Legeiel is upset that the Riders ruined his plan. Zooous mocks him. But Storious says in spite of that, they are still in a good spot. As long as they gather the Seiken and their respective Books, they will be one step closer to The Book.
Storious says that thanks to the Big Book, many humans have now been connected to the Wonder World. Because of this, they can harness a new method of obtaining new Books.
Meanwhile, Reika is telling someone on the phone that they need the Sword of Light that was lost a thousand years ago in order for their plan to work. With Calibur dead, the key rests in Touma on how to obtain the Sword.
At the book shop, the Riders are a little down from how horrible 2020 has been for them. But Rintaro suggests they take part in a year end tradition to help brush off this horrible year.
At the publishing office, editor-in-chief Yuki looks up at the sky. She is one of the humans who can see the Wonder World. Mei asks her what she’s looking at, but she does not say.
Anyway, Yuki compliments Mei on her editor’s column. Mei says she would love to be like Yuki someday. She notices Yuki is going camping and Yuki says she needs to get away from the city life sometimes. More importantly though, Yuki asks where Touma’s manuscript is since it’s due today.
On her way back to the shop, Mei comes across a man who says he hates this world and wants to go to the beautiful world in the sky. Mei thinks he’s a wacko and hurries off.
Touma is thinking of Daichi’s last words to him about the SoL traitor. Reika walks in and asks Touma to join them at the South Pole instead. Touma says he’s fine with his buddies up north. Reika tells him to suit himself.
Later, Mei tries to talk to Touma about how she looks up to Yuki. But Touma is distracted by more thinking of Daichi. Mei asks if they should trust anything Daichi says. He killed Kento, after all. Touma says even so, considering how Kento truly followed in his father’s inquisitive footsteps, he is intent on uncovering the truth. Touma believes that will help him keep his promise to Kento.
Mei wonders if the Wonder Story Book has anything to do with the search. Touma says Luna gave it to him. She was just a random girl that appeared out of nowhere to him one day. But since then, the two of them and Kento became best of friends. They would read and write stories and hang out. But only until Luna got sucked into the Big Book.
Touma, however, is sure he can find the answers as long as he’s got his friends by his side.
That’s gonna be a little difficult as Reika goes to Rintaro, Ogami-san and Tetsuo to try and convince them Touma is about to be corrupted. Especially as Sophia has been captured by the Megid. She tells them that they must now report to the South Pole. Though hesitant, they are wooed by her telling them Touma will betray them like the Calibur men did.
Next day, Touma and Mei are walking to the publishing office when they are stopped by Rintaro, Ogami-san, Ren and Tetsuo. They demand Touma hand over his Sword and Books. They have already pledged allegiance to the South Pole and they have been ordered to confiscate his toys.
Rintaro says he does not want to do this and asks Touma to continue to fight alongside them.
Touma says he cannot do that. He tells them about Daichi’s warning of a SoL traitor. The others find it hard to believe anything that comes out of Daichi’s mouth. As Touma tries to explain his position, it only helps to support Reika’s gaslighting. They again demand Touma hand over his toys. And Touma again refuses.
Touma says he promised Kento that he will save Luna. And he will need the sword and books for that. Ogami-san says he can do that by tagging along with them. But Touma says he can no longer trust the SoL.
Ren is incensed, absolutely floored by the idea that Touma would believe the man who murdered his dear Kento. Ren henshins and charges toward Touma. Touma henshins as Mei takes cover.
Rintaro snaps. He refuses to believe the SoL, who he considers family after raising him, could do such things. He too henshins and attacks Touma.
Ogami-san and Tetsuo reluctantly henshin to join in the fight. Mei cannot believe this is actually happening.
The four now fully believe Touma has been corrupted and ruthlessly attack him. Ren is most energized to take Touma on and slams him against the overpass pillar.
Reika watches and reports to whomever is on the other end of the phone that it has begun.
Storious tells Legeiel and Zooous that it’s their turn to act. Storious hands Legeiel a new blank Book and he heads out.
Ren is about to slash at Touma to finish him off for good. Mei runs to shield Touma from the attack. Ren does not care. Rintaro calls out to his girlfriend Mei, though does not move to save her.
Instead, the mysterious cloaked man swats Ren’s sword away. He says the Seiken are only to be used for protecting the peace of the world. Not for this nonsense.
The man whips on a Driver, locks in a Book and henshins to… a Sword?
