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08-22-2021, 04:06 AM | #21 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: Wonder World
Posts: 150
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Quote:
This was also heartwarming. I knew this was going to happen somewhere, what with the contest they announced, but damn it's also another one of those moments where you just have to smile. The pure innocence of it! Some neat cameos like IYCH, a toku toy youtuber, got in.
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08-22-2021, 08:38 AM | #22 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,574
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Okay yeah, watching it with subs. I teared up heavily when we got to the second half with the video submissions and then the one year later building up to Touma's return.
I always knew that Touma wouldn't be gone forever, they placed so much emphasis early on with him disappearing that I knew it wouldn't be the case. Them deciding to push the story, writing, and book aspect to it's furthest limits for the finale worked super well. And it's probably why I adore Touma as a protagonist. While he's fairly standard his passion as a writer is what always made him relatable to me. So seeing that at the forefront "I told you, I'm a novelist" made me extremely happy. |
08-22-2021, 09:26 AM | #23 |
WONDER RIDER
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,717
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Just watched this. Holy moly, where do I even begin? Saber may not have been the best Kamen Rider series, in fact it kind of pushed my patience a few times, but it was certainly a fun one. The ending was absolutely heartwarming.
I'll begin with what I actually liked about the show. First, suit designs. Anything knight-themed or fantasy based will win me over, and Saber's suits just hit the right spot for me. Colorful, quirky and just fun without feeling too janky (although Solomon's suit threatened to push it for me when I first saw that thing), the suits really remind me of colorful children books' illustrations, something which, although possibly unintentional, personally fits the whole 'storybook' background the show has. If I had the mindset I had a few months ago, I'd be tempted to say that I'd buy every single Saber Rider Figuarts because of how awesome the designs are, but after me deciding to purge materialism in my life I think I'll just look forward to looking at the designs through a Detail of Heroes book. Second, music was great; medieval inspired flair with lots of angelic choirs and stringed instruments. Then again, Kamen Rider doesn't usually lack in the music department so I can't really say anything here except it's good as always. The henshin jingles were also wonderful, however long they might have been, and to me they really compete with the fun and quirkiness of Ex-Aid's own jingles; they all feel like they have personality behind them. And as a book lover, the Wonder Ride Books have been one of my favorite collectible items for a long time after the Rider Gashats. And now for something besides the visual and audio of the show; no matter how wony some of the character development are, the Riders themselves have some pretty memorable personalities. Touma may be a textbook protagonist, but he's not boring. Shuichiro Naito did a spectacular job at capturing Touma's earnestness and intense moments of emotion. Rintaro's 'homo sapien' shtick, Kento's emo phase, Tetsuo's obsession with swords, Yuri's hilarious moments interacting with the modern world, all the Riders have some memorable quirks and moments that I'll remember for a very long time. Now for what I disliked. I do dislike how some characters get their development in jarring chunks or depend on sudden revelations with no prior hinting towards it. An example of this is Durendal. He was completely loyal to Master Logos but then when Master Logos becomes Solomon and discards it, Ryoga suddenly turns his fangs against Solomon because he only followed Master Logos out of a sense of duty rather than loyalty. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem if it weren't for the fact that all of his previous actions imply the exact opposite. He never questioned Master Logos' orders, and if he ever had doubts about his job, we never really see any hint of it. His sudden betrayal is justified by a last minute revelation. Something else I wasn't too happy about was Desast and Ren. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved seeing these two together, but what I disliked is that they were basically pushed to the side, and when we actually do see them they're just sitting around and eating ramen instead of training or doing something to pursue strength. Ren's character development was mostly condensed to two or three episodes rather than a natural subtle process that should've been weaved throughout their appearances. At the very least Desast's death was satisfactory. Now, as for the story itself, it was pretty good. Not the best, but certainly far from the worst and a HUGE improvement over Ghost. Don't get me wrong, some elements of Ghost are still here, but they've definitely undergone a refinement process that makes them more palatable. For example, Ghost's 'power of