Recap: Kamen Rider Saber, Episode 31 – Strength to Believe, Strength to Believe In.
Storious meets with Master Logos to talk about Sophia returning to the Northern Base. Master Logos says it’s alright since her return actually helps facilitate the gathering of blades and books as well as the Northern Base’s special power that is part of the All-Knowing Book.
Storious takes his leave when the Shindai Siblings come in to report on the traitor and Megido. But Master Logos says to leave them alone.
Master Logos disappears. Reika doesn’t understand why he would say that. But her brother says that Master Logos’ trust in her is wavering. Reika apologizes to her brother and says she will make him proud next time.
Up north, Rintaro is still beating himself up over not being able to save Mei and questions why Touma would save him instead. He fears Mei does not have much time left before she is gone for good.
Touma assures him that he will find her. But Rintaro asks him to admit that he is just a hindrance to them.
Meanwhile, Zooous shows off his acrobatic skills while taunting an exhausted and distraught Mei. He says Rintaro was so beat up that he might even be dead by now.
Mei refuses to believe it. Zooous believes Mei’s Book is almost complete. She screams in agony.
Back north, Touma tries to comfort and reassure Rintaro. But Rintaro continues to feel defeated, especially compared to Touma. He regrets even returning to the Northern Base and admits that he is scared. He never had parents, the mentor he looked up to was murdered and the organization he believed in like family is actual trash.
Rintaro cries that he is tired of losing things precious to him. And to top it all off, he says he is absolutely useless.
Touma reminds him that they are all swordsmen. He admits that he is also afraid, but he still wields his blade knowing he can save people. He believes Rintaro is the same. But Rintaro says nope.
Rintaro storms out. Touma yells out to him that he only made it this far because he had Rintaro and others by his side. Sophia says Rintaro has always had a strong sense of justice, so it is understandable that he would take this so hard. Touma believes in Rintaro.
Just then, Sophia senses the Meigido has begun rampaging again. Touma hurries downtown and battles the Meigido. Neko Megido returns Mei to her original form for a moment. Mei asks where Yuuri is, but Touma doesn’t have an answer. Mei cannot believe it.
Neko Megido retakes control of the body and Zooous arrives to join in the battle as well. Zooous continues mocking Rintaro, but Touma says he believes in him.
Rintaro arrives and hears Touma coming to his defense against Zooous’ harsh words. Neko Megido releases Mei at the right moments to have Touma hesitate in attacking her. The hesitation gives Zooous an opening to slam Touma against the wall and force him to dehenshin.
Rintaro grabs Touma’s sword, henshins and uses it along with his own to deliver an attack that allows him to whisk Touma away to safety.
Touma thanks Rintaro who is still beating himself up. Rintaro asks Touma to face him in a duel as swordsmen.
They head to the rooftop and duel.
Rintaro can feel all of Touma’s feelings, his resolve and his burdens with every strike of the blade. Touma smiles when he sees Rintaro’s blade light up like his. They cross blades and both realize Rintaro has finally got his mojo back.
They lay on the ground together. Rintaro and Touma thank each other for the exhilarating crossing of their swords.
Mei fears she is about to die. But Zooous says she’ll merely become a part of the Wonderworld. Though she’ll probably wish she would die instead.
Rintaro says Mei-san has always cheered the two of them on with her bright smile. Touma says she’s always been that way.
Touma remembers the first time he met Mei. Though he was initially standoffish toward her, her bright smile and positive personality softened his heart. They remember all the times she was like their warm sun helping them to smile.
Rintaro gets up and reaches his hand out to Touma who grabs it.
Touma and Rintaro go to face Zooous and the Meigido. Zooous says their blades are his after this decisive battle. But Touma and Rintaro say Not so fast. They vow to save their smiley sun.
Touma and Rintaro henshin to Elemental Dragon and King Lion Daisenki and they immediately battle Zooous. They give it everything they’ve got. When they turn to the Meigido, it again releases Mei for a moment. Mei begs them to strike her down.
Neko Megido laughs that Mei has finally given up on her life. But Touma and Rintaro absolutely do not believe that. Rintaro tells Touma to save Mei while he takes care of Zooous.
Zooous tells Rintaro to just give up. But Rintaro says Touma and Mei never gave up on him, so he will always believe in them and himself as well. Rintaro is able to knock Zooous back and he joins Touma against the Meigido.
Rintaro and Touma work together, using complimentary attacks to allow Touma to finally separate Mei from the Megido. But the Megido absorbs Mei once again.
Mei believes her time is up. Neko Megido laughs. Zooous says it’s all over. But Rintaro believes in Touma. The two of them charge toward Zooous. Their blades glow as Mei is able to reach out to them to say Thank you.
Touma says that “Thank you” should be said with a smile. Rintaro tells Mei to keep her head up. Touma reminds her that he promised to protect her.
Seeing her two boys fighting for her gives Mei the strength to finally fight back as well. She screams from within, much to Neko Megido’s shock. Touma and Rintaro charge toward the Megido and slash at her, releasing Mei and destroying the Megido for good.
Rintaro thanks Zooous for helping him grow stronger. Touma and Rintaro deliver a finisher at Zooous.
Zooous is in flames as Storious arrives and picks up Sophia’s Key that fell out of Mei’s pocket when she was flung out of the Megido. Storious whisks his buddy Zooous back home.
Rintaro and Touma run over to Mei who is now much happier and brighter. She smiles as she thanks both of her boys.
Touma looks to Rintaro and says they did it. Rintaro replies that indeed they did. He chooses to finally drop the “-kun” from Touma’s name. Mei doesn’t want to be left out and says Rintaro can drop the “-san” as well.
The three of them put their hands in as Rintaro says they are all his family now.
