[Sh Ranger]

I haven't actually talked about my thoughts on Saber since it came back from hiatus, since Episode 44 put it in a weird direction that kind of made me lose interest a little. Seeing all those likable Swordsmen (and Reika) have climactic fights against those sage guys who only got mentioned once wasn't very compelling to me as a revived and brainwashed Legeiel and Zooous would have been, just as an example. In the Shindais' case, I may have just been watching a fight between Shimi and Trilobite Magia. I also lost interest in Luna, since there was no satisfying explanation given for replacing Okamoto Miku and the character ends up dead anyway, so I think it all seems very superfluous.

But I continued watching nonetheless and in this episode, what is essentially the true finale, I'm reminded why I enjoyed this show to start with. Everything with Touma and Storious in the tower is awesome as they clash in both exciting combat and deep philosophy you'd expect from a pair of writers with powerful imaginations and I think the moral here is something everybody can relate to, whether you read or write stories. Ultimately, it doesn't matter that most of our lives are predetermined. The end of a story is an opportunity for a new story to start, by people carrying the messages of those stories in to the future. Even if only one person learns something important from a story, that validates its entire existence. Even if a pen is someday discarded, it's survived by the stories it writes.

When I heard Almighty Dragon was just going to be the Brave Dragon suit, I'll admit, I had my concerns. After all, I have bad memories of RealEyezing Hopper usurping screentime from Zero Two in both the finale and Real Time. However, I don't actually mind the way Almighty Dragon was executed here, for a few reasons. Firstly, Xross Saber has had much better treatment, so it's not a tragedy to see it step aside for the finale (how ironic would it be if Mei became Xross Saber though, it feels like the kind of trolling Toei would do). Secondly, Brave Dragon compliments Lion Senki and Lamp Do Alangina so I think it was good a move letting Blades and Espada participate in the final battle, especially after how they got tossed around by walking plot devices. Lastly, Almighty Dragon is more than just Brave+. If Xross Saber is the master of all Seiken Swords, then Almighty is the master of all Wonder Ride Books. This is both symbolic and appropriate, since the final battle is between two writers and what better way to show the power of stories than to beat up Storious with the power of all those stories? If Toei insists on making this a tradition or something, I hope future seasons take inspiration from this for how to do it right.

Even after the final battle is over, Storious is all like, "whatever", since the apocalypse happens independently of their entire conflict, just as the Omniscient Tome promised. In a show that teaches the value of promises, you better expect that the apocalypse is punctual. Fortunately, the apocalypse is also temporary, cause thanks to Mei being one of the most important and heroic characters in the show, everybody's stories are able to make it to Touma, who uses them to create Wonder World 2.0. and restore the world. It's just like he told Tassel, he doesn't have to make a sadistic choice, he can just walk both roads. He had a greater destiny than just the one Luna gave him.

This paragraph is subjective, but this is where I think Hasegawa looked at the endings of Kyoryuger and Gaim and decided he could do them better. Touma becomes a godlike being? Check. Goes on vacation for a year? Check. And everything else is just better. It's unoriginal and derivative, but that's also extremely appropriate considering the moral of this show. He totally deserves to have that award named after him. It's very clever how it has the same kanji as Hasegawa Keiichi, but with his given name reversed to become Ikkei! He's basically the head writer at this point, since Fukuda delegates so much to others. That's not an insult to Fukuda though, it's a good quality to know your own limits and not to write more than you can handle. That's the mistake Takahashi made with EX-Aid.

As Kamen Rider Saber's story reaches its conclusion, the post-finale will turn the first page of a new story called Kamen Rider Revice! Saber is definitely still my favorite Reiwa Rider show, but with currently only two entries, it's very early in the era. So now I'm looking forward to see if Revice has the potential to surpass Saber.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJaz

Yeah, toei did this thing where they asked for fans to submit footage of themselves talking about a book or story that means a lot to them, and that's what they used for the montage of people in this episode

And mine was one of the ones selected! ^^

Hey, that's cool. You canonically contributed to the creation of Wonder World 2.0.!

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndigoArms

Absolutely, at least Saber's ending didn't make me rant.

I'm just glad this thread isn't littered with people arguing about real life stuff, instead of discussing the episode. That Zero One finale thread was a nightmare to read through.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

Yeah, personally I wasn't disappointed as much with how Zero-One ended. BUT. Considering that the general consensus seems negative we all gotta admit, hate it or love it, the show had some problems with the way it ended. Felt like it was rushed.

I agree it ended fine enough, with Horobi's redemption and new kimono. It was totally rushed though, due to you-know-what. Basically everything after Ark's destruction was improvised and the "summer" movie plot was changed to accommodate it in a way that felt very disjointed to me.