friendship' thing is alive and well here in Saber, but here their friendship is actually tested, tried and proven. The power of friendship doesn't power up the main hero from afar via a cheering squad of friends anymore, rather it actively fights alongside the protagonist and they help each other to improve. Blades' miniature arc was a great testament to this. The pacing in the beginning was pretty janky due to the push to introduce new toys, but after that initial period the series became more interesting with the inter-guild Rider conflict. The introduction of Primitive Dragon was excellent as it threatened to shatter Touma's attempts to reconnect to his friends, and ultimately Touma befriending Primitive Dragon, rather than feeling tacked on, complimented his efforts to reconnect to his friends. Something I disliked about the story was the portrayal of Luna as a damsel-in-distress character. Listen, I get it, knights save damsels and all that but the living embodiment of Wonder World being a damsel in distress just seems spiffy; the source of all knowledge takes human form and she can't defend herself? Dafrik? And then her turning into the Wonder Almighty WRB...I call complete hax on this one. I certainly would've preferred the Wonder Almighty WRB to be a culmination of all of Touma and co's efforts and friendship instead of a deus ex machina but what we got is whaat we get unfortunately. Thus ends my rant. Although I don't plan on watching Revice anytime soon due to toku burnout, I do look forward to the special chapter next week for a final glimpse of the swordsmen before the inevitable team up movie or whatever. Saber has been a fun and whimsical ride (with some intense moments) and I'll certainly miss it, although perhaps I should be glad it didn't overstay its welcome.
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08-22-2021, 12:47 PM | #24 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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I was hoping this show would pull a Blade where the final episode is so extremely shockingly emotionally hitting that it would recontextualise the show for me in a way that made me love it, but... ultimately, I've unfortunately come away from this show not a fan.
Not that Saber's a bad show or anything -- putting aside the non-existence of objective quality, I think while there are definite issues I had with the series (the early toypocalypse, about a thousand vaguely-defined plot elements that made the story hard to follow at times, the shindais and luna being really creepy), it's stuff that I think wouldn't have stopped me from loving the show if at the core of the story was something I felt attached to. Unfortunately that just never was the case for me -- I tried to stop posting about this show at some point because I had very little to say with how disconnected I was with it. I think especially with last show and the spate of a lot of bad TTFC specials, Kamen Rider's recent direction has been in a very bad place for me and that made me unfairly judge Saber at a lot of points; and when it's a show you're not into, it really doesn't help that you're tuning into it every week for a year. That's probably going to make it frustrating for you at some point! But ultimately it seems a fine show! I might just give it a rewatch one of these days to try and see what other people saw in it; because clearly there was something here that was resonating with a bunch of people, something that was really hitting a lot of different people from all corners of the fandom. I definitely saw a lot of genuine emotion go into the series as well from all its creative staff, it's just... ... Honestly? I'm just not used to this. I'm very not used to a Kamen Rider series sitting very staunchly in the "not for me" category. Usually I love or like I enjoy it; or I'm able to find at least one element in it I adore and latch onto; or on the opposite end of the scale it's something I have major issues with that make me really dislike it, or even if the show isn't hitting for me I've been able to step back and see what it was doing and be interested in that. But Saber didn't have any of that for me? There were some characters I liked initially but that didn't go in directions I was interested in, and most other stuff wasn't doing much for me. I'm just not used to this! I'm not used to saying "that wasn't for me" and leaving it at that for a Kamen Rider show! Saber just didn't do anything for me, unfortunately. And I'm very happy for the people that it did do something for, a LOT for given the reactions I'm seeing; and maybe I'll join them one day, but ultimately after one last rodeo next week I'm ready to dive into something new with Revice. Very happy for everything it pulled off and for the people it worked for; it looks like you got a great finale here!
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Last edited by Kurona; 08-22-2021 at 12:49 PM.. |
08-22-2021, 12:57 PM | #25 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Quote:
This was also heartwarming. I knew this was going to happen somewhere, what with the contest they announced, but damn it's also another one of those moments where you just have to smile. The pure innocence of it! Some neat cameos like IYCH, a toku toy youtuber, got in.
