Recap: Kamen Rider Saber, Episode 33 – Still, the Future Can Change.
Master Logos asks Reika to gather the remaining Seiken and also to forget about Ren. Meanwhile, Kento is confused as to how Rintaro is still alive when all the scenarios showed him being killed by Zooous.
Up north, Mei apologizes to Sophia for losing the key she gave her. Yuuri arrives after doing what he could to help Ogami-san recover faster while he is in the hospital.
Yuuri updates them about his search for his friend Viktor. He explains that Viktor is one of “The First” and watches over Wonderworld. A bird told Yuuri that Viktor is currently trying to put himself back together again.
The others have no idea what he’s talking about.
Anyway, Mei presents Yuuri with the pin she made. She only has Ren and Kento’s pins left. Rintaro says they need to bring them back home, especially as Master Logos is probably after them too.
Touma says he will bring Kento. Rintaro, Yuuri and Mei will go look for Ren.
Down south, Reika checks in with her brother who is working out while shirtless. She expresses her concerns about Master Logos possibly colluding with Megido, but brother Ryoga yells at her to just shut up and follow their master’s orders.
Back in the city, Desast annoys Ren while he is eating lunch. Desast says Ren won’t get any stronger chasing after his dear Kento-kun and suggests he come with him instead.
On the other side of town, Touma finds Kento and offers him a picnic lunch. Kento initially refuses, but his stomach growls so he reluctantly accepts.
Touma says he has been wanting to sit and chat with Kento ever since his memories returned. This very tree is where the two of them and Luna happily played together as children. But it all changed 15 years ago on That Day when the boys had argued with Luna over something stupid. When Kento had chased after Touma, the abnormalities began appearing in the sky and that’s when Luna got sucked in to the portal.
Kento notices his pin placed in the lunch box. Touma begs Kento to fight alongside him again. He believes Kento is still the Kento he knows and loves. He even saved Sophia, after all.
Kento explains that Master Logos created Sophia to be a fake Luna who could connect the worlds. That’s why she is integral to the restoration of the All-Knowing Book.
Kento gets up, saying their disgusting future is inevitable. But Touma grabs him and says Kento is trying to shoulder the burden all by himself like before. He doesn’t want to lose Kento again and begs him to at least explain the horrific futures he saw.
Kento remembers holding Touma in his arms as he dies. But before he can say it out loud, Master Logos comes crashing in.
Touma is shocked to see Master Logos is the man who helped him in the Southern Base.
Master Logos explains that he wants the All-Knowing Book in order to create a world of happiness. They don’t believe it. But Master Logos says he wants to create a world without conflict where the terrifying screams of humans will replace the sound of birds chirping in the morning.
Master Logos says humans are just pawns on his chessboard.
Touma and Kento also henshin as they refuse to be used as pawns. Master Logos mocks Kento by saying Papa Fukamiya had been an obedient pawn who sacrificed Luna and brought about the chaos of That Day.
“Your father tossed that girl to her death,” Master Logos says.
Kento blames Master Logos for tearing apart his beautiful friendship with Touma and Luna. Master Logos laughs that even if Luna ever returns, he will just use her all over again.
When their swords meet, Touma’s Book suddenly glows. Master Logos’ All-Knowing Book excerpt opens up and forces Touma and Kento out of their henshin.
The Wonderworld appears above them and a portal opens up to reveal Luna inside. Touma runs toward the portal. Luna reaches her hand out, but the portal closes and Touma falls to the ground.
Touma cries that he just knew Luna was still alive. Master Logos is intrigued.
Meanwhile under a bridge, Reika finds Ren and Desast. She mocks Ren for being friends with a Megido. But Ren claps back with the fact that Master Logos is the true enemy. That hits a nerve with Reika and she and Ren henshin to battle.
Though Desast relaxes while they battle, he jumps down to block Reika’s attack when Ren is in trouble. He says he is attracted to the smell of Reika’s hatred and he teams up with Ren to take her on.
