[TheRaizin]

Freed myself from the holiday celebrations to do a bit o this!

Favorite New Show of 2021


It's pretty obvious wherever you might find me. Twitter, Pixiv, in here, I am a big fan of Kamen Rider Saber. My banner on each sites are splattered with Saber art. I drew Saber stuff for a year and a half goddamnit! It's clearly not the best of course, but regardless of that fact it goes up in my list of my beloved shows that I'll fondly remember. That list being Blade, Faiz, and Decade.

Maybe it's because of the fantasy theme, maybe it's because he's literally just named Saber and I am also a Fate fan, maybe it's how Xross Saber just looks gorgeous to look at, maybe I'm simply just a fan of Touma, but I absolutely blew through the show's issues and Saber just becomes my favorite show of the year.


Favorite Movie, Miniseries, or Special of 2021

I would put here RealxTime since that kinda counts as I got to watch it in 2021, but I would just be repeating what I liked about it, so....

Kamen Rider Saber x Ghost/Blades x Specter

Hell yeah! It's such a surprise that should have been obvious. These specials actually got me to check out Ghost's show properly and I fairly liked that show too. Rewatching these as well in the holidays made some things more understandable, but it was still a really fun neat crossover for Fukuda's two shows. Unfortunately, there is no Espada x Necrom in any sight so far, but what are you gonna do when Alain-sama is hard to get.

Sakamoto's directing and harsh contrast use of lighting is so good to see, explosions and effects, Kanon Specter is a great form, and the Saber riders' extra forms are neat in that they just wear the jackets.



Favorite Rewatch of 2021

N/A


Favorite Male Lead Character

Ah, Kamiyama Touma. Some may say he's too bland, too generic, his acting is a bit off, whatever, whatever. Background noise to me, I love Touma. His writing schtick can be empathetic because I used to do some writing, but I also have a brother who's also a writer so I can understand Touma a lot. I love his suits, I absolutely love his wardrobe that changes each episode, it's ridiculous and it's great. But most of all, I just really love cut-and-dry heroism.

I guess was burnt back in 2020 with reading and watching a bunch of shows about subverting the hero trope or something, that watching Touma act like any kind of hero you see in a story book, it's so fresh to me.



Favorite Female Lead Character

Sudo Mei

Another Saber character, yes! She's literally Akiko II and that's great. I love how despite not being a rider she's still finding a way to help out the riders. Honestly, I feel like her impact as a character would be lessened if she was a rider. Sorry MeiSpada fans. Her at the start insisting that the story is about the four of them, later coming into conclusion with her being the one last hope that the swordsmen had in saving the world is such a good set up.



Favorite Male Supporting Character

I can put so much in here. From Akamichi Ren and his amazing arc with Dezast, Kento or Rintarou in their own respective mini arcs, but it's a bit tough and I already stated what I liked about these three (four?). So...

Yuri! From being shown in the magazines as a floating sword, to being introduced as a mysterious guardian of Avalon, to finally showing up at 2020's last episode of Saber, Yuri set into motion my rapid love into Saber.

I love his mini arc of going from a jaded hero, learning from Touma's own learning period about understanding pain, to an actual super hero. All encapsulated by how he felt towards a small comic book.



Favorite Male Supporting Character II

I'M GOING TO CHEAT! The absolute legend, Hiromi Kadota!

Going from a Die-to-the-main-belt character to becoming his own rider with singlehandedly the best sounds, design, and suit in the show, Hiromi as Kamen Rider Demons is a joy to watch anytime he shows up, regardless of what he does. He leaves me on the edge of the seat honestly any time something happens to him. Hiromi is a pretty simple character, maybe a call back to Showa times especially with how his stamps work, but he makes it work! Junya Komatsu breathes life into his relatively minor role and I am looking forward to his insert song!




Favorite Villain

Esu

He's just really cool. He technically counts since I watched his movie in 2021. He's got a great suit, good motivation, and I kinda teared up during his wedding scene. That was cute. His actor is pretty based too.



Favorite Returning Past Character and Favorite Actor

Takeshi Hongo/Hiroshi Fujioka: Super Hero Senki
(Can't find a good image lol)

The legend himself, he's such a joy to watch. A really earnest man both in and out of being a Kamen Rider. Touched my heart when he called the young Shotaro Ishinomori "Sensei!"

Favorite Actress

Angela Mei here's a pic of Reika instead, because googling Angela Mei leads to some nice content.

Anyway, simply seeing her on Twitter have a mental breakdown about Magine to actually getting an episode where she could showcase her obsession on Magine is a joy to watch. I know not many are a fan of her being reduced to "Onii-sama!", because it's fine to me, her previous personality still shines through sometimes.



