[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 33 - “EVEN SO, THE FUTURE CAN BE CHANGED”

As soon as I saw him grumpily eating convenience store ramen under a bridge, those old Kabuto neurons started firing again. And then here’s Desast to make that compelling Come Be A Scumbag With Me pitch, and I’m over the moon. It’s an incredibly fun space for this show to play in, that chaotic dirtbag zone. We’ve got determined heroes, and apocalyptic villains (two sets!), and a tortured antihero, but Ren and Desast fill this intriguing role for the show as guys outside the Optimism/Pessimism divide. Their story is about feeling unfulfilled in a workplace, but unmotivated to determine what would actually make them happy. They don’t lack skill, they lack drive. They love the work, but they don’t know how to turn that into a career. They’re waiting to find something worth believing in, and they’re going to be a giant pain in the ass until they do.

At first it just feels that despite Ren being a social darwinist it seems that he only acknowledges certain people he admires like Kento, while he'd be envious of other strong people like Touma and for here, perhaps both Shindai siblings and obviously Desast. Actually it seems that even people like Ren has some standards in how he's annoyed by the Shindai sibilings behavior which he labels as always fishy. Kenzan and Sabela's fight happens here where Sabela still also displays her dominatrix-esque trait by stepping on Kenzan like she did on Slash. Despite Ren's brattiness, he can feel as if he's the stronger one in his debut, but that can be like the series showing off new Rider, but is it proven here when he holds his own better against Sabela than Buster and Slash or that Sabela is also 'nerfed' from her debut? Though obviously the one that can actually overwhelm Sabela is upgraded Blades.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s a little sad to see that, amongst so many huge improvements from the first batch of episodes (Ren!!!), this show still randomly drops huge details in a relative void, like it’s all some big stew of plot details. There’s no slick puzzling out of key information, it’s just maddeningly abrupt declarations like Sophia Is A Hologram Clone Created To Mimic Luna. It’d be an absurd yet tantalizing detail if Touma discovered it through episodes of hard work; here, it’s that Saber standby of characters revealing insane elements of the series arc like they’re recapping the previous episode, and I still dislike it intensely. There’s barely any reason for Kento or Master Logos to talk about it right this second, beyond giving context for viewers, and it’s that sort of expository clunkiness that would always take me out of generally-excellent emotional scenes from earlier in the run. It’s no different here, and that’s a bummer.

Kinda hilarious that my previously mentioned suggested twist (as you didn't reach that stage yet) about Sophia may be the Luna in present day ends up partially true here where Sophia is created as a Luna clone, of which it means technically she's not as old as her actress as she's created after Luna (who is most likely on Touma and Kento's age range), despite that her actress is on iirc Ogami and Daishinji's age range. I guess it may be true that Master Logos only merely provide some context for viewers, as his target is still Luna, instead of making use of an existing one in Sophia here which'd mean that information is more important that way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Because, otherwise, good scene! I like that Touma – just like with Rintaro – cannot ever close the deal on reuniting friendships because he always rushes the resolution. Kento’s coming around after a picnic reconciliation, but then Touma’s like STOP BEING LONELY AND BROODING AND FIGHT WITH ME and Kento remembers why he’s keeping this guy at arm’s length. It’s incredibly funny to me that Touma still doesn’t know how to separate work and friendship. Maybe Rintaro’s been a bad influence on him?

Seems that this is how the idealistic main protagonists often solve conflicts tbh, which is probably one of the reasons why what they do isn't convincing and that they're just favored by the stories. Though obviously here Touma failed to get Kento back. The only reason that Kento stays is that he's hungry. Though Kento has seen real proof of the future changing that the events aren't what he saw, and his rejection is also symbolized by Touma finding Mei's pin of him in the ground being left. I'd be interested if there'd be more people who talks in the same way as like Tezuka in Ryuki or Yuuji in Faiz, in main protagonist role. Actually, in Ex-Aid, in contrast to his tactics as Genius Gamer M, didn't really like that post-redemption Parado also only talks like this to Graphite to try convincing him to help him, success or no.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The Master Logos stuff was also really good. I dig the way he’s all about psychologically torturing his foes to keep them off-balance. He’s not only having a blast telling Kento and Touma how fun it was to destroy their childhoods, he’s using that information tactically. He’s making it personal for them (even This Isn’t Personal Kento completely loses his shit), and while it’s great as a little team-up moment for fans, it also renders both Saber and Calibur less effective in battle. Pretty much a win/win for Master Logos!

So, I wonder if you'd think he fills the needed place of the more engaging main antagonist, compared to the Book Club (of which yeah I think there's almost nothing to Legeiel or Zooous, with them only getting more of them in their death, though Zooous gives many reaction from Rintaro). It's also a crazy feat that he manages to fight both Riders while staying in his seemingly human form. And while Saber is a more lighthearted series, there's a villain who is on the running on one of the most depraved here, who is the one running the good guy faction, in Master Logos' pure sadism and pettiness by, yeah Kamijo was proven true that he corrupted Kurayami to trick Hayato into sacrificing Luna.