[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

I wouldn't say that, especially on this site. There were claims against Tukeru for being a crybaby, but Touma doesn't have that. No, he's clearly not a fan favorite, but the biggest complaint about his character is that he's a "boring good guy". And he shares this claim with Aruto and Ikki, and unlike them, Touma has an excuse that he is the main character in a fairy tale, and not an office or family drama.

But does the magic knight need more, especially if he is surrounded by other knights? Oh, and in general, "the guy who just wants to do good" is literally Kuuga, that is, the one who brought back the Kamen Raiders. So it's not surprising that the type is popular.
And in any case, it's better than Tendo, whose whole character consists of listening carefully to his grandmother.

"boring good guy" is the stock criticism/outright insult to put this kind of character down anywhere. For Kuuga part, yeah I know about seemingly different reactions towards similar type of characters, especially for other example, Gentaro which seems that nobody hates (similar to characters like Kuroto) and had his kindness admired instead of being put down. Seems that characters who have gigantic ego and can back it all up is commonly seen as charming, with Tendou as an example too... probably the ones who are acknowledged as badass are the unpleasant braggart ones, unlike the ones who don't, even if it's like Touma who so far can perform great feats.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 2 - ?THE SWORDSMAN OF WATER, AND HIS BLUE LION?

That was almost the entirety of my post about this episode, because that?s sort of all there is to it? There?s a little bit of exposition about the Sword of Logos, and some boilerplate-ass This Masked Villain Betrayed Us mystery about Calibur, but I can?t really care a lot about that right now. (I honestly never care about these types of mysteries? I am always more interested in the ramifications of a resolved mystery than I am in speculating about an ongoing one. It?s just not what I?m here for.) The only thing of any substance in this episode is the introduction of Rintaro, and his interactions with Touma and Mei.

I'd think it's not a mystery in this case, it's not something that is a relic in the past that doesn't exist anymore. Sword of Logos, and by extension Sophia (the girl in robe), are smaller cast introduction in this episode with this focusing on Rintaro first, but it's part of the present cast, the rest of the cast like Touma and Mei would be more integrated to it as more Sword of Logos member are introduced and they're involved in Megid (the MOTW name) war.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I?m pretty happy with how they swerved away from the semi-obligatory The Secondary Is A Gigantic Humorless Asshole Who Wants To Fight The Primary, regardless of how much I?d eventually come to embrace your Geizez or Fuwas or Hiiros or Makotos. It?s nice that Rintaro?s difference from Touma isn?t in how dour or cruel he is, but in how little ego he has. Touma?s a writer, and that requires a belief in your ability to create something on your own. There?s isolation in writing, which leads to a faith in your own instincts and point of view. (On the flipside, it also leads to an almost fatal dose of Imposter Syndrome, but we?ll see if that gets dealt with down the line.) Touma?s central trait isn?t the strength of his heroism, but the amount of faith he has in himself.

The thing is yeah, The Secondary Is A Gigantic Humorless Asshole Who Wants To Fight The Primary is also quite semi-obligatory for KR franchise, but it's not acknowledged as much of the "protagonist being goody two shoes". Which I find quite double standard-y. But perhaps it'd be risky for series quality (or harder to write) to create "wholesome" dynamic, and thus can seem to make the series conflict-free (at least what it seems for now between these 2). This is not the first time though, Hibiki and OOO also did this with the secondary getting along from start. I gotta see in the future though, from what I know, Saber isn't that well-received at least outside here, but dunno if Rintarouma's relationship is one of the reasons or actually a series advantage. This perhaps can further give Sentai vibes in Saber (cmiiw) for the companionship.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

With Rintaro, there?s humility in his nobility. He comes into the episode with a quiet politeness, the perfect compliment to Touma and Mei?s constant mugging. (I like them both, but this was very much a Wacky episode for our bookstore cast.) He?s trying to gently explain that Touma is in over his head, and gets adorably flustered when his logic is rebuffed by an emotional decision. Rintaro?s reaction isn?t to berate or threaten Touma, but to assume that he?s just explaining himself badly. A deteriorating situation isn?t a cause for blame, but a need for reexamination and conversation.

So this series feature a mentor to guide the MC fighting, and this time they use the secondary Rider, instead of other figures like Edith in Ghost (Tassel gives similar vibe to him IMO). When dealing with the Megid, Rintaro has immense knowledge in it (so yeah, as a person he's intelligent), so he can try to mentor Touma just fine. Just that Rintaro on the situation outside of monster detonating, he has absurd social tact, though it's what used as the main entertainment for him. He just seems to live on different world from the current civilization (literally too, likely), like insisting to call humans with its scientific name, riding on a lion to follow a rule of no shoes in the house (Mei +1), and of course, his smile (Mei +2). What makes him seem suspicious is his problematic social tact.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The problem is, it doesn?t really leave this episode with much else to say or do, beyond showing off bikes and form changes. Those are cool, but they?re only worth watching when they?re in service to an actual story. Here, it?s just two Megids trying to destroy a neighborhood, but without even the child-saving stakes of last episode?s plot. This is barely a step up, narratively, from the Henshin Lesson toy marketing videos we usually get at the beginning of a series. Great for tie-in sales of WonderRide books, maybe not so awesome if you?d like to invest in a story.

I'd say it's not merely emotion regarding Touma. Here Rintaro tries to mentor Touma, but turns out that Touma has his own path in fighting. Because of Touma's knowledge of stories as bookstore keeper and also child storyteller, like him telling the solution of killing the glowing ant. Knowledge is power indeed. Or is this a talk meant to show one of the advantages of emotion, making you get creative (as in passion) to Rintaro's rigidity? The part of Saber riding through the vines remind me of something else in a 'merchandise-based series'. Otherwise, yeah the name Blades also bugs me. Like, it's too similar sounding to another franchise in Blade (with Saber already kinda a synonym); it'd be better to use the speculated "Blaze".