[FreshToku]

Aw man, so many others already saying this feels more like Sentai, and I wanted to come in here just to shout that. I mean not only is the aesthetic, music and overall presentation reminding me of Ryusoulger specifically (Calibur is like a mix of Genm and Gaisorg), but I was also reminded of first episodes of sentai, specifically Zyuohger, where our humble protagonist's modest life is upturned but he's quick to don the red suit to save the day while the existing heroes (Blades in this case) just stand back and watch.

Not saying any of this as a complaint though, this was otherwise a standard and decent episode of a toku show, I just think it's really surreal! It's really making me want to put on my conspiracy theorist ha, though.

Toei/Bandai is no doubt aware of the kind of expectations people have come to have of both Rider and Sentai. A really wild part of my mind keeps thinking that one of two things might happen. Either everything about the established presentation of Saber is gonna get turned on it's head at the halfway point in order to surprise viewers... or this is a sign that Sentai is gonna get less and less prominent, with all it's usual profitable tropes being given to Rider!?

Well, that's just a wild tangent based on little to nothing. Here's to a year of magical fun and swordsmanship.

[Fish Sandwich]

Wow, this is Ghost as s***, isn't it? That's the thought I kept coming back to watching this one, and, for anyone who isn't familiar with my opinions on Ghost, I'm saying I loved this episode.

I think it's immediately apparent the show has the same writer and producer as Ghost especially because it's inheriting a lot of the flaws of Ghost's premiere, too. The story feels in a rush to get where it needs to be, and a lot of beats are kind of awkward when you take a second to think about them. The first thing we see Touma do is start talking to himself to give exposition. It's not spectacularly tight, natural plotting.

But there's also the same sense of humanity and exuberance here that I loved about Ghost. I love Touma's passion, and how the episode uses that to give things a nice throughline of him wanting to make kids happy, which, in contrast to the clunk elsewhere, is a very simple and smooth way to demonstrate his heroism. I really warmed up to Mei pretty much immediately because all her loud antics spring out of her being enthusiastic. I like that stuff. I like stories about people who seem excited to exist. Above all else, that's where Saber is going right for me straight from the starting line.

Stylistically, I like it, but man is it a lot to take in. I feel like I need to go back and watch the episode again to digest every little CM bumper, page-flippy finishing move, and all those little strings of Rider-Moji before I can make any real statements — and maybe that statement is damning in of itself — but at the very least, I always appreciate the work put in to give a series its own unique aesthetic. Nothing here was exactly unappealing to me; it's just not easy to get a handle on right away.

The action was solid and you can definitely see them trying new things. That little CG sequence was basically completely unnecessary and adding nothing to this episode, but you can tell from how relatively nice it looks (go look at any scene with a Time Mazine again if you disagree) that Toei is trying to push themselves with what they can do, and there will probably be some long-term benefits to scenes like that.

I might actually end up going back to rewatch this, and maybe point out more minor things I noticed, but for now, these are the broad strokes. I thought this was a fun premiere with a pretty irresistible energy, and at the end of the day, a hero in a cool suit fought a monster and brought a family together again. I'm watching Kamen Rider, and I'm happy.

[Kiwami]

I don’t really get the Sentai comparisons as they feel superficial. "He's nice to children!"... like every other Kamen Rider? "He's red!"... like many other Kamen Riders? "He fights a giant monster!"... yeah, but like, it's not "miniature city"-giant and Saber doesn’t summon a robot so?

I don't know. Sentai didn’t pop up in my head once watching this, at all. It's just Kamen Rider.

And for a first Rider episode it was okay. None of them every blew me away, they need all the time they can get to establish a basic foundation of the world, its characters and the Rider himself so of course it’s always a breakneck pace with little time for creative writing.

But actually commenting on what I saw: I liked it. The premise is very much rooted in fantasy which I enjoy, books as a central theme are awesome and the visuals are stunning. Even the fully CGI "Saber vs. some random rocks"-scene was okay really, it looked like a decent videogame cutscene instead of a cheap one, although the cuts were super weird. Golem-guy flips the pages... why exactly? What was he hoping to accomplish here? And the scene itself suffered massively from the cut between the full CG-footage and the ones with the suits in it, mainly because the lightning didn’t match at all, it seemed like they were in two entirely different places. But still, the overall presentation with the giant book and the fantasy world was great.

The characters, from the little I’ve seen so far, are acceptable. Touma is a likable main protagonist, Mei is okay but I fear she might get too annoying later on, and blue lion guy barely did anything to I can't say much. The narrator guy took me by surprise, he looks outlandishly weird. But, I'm okay with that - I get the feeling he's an ancient being which documents the stories that have written our world, he may have been the author too actually. I just wonder if he will appear in the story or just narrate it. I think I would prefer the later, although his importance could be made more obvious if he drops in from time to time like DJ Sagara.

Lastly: The action was fine. Nothing super-amazing like Zero-One but thankfully not super-lame like Zi-O either. Just a decent middle ground. But I like that we were once again allowed to have a first episode were just the base Rider suit appeared. They didn't force the first alternate form or the bike in there which is nice.

All in all I think it was fine. Simple fun, nothing more, nothing less.

[TheRaizin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwami

Simple fun, nothing more, nothing less.

Going off from the opening, I kinda hope this is the tone for most of the show. Simply campy fun. Kinda like how Drive was.

