[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 20 - ?DOWN WITH THE STRONGHOLD, BY THE WILL OF THE SWORD?

It?s Reika, because, like, have you watched these episodes? While everyone else is dealing in fascinating ambiguity and compromised morality, here?s Reika with the most one-note Malevolent And Duplicitous Boss character I?ve ever seen. Every appearance is only a scene-change edit away from her cackling maniacally as she turns friends against each other. Her home base is dimly-lit for no reason other than increasing a sense of unease. She?s the absolute worst motivation for a group of morally-upright swordsmen I can think of, short of Calibur coming back to issue marching orders. For this part of the series to work best, there needs to be some narrative cover for the SoL to doubt Touma?s emotional appeals; these guys have to be wary of an accusation that the SoL is corrupt. And yet! At every turn, Reika is showing up fresh from, like, poisoning apples to give to teenage princesses, or baking German children in her gingerbread house. Her laconic menace makes the whole Just Following Orders vibe of half the cast feel willfully blind, and that disappointingly unbalances the heart of this story.

Lol, Reika's the one who kickstarted this fascinating ambiguity and compromised morality arc, yet you don't thank her for doing that? Otherwise, though I know it's the execution, Reika here gives Kusaka vibes too for some people thus making her despicable for them. But good that Reika here isn't viewed as tough and competent due to her demeanor. And, to pull the "putting an organization ahead of people" here, for the group of morally-upright swordsmen, Ren is sorta the exception; while him doing SoL's job shows that he's not a bad person, he still has prevalent severe problems in his psychotic bloodthirst for power (also it's his primary reason to fight), and also petty jealousy, both leading for him to just picking fights with Touma, without caring of the actual threat like Qusama Megid (Shingo's) that they're supposed to fight (again, his reason to fight is different). He's someone that can be even worse than the Riders on Ex-Aid main group at the beginning (t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶h̶e̶'̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶k̶i̶n̶d̶a̶ ̶m̶a̶l̶e̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶N̶i̶c̶o̶,̶ ̶a̶ ̶b̶r̶a̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶t̶y̶p̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶j̶e̶r̶k̶). Touma will of course put his faith on him though, as his archetype of a character implies.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Other than that, I thought this episode was finally firing on all cylinders. The humor was great (Mei doing Yuri?s Henshin sequence for him is maybe a series highlight), the drama was arresting (Rintaro tried really hard this episode to make things work!), the action was phenomenal (that four-way mid-epsiode brawl!), and the MotW plot required some (minor) character insight and problem-solving. It?s hard to find fault with the non-Reika parts of this episode!

The Mei and Yuri's henshin sequence is an ironic moment, usually that moment is used for someone who started to become a Rider, like some main protagonists such as Takumi (with Mari), and Ryotaro (with Hana). But here, it's done on someone who isn't only a longtime Rider, but also holds the most knowledge regarding what happened surrounding the Rider world, at least in the past, but this happens due to his absent-mindness. Touma claims in his fight that understanding pain (like taking hits from Qusama Megid) is what makes him want to protect others, which is true as it makes them understand what others are going through, but this should also be implemented in those who revolves around tragic backstory (Touma has it for 1 moment but he doesn't seem to revolve around it other than promises), which people'd expect to turn one bitter or outright villainous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I especially enjoyed that Rintaro moment, even if it was unfortunately brief. I like that Rintaro found out Touma was telling the truth, and was immediately like COMMON GROUND HOORAY. It?s a scene where both characters think they?ve found a way to connect with an estranged friend, but instantly find out how tenuous that bridge is. Touma?s like Megids Bad But Traitor Worse, which is a colossally stupid thing to say to a good friend who has previously drawn a red line at criticizing the SoL; meanwhile, Rintaro shuts down any discussion of traitors, which shows Touma that the SoL believing him on one thing doesn?t mean they trust him again. It?s a nicely nuanced scene of these two trying to navigate their own misgivings, and finding out that they haven?t done it quite yet.

This'd still also prove that the swordsmen at SoL except Ren shouldn't be totally blind in their judgment against Touma, which it does here. Though it's good that believing in one thing doesn't mean agreeing with the other is highlighted here, Rintaro would believe Touma after further evidence is given about the humans being turned into a Megid. Also due to how the ones who's less close to Touma than Rintaro like Ogami and Daishinji also believes him. I like that Touma tries to confront Reika that she's the one behind this dispute though, albeit ofc Rintaro would defend her due to her position in SoL (and seems to be the only one explaining why he believes Reika). Yuri causes miscommunication again with his words, that saying Touma is destined for great power would mean he can still seem suspicious to Rintaro when Reika stirred-shit. That said, yeah Touma's the chosen one type which is something that really sounds generic to many people.