Favorite Director

Kazuya Kamihorouchi. Every episode of Kamen Rider really becomes a treat to watch with this guy. I love his using of dynamic harsh lighting, symbolic camera angles or scenes. My favorite from him is either the obvious Ren vs Dezast or the lawyer episode in Revice. For the latter, the final scene where Fudo argues to Ikki in a dark lighting as he turns around waiting for the cops to come, Ikki nodding by a tiny bit, it's such good directing.

Favorite Suit Design


Saber: Dragonic Knight. My banner is pretty telling it is Xross, but I'd like to dedicate this one to one I haven't talked about too often. Dragonic Knight! My absolute favorite upgrade form for Saber, I really love the knight aesthetic and the "sunglasses" eyes that's unique to this form and this form only! Shame about its fragility in the show causing it to not be showcased often and eventually beheaded for SHS. What I would give to have it rebuilt and/or repainted into Xross' colors. It's SHF is such an exquisite release, too.



Favorite Fight Scene

Talking about Kenzan and Dezast's final fight would just be, again, repeating stuff. So, the fight after that, Kenzan's stand against the Lords of the Wise, both fights actually, are so good. Ren utilizing the fruits of his training and understanding of himself made him the only swordsman that managed to almost solo a Lord by himself. I heard some say that Kenzan using Calamity Strike is a disservice to his training of becoming his own swordsman, but it's literally a call back to how he and Dezast were one in the same, so him performing it with Dezast's sword was brilliant showing.

The second fight, along with Espada, is great. Showing that he doesn't need to rely on Kento anymore, joking to him to not hold him back. It's great! He looks to Kento as an equal now, no longer as his higher up, their desperate gamble of swapping main books is great too.

Favorite Dramatic Scene

Kamen Rider Saber - Episode 21: Failure of rescue

It's the scene before the image. Two moments come to mind, one was Touma talking to various victims of the Megid before coming to the conclusion that he really couldn't save everyone as he is currently. And the entire scene of Mei attemping to cheer Touma up, the latter only giving a miniscule sign of a smile before being visited by Daishinji and Ogami. They are great moments for his character and if I remember it right, it's this episode going forward where he swaps his use of "Yakusoku" for "Kanarasu". No longer going by promises, he will do something for certain.



Favorite Comedic Scene

Durandal and the Zenkaigers

From Ryoga crossdressing, to having forced to make an entrance, and then to arguing to Zox about who killed the Waldo, the Zenkaiger crossover episode did something to Ryoga. It turned him into a character and gave a chuckle out of me.



Biggest "WTF did I just watch?" Moment


Anytime Revice makes a remix form

Cut and dry. It's pretty obvious why.

Favorite Song

Rewrite The Story

Basically, what if they made a sequel to Spinning Wheel!
I love Rewrite The Story, really made Xross's debut and it's an amazing fact that it's sung by the Saber trio. Revice just had an insert song with the Igarashi siblings, so I have high expectations on that one.



Favorite Weapon/Vehicle/Mecha

Edit: Accidentally deleted it!

Ankokuken Kurayami!

What? You thought I'd put Haouken. Well, I don't have a proper toy of it yet so I can't appreciate it fully. But I have Kurayami from Jaou Dragon's SHF, so I'll pick that one. An exquisite primordial sword that's tied to some of Saber's best and also some good lore. Also connected to amazing suits, users, and probably Saber's best belt. It was so good they had to use it three times.




Favorite Piece of Merchandise

Ooh, I don't know yet. It's a hard choice between my SHF Dragonic, Jaou Dragon, or Saikou. They're all really solid release. I might just pick all three.

Biggest Disappointment of 2021 and The Onari Memorial Award for Single Worst Thing in 2021 Tokusatsu:

If you told me back then that there was a way that, a show that I loved, would get flipped into something that I hate in just two hours, I would tell you that you're a mad man. There's no way that could happen!

Oh boy.

Zero-One: Others

What an absolute trash fire that proceeded to destroy almost the entire cast's characters save for one of my favorites in Gai Amatsu/Thouser. Lol, he gets a neat special because of this, that's hilarious.

Horrible directing with its sluggish and hardly believable fights, disappointing showing of certain forms, screwing with the character arcs of certain characters, and topping it off with a non-conclusive unfittingly-dark ending on a supposedly conclusive part of Zero-One, you get a this malformed abomination two sets of movies that may or may not have set a horrible precedent for V-cinemas going forward.

So far, however, the trailer for Saber: Trio Of Deep Sin hasn't shown anything that might attempt the same that Zero-One did. I still have my faith in a great combination in Kamihorouchi and Fukuda.