[Sh Ranger]

In the henshin sequence, Touma does a diagonal cross slash to draw the mask on to his suit. It's like Shinkenger, but the pen and the sword are the same thing! I'm impressed with how the symbiosis shows Touma as a master of both and the fact that there's actually a henshin sequence, something that hasn't really been done since EX-Aid.

Awesome premiere! Touma feels a lot like a natural Kamen Rider protagonist, actively trying his best to make kids happy with his books. Mei is immediately very likable with a lot of high energy.

I can't judge Rintarou yet, since his real introduction is in the next episode.

Not sure if they're trying to make Tassle the next Woz, but it's not working for me so far. It makes sense to have a third person narrator to tell the story like a book but he doesn't have much presence.

The imagery of books in the fight between Saber and Golem is used to cool effect, maybe a little too much and unnecessary, but it's like moving the part of the city where this episode takes place could be considered a clever metaphor for plagiarism.

We also get our first detailed look at Espada in the ending and I think the faerie tale sides make the best suits so I hope Kenzan and Slash will look just as cool. The only suits that don't really work for me are Blades and Buster.

Looking forward to more Saber and I hope it maintains this level of quality!

[Enchilada645]

So this seems to be the way we'll be going to help with filming, just these little touches, having tons of stock footage available for finishers and stuff, the fact that we have eyecatches again, Opening and Ending, and stuff like our narrator who is alone and not an active participant (for the moment).

The full Unreal Engine CGI scenes though also seem to be a part of this, at least from a logic perspective. Having CGI segments in an engine they have assets for helps them pad out the episode for however long they want. It also fits with a theory I have in-universe.

So why was Mr. Golem flipping pages? I'd like to imagine that the further you get into Book World the more animated it becomes. You could see that with the green screen where both suits are put over a background that doesn't seem quite there. Then he attacks Touma with a bunch of rocks that force him into the next page, a deeper more animated segment hence the CG, he wasn't just randomly slashing through rocks, those rocks followed him into the CG segment, and it seemed like he had enough power to attack between the pages.

At least that's how I pictured it anyway. Given they have an engine to work with and likely assets and backgrounds, I can see this becoming a more common place thing.

Anyway onto the episode itself, yeah I'll be honest and echo a few people here in saying, "How is this Sentai?" Like I can't tell if some of you are legit or are trying to run a bit here. Because it really didn't feel like Sentai to me? And while I'm not a Sentai connoisseur I've seen enough Sentai itself.

This feels very Zero-One in terms of pacing tbh, especially given we're getting our Secondary Rider next week with no sign of a auxiliary Wonder Ride Book in sight. Speaking of Blades... honestly I have to clap, that man knows how to make an entrance at the end riding his blue lion... also "homo sapiens", your just trying to be fancy aren't you blue lion guy?

But gathering my thoughts so I don't ramble, it's a fun episode, gets you up to speed with what you need to know about the two leads, introduces some mystery on both sides of the Megido and Sword of Logos. You get bits and pieces, just to hook you, and it seems once we visit the Sword of Logos next week we'll be getting a more detailed explanation.

[TheRaizin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

So this seems to be the way we'll be going to help with filming, just these little touches, having tons of stock footage available for finishers and stuff, the fact that we have eyecatches again, Opening and Ending, and stuff like our narrator who is alone and not an active participant (for the moment).

The full Unreal Engine CGI scenes though also seem to be a part of this, at least from a logic perspective. Having CGI segments in an engine they have assets for helps them pad out the episode for however long they want. It also fits with a theory I have in-universe.

So why was Mr. Golem flipping pages? I'd like to imagine that the further you get into Book World the more animated it becomes. You could see that with the green screen where both suits are put over a background that doesn't seem quite there. Then he attacks Touma with a bunch of rocks that force him into the next page, a deeper more animated segment hence the CG, he wasn't just randomly slashing through rocks, those rocks followed him into the CG segment, and it seemed like he had enough power to attack between the pages.

At least that's how I pictured it anyway. Given they have an engine to work with and likely assets and backgrounds, I can see this becoming a more common place thing.

Anyway onto the episode itself, yeah I'll be honest and echo a few people here in saying, "How is this Sentai?" Like I can't tell if some of you are legit or are trying to run a bit here. Because it really didn't feel like Sentai to me? And while I'm not a Sentai connoisseur I've seen enough Sentai itself.

This feels very Zero-One in terms of pacing tbh, especially given we're getting our Secondary Rider next week with no sign of a auxiliary Wonder Ride Book in sight. Speaking of Blades... honestly I have to clap, that man knows how to make an entrance at the end riding his blue lion... also "homo sapiens", your just trying to be fancy aren't you blue lion guy?

But gathering my thoughts so I don't ramble, it's a fun episode, gets you up to speed with what you need to know about the two leads, introduces some mystery on both sides of the Megido and Sword of Logos. You get bits and pieces, just to hook you, and it seems once we visit the Sword of Logos next week we'll be getting a more detailed explanation.

I kinda like your theory. Kinda makes me imagine what if Saber suddenly goes 2D in some scenes. Extremely unlikely tho.

Also, the homo sapiens is probably just a "haha primitive fantasy guy" moment.

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I can't judge Rintarou yet, since his real introduction is in the next episode.

Still waiting to see Rintarou being tormented to do things he does not want to because sweets.

[FreshToku]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

also "homo sapiens", your just trying to be fancy aren't you blue lion guy?

That's just how people in a book club talk about people not in the book club.

[IndigoArms]

I thought the episode was..okay. I know It's just the first episode, but you get a feel on what the show's gonna be. It looks as though it's gonna go for a slower pace in terms of plot.