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08-22-2021, 01:19 PM | #26 |
Zenryoku Zenkai!
Join Date: May 2021
Posts: 372
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HOLY MOLY I WAS IN THE EPISODE!
I stumbled across the final-episode video cameo campaign thingy on twitter just before bed a while back, and submitted a video seconds before I had to be asleep to get enough sleep that night, it was also when there was also just a few hours left until submissions closed! I didn't really expect much to come from it, so I was quite amazed to see myself appear on my TV after I sat down to watch the episode! I couldn't stop smiling and laughing! I even video-called my best friend right away in the moment just to show him! I actually got so ecstatic that my blood sugar crashed and my wife had to go get me some juice because I felt like I might pass out (I have non-diabetic hypoglycemia, but it's super rare that smth so exciting happens that it actually makes me feel faint, usually it only happens when i skip a couple meals in a row lol) that's just how excited I really was! Kamen Rider as a whole has meant so much to me, especially during the hardest parts of my life, and to see myself in it really meant quite a lot, even if it was basically just dumb luck! That was hours ago and I'm still smiling, and feeling full of joyous and moving emotions As for the actual episode (and the show) I really really liked this ending! I think this was about the best I could have expected from the finale, outside of some small nit picks (I would have liked to see more clearly some of Storious' backstory), I really loved this episode! My feelings on Saber as a whole are sort of mixed, I really enjoyed a lot of parts in the early episodes of the show (despite the odd pacing), then the primitive dragon arc really clicked clicked me, and i really really liked most of the ending, but I can't help but feel like a lot of time was spent on fluff and fights rather than giving us character growth and context Desast and Ren have one of the most interesting dynamics in the franchise to me, but I still don't feel like Ren ever clicked for me; I never fully understood how he felt or who he was. I felt like I understood Desast more but not by a lot... I would have liked to see many more scenes of the two together and bonding rather than watching any number of the fluff fights or stories that I wouldn't have minded seeing cut down or removed all together Despite a lot of problems I could point out, something about this show as a whole did resonate with me, even if it wasn't all the time, it did a lot of the time, and I can say confidently that I enjoyed nearly every episode This is definitely a show I'd like to rewatch someday, I enjoyed Ghost the first time around, but enjoyed it a lot more on a recent rewatch, as it felt a lot more consistent and coherent than it did to me the first time around, watching smth over a year can make it a bit hard to process as a whole, it always feels like threads and ideas get lost in my mind over time, on a rewatch things often seem a lot clearer and come together better imo While there are some problems that do bog down parts of the show for me, I think on the whole I'll probably have a soft spot for Saber forever, even though it's difficult to vocalize what made it special to me, and I can only hope that it's ineffable quality becomes more clear to me over time, and that others are able to have a fun time with it Last edited by TheJaz; 08-22-2021 at 01:51 PM.. Reason: clarity |
08-22-2021, 02:41 PM | #27 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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"In the beginning, there was a Swordsman of Flames." The swordsman was also a novelist, who believed more than anyone in the power of stories. The novelist was also a Kamen Rider, who promised to save every life -- every story -- of a world that was already doomed. Like all stories, it was fated to end. Ultimately, this ending happened exactly as written, and all seemed lost. But even still, the swordsman believed, and a new story began, written by all those who believed as well. Fulfilling his promise, this swordsman, novelist, and Kamen Rider became also the savior of the world, and all lived happily ever after.
