[Kurona]

This is my favourite episode of Saber so far.

Like... okay, I've got some issues here; I think there could have been a lot more conflict and nuance in how the other Riders were reacting to Touma (maybe have one of Ogami or Daishinji try to be the mediating type or reason with him before things get heated), but I'm sure we'll at least see scenes like that soon enough and it works well enough with how Ren of course is someone who flies off the handle and how it's been slowly built up that Rintarou's foundation and main area of trust is the Sword of Logos; so I especially loved here that he just loses his cool and tries to block out any criticism of them as that's hitting at a lot of his stability. His actor is doing so, SO much good work here to make it believable! I think again if it were just Rintarou and Ren it would have made that scene a lot better, it's just that Ogami and Daishinji have previously been portrayed as much wiser mentors before that should be a bit more above attacking Touma this easily.

Otherwise? I'm loving this so, so much more and this is how you do drama -- rather than the main rider getting mopey because of cheap character death it's a very clear set-up of clashing ideologies that fits what we know of the characters; it's clearly leading to interesting places and really feels like the start of a completely new era for the show after setting up and smashing a status quo of Good Riders Vs. Evil Calibur. It's an excellent twist and one I hope the show is as dedicated to as it wants me to believe; I'm now fully invested in this season and understand what it's trying to do! Fukuda's done it again!