[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 34 - “AWAKEN ONCE MORE, SWORDSMAN OF IMMORTALITY”



Man, even for the swordsman show with headswords and literal sword mans, this was totally The Sword-Fighting Episode. Just a ridiculous amount of fights, almost wall to wall, bell to bell.

As such, sort of not my speed? I enjoyed seeing Falchion come back, for sure. I liked the little bit of Yuri’s backstory that mirrors and comments on the Touma/Kento relationship. But there’s just a little too much action here, for my tastes. Not enough meat on the bone, I guess.

Like: the Durandal/Blades fight. What in the world is Ryoga even doing there? Master Logos was just like Concentrate On Touma, which is exactly what Reika’s doing. Why is Ryoga skulking around an underpass, hoping he’ll get to challenge Rintaro to another fight? Why not just have Falchion wander in and find Rintaro, and skip to the chase? Why introduce Durandal into the fight in such a bizarre way, when he doesn’t really have any impact on the story being told?

Even Falchion’s rampage through this episode, despite a new backstory that has echoes of the dissolution of Touma and Kento’s partnership (Yuri’s version even did the same Three Musketeers thing!), just had this weird shrug of I Don’t Know Why Not. We’re in a shit-stirring phase of Master Logos’s stratagem, where he’s just throwing antagonists against the wall to see what detonates. Falchion’s here to be a new guy to fight, and that's the extent of Logos's decision-making here.

I did like that the episode crafted a parallel Friendship storyline for Yuri, Falchion, and I’m gonna go ahead and say Desast. (Wild guess! He’s hunched in a real Desast way in the flashback!) They were friends, everything went sideways, and Falchion gave himself over to nihilism in the name of cosmic truth. It’s all very Kento, which isn’t lost on anyone, especially Kento himself. For a dude who’s obsessed with an unavoidable future, it’s nice to have the thing that maybe jars him out of his isolation be something that happened centuries ago. Falchion’s a guy who destroyed his friendships because he thought he was doing the only thing that made sense, but from the outside it was pure insanity. There’s a part of Kento that starts to realize that maybe he’s gotten too wrapped up in his own fatalism, rather than ignoring his fears and trusting in Touma.

I mean, it helps that Luna finally shows up in the cliffhanger! That’s gonna make for a complicated next episode…

—

RAISED ALL WRONG



As he searched another deserted alleyway for Ren, Ogami thought about the last few months.

They were… not great. Things had gone from bad to worse, with his most recent hospitalization as succinct a statement as he could imagine. The Southern Base had turned against the Northern Base. Fukamiya had been led astray by Master Logos. Kamijo was both a traitor and a martyr. Kento was cursed to death, and now he’d returned as a brooding outsider. And Ren…

Where to start with Ren? Ogami shook his head as he thought about whether he should be proud of that kid for following his own path, or give him a kick in the ass and tell him to get home to the Northern Base. He’d always been a handful; excitable and easily distracted, never willing to focus on the mission when there was fighting to be done. Now that he’d lost Kento’s guidance, Ren was spinning out of control.

Ogami hoped he’d be able to get through to Ren, if and when he found him. He’d cared about the kid, for sure, but he was more scared of what his own future looked like if he found himself unable to corral a willful, sword-wielding young man.

He didn’t like to compare Sora to Ren, since it honestly didn’t flatter either one of them, but Ogami found himself doing it more often as Sora got older. Sora was going to want to be a swordsman, Ogami was certain of it. You couldn’t have a dad as cool as him without wanting to follow in his footsteps, and it was especially inescapable if your dad was a genuine superhero. (Ogami usually went with Warrior or Soldier, but Sora said Superhero, and it stuck.) And, truth to tell, Ogami would be proud to train Sora to be the next Buster. The kid had a good heart, and would be a fine swordsman.

But there were the teenage years to consider, and the guild didn’t have a tremendous track record lately for safeguarding the minds and hearts of young men. For every bullet they dodged with a Rintaro, they were hit by a Kento. Would Sora come out the other side of his training with a crushing sense of responsibility that made him convinced of his own inadequacy before overcoming it, or with a crushing sense of responsibility that turned him against all of his friends in the name of preventing a theoretical apocalypse? Fun choices.

