[AkibaSilver]

Doing some catching up on Saber, and we have a mishmash of stuff!

Kamen Rider Saber - Episodes 41-43
The endgame begins, as Touma and the gang battle Storius and his vore Megiddo to stop him destroying the world or remaking it in his own image, idk Wonderworld isn't greatly explained and I'm not sure if it's the subs, the fact I've watched this series in horrific format, or if it's just not well explained. Touma has to choose between life with his newly found squad, or life with his childhood friend apart from everything else he knows about, and the game is to guess how he takes the middle path. Also, RIP the best character. Gone too soon, my green haired icon.

Also, disconnected to all that, is the redemption of two characters introduced in the whirlwind that was the first ten episodes, came off as pretty grating, and yet here I am watching their final fight together with silent affection. Dezast and Ren should not have been as fun to watch as they were. I shouldn't care more about this C-tier villain whose only goal in life is to find satisfaction in fighting, because that's the only thing he knows and how could he want more, what do you take him for, and yet here he is, easily the stand out villain of the show. And he's not even realy a villain any more.

Kamen Rider Saber X Zenkaiger - Special Episode
... You know, putting the comedy crossover episode right on the cliffhanger where Storius gains ultimate power is certainly 'a' scheduling choice...

But yeah, this was cute! I've not seen any Zenkaiger, but Zox's character is illustrated pretty well here, and having only one character present means this still feels like Saber despite having some of Zenkai's more obvious comedic elements. Then again, Saber endgame opens with Sophia being unable to cook rice, so maybe Saber is secretly a comedy all along. Nice use of Touma's knowledge of stories in the Tanabata origin, too. And speaking of crossovers...

Kamen Rider Ghost X Saber & Kamen Rider Blades X Spectre
If you'd asked me "Top 10 Rider things you want a seuqel to", the Kamen Rider V-Cin where it turns out Spectre is the Kamen Rider equivalent to Shadow the Hedgehog wouldn't have been one of them, yet here we are, and I love it. I'm somwhere in the middle on Ghost the series, but every post-series thing just makes me like the cast more, and a reappearance by Takeru always puts a smile on my face. His interactions with the Ghost cast? Very cute! Meanwhile, Kanon gets both a new Kamen Rider form, and Makoto gets to deal with the after effects of his deep lore, and it all just works reall well! Dezast is maybe the weak link, his presence only really acting to bring Touma more into the story, but I can excuse it - he's just hoping he'll find meaning in family or something. Plus, it's his turn to pay for Ren's lunch, and he's hiding.

I'd have taken an absolute nothing excuse for a crossover - Takeru shows up to fight some no-personality Ganma, him and Touma exchange some vague words about life carrying on, etc. But that we got something this good? About two shows that carry not exactly the best reputations? Stay winning, Takeru fans.