|
|
Thread Tools |
02-11-2023, 04:45 AM | #651 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Aug 2021
Posts: 1,850
|
Oh yes, episode 26! You know, Saber is considered the least dark season of Reiwa, but replaying these episodes, you realize that this is a very superficial look. The show really torments the souls of its characters very much. And don't forget about the body. So, Kento, as Calibur, makes sacrifices. I was actually very impressed with how his visions of endless apocalypses are shown. I really like how the reveal of Kurayami's properties explains the past (and future) of the show. So having Calibur standing at the Book Club base in armor made sense within the show itself. Also in this episode there is a Primitive Dragon's cry. And poor Daishinji!
In general, this is a great example of how to show the suffering of your favorite characters so that the viewer likes it and does not seem like a pointless "drama for the sake of drama." |
02-11-2023, 01:53 PM | #652 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,083
|
Quote:
According to the show?s production log, Kamijo knew that Kento would suffer endless visions if he was exposed to Kurayami through touch or being trapped in its dimension for two long (if you go back, you?ll notice he always carried it with a gloved hand). The reason he gave it to Touma was so that Kento could be freed relatively quickly and without going insane. (Though how he expected him to do so, I?m not sure).
Kamijo cursing Kento to be tortured with maddening visions in a dimension of shadows, but also feeling bad about it and hoping someone else will correct his poor decision-making through means that he did not bother to explain, and then it all going sideways because he was just like You Get The Gist and no one could follow-up because he died... that is maybe the most Kamijo thing I've ever heard. I'm not sure if I hate it or love it. Quote:
Oh yes, episode 26! You know, Saber is considered the least dark season of Reiwa, but replaying these episodes, you realize that this is a very superficial look. The show really torments the souls of its characters very much. And don't forget about the body. So, Kento, as Calibur, makes sacrifices. I was actually very impressed with how his visions of endless apocalypses are shown.
__________________
Currently working on: KAMEN RIDER W! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
02-11-2023, 02:59 PM | #653 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 318
|
Uhhhh, this episode!
Yes, I was so in love with it. It feels so hopeless in a way; everything that can go wrong goes wrong as more and more forces amass against our heroes just when things were looking on the up for once. It is everything I love in a show! Also, I don't exactly how deep we went into the visions this episode, and I don't wanna accidently spoil something only because I wanted to talk about one of my favorite little details in Saber, so I'll hold that off till I know for sure that was revealed yet ^^ That said, I agree very much with the "you realize that this is a very superficial look" statement. It also heavily reminds me of the theme song of the show, which, while sounding rather hopeful is very melancholic. Lines like: "Masking the hidden tears" and "The wisdom written with a surplus of loneliness" really sell that and I think it is perfect for Saber. It's about suffering, shouldering responsibility and trauma, while simultaneously never giving up on your friends, yourself and the world. It delivers a lot of cruel gut punches, but always with a conviction that even through you will suffer in live, the final chapter of your story will be written by you, even if others may set the scene. Yeah, I'm gushing about this show again. And don't expect this to change, there is a lot I adore this show for and we haven't nearly run out of it yet ^^
__________________
|
02-11-2023, 03:11 PM | #654 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,083
|
Quote:
It's about suffering, shouldering responsibility and trauma, while simultaneously never giving up on your friends, yourself and the world. It delivers a lot of cruel gut punches, but always with a conviction that even through you will suffer in live, the final chapter of your story will be written by you, even if others may set the scene.
