[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER SABER: SWORDSMEN CHRONICLES EPISODE 4 - “AN EPISODE OF KAMEN RIDER BLADES”



I really do love this show’s cast.

It’s a strange thing, to feel so much warmth for characters but so much frustration with the story they’re in. I don’t love it. You get these random bits of plot that feel like a mugging; random and violent and over in an instant, but the wounds are on you for days to come. But then you also get these characters, where they’re like a supportive bystander in the aftermath, helping you to your feet and reassuring you that you’re safe.

I like Rintaro and Mei a whole lot, individually and together. Rintaro’s earnest naivete is so genuine and sweet that it feels like the best reaction to a decade of surly secondaries. Mei’s boisterous comedy never grates, and gives such useful insight to this world of idealistic novelists and chivalrous swordsmen. They’re the story I’m most interested in, their weirdly perfect romance.

This episode is nominally here to fill in some backstory about Rintaro, in regards to his upbringing and familial connection to the other swordsmen, but that isn't why it works. It works because Mei is great at understanding where Rintaro’s weakest, which is his imposter syndrome. Rintaro’s love for his family makes him feel unworthy of that love, but the twist for him is that he equates being a good family member with being a good swordsman, so his inability to see himself as a valued sibling makes him think he’s a terrible swordsman. It’s… it is a very jumbled way of processing the need for support and affection that a family ideally provides, and it’s definitely damaged Rintaro in ways that are hard for his friends and teammates to address. He just comes off as a guy that needs to loosen up, and that’s not exactly right.

Mei gets him, though. She sees all the weird connections Rintaro’s brain is making, and figures out the way to explain things that’ll allow Rintaro to accept his own positive qualities. She gets Rintaro to see that his constancy is what people need from him, not some all-powerful swordsman. They need Rintaro to never lose his own sense of right and wrong, his belief in his family, and his sweetness. The last thing Kento would’ve wanted was for Rintaro to become a brooding version of himself, resentful of an inability to prevent someone else’s fate. Mei knows that Rintaro being self-loathing isn’t a sustainable thing for him and gently nudges him back into shape.

It’s all very cute, and a prime example of how close this show is to being one of my favorites. I haven’t found much yet in this show’s metaphors (although that whole “the poison of pessimism” thing I said to Fish off-handedly is sort of rattling around in my brain), but I adore these stories that just let the supportive interactions of these characters take center stage.

God, I love this show’s cast.

—

SMARTER HEARTS



“Hey there, little missy,” the man at the front desk said to Mei. “What can I do for you today?”

Mei walked up to the desk, and set down her box of eclairs. She looked at the nameplate on the ledge of the desk: it read ‘Nachi, Building Maintenance’.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully, “I’m here to see a friend of mine. His name’s Rintaro. Black hair, blue coat… adorable but sort of embarrassing, like a too-loyal puppy? I heard he came here today. Could you tell me what room he’s in, or what floor he’s on?”

Nachi leaned back in his chair. “Rintaro? Oh, he’s here, but he ain’t on a floor or in a room. He’s up on the roof, brooding away.”

Mei squinted a little bit at the answer she got. “Brooding? Rintaro?”

Nachi nodded his head slowly, and clicked his tongue in the affirmative. “Yep. He came in all hang-dog, and said he wanted to brood up on the roof like Kento did. We asked him how he wanted it set up, and he said it should be how Kento used to have it. We said ‘Used to?’ and he said that Kento got poisoned by a rogue swordsman's blade of shadows, and disappeared into a purple mist. Which, y’know, me and the boys are real sorry about. That Kento was a good kid.”

Mei was taken aback briefly by the flood of details, but quickly regained her focus. Kento. Right. Of course.

“Thanks,” she said to Nachi in commiseration. “He… it was so sudden, and Rintaro was… they were like family.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Nachi responded. “Anyhow, Rintaro’s up on the roof right now, tryin’ real hard to brood, which – you don’t mind me saying, he’s not very convincing.”

Mei chuckled a bit. “No, I suppose he isn’t. He’s a sweet boy, though. I know he looked up to Kento. It’s a lot for him to deal with.”

“Oh, you can tell, to all of it. I expect he’s paying tribute to that Kento by following in his footsteps the best he can, tryin’ to be the Kento that the world was robbed of.”

“Uh huh.” This was a level of insight and analysis that Mei rarely got as she checked into a building and passed through the minimal security. Who was this guy? She’d heard from Touma that Kento would come here a lot, but this was getting weird. She needed to get up to see Rintaro before this guy psycho-analyzed her, and she was paralyzed with self-reflection. “I’ll uh, I’ll just go see how he’s doing then, if you don’t mind.” She moved towards the stairwell door.

“Sure, sure,” Nachi said as he waved her by. “You go on and see about your friend. He’s probably just waiting for someone to come let him know it’s okay to be loved, or that he doesn’t need to change himself to win that love.”

“I definitely will,” Mei said as she pressed her hip into the door’s push bar.

“Oh,” Nachi called after her as the stairwell door slowly shut, “and I wouldn’t say no to one of those eclairs, if y’all don’t finish ‘em!”