in the future.

However, I credit most of my enjoyment to Mouri, the same way I credit him for his work on Zi-O. He and Hasegawa gave more focus to Onari and Akari, treating them as important characters while Fukuda only used them as comic relief, similar to how he writes Mei in Saber. Fukuda was absent a lot while he wrote Ghost's summer movie, which as I mentioned before, is the third worst summer movie I've ever watched. I can only hope that Fukuda has improved and Book Of Ruin will be better.

What I will praise Fukuda for is the high stakes. I mean, Ghost Episode 1 ends with Edith telling Takeru he can only live as a ghost for 99 days and now he only has 98 days left.... That's a pretty damn big deal! Especially with how the first 12 episodes occur close to real time 99 days. Every single episode, I'm thinking "Is Takeru going to obtain the Eyecons in time?", or "How the hell is Takeru going to revive now that he sacrificed himself for Kanon?!" There was so much suspense in that first arc.

Of course, the fact that Toucon Boost exists took away some of that suspension of disbelief, but actually, things just get more extreme from there! Now Takeru has another 99 days except he's not just trying to revive but to save his father's afterlife as well. Can you imagine that? I can totally relate to Edith saying how crazy Ryu was, staking something that important. Something even more important than life. That's a crazy burden that Takeru has to carry for the rest of the show.

Then the last episode is literally 1 day left and I'm thinking "Damn, if Takeru fails, he dies and Ryu's soul fades away!" and Episode 33 does a great job at emphasizing how terrible that would be by showing the partial destruction of Takeru's soul before his friends' emotions bring him back.

Anyway, I've yammered way too long about Ghost. I should talk about Saber now. I have the same appreciation for Saber, perhaps even greater. Kento doesn't even get a "Toucon Boost". He just dies, that's it. And his friends have to carry on without him. That's a pretty big deal. But just like the Masters and Nada in Ryusoulger, his spirit lives on in his fellow Swordsmen, who carry on his will to save the world and protect the people.

Even ignoring the characters and story for a moment, Saber is such a spectacular show from the start. The pacing is a little rushed, but honestly I prefer that to something slow like Gaim or Amazons which take a while to get to the good stuff. Saber doesn't waste time on exposition, it gets right to the action and the character drama.

Somebody mentioned EX-Aid doing something similar but with more clear-cut arcs. However, I contest that it's not a good thing. I can jump in to EX-Aid in the 1-23 episode range and feel like I know what I'm watching. But everything after has a different feel to it, like it's not the same EX-Aid anymore. I think it's to the merit of Ghost and Saber that Fukuda has such competent secondary writers in Mouri and Hasegawa to pick up his slack and Takahashi didn't have that in EX-Aid. Ghost and Saber have a consistency to what they're about and where they're going which I think EX-Aid lacks.