While the Northern crew are celebrating the recent positive results, Sophia warns that Master Logos’ minions will likely appear soon to retrieve their Seiken, Books and the Northern portion of the All-Knowing Book.
Meanwhile down south, Master Logos tells Storious that breaking through the Northern barrier will be easy. Storious offers to help, plus he is also eager to try out the key he picked up.
Master Logos shoots a powerful arrow up north to break through the barrier. Sophia leaves to restore it and uses the All-Knowing pages to do so.
The Shindai Sibs pop into the library and demand they willingly hand over what they want. Sophia speaks directly to Mei and the boys using the Northern Base’s powers. She directs Tetsuo to bring the Seiken and Mei to her location.
But suddenly, Sophia sees that Storious and Zooous have also broken into the base. She says they must protect the Northern Base’s power at all costs.
Yuuri pops in and shines a bright light to allow the others time to leave. Before they run out, Touma reminds Rintaro that they must protect the base. It’s a promise.
Touma and Yuuri stay behind to take on the Shindai Sibs. Touma asks what Master Logos wants with the All-Knowing Book anyway. Bro Shindai says that’s none of his business, but he should be sure to know it will be for a just cause. Yuuri brings up how that can’t be case if Master Logos and the South are working with the Megido. Sister Shindai is shocked to hear that.
Brother Shindai tells his sister not to waver and uses his power to get some kind of advantage, allowing him to attack Touma and Yuuri from behind. That gives Reika a chance to leave and retrieve the other Seiken.
While running through the base, Ogami-san gets his head smashed into the marble pillar by Zooous who is happy to have finally found Rintaro. Rintaro henshins and they battle. Storious sneaks off with the key.
Zooous forces Rintaro to dehenshin. Sophia calls to Rintaro to tell him about Reika cornering Tetsuo and Mei.
Ogami-san regains consciousness and pops up to take on Zooous. They smash through the window and fall out of the building and into the frozen outdoors.
Rintaro hurries to the All-Knowing Book room.
Elsewhere in the base, Touma and Yuuri continue struggling against Bro Shindai’s power. Touma is forced to dehenshin and while the other two battle, he seems to notice something about Ryoga’s attack technique.
Yuuri tells him to figure it out while he engages the Shindai Sibling.
Rintaro finds Mei and Tetsuo with Sophia at the All-Knowing Book. Unfortunately, Reika has swiped the Seiken and Books. Sophia sees Zooous has defeated Ogami-san once again and Mei’s Book shows that Zooous is making his way here.
Sophia takes the Northern portion of the All-Knowing Book and hands it to them, asking them to take it and the Seiken they have left and run. They must protect the power. She says she will slow Zooous down while they do so.
But Zooous appears and tosses Ogami-san’s lifeless body toward them.
Sophia shields the others from Zooous using a crystal shield of some sort. She begins bleeding as shattered crystal cuts her body, but she tells the others to hurry and leave. Rintaro says they will not.
Sophia asks Rintaro why he wields his sword.
Before Rintaro can answer, Zooous breaks through the shield and is about to kill Sophia for good. But Rintaro steps in to protect her. He henshins and takes on Zooous as he is filled with rage.
In the other Northern ballroom, Touma figures out Ryoga’s technique just as Yuuri is forced to dehenshin. Bro Shindai says they are as pathetic as Rintaro, always crying and losing.
Touma gets up and says Rintaro is not weak. He would sacrifice anything for his friends.
Even though Rintaro is forced to dehenshin, he continues fighting against Zooous. He refuses to ever run away again.
Touma henshins and with his newfound knowledge, he is able to counter Ryoga’s attack. He says he made a promise with Rintaro to protect the Northern Base. And that is why they will win here.
Rintaro remembers fond memories of his master. Thinking about Sophia’s question from earlier, Rintaro acknowledges that he realized his purpose long ago, but he lacked the resolve.
Mei and Tetsuo call out to him. Rintaro turns and smiles at them. He is resolved to protect his family and friends. And with those friends, anyone would be able to grow stronger.
Rintaro says the world he lives in has meaning because his loved ones are there. Thus, he will protect them here and now.
Suddenly, the All-Knowing Book glows and flies into the air before appearing in front of Rintaro transformed into a Wonder Ride Book.
Rintaro takes the new Book, locks it in and henshins to Tategami Hyoujuu Senki.
Back at the other ballroom, Master Logos appears and tells Brother Shindai that’s enough for now. Ryoga wants to kill Touma, but Master Logos touches his Book and the Brother Shindai disappears.
An exhausted Touma dehenshins and tells Yuuri that the rest is up to Rintaro now.
Rintaro and Zooous engage in their climactic battle. Rintaro realizes he now holds the wishes and resolve of all who have come before them, crystalized in this new power.
Rintaro chases after Zooous out into the cold. They continue to battle outside as they fly around the Northern Base.
Rintaro is able to gain the upper hand. He calls Zooous a monster and says the collective will of the noble swordsmen would never lose to such a thing.
Rintaro delivers a Finishing Chill at Zooous. Before he shatters to pieces, a smiling Zooous acknowledges Rintaro’s strength and says he’ll see him around some time.
