[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER SABER: SWORD OF LOGOS SAGA



Ha ha, who asked for this?

Literally the only good parts are the ones whose goofy yet heartwarming antics are the most incongruent with the specials' overarching narrative: Ren and Desast, Reika and Ryoga. Those couple scenes buried in the back half of the second part are maybe the only redeeming qualities of a two-part special that quickly and decisively reminded me of everything I disliked about Saber.

Like, Kamijo. This could’ve been the special that made sense of Kamijo’s incredibly weird personality and objectives. Instead, the chronological retelling just makes everything he does more ridiculous and inexplicable. Every attempt to soften his villainy by portraying it as misguided just makes him look like buffoon, and his motivations still feel abrupt and unconvincing. He should come off as a guy that tried to make sense of his best friend’s depression and fell into the same trap of pessimism that doomed Hayato; instead, he mostly comes off as a guy that abandons everything he ever believed in to honor the ghost of a friend he didn’t seem all that close to. Hayato’s fall makes sense – he’s scared for his child, and succumbs to a fatalism that destroys any hope he might try and bestow upon his son. Kento’s fall makes sense – his guilt keeps him from prioritizing his desires in a healthy way, so he invites more shame and guilt as a way of defining himself. Kamijo’s just some weirdo who was a hero right up until he became a Megid-collaborating apocalyptic psychopath.

It doesn’t help that, by laying things out chronologically, we’re left to shrug at how little explanation goes into the mechanisms that drove the early story. Luna’s never been seen, until she is, the very second Isaac is telling someone she’s never been seen. Calibur teams up with the Megid for power, and then does nothing for fifteen years. It’s all… none of this deserves to be taken literally. The backstory of a show like this should work on fairytale logic, the Once Upon A Time of it all; explaining it makes it so much worse. The second Kamijo tells us that he didn’t really curse Kento into an early grave – he actually shunted him to a nega-realm for safe-keeping, but got murdered before he could explain any of that to anyone, he wasn’t really a villain you guys, not really – he becomes a pathetic character that reads like the world’s most unnecessary and hilarious retcon. Let him be a doomed villain, not some ineffective dope. There’s weight in mystery, and this show’s early run – typified by these specials and their recap – frequently ruined it by trotting out terrible explanations.

Oh, man, was this thing not a good idea to produce. It’s worse answers to not great mysteries, and done in a way that exposes how much these shows evolve over time. That evolution is usually great: these shows become more themselves, honed like a blade. Specials like this, that attempt to connect all the dots, just end up revealing how much was rethought since the premiere, and how different the show has become. It’s trying to add logic to emotion, and it’s maybe exactly the wrong thing to do.