Well, maybe Sora would turn out like Ren, and just wander off when things got too messy. It wasn’t the worst plan. For all of the craziness the last few months, Ren had mostly stayed out of it. Even when he was the most wound up over Kento’s absence, Ren had been willing to listen to Ogami’s advice. Huh. Maybe Ren would turn out okay after all. And maybe Sora would, too.

Ogami truly was the king of parenting. Why’d he ever doubt himself?

[Enchilada645]

So we get Falchion back this episode and some nice little small beats with Yuri and such.

I do like that Touma and Yuri "duel" at the very start with a way of sort of figuring that Luna might show up if Touma tries to recreate what he accidentally did before. And while it did have the setup of a duel, I did like how it ended up being a sparring match between two partners who have been through a lot together in the past few months.

Other than that... I agree on the redundancy of the Durendal stuff. It was likely there to give Rintaro a clean win against Ryoga, and really they should've just skipped to Bahato finding and attacking Rintaro.

That being said the stakes are really starting to stack further and you really have to wonder how much more inching we're going to do? Cause Yuri was poofed this episode, and we've slowly been losing our other Riders as well through various means. And that's not counting the fact that Kenzan is very much handicapped even if he does have a buddy in Desast.

As for Desast! No Desast Walk this time.

As for our story though, nice to see you getting back into Ogami's boots after a while. I do love the sort of compare and contrast/worry he has for Sora should the kid ever want to try out for the position of a Kamen Rider. Real nice piece tbh.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

So we get Falchion back this episode and some nice little small beats with Yuri and such.

The Yuri stuff... like, I appreciate how it helps Kento see how weird he's gotten, by comparing his arc to Falchion's, but I think the whole I Had An Identical Friend Group thing of Yuri's is maybe a thousand percent too on the nose. It's too sudden of a reveal, and too analogous to the main narrative for even Yuri -- the king of thinking things don't need to be stated or explained -- to not have had it come up yet. It's all a little too retcon-y for me, maybe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

As for our story though, nice to see you getting back into Ogami's boots after a while. I do love the sort of compare and contrast/worry he has for Sora should the kid ever want to try out for the position of a Kamen Rider. Real nice piece tbh.

Thanks! I had literally no idea what that story was going to be as I was writing it (just, like, Ogami Is On His Own, zero sense of what that was going to be), and I think it landed in a neat place that's unique to Ogami's fears and hopes.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 34 - ?AWAKEN ONCE MORE, SWORDSMAN OF IMMORTALITY?

The return of Falchion is cool. When else did the villain from the film appear in his own show? Also, for me, Yuri's story not only creates a parallel with our main trio, but also explains how Falchion came to be like that. It also shows that Yuri simultaneously wielded the swords of Light and Darkness and this did not kill him.
As for the fight between Blades and Durandal, it is needed to a) show that Rintaro is also stronger than Ryoga;
b) Show how they freeze each other;
c) I'm repeating myself, but this will also pay off in the future.
Overall, not a favorite, but a very intense episode.
Fanfiction is good. You haven't thought about Ogami in a while, almost since he joined Touma's team.

[Androzani84]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

When else did the villain from the film appear in his own show?

Gaoh, the guy from the OOO movie, Kougane, Dark Drive, Dark Ghost, the guy from the Ex-Aid movie and the trio from Be The One, and if you?re referring to ?after the movie?, numbers 2 and 3 apply for that.

[Mesnick]

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

Gaoh, the guy from the OOO movie, Kougane, Dark Drive, Dark Ghost, the guy from the Ex-Aid movie and the trio from Be The One, and if you?re referring to ?after the movie?, numbers 2 and 3 apply for that.

Well, I meant more or less full-fledged participation in the plot. All of the above examples are more about cameos that you blink and miss.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 34 - ?AWAKEN ONCE MORE, SWORDSMAN OF IMMORTALITY?

