[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Yes, it's really cool and unusual that instead of going from smallest to largest, Saber started off saving an entire city block, and now dedicates two whole episodes to saving one person. Also, today's story is great.

Thanks! And, yeah, it's incredibly Saber to slowly reduce the scope of its battles as the series progresses. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if the series finale was Touma trying to portion out the appropriate amounts of peanut butter and jelly for a sandwich.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Despite enjoying the episode a ton anyway, after first watching it, I was pretty hung up on the whole reveal at the end that the episode's central dilemma only ever existed in Touma's head. I guess I thought it retroactively undermined the stakes or something, but ever since then, I've realized I actually think it's a perfect cap for this story, which makes me love the episode that much more.

I enjoyed it for no other reason than I thought it was humorous. The way Touma's all like, "yeah, you're right, I could've just used you to do that", followed by his sudden revelation and incredulous expression. Great comedic timing from Naito there that totally sold the scene for me! And as you mentioned, while it rendered the endeavor pointless, it didn't lessen Touma's determination to do the right thing and even helped Yuri to understand the philosophy of modern heroism by making him consider the value of individual human life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Mei's quite lucky that she got an editor who is principled by focusing on bringing happiness on the people who read the books, though... there are multiple genre of books and there are multiple feelings and emotions various type of stories can give, like giving fear for tenseful suspense, sadness for something tragic, etc.

Yeah, I think something like general satisfaction is more what she meant by bringing happiness. Readers want to feel the full emotional spectrum, whether it's happiness, sadness, anger, etc. They want to feel like the stories in the books are real and meaningful, so they can learn from those experiences and apply them IRL. Like the debate between Touma and Bacht about whether suffering is a justified part of living. The worst stories are those that make people feel apathetic, offended, bored and like they wasted their time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Hmm.. so that seems to be where your arguments from Gai came from, thinking that he genuinely had a goal of human improvement... I'd say, his human supremacist claim is the cover of his crimes, I've said that Horobi never lives up to his claims of saving Humagears, but Gai is even worse for that as he just consistently hypocritically contradicting it, like him thinking humans deserve Ark's judgment, and also how he had cold and data-focused approach even more than Humagears due to his profit-driven approach, and as Rider he won't improve/evolve but acting as a parasite stealing from people around him, it's also revealed later his true view of humanity is using them as tools, he doesn't actually care about them, all his actions are only for himself and his greed.

Well, honestly, I don't exactly believe in Gai's claims of human improvement either, hence why I quote-unquoted "heroic", as his idea of that is just as pretentious and self-validating as everything else he does. Although his belief that humanity are deserving of Ark's retribution can be seen as forcing them to confront their malice so they can become better, something that Gai eventually does as well after seeing the error of his ways. The only real thing is his love of Hiden Intelligence and Thouzer, but sadly that got twisted by his narcissism, inferiority complex towards Korenosuke and Aruto and a childhood of 1000% expectation, which collectively motivated him to become the one true president by any means necessary.

[AkibaSilver]

The whole "Yuri just didn't tell Touma because he assumed they were on the same wavelength already" is also a neat parallel of what's going on with the SOL - much like how Touma doesn't realise what he's doing is basically Calibur 2 (but witl less attempted worldicide so far), or at the very least he's doing a really bad job of explaining it, Yuri just doesn't realise Touma's worry isn't because of some code of ethics, or glory-hound nature. Fundamentally, both sides don't realise they're working to the same ends, and can't quite understand why because they're don't have the whole situation, and because they don't understand what makes the other tick.

Also, it's very funny.

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 19 - “FIRE AND LIGHT, SWORDS INTERTWINED”



Sort of let this one percolate for a bit, hoping I’d feel inspired, but… not so much?