__________________
Currently working on: KAMEN RIDER W! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
02-11-2023, 03:15 PM | #655 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,083
|
KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 27 - “I’LL CHANGE YOUR SORROW, INTO A SMILE”
I mean, of course this show resolves its Berserk Form storyline by having Touma write a happier ending for his uncontrollable collectible. Of course. It’s an incredibly sweet ending. Primitive Dragon is revealed to be a scared child, lashing out from sorrow and loneliness. It’s there on the costume, and on the book: a grasping hand, looking for someone to call a friend. Touma’s solution is to let Primitive Dragon know that, even in the times when all of its friends had vanished, it was never really alone. It had the wind, the seas, the earth to be there for it. It’s a lovely way of showing how depression can be just a way of feeling cut off from the world, not feeling cut off from people. Touma’s intervention is a reminder that Primitive Dragon is still a part of the world, so it can still make new friends, find new happiness. Elemental Dragon continues that really lovely trend of smart suit designs, with a pair of shaking hands as its armor, and a big ol’ THANK YOU when Touma de-Henshins. It’s all about harnessing this group of friends – the elements of nature and a gigantic skeleton dragon and a sword-fighting novelist – into an unstoppable force for justice. I don’t know if I love the All Colors scheme of it, but I like how much it’s about the end of this particular story. And the story’s a great Saber-specific story, about how much perspective and intention matter when we’re processing events. What to a small child might look like abandonment and an ending, to an adult might look like a new chapter. It’s a nice parallel to Kento’s story, where he’s unable to see past his fears and find hope in Touma’s ability to change someone’s fate. This is a series about not accepting terrible outcomes and trying to create a better future, so it stands to reason that Kento lifelong pessimism is the biggest obstacle this show can have right now. Mostly because it’s sure not going to be Legeiel! He gets an interesting little coda, where it becomes clear that he (and probably Zooooooous) wasn’t aware of his past, and therefore maybe was rewritten to be a blundering villain. I still don’t really care about the Book Club – and this episode was them as yet another forgettable speed-bump along a much more interesting road – but at least the show is trying to provide some additional depth to them. Overall, a very sweet conclusion to the Primitive Dragon arc. It’s an ending that I literally can’t think of another Kamen Rider show attempting, and it landed the surface-level absurdity with grace and beauty. High marks for this one. — CAN’T DO MUCH Rintaro had arrived in time to see his friends fighting Legeiel. It was already going poorly. Legeiel was more gold then Rintaro remembered. With the way he was keeping Ogami and the Sword of Light at bay, he was likely empowered by some Megid scheme. It was always some Megid scheme. Touma was there. Rintaro wasn’t surprised. Even if Legeiel hadn’t been screaming for Touma to fight him, Touma couldn’t stay away from people in danger. And, at this point, Touma also couldn’t keep from putting people in danger. It was why Rintaro had come, after all. He’d known the destructive power of Primitive Dragon, and how it was commandeering Touma’s body during battle. Touma swore he could learn to control it, but Rintaro knew better. Touma’s faith in his ability to save people was going to get people hurt, and Rintaro was going to have to hurt Touma, in turn. Touma had asked Rintaro to make sure that Primitive Dragon didn’t harm any innocents, and Rintaro was going to keep his promise. Soon, it looked like. Primitive Dragon was tearing away at the Sword of Light, while Legeiel attacked Ogami. Soon, Rintaro would have to intercede, and stop the rampaging– Wait. Primitive Dragon, the whirlwind of ferocious destruction, had stopped. It stood there, deaf and blind to the world. It was the only time Rintaro had ever seen it when it wasn’t attacking friend and foe alike, and it looked… peaceful? There was a melancholy to its color and shape that Rintaro felt vaguely protective of. “Touma is doing his best to find a solution right now!” the Sword of Light shouted. Ogami responded, “We gotta hold Legeiel back until then!” As Legeiel battered his friends, Rintaro could see the truth of it. Touma wasn’t about to fall to the rage of a mystical story, or lose himself in bottomless rage. Touma was going to win. He was going to do the impossible, and convince an immortal weapon of destruction to be his friend. It was so clear to Rintaro now. Touma’s belief in himself was a power Rintaro wished he possessed, and a power that couldn’t be denied. Touma was going to find a way to fix this. He just needed time. Rintaro gripped the King Lion Daisenki Ride Book tightly, and prepared to give Touma that time.
__________________
Currently working on: KAMEN RIDER W! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
02-11-2023, 03:24 PM | #656 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,528
|
Twice in one day? (As far as I’m concerned, due to time zones) Well, I might as well dish.