Kento has been watching the entire scene play out, absolutely flabbergasted as this was not a future he had foreseen.
Back up north, Mei presents her little gift to everyone: pins with her drawings of each of them.
Tetsuo and Sophia are unsure about their likenesses though.
Anyway, they lay all the pins out on the table and Touma says they will all be together like this again soon.
Sophia thinks to herself about Master Logos’ next target.
Master Logos, meanwhile, has a lot of gooey stuff in his mouth.
And a strange bird flies into Yuuri’s hand to tell him that Viktor is weak after being attacked by Master Logos and will return when he’s powered back up. Yuuri henshins and runs out.
Episode Thoughts
So I liked the episode, I guess. But I have to admit that I felt a little underwhelmed by it too. I think that’s mostly because I had very high expectations for this episode. So I can blame myself as much as, if not more than the show itself.
I very much enjoyed the focus on the OT3. And there were some good emotional moments. But I guess I just expected, or wanted more. The set-up was ripe for some amazing material. But I think the show kind of dropped the ball. I felt it was all half-hearted.
For a climactic episode for the season’s three main characters, I’d expect something much more impactful. Rintaro’s doubt in himself ended with a duel that I think we’ve already seen before, but also wasn’t as exciting as the episode’s other face offs. So I didn’t think that whole scene really landed well.
The idea that Mei is their bright, smiley sun is great. And perhaps I was looking for more of that angle. Mei has always believed in both Touma and Rintaro even when they didn’t believe in themselves. That was basically the gist of what propels Touma and Rintaro toward successfully saving her. She believes in them, so of course they shouldn’t give up especially when it comes to saving her life.
And then of course, Mei learns to not give up as well. Though certainly, her feeling defeated as she’s suffering is much more understandable than whatever Rintaro was feeling. I said his feelings were justified last week. But the way they drag it out this week made it less believable.
Like, it’s a good premise and all. But I don’t know that they did a good job really building up to the climax this episode. It kind of felt like there wasn’t much follow through on what they set out to do.
I dunno. Going into this episode, I wanted to cry and cheer watching it. But I definitely didn’t, much to my surprise and disappointment. And again, that’s on my high expectations for it. But, it is what it is.
The battle between Touma, Rintaro and Zooous at the end was pretty great though. The direction and choreography again were on point. So I very much enjoyed that.
And I enjoyed the Zooous-Mei scenes as well. We got more Zooous in this episode than in several episodes combined, so that’s great.
Plus the looks on Tetsuo and Sophia’s faces as they saw Mei’s drawings of them on their pins were actually hilarious.
What I didn’t enjoy as much was basically all the extra stuff thrown in.
Yuuri is a jerk, no question. Mei wouldn’t have suffered like that if he wasn’t busy hanging out in ol’ Victor’s cottage doing nothing. The gold bird relaying Tassel’s status? Like, what even was that? I didn’t care about that at all. And to end the episode on that “cliffhanger?” Uhh… no thanks.
The Master Logos stuff was just odd. And I don’t just mean whatever he had in his mouth at the end. But the Shindai Sibs popping up out of nowhere and then Reika’s creepy smile after getting mocked by her brother. All of a sudden there’s this strange dynamic pulled out of thin air. And again, I could care less what it all means.
I am more intrigued by whatever Storious does though. So whether it’s secret meetings with Master Logos or picking up Keys that are irrelevant for 15 episodes, I welcome it.
Anyway, I felt like this episode should’ve had more of an emotional punch to it. Have it be more affecting and memorable. Considering the implications of the for our three main characters, it really should’ve been a “bigger” episode. A more impactful episode. But it wasn’t. It was alright. And it being just “alright” is disappointing for me.
Share:
Related posts ..
7 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Saber, Chapter 31: Strength to Believe, Strength to Believe In.”
Share your thoughts!Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
It’s a shame this season isn’t living up to its potential. Amazing seasons like Kamen Rider Gaim can have lots of characters and make them distinct and interesting while presenting a compelling and consistent story. Saber could’ve done the same here as it has a very capable cast of actors, much better than a large amount of Power Rangers actors.
I agree, this is a great cast. But totally wasted on subpar material. Looking at most seasons of Kamen Rider, they have pretty big casts. Sometimes it’s a big hero contingent, sometimes there are more “human” villains. But I don’t remember a season that feels so overwhelmed by the number of characters that they don’t know what to do with them all like Saber.
Thinking about Gaim, I just remember how there were so many different and distinct characters who all felt like they were actual people. They were all well-developed and actually got legitimate story that fit with the grander narrative of the season. Saber? Not at all.
Yeah, the writing on Saber is definitely NOT it’s strength. So much wasted potential.
Nice to see Touma and Rintaro are FINALLY working together, for real, to fight against common enemy.
The henshin sequence of 2 Riders was pretty nice to watch and it’s about time it happened.
I like that sunset was used as background, for finishing move, which reminds me of classic age of Sentai in 90s; too bad, it was kind of ruined when Mei did that stupid pose after freed from Megido (or MEIgido).
Despite Mei was rescued, there’s a little problem; she dropped “the key”, the most important item entrusted by Sophia, taken away by Storious.
Talk about DOUBLE-EDGE SWORD indeed. lol XD
I still wonder what that key is for though.
While it was nice that this was Touma/Rintaro buddy reunion episode, I just wished there was more build-up to it, since it felt bit flat, which has been issues for this series.
BTW, I want that pin badge Mei created; it’s so cute.
Never thought, I EVER get to say something nice that Mei created, since I hate her so much.
I agree this episode was flat. I was expecting much more.
And as much as I have problems with the season, I would love those pins too. They’re cute. But Bandai would probably sell them for $100 lol
Sexy body on RIntaro!
Haha