[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I don't have much to add apart from another round of appreciation for how this story played out. Definitely a good way to evolve Primitive Dragon into its next form in a way that plays to Touma's strengths as a character.

It's a very good episode!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

About Touma changing fates, dunno if this is a legitimate moral to be followed, or if this is just MC favoritism like some can complain (not exclusively Touma). Though often heroes' abilities are never acknowledged especially main ones, just being viewed as plot armor and favoritism.

??? I don't get what you're saying here. Are you suggesting that it's not laudable for a character to rescue someone from depths of depression? How would that not be a moral that's worth following?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Most of what he remembers about that day is entirely traumatic, but there's like this one little thing in there -- someone giving their all to protect him -- that, even now, helps push Touma forward when he needs it. I could probably wring some deeper point out of this if I tried hard enough, but I don't know, I mostly wanted to bring it up because I think it's nice.

I think it speaks to Touma's empathy, sure, but also his acknowledgement of individual complexity. Kamijo was both a villain to Touma and a man to be idolized: a hero Touma literally dreamt about. Kamijo wasn't always Calibur, and it's nice of Touma to keep that version alive somewhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Of course the highlight is Elemental Dragon, but what did you think of Legeiel Forbidden? I think it's pretty intimidating that the Megid Trio have access to these Final Forms by throwing a bunch of books at them, which also marks a point of no return for their humanity, as Yuri implied. It shows how serious Legeiel is about his rivalry with Saber that he's willing to gamble everything on defeating him.

Sadly, it didn't make much of an impact. I, uh, I actually had to go back and see if his suit had actually changed or not! It's nice that we could get a more powerful Legeiel for Emotional Primitive Dragon's debut fight, but it's not like Legeiel had any cool new tricks up his sleeves. He was just tougher to detonate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Thanks. It crept up on me. I didn't realize it was coming until it was just about three away.

WHOA! 10,000 posts! Congrats! I salute you, with this salute from your favorite Kamen Rider:



Whoops! Here's the real Hibiki:

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 28 - “A PAST SET IN STONE, AND THE FUTURE NOT YET WRITTEN”



What better way to decompress after an arc so emotional that it generated a power-up with the word Emotional in it, than to spend twenty-odd minutes recapping the last six months of your life to the friends who experienced it alongside you?

A clip show by any other name, huh? There’s new footage, for sure: the fight scene at the finale, Master Logos introducing Reika’s brother as the next/last swordsman, Yuki making a minor return appearance. But the intent of this episode is to reestablish the storyline of this series, the end. We’re here to be reminded about events, and have certain causalities clarified. The point isn’t to do much more than reaffirm who the heroes and villains are, and what they plan to do next.

It’s not terrible, even if the amount of time people spend explaining things that they both/all experienced is pretty comical. There must’ve been a more elegant way to recap this information, right? It’s… I don’t want to say “lazy” to do it this way, because there’s enough fresh material to dodge that charge. But there’s an artlessness to having everyone talk like they got possessed by Tassel, and can’t stop rehashing their motivations, their triumphs, and their fears. It’s basic, which is a descriptor that I’d hoped Saber had left behind for good.

But, hey, at least everyone’s here? Desast shows up to watch a fight, which is at least bringing him closer to being in a fight again. Ren splits from the guild because of their No Kentos Allowed policy (Kento from Southern Base security is allowed; they get to have one Kento) and promptly finds out why that policy was enacted in the first place. Everyone else gets at least a couple three lines of dialogue. It’s a full episode, say what you will about its narrative value.

Definitely was not expecting to roll up on a clip show, first thing out from the last arc. These Unprecedented Times, I guess.

—

POWER DOESN'T RUN ON NOTHING



“Let me tell you about my last six months! Well, I got super strong, and won a bunch of fights, and my best friend died. Other than that? Hmm. Nope, can’t think of anything. I don’t think anything important ended up happening to anyone else, either. Now I’ve got to go see my best friend, who isn’t dead anymore. We’re probably going to team-up and fight a whole bunch of people, which’ll make me even stronger. I don’t think I’ll be the strongest, though, because that means I can’t get any stronger! And I never want to stop getting stronger!”

“Sir, this is a ramen stand.”

[Enchilada645]

Welcome to the new Reiwa Tradition Die! I would suggest expecting something around the time our true mid-season upgrades roll around for our Reiwa Riders!

I mean come on... incomplete mid-season upgrade with the problem getting solved eventually, and then a clipshow episode that gives us a fight to highlight the form happening? That's a mandate if I ever saw one.

Yeah I don't have much to say about this episode other than Tv-Nihon doing an April Fools special of this that cut out all the recap. I seem to recall a Game of Thrones opening, Ren complaining to Rintaro that the Swordsman of Water forgot to pay the light bill, Kento planning on meeting up with Gackt for his date only for Touma to confront him with the harsh reality of catfishing...

