Kamen Rider: General Thread

What do you think of Saber so far? I stopped at around episode 5 or so and haven't had time to pick it back up until now, but from what I've been reading of people's reactions, it's plagued by hamfisted misunderstandings and so forth, so I dunno if I should bother.

GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs

A part of me is hoping this ends up a bit like Drive where it starts to really pick up like post-20ish but not holding my breath.

Burning love!

Welp, guess what, Reika will transform into a Rider, Kamen Rider Sabera [1]◊

Edited by jun_kagami on Feb 23rd 2021 at 11:36:43 PM

Ah hell yes!

Well, finally got a female Rider for this series. One out of ten...

Finally another animal Rider (her book is based on insects). Her sword looks pretty cool, but that's definitely gonna be Premium Bandai.

Time will tell if she's particularly powerful or if she gets shortchanged. But yeah, it is good, and it makes sense considering she's part of the Sword of Logos and all.

One Strip! One Strip!

finally a female rider, aaaaaaaaand it's one of the antagonist which means she'll gonna have to die eventually unless she turns good.

Also, about the name, I've heard it might supposed to be "Szabla", the Polish word for "sabre".

Edited by ShiningStardust on Feb 23rd 2021 at 9:55:46 PM

Yua already shattered my expectations by not succumbing to the female rider curse and surviving. And, as an added bonus (go alliteration!), she punched Gai in the face. So Reika I hope she stays around for a while.

Burning love!

My rough understanding of Japanese tells me she's associated with smoke. So that's a weird out there thing.

Her sword is called Eneiken Noroshi, which can be translated as: Smoke Imperial Sword Signal Fire/Smoke Signal. So yeah, her main power is definitely controlling smokes.

Okay so there's a clear order to the Zi-O extra crap because watching them from one episode of one series to another and back makes things confusing as fuck. Zi-O v. Decade has to be watched first and then Decade v. Zi-O. It makes a bit more sense now but again, the hell is the point of these again? Anyways:

Zv D 3:

Okay so Alternate Dimension!Yusuke is the killer but his victims are either Robo!Sougo (who is a robot), Heure (who is a Space Ninja?) and Misa (who is a ghost). And Oma Zi-O is around I guess? Yeeeahhh, I'm more confused as ever about this.

NARUTAKI!!! You finally showed your ass here. Too bad you didn't yell out ONORE DECADE though. But then, forced to be the referee of a Death Game for so many death loops and having to bring in your nemesis to get your ass out of this job is so satisfying to us.

Dv 3:

Kiddo is Oma Zi-O and the true Sougo. And Tsukasa is dead (and Heure). And I guess Zi-O Decade Armor-Saber is stronger than Oma? I'll give it that Oma Zi-O is probably not at full power but still though.

Leave it to Toei to not completely kill off its own characters given that Ora and Swartz are off Time Jacking again and are likely to find Heure again. Which I seriously wished they actually went into more depth about Ora and Heure so I actually give a crap about them. And Woz hinting that it's not the last of Tsukasa makes sense if you remember in the first Movie Wars about how he came back to life from the friends he made along the way.

Complete 21 is still dumb as shit. And a waste of a suit because he barely did anything in it. Granted he got stabbed by Asshole!Yusuke but still.

Okay but the whole thing just feel pointless. And I feel like anytime you give Inoue (Toshiki) a script to write that isn't one he was head writer of, you definitely see that he never really watched them. Not really disappointed at the end compared to Ryuki because I went in this with like no expectations.

---

Flew under my radar but got around to watching Pretty Den-O. What can I say? It's Den-O. It's fun, a lot of stuff packed in for 22 minutes, and plenty of that Den-O humor.

Edited by terumokou on Feb 24th 2021 at 1:27:56 AM

Burning love!

Decade Vs Zi-O 3

So it goes from a life-or-death game where murders were also happening to an actual killing game. Sure.

I figured everyone was from different dimensions, but this is wild. Yusuke's evil, Sougo's a robot, alt-Heure's a space ninja and Misa's a ghost. Bit of a mood whiplash but hilarious.

Tsukasa, you really shouldn't pull the knife out...

Freaking Narutaki! People were expecting him to show up in a Zi-O thing eventually, but this is an odd choice. I still haven't actually watched Decade so I can't say how in-character this is for him.

