Film / Kamen Rider Saber: Trio of Deep Sin

All spoilers for Kamen Rider Saber and its spin-offs are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

"Is justice a sin? This is the story of the sins imposed on these swordsmen."

Eight years later, a new story for the swordsmen begins.

— Announcement Visual's Tagline

Kamen Rider Saber: Trio of Deep Sin is a V-Cinext film set eight years after the events of Kamen Rider Saber, released on January 28, 2022. The story focuses on our main Riders Touma Kamiyama/Kamen Rider Saber, Rintaro Shindo/Kamen Rider Blades and Kento Fukamiya/Kamen Rider Espada.

Eight years after Touma and his allies saved the world from Storious' machinations, Touma, Kento and Rintaro continue with their lives while remaining in touch, with Touma and Mei caring for a perpetually gloomy young orphan named Riku, Kento working as a book translator while dating his girlfriend Yuina Tachibana, and Rintaro continuing his duties as a member of the Sword of Logos. However, the trio's peaceful lives suddenly come to a crashing halt as their fellow swordsmen begin to vanish one by one. When Rintaro investigates the disappearances, he runs into the new Kamen Rider Falchion who claims to be his father before attacking Touma and Kento. Now, the three remaining swordsmen must fend off this sinister Rider's sudden attacks and save their friends and themselves while investigating the terrifying powers of Falchion's mysterious new Wonder Ride Book and the truth about the one behind Falchion's mask...

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Provides examples of:

• Affably Evil: Shinjiro Shinozaki is very polite toward Rintaro despite opposing him. He eschews all manipulation and outright states what he's done to Rintaro, why he's doing it and is impressed when Rintaro accepts responsibility for the dead without giving into despair.
• An Aesop: Despite tragedy and loss, the only thing one can do is move forward.
• Antagonist Title: The titular Trio of Deep Sin consists of Shinjiro Shinozaki, Yuina and Mamiya.
• Anti-Villain: Out of the three Falchions, Shinjiro Shinozaki is the only one fighting for a benevolent goal. He's Rintaro's father (or at least claiming to be so), having lost his zest for the Sword Of Logos as a result of mounting civilian casualties and decides erasing the swordsmen is the only way to give the dead peace and protect people.
• Apologetic Attacker: Shinozaki clearly isn't too happy about having to fight his son, even if he believes it to be for the greater good and when Rintaro finally defeats him, he compliments Rintaro on the man he's become. Similarly, Yuina also ends up reluctant to fight Kento, even if she still wants revenge.
• Arc Words: "All the swordsmen shall be returned to the void..."
• Bare-Handed Blade Block: Kento prevents Kyomu from going straight to his face by grabbing the blade with his hands. However, likely because he was untransformed at the moment, blood can be seen dripping down from his hands.
• Big Bad: The third Kamen Rider Falchion, a.k.a. Shinjiro Shinozaki who claims to be Rintaro's father, is first set up to be the main villain of the movie...until it's revealed to be a Big Bad Triumvirate between him, Yuina and Mamiya. And then comes a shocking revelation about Mamiya and Riku...
• Bloodier and Gorier: Granted, this trope is prevalent in most of V-Cinema movies, since the lack of television restraints means that producers can get away with more adult content. Here, Yuina gets run through by Kyomu with blood spraying out behind her and staining her clothes, and Kento blocking Kyomu with his bare hands with blood dripping onto his face. And if that's not enough, Rintaro is bombarded with a hallucination of bloodied, zombified people surrounding him in his duel with Shinjiro Shinozaki.
• Breaking Old Trends: Previous post-series V-Cinema films are mostly focused on Secondary Riders, Tertiary Riders, or even villains, with the Primary Riders' either serving as a major supporting character or not appearing at all. This film, however, features the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Riders as central characters for the film, with the rest of surviving Sword of Logos members are Demoted to Extra.
• Call-Back:
  • An off-screen hand reaches out to grip the Mumeiken Kyomu in the opening the same way Desast does at the end of Chapter 38 of the main series.
  • A text message briefly appears in the opening which says "All swordsmen shall return to the void", which is a slightly modified wording of Bahato's declaration to Restart the World.
• Central Theme: Moving Beyond Bereavement, as well as demonstrating the consequences that often come with "saving the day."
• Chekhov's Gun: Kento manages to leave a large gash on the right arm of his anonymous attacker. Unfurling Yuina's right sleeve reveals the same scar, outing her as his foe.
  • Mamiya has an intense fear of dogs and pulls away from Lucky at every point, yet the dog never sours towards him. This is Foreshadowing the fact that he's actually a future version of Riku.
• Commonality Connection: Kento and Yuina originally bonded over their common love of One Thousand and One Nights.
• Critical Existence Failure: Played for Drama. The Amazing Siren WRB has the ability to invade people's lives and extract the memories of those they care about, eventually causing these people to fade away entirely. These effects persist even if Falchion is defeated, as the Falchions become the last people the swordsmen remember; erasing both them and their enemy regardless of the outcome.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Once Kento gets his hands on the Arabiana Night Wonder Ride Book, his fight against Kamen Rider Falchion (Yuina) sees him defeat her in less than a minute, making it one of the shortest fights in the franchise.
• Darker and Edgier: Zig-Zagged; The movie is darker and grimmer compared to the main series, and the final battle has Touma's transformation theme cut out, to emphasize the dead seriousness of the film. However, the brighter part is, unlike the Zero-One Others duology which ended horribly, this movie is Lighter and Softer and it ends on a much brighter note.
• Deconstruction: Of superheroes in-general - more specifically the idea of "saving the day." The Big Bad Triumvirate of the film is a group of people whose loved ones ended up collateral damage of the swordsmen's battles, driving them past the Despair Event Horizon and contracting them to the Mumeiken Kyomu to seek revenge. The film consists of the show's Power Trio having their lives upended by the seams as each of their loved ones are taken from them bit-by-bit in an attempt to push them past the brink too. The heroes power through and fight back, only for their Character Development to be their undoing due to their enemies being the only ones left to remember them. A climactic clash against two opposing ideals occurs, but is hardly enough to return things to normal. Instead, Riku picking up the Rekka and clashing blades with Mamiya is what triggers change, unsealing Mamiya's memories of his past as Riku and invoking a Heel Realization that allows him to acknowledge Touma; preventing his past self from picking up the Kyomu and finally putting things right.
• Demoted to Extra: The other swordsmen make only cameos through the movie. Mei also mostly dips from the plot after showing up for the first 10 minutes because Mamiya erased her memories of Touma.
• Destructive Savior: Deconstructed. Shinjiro takes up Kyomu and Amazing Siren in order to avenge the deaths of people dear to him due to the swordsmen's battles. This holds true for Yuina and Mamiya as well.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Kento's girlfriend is seen run through by the Kyomu raising her hand toward his face as he holds her.
• Downer Beginning: The film begins with someone (Riku Mamiya) taking Mumeiken Kyomu and Touma and Mei approaching the burning Fantastic Bookstore Kamiyama.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Around the middle point of the film, Rintaro and Kento run into each other, and manage to bond with each other, even if they currently don't recognize each other due to the effects of the Amazing Siren Wonder Ride Book.
  • Mamiya in his Falchion guise attempts to attack Riku and Lucky in an attempt to erase Touma, unaware that he's attacking his own younger self.
  • Rintaro's battle with Shinjiro hinges on the former's ability to accept the losses that come with what they do; something Daishinji accused Touma of being unable to do during his Frame-Up in the show.
• Dwindling Party: The swordsmen's numbers decrease one by one throughout the film, until it's just Touma, Rintaro and Kento midway through.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Holy hell, this trope gets pushed to its extreme as the entire cast went through hell due to actions of the main antagonist, but Touma manages to reconcile with Mamiya and Riku, with Mamiya stopping his past self from ever touching Kyomu, resulting in every single tragedy that occurred in the film being undone, allowing everyone to live their lives in peace. The movie title even changes from Trio of Deep Sin to Quartet of Deep Love, referring to the new life Touma, Rintaro, Kento and Mei have.