That being said, the things I do remember this episode for was being a good way to decompress, Ren's hilarious ass kicking and him just wandering off like a kicked puppy, our introduction to our final swordsman... and a very concerning scene involving Mei seeing Wonder World...

As for our story... I'm glad that we just have a "Sir this is a Wendy's" joke as one of these short stories.

===Zero Presents: Desast Walk===

Desast Walk #9:

"Hello, humans.

I'm Dessert.

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom!

'let us think of each
other fondly
o? mountain cherries!
for, outside of your blossoms,
there?s no one who knows my feelings'

Is that right?

That's good, that's like me.

It's more interesting to see them fall, isn't it??

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by enchilada645

and a very concerning scene involving mei seeing wonder world...

They are not allowed to do anything bad to Mei! Only good things! Like, being a Kamen Rider! Or being named Interim Sophia!

[r4bbitdragon]

Margin note for this Desast's walk: Desast is reciting poetry in this tweet. Specifically, Poem #66 from the Hyakunin Isshu, the classical Japanese poetry anthology that Karuta’s cards are sourced from. He’s well read, huh…

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

[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.

(For those who haven't seen Trigger, it had about five clip episodes, including two in a row that aired just a month into the show's run)

[Androzani84]

Well, we’re at the episode that TV-Nihon used for their April fool’s post in 2021. I have some rather scattered things to discuss relating to it.

First off is a tweet I found where someone in the Japanese fandom added their own silly caption to one of the promo pics. I don’t have the URL to the tweet, but I do have a screenshot of the Google translated version, which I used to present the joke here.



“Kento-san, give that back!”
“I’m sorry Ren, but this book has to be sealed.”
“Seriously! Even though it’s Mei-chan’s gravure debut!”

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.

Ryoga Shindai's name shares the exact same kanji (神代 凌牙) as Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal's Reginald “Shark” Kastle (also known as Ryoga Kamishiro in the manga and Japanese version).(Hilariously enough, both Ryoga and Reginald are antagonists who have younger sisters). Toshiki Masuda (Shark’s Japanese VA) noticed Ryoga's name was trending out of nowhere and curiously tweeted about this asking why.

His character’s onscreen sister Megumi Han also commented about the trend (wondering if this Ryouga had a younger sister), but I can’t find that tweet either (having some trouble in that department, it seems).

[Enchilada645]

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.

(For those who haven't seen Trigger, it had about five clip episodes, including two in a row that aired just a month into the show's run)

While I'm not one to defend those clip episodes... most of those did not actually count towards the actual episode count so I don't mind them too heavily. Though I will agree that the two in a row that aired like right after Episode 4 or so? Yeah that killed momentum to watch it pretty hard.

Granted... and this is why I'm even making this post. These clipshows likely have to do with outside factors such as trying to make sure viewership is stable. So if something is happening that weekend the episode airs that will likely cause a drop in viewers, they'll do the safe thing and put out a clipshow. They aren't there because they thought "this is the best place in a story to do a recap", they're there because they need to be.

Also if I recall the back to back clip episodes that aired during Trigger was around the same time that the Olympics were in full swing, which I think is also around the time there was a short break from SHT for a week too.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 28 - ?A PAST SET IN STONE, AND THE FUTURE NOT YET WRITTEN?

To be honest, I do not mind such episodes, but I agree that they deserve an appropriate fanfic. Also, is this the first time Yuri has explicitly stated that Touma is the chosen one or before? Also the first appearance of Ryoga. Get ready to see him in action, it's not for nothing that the guy was kept behind the scenes for so long.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 28 - ?A PAST SET IN STONE, AND THE FUTURE NOT YET WRITTEN?

What better way to decompress after an arc so emotional that it generated a power-up with the word Emotional in it, than to spend twenty-odd minutes recapping the last six months of your life to the friends who experienced it alongside you?

Elemental*

Emotional was from the movie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But, hey, at least everyone?s here? Desast shows up to watch a fight, which is at least bringing him closer to being in a fight again. Ren splits from the guild because of their No Kentos Allowed policy (Kento from Southern Base security is allowed; they get to have one Kento) and promptly finds out why that policy was enacted in the first place. Everyone else gets at least a couple three lines of dialogue. It?s a full episode, say what you will about its narrative value.

Ren's lucky compared to Daishinji though, since he only needs the large half of Fuusouken Hayate to Henshin. He gets a second wind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

POWER DOESN'T RUN ON NOTHING

If only all recaps could be as compressed as Ren's. Makes sense that the most action-focused guy in the show is the catalyst for the actual plot developments of this episode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by r4bbitdragon

Margin note for this Desast's walk: Desast is reciting poetry in this tweet. Specifically, Poem #66 from the Hyakunin Isshu, the classical Japanese poetry anthology that Karuta?s cards are sourced from. He?s well read, huh?

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I forgot that Saber did a clip show. I've never been a fan of these

I've never met a fan of these. The examples you mentioned sound particularly bad, but I'd say the most painful has to be Zero One's Recap City.