Kamen Rider Saber E25-26 Review: I Can See The Future

Kamen Rider Saber, Episodes 25-26

Episode 25: Clad in Smoke, Crimson Assassin

So I tried writing a version of this which was longer, but my computer ate it. And as you might probably guess from the past couple of weeks... kind of not having the time to write particularly elaborate reviews or articles (the Pokemon episode reviews were just proof-read articles I wrote months ago) so... yeah, these two episode reviews are going to be a bit shorter than my regular fare. 

Episode 25 of Saber is... both of these feel like they're just building up for the huge next big arc. This one has a good chunk of the episode revolve around everyone being baffled about the rampaging Primitive Dragon form -- we get a 'worst case scenario vision-dream thing from Touma, little Sora draws a cryptic drawing about a lonely dragon, we get Team Touma discussing Primitive Dragon, we get Team Logos discussing the same thing... I do like the little short bit of Mei about to ask Touma something but seems to be afraid, but otherwise it's kind of a slow episode. Again, I actually don't mind this because it actually lets the status quo settle in a bit. 

Speaking of a slower episode, the main trio finally meet each other -- Mei gives Rintaro his Ride-Book back, and Mei's basically playing peacemaker between Touma and Rintaro. The argument between them is... kind of expected, a typical 'two friends who find themselves on opposite sides' thing, which is neat and all. I really don't have much to say here, it's nice that Rintaro's doubts are being shown but he's still level-headed enough to at least attempt a dialogue with his friend. Again, they're both a bit too resolute, but I can also see their points. The fact that Rintaro's big arguments aren't merely about 'but the organization is my family!' and it's actually about him being afraid of Touma rampaging and hurting others makes their conflict actually pretty palpable. 

(There's also a ghost boy involved in Touma's vision or something, but it's really kept deliberately vague and I really don't particularly care)

Meanwhile, Reika shows up in a pretty awesome looking dress in Northern Base, and gets to pull out the smoke holy sword and 'pass judgment' on the traitors. And at least around this episode she ends up feeling less like a chessmaster and more like a fanatic who just really believes in her cause. Which I can certainly vibe with. She transforms into Kamen Rider Sabela in a pretty cool action scene, and she fights against Buster and Slash. The action is pretty cool, and this being Kamen Rider, of course the brand-new toy gets the upper hand. Sabela's pretty damn cool, though, I have to admit. 

Sora gets the main characters back to the base, and Touma's attempt to transform gets him possessed by Primitive Dragon. He beats up everyone, while Rintaro ends up hesitating in cutting down his friend despite his earlier resolution. Then Calibur shows up, blasts Primitive Dragon back and then Calibur transforms to reveal that it's Kento, who's still alive.

...which kind of is obvious, honestly, in hindsight, but kind of an okay revelation, I feel. 

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Episode 26: Deep Darkness, With A Sword

The cliffhanger of the previous episode is obviously quickly resolved, with Sabela escaping, and Kento also buggering off after an ominous pronouncement about sealing all the holy swords. And... and the episode actually goes into Kento's reasonings pretty well. I'm not sure why he thinks that the dark world that his soul was trapped in the Dark Blade Kurayami shows him visions of the future, but the surprisingly well-done and lengthy montage of Kento seeing the world shatter and shatter and shatter and shatter despite many different events happening does really reinforce that, yes, Kento's mind is broken by seeing so many dark futures and he genuinely does believe that there's only one way to stop the apocalypse. I give Saber a lot of flak, but this one is actually well done. 

There's also a surprise explanation about the past, how a girl conntected two worlds and there are five people that arrived there. Three became the Meggido and went evil, one was the first Master Logos and the other one is Victor! Now known as Tassel! Who has been interacting with Yuri for the past couple of episodes, but shows up in-story here to meet Master Logos and gets vaporized maybe. Actually pretty neat stuff, I kinda wished we learned this backstory bit by bit over the past couple of episodes, but hey, at least we got it. And it's nice that it ties into why Kurayami can seal other swords. Oh, and Master Logos is 100% a villain. 

The entire second half of the episode is just a pretty one-note (but genuinely well-done, especially on Kento's actor's part) angst moment as Kento just talks about how he genuinely has no choice but to seal everyone's swords with Kurayami, and how that's the only way they get out of the dark future that they're about to enter. Again, the montage is pretty well-done and a nice way to get us to believe why Kento's so obsessed with his new goal. The action scene, particularly the initial three-way fight between Sabela, Saikou and Calibur, is pretty cool too. 

After another Primitive Dragon rampage with Kento predicts, we're left with the good guys mourning and crying over Kento. Slash also gets his Sound Bayonet sealed, and he's understandably distraught. Pretty neat episode, actually -- I do find the whole 'Kento is 100% convinced he's right and he might damn well be' plotline to be vastly more entertaining than the honestly pretty predictable Primitive Dragon rampaging mode bit. And we get bits of more interesting stuff trickled in the background, like the current Master Logos' real intentions; or the backstory between Tassel, the Megiddo trio and the original Logos. Again, I do think this show bit off a bit more than it could chew in terms of plot juggling, but at least it's doing better. 

Random Notes:

• The transformation jingles for Saber hasn't been something I am particularly fond of. I don't dislike them, but they're nowhere as memorable as the previous four or five series. But FLYING SMOG! STING STEAM! Konchuku Dai-hyakka~ is easily my favourite one out of every single jingle in this series.
• The visuals of her transformation is also extremely cool, and the book she transforms with is literally an insect encyclopedia. In addition to me liking the insect theme, hey, that sounds like an actual book title! 
• So yeah, I guess them having that screaming Kento face after he dies is a neat little foreshadowing that makes his reappearance here nowhere as random as something like Ex-Aid's "nobody can die" mentality.
• There's a little joke about Mei going "wait, is this turning into a love confession???" in regards to Touma and Rintaro's huge emotional moment which caused the internet to apparently explode. I don't really think it'll lead anywhere, though it certainly is funny.
• With Kento back, and Reika seeming pretty adamant about treating him as an enemy, we get a shot of poor Ren's conflicted face. Yeah, we're going to get him to defect next episode or something, huh?
• I've finished watching Kiramager. Pretty charming little series, although I genuinely don't think I have too much to talk about Sentai shows in general. I might give the new show, Zenkaiger, a pass, though, for the simple reason that it's a Zi-O style show and I don't know enough Sentai to really get that. I've also recently finished Garo: Versus Road. Pretty cool stuff, the action scenes were pretty well-choreographed and the ending is... interesting. Not really going to review either of them in this site, but they sure are neat.