If Sougo and Tsukaska could transform, why did neither of them try to beat Another Ryuki earlier? Or even just use their armour to protect themself from the others, who only had normal weapons?

And the other Decade Riders are here also.

How the hell does Robot!Sougo have the Saber Ride Watch? I guess he could have got it from Robot!Touma but that's quite the hand-wave and they don't even say that.

Ok, Decade Vs Zi-O very definitely comes before Zi-O Vs Decade. Would be nice if they maybe made that clear, or you know, released them in that order.

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Zi-O Vs Decade 3:

More Sougos. Does Swarz know about the one Decade killed before he got to the school?

Is the boy going to turn out to also be a Sougo?

Doing a Rider kick while lying prone on the ground is a neat strategy

This Sougo's entire selling point is that he has a teddy bear... and it apparently works? Eh, sure.

And we've got violent delinquent Sougo.

I am loving how the other Zi-Os have diferent henshin sequences. Kinda wish we saw more of those.

Well, at least one Sougo is upset at seeing the other ones die. Seeing a doppelganger of yourself die would be pretty disturbing.

Does this mean eating Inves meat is actually completely fine? 'Eating monster meat' feels like the kind of thing that would normally come with consequences.

Did that guy ever catch a goldfish?

Yep, the kid's Oma Zi-O.

Teddy Sougo's henshin is the best, but he dies instantly.

So goldfish guy still voted for Sougo A, despite the school being in the middle of an Inves attack, and since that was the only vote he wins. Cool Sougo respects this decision for some reason.

And Heure takes the bullet/fireball for Sougo. For a franchise with very few gay characters, there's a lot of Bury Your Gays going on.

And of course there's no explanation whatsoever as to where the K-Touch 21 came from. God that cape is ugly.

Swatz can still turn into Another Decade!? Eh, why the hell not at this point. And he's, at least, for the course of this fight, a good guy? I'm half-expecting Ora to turn into Another Drive even though that was never her in the first place.

As cool as that sweeping laser beam was, you couldn't give this form a new finisher?

It's a watch I can't use, because I don't have a Ziku Driver.

It's here, the lowest effort form ever. The proper Zi-O Decade Saber form would be Crimson Dragon or Dragonic Knight. Guess they didn't want to make that form since they're still using those suits?

Tsukuyomi possibly appeals to kid Sougo's better nature, or maybe just distracts him.

Huh, are they actually leaving two Sougos alive? Weird. Well, Build did it.

And Swartz and Ora are back in full-on Time Jacker mode. And Woz is being ominous. Chance of more Zi-O coming?

Yeah, I didn't like these. The plot makes a bit more sense with everything complete and in order, but it still just wasn't very good. At least Inside Out is a neat song.

The only reason I stopped watching Saber is the same I stopped Kiramager....the ads can be freaking annoying to deal with. I honestly like the show, so I'm coming back since I last ended at 16, and right now and I'm 17.

Although, 15 had a good resolution, my issue is that the Rider Kicks for Buster, Slash, and Kenzan were so freaking underwhelming. As for the whole Reika situation and forcing Touma against the other Riders, I'm mixed.

• On one hand, it was refreshing that the first arc set them up as Touma's allies before he became their enemies like an inverse Gaim/Ex-Aid, plus now that we know the Great Book is predetermined, it's an issue to see whether or not Touma and Yuri can rewrite the book and change destiny. Plus, it's nice to see all the experience Touma's gotten shape up against his former friends. And it does make sense Touma and Kamijo having similar ideogolies about uncovering the truth could contain some flags, and Reika sounds like a weird Kamen Rider fan theorist.
• On the other hand, Poor Communication Kills is an annoying trope versus Undying Loyalty could be a message on how trust needs to be earned and blind trust is an easy form of deception. But after some real life situations, I'm starting to realize that poor communication is much more realistic.
  • Plus from the previews, I like how they're contrasting Ryo and Daishinji experience and maturity to Ren and Rintaro's inexperience.

Reika's surprisingly good at using Exact Words.

This second arc has some promise though. These human-Megid fusions are much more stronger than before (seriously, what is it with Naruto and Kamen Rider establishing new threats are powerful via Ice creatures being able to negate Fire attacks)

19: Well, Slash is getting getting at figuring this all out. I love how Yuri points out he's so distrustful but he's taking the effort to actually learn more.