Hm? What am I going on about, you ask? Nothing more than a story, I suppose, but really, it is quite splendid, isn't it? I adored this episode, if you even have to ask. I think I'm going to save my thoughts on the show as a whole for next week, but right here and right now, I cannot imagine a more satisfying finale for Saber than this. This is sort of working backwards, but even the very idea that the show is properly ending with a chapter after the "final chapter" is so so perfect for everything Saber was about. And that's nearly everything in this episode. Having the thing that saves the day in the end have nothing to do with swords, especially, I can't praise that enough. Exactly like Storious says, the whole final battle is essentially a formality, because the world is falling apart anyway. And, as if Elemental Dragon's debut was foreshadowing this the entire time, the solution to a story with a tragic ending is simply to write a new story. It's the ideal way to give the protagonists an out on the whole fate thing. It avoids feeling too cheap, because everything that was predestined to happen did, but it's also extraordinarily on-point thematically, and that is most of what I tend to value in stories. For this show that started its production under the conditions it did to have its climax be the hero standing alone against a green screen literally thanking the audience for connecting with stories is maybe one of the most beautifully poignant moments I've ever had the pleasure of seeing in Kamen Rider. When I heard they were collecting those videos from fans to be in the show, I would've never imagined how important that would end up being, even when they said upfront they would be featured in an important scene. It's genuinely moving, and I'd like to think that it's something that only happened because of this particular staff, who have now made two Rider shows that consistently, constantly value feelings and connections above all else, in ways few shows can. Saber was confident that it did not need actors to merely portray people who care, and that level of sentiment is exactly why I fell in love with it. That being said, the final battle was one heck of an entertaining formality. Again, having it be Saber and two of his best friends landing the final blow on the villain is everything I could've hoped for, and Wonder Almighty itself comes close to something I was secretly hoping for too, which was that Saber should use all his forms in the last battle. Instead, they had all three of them using the powers of all those books, with Saber simply being Brave Dragon the whole time, which, like, do you think I consider that a letdown, with how much I've talked about Brave Dragon being awesome over the past year? While I was hoping for a Saber fashion show, the really important part was not forgetting all those little books that have helped save the day over the course of the whole show, and this is an end-game episode where Jackun To Domamenoki gets a whole insert shot to itself. It's awesome. Everything about it, from the theme song playing with the perfect timing it does, to Wonder Almighty itself paying off a year of those narration sounds by having it be all the characters from the show, having literally put their feelings into this final Wonder Ride Book. Like, oh man is that a good final fight. It even starts with a return from Primitive Dragon, still the next strongest contender after the Brave variety for my favorite Saber form, because even at the very very end, this show just keeps doing things specifically because I want to see them. It's about more than that, of course. It's also someone who was saved by Touma saving him in return, which further emphasizes all the themes going on here, making it another really poignant moment in an episode full of them. But it's another fight scene with Primitive Dragon, too! And that, too, is awesome. Storious also goes out great, I think, dying much the way the other Megid generals did -- defeated as a villain, but remembering his heart in the end. Ishida's direction helps this along massively, as those silent little flashbacks of his past as a proud teller of stories communicate a ton very quickly and lend so much more weight to the scene. I liked Storious from fairly early on, but it's still crazy to think how fleshed out his character ended up being by the end, and they truly shaped him into the ultimate final antagonist for Saber. And having the very last we see of him being at peace with his old pals, telling Touma completely unironically that he's his hero? I mean, come on, that's just amazing. I'm basically always in favor of conflicts that end with reconciliation, and while I wasn't too sure about this back when Legeiel died, I'm honestly way into the balance Saber found where the villains are monsters to the last, and yet their souls get to rest in peace. Oh yeah, and speaking of which, there's a whole epilogue here, too, isn't there? That was also great! Letting Mei give what is essentially Touma's eulogy was a great decision, because as I've said before, she's a fantastic character who lends herself surprisingly well to more dramatic material. Saving the world was like, 50% thanks to her! So yeah, let her talk about someone who means a ton to her while barely fighting back tears. Go ahead and melt my heart even more, Saber, why not? And of course Rintarou is in the audience, and of course Kento is looking after his best friend's store, and of course you've got Ogami spending time with the family and Daishinji looking at swords and Ren looking for strength and everybody else, all doing things that feel like appropriate spots to leave them on. (Including Yuri reading comic books!) Which means that, of course, you've got Touma himself, still out there with pen in hand, writing words to save this world, and hey, speaking of referencing the opening -- them recreating that shot of him stepping out to greet a bright new day in Wonder World that I've looked forward to seeing so much every week for a year? You guessed it! It's also awesome. Or amazing, or both or whatever. I adored this episode, you guys! I guess that's about all I have to say about this one? This feels shorter than I expected, but while there are still some minor points I could touch on, I think you all get the idea by now. This was a glorious, amazing, awesome, beautiful happy ending for a show that has meant the world to me for 47 chapters, and the only thing more exciting than leaving it on the full-circle visual of that pop-up book revealing one last secret is that the show itself isn't quite done yet either.