Desast is able to predict some of Reika’s attacks. But Reika powers up and hurls an attack at Ren. Desast shields him from it and disappears.
When Reika turns her attention back to Ren, Rintaro arrives to block her attack. He henshins to Tategami Hyoujuu Senki and they battle.
Ren doesn’t understand why Rintaro would help him.
Rintaro is able to drive Reika away just as Mei and Yuuri arrive. Rintaro is intrigued by Yuuri’s bowl of oden. But while distracted, Ren has already left.
Desast pops up behind Ren and asks where his thanks for saving his ass is. Ren says he never asked for help and vows to become stronger without ever having to ask for it.
Ren agrees to follow Desast for now until they reach the end when he will beat his ass.
Desast happily laughs.
On the other side of town, Touma tells Kento that Luna was trying to say they can still change their future as long as Kento comes back to them. They can save the world and reunite as three best friends.
Kento believes for a moment that Touma might be able to actually do it, but he refuses to let him and vows to save Touma on his own.
Touma picks up Kento’s Meipin.
Meanwhile, Sophia finds that their Book portion is gone since it is in the hands of a gleeful Storious.
Storious laughs as he looks back a glowing… Sophialuna?!
Master Logos meanwhile has decided to open the Book of Destruction.
Episode Thoughts
Welp, the show decided to dip back in to the Luna plot and that means this episode is automatically less enjoyable than the more positive episodes the last couple of weeks.
Like I’ve mentioned many times before, I could care less about Luna or Touma and Kento’s childhood friendship with her. The show presents that friendship as if it’s some profound, deep relationship we should be invested in. But I’m definitely not. And that’s due to the show not doing a good job of developing the story and the characters involved.
During this episode, I couldn’t help but think of Attack on Titan again. Saber portrays Touma-Luna-Kento as if they’re Eren-Mikasa-Armin. That is, like they’re the main characters of a large ensemble cast of characters who will always be the heart and soul of the entire series. That’s absolutely not the case with Touma-Luna-Kento though. Far from it.
And then they introduce the idea that essentially Sophia is a hypothetical grown up Luna. And that she was created by Master Logos? WTF?
I found myself being far more interested in Reika emerging from Master Logos’ mist. Seeing her confused and almost lost was actually very interesting. It mirrors, in a way, Rintaro’s reaction to finding out his SoL family was actually full of horrible, corrupt, selfish people. I really wouldn’t mind them actually just copy and pasting Rintaro’s story over to Reika as it would finally give her some good material to work with.
I was also hoping to see more of Ren and Desast this week. There really wasn’t much movement on Ren’s story. Especially when the show kept Kento preoccupied with Touma and Luna. Ren agrees to the loose working relationship with Desast? That’s fine. I hope it leads to some dramatic clashes with the others. That’s really the only acceptable next step for Ren as a character. Otherwise his “lost puppy” sulking will have been for nothing.
In other expository news, Yuuri describing Viktor sounded so much like complete nonsense that it ended up being hilarious. I had small hope that Tassel could end up being evil or something. But it doesn’t seem like it. And really, it seems more like they have no idea what to do with him as a character. (Which is not surprising considering all the other underdeveloped characters.)
Speaking of, only five seconds of Storious again this week. If they off him like Legeiel and Zooous without giving him any substantial story, this season will be irredeemable, to be honest. Balls being dropped all over.
I did enjoy Master Logos actually out in the field at least. Keisuke Sohma was great in that scene. Plus, since Master Logos was going up against the two guys obsessing over Luna, I quite enjoyed seeing Master Logos on the verge of overpowering them. But again, Luna had to pop up and ruin everything. hmph
Anyway, the episode was just meh. Especially compared to recent weeks which I actually enjoyed and had fun with. This episode just reminded me of the things I perceive to be the season’s weaknesses. And that certainly isn’t going to be very enjoyable.