20: Wait, are Legeiel and Ren all fighting each other over who can fight Saber? Okay that's actually pretty fun.

• WAIT, DESAST, it's been like 5 episodes, where have you been!? Looks like he got stronger. Wonder what he meant by "I knew you were one of us" to Ren? That Ren's some sort of Megid/human, sleeper agent?
• Oh shoot, Mei actually got hurt in an explosion.
• Wait, he can heal people...I should not be surprised. Healing's either with powers associating with Light, Wind, Water, and sometimes Fire and Lightning
• Oh, so Daishinji remembered.

21: Okay, that was a good fight between Slash and Saber!

22: Touma bro, did he just tank Genba's finish attack and didn't faint? He's getting better.

23: Okay, I've been on this tab for too long. And anyone find it weird Kento was taking out of the first third of the opening and Yuri wasn't....oh wait, they put Yuri in the opening now. Well at least they didn't forget about Rin vs Zoo.

As for the characters overall

• Touma: Good. He's got a good personality and motivation, and I like his creativity to make up for him being new at this. Only problem I have with him is the amnesia thing, though it helps that Luna plays a bigger part than he realizes.
• Mei: Ummm...hmmm....I don't hate her....I think she's not being used to her maximum potential. Like the episode where she made up for losing Sora is great, when she's being The Heart, and being the straight/goofy balance to Rintaro and Yuri's antics is legitimately fun (Rintaro/Mei maybe). Good screen presence but I want her to be more than just Mission Control. Okay final verdict: she's entertaining to watching.
  • Apparently her actress cosplayed as Rebecca from One Piece. As someone who's only problem with Rebecca was that she didn't win a major fight or team up with her dad against Diamente, cool!
• Rintaro: Good so far, Fish out of Water that slowly grows more mature and less gullible. Hope they do more with him and his dead mentor, because with the whole are the Sword of Logos mistrustful it'd be interesting if he found out his former mentor was involved in some way.
• Kento: Okay. He really just lacks the fun the first "dead" of these multiple writers had. His decline into being suicidial for answers is a bit mixed since there's good (spiral and being more reckless was well acted plus his friendship with Touma being his only sane feature), and bad (he kinda got himself killed when he didn't need to)
• Ren: Mixed. When he's being his playful Blood Knight self, he's just a joy to watch. When's he's being unnecessarily angry at Touma, I get where he's coming from since Kento was like his big brother, but he goes a bit too overboard and sometimes his acting seems forced. Really, I just need "why" he joined since if he was also an orphan by Rintaro, it'd also make sense.
• Ryo: THE BEST. His rivalry with Deseat is great, I love him being a Team Dad to the group, and he's really grown to be the most mature. I wanna read that Gaiden or something with his girlfriend when he first joined up. That's go
• Daishinji. Good. Nice balance of professional and quirky, but also isn't blind
• Sophia: Kinder to Mei than the fanbase is. Just wish she's not gone for long.
• Reika and Master Logos: I need more time with them just to figure out their motives. If they're playing the Megid and Swordsmen like pawns on purpose, good on them.
• Yuri: Enlightened entertaining.
• Calibur: I can relate to him trying to figure out the truth and realizing the people who he trusted are lowkey trash.
• The Megid feels like they have a bit too many generals. Honestly, they just need to fuse Storious & Legeiel into one and Zooous & Desast into another. One of Fukoda's weakness is that he has too many villains at a time and doesn't give them all the proper time they need. Which is weird because until I fully get absorbed into A Certain Magical Index, I can handle a show with a large cat. For now the generals are fine, Desast being the best, Legigel just feeling a bit too in between compared to the other two.

I wanna add Kamen Rider Dragon Knight to Central Theme, cuz I was rewatching a few more episodes the other day, and I think I figured it out. Loss can be a gateway to temptation, but doesn't have can also lead to growth. Or the end doesn't justify the means.