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 03-16-2023 at 04:36 PM.. |
08-22-2021, 02:51 PM | #28 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,416
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Saber definitely stuck the landing for me. I was very harsh on the show at first, but once they quarantined most of the cast at the Southern Base and it was just Touma, Yuri, and Mei hanging out with the others gradually filtering back in I really started to get into the series. I appreciate that the finale leaned hard into the show's main theme and it was less about beating a villain than it was about embracing the power of stories.
The show as a whole isn't a new favorite, but it definitely joins that small group with Black RX and Drive of shows that got a rough start before turning into something really, really good. |
08-22-2021, 03:14 PM | #29 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,087
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I'm kind of morbidly curious if Primitive Dragon could've defeated Storious before the transformation got cut off.
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08-22-2021, 04:19 PM | #30 |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 325
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Not gonna lie, Saber was a rough ride for me personally at least.
And those first 14-20 episodes, are rough to get through, a lot of people dropped the show and honestly I do not blame them really considering how much you need to get through to get to the actual good parts of the show. Now, the show did not become GOOD after that, it was more of a kinda slow build up where it went from this is okay, this is pretty bad, this okay again, oh it is getting better and finally for the final storyline it was pretty good overall. I ended up really liking the main villain and especially the final episodes. That said Touma is not a character I really like, I do not think he was a good main character and this is mainly due to the direction and writing and not the actor himself, mostly cause you can see glimpses of him doing pretty solid work. So the main rider is kinda a MEH overall for me. Blades as a secondary was also kinda meh, I do not think he was used that well, in fact after he gets his final power up he was just kinda there as a third wheel honestly, with Kento being more of a secondary rider overall. I do not dislike Blades, but yeah it is what it is. The weird part for me was when Mei and Ren becoming my favorite characters in the show, and that is kinda weird especially considering how much I disliked Ren for the majority of the show, generally due to what I would honestly say pretty bad writing and way to over the top little shit type character style. Now Mei was comedy relief, but she was honestly a big part of the heart of the show overall, and she honestly had some of the best scenes in the show. Ren as a character becomes really good towards the end of the show before the final arc. I do not think the majority of characters where really used that well, they all have some good moments but the overall experience felt kinda wasted here and there as well with a very weird focus on other things instead of fleshing out the actual characters. Now the suits this season where overall really good, so where the monster designs, as few of them we got sadly, which is just how it is for rider these days, my favorite has to be Dragonic Knight, which sadly was not used much at all, the same can be said for Blades first upgrade form of the same level, hey we have this interesting READING mechanic, lets never use it ! Which was a damn shame overall, and they sure retired them pretty quickly, now that might be due to the suits themselves being problematic or other reasons tbf. Music wise and soundtrack in general was pretty good, it is kinda weird they saved pretty much every insert song for the last part of the show though, which is quite unusual and I was actually starting to wonder if we would have no insert songs at all for a while, which is always a bit of a shame for me personally as I really do like it when they throw in a song here and there, but we did get some so that overall was fine. Sound use was overall quite good, effects where pretty good as well. Now yeah this season has had major issues behind scenes for very good reasons, but those issues does not excuse the writing and a lot of the issues for at least half of the series. Overall I think it was okay, I will probably rewatch it and it really helps that the second half and especially the final parts of the show are pretty good. I have recommended to a few people who did drop it, that the second half and the final part overall are pretty good and they could consider giving it another shot, but yeah again that first half is rough to get through for a lot of people. Last edited by DecoyBlackMage; 08-22-2021 at 04:24 PM.. |
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