Recap: Kamen Rider Saber, Chapter 1: In The Beginning, There Was a Flame Swordsman

Tassel say books are amazing things. In fact, our world today was created from a book, the Book of Ancients. That book is the source of stories, knowledge and all living things.

Swordsmen of the Seiken had been protecting that book to ensure peace. But a group of bad people appeared to try and take it until the book split and scattered. That began an unending war between the two sides.

Tassel smiles as we segue to a scene of chaos where a young Kamiyama Touma is holding on to the hand of a little girl that is about to get sucked into some kind of portal. She eventually does get swept away into the sky.

A man with a sword tells Touma that Hope exists beyond your resolution. He drives the sword into the ground, causing a huge explosion. When Touma comes to, everything is peaceful. As if nothing ever happened.

In his hand is a small Brave Dragon book.

Turns out this is just a dream by a fully grown Touma. He wakes up at his desk in his bookstore, Fantastic Kamiyama.

Touma doesn’t know why or how he repeatedly has these dreams. Though he has the small book in his possession. He wonders if he is forgetting something really important.

A group of children arrive for Touma’s daily storytime.

Meanwhile, a dark Kamen Rider Calibur is with Sutorius, Regiel and Zuoth saying it is time for a new world to emerge. Calibur hands Regiel a Book who takes it to get things started.

Touma’s editor Mei arrives reminding him she needs his manuscript for this month’s edition. Though it’s due tomorrow, Mei promised to hang out with friends. Touma says protecting promises is just as important as protecting your own life, so he will definitely have it done.

He points out how the children were so excited earlier and how their experiences being able to cross over between fiction and reality through stories help shape them. That’s why he opened the bookstore.

Mei says she thought he opened it because he was a struggling writer.

Touma checks the time and has to close the bookstore now. He says goodbye to the kids.

Mei tells Touma to write his story down now if he’s got it in his head already. But Touma has his own promise to keep first.

A mysterious young man, Rintaro, with a Book of his own watches them from around the corner.

Meanwhile, Regiel uses the Book handed to him by Saber to summon Golem Megiddo. He says Golem has been chosen to connect the worlds and hands him a blank Book.

Mei follows Touma who finds his little friend Ryota. It’s his birthday and Touma gifts him a new book.

Golem opens the blank Book and it somehow traps a section of Tokyo inside. A wall separates everything that’s been engulfed inside the area from the outside world. And that includes Ryota being separated from his parents.

Watching the events unfold with Sutorius and Zuoth, Calibur says it’s time for another Alter Book to be written.

As the pages turn, Touma and Mei find a fantastical world outside the book.

Touma opens one of his own books and sees the pop-out looks exactly like this world in front of them.

Mei thinks they’re dead.

Ryota cries when he can’t see his parents. But Touma points to the book he gave him. Like the main character in the book who persevered to find his mother, so too will Ryota. They can’t give up.

Touma takes him to a safe place. He returns to find Mei excitedly taking photos of the strange world. Touma promises to protect her curiosity.

Just then, they hear explosions and people screaming. They hurry over to find Golem attacking buildings which look like they’re peeling apart as pages.

Touma sees Golem holding the Book. Golem explains that it is a Book that grants them power to dominate the world. Touma cannot believe someone would use books to make people suffer.

Golem says this world does not need humans. A strange creature appears and it begins to suck up everything in sight. Touma grabs Mei as she too starts to get sucked in. And suddenly, Touma remembers his dream where he grabs on to a little girl before getting sucked in as well.

Touma gets an idea to knock a fire hydrant off so the creature sucks up all the water instead.

Touma gets up from under Mei and confronts Golem, demanding he restore their world.

Golem just laughs and says his Book is almost complete and will create a world they envisioned.

Touma just cannot stand Books being used for such evil purposes. Humans have the power to create stories that make people happy.

Touma charges at Golem only to get knocked back. Touma vows to return their city to normal. But Golem shoots at a building, causing falling debris to bury Touma.

Suddenly, Rintaro arrives through the pages and is shocked to see Touma emerge from the debris when the rocks somehow float off him.

Touma’s Brave Dragon Book seems to have saved him. He opens it. Rintaro cannot believe Touma has a Wonder Ride Book.

Just then, a sword appears out of nowhere. Rintaro remembers that when the world begins to unravel, the dragon will awaken the Sword of Flames.

Touma remembers the man with the sword from his dreams and he stands to pull the sword from the fire.

Rintaro says it is not possible for a homo sapiens to be able to draw a Seiken. But Touma does.

Touma holds up the sword and it turns into a Seiken Swordriver. He knows this is the power he can use to protect everyone. He slaps the Driver on.

Golem says they will achieve victory regardless of what Touma does. But Touma says Nope. Only he can decide the ending to his story.

Touma henshins to Kamen Rider Saber.

Everyone watching is shocked.

Touma battles Golem who demands he hand over the Book. Golem turns the pages of his own Book which changes the environment they find themselves in.

Touma fights through the new stages to return to the original before delivering a finisher at Golem that knocks him on his back.

But Golem suddenly embiggens.

“The ending to this story is mine to decide!”

Touma prepares Flaming Cross Slash and is able to defeat Golem for good. An excited Mei runs over to Touma.

Calibur says now that the worlds have been connected, other Riders will surely appear.

The Tokyo engulfed in the book is returned to normal and Ryota reunites with his parents.

Later that evening, Touma finishes his manuscript and hands it to Mei.

Touma thinks about Golem’s warning that this is only just the beginning. He wonders what that strange world was and how it might be connected to his dream.

Mei finds the photos she took of the strange world are gone from her phone.

Suddenly, Rintaro enters the bookstore riding a lion and asking to hand over the Book and sword.

Episode Thoughts

It’s that time of year again! It’s always a little difficult to judge a new season just on the premiere. All you can have is First Impressions and wonder what’s to come.

Saber‘s premiere was fine. I wasn’t blown away or wowed by anything quite yet. We only got to see very quick snippets from any of the other characters, but Touma appears to be a solid character himself. It helps to like the title character relatively quickly when a new season starts. And I definitely like Touma so far.

We were able to see the lighter, goofier side that many of our recent Riders have had. But we were also able to see a more serious side that may have taken a couple of eps before it showed up for those same Riders.

It’s an interesting concept. I wasn’t sure what to expect after the trailer. The storybook worlds can look either completely cheesy and odd or very cool. And I think we got both of that in this episode. Having to possible travel between worlds or dimensions has the potential for fun and exciting adventures, if that’s what the season will include.

After a year’s break with Zero-One, we have another Rider series involving where our hero has to Gotta Catch ‘Em All. In this case, having to collect all the pages of the book.

Sometimes, it’s good to have a clear endgame. So we’ll see how that will play out in terms of a good story and plot development.

When it comes to world building, I don’t know that this episode did enough. It introduced us to Touma well, but everything else was just scratching the surface and really weren’t too impactful to really care about quite yet.

Also, I must say. Was I watching Sentai? Embiggened monsters? Foot soldiers? An ending credits dance? What’s happening? lol

Overall, it was an okay premiere. We’ll just have to wait and see where this new adventure takes us!