KR Saber 19 released

[takenoko]

< Previous
Wiki
Next >

Last Week's rating: 3.9 /5 stars (10 votes)

Fan Sub-title: Less fighting between Touma and his friends please

Question: Where are the Soutehrn Base knights?

No lie, that castle diorama is pretty cool

The idiot factor is up today. Touma tells Daishinji that the Megiddo is human... and he just ignores it. No reason given. Just needs to be an idiot for story reasons. I know that's what I wanted last week, but I don't think it'll be handled well because the writing is bad

Huh, is Yuki going to take over for Sophia as the series regular?

[Lunagel]

The Northern Base guys all share one brain cell and unfortunately Sophia was using it when she got kidnapped.

That was the flimsiest way to introduce a motw character to the protagonist ever. We get like 5 seconds where he shows up for no real reason at the shop and then Touma immediately becomes best friends with him.

Why oh why don't these people TALK TO EACH OTHER

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The Northern Base guys all share one brain cell and unfortunately Sophia was using it when she got kidnapped.

That was the flimsiest way to introduce a motw character to the protagonist ever. We get like 5 seconds where he shows up for no real reason at the shop and then Touma immediately becomes best friends with him.

Why oh why don't these people TALK TO EACH OTHER

Because they have swords for brains.

They only know how to swing a sword.

[Mighty Action X]

There was never a KR installment before this where almost all of the supporting rider are pathetic morons.

[Ashki]

I sort of get the intent, but it was poorly executed.

The thing they're trying to go for is that the Sword of Sound can sense if a person means harm or good based upon the vibrations they give off. But fighting Toma, he couldn't read the intent (which will either end up being "I just can't tell" or "he's not evil").

I can also appreciate the model building and kind of get how Toma would instantly become attached through love of hobbies, but they really should've extended that scene out a bit. Toma just gets way too passionate too easily. Is it just me, or did he and Mei swap personalities, with her now being the level-headed (somewhat) logical one and Toma being a total spaz?

Anyway, the current storyline is a lot better than what we've had before it, but things do need spelled out better. For example, they mention in a throwaway line that turning humans into Meggido is a forbidden technique. There should've been more exposition on that fact because obviously none of the Swords think that's possible. We hear as much last episode, and they show Sound struggling with the concept this episode, but a scene of them discussing the claim and why it's supposedly impossible would go a long way. Also, it's strongly hinted that one of their biggest duties is to defeat Meggido, but the translation on screen is simply "I can't stop attacking him". All they needed was to change "I can't" to "I have to fulfill my duty regardless" or something like that and Mr. Sound would've seemed a hell of a lot more intelligent. Hell, didn't we get that from SoL last episode? Only in his case, they later reversed the meaning in a way that didn't jive with the rest of the episode.


One thing I've always relied on others for when writing fiction is input on emotional depth. You can write an unbelievably awesome scene, but if the reader doesn't feel like they're living it through the characters, then the scene just falls flat. This show really suffers from this problem. Don't just have people screaming at each other, because that doesn't get the point across (in real life either). Instead, have them show some genuine emotion... frustration, sadness, a tough of ire... Mix it up to show the person isn't a blind follower or yes-man. Show they actually FEEL these things for themselves because it resonates, not because someone else told them to think or act that way.

Most importantly, get exposition right! You can spend half an hour with characters rehashing the same unimportant ground over and over, complete with flashbacks, but the moment something important happens, it either gets a brief throwaway line or is completely ignored. Don't just tell us someone's doing something, tell us WHY.


Things we learned this episode that most people will miss:
1. The Meggido don't have Sophia and didn't even know she was missing (meaning she's almost certainly at Southern Base).
2. The older swordsmen are playing along with their orders, but they're legitimately concerned that the sudden return of the SoL saying they're in the wrong means something big's going down within Logos.
3. The Sword of Sound is testing the intent of Toma and the SoL via battle because he can read vibrations. This looks good if Southern Base is watching because it looks like he's actually trying to follow orders. Buster knows about this ability, but it likely didn't translate well to the viewer.
4. The books and blades were intentionally split between two bases at the very beginning because it was too dangerous to have them all in one place. This was hinted at with the Avalon mini-plot as well but is easily overlooked.
5. The absence of the Southern Swordsmen is very conspicuous, and there are hints something bad happened to them. Since none of the Northerners seem concerned, they likely think the Southern Swords have been sent away from the base to keep the books separated. It would be nice to hear a throwaway confirming this, though.
6. Luna isn't in the Wonder or real worlds, nor is she in the Avalon pocket world. So where is she? There are some tiny hints being dropped she may actually be a piece of the book itself.


So yeah, I get where it's going, but they need to tighten up the writing and learn when to use exposition or throwaway lines properly. Also, they NEED to put more focus on the infighting with more side scenes of Buster and Sound having their private chats. It's obvious they believe Toma but are trying their best not to show it until the traitor's found, but at the same time, this NEEDS to be emphasised to the viewer.

Finally, they really need to be careful with this Meggido plot thread because it's threatening to become a carbon copy of the competition thread in Zero-One. We have the hero and his non-human companion trying to save individuals who are being forcibly turned into multi-episode monsters that must be destroyed to be saved while also staving off an organisation that's manipulating the situation so they can win with the hero's driver being the trophy. If they don't put more emphasis on the traitor plotline, this could get very boring very fast.

