[Enchilada645]

Been going through Saber again the past couple of days, mostly because I do need to catch up aside from watching important snippets here and there alongside watching the Raw's live each week, but also I figure a refresher would do well. This is also a bit self-indulgent because I have writing ideas and refreshing myself on early Saber would be beneficial to me. Especially since I'm switching to TV-Nihon due to Genm Corp having yet to update any further.

So right now I've done Episodes 1-9, alongside the Swordsman Chronicles for Buster/Slash and Kenzan.

The pacing sure is something during these first set of episodes huh? Admittedly I do feel like we land somewhere in Episode 5 though the hyper fast pacing of some of these episodes can be a bit off. But also I mean that first sentence in both a negative and fascinating way. Like the pacing can get super fast and insane at times. There's just some things they set up, like the fact that we see Yuri show up and he'll be skulking around for at least nine or so episodes before his proper introduction as a character. It's just... so interesting to see.

Also just the way they introduce things, like you get Kento but suddenly Ogami shows up as the focus. Or the slow burn into meeting Daishinji before his debut as Slash. The fact that we meet Reika as early as Episode 9 and we've yet to figure out her whole deal and we won't for a bit. If there's something that Saber is definitely intriguing about and just fascinating to look at, it's the fact that despite it's rapid fire pacing, there's a lot of slow burn stuff going on.

Touma while nothing too special yet, is very relatable as I am a fanfic author, and so his struggles as an author just speak to me. Rintaro is just a joy to see after years of antagonistic and rough around the edges Secondary Riders. Kento is such an interesting guy who likes to just shut himself off and fall into bad habits continually while saying he'll ask for help but will keep ignoring it. Ogami is just... I love him a lot, I'm glad we've gotten a good dad Rider out of the gate and he's just so lively. I also enjoy Daishinji, mostly in his movements that evoke his shy nature, and also just his passion at maintaining swords. And then there's Ren...

Yeah I'll be real I've yet to see any positives with Ren and this is on a rewatch. His whole "Strength is Justice, Justice is Strength" motto is interesting but it just feels like words he's throwing out. Nothing more. Honestly the most interesting part and the dude who stole the show from him in his own Swordsman Chronicle was Desast. Like Ren's pretty meh to me, but Desast taking an interest in him and trying to get Ren to go along with him? Now that bumps him up from meh to okay with me.

So honestly so far there's only been two real weak points for me, Episode 3's back half, it probably has the most egregious back to back transformation and form change footage we've seen I felt. Like I get why exactly they went heavy on Unreal Engine and just the Stock/Green Screen footage, big sickie and all, but I feel like that's the worst it's gotten. Thankfully I feel like we've avoided that when it comes to later episodes. And then just Ren in general when he's not with Desast.

Anyway I hope you all don't mind this late night ramble. Tomorrow I'm likely going to continue and maybe if I do enough I'll get through the rest of the first arc. Or at least finish up to Episode 15 and the Swordsman Chronicles.