[Sh Ranger]

Man, Reika is at her most insufferable in this episode. Torturing Sophia was already deplorable, but now she raises a sword to Mei and punishes Touma for saving Ryouga from being eaten cause she didn't like how he copied his attack. There's just no hope for any redemption of this character anymore. I hope she doesn't come back from her trip to the World of Zenkaiger. Not that I want those poor guys to have to tolerate her presence either. Maybe send her to Kinokotopia instead.

Sophia, in the Northern Base: "I sense something from the south." Duh!

Red Sophia doesn't even have a line and only exists as food for Charybdis. And Desast is the one who laments his lack of story?

Anyway, everything else in this episode was pretty good, starting with a lack of narration to give you a sad reminder of what happened last time. The highlight is of course Kenzan VS Desast, Ren's resolution and Desast's honorable death, with a song performed by Kawazu that makes me wonder if it was made for a potentially important Mei moment that isn't going to happen, or less likely, foreshadowing for the next Falchion. It's a cool fight though, with Desast giving it all he's got cause he hasn't got long left and he wants to push Ren to his limit so he can understand the true meaning of strength. It's a moral only someone on the same wavelength like Desast could teach him, since Ren is a simple man who doesn't respond to the typical epic speeches about heroism and friendship, but he does understand the language of violence. His philosophy of "Justice is Strength, Strength is Justice" was never completely wrong, it just depended on his concept of those terms. They're subjective after all and his concept of them was rough around the edges. Ren lacked both, so he was neither strong nor just. It was only through intense battle that he was able to draw out those qualities and find his own meaning in them. He could've joined Team Saber, but what good would that have done? He never would've learned anything new about himself, understood what it meant to fail and become stronger from it. Before he could be important in a team, he needed to realize his importance as an individual, something that Desast was very familiar with due to his lack of friends to support him. I don't think Desast's story is over either, since his book is still barely intact. It seems like some kind of Ankh or Chaser setup for a future revival.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

It seems to be more of a thing with the producer... he had similar stuff in Ryusoulger

If MosaRex was his self-insert, that would explain a lot!