• Everybody Lives: Because the events of the film are undone in the end, all of the swordsmen, as well as Shinozaki and Yuina, are brought back, and it's even hinted that Mamiya survived somehow.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Lucky consistently steps between Falchion and Riku whenever the two make contact. This is because Falchion is Mamiya...and Mamiya is a future Riku.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Mumeiken Kyomu is what empowered the antagonists of the film and is implied to have a will of its own, as seen when it executes Yuina for failing to fulfil her contract.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When Kento discovers Yuina's hesitation to kill him reneges her contract with the Kyomu, he attempts to impale himself on it to fulfil it and save her, only to be narrowly stopped.
• Literal Split Personality: When Riku gripped the Mumeiken Kyomu, a second, older version of himself was created. This persona took the name of "Mamiya" and developed a grudge against Touma for inadvertently getting his father killed in a fire during one of his battles, unaware that Touma was said father.
• Meaningful Rename: As the movie goes to the credits, the title logo changes from "Trio of Deep Sin" to "Quartet of Deep Love".
• My Future Self and Me: Played With. The third Falchion is revealed to be Mamiya, a Backstory Invader who posed as Touma's childhood friend to erase Touma's life and get revenge for the loss of his father by killing the boy Touma took in after the battle by Bookstore Kamiyama. However, a Flashback reveals that Mamiya is a Literal Split Personality of Riku created when the boy gripped the Mumeiken Kyomu. Meaning, he's both a separate entity and the boy's future self. This also means the "dad" he's trying to avenge (who he assumed was killed near Bookstore Kamiyama) was Touma the entire time. Clashing blades with his past self unlocks these memories and puts him into a Villainous BSoD.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Mamiya giving Touma a pep-talk after the latter doubts his ability to care for Riku ends up being the reason his later attempts to torment Touma crumble. Touma's convinced Riku will eventually conquer the trauma of his death and move forward.
• Older Than They Look: Touma, Rintaro and Kento are now in their early 30s, but they still look the same as they were 8 years ago and haven't aged a bit (Possibly Justified in Touma's case, as he's now the guardian of Wonder World). This is Lampshaded by Mei, who points out that she's not getting any younger (like no longer being able to show off her legs and getting tired climbing a hill) despite not looking a day younger than what she looked like during the show.
• Once More, with Clarity: After Mamiya is revealed to be the other Falchion, a montage of how he managed to erase the other swordsmen shows, echoing scenes previously shown in the film.
• Out of Focus: Despite the trio being on the cover, the majority of the film is centered around Touma and Kento. Rintaro's sections are dedicated more to demonstrating what Amazing Siren does rather than extensive character-drama. Justified, as his father Shinjiro Shirozaki discards extensive theatrics for straightforward confrontation of ideal vs. ideal, only wanting his son to acknowledge the losses they've caused — something Rintaro has little difficulty doing.
• Palette Swap: The new Kamen Rider Falchion uses the Amazing Siren Wonder Ride Book, causing the Falchion suit to undergo a monochrome Color Wash.
• Red Herring: Going into the movie, you'd probably assume the titular "Trio of Deep Sin" is Touma, Rintaro and Kento as they're the main characters. It's actually the three users of Kyomu and the Amazing Siren Wonder Ride Book - Mamiya, Shinjiro Shinozaki and Yuina Tachibana.
• Remember the New Guy?: Mamiya is supposedly Touma's other childhood friend besides Kento, despite having never been mentioned before. In fact, he's a Backstory Invader who used the Amazing Siren Wonder Ride Book to insert himself into Touma's life.
• Reset Button Ending: Of a sort. Mamiya stops his past self from touching Kyomu after Touma gets to him, and therefore undoing and preventing every tragic event within the film.
• Ret-Gone: The swordsmen are slowly being phased out of existence, which is done by using the Amazing Siren Wonder Ride Book to rip away their memories which is shown in a manner resembling one tearing off entire pages in a book; the victims will thus not remember their friends, causing them to vanish from existence. This also happens to Rintaro and Kento when Rintaro kills Shinjiro and Yuina is stabbed by Kyomu for failing to fulfil her part of the deal, because since they're the only ones who remember Rintaro and Kento respectively when Amazing Siren takes away their memories, their deaths mean that no one will remember them, and they thus disappear from existence.
• Running Gag: Everybody's legs suffer at the hands of stairs.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Given how this movie is Darker and Edgier, Mei is noticeably less "genki" here than she is in the series, which may be due to her getting older. She exits the plot after the first 10 minutes, and doesn't appear until the end.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: The first time Kento encounters Amazing Siren Falchion, they suddenly approach and attack him with no warning. When Kento fights back and wounds Falchion on their arm, they retreat from the scene and disappear before Kento's eyes.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Arguably the Central Theme of the film. The villains of the movie aren't overlords or boogeymen, instead being people that have lost loved ones as a result of battles waged by the local superheroes that have fallen past the Despair Event Horizon and are out for revenge.
• Taking You with Me: Rintaro and Kento defeating their versions of Falchion erases them from existence too due to their opponents ensuring they're the last ones that remember them.
• Token Evil Teammate: Mamiya directly targets a child to torture Touma as opposed to the other two, whose conflicts remain interpersonal.
• Token Good Teammate: Out of the three Falchions, Shinjiro's "revenge" is rooted around the notion of protecting people from what he sees as Destructive Saviors rather than any personal grudge.
• Time Skip: The movie takes place eight years after the events of the main series.
• Trailers Always Lie: Shinjiro Shinozaki is given the most focus in previews, setting him up as the Big Bad. He's actually part of a Big Bad Triumvirate between him, Yuina and Mamiya - the actual Trio of Deep Sin.
• Trash the Set: Fantastic Bookstore Kamiyama is burned down at the beginning. When Touma and Riku revisit it 8 years later, it's replaced by a public park.
• Two Dun It: It turns out there's actually three people using Falchion's identity — Shinjiro Shinozaki, Mamiya and Yuina Tachibana.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: There are three storylines the film revolves around: Touma and Riku, Kento and Yuina, and Rintaro and Shinjiro.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Saber fighting near Bookstore Kamiyama eight years prior causes the store to go up in flames, instilling a fear of swords and fire in Riku. This causes Riku's future self to misinterpret the battle as having gotten his father killed and kicks off the events of the film.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite Touma's World-Healing Wave resetting the world, the Megid still exist in-force and are never addressed.
• Wham Shot: As Kento arrives back to his home to find out where Yuina is gone, she manages to appear right before him. As he examines her sleeve, he finds out that she has a cut—the same cut that he inflicted on Falchion when he was ambushed by Falchion, essentially confirming that there is more than one user of the Amazing Siren Wonder Ride Book.
• Would Hurt a Child: Mamiya directly targets Riku in order to torment Touma, narrowly stopped by Lucky every time. Turns out, he was almost committing suicide.

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It's bittersweet
A past we can't return to
Has its ups and downs
A future to look forward to
It's bittersweet
A present where everything blurs together
Goes on just like this
This cycle connects us all, round and round it goes

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