The swordman absolutely manhandles the four Southerners. Reika informs her phone-a-friend that the man appeared as expected.
The Southerners dehenshin. Storious is amazed that the long-lost Sword of Light has appeared.
The man returns to his man form and the Southerners have to retreat. Ogami-san and Tetsuo drag Ren away. Rintaro says this is truly a shame.
The man turns to Touma and says it is wonderful that they meet again. Mei asks who he is and he introduces himself as Yuri, the most powerful man who can protect the world.
Tassel is happy the man has finally made himself known.
Over in the forest, Yuki has already set up her campsite. But Legeiel appears and inserts the Book inside of her, turning her into a Megid.
Episode Thoughts
After last week’s relatively enjoyable episode, I’m back to my apathy with Saber this week. Lol
Let’s start with the most interesting parts. I very much enjoyed Touma and Mei in scenes that aren’t comedic or annoying. Them discussing Touma’s thoughts and even the simple work-related stuff was very refreshing. It brings back better memories of when it was just them two on the show and not the 25 other characters that have popped up since then. (25 is exaggerated of course lol)
My hopeless romantic shipper-self was also happy that Rintaro called out to Mei right before she was about to be murdered by Ren. But at the same time, I’m pretty upset that all he did was yell out her name instead of actually motioning to stop Ren from becoming a murderer. You know? lol
I also liked the Megid trio’s screentime this week. Still woefully underdeveloped and thin, at least they’re doing something now. Yuki was also the least annoying new character in a while. And it would be nice to see her stick around as a recurring character moving forward. Especially since she’s Touma’s editor of course.
Now, to the supposedly big developments this episode. Not really surprised or excited to see Reika’s scheming or having Yuri make himself known as ANOTHER regular character now. Like, I don’t really care who Reika is talking to on the phone. Are they the SoL traitors who betrayed Kento’s father? Uh… okay. Sure. Are they actually undercover Megids? Considering we don’t even know what Megids are and the Megid trio we do have are so underdeveloped, it really doesn’t hold much weight.
With Yuri, I definitely did not expect him to be a sword. But at the same time, He’s a sword?! Like, what’s going on there.
And then the random people seeing the Wonder World in the sky. A plot device to allow humans to get turned into the MOTW of course.
Again this is all too much stuff popping up at the same time. And that doesn’t let any of it marinate or breathe. Last week, I said it was sort of a reset. Kind of laying the cards out on the table so we know what’s what. At least so far.
But now they’re throwing in all this new stuff and we’re back to the beginning again with them doing too much. When things are messy, it’s hard to really care about any of it.
That said, for the first time in a while, I was on Touma’s side. The four new Southerners were pretty annoying and were easily gullible to Reika’s gaslighting. So much for the strong bonds they supposedly had, yeah?
So #TeamTouma for now. Thought I think also it’s partly because Mei is #TeamTouma. So #InMeiWeTrust all the way. Hehe.
Overall, a meh episode.
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LOL! So much for their bonds of friendship! Still, I think this will be an interesting journey for Touma and Mei as they try to discover the truth.
And the revelation that the Southern Base is corrupted does not shock me at all.
When Reika creeps about with a sinister look on her face, I think it’s definitely not a surprise. lol
Hopefully this arc gives Touma some depth that’s been lacking so far.
“With Yuri, I definitely did not expect him to be a sword. But at the same time, He’s a sword?! Like, what’s going on there”
Okay, so people will argue that, heck, both Accel (KR OOO) and Lazer (Ex-Aid) turn into motorbikes. But this one is so bad that it breaks the willing suspension of disbelief.
The problem is that it feels so out of place with the feel of the series. Both OOO and Ex-Aid were relatively lighthearted, so they can get away with something as goofy as riders turning into vehicles. With Saber’s more subdued humor, the show is asking you to take it more seriously. This one just kills all that seriousness.
You might also argue that Touma turns into a human sized sword when using the King Arthur form or that Rintaro turns into a lion in his upgrade form. But those still feel like reasonable here. This one just makes you go “WTF did I just watch?”
It’s very random. And it’s just another idea it seems like they wanted to toss into the mix. There really is just so much going on, yet nothing going on at the same time.
Correction: Accel is from Kamen Rider W, while Birth is from Kamen Rider OOO. And Birth had a gashapon gimmick to summon his weapons, with BirthDay form being all the weapons together.