It’s a solid, if unexceptional episode. Entertaining, if unmemorable. We’re still circling our major plot points – Book Club’s like More Monsters Never Hurt, Sword of Logos is confused over how best to deal with Touma, and Yuri is still feeling his way around a world that he’s about 60% clear on while doing some light theft of personal property. Nothing is bad, but everything’s just… more of the same?

Like, the stuff with Shingo. He gets almost exactly as much characterization as Yuki got last time, which is barely enough to qualify as a sentient human being. He’s got a name, and an interest, and then he’s some victim for Touma to save. Shingo isn’t an active participant in this story, beyond being someone that Touma can feel guilty about not saving yet. There’s no story there, you know? Touma might as well be saving his own miniature castle from a Book Club scheme, for all that the specificity of Shingo’s character matters to the proceedings. There’s some fun fights, and it’s all miles better than the random Megid attacks of the first dozen episodes, but it’s still just Touma trying to save a random victim before the Book Club or the Sword of Logos interfere.

The best part of the episode, though, comes off of that interference. Daishinji (what, did you think I meant Storious?!) is still trying to understand what Touma’s up to, and if he’s already lost to the same lust for power that the SoL assumes corrupted Kamijo. But Daishinji isn’t the type to get the truth by having a discussion, because words are just another way for someone to obfuscate their intentions. The best way for Daishinji to see if Touma’s still to be trusted is, of course, having a duel with him.

I love that, for a bunch of reasons. The main one is that it just looks badass, especially compared to the chaotic nature of the other fights in this episode. Where those are all about throwing Touma off-balance and keeping him from attacking cleanly, this one’s just superheroes trading awesome moves, with no distraction. More than that, though, I loved it for how true it is to Daishinji’s character. He’s not comfortable hashing out a difficult emotional situation and reading someone’s motives through intense debate, but he knows when a swordsman is duplicitous because their moves are a lie; the fight is a confession, and only Daishinji can hear it.

It’s by far the strongest part of an episode that never really bored me or upset me, but hit its marks with such straightforward efficiency that I feel like I’ve already forgotten what else happened. It’s not bad, but it’s like… did you enjoy the last episode? This was more of that. It’s cool if you liked both this one and that one. I liked this one and that one! But this one kind of felt like it was spinning its wheels on the mega-arc (Daishinji finale aside), and still hasn’t found a compelling enough story it wants to tell for its guest-stars on the MotW front.

Hopefully the second part of this story finds some fresh ideas!

—

YOUNGER THAN AMERICA



Kaho adjusted the ring light, and pressed the RECORD button on her console.

“Hey, guys! Kaho here, with another comic review! We’re talking about Sword Man #1 this week, and I hope you’re ready for it!” She held up the comic book to her camera, its garish yellow background highlighting the purple and gold superhero.

“It’s a decent American superhero comic, but… like, am I the only one who thinks it’s a cash grab from that Kamen Rider Saber urban legend? Folks online are talking about some sword-wielding superhero, and here comes a new publisher with a guy called Sword Man? Like: SWORD MAN. That’s it. That’s what they bothered to call this guy.” She shook her head, and placed the comic down out of frame.

“Putting aside how lazy the name is, and how rushed the production seems, there’s really not a lot here. It’s some obvious ‘American Superhero’ tropes, without much love for the genre. As you can, I’m a BIT of an American superhero fan.” She gestured to the shelf behind her, slightly obscured in the room’s darkness: rows of Marvel superhero action figures, scattered DC statues, and a framed promotional poster for the Image Comics’ superhero Invincible, signed by the creators. “This comic reads like it wasn’t an homage, or even a parody. It reads like it was created by someone who was told that American superheroes *existed*, and just came up with a hero from there. No love, just mimicry.”

Kaho leaned in closer to the camera, her eyes wide from anger. “And, speaking of mimicry, could this publisher not find a different artist? This guy draws like Rob Liefeld is still the height of superhero art, rather than something that was played out before I was born. It’s all distorted anatomy and gritty poses, which is laughable in a world that has Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley, and so many others. It doesn’t have to be like this, publishers! Try harder!”

She leaned back in her chair, and exhaled. With a laugh, she started back up. “Okay, so, yeah! Not a fan of this one. Those of you out there looking for a homegrown take on the American superhero model, just save yourself some time and check out translations of the real deal. You’re sure to enjoy it more. That’s it for this review! Come back next time, where we’ll take a look at the hot new romance comic, First Love Hero! Thanks for watching!”

[Enchilada645]

Funnily enough I have the same feelings with this episode, and admittedly... I kind of like it? I'll explain what I mean later on, but for now I'll let you know you're not alone in this episode very much being kind of there aside from the Daishinji vs. Touma part.

There's something just very ingenious about using our new setup for a classic 1 vs. 1 duel between two swordsmen. Daishinji very much went above and beyond in how cool he was and this episode is very much one of the ones that cemented him as one of my favorites. It's also like I mentioned briefly when talking about Episode 16. How Daishinji and Ogami are the ones who are clearly trying to think more rationally about everything. And here we see Daishinji trying to seek answers even if Touma's not in a position to answer them.

I do also like the touch of Daishinji attacking the King Megid and actually hearing the muffled cries of Shingo because of his enhanced hearing. It's such a nice little touch.

As for the story. HA! Okay, I love you riffing on Sword X Man. It's such a funnily drawn comic, one of which actually got sample pages shown off to the public via the production blog. Normally I'd share those... but I've got an image or two I need to save space for so...

I enjoyed the subtle Donbrothers reference! Simple story, but got the point across.

That being said I'm not done.

===Zero Presents: Desast Walk===

So at this point in Saber, our very fun Megid known as Desast began to post every now and again on Twitter between episodes. While it's sporadic the further we get in, I figured I'd give you the true Saber experience by giving you Desast Walk every time we reach an appropriate point. So here you go, Desast Walk, with Google Translate on Twitter translations (you'll understand why in a second):

Desast Walk #1:



"Hi humans.

I'm dessert He's a genie born from a book. Are you pretty cool?

Now then, it looks like it will still take some time for the Wind Swordsman, so I guess I'll wander around this world as I please.

If you've arrived, do whatever you want."

[Deepsea]

Oh hey, it's the episode/arc that solidified my love for Daishinji, hell yeah.

[Nokination]

I have much of the same thoughts as you did regarding this episode, my favorite part of it was Daishinji actually going off of what Yuri said about the Sword of Logos and getting Touma's perspective on what he's done, also, it's just nice to see him again after two episodes of mostly Yuri, Touma, and Mei.

However, like you said, the MOTW's victim just doesn't really get much, they have one defining character trait and just don't do much. I'm fine if the MOTW is just some random monster inhabiting someone we don't know, but this show tries to give it a sense of urgency, and it's like, whether or not Touma knew who the Megid was, he'd still try to save the person trapped inside, but the show feels the need to give him an interaction with that character as motivation.

It's not that big of a deal, but going from Zero-One where the MOTW would basically be the focus of every episode, and the Humagear becoming it usually having a flaw of some sort, such as the sushi Humagear not making sushi to a high enough quality in its owner's eyes. It's minor stuff but it builds character, and the show wants to get us attached to these characters but won't give us enough screen time or any motivation for us to feel for these characters. It's not that big of a deal, I just don't really care about any of these people stuck within a Megid.

Besides that, it's a perfectly fine episode, and besides Shingo's lackluster development, I quite liked it.

(Also, yay for the Donbros reference in the story.)

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

There's something just very ingenious about using our new setup for a classic 1 vs. 1 duel between two swordsmen. Daishinji very much went above and beyond in how cool he was and this episode is very much one of the ones that cemented him as one of my favorites. It's also like I mentioned briefly when talking about Episode 16. How Daishinji and Ogami are the ones who are clearly trying to think more rationally about everything. And here we see Daishinji trying to seek answers even if Touma's not in a position to answer them.

