[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 38 - “RULING OVER ALL SACRED SWORDS, THE SWORD OF COSMOS”



Solid episode!

I don’t know that I loved this one. I did enjoy it, mostly without complaint. It’s awesome to see every Rider show up for a big battle against Solomon. I liked the finale, even if it leans heavier on Touma’s speechifiying than I really dig. (I… boy, I don’t love his speeches in this series? Too many of them to my ears are just the heroic Rider equivalent of NUH UH, where he’s insistent the universe will honor his effort, and faith will always be more powerful than whatever crisis is transpiring. It’s thematic, but it’s not a theme that’s ever gonna super resonate with me. Also, so much shouting!) Xross Saber – a form that autocorrect is going to fight me on every time, so I’m glad it’s only debuting now – is very pretty, and a testament to Touma’s thesis that only a united humanity can push back darkness and create a better future.

My favorite part, weirdly, was the stuff with Kento and his dad, Kaido. (I’m not double-checking to see if I’m right about that name.) Kento’s a dude who has always been looking for permission to feel even a modicum of joy, but he wouldn’t trust anyone who gave him that permission. If you thought he should lay down his burden, it just meant that you didn’t understand the depths of his guilt/pain/shame/etc, and weren’t to be regarded as trustworthy. There was only one person who could let Kento stop being a ghost of himself, and it was a literal ghost.

That would be his dad, Kaido. (Not a literal Ghost, mind you; that’s Takeru, and I believe we’ll be catching up with him tomorrow.) Luckily, Kaido was only just now able to gather enough of his ethereal Wonder World energy to intervene in his son’s slow-motion suicide, a plot development that practically begs you not to ask WHY ALL OF A SUDDEN INSTEAD OF ANYTIME OVER THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS AS KENTO’S LIFE WAS SPIRALING INTO DESPAIR, so we will honor those wishes and refrain. It’s a touching scene, because Kaido’s actor is one of the best to ever do it. There’s this captivating mix of stern authority, playful banter, and bottomless regret that makes all of the structural nonsense of the plot fade away, leaving only a scene of a father begging a son to stop trying to atone for someone else’s past and just go be happy already.

It almost shouldn’t work, after how many times Kento’s pushed back on similar requests from literally everyone he’s ever fought alongside, but Kaido sells the ridiculousness of Kento’s obstinance, and cuts through it like a sword. Kento’s always wanted to be the stalwart friend, but he kept thinking of what his dad did, or how his dad suffered, or what his dad was hoping to do; he never let himself do what he wanted, even if he always knew what that was. It’s a single scene of his dad saying Just Go Be Yourself, and you can see how quickly Kento’s weight evaporates. It’d feel cheap, if it didn’t feel so true.

That’s the part that landed for me, not all of the pyrotechnics at the conclusion, or Isaac’s non-series-finale mandated escape. (He gets blasted off like Team Rocket or something? Not the smoothest plotting!) It’s an episode that – Kento’s memorable Bring Your Ghost Dad To Work Day outing aside – delivered the beats I was expecting, in about the configuration I assumed. I don’t know that Touma’s big speech was anything too special to me, because at this point, I find most of Touma’s big speeches to be not super exciting. (Elemental Dragon, yes, for sure.) But the smart character work with Kento, and the warmth of the rest of the cast? That carries this show pretty goddamn far.

—

LOVE STEALS US FROM LONELINESS



Despite everything, it was nice to come back to this roof.

It was all right where Kento had left it, which was a surprise. The stage, the wagon; even the inflatable globe was still rolling around the fenced-off platform. It had been difficult to think, these last few weeks, and it was a relief to go back to the place where he always found clarity.

Which wasn’t to say he often (or ever) found happiness here. Just clarity. As he looked to the glowing book in the sky – its pages disintegrating the city below, he considered a future that was becoming less certain by the minute.

It was Touma that his thoughts turned back to, like always. He was doing all of this for Touma, after all. The sealing of the Sacred Swords. Being an outcast from the people he loved. Even trying to eliminate Solomon at the cost of his own life; all for Touma. Either one of them could save the world, but only Kento could save Touma.

Touma wouldn’t allow that, though. Kento should’ve known better. Ever since Touma became a swordsman, became Saber, Kento was reminded anew of how alike they’d always been when it came to protecting their friends. Kento was trying to save Touma, but Touma would never stop fighting to save Kento. It was ridiculous. It was aggravating. It was the kindest gesture.

Kento found it hard to stay mad at Touma, even if Touma was making everything so much more dangerous. Touma just couldn’t accept the truth of the situation, couldn’t accept the certainty of the future. It always came back to Touma’s belief that a better solution could be found, or that the impossible could be made real if only enough people could see it.

Kento was even starting to see it.

There’d been too many unexpected victories lately for Kento to deny. One might’ve been a fluke, or merely irrelevant. This many Touma victories, though… it was starting to feel like a pattern. It was starting to feel more like fate than the thousands of futures that Kento had experienced. He wasn’t sure which to believe anymore: a defined future, or a desperate hope? He needed there to be some sign out there that could give him the clarity he expected from a trip to this roof. He needed something to believe in.

He heard Touma approaching behind him.

Well. That might do.