[Switchblade]

Yes, mommy.




Sorry, where were we?

Man, this was a good episode. We had a couple of main threads here and I really liked how they both turned out.

Sabela's debut was fantastic. Reika is still an absolute dumpster person, but I love her look as a Rider - both in and out of suit. Her powers are great, too. I'm already all-in on the Biorider style smoke morphing (using her powers to let Daishinji's shots pass harmlessly through her and into Ogami was just... chef's kiss), but the overall agility and grace to her movements, too. Also digging both the butterfly wings and crazy Iron Spider-Man arms. Saber's suits tend to run very hot or cold for me, but this one is a winner. I don't have a lot of hopes for Reika as a character (got some unfortunate flashbacks to Yoko and her even more unfortunate "I must serve the strongest man" deal here), but I'm definitely liking her as a Rider.

Outside of the action, I also absolutely loved the confrontation between Rintarou and Touma. We've been seeing Rintarou looking shakier and shakier lately and this episode just kept piling more and more angst onto him. There was definitely some catharsis in that whole confrontation with Touma on the roof (cannot stress how much I enjoyed Mei's "what is happening and do I ship this?" reaction, by the way), but then the show immediately throws Rintarou into a "put up or shut up" moment and he is still clearly at near breaking point. The whole conversation was still great, though, and I really like seeing the characters confront each other and come to some form of reconciliation while still standing by their convictions.

Also, Kento's back. Ren will care way more than I do. I trust the show to do better by the character now, but I still don't have very strong feelings one way or the other.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Am I the only one who loves Mei’s new hairstyle?

I don't know, but I can tell you that's not a universal opinion!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Layton13

Man, Saber's really getting better and better. Love it!

...

Next week can't come soon enough, a sentiment I've been feeling for a while now with Saber.

I'm right there with you. I'm constantly surprised by how much I've been enjoying this show and all of the characters that aren't Ren or the villains (didn't even realize that our boy band back-up dancers were MIA this week until just now). I am way more excited for this show now than I was for Zero-One a year ago and that is something I never expected to say.