[Fish Sandwich]

Man, at this point I might as well just come in here each week, make like Yuri and say "最高だな！" and be done with it. This show is totally overflowing with things I'm enjoying like crazy and I struggle to even point all of them out. I guess a big thing to focus on with this one is just how much all the characters continue to impress as individuals with appropriately personal motivations?

- First off, I don't think I've ever really talked about Reika yet, and I should really fix that right now, because she's been a fantastic part of the show ever since the new year! A lot of it is in the incredibly strong performance Angela Mei lends to her, I think. Reika's words are often hard to take at face value, so it's her face that's really doing the talking. The way she can look devoid of all emotion while paradoxically seething with contempt for her disloyal subordinates is something else. The sort of Red Scare style of how she manipulates the swordsmen is fascinating to me, as is the way the show is building the mystery of her true motives and loyalties. You can tell a lot from just small touches in this episode like how different her tone towards Master Logos is, or how she hesitates to directly lie about her order to take Primitive Dragon back originating from him. You get all these hints waiting to be pieced together, and given the genuine payoff of details like Calibur constantly ignoring Kento really early on, I have some faith in Saber to make that wait worth it.

- Ogami really shines here, continuing a trend of Buster and Slash being two of the coolest characters in the show. That conversation he has with Sora isn't any more deep or complex than his stuff usually is, but it makes that into a strength by emphasizing how being a straightforward dude is how Ogami lives his life to the fullest. It should feel redundant to have another Rider decide to follow Touma after a couple duels to test his resolve or whatever, but I thought it differentiated itself enough from how Daishinji went about it to work all over again. Things like Ogami explicitly asking Touma to use his Books too (also meaning all of Saber's main forms showed up yet again, which you know I liked!), or just that very tough guy "well, someone's gotta look out for you" when he announces his intent to leave the organization went a long way.

- Rintarou continues to be in a super interesting position, and while it looks like he'll truly be in focus next time, even here, the scene of Ogami telling him and Ren about his decision really got to me. Him saying he can't betray his family is one little line, but it had a ton of weight behind it. Again, ever since this second big arc started, the whole idea of the Riders having to question what they truly value the most has drawn so much more personality out of everybody, and for Rintarou in particular, you can just tell how much all of this is genuinely painful for him. It's pretty upsetting to see Rintarou suffering this much, and that's how I know the story is gripping me.

- Oh, and speaking of characters I know I like because of the constant trauma they're subjected to, Touma sure is having his usual time here, huh? Granted, overall, things are starting to look up a bit, with Buster now openly on his side and all, but we're also shown here that he's currently completely incapable of escaping the very angry book making him flip out and attack everything around him, so he's not exactly having a great day, either. I'm continuing to enjoy Primitive Dragon's weird animalistic behavior, and the lore revelations about why the book is the way it is are definitely quite promising. I always love when new forms tie their designs thematically to the narrative, and knowing what I've learned here and from magazine images, yes, I'm quite excited by the idea Primitive Dragon's hand is secretly reaching out to be held.

I think that's about the gist of what I wanted to cover. The only other thing to really mention is how hilarious I find it they pulled a Faiz episode preview trick by casually showing us Calibur's cameo here ahead of time, which was the kind of moment that would've worked nicer as a surprise, for sure. That's not a complaint with the episode itself, though, which was as stellar as Saber seems to reliably be at this point. As always, looking forward to more!