The doorbell rings and Tassel opens the door to welcome Yuuri in. Yuuri is amazed after learning how different justice is now compared to 2000 years ago. Which is why he wants to return to being a swordsman. And to do that, Tassel must return to him the Story of the Radiant Blade Saikou, which contains his entire history as a swordsman.
Tassel is speechless. Yuuri thinks he has lost it, but Tassel excuses himself to go find it.
Meanwhile, Tetsuo is in his workshop. He remembers his grandfather’s words to him and then thinks of Touma.
Touma is reading about how 2000 years ago, there was a great battle against those who coveted the Book of Omnipotence. That’s when the blades of light and darkness came to be and they helped push back the evil. To recover the lost pages, the Sword of Logos was formed. And the first blade to be forged was Rekka.
Touma thinks of Yuuri saying he was destined to wield the power. But before he can try to figure out what he meant, Mei comes in with reports of more disappearances and monster sightings. They hurry out.
The Megido3 are excited about all the new Alter Books they’ve obtained thanks to the connected humans. With enough Alter Books, they will need all the Seiken. And to obtain them, Storious says they will need a new kind of Megido.
Downtown, Touma and Mei speak with witnesses of the disappearances. They all recount the devastating stories of people dying in front of them. Touma can’t believe he was not able to save these people.
Down south, Reika declares that SoL South must put a stop to Touma. Ren is fired up. But Tetsuo says he will be the one that faces Touma himself. It is his responsibility as his family has been the protectors of the swords for generations. Especially as Rekka is the very first Seiken forged by his ancestors. Ogami-san says he will come with.
Reika gives Tetsuo a dirty look as he heads out.
Back in Tokyo, Storious targets one of the Explosive Appetite Gemini Imoto sisters who are popular mukbangers. He forces a Book into her and she turns into a Megido. But he suddenly waves in several other Megido who force themselves into her body, combining into one powerful Charybdis Megido.
Storious cackles at the sight.
At the shop, Mei tries to get Touma to cheer up. She suggests that Touma get the gang back together and try to convince the traitors to snap out of their southern stupor.
Just then, Tetsuo and Ogami-san walk through the door and he begs them to fight alongside him as he cannot do this alone.
Tetsuo looks like he is absolutely seething. He grabs Touma by the collar and says he understands nothing. Tetsuo says it is easy to say that you can save everyone. But Touma must understand that the burden of all the lives one fails to save will only grow bigger while wielding the sword. If Touma does not understand that, he has no right to wield Rekka.
Touma head to an abandoned warehouse to duel. They battle and Touma notices that Tetsuo’s blade is so heavy. Ogami-san explains to Mei that Tetsuo’s sword carries all of the burdens he shoulders.
Mei says Touma also has his own share of burdens. But he has also saved many people. Ogami-san says Touma has mastered using the Books, but he has yet to become a true swordsman.
Tetsuo says Touma relies too much on the Books that he can’t hear anything from Rekka. Touma thinks of all the devastated people he spoke with earlier and vows that he never wants to see people suffer ever again.
Touma charges toward Tetsuo with the memories of the people he was able to save and the people who died under his watch. Yes, Luna included.
Touma is absolutely on fire. Tetsuo is again brought back to the memory of his grandfather saying that a Seiken that will help write the conclusion to this story will be born. And should Tetsuo encounter that swordsman, he must join them.
The battle has forced Touma to dehenshin, but he is able knock Tetsuo’s sword from his hands. Touma does not understand what just happened.
Tetsuo picks his sword up and walks away. But Touma calls out to him. Tetsuo says he felt something from that last crossing of their swords. Tetsuo and Ogami-san leave.
Mei runs over to congratulate Touma who says he felt something from his sword as well.
Meanwhile, Legeiel and Zooous are upset that Storious used their Megidos. Zooous forcefully asks if Storious is creating another Desast. But Storious calmly says that thanks to them, this powerful new Charybdis Megido will help them produce a truly powerful Book.
Later, Tetsuo explains that when Rekka’s hidden power is unleashed, a legendary blade that will light their way will be born. He believes that the person his family has been waiting for these last 2000 years to bring that sword about is Touma.
A truly ecstatic Tetsuo announces he is leaving the Southern Base. Ogami-san points out the glint in Tetsuo’s eyes and says he won’t stop him.
Tassel finds the Book he’s been looking for and hands it to Yuuri who uses it to return to being a swordsman.
Touma and Mei hurry over to where Charybdis Megido is eating everything in sight. Touma quickly henshins and vows to save the person inside. But Charybdis Megido is much too powerful for him.
Touma tries to Triple Book it, but the Megido is able to use powers from previously defeated Megido. Tetsuo arrives just as Touma is able to do something with Rekka.