• Amongst the heroes and growth: Dragon Knight lost his mother, the Big Bad stole his' father's essence and hijacked his body for the first half to trick him into join, and lost the respect of all the people around him, and even a close ally along the way but ultimately choose to not betray his allies to get his Dad back and sacrificed himself for the cause. Wing Knight and Siren were betrayed and closed their hearts off from even considering allies but never quit and continued the fight. Maya lost all her research and her career as a journalist but still helped out the heroes. Sting was suffering from asthma and lost his chance to be a Marine and considered himself The Load but ultimately valued his worth and saved the Knights.
• Amongst the villains: Big Bad won a war and most of his planet was destroyed partly because of his planets so now he invades and kidnaps planets so they can rebuild it and his planet and he's intentionally targeted responsible for most of the hardships of the main cast since he wants to break Wing Knight. Strike was arrested for trying to uncover government secrets after his brother was unfairly imprisoned, and when he was freed, and willingly went with Xaviax because of that fear and power he gained as a Rider. Torque willingly sold out his planet for that power. Incisor was disowned, Thrust was framed and lost his career, Axe and Spear were born with little, Dragon Knight II backstabbed everyone and caused the whole plot because of Xaviax taking advantage of his desperation to leave the fight.
• I think it fits because in the end, the heroes only won because of every ally they had strengthened their resolve and found a way to right in spite of all of all the losses and all but having only one surviving Rider out of the thirteen being temporarily dead by the third quarter of the show. What do you think?

you watched Saber with ads?

I agree with Mei being... good, potentially. There's definite elements to her character I like, but there's times she's annoying or underutilized.

I liked the dynamic she and Rintaro had going on, so it'd be nice if Rintaro actually damn did something.

Yeah, they seem to consider X-Swordman to be Yuri's 'real' form, so I assume they were waiting for that to properly put him in the ending.

---

Speaking of which, Saber 23:

Rintaro at least gets to do a little this time round, as Zoous has apparently decided they're nemeses now.

Plot was a little convoluted today. Seems like that random southern base guy played by Shinken Gold is actually Master Logos? I'm guessing he'll become the last swordsman.

I am like 90% liking Primitive Dragon, but I really don't like how it just has the book image on the shoulder. While I'm a little tired of berserk forms, the body language does sell it here.

Liking Primitive Dragon too. And it's close to 10 years (I think 9) since primal berserker forms showed up in Kamen Rider. And the finisher is pretty cool too.

And I guess we're getting somewhere with the plot. And is the North Pole that damn understaffed? Seriously aside penguins, North Pole is better because it has Santa!

Edited by terumokou on Feb 25th 2021 at 12:38:12 PM

Burning love!

Okay so we finally see more members of Logos aside from the Riders we know and Reika and Sophie.

But its just generic foot-soldiers. Man I really thought the South Base had its own Riders too. Weird how that seems congested primarily in the North Base.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

We're probably getting one or two southern base swordsmen (leaks show Reika can transform, and I assume she counts) but there is a weird balance, yeah.

Just asking, but should a page for Memory Of Heroez be created?

Wake me up at your own risk.

I haven't played it, but it certainly looks like it could generate enough tropes.

Yup, the game definitely got lots of trope.

Well I don't have a choice. I don't have those apps that can download links and such, the few times I've taken people's advice and tried certain apps and such to work, and it never worked, and I suck at technology. So I don't really have a choice in the matter. And blame Kissasian, watchco doesn't seem too obnoxious but every now and then they've had some annoying problems using it.

Only problem I have with 23 is that Master Logos was willing to help Touma and Storious. He has to be playing both sides for his own ends.

Oh yeah, one thing I like about Saber is how upgrades still don't mean "instant win condition." Touma's lost to Slash and Genbu, the four way two on one between Saber and Legigel vs Kenzan and Deseat was mostly even, and most of Touma's fights have been about finding his resolve and potential.

Seriously, they better do something with that Ren vs Deseat rivalry.

There still seems like a good chance Ren will go evil. Maybe buying completely into whatever Reika's on, maybe just outright. Dezast seems to just be doing whatever he deems fun, which could well involve pushing Ren further into darkness.

We might as well see him going completely off the deep end depending on how Kento as Calibur not-so-farfetch'd rumor plays off. Rintaro too but that's more simply because it's a choice between either Touma because he's friends or Logos because of loyalty.

Burning love!

Just read the Buster spin off manga

turns out, the previous Buster was a teacher in Ryo's high school