[Ashki]

There was never a KR installment before this where almost all of the supporting rider are pathetic morons.

There was never a Kamen Sentai before (well, with the exception of the GoRanger crossover...).

Shows like this make me really miss the Showa Era and the Kuuga/Agito continuity. Only one to two Riders outside of team-ups with Agito having the Big Three Archetypes (cybernetic, mystical, and mutant) in one show but all with their own motives and goals. Ryuki really broke the formula when it didn't need fixed, and the constant need for gimmicks and multiple Riders can really be traced back to that show.

I guess that's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to the new Sentai. It still has a big cast, but it feels more like KR than KR does. I just hope we get another adult series like Amazons where they're not afraid to limit the number of Riders in favour of a more mature story that appeals to us older fans.

[Thenosa Yechette]

Not a good episode like the last few… I don’t like this…
Why is Yuuri glancing at the texts Mei is receiving? I know he can’t read them from that distance but still, why?
Finally, Touma brought up Sophia’s disappearance!!
Ok, and now Yuuri is taking Mei’s phone in secret… What does he plan to do now? Does he even know how to use a phone?’
Why has Reika been repeating, “K. Touma now wields the sword of light” for the last few episodes? It hasn’t helped in taking the sword away from him…. then why?
Wow, everything Touma is doing is just helping Reika in gathering evidence to turn Touma’s friends against him. Lol…
Ok, now the villains have become creepy and loud ….
So, now Touma is so popular that he is appearing in magazines?? And did we ever get any hints that the decoration in his store was made by Touma himself?
Ok, can we agree that Rinatarou and Mei officially like each other, just like how Ren officially likes Kento?
They still haven’t noticed that Yuuri took Mei’s phone and is fiddling with it?
So, Luna was precious to Kento because- she taught him the joy of books… I feel like this part was unnecessary….
Lol. Mei finally noticed that Yuuri had her phone…. When an alarm was heard.
And, Yuki has finally lost her cool, after returning back to normal….
This episode is dumb…..
Ok, what other ability does Yuuri possess that we don’t know of? Is revealing a new power in every episode good? I don’t like it…
Things and plot elements tend to disappear in Saber for a while….. and then come back again…
Even Touma’s friends admit that he hasn’t done anything wrong yet… This episode is full of plot-holes…
And now the host of the Megid is at Touma’s bookstore…
All the events of the episode are all over the place.
The megid is funny…
Ok, what happened? Yuuri changed, slashed the megid, and then one of the villains appeared… What happened to the megid exactly/
The super rushed pacing is back…. I hate this…
Good to see the King of Arthur book again…
Daishinji-san is strong….
Not a good episode… disappointing. It’s only nice to see a few old elements return…
So now we’ll see Touma’s friends come to fight him one by one….

[TheNinjaDragon]

Sounds like this franchise is starting to take a toll on the fans at this point.

[Mighty Action X]

Sounds like this franchise is starting to take a toll on the fans at this point.

You think? I was optimistic of this installment because of the theme despite subpar pace, story, and acting. But when their second best character have to be benched for the time being and everyone else becomes stupid aside from Touma, it start to become unbearable to watch especially with that braindead motherfucker Ren. He should have been the one to disappear instead of Kento.

[TheNinjaDragon]

Sounds like this franchise is starting to take a toll on the fans at this point.

You think? I was optimistic of this installment because of the theme despite subpar pace, story, and acting. But when their second best character have to be benched for the time being and everyone else becomes stupid aside from Touma, it start to become unbearable to watch especially with that braindead motherfucker Ren. He should have been the one to disappear instead of Kento.

That might actually make sense if his Side Story chapter was any indication.

[Lunagel]

You mean the side story that has had exactly jack shit relevance to the story this far?

Y'know what, at least in Ghost the characters were mildly competent. This is just throwing everything at the wall and using what doesn't stick

[msf232]

I'm hating this more and more as the episodes come

Like, the pacing is all over the place

Why don't the characters talk to each other?

[Dante ShadowRoadz]

Annnd we're back to the stupid. Gee, that didn't take long >_>

Hyper Compressed Pacing, Go! What's that, we need to fit another meaningful tie to a civilian into things for another MOTW twist? Eh just make him a fan-boy who somehow goes from rampaging monster to conveniently having his diorama right afterwards without a hint of the struggle Yuki was showing each time she changed back. Maybe its supposed to be different for the hosts for the different Megiddo, but somehow I doubt it. Yuuri is falling into the bland straight-man trope but I have to admit, it fits him. He's the least offensive one-dimensional character in the roster at least.

Way more so now that they turned Daishinji into a complete moron and reducing his own decent ranking there. And once again, WHAT power scaling? He wasn't even in his mosh pit mode with his second book, he was using his base form against all three of Touma's super forms without breaking a sweat. I haven't seen a super form be made so useless since the Emperor Kiva versus Proto-IXA fight, and even that one only really had the excuse of the literal strain of a son having to fight his father affecting his combat ability.

[Caitanya Vallabha]

Stuff was said

Awesome analisys, thank you

Snipped essay, please only copy portions that you wish to respond to when quoting -take

[Tuss4]

All I gotta say is: