[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by r4bbitdragon

Also we now have a free range toxic ninja on our hands. I, personally, could not be happier ; )

I can't imagine what can possibly go wrong with a slightly-depowered Ren roaming the city, angry at both himself and the world. I'm sure everything's going to be fine!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I forgot that Saber did a clip show. I've never been a fan of these, but after watching Ultraman Trigger I have a lot more patience for how literally every other tokusatsu ever made has handled the concept better.

Yeah, as a one-week thing, it's not bad... it's just not very clever in how it approaches its mandate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

And we meet our last Rider, in the form of Reika?s older brother Ryouga. While I?ve saved the best I have to offer about him for later, I do have a funny anecdote about his name, which caused the show to trend among Yu-Gi-Oh fans for a weekend.

Thanks for the info!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Also, is this the first time Yuri has explicitly stated that Touma is the chosen one or before?

I don't think this is the first time, no. I know it's come up with Daishinji before (as a theory), but I want to say Yuri's mentioned it as his reason for hanging around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Elemental*

Emotional was from the movie.

GAH! Thanks! I am never going to remember that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

If only all recaps could be as compressed as Ren's.

Ren definitely has a unique perspective on the events of Kamen Rider Saber, yes.

[r4bbitdragon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

As a Kiramager fan, this makes Desast even cooler to me!

Funny you should mention that.

So, it's been mentioned how Desast's suit actor changed a few times during Saber. His original suit actor was Kazuyu Okada, well known for roles like Gold Drive and Blood Stalk, and he of course did an excellent job setting up the character. However when Zenkaiger started, with most of the starting cast being suit-only characters, Okada ended up transferring over there to play Vroon. A few other actors swapped in for Desast when necessary. (and kept doing great!)

That said, Desast's suit actor at the time of episode 28, as well as a few of the specials, was Shigeki Ito... who also happened to have just spent a year as Kiramai Red's suit actor! (...Somehow, this is something we'll get back to this later.)

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by r4bbitdragon

That said, Desast's suit actor at the time of episode 28, as well as a few of the specials, was Shigeki Ito... who also happened to have just spent a year as Kiramai Red's suit actor! (...Somehow, this is something we'll get back to this later.)

Oh, that's a cool fun fact. He must have been channeling the "Hirameking!" for that specific Desast Walk!

[Fish Sandwich]

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Yeah, as a one-week thing, it's not bad... it's just not very clever in how it approaches its mandate.

They can't all be Time Vent, Die!

But I really do think this is a nice baseline clip show, and I don't really mind how these have seemingly become a standard midpoint thing for Rider now (we'll see if Geats keeps the trend up soon, I guess.) I also don't bemoan the mere existence of recap episodes to begin with though, so I'm probably more inclined than most to take it easy on something like this. The actual recapping here goes a bit further than just stating the obvious (love how they make Touma magically knowing how to be Saber right away into a plot point, for example), and it ends with a big slam-bang fight to reward the viewer for their patience. Even its position between big arcs is like, pretty much exactly where these things ought to be placed?

(Also, I totally can't blame you for the Elemental/Emotional mixup. Elemental Primitive Dragon may not be Emotional Dragon, but it is a very emotional dragon. Anyone would get confused!)

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 29 - “HIS TIME IS NOW, THE SWORDSMAN ENTERS THE FRAY”



Rintaro!

I love him so much. I love how this show treats Rintaro returning to the fold as proof of Touma’s moral clarity. Like, if Rintaro thinks you’re worth following over the Sword of Logos, you are definitely doing something right. It’s not even that Rintaro’s some key soldier, or some secret weapon. He’s just Rintaro, and that’s the best thing for any group to have.

It’s an episode that’s sort of circling around two main topics that are vital to Rintaro’s sense of self-worth: What do we do when the things we believed in let us down, and what value do we have as people in the aftermath?

Those are both INCREDIBLY Rintaro concepts, which makes the episode interesting as a way of getting into his psychology, but they’re also key points that the series keeps coming back to. Saber’s a show with a traditionally (for Kamen Rider) skeptical view of large organizations. It’s also a workplace dramedy, so it’s not exactly a Blade sort of situation that’s all about demolishing some faceless organization to better express the diversity of human experience. It’s interrogating the idea of large groups, not necessarily advocating for or against.

For Rintaro, the Sword of Logos was a family, a job, and an organizing principle for his sense of right and wrong. Acts that supported the guild were moral; acts that went against the guild were immoral. Rintaro loved the people inside the guild who brought purpose to his life, and in doing so he loved the guild.

The transference of that love – how we imbue organizations with the same affection we gave to the people inside that organization – is a Big Deal topic for Saber as a show. There’s a cognitive load that comes with having to consider a mass of people as individuals, so it’s easier to think of them as part of a larger whole. But, at a certain point, we think of the whole instead of the people within it, and we start to value those people less. The Sword of Logos mattered more to Rintaro than his friends, despite his friends essentially being the Sword of Logos. Reika and Master Logos, they aren’t what Rintaro respected or loved about the Sword of Logos. Rintaro’s respect is for a dead master, and a delightful selection of apostates at the North Pole. We shouldn’t ever really love an organization, because an organization can’t love us back. An organization doesn’t have a morality to it, so it can’t teach us right from wrong. An organization is not a person, and it isn’t worth more than a person.

And yet, it’s not without value.

It’s probably the hardest thing Rintaro’s ever done, screaming on that parking garage floor about the Sword of Logos being bullshit. (Very nice of Durendal to check his phone or whatever while that deeply emotional scene was taking place!) It’s him not only acknowledging that his value system was screwed up, but having to do it while Touma risked everything to come get him. It’s embarrassing, if nothing else. Shameful. It’s Rintaro’s entire life exposed as empty gestures at best, jackbooted villainy at worst. He needs saving from the thing he dedicated his life to. It’s pathetic, and it makes him wish he’d made every decision in his life differently.

But, the thing is, the Sword of Logos was something people made, and a thing people believed in. That alone gives it value. If someone like Rintaro is willing to dedicate their life to it, it matters. This whole episode is about how an organization is improved by true believers, and how an organization that doesn’t value that isn’t worth believing in. But it can be made better; it can be turned into something worthy of its believers. If the Sword of Logos has been corrupted, it’s not something that’s permanent. An organization's just people, and it gains its identity from those people. It only needs better people in charge for it to be better.

Like every group, it just needs Rintaro.

—

YOUR HAND IN MINE



They needed Rintaro. He just couldn’t see it.

Mei was excited to get the call from Rintaro, right up until he said he wanted to meet on Brooding Roof. That was not exactly the sign she was looking for. It most likely meant that Rintaro wasn’t yet resolved to join them all back at the Northern Base. Which meant that she’d need to try and convince Rintaro to return.

She thought she’d done it once, when he and Touma had that adorable shouting match about how great each one thought the other was. (She was still kicking herself for not recording that.) Rintaro seemed to finally realize that Touma needed him, and that the best way to make sure everyone stayed safe was to stay together. She thought she’d finally gotten through to him.

But no, because this was Rintaro. Stupid, loyal Rintaro. Stupid, cute, loyal Rintaro. Idiot.

He’d gone back to the Sword of Logos, probably because he hadn’t made himself sick enough from anxiety. Every time she saw him lately, he seemed on the verge of two or three breakdowns. He was as scared and sad as she’d ever seen him, and she’d seen him walk by an open-air pastry festival once.

She’d bet money that he’d chalked all of this up to him not being as strong as someone, or as smart as someone else, or as clever as whomever, or as brave as she didn’t know who. As much as Touma tried to tell Rintaro that the problem was the Sword of Logos, Rintaro couldn’t ever hear him. He probably told himself that the problem was him; if he could be more SOMETHING, everyone would come back and they’d all be a family again. He was the problem, he was surely telling himself.

Well, Mei was starting to agree with him.

Rintaro was the problem because he couldn’t see how much they all needed him. They were warring swordsmen right now, but if Rintaro joined them, they’d be a family. They didn’t need him to do anything other than join them; that was it. They didn’t need a cunning swordsman or a powerful warrior, they just needed that big, adorable dummy to come home already. He spent his whole life looking for a family, but he was the only thing that made them all a family.

So she’d bring him home. She’d let him know that they needed him. She’d get him to see it.

[Enchilada645]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

He's just Rintaro, and that's the best thing for any group to have.

