[Fish Sandwich]

Man, I don't even know where to begin with this one. Really, simply finding a place to start always seems to end up being the hardest part of these posts. Plenty of plot threads in this one, and I like 'em all so much!

I mentioned last time how much I love Saber's emphasis on having the characters goofing around even this late into the game, and that was something that came across strong here as well. It's all fantastic comic relief, because it's about more than simply making the viewer laugh.

Rintarou and Luna's little scene! Perfect example of what I'm talking about. It's Rintarou being a total goofball with such refined social graces that he loops back around into being graceless. It's a cute moment to breathe between all the drama, but it's so much more natural than somebody slipping on a banana peel or whatever, right? It's all drawn from his character, right down to Fukuda getting self-indulgent with just the *best* timing, referencing the whole "I'm not suspicious" gag from way back, and having him explain some of the logic behind what makes somebody an ordinary Homo sapiens or not. (Plus, he actively calls himself a Kamen Rider, which, like, how are you gonna go wrong with that?) It's amusing, but the Fukuda touch here is that it also highlights the humanity of the character, how imperfect and uncool Rintarou can be, and you can see that especially in how beautifully the scene wraps up, with Luna affectionately calling him a weirdo, finding it all endearing, and Rintarou chuckling, a little embarrassed.

It's honestly the same thing -- and please bear with me on this one -- but it's honestly the same thing in the scene right after with Mei and the Shindai siblings. Ryouga and Reika both acting like children is great. Him treating a simple expression of gratitude like saying "thanks" is the single most difficult trial a human being can face, and her massively overreacting to Mei's casual attitude towards her beloved brother; I genuinely love all that stuff. It's real exaggerated material, but just like Luna watching Rintarou being a dork, I think there's value in making this duo so hard to take seriously as a way to make them more endearing. It's a different side to them you weren't seeing at first, and once again, it makes them more human. They're not these stone cold prideful warriors anymore so much as they are people actively trying to project that image, and that is a very down-to-earth and relatable concept. They're now people who can one day be befriended, rather than heartless obstacles for the heroes to overcome. It's pretty similar to the treatment some of the Ganma got later in Ghost, and I like it for much the same reasons.

It also helps that Sabela and Durandal are still always so darn cool in the fight scenes? They make such a natural duo with their similarly tricky powers (I've read how Kaiji works and still don't know how Kaiji works), and something about seeing them together just feels right to me. The show is kinda doing a thing where every episode has Xross Saber swapping around various party members, so to speak, presumably to build up the excitement for when everyone comes together, and I enjoyed this latest team-up quite a bit. I was genuinely worried the show would just forget about the fact that the Megid turned a ton of people into books offscreen, so it was rather nice to have those stakes shoved back into the forefront, and then right in Charybdis' stomach! Lotta good dramatic turns with the villains in this one! Definitely very into how the overarching plot is progressing right now. Storious sells me more and more on his new shtick with each episode. Love how he keeps calling Touma his hero, by the way.

...Oh, hey, and there was kinda one other very major, important plot thread in this one too, wasn't there?

I mean, dude, how do I even approach talking about Ren and Desast's final confrontation? What words could possibly convey how utterly fantastic all of that was, and how much I adored it? The thought that a plot thread about Kenzan, that started as something frustratingly important to introduce in a spin-off short, could wrap up in a way *this* beautiful and emotionally impactful? That Kamihoriuchi and Fukuda would come together again to deliver this tour de force of a fight scene? It makes me insanely grateful to be a Saber fan. Like, even a part of it I wasn't that into at first can end up having a payoff this good. There was a new insert song that Kamihoriuchi helped write the lyrics for! He's a director! They really gave this one their all, guys!

It's... it's seriously every last thing about that scene. The editing, the choreography, the staging, the writing, the acting... oh man, the acting! Ren may have spent most of the last year stuck in a rut, but it's amazing to think how far Eiji Togashi has come as an actor since making his somewhat wooden debut as Kenzan back in 2020. There's nuance to his performance now that's genuinely impressive. He really sells the material he's given in this one, and that's good, because that material is all aces. So many smart choices being made. Little touches like Kenzan not splitting his swords until he's actually putting his all into the fight, even directly imitating Blades. More perfectly timed self-indulgence from Fukuda with the "maji nai wa" from Ren, and his dialogue after beating Desast being the exact same thing he said before he killed him the first time in 6. How the complicated emotions of the two of them admitting their whole relationship was not good for either of them are communicated by those Kamihoriuchi cuts to peaceful symbolism land, where they're saying those same lines to each other as mere casual banter. It's like they regret all this, and they also wouldn't trade it for the world, and that's the really the heart of why this was such a great conclusion for the two of them. Neither one really finds an obvious answer to their problems by the end, but, even if it wasn't a pleasant experience in so many ways, you can tell they've both grown from their interactions, and that's all solidified when they assert their names -- their existence -- to each other. Ren and Desast were brought together by how empty they both were, and they part ways maybe a little less so.

Just... just a real good bunch of emotions going on in this episode, all around. Saber is awesome.