Rintaro plants his sword in the ice and kneels, paying tribute to his master who appears to say that Rintaro has finally found what it means to be strong.
Down south, the Shindai Sibs have presented their acquisitions to Master Logos as they kneel before him. They promise to kill the Northern scum next time. But Master Logos says it’s alright. Especially now that the Northern power is inside a Book, it’ll be easier to obtain.
Reika, meanwhile, thinks about Yuuri saying Master Logos has been working with Megido. And then also having seen Zooous in the Northern Base dragging Ogami-san it, she is beginning to have her doubts.
While the Northerners celebrate Rintaro’s newfound resolve, Storious has managed to get his hands on an interesting Book.
Episode Thoughts
I’m kinda upset that this episode was better than the conclusion to the Meigido/Rintaro two-parter last week. lol
Seriously though, I quite enjoyed this one. I didn’t know what to expect coming in to the episode. But I definitely did not expect it to essentially continue Rintaro’s homecoming arc and finally resulting in his new form. I forgot about the possibility of one. I do remember weeks ago that I expected his new form to come about when he fully returned to the team and perhaps needing to save either Touma or Mei. Welp, it didn’t happen that way. But getting another pseudo-Rintaro-focus episode is very much a good thing. If any character deserves this spotlight, it’s Rintaro.
And tying it in to Zooous’ “death” also makes sense. Unlike Legeiel’s, I think Zooous’ “death” had much more depth and an actual foundation to it. I’m still sad and actually upset that they’re killing off the Megido3 like this without having given them any significant material during their time on the show. But with Zooous at least, his rivalry with Rintaro is a solid foundation to have made this episode work this well.
I like the design of Tategami Hyoujuu Senki. It’s so different looking I think. But it’s eye-catching in a good way.
This episode was also great with its world building. And I mean actual, physical world building. The library set can feel very limited and almost claustrophobic at times. We never really get a sense of how big this “base” really is. So seeing those grand hallways and staircases and ballroom again (first used for the Southern Base scenes) and even exterior CGI shots of the base was really awesome.
Considering all the limitations that COVID has put on both Sentai and Kamen Rider production in the last year, it’s great to see a change of scenery a little bit more. Even if just for an episode.
This episode was also very action-heavy. I could care less about the Shindai Sibs, but their appearance in the Northern Base definitely set the tone for the episode. It was an action-packed episode that actually helped to give the episode the necessary amount of danger and urgency. Though the All-Knowing Book stuff and whatever Master Logos is scheming doesn’t really feel all that important, it at least helped serve as a catalyst to the mayhem this week.
A pretty striking moment this episode was Sophia trying to hold off Zooous. The way Sophia started bleeding from the cuts of the shattered crystal seal, or whatever that was, was very dramatic. I mean, blood from her arm was actually splattering around. Sophia’s been completely underdeveloped. But I really enjoyed that scene and seeing her in “battle,” in a way. Again, it added to the major threat that loomed this episode.
Moving forward, as much as I enjoy seeing Keisuke Sohma relishing his role as Master Logos, I hope it is Storious that ends up the Big Bad final boss. I really won’t accept him getting offed as easily as Legeiel and Zooous. I don’t expect that, but I do expect huge things from his character as part of the endgame.
In lighter news, I don’t think I mentioned it last week. But after Ogami-san got his pin this week, I thought it’s amusing how Mei drew only Touma and Rintaro as close as possible to their real faces while everyone else got a more exaggerated version. lol
Overall, I thought this was a good episode. Great, exciting action. And a well-deserved Rintaro-focus.
Share:
Related posts ..
2 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Saber, Episode 32 – My Feelings, Crystalized.”
Share your thoughts!Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Nice to see Rintaro/Blaze got new power-up, Tategami Hyoujuu Senki.
I like that suit has a lot of white, more so than previous white Rider, which you don’t see it too often.
While the battle itself was CGI overfest, I like that he has unique attack techniques for land, air, and seas, which was nice. Really good design.
As we suspected, Zooous met his end, and it was nice way to exit his character, since he had the most development among villains so far. I like the rivalry with Rintaro, despite somewhat redundant, but he was definitely the most interesting among trio; I wished he had more material to work on, since even despite my thoughts on his character, much like rest of the show, it had wasted potential.
This leaves Storious, the only Megid general who’s alive, and I’m curious the book he finds.
This is minor nitpick, but Shindai Brother marks the FIRST Brother (Ryoga/Durendal) and Sister (Reika/Sabela) Rider, which is quite monumental; prior to this we only had something like Shijima Brother of Drive, where Kiriko was supporting character and her younger brother, Gou, was Mach.
From the looks of it, Reika might leave Southern Base to join Northern, which would be interesting.
Even though we don’t know how many episodes Saber is going to have, but it’s safe to say that we’re 2/3 of the way, assuming if total count is 48 (which is likely), which perfect place to get new power-up and death of general. It was decent episode to wrap-up 2/3 and set up for 1/3, even though the series itself is mostly mediocre.
Oh thats interesting. I did not know there has never been brother and sister Riders before. But of course that’s partly because they don’t have many female Riders in the first place. Even though they really should.