[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER - THEATRICAL SPECIAL: THE PHOENIX SWORDSMAN AND THE BOOK OF RUIN

Oh, I was saving this one for later in my rewatch. I'll put a Wonder Ride Bookmark on this page and get back to you in a few days. It's a promise!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 11 - ?THUNDER CRACKS, AS DARK CLOUDS SPREAD?

This episode does a bang-up job of interrogating Kento?s current grumpiness by having Rintaro get involved, who honestly pluses up every single plot he?s involved in. (Dude is seriously this show?s MVP so far.) The start of it was where I knew I?d love this episode, because it smartly makes Rintaro?s one and only appeal something that would be a critical hit on Rintaro, but a total miss for Kento. Rintaro tries to argue for the rules and duty of a swordsman, but Kento couldn?t care less about a guild that let a former member probably-murder his dad, and possibly cover it up for 15 years. Kento needs an emotional appeal, not a logical one.

The thing that makes this episode great for a Kamen Rider episode, not just a Saber episode, is how it reframes Rintaro?s original argument into him actually trying to appeal to Kento emotionally. To Rintaro, the Sword of Logos is his family; Kento is his brother. When Rintaro?s putting things in terms of how the Sword of Logos would be hurt by Kento?s actions, or how Kento risks expulsion, what Rintaro?s trying to say is that Kento is hurting this family. He doesn?t have any other way of saying it, because his story doesn?t include things like a father or a brother. He thinks he?s opening himself up to Kento, but Kento?s just hearing more office talk from an organization he no longer trusts.

Rintarou's and Kento's dynamic often gets overlooked by the typical Primary/Secondary dynamic of Touma and Rintarou and the best friend dynamic of Touma and Kento. But it's important to remember that out of the three, Rintarou and Kento have known each other the longest. Rintarou has a tragic backstory with the loss of his parents at an early age, but instead of brooding, he found new family in SOL and a desire to protect them. That's pretty cool! Even during his brief pursuit of revenge against Zooous, he quickly got his head together and swore upon the Suiseiken Nagare to protect the people he loved. That's Kento's conflict now, between avenging his traitorous father, or prioritizing the people who care about his welfare and are getting themselves severely injured to bail him out of poorly chosen battles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Also Sophia gets kidnapped, which serves three purposes: 1), to leave the heroes lost as to what to do without a voice of reason, 2) to create mystery as to who did it using that method (Calibur?s thing is darkness, not smoke) and 3) it allows the actress to take a break from the show to meet a theatre commitment.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. The mysterious abductor's method was pretty discreet, choosing the moment where nobody could afford to focus on anything except Calibur and the elemental pillars. But of course, Sophia's absence from Northern Base is a major problem in the long term, since there are things only she can do and I think maybe that's something that some people might take for granted. Sophia also showed bravery by putting herself in danger twice to try and help, despite not being a Swordsman.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

But then you've got Jaou Dragon, which I've always gathered is the more popular of his suits? I could go either way myself, but it's not hard to see why someone would think that, with how cool it looks. It also has one of my absolute favorite tricks of any suit in the series, where his entire torso armor literally IS the book, opening up from the center with all five dragons popping up out of it. The whole pop-up book design means the Wonder Ride Book doesn't technically have the usual picture of the Rider on the inside, and yet, it still kinda does? Just a really impressive suit.

I'm one of the people who prefer Jaou Dragon. I appreciate the symmetry of the suit, the commitment to the pop-up design and how it looks like Jaaku's cold silver mask was removed to show the hot passion beneath. The special Wonder Ride Book solves the aesthetic problem I had with the normal books. Jaou Dragon with its five intimidating golden dragons looks like something that demands to be on full display and jumping out at you, in contrast to the 2D abstract images we've had before. I love how the Engrish jingle screams Evil, without any concern for making sense. Make Might A Just, hell yeah!