Touma’s sword seems to be able to separate the human from the Megido. But the Megido swats Touma aside before he can save her. It turns its attention to a quarry worker, but Touma pushes him out of the way and gets swallowed instead.
Just then, Yuuri arrives and henshins to Shadow. But he uses the X Swordman Book, locks it in and gains much color.
Yuuri is able to use his colorful Episode Two arm to reach into Charybdis Megido’s mouth and yank Touma out. Yuuri delivers an attack at the Megido, releasing the sister, before delivering a X Sword Break finisher to destroy the Megido for good.
Tetsuo announces he wants to fight alongside Touma now.
Later, Storious picks up the red-stained Book and says it is only just beginning.
Episode Thoughts
An interesting episode. I guess the main development is Tetsuo ditching the Southern Base to team up with Touma. I am just giggling at the fact that the show needed to have that exposition dump in order to have this episode make any sense.
The backstory of Tetsuo’s family absolutely should’ve been tackled much earlier and in a deeper way than just having those quick expository flashbacks. It’s all actually very interesting and would’ve filled out Tetsuo’s character quite nicely. It explains why he is protective of the swords instead of just assuming he has a requisite toku character quirk.
It works out in the end as the episode presented the idea that Touma isn’t necessarily a true swordsman yet. Though he certainly went about stepping forward to that goal in a different way than Rintaro’s several days in the SoL backroom earlier in the season.
Not having a mentor of some sort to steer Touma toward the way of the sword I guess would be a little bit of a problem. And without the exposition, Tetsuo being that person would feel very weird and awkward. But he’s as close as we’re going to get when it comes to that kind of mentor figure. So the episode was alright in that sense. Touma’s on his way toward gaining control of the next power up.
One missed opportunity though is to explore more the idea of Touma’s burdens. I thought the way they showed that dozens of people have already died and the Megido3 already have the Alter Books from them was done is such a passive, nonchalant way. The melancholic score while Touma and Mei were speaking with witnesses set the mood. But I don’t feel the gravity of the situation like I should.
Their convos with the people today should’ve added to Touma’s heavy burden. Have him explore that feeling more without Tetsuo spelling it out for him. Then it can lead to the fiery power up, whenever that will be. It’s a solid premise to get Touma to the next level. Too bad they wasted another good opportunity for great story.
I don’t get where Tetsuo is coming from though. The way he was speaking was essentially like how Yuuri has been speaking. And the way to go would be for Touma to show that he can merge the two ways of thinking. Instead, it almost felt like he was being submissive to what Tetsuo wanted him to be. That is, the mold of a swordsman Tetsuo has always held.
I dunno about any of that. But I do know that I’m thinking far too hard about all of this when Saber barely thinks too hard about what it does itself. lol
I did enjoy Ogami-san and Mei’s color commentary during the duel. Their convo was actually more interesting to me than whatever Touma and Tetsuo were doing.
We get Tassel in-episode again. Which inches closer to when Tassel emerges as the final boss or something. Lol Yuuri going to him to get his coloring book was the episode’s other bit of exposition. And again, it’s just amusing. Not at all surprising.
Now, I must talk about this though. The merging of Megidos into one of the sisters was absolutely gross. I feel so weird seeing it because it is essentially forcing several beings into one person. And it reminds me of Misao in Zyuohger and how they pretty much depicted him getting raped when Ginis (if I remember correctly) forced the three Zyumans inside his body. Like WTF.
Anyway… this was an okay episode. Relatively speaking, maybe above average. But not too much. The exposition just shows how underdeveloped everything is on this season. And while exposition dumps are certainly not unique to only Saber, it just highlights the season’s weaknesses.
Share:
Related posts ..
2 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Saber, Chapter 21: Shine the Brightest, Full of Color.”
Share your thoughts!Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Now, I must talk about this though. The merging of Megidos into one of the sisters was absolutely gross. I feel so weird seeing it because it is essentially forcing several beings into one person. And it reminds me of Misao in Zyuohger and how they pretty much depicted him getting raped when Ginis (if I remember correctly) forced the three Zyumans inside his body. Like WTF.
Eww! I never thought of it that way but Yikes! You are right.
And I really enjoyed the sword fight between Tetsuo and Touma especially when Touma’s blade set aflame. Very nice!
I enjoyed the fight.
But yeah, I can’t help but think about that after Zyuohger. One of the reasons I really dislike Zyuohger is how they specifically showed Misao was traumatized by what Ginis did to him (which included chaining him up before forcing the Zyumans into him) in addition to growing up lonely and being bullied. And yet the show treated Misao like a pariah and a punch line. Like a joke all season even when he probably had the most fragile mental state of any Ranger in a long time.