[Fish Sandwich]

I may have been unreasonably hyped up for this thing, as anyone who has ever seen me express an opinion on either Saber or Ghost could easily guess.

I had a really good feeling about it, you know? It was glaringly obvious to me this wouldn't be some quick cash grab to bait people into buying a TTFC subscription, because I guarantee you there was not an overwhelming demand for this crossover from Rider fans. It really came off to me more as something Takurou Fukuda probably wrote on a whim, as though he were making fan-fiction of his own shows, that miraculously escalated to the status of real thing, with returning actors and Sakamoto directing and everything! Even the way this wasn't split into two shorter, staggered parts like most of these specials have been up to now speaks to how it's not really trying to command anyone's attention too hard. It's just like Toei randomly going "Here's Saber and Ghost together! Watch it maybe, we guess!"

Well don't mind if I do!

I loved pretty much everything about this, and it's the kind of straightforward team-up I wish more Rider shows could get. There's no huge crisis or melodramatic infighting, because -- especially with these two shows -- there doesn't need to be. You can totally have Takeru on some random case that Touma happens to get involved in, and that's more than enough. I'm here to see a fun meet cute scene between two of my favorite Riders where they pick each other's dropped collectable items off the ground, and that's exactly what I got!

It seriously is just about everything I hoped for, especially in terms of Ghost fanservice. I mean, you've got Takeru's awesome BGM kicking in as soon as he makes his appearance; you've got Javert trying to waste another Gundari all these years later; you've got Takeru introducing himself to Touma with the show's most iconic quote, delivered with the exact same cadence as ever. It's not all here, obviously, as there are some huge limits on what you can do with only three returning actors in 22 minutes, but within that context, there's so much going on here that made me so insanely happy. Just little moments like having Takeru know Touma from being a fan of his book, too, are all so warm and delightful. I say this feels like Fukuda writing a fan-fiction because if it were me writing it instead, that is exactly the kind of stuff I'd be putting in as someone who loves both these series.

Bringing in elements from the Specter V-Cinema to make this feel like a true continuation of the show's narrative from where we last saw it is also a nice touch, especially since that movie is something of a high point for Ghost, but of course, it doesn't amount to much... on its own anyway. The cliffhanger ending is something I can definitely take or leave, but then, it also comes after the credits, as though encouraging the viewer to take or leave it as they so choose. Isn't that generous of them! (And yes, I do praise Ghost *this* compulsively, apparently.)

It genuinely isn't a huge deal though, as a simple plot keeps the focus tighter. I mean, most of it is legitimately generated entirely by Kanon wandering around saying onii-chan a bunch; I think Fukuda was pretty conscious of what he was doing here. It's just enough story to give proper context, which kinda proves how little of that you need to justify Desast doing anything. He's half the reason Touma and Mei get involved, and as ever, this is merely something he's doing to stave off boredom on that particular day. I'm poking fun, but it really is accomplishing everything it needs to, which is just giving that trim cast of characters some time to shine. Touma letting himself get beat to heck entirely to reach out to Kanon was especially great -- exactly the sort of climax I expect from either of these series.

The action sequence wrapping everything up is suitably celebratory in its execution. I honestly can't hate the explanation for Saber's new form being that Takeru's family has apparently just always had a Wonder Ride Book specifically about Ghost sitting around the temple somewhere, and it was awesome that they thought to get Musashi Damashii in there on top of Grateful. And it was also awesome seeing Grateful! Sakamoto already directed a couple REALLY good fight scenes back in Ghost that ended with Grateful Damashii doing a Rider Kick too, so it's good to see that tradition carrying on here... and with Saber getting in on it! You guys!

I can try and qualify this all day, but as you can definitely guess from reading the above disjointed rambling, I'm mostly just still really, really freakin' happy to see that this is a thing that exists that I actually got to watch? Like I said at the start, Saber X Ghost is NOT a special I think most fans will be fawning over, but for someone like me, basically the exact target audience, this was an amazing treat for something so simple.