Like: the Durandal/Blades fight. What in the world is Ryoga even doing there? Master Logos was just like Concentrate On Touma, which is exactly what Reika?s doing. Why is Ryoga skulking around an underpass, hoping he?ll get to challenge Rintaro to another fight? Why not just have Falchion wander in and find Rintaro, and skip to the chase? Why introduce Durandal into the fight in such a bizarre way, when he doesn?t really have any impact on the story being told?

While that underpass is a memorable place for many Tokusatsu fights, I think this show uses it way too much here. First in Episode 11 and now twice in a row. Rintarou and the others came here as it was the last place Ren was sighted yesterday, like they were somehow expecting him to still be hanging around that place. Ryouga only adds to that contrivance.

Another weird setting choice is the duel between Saber and Saikou. They're having a fight in full view of all the cars driving by. Couldn't they have picked somewhere more private?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I did like that the episode crafted a parallel Friendship storyline for Yuri, Falchion, and I?m gonna go ahead and say Desast. (Wild guess! He?s hunched in a real Desast way in the flashback!) They were friends, everything went sideways, and Falchion gave himself over to nihilism in the name of cosmic truth. It?s all very Kento, which isn?t lost on anyone, especially Kento himself. For a dude who?s obsessed with an unavoidable future, it?s nice to have the thing that maybe jars him out of his isolation be something that happened centuries ago. Falchion?s a guy who destroyed his friendships because he thought he was doing the only thing that made sense, but from the outside it was pure insanity. There?s a part of Kento that starts to realize that maybe he?s gotten too wrapped up in his own fatalism, rather than ignoring his fears and trusting in Touma.

Do you think Desast is the kind of person who would cut down civilians in cold blood though? Bacht's family were innocent and defenseless, which would be against Desast's desire for the thrill of fighting Swordsmen.

For sure, Yuri, Bacht and Traitor-san have a superficially similar dynamic to the core 3 Swordsmen. Although it's not quite a perfect comparison, as Rintarou and Traitor-san are basically opposites in regards to their loyalty. However, the Touma/Yuri and Kento/Bacht parallels are important. I like how Yuri's trying to redeem himself here by helping Touma to save his best friend, which he failed to do 1000 years ago with Bacht. Yuri wishes he had Touma's reach to save people instead of banishing/killing them, as Yuri now regrets not doing more to help Bacht find hope after seeing how Touma can do that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I mean, it helps that Luna finally shows up in the cliffhanger! That?s gonna make for a complicated next episode?

Luna! Yeah, next episode's got a lot of crazy stuff happening and I totally don't want to spoil the fun by talking about it. So look forward to that!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

The return of Falchion is cool. When else did the villain from the film appear in his own show? Also, for me, Yuri's story not only creates a parallel with our main trio, but also explains how Falchion came to be like that. It also shows that Yuri simultaneously wielded the swords of Light and Darkness and this did not kill him.
As for the fight between Blades and Durandal, it is needed to a) show that Rintaro is also stronger than Ryoga;
b) Show how they freeze each other;
c) I'm repeating myself, but this will also pay off in the future.
Overall, not a favorite, but a very intense episode.
Fanfiction is good. You haven't thought about Ogami in a while, almost since he joined Touma's team.

Congrats on your 900th post!

I feel like Bacht's story might've been planned for a longer usual-size movie, until you-know-what screwed everything up, so the rest was added to the show instead. That would explain why his reintroduction here is kind of messy, in addition to everything else happening, rather than feeling like a development that should've happened naturally. Not that I'm complaining though. I think Bacht is a good villain and when this episode does eventually delve in to his backstory, it's actually pretty cool!

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

For sure, Yuri, Bacht and Traitor-san have a superficially similar dynamic to the core 3 Swordsmen. Although it's not quite a perfect comparison, as Rintarou and Traitor-san are basically opposites in regards to their loyalty. However, the Touma/Yuri and Kento/Bacht parallels are important.

If we draw the analogy further, then the tragedy in the past occurred because Yuri and Bakht did not have their own Rintaro. This makes this eclair lover even more appreciated. Still, I'm sorry that the traitor remained a faceless scoundrel with no motivation. Not that I want an excuse for him, but a more detailed disclosure of this story would clearly not hurt. Maybe someday TTFC will release a Saiko and Falchion special.