I like that while guys like Ren and Rintaro are scared that Touma's becoming another Kamijo, the two guys that knew Kamijo best are like Maybe That Whole Situation Was A Little On Us. There's a sense of them, Daishinji and Ogami, being a little scared at history repeating itself, and opting to try a little compassion this time around. Like, not giving Touma the benefit of the doubt, exactly, but trying to get more involved with Touma's decision-making; being present a little more than they probably were with Kamijo or Kento's dad.

And thanks for the Desast update! I'm glad he was staying active on his socials when he's not actively trying to murder a swordsman. Mei would be proud!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deepsea

Oh hey, it's the episode/arc that solidified my love for Daishinji, hell yeah.

He's very fun in this! I like how he treats the duel as heartfelt conversation between friends.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nokination

It's not that big of a deal, but going from Zero-One where the MOTW would basically be the focus of every episode, and the Humagear becoming it usually having a flaw of some sort, such as the sushi Humagear not making sushi to a high enough quality in its owner's eyes. It's minor stuff but it builds character, and the show wants to get us attached to these characters but won't give us enough screen time or any motivation for us to feel for these characters. It's not that big of a deal, I just don't really care about any of these people stuck within a Megid.

The episode definitely assumes that a beautifully-shot sequence of someone being inspired by Touma is going to carry the emotional part of that plotline, and it's sort of asking a lot of one dialogue-less scene. Shingo, once again, doesn't get to be active in this story: he's approached by Storious, but then loses all his agency after that. There was a chance to tell a different kind of story with a young fan of Touma's, but there's very little substance there.

[r4bbitdragon]

Aaaaaaaaa, Desast's walk. It's both in a way my favorite storytelling from Saber and... kinda the most unforgivable? Because I really do think following along with Desast's twitter adventures improves the Saber experience by leaps and bounds with it's interesting insight into it's corner of the world and my favorite wolf beetle skull monster man, but... how are you supposed to do that if you weren't watching the show in real time?

It's the same problem of the Swordsman Chronicles providing great characterization in missable side content... but worse since at least those were, yknow, actual webisodes you can just add to your watch order. Twitter is like, the most ephemeral way this side of the story could have been communicated, without someone already in the know helping share the tweets at the appropriate points anyone watching the show after the fact would likely not even know Desast's Walk existed.

So, like, lucky you're doing this thread and have people ready to post his tweets when relevant

Oh, and on the subject of translations: here's a twitter thread with translations for every tweet (that aren't just google translate.) Obviously Die shouldn't visit that link yet, since it continues through further show events, but for reference for everyone else. And here's the translation of that first tweet from that thread:

"Hello, humans.
I'm Desast. I'm a demon born from a book. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, it looks like the Wind Swordsman is going to take some time, so I guess I'll just wander around the world at my leisure.

If you want to come along, be my guest."

(incidentally, when you were enamored early on with the idea of desast just chilling on earth and interacting with humans- i guess saber's twitter was enamored with it too?? if i had a nickel for every time you predicted a piece of saber side content...)

[AkibaSilver]

I always liked Daishinji enough, but something about him never exactly clicked with me, so I'm glad you lot are exploring him, because it's bringing him a lot more into focus. Someone so commit to his craft of swordsmanship, to the point it's where he communicates and reads others, but is still a calm hero (a dork, but a hero) and not some kind of blood knight... yeah, I get why people would be really into that!

The parts with Touma trying to reconnect with his former colleagues / the SOL trying to decide if Touma really has become Calibur 2 (wonder where Kurayamai has gotten to in the meantime) has the easier connection here, considering the pre-existing emotional bonds, and while I don't think the MOTW plot is bad, it's doing nothing really unique to Saber. I do appreciate how it's a child, though - I have an easier time imagining Touma connecting with children through his role as a children's writer than I do any recent Rider back to Emu?