As you surmised, and as I hinted at when you were at Primitive’s debut, there is a second part to his power up (still don’t own it myself. Maybe one day) …And becomes a heroic God-Beast by uniting hands with the ancient powers! Take your hand when meeting the ancient dragon! Now is the time, use the twin powers! It’s time to mashimashi! And surprisingly, despite there being everything in place for a Legiel book to be made as, at least, a P-Bandai, there is no released version of Legiel’s ARB. But then again, there aren’t any Alter Books post the first P-Bandai release (more on that in the future), but given how liberal they started getting with previously unreleased items shortly afterwards… Anyway, I like how Kento not having predicted this doesn’t automatically change his mind, even if I know of a few people who didn’t. Next time: I partially borrow En-chan’s schtick and a new character appears who lets me Take A Chance to go Halfway to Forever with an unintentional name similarity. |
02-11-2023, 03:29 PM | #657 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,083
|
Yeah, I assume some folks didn't love Kento not completely rewriting his sense of martyrdom and fatalism because one (1) good, unexpected thing happened, but I'm pretty okay with it? It's just Kento to a T: if he's provided with one good outcome and one bad outcome, he's going to believe in the bad outcome 101 times out of a hundred. While he's surprised at Touma's success, he's still not going to see it as proof of anything other than a minor, irrelevant variable.
__________________
Currently working on: KAMEN RIDER W! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
02-11-2023, 03:42 PM | #658 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,523
|
So yeah, with this little story taken care of, yeah I'd say Primitive Dragon is definitely like one of my favorites in terms of berserk forms. It takes what I think Saber excels strongly at, relating things to storytelling, and basically makes that the solution to the whole arc.
And we see Touma's love for stories shine through again as he uses that to comfort someone who was hurting greatly. We get Elemental Dragon, which is honestly pretty cool in that it very much combines most of the elements of our original grouping of Sword of Logos swordsmen (sorry Daishinji, Touma couldn't think of anything poetic about sound). So in a sense we get our all combined form of sorts if you want to think of it like that. I don't, I mostly think it's just a really cool form with a bunch of different elements to it. Speaking of the form itself though. I know people don't exactly like it, and wish it was more of a singular color but... I feel like that'd defeat the symbolism behind it? Like if you say covered up the remaining parts that are Primitive Dragon with a complimentary color scheme for Elemental... you'd be hiding Primitive Dragon, which is what you don't want to do. Likewise if you made Elemental's parts complimentary to Primitive's... that also doesn't work because you lose the idea of Elemental being this warm comforting friend that's reaching out towards the lonely Primitive Dragon. It's a very interesting form in which Elemental and Primitive co-exist, and while it looks awkward at some parts of it, having Elemental basically wrap itself around Primitive but not cover it up? I think that works beautifully. Now let's get a few footnotes out of the way. I do like how we brought back the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to do something interesting with it. Make it an isolation room as Touma flails around trying to reach out to Primitive Dragon as much as he can while everything else is going down. And speaking of everything else going down... Legeiel. There's a hint of tragedy in that he's gone so far with power he's basically forgotten his roots in a sense. At least that's how I see it being presented. It strikes enough pity with me to feel something at his death, though he is very much the least interesting of the trio of Book Club members at the end of their run. Zooous is still on top for me if I'm being honest and Storious has always been second for me. I feel as though Legeiel's obsession with Touma stemmed from his humiliating defeat from the Yeti Megid case, and then just subsequent losses piling on further with the Phantom Beast Megid never really getting the payback he wanted. If there's one vibe I always got with Legeiel... it was pride, for as little that showed. As for the last of it. There's a nice difference of reactions here. With Rintaro seeming to get some kind of peace/clarity from Touma's actions while Kento is still not budging in the slightest. Which leads into our story. I do like how we see Rintaro and Kento both roll up to this fight, neither entering it. And I do feel like you managed to get Rintaro's mindset down with this, his fear and doubts in Touma turning into hope when he realizes the situation has clearly changed. ===Zero Presents: Desast Walk=== Desast Walk #8: "Hello, humans. I'm Dessert. Do you ever have those moments when you just don't care about anything? You're in a place where there's no smell, and you're just staring at the clouds drifting in the wind. Thinking about stupid things and then forgetting about them. I wonder how he's doing? Let's get going." |
02-11-2023, 03:44 PM | #659 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,288
|
Quote:
KAMEN RIDER SABER EPISODE 26 - “ENVELOPED IN DARKNESS, HIS SWORD IN HAND”
Pessimism is, in a lot of ways, a coping mechanism. Adversity can multiply, where a tiny setback becomes a major obstacle becomes an insurmountable barrier. We look to the future not as a shining reward or a needed respite, but as the next shoe to drop. Believing that we lack the power or tools to better our situation means it’s not only safer to believe it’ll all get worse, it’s smarter. We’re better off not hoping for things to improve. We’re right to give into a bleak outlook, and just navigate the world with a cloud over our heads. Quote:
It’s tough to have optimism, but it’s crucial for both our emotional health and our survival as a species. We have to see ourselves as able to control our destinies, and we have to think that we can create a future that’s better than the present. It’s enormously difficult, never more so than when depression makes optimism seem like the cruelest of jokes. But the need to push towards a happier tomorrow creates at least the possibility of that outcome, while surrendering to pessimism practically ensures a tragic result.