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Congrats on your 900th post!

Thank you.

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I feel like Bacht's story might've been planned for a longer usual-size movie, until you-know-what screwed everything up, so the rest was added to the show instead. ]That would explain why his reintroduction here is kind of messy, in addition to everything else happening, rather than feeling like a development that should've happened naturally. Not that I'm complaining though. I think Bacht is a good villain and when this episode does eventually delve in to his backstory, it's actually pretty cool!

I can imagine it. Or even an option where he appears as the "Saber`s villain " in a crossover with Zero-One, and then returns in a summer movie, where his backstory and connection with Yuri is revealed.

[AkibaSilver]

I've been busy the last couple of days, so a couple of small commnts

- Ren and Dezast teaming up is the impetus I needed to care a lot more about both of these dorks, bumming around in search of focus and someone to fight.

- I lik bringing Bacht back here? It's nice to tie him into Yuri's backstory, for both their sakes, elavating him from being generic apocalypse villain into yet another SOL traitor/failure (they don't have a great track record really), and it's nice to see the actor back. It's fun is my main takeaway!

[Fish Sandwich]

Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Saber Episode 34

One really clever thing about this episode that I didn't realize at first was that the (already quite neat) parallel between past friendships and modern ones is much less 1:1 than it probably seems like at first. The obvious comparison to make is that Bacht (or Bahato or whatever) is the Kento of that old group -- the guy who fell into darkness and couldn't be saved, underscoring how Touma needs to step up in a way Yuri wasn't able to and make sure their story doesn't end the same.

The thing is though, the guy Yuri is seeing most in Kento here is actually himself, which is even more interesting to think about. Kento may be on one heck of a nihilistic streak, but he isn't someone looking to end the world. He's someone who can no longer trust his friends, and has chosen the path of sealing away something to serve a greater good. And *that* is 100% Yuri, as we first met him. It's sort of easy to forget, but Yuri is yet another on the long list of people in this series who struggled with faith in some way. Before we even knew his name, we knew he was keeping some ancient power hidden because he thought people weren't responsible enough to handle it. He always held on to his righteous duty, but the way he went about it, prior to meeting Touma, involved a millennium of being detached from humanity in a very literal sense. He turned his back on people as a whole, and gave up on hope. This episode does a fantastic job calling attention to how much character growth Yuri has actually had to this point, with some of Tomohiro Ichikawa's most subtly emotional acting in the series as he talks about how Touma gave him something to believe in again after all this time. Those last few words before he fades away, they're very much imploring Kento to let Touma change him for the better, the same way Touma changed Yuri, and it's a great little moment. I've established how much I love the current Touma/Kento drama already, so having one of my other de facto top-three Saber characters get looped into that in such a thoughtful way just made me that much happier.

And it's hardly the only cool thing in this episode! Obviously Falchion's return is the big thing to mention. I don't recall exactly what was first said or where, but we actually got told explicitly back when the short film was being promoted that the character would eventually connect to the TV show in a very direct way. I forget if it was *explicitly* said he'd just like, show up, as a major guest character driving an entire episode, but we were definitely prepared for this to happen. And again, as far as ideas that keep the momentum up after Primitive Dragon, this is a pretty exciting one! Not at all something that happens every day, and considering the awesome as heck suit design and extremely charismatic actor portraying him, it was probably a smart move to get some more screentime out of the guy. Mercifully, they also waited until late enough into the show that all of us outside of Japan were able to see the movie first, which made it that much cooler.

(Oh, and also, I'm going to go ahead and push back a little on your criticisms of Ryouga's role here, Die. His motivation is spelled out pretty clearly right at the start, with him being frustrated at the suggestion of Master Logos relying on Bacht instead of his actual loyal servants. The entire reason he's there is explicitly to be there before Falchion is. It's a matter of pride, which is a central character trait for the guy that is further established for the long run by having him behave in a manner consistent with that personality here. How cleanly it fits into this one specific episode, or how much it adds to it as a contained narrative, I can't speak for off the top of my head, but like with most things in this series, there's definitely some degree of purpose to it.)