[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER SABER SPECIAL CHAPTER - “THE WORLD PIRATE ARRIVES, AS WORLDS COLLIDE”



Just a nice, fun, light adventure for two-thirds of the cast and a special guest-star.

It’s hard to really delve two deeply into it (sorry), since it’s mostly here to introduce Zenkaiger concepts to Saber fans, and vice versa. The Saberketeers need a hand to defeat a Sentai menace, and I’d assume that the Zenkaiger cast is going to need (wild guess) Yuri to give them a hand with a Megid. This isn’t the time for deep metaphors or complicated character dynamics; we’re in pre-movie mode, so the mandate is clearly Keep It Light.

And on that level, it’s great! It’s a frothy goof-off adventure, the kind where Rintaro can be confused by Sentai dancing and Touma can engage in wacky physical comedy. It’s strange that it took a Sentai crossover special to pull out one of the most basic tropes for a writer in a fantasy story – Touma’s writing accidentally gets the team into a scrape – but it’s nice to see the characters run through that story finally. The whole thing is real low-pressure, with a villain whose power makes things a little more difficult for the cast without ever being too dangerous to defeat. It’s warm-up fun for the summer movie.

The big deal for it is the appearance of Twokaiser, whom I found to be… fine. Diend casts a long shadow for any interdimensional tokusatsu thief, and Twokaiser definitely doesn’t challenge for that title off of this single appearance. He’s classically dismissive about suggestions of heroism, and he exists at a baseline of Untrustworthy. He doesn’t add a ton to the group dynamic (almost all of the problem-solving comes from Touma and Kento), and his initial scenes are the best the character got for me. He did the minimum of both selling his character traits and not getting completely overshadowed by a more beloved cast (of mine, anyway), so I don’t harbor any ill will against him or anything. He was okay, for an episode.

But this episode was more than okay, it was incredibly fun. It’s not really reaching for anything profound, but it would 100% get me to go see a movie with all of these characters. Mission accomplished, I guess!

—

YOUR CONTROL



The lax security and discipline at the Northern Base was as bad as his sister had reported. It was a battle to get things up to his standards–but like all battles, it was one Ryoga was going to win.

That’s not to say it was going to be easy.

His early efforts to create a clear hierarchy of command – with himself as the second-in-command to Sophia, obviously – had thus far been… not as completely accomplished as he’d have preferred. Ogami had laughed. Daishinji had snickered. Kento had shaken his head and chuckled. Rintaro had commended Ryoga for attempting to ingratiate himself into the current team dynamic by telling a joke, but assured him that it was unnecessary. Mei had used vulgarity, including several terms he only realized were insults after a lengthy conversation with his more worldly sister. (Ryoga asked Reika to refrain from executing Mei, at least until the required paperwork had been presented to Sophia.) Touma had, strangely, been the most agreeable; he’d told Ryoga that any further activities as a swordsman would be reported immediately.

That had lasted about two days. Now, Ryoga and Reika were forced to conduct surveillance on both their fellow guild members, and an avowed pirate who attempted to steal Sword of Logos property. None of their activities were approved or commissioned. None of this was responsible, or even logical.

It had been an adjustment for Ryoga, operating under Sophia in the Northern Base. Security was disappointingly thin, with an unaffiliated bookstore serving as a secret and unguarded entrance to their most precious treasures. Basic operational management was utterly absent; for his first staff meeting, only Reika attended, despite his use of the word Mandatory seventeen times in the preceding email. (He’d taken the phrase Under Penalty Of Imprisonment out of his initial draft, on her recommendation. He should have known she’d be too soft.) He would say it was like dealing with children, but even the children of the Southern Base would be a more effective and cohesive unit than this group.

But one went into battle with the army one had, not the army one wished one had. He was going to make this collection of misfits and traitors into a diligent and respectful army of swordsmen. He just needed to make sure this random pirate they’d trusted wasn’t going to do anything suspicious.

Once Ryoga protected the guild from Twokaiser, he was sure he’d gain their respect.