[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 31 - “THE STRENGTH TO BELIEVE, AND THE STRENGTH TO BE BELIEVED IN”

It’s the toughest gig in Kamen Ridering, probably. You have power, and goals, and sometimes a touch of ambition, but the entire narrative is oriented to diminish what you accomplish. You’re a sidekick at best, a late-stage adversary at worst. The story is only about you to the extent that you complement the main character’s journey. It can never really be your story.

But, like, that’s life? We all feel like the main characters of our stories, but this is a world with billions of main characters. Sometimes our story is about helping other people, letting them attain their true potential, and giving the support necessary to excel. It’s okay to be the person in the background sometimes. Not everything has to be about us.

Honestly, I know it can be tough for people who gets overshadowed by others, but yeah, the very wrong thing for this (and honestly, many audience who complains about character's existence being useless when there's someone who seemingly can solve anything) is that, being weaker than someone else doesn't mean their existence is useless as they can provide extra support somewhere. Though obviously they can't rely on their supports forever and the problem is that when you're on your own you'd want to be able to accomplish things as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

From Touma, he learns to never give up on himself, even when it seems like he’s pretty much there to eat shit while someone else gets the win. Setbacks don’t mean you’re weak; giving up after a setback means you’re weak. As long as you’re willing to put in the effort, there’s still a chance for victory.

Honestly other than Mei's boundless optimism, Mei being a normal person who can't fight and contribute nearly as much but still tries should've been brought up here as an example (though it's not successful to some audiences who'd view Mei as useless), when Rintaro has much less setbacks as an actual Kamen Rider. Otherwise, in their duel, it's kinda a reverse scenario compared to Touma's duel with Daishinji, where it's now Rintaro fully feeling the burden Touma carries for all the victims. But I wonder how was Rintaro's skills compared to Daishinji and Ogami, is his actually also significantly less compared to those where the more novice Touma can equal him, or that Touma catches up really fast where he's now on Daishinji and Ogami's level, or closer to them, but represented with Rintaro.

From Mei, he learned that having a good attitude is a multiplier for any group. Everyone does their best work when they’re in

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

the trenches with friends, so providing a friendly atmosphere is a strength that even a non-swordsmen member of the Sword of Logos can provide. Mei’s just as strong as the rest of the team, because she helps them all stay positive and happy. There’s strength in that kind of positivity.

I didn't talk about this before when Touma tells others that he wants to be left alone due to Kamijo's words in ep. 18 (fair enough), but here when Touma first met Mei, he was kinda standoffish, when Touma's portrayed as an ultimate nice guy. And it seems as if the past displays their relationship more akin to their current relationship, as Mei was friendly and smiley when meeting Touma that time, where I thought Mei was the one having problems with Touma (I get it, it can be also about watching his work progress later), with her being bossy and kinda putting him down for it, compared to her swooning over Rintaro and Kento. That past scene feels more similar to their relationship since Kamijo died.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s a very sweet little story about positive thinking, and accepting the support of people around us, which is a neat recurring topic for this series. This thing could’ve easily been a story where Rintaro gets strong and Finds His Conviction and single-handedly saves Mei while Touma cheers him on from the sidelines… but it just refused to take the easy way out. Instead, we get this fun three-hander about how the effectiveness of any team is down to how much they can lift each other up, rather than how strong each member is. Such a great twist on this sort of traditional Secondary story.

Usually, having more people is useful as they can split up and handle different stuff, but here... it seems that Saber and Blades manage to triumph when they gang up, on the Neko Megid, then on Zooous, instead of them fighting both individually. I guess that'd also mean that sacrificing yourself shouldn't be main solution for heroism, as Saber saves Blades after Blades decide to sacrifice himself instead for feeling useless. It seems that the Book Club's trait, where it's porrayed as a small detail, is that, after they're killed, their humanity returns where they assume kinder approach compared to their usual personality, like how Legeiel dies with a smile, and Zooous actually compliments Blades' current strength and is looking forward for his further growth. Still kinda wasted trait of them that is only used as a small detail.