[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 46 - “FAREWELL, MY DEAR HERO”
It’s important, in any writing, to consider the audience.

Not… not in a sense of catering, or indulging, but in an awareness of the collaborative nature of storytelling. There’s what someone writes, and then there’s what the reader does with that writing. A story told to no one is just an idea; it becomes real only when it's shared. But the audience gets to decide what that story means just as much as – maybe more than – the writer. Stories get to change and grow with the size of the audience, or with time. You write something, and if you’re very lucky, someone else will read it. When that happens, your writing exists on its own, independent of anything else. It’s the best gift a writer can receive.

Then again, there's also a moderation needed here where I'd think, while audience's suggestions should be taken into account, the story shouldn't be made to fully cater to the audience where the audience can have very differing wants especially in a huge number (and there are some KR where it's influenced by fanbase opinion and ended up worse), where submitting to as much of them would make it perhaps very inconsistent depending on which tastes they have. Or that the stories also just can be something that doesn't cater to certain audiences, of which it'd be not your or the story's fault, but certain close-minded ones can deem it as "bad" which is their fault. It'd be better to write stories exactly in how you plan it from start to finish, while taking into account for improvements that still suits your vision.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Storious wanted fame, notoriety, acclaim. When he found out that he couldn’t call himself the genius behind his poetry, he turned his back on the idea of human curiosity and endeavor. All creation was pointless because no one could receive credit for it. He wants to decide how the story ends because it represents regained control, and the chance to create something all his own. He’s an author who only writes for applause, and despises a world where he can't claim greatness.

Storious is also someone who has unrealistic expectations of demanding complete originality in those stories and writing, hence his complaint about humans never actually creating anything and all of Touma's works being only copies. It also can happen in real life in people mocking a media as a rip-off of something, of which that kind of complaint can be inherently double standard-y, to give that, while praising their favorite media as original ignoring/not knowing about other medias that are like that, or treating as if the media they claim the hated one to be a rip-off of as the original progenitor one when it can have resemblance to some other things. Otherwise, of course, it's also about his narcissism to want to take credit thus he's also actively against things getting better, thus this makes Storious not merely even worse version of Kento Calibur, who also has pre-determined fatalist view?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Touma only writes for his audience, to make people happy, to share a piece of himself with the world. He doesn’t care about accolades; he cares how his stories make readers think about each other, or understand themselves. His writing is a bridge between people, and he couldn’t care less if the materials of that bridge come from some magic book. The point is only ever the reaction from the readers, and the chance to see what they do with the story. He wants to decide how the story ends because everyone should get a say in storytelling, and no one should get to decide that for others.

About Touma's rebuttal of claiming that everyone is protagonist of their own story (at least in my sub), yeah, honestly, I'd want for the phrase of "everyone is a hero of their own story", or especially "every villain is a hero of their own story" to be replaced with that, as it perhaps is using the term hero as in main character but protagonist doesn't mean hero. And it's even said that great works can be created by taking references from multiple other great one, combining it, and adding your own touch. In his fight as Xross Saber, now he makes use of all the swordsmen's weapons and fighting style.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s a lovely way of weaving this franchise’s empathy into this show’s exploration of fiction. The brilliance of fiction, of any writing, is in how each reader gets to decide what to take away from it. Storious calling Touma “my hero” is insulting to Touma, because it diminishes him to a character in Storious’s narrative; it robs him of agency and perspective. The point of storytelling is to allow for endless possibilities and interpretations, not to flatten everything into your conception of the world. It doesn’t matter where a story began, because every time it’s told to someone, it changes. Where ideas come from is pointless to consider; what an idea means to you as a person is much more compelling to talk about.

Albeit this episode, in contrast to what you wrote before, actually had the heroes in disadvantageous position, as though they've managed to defeat the Sages, it comes at a great cost, with both Daishinji and Ogami (who made the sacrifice, with the beam piercing both Highlander and him) likely mortally wounded, and same goes for the Shindai siblings, though it had a cool moment of Reika finishing off Diago untransformed, though with weapon. Blades continue to be nice to try aid the people who are hostile to him in the Shindai siblings here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

ALL I ASK OF MYSELF IS THAT I HOLD TOGETHER

Kinda disappointed that the reaction of Mei seeing Luna suddenly becoming an adult got skipped to have Mei and Luna just interact like they know each other again. Mei displays her incurable optimism again here and they seem to use "I've experienced that before" as motivation here to get someone to change. Otherwise, Mei's idea of contributing here involves her editor job of which she types something. I don't get it clear yet here, other than how she always tries her best to prove herself in a team consisting of superpowered swordsmen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Narratively speaking, that exchange is also there specifically to illustrate Ren's growth as succinctly as possible, since he's speaking to his beloved Kento-kun like a person now, and not revering him as some idealized figure. There's really not a wasted moment in this episode. Did I mention I love how they're so dedicated to giving everyone a role to play that even the dead guys all get to show up? This show, man.

Yeah, I do feel something regarding Ren's dialogue with Kento there, but can't express that in words yet. Thank you for having done it here, yeah it's about not viewing Kento as idealized figure anymore.