[Fish Sandwich]

Man, Saber is like nothing but sadness, sadness, and more sadness lately.

I love it!

I mean, I'd love to articulate that feeling in some meaningful, concise way, but there's this thing that happens sometimes where I get so into a show that it actively hurts my ability to unpack it in words, and Saber's been getting to that point lately. You have to understand, I am beaming as I'm writing this. There's really nothing more insightful I can say than that, at least not without devolving into disjointed rambling. But hey, with episodes this filled to the brim with cool things, can you blame me? Well, er, maybe you can...? Apologies in advance for the length of this one!

First of all, Brave Dragon was totally in those flashbacks to Kento's visions or whatever, and I just have to call that out. It's the base form that's too legit to quit!

And speaking of things glimpsed in those scenes, we totally saw that last sword in there, didn't we? This is another thing I've come to really appreciate about Saber, which is how it's been subtly shoving all this lore in our faces, often not calling attention to it until it becomes more directly relevant to the story, which in turn makes the world feel a lot more cohesive and thought out. I mean, I figured they had some kind of plan for Tassel beyond expository narration, but like, they had a plan for Tassel, you know? When I stop to really think about that, it honestly impresses me.

I'd also like to take some time out to mention how much I love Yuri? The way it's shaking out right now, my top three swordsmen actually go Touma>Yuri>Rintarou, and I'm pretty sure some months ago I said Rintarou was basically my #1 guy, so that should tell you something about how much great work the show has done with those other two lately. I mean, it's not even really a contest, they're all just super awesome characters for different reasons. When it comes to Yuri, what I adore about him is the balance in how his fish-out-of-water oddball tendencies allow the show to otherwise characterize him as exactly that old-school stalwart kind of hero without the character coming off as flat or too "perfect".

X Swordman has quickly become one of my favorite forms in the show because of how well it encompasses all of that at once. Sure, it's a bummer the whole "is literally a weapon" shtick didn't last that long, but I adore that Yuri went on this epic journey, questing to regain his true powers from the days of yore! ...and then that quest was just stopping by his buddy Tassel's house to have him dig some junk out of his closet so he could dress up like the protagonist of some silly comic book he's now an obsessive fan of. Like, Yuri is weird, to say the least, but in a way where it doesn't undermine the fact that he also legitimately IS this ancient dude who clearly carries a different sort of weight on him than the other Riders do. I joke that he just casually went to visit a friend, but keep in mind Tassel is now confirmed to be one of the most central characters in the entire lore now.

Where that all finally ties back to this episode is simply that, for not having a big role to play beyond exposition, I found myself taking note of all these minor little details in how Yuri carries himself that I was glad to see in an episode with so much going on already. They're minor beats, all around: the specific blunt, uncompromising tone of him telling Kento he can't let himself be sealed because he has hero stuff to do; or specifically being the one to shield to Touma and Mei from Calibur's big special attack. That's a deliberate choice on the part of the show; you can totally just not have them be in danger in the first place, but it emphasizes the danger posed by Calibur, and lets Yuri do a cool hero thing, so it's more exciting to watch and more characterful.

I, uh, I also started this whole tangent about Yuri simply because I wanted to mention how he hangs his head when Kento says he saw the future, which was a great little way to show that Yuri has more knowledge of the swords and everything than most other characters, and probably already knew where Kento was going with that statement, while everyone else just looks shocked.

Kinda took me a while to get around to that point, but the conclusion to that elongated segment of me gushing about Yuri does lead me into my next point -- I'm very, very glad that Kamihoriuchi was the director on this one. He has a way of letting pregnant pauses and meaningful looks carry the story in a way unmatched by anyone else working for Toei, and that was the perfect fit for this very emotionally charged episode. Amazing attention to detail in even the most subtle shots. One of my personal favorite is how when Reika comes to get in the way of Saikou and Calibur having their epic light vs. dark duel, she literally gets in the way, with her Ride Book covering up the two in the frame and stealing the focus. Between that level of consideration in the staging, and the strong performances he gets out of actors who are already adjusted to their roles, this is another absolute stunner of an episode when it comes to direction.

It's especially great to see him directing a script by Fukuda, as this exact winning combo also produced episode 5, one of my favorites of the whole show so far for being the first time I felt some deeper emotion from Saber, which, funnily enough, was also centered on Kento's (proper) debut as a new Rider, and Touma's relationship with him. Like I've mentioned talking about Rintarou lately, I'm a huge fan of how Fukuda can write conflict between these people by testing the bonds between them rather than undermining them. It's not "Kento shows back up and is evil", it's "Kento and Touma disagree about what is good", and that not only makes for a more complex, layered story -- it makes that story more engaging emotionally by stressing that these characters still want to get along, and that these aren't decisions they're making lightly.

That's something this episode in particular nailed, I thought. Having Touma asking to just slow down and talk, and then having Kento do exactly that, it was so wonderful. There's such a tragic bent to Saber in recent months, but the show doesn't come off as overly grim or cold, because it goes out of its way to root the pain the characters feel in the simple fact that they have hearts, and it makes all the difference.

...And I guess that's enough about episode 26 of Kamen Rider Saber for now? You know, after I realized my posts about so many later episodes of Zero-One were getting excessively long, I was trying to make it a point with Saber to keep things at least a little more simple and short, which would save time for everyone including myself, but evidently I can't stop myself, at least not when Saber keeps flooring me like this week after week. I guess look forward to seeing how long I can rant about the emotional weight of holding hands next time?