Quote:
Kento’s story, inevitably, is one of feeling like he doesn’t have any outs. He only saw one path for him, based on his father’s actions. Trapped in the Realm of Shadows, he lived out an endless string of emotionally-eviscerating apocalypses, where no amount of optimism or teamwork could generate a safe resolution. Now he’s back in the world, but he still sees nothing to do but whatever the most isolating path might lead him towards.
Quote:
Touma’s having to grapple with the idea that a cheerful smile and a heartfelt promise might prove unequal to a world where sorrow lasts for millennia and power corrupts all bonds. What do we do when we can’t reach the people we love the most? How do we protect ourselves from the toxicity of that pessimism? How do we find a way to save people for whom salvation feels like ignorance? It’s asking Touma to level up in a way other than collectibles and form changes, which is the most interesting thing a show like this can attempt.
Speaking of SoL, the Master Logos here gives the very vibe of extremely despicable villain, and more of Tassel is revealed where his real name is Victor, and he's the protector of Wonder World, which is why he didn't intervene on the events on the main cast. The backstory of the premise explained by Yuri is a bit simple but it's all connected together as they all go on different paths including Tassel. Quote:
And it seems that to reinforce how 'strong' they're to 'break' the mold, they're given terrible traits (including toxic masculinity, as feminity is viewed as inherent weakness), as this post notes. It also appllies in KR franchise where at this point, mostly the females who become Riders are the ones with those stereotypical 'tough' personality (which means many are asshole ones), while females like Poppy or (sorry, yeah she temporarily going off deep end but otherwise she's all-loving one too) Tsukuyomi aren't prominent Riders, even if they're prominent characters. U̶n̶p̶o̶p̶u̶l̶a̶r̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶y̶ ̶I̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶Z̶i̶-̶O̶,̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶b̶o̶t̶h̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶n̶e̶v̶o̶l̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶T̶s̶u̶k̶u̶y̶o̶m̶i̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶s̶t̶ ̶S̶w̶a̶r̶t̶z̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶a̶p̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶r̶u̶t̶h̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶O̶r̶a̶,̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶T̶s̶u̶k̶u̶y̶o̶m̶i̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶d̶v̶a̶n̶t̶a̶g̶e̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶.̶ Quote:
As a reminder, Reika is only my third least favorite female Rider of the Reiwa Era. Female Riders may have been getting stronger recently, but it doesn't matter to me if the character is unlikable. It should be possible to have a female Rider who is both strong and a good character, like Mage or Na-Go.
Quote:
Quote:
There are many other ways to contribute, like raising morale, tactics and strategy, effective commanding and leading, analysing and figuring out the opponent’s weakness, acting as the tank to absorb damage yourself while your teammates find a way to win, tactical diversion, delaying your opponents (buying time), etc.
__________________
The most complete non-wiki encyclopedias for Kamen Rider series (currently only found Ryuki and OOO's). Last edited by DreadBringer; 02-11-2023 at 03:58 PM.. |
02-11-2023, 03:50 PM | #660 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,083
|
Quote:
Speaking of the form itself though. I know people don't exactly like it, and wish it was more of a singular color but... I feel like that'd defeat the symbolism behind it? Like if you say covered up the remaining parts that are Primitive Dragon with a complimentary color scheme for Elemental... you'd be hiding Primitive Dragon, which is what you don't want to do.
In this instance, I was referring to his father's betrayal of the Sword of Logos.
__________________
Currently working on: KAMEN RIDER W! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
Thread Tools | |
|
TokuNation News & Rumors |
actor Minori Terada dead at 81 |
Seihou Gaim Figuarts |
Kamen Rider Outsiders Ep5 with a new form for... |
Gatchaman in America |
Ride Kamens |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:21 AM.
|