This might just be my favorite part of your entire spiel. Which I absolutely adored. I enjoyed you just digging into what exactly is at the core of Rintaro's current arc. It's such an interesting dilemma, in which Rintaro needs to realize that the organization itself isn't who he considers family, but the people he bonded with within the organization itself.

It's definitely a brutal episode for Rintaro in which we get the debut of Durendal and his mysterious sword basically overpowers our favorite Swordsman of Water. I don't even blame Rintaro for not even going for his upgrades in this case, when you're going up against uh... whatever Kaiji does (they keep it purposely vague here but there are enough hints), then you're going to lose unless you know it's secret.

That being said, to those confused about how Kaiji works. You ever watch that one Futurama episode with the Harlem Globetrotters? That's your answer.

Not much to say but after a bit of a breather last time, we've got a strong return with an episode basically focusing on Rintaro's fallout with the Sword of Logos. Though I will say, hey! Sophia's back! I suppose Kento isn't that bad of a dude if he's at least willing to get her out of the Sword of Logos' hidden broom closet.

As for our story this time... it was cute. I love how Mei dreads the brooding roof, and how she can simultaneously call Rintaro stupid, but also compliment him at the same time.

No Desast Walk this time, so that's all from me.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

It's definitely a brutal episode for Rintaro in which we get the debut of Durendal and his mysterious sword basically overpowers our favorite Swordsman of Water. I don't even blame Rintaro for not even going for his upgrades in this case, when you're going up against uh... whatever Kaiji does (they keep it purposely vague here but there are enough hints), then you're going to lose unless you know it's secret.

It's time dilation, is how I'd describe it right now. Durendal's manipulating time, and cutting out chunks of it to change position and disorient his foes. Beyond his Ride Book shouting about TIME so much that you'd think it was a Zi-O Legend Rider item, there's also they way that Touma gets affected in a completely different room.

At least, that's my take on it!

[Switchblade]

It's a minor point in the face of what is just an overall excellent episode, but this particular Saber outing has probably my single favorite production decision in all of Saber. Please allow me to indulge in my own little bit of speculative fanfiction:

Long-Haired Freaky People Need Not Apply

"So we're doing a big showdown in the Sword of Logos's Southern Base. Rintaro is going to barge in demanding answers, Touma's going to follow him, there'll be some fight scenes with the Shindai siblings."

"Sounds like a good episode, do we have a shooting location?"

"We've rented out some space in a hotel to serve as the Southern Base."

"Does it look like the headquarters of a book-themed order of knights?"

"Not particularly. It looks like a hotel. That's where I'm hoping you can come in with some really creative set design to help sell it as a major Sword of Logos stronghold. Can you do that?"

"I know exactly what to do."

"What?"

"I'm going to take an 8.5" by 11" sheet of office paper."

"Okay."

"Then I'm going to print words 'Sword of Logos' on it. But in a really crazy sci-fi font so it looks more mysterious."

"I am loving everything about this so far. What next?"

"Then I'm going to take that sign and..."

"Yes?"

"Then I'm going to take that sign and tape it to a wall."

"That is perfect. 10/10 concept, no notes."

[Androzani84]

Well, the second arc is over, time for the main plot to move forward to arc 3.

Well, the Lords of Wise were introduced and died in the same way (entirely offscreen. Seems odd to give names to characters you aren’t going to cast actors for, but…

We also get to see Elemental Dragon’s solo function: giving an elemental boost to whoever uses it. Which, is limited to Saber, Blades, Espada, Calibur and Saikou, since the bigger books don’t fit in the “entirely a sword” Drivers. Speaking of which…

We meet the 10th Rider, Ryouga (or as one person dubbed him based on the aforementioned Twitter confusion, “Reggie”). And continuing the unintended Shark parallels, he has a deep sea theme to his weapon of choice. And Kaiji, like Noroshi, has a second mode for form changes that goes unused in show.

Kaiji Gyakkai! Wonder Rider! The time is now! Gyaa!

Kaiji Issatsu Tsuki! (界時一冊突き！World Time One Volume Stab!)

Kaiji Issatsu Giri! (界時一冊斬り！World Time One Volume Slash!)

And now, to close off, we have a new brother/sister character duo, so it seems only fit to bring up the last regular example in two different ways.

[Kurona]

Ah yeah, this is where Durandal is introduced so Reika's writing gets... really, really weird. It's the one reason I won't rewatch Saber