[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Like, we know that they raised Rintaro and that everybody else works for them, but that?s pretty much it. It?s hard to squeeze drama out of upending everything the audience knows when the audience doesn?t know anything.

The only real touch of darkness the Sword of Logos has so far is that the Southern Base definitely feels shady, as I think Tassel told some guy on a phone once, non-canonically. Beyond that... like I said, Kamijo gives Touma (and the audience) absolutely to go on in regards to launching an investigation or even cultivating suspicion: suspects, method, goals, etc. Like, Kamijo very much seems like a crazy traitor who has a grudge against an organization that didn't want him to destroy the world in a bid for ultimate power, and that's sort of it?

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I love how the Swordsmen courageously destroy the pillars, believing that Touma will make it back in time. How Ikazuchi gives Touma the strength of Kento's spirit to return from the darkness, defying Kamijo's expectations and showing how the magic of friendship can pierce through even the deepest despair and transcend the barrier between life and death. It's all profoundly heroic and emotionally moving in the way I've come to expect from Fukuda's writing, making this first arc land strongly for me, firmly establishing what kind of show Kamen Rider Saber wants to be. Touma is the living proof of the ideals Kamijo had lost faith in, where there's resolution, there's always hope and I think Rekka was right to choose him as the successor.

Oh, for sure, the stuff with Mei and the rest was the high point of the episode. I love her rallying the troops, everyone finding additional reserves of strength, and them collectively getting the job done without Touma. It was a fun strand of this episode!

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Originally Posted by Nokination

I'm pretty sure that this is the end of the first arc? And the 2nd arc is where I've heard that the show improves, so I hope that rings true for me as well. I don't have much left to say, so I'll just say that this was a mediocre episode for me, I don't have as much hate for it as you seem to have, but it's still not very good compared to the rest of the episodes.

It very much felt like the end of a chapter, yeah. We've got a final Swordsman Chronicle tonight, a TTFC segment in a couple days, and then it's pretty much 15 or 16 episodes of the next arc. Cautiously optimistic about it!