[Kamen Rider Die]

First day of a storewide sale at work (so much packing and shipping and ringing people up!), so I've not only been out of pocket, but I'm burnt to a crisp. Let's see what we've got!

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Originally Posted by r4bbitdragon

...I do think the grabbing hand gimmick on the book itself is pretty fun though. if only they didn't leave the back of the hand hollow...

Ha ha, yeah. It's funny to me now, after watching a couple dozen series, that I barely clock the toyetic nature of this stuff. Like, there's a goofiness to the plastic toy book that Touma's interacting with, that's working him like a puppet, and I sort of don't think it distracts or detracts? It's just... I don't know, they live in a world of magic toys! I can't get too grumpy about it.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

I have to say that though someone pointed out it was stock music, I did like the ost for the form?s debut fight.

It's a great track! Agreed!

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Touma speaks so much truth here. I think this also shows how much Touma and Mei trust each other both professionally and as friends. Touma has the courage to show Mei all of his worst works (at least not NSFW stuff like he thinks Daishinji's writing) and Mei is great for how she approaches them with an open mind to try and make it in to a success for Touma, the publisher and the readers. People totally shouldn't underestimate the kind of bond these two have to make that work the way they do.

It's nice that, in the absence of Kento and Rintaro, the show has really re-emphasized the natural teamwork of Mei and Touma. They genuinely complement each other well, and Mei's capabilities give Touma such an underappreciated series of advantages. Hell, this whole break-in scheme was her idea! Which, y'know, didn't work out great for Touma, but still!

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Originally Posted by Mesnick

Regarding the fanfic: to be honest, I was surprised by its subject, given that the review is almost entirely devoted to the Primitive Dragon. But I liked this surprise. Hopefully Daishinji's fanfiction will surface in the future.

Thanks! I don't know how long it's going to be before Touma can have a friendly moment with Daishinji again, so I thought I'd pop that in there while I had a chance.

As for Daishinji's data-heavy and dryly-analytical report, "Brilliant Sound: A Tale of Swords and Swordsmen"... man, this is a family website! I can't post that!

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

My favorite, both aesthetically and in terms of plot relevance, is Blade's King Form, but any time that a major upgrade is more frightening to use than exciting, I'm a happy viewer.

My go-to is an probably always will be Build Hazard. I love how dire the plot gets because of that suit's introduction, and how easily a Berserk Form story escalates a series about technology and war. Also, this scene's from that story, and it's unbeatable:

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Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

I'll save my thoughts on the Primitive Dragon arc till the end, because I don't want to accidentally spoil anything, but I agree that it's a highlight of Saber for a lot of reasons. The suit itself also might be my favourite of Touma's? Icy Blue, obviously angry, very PuToTyra as has already been said, I'm not 100% on what would beat it.

I really like Dragonic Knight, but I think Primitive Dragon keeps so much of the show's aesthetic while subverting it, that I gotta say Primitive Dragon is the best so far for that guy.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Daishinji thinks going to Master Logos is a terrible idea while Touma and Yuri thinks it's great, but I'd think it's worth trying too, as it's unknown if this is a case of more reasonable superior compared to the prickly assistant, thus Master Logos, in the best case scenario, can be the one to convince Reika to stop her shit-stirring.

Daishinji's almost always going to be the voice of reason in any group, but even he can see that this team's going to need a bold swing or two if they're going to convince Rintaro, Ogami and Ren to join them.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It's the first episode since the initial two directed by Takayuki Shibasaki, the whole infiltration setup is neat, plenty of great character work with the Riders as usual... there's plenty to talk about here, it's just, man, it's so hard to compete with the impression that bone dragon Saber leaves.

Any sort of heist-y story usually has me paying attention, since it means (hopefully!) a more complex plot that provides a million pitfalls for our heroes. And this one doesn't disappoint in that regard, since Storious also decides to pull a B+E (book and entering) on the SoL. Just a super fun, clever plot that inevitably becomes a chaotic nightmare. Very happy with the choice and the result!