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Farewell Soon Kamen Rider Zero-One, Hello Kamen Rider Saber!

Well, it's confirmed that Kamen Rider Zero-One has indeed done its filming. Right now, I'm even wondering about the future of my episode reviews since I don't intend to do them forever. Also, remember I don't give magazine scans or updates - I REACT to updates like I'm doing to right now. So there are five more episodes of Zero-One left and September 6, 2020, will be the time for the arrival of the new Kamen Rider Saber. Yes, the second Reiwa era Kamen Rider will be born.

The plot and details are given by UkiyaSeed:

The series will focus on two worlds colliding due to the actions of the enemy faction named Megiddo. These two worlds are our world, and a world based on fairy tales and fantasy. 

Touma Kamiyama (played by Shuichiro Naito) is a novelist and the owner of the Fantastic Kamiyama Bookstore. Passionate about books, he can't stop talking about it once he gets started. He also has a heated side and values a promise above all else. He becomes Kamen Rider Saber, the flame swordsman and joins the Sword of Logos after having a fateful encounter with the holy sword of fire, Kaenken Rekka. 

Aside from Kamen Rider Saber, other Kamen Riders that are part of the Sword of Logos are:
  • Rintaro Shindo/Kamen Rider Blades (played by Takaya Yamaguchi), the water swordsman and has maintained the secrecy of the operations of the Sword of Logos for a long time. 
  • Kento Fukamiya/Kamen Rider Espada (played by Ryo Aoki), the lightning swordsman and is Touma's childhood friend. However, he has forgotten something important about their friendship.
  • Ren Akamichi/Kamen Rider Kenzan (played by Eiji Togashi), the wind swordsman who has a strong sense of justice. Overly talented, he sees Kamen Rider Saber as his rival.

Watching over the Kamen Riders and the guardian of the Wonder Ride Books is Sophia (played by Rina Chinen), while Tetsuo Daishinji (played by Hiroasa Naka) takes care of the gear of the Sword of Logos as their mechanic. The press conference state that the series will feature over 10 Kamen Riders. 

Also part of the show's cast are: Robin Furuya as Sutorius, Kairu Takano as Regiel, and Koji Saikawa as Zuos. These three, along with Kamen Rider Calibur are part of Megiddo. In addition, Asuka Kawazu will play Mei Sudo, Touma's friend and his current editor.

The series is written by Takuro Fukuda (Kamen Rider Ghost) and is directed by veteran Kamen Rider director Takayuki Shibasaki (Kamen Rider Drive: Surprise Future). In addition, the series will feature an opening and ending theme by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, with the opening theme featuring a "big guest artist" that is yet to be revealed. The ending theme is simply titled "Kamen Rider Saber". This is the first time since Kamen Rider Hibiki that a Kamen Rider series had an actual ending theme. Kamen Rider Saber is set to premiere this September 6th, replacing Kamen Rider Zero-One. 

My thoughts on the updates? 

The protagonist himself would be appealing to me as a passionate about books guy. I was thinking that his story where he becomes Kamen Rider Saber and joins the Sword of Logos (reason) might be a tribute to ancient philosophers. For me, it's interesting to have a four-member Kamen Rider party like it's a tribute to RPGS. After all, the plot itself revolves around storybooks or fairy tales. 

What would be interesting to know is that Megiddo is a place of war. Hmmm... wasn't Kagaku Sentai Dynaman's final antagonist also named Prince Megiddo? So there are four evil Kamen Riders namely Calbiru, Sutorious Regiel, and Zuos. I guess evil Kamen Riders have become more and more in demand since the dawn of Kamen Rider Ryuki huh? We had evil Kamen Riders pop out even more to challenge the heroes though not every post-Ryuki season had an evil Kamen Rider but many of them did! Kamen Rider BLACK gave us the first true evil Rider in Shadow Moon. However, it was Ryuki that gave us Ouja the first truly evil Kamen Rider by his own free will - I called him Bilgenia with the Kingstone! I can't wait to see how the quartet of evil will menace the heroes!

My concerns for now? Well, the writer is Takuro Fukuda who wrote the rather lackluster (at least for me) Kamen Rider Ghost. Though, I think Ghost itself was still interesting to get me reading back my history textbooks and get more into history. However, it was more of it that Kamen Rider Drive was probably that good for me that Ghost gets overshadowed in my head. Hopefully, Fukoda will improve as not every good writer started out well. Just think most of Naruhisa Arakawa's Jetman episodes and need I mention Dairanger episodes weren't that good for its time. Only later did Arakawa find what he wanted to do and got it done. 

I'd say that it's probably time to revive the Battle Royale if ever. We had it with Ryuki but executive meddling practically tore it down. Kamen Rider Gaim last October 2013 was pretty good but I still can't help but agree that the fruit motif is FUNNY. At least, Gaim did manage to fix a few things Ryuki did wrong such as giving it a better, definite finale. Hopefully, Saber will manage to improve what Ryuki and Gaim did but I'd better keep expectations low - not especially after I've gotten myself into the South Korean craze!

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