[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 14 - “MY HEART AND SOUL, DWELLING WITHIN THIS SWORD”

Lemme get the negative part out of the way first: this whole Calibur/Book Club plot continues to be first draft-level vague, with almost nothing specific motivating its tension this time out beyond our heroes’ desire for revenge and the inherent Villainy Is Bad ethos of this franchise designed to sell toys to Japanese children. Calibur’s constantly inadequate refrain of Universal Truth is now ably assisted by a boilerplate Humanity Sucks conviction, rendering his normally taciturn disinterest for the Sword of Logos into something almost insufferably generic. He’s just a sneering villain now, with nothing to say – but more verbose in his personal defense. That’s a bummer.

Well Kamijo does get explained more here, he seems to be set up as the type who was once noble but got maddened by certain revelation thus he changed to be hellbent on going after the universal truth. But the execution doesn't seem to be going well, as it's really not clear on what's going on with Kamijo (though I still wondered in the world what happened between Kento's dad, as Touma just sticks up to Kento's dad as well here, but it seems to be bias over Kento). But this shows that vague speeches isn't only exclusive on heroes, particularly the goody type like Touma who gets mocked as inherently one dimensional (and regarding Touma hate I'd think perhaps many people get sick watching Touma giving speeches here too; of being bored), villains like Kamijo also can - it depends on the execution for any tropes or character archetypes.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I like how the show honors Kento’s baked-in martyrdom by letting the entire cast shoulder the burden of his goals in his absence. It’s a testament to Kento’s character growth that his quest is forcefully picked up by the entire Sword of Logos, who visually honors him throughout the episode by using his Wonder Ride Books to combat the Book Club. It’s a nice little We See You moment by Touma and the gang, to literally carry Kento’s weight in this story.

And to use it in an episode with wall-to-wall action? Even better! As this is clearly a two-parter, we’re in a fully action episode of Saber, for better or worse. I’m not as much of a fan of extended action sequences, but for those of you who want to see well-choreographed action across multiple locations with basically the entire cast, this episode is happy to exceed your expectations. There’s a bunch of clever tactics (I loved watching Kenzan, Slash, and Buster trade Wonder Ride Books to try and outwit the Book Club), and no shortage of exciting momentum shifts. It’s as solid a long-form TV fight as you’re likely to get.

I wonder what'd you think of Kento's departure here if he will or won't be returning or something, or what'd you expect for his development. I kinda feel that this is whole cast's camaderie to treat Kento this way and continuing from before to prevent him from his self-destructive path to atone for his mistakes. Felt like if other people than Kento disappeared this way the others (except Ren) would react the same way. There's apparently a flashback of Kento and Ren training together which can show how he ended up simping for him but dunno (as a first time watcher). After inadvertently lowballing Mei before, Ogami also prevents Mei from blaming herself despite her apparent 'failure'. Dragon Alangina is the strongest out of all Wonder Rider forms, including Dragon Arthur and Dragon Hedgehog Peter, and also being slightly stronger than compatible two Books Forms.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

For me, though, the episode highlight was exactly what you’d think: Rintaro gets a power-up, flanked by an energetic Mei. It’s mostly the second half of that description that did it for me, if I’m honest. King Lion Daisenki is a neat form–I like the cannons and more flattened-out lion head and blue Dragvisor–but I’m mostly here for Mei’s exuberant commentary. It’s so fitting for Rintaro’s power-up, you know? He comes in all forthright and commanding as a swordsman, and Mei’s like YAY CAT ARMOR <3 in the background. It’s that mix of Rintaro’s serious professionalism and Mei’s genuine enthusiasm that makes the two of them endlessly fun to watch.

Seems that a character move that is often hated by the audience of them being a mere cheerleader/supporter to others, done by Mei here towards Rintaro (and Mei can be frequently mocked as useless), is solved by the "over the top, wacky" type of execution (though Mei's also falling for him). Wonder (world) if there'd be another way to 'solve' this type of reviled character move. Action-wise, obviously Blades' mid-season upgrade is meant to be the highlight compared to the other Riders above.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Despite the Sentai film runtime (although I've praised Ryusoulger Dinosaur Panic enough times now so it's totally possible to tell an awesome story in 22 minutes if you do it right), I think Bacht managed to make a strong impression as a villain with his nihilistic philosophy. He thinks he's the hero, cause unlike the other Swordsmen, he's willing to do what they won't. To defeat evil once and for all, by sacrificing good along with it. To return duality to singularity.

Yeah, he sees himself as the hero, and there's also the phrase "every villain is a hero in their own story" (which honestly I want to be replaced with "every villain is a protagonist in their own story"). Some people can take any villain's words as gospel though, particularly with the help of that phrase, which paves the way of moral relativism and refusing to acknowledge which is right or wrong and deeming everything as determined by perspective like legitimately convincing that the villain thinking themseles as the heroes as having merits, using this to paint everyone as exactly the same (e.g. blaming the heroes for not understanding their perspective) or something.