[Sh Ranger]

Bonne Lecture!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 1 - ?IT ALL BEGAN, WITH THE SWORDSMAN OF FIRE?

A show about a bookseller? Who is also a Kamen Rider? And wants to protect the magic of storytelling? In a show about how fiction is both a way to give context to adolescence and a refuge from the harsh realities of adulthood, but not always the best way to deal with either time in our lives? This is a show that has my name all over it.

Whether a bookseller like you, or a creative like Androzani, Weedle, En-chan and I, many of us can relate to Touma and that's what makes him such an easily likable protagonist. Outside of combat, he still has to tackle normal problems like meeting deadlines and writer's block. I feel like I owe credit to Kamen Rider Saber for motivating me to return to the fanfic scene after a hiatus of about 3 years. This show is all about the power of stories to inspire others and nobody embodies that belief more than Touma.

His philosophy about keeping promises could be founded in this, one that I also share. I have little tolerance for people who throw around promises like spare change without the will to follow through on them. Words have power and like any weapon, it's important to wield them wisely and with honor. While Touma does make a dangerous amount of big promises that I would probably feel uncomfortable with, he definitely risks his life to see them through. Fukuda managed to write yet another protagonist after Takeru whose heroism really shined for me. Easily my favorite Reiwa protagonist so far!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

(If I felt especially generous, I could try and explain some of the shift in storytelling by speculating about Touma?s ability to lose himself in stories of heroic fiction. It sort of tracks that the guy who firmly believes in connecting people with uplifting stories of epic heroes might himself jump at the chance to do something poetic and insane, like rapidly become a superhero in order to detonate a book monster in a fairytale world. But I feel like I?m doing the show?s work for it? That?s all there, somewhere, but it?s not exactly presented as a way to understand Touma?s super-quick decision to become Kamen Rider Saber.)

Yeah, that was my take on it. Some people thought Touma's instant mastery was too sudden, but considering his profession, his experience choreographing epic fight scenes of his own, I think it makes sense that he'd be able to apply theory to practice with a little heroic willpower.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

After that lurch in the episode, I kinda didn?t click with the rest of the episode. The action was fine. Aggressively fine. I don?t know that the CG was great, but it didn?t hurt me or anything.

The CGI seems to be a point of contention among fans, praised by some while criticized by others. Personally, I'm with the former. That scene with Saber fighting rocks was the part of the trailer that really got me excited to see the show and experience the cool fantasy world.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The thing is? man, I like a lot of what this show?s made out of. I like how it?s exploring how retail can be its own type of beneficial human connection. I like the concept of finding the stories that help us be the better versions of ourselves. I like how it?s such a thinly-veiled discussion of what tokusatsu shows and tokusatsu audiences give to each other. I like all of the things it?s talking about. And, man, I like Touma and Mei! I think Touma?s slightly embarrassed laziness works great against Mei?s wacky bossiness, and their dynamic was warm and funny throughout.

Mei is my favorite Reiwa female lead so far as well! Not only is she cute and full of vigor, but she's dedicated to helping the Sword Of Logos however she can and proving that a "normal homosapien" can stand equal alongside the experienced Swordsmen, not through might but rather through her strong intuition and deductive skills that comes with being an editor.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

MISFITS AND MISTAKES

Maybe Touma should tell Shoutarou, Mondo and White Woz about this place. Do they stock Windscale hats?

I remember how you once said there were two kinds of fan, the Decades who pass through stories and the Diends who take stories with them. I think maybe you've started to move towards the latter. For your first story, I can't find fault with the prose and I think you definitely have the talent. You should consider uploading your collection of one-and-dones to a reputed site like fanfiction.net or AO3.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Well yeah, I think Saber's design is the best/coolest IMO among the main Reiwa Riders.

Revi for me, but Saber is a solid second. I used to think Brave Dragon was overdesigned, but I gradually grew to love it for its own merits. The dragon looks kind of derpy with its tongue sticking out, but in an adorable kind of way that reminds me of Go-Onger's Engines. My only main complaint is how the Wonder Ride Books stand out too much on the Seiken SworDriver, unlike the Progrise Keys that were neatly stored inside the Zero One Driver.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Like, for starters, who else but Fish Sandwich would've been out there clamoring to give the producer and writers of Ghost another shot at a Rider show?

Me! I loved Ghost and I was among the few who were sincerely excited to see Fukuda's name on the Saber staff. Nevertheless, welcome back Fish, I'm glad I have another person to help me preach the qualities of this underrated show.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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

I really like that? I like the sense that Rintaro is used to working within an organization, and has a basic grasp on interpersonal skills. That?s a huge step up from our normal Loose Cannons and their troubling tendencies to escalate minor disagreements into death-duels. Rintaro comes off level-headed and egoless this episode, and I found that choice from the production team to be fascinating. He?s just some guy, trying to do his job well, and willing to reexamine his biases and assumptions when they prove to be incorrect or unhelpful. That?s actually really cool?

For sure, Rintarou the Eclair Man is my favorite Reiwa Secondary Rider so far! Like, even without the superficially edgy coolness that brooding antihero types have, Rintarou isn't some pushover to be taken lightly. His politeness and affability arguably makes him look more impressive, since he lets his skill and discipline as a Swordsman speak for itself. He's like a competent version of Tachibana in that way, with how he strives to be a good example and sempai to Touma. It's not surprising that Mei is so impressed by him.

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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.

The second episode is usually where they turn up the action, probably since it's usually where they dump basic premise exposition as well. This second episode is no exception and while the stakes are mostly mentioned rather than seen, I have to talk about how awesome this fight scene was. My favorite fight scene of 2020! Saber and Blades riding their bikes through an apocalyptic city and fighting giant ants was like something out of a video game cutscene and it was an awesome debut for Jackun To Domamenoki (Toei changed the names to get around copyright), which is actually the one of only two times Saber ever uses it, similar to Drive Type Speed Shift Spike.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

(Not a fan of the theme song, unfortunately.)

Maybe it'll grow on you like Warera Omou Yueni Warera Ari did? Unsurprisingly based on the pattern of my opinions in this post, ALMIGHTY is my favorite Reiwa OP so far!

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

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".

Yeah, there's a clear difference between Touma's and Rintarou's fighting styles. While Rintarou has trained his whole life to become a Swordsman, Touma loves books and he uses his creativity and knowledge to compensate for his general lack of field experience. We have Touma as the master of the pen and Rintarou as the master of the sword and I think that makes them a good team, since they can learn a lot from each other. They both do things by the book, but in different ways.

Blaze doesn't make sense for a water-elemental Rider though and breaks the convention of sword-based naming. If we read Blades in Japanese phonetics (Bureizu), it actually sounds closer to Brave (Bureibu) than Blade (Bureido).

EDIT: I'm also rewatching along with this thread, as I love Saber.