[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 43 - “THEY CLASH, SEEKING VALUE IN THEIR EXISTENCE”

I love this haunting image of Desast’s conception of his death that debuted last episode, and I also love the accompanying image of Ren as a witness. Ren’s still processing what Desast is to him: a mentor? An aggravation? A warning? A friend? All of those? None of those? He’s here in this shot to try and understand what it might feel like to watch Desast die, and work backwards from that feeling to put a name on their relationship.

I guess it can be one at a time but changing as it goes with time, including Desast's change like Storious discarding him. Desast tries to corrupt Ren as someone with similarities, so it'd be kinda a "toxic" friend type (someone being rather "amicable" doesn't necessarily mean doing good to them... kinda like Woz to Sougo), but later he'd value him more to the point that he gets mad at Touma for "negatively" affecting Ren - of which Touma's words also got through Desast here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

This whole introductory shot of the Sword of Logos is done backwards, which is really interesting. We get these contextless close-ups, and then we get the establishing shot. Beyond being nicely disorienting, I like how it reduces the scale back down to something intimate. We’re not as unfocused and spun-around as Ren, we’re with a cast who is completely focused on averting the apocalypse. Plus, it gives everyone a little bit of body language to establish their emotional levels re: Things Have Gotten Pretty Bad.

Now here we got Ogami being irritable to Mei again, instantly assuming the worst of her when Luna escapes. This one's seem more obvious to me in his squabbles, so it really is that Ogami kept holding a little grudge to Mei for unwittingly neglecting Sora before. Luna can show concern towards people who got in misfortune like Mei before, but she seems to be rather aloof too to walk away again, from Rintaro and bluntly stating that he's creepy (not unjustified, just a remark). And I didn't get that vibe from Rintaro here unlike his debut.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I love how childish these shots make Ren look. There’s no heroism or elegance to his initial fight with Desast, only copied moves and pathetic tantrums. The shots here aren’t sweetening the emotions, or providing judgment – they’re raw and unsentimental. Ren doesn’t get to look like a hero, he gets to look like a petulant child that measures himself against everyone else. He wants to be more powerful Than. It’s always Than someone else. He can’t beat Desast because the fight itself means something to Desast, and Desast won’t believe in anything other than the fight. Ren will always lose because he needs something outside himself to grade him, to praise him. The power the other swordsmen have over Ren isn’t necessarily a creed or a code or an ideology; it’s the will to ignore what the world is telling them and fight for their own beliefs. The specifics of that are irrelevant. The power is in the resolve, and the hope that that resolve might be equal to the task.

So Ren's end arc is about be yourself type, to stop comparing himself to others in positive way for Kento or negative way for Touma. This is perhaps subtle when comparing himself to others will hold him back by figuring out how to be strong like those 2, and thus he should fight his own way? And that he seems to regress back into purely battle hungry compared to his growth before of not all of that anymore before by refusing to fight Desast. Regardless, Ren displays his 'cool' battle capabilities by matching Desast untransformed (but with weapons) for some time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The camera’s mostly on Ren for Desast’s death scene, which is probably just how Desast would’ve wanted it. We’re here to see how Desast’s lessons have changed Ren, and how this scarred-up swordsman is able to process what’s going on. It’s all very closed-off and quiet, which is always the smarter way for these deaths to go, I think. Touma pawing at a dying Kento, I sort of bounce right off of. But Ren staring down at a dying Desast, honoring his friend by letting the fight just be a fight, that’s a gut punch if this show ever threw one. It’s these two weirdos having only swordfighting to connect them, but letting that be a relationship as resonant as a million conversations.

Desast here intends on dying but make his last moments a dignified one which he succeeds in getting through Ren, with Ren also helping to do so by giving full fight to him. By this Desast is turning into Ren's version of Kento's Hayato.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The storyline with Touma and the returning Shindai Siblings (who were definitely not absent due to them filming a Zenkaiger episode) is your more traditional tokusatsu action extravaganza, but it’s no less entertaining for it. The shots vary between the exquisitely framed ones above – Touma rising up from the Shindais’ unwavering duty to express his eternal resolve, Touma as the new heart of the Sword of Logos – to slow-motion battles across staggering landscapes and sets. It’s jaw-dropping in how much it puts movie climaxes to shame.

From previous talk, though Reika became comparatively better, would say she's still a jerk here, regardless if what she did is meant for laughs. It's still an expected, but violent reaction for her to attempt slashing Mei off Ryoga. I kinda think that Ryoga may be more approachable than Reika for him at least the one started making attempts to get more open... which got exploited by Mei. For both too, them working together with the main cast involve them being control freaks who must have anything they say obeyed, but not vice-versa, that'd still display some superiority complex towards the 'traitors' of the guild, and just cause infighting in said team. Though the Shindai siblings are still among the best fighters as shown here, kinda like that Sabela's scent was her weakness at one point to get her trackable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

This little post-credit scene of Ren on the bench, eating his food with the red ginger flakes to honor Desast, but then staying true to himself by not denying that they’re gross… it’s this whole outstanding episode in one funny, touching shot.

Other than him actually trying it, I'd also think that after defeating Desast, Ren is no longer dismissive towards Desast where him rejecting his suggestion is not done out of shooing Desast away, but out of just the dislike of the red ginger, but admitting it sincerely to Desast of thinking it's not for him. Albeit Ren's taste was the right one, this can actually counteract Desast's dialogue of Ren being fine by himself, that, Ren is fine to not follow that suggestion from others like Desast himself.