Figured I’d give Tale of @tokuteasings a little treat tonight with this transcript of a hypothetical series first episode for my Saber AU. This takes place around the same time as episode 1 in canon, so I tried my best to keep things as original as possible while also throwing in hints of that episode and adding my own twist to it. Tale, if you’re reading this, hope you enjoy this treat!
Information regarding the MOIW 2023 live has been revealed! The live will occur in the TOKYO DOME on the 11th and 12th of February 2023. This live will feature all five brands of IDOLM@STER on the stage together after 8 years.
The voice providers participating in this stop are as follows:
this is Kento as Calibur, right? or not, either works lol
Huh. Apparently it's not Kento- the listed VA for Calibur is Hiroyuki Hirayama, who plays Daichi Kamijo (the 2nd Calibur after Kento's dad and the former Saber before Touma).
I guess that makes sense, since Ryo Aoki would obviously be voicing Espada. Though I'm not sure why they didn't have Mitsuru Karahashi (Fukamiya Hayato) play him instead. Even if his older character from Faiz is in the game there's precedent for one actor reprising multiple roles in Ganbarizing (Kouhei Takeda voiced both Kurenai Otoya from Kiva and Sawatari Kazumi from Build).
Also, I reckon the actual closest thing we have for dream crossovers are the ones from unofficial stage shows. You can sometimes find them on Youtube if you're lucky. I don't remember if I ever saw one for Zero-One and Saber specifically but I did see a few ones with Saber and other Rider seasons. Considering that these don't have anywhere near the budget the tv shows have... they can be pretty damn impressive.
ryuki 🤝 saber
being fantasy themed seasons in a parallel world with a fuck ton of riders, the secondary rider is blue, the main rider is red and based on a dragon, and shows mercy to even his enemies, and an evil rider is purple. there is one rider that is related to the big bad of the season and is rather difficult to fight.
Saber action director Watanabe Jun introduced the main action team, one member each day since the show ended.
Meet the people behind the suits of Saber’s awesome swordsmen!
=-=-=-=-=
Imai Yasuhiko
Kamen Rider Durendal
Now that Saber has finished
To express my gratitude
I'd like to introduce the members of our action team who has supported the story
First is this person
Mr. Imai Yasuhiko
With action and acting
He's always someone to go beyond what is demanded of him.
He's also supported us with the many hats that he wore, thank you very much!
Miyazawa Yuki
Kamen Rider Sabela
Introducing today is
Miyazawa Yuki
First time joining the Rider team!
That said, she did her very best to not lose to anyone on the team!
Thank you ^_^
I hope you will continue to polish yourself and achieve far more growth.
All the best!
Tominaga Kenji
Kamen Rider Calibur (Fukamiya Hayato/Kamijo Daichi)
Up next is this person
Mr. Tominaga Kenji
Heisei Rider's first!!
It's been a while since he last joined Rider!
His peculiarity is still going strong!
There are times it's difficult to stop though (lol)
But really,
He's someone who never says no, and always respond to the demands with everything he’s got.
Thank you so much for this past year!
(t/n: Tominaga-san is the suit actor of Kuuga)
Arakawa Makoto
Kamen Rider Saikou
The introduction for today is
Arakawa Makoto-san!
After years, he finally responded to my passionate love call!
As a player, and rigger
He holds a splendid attitude, truly the best guy (saikou)
Thank you very much!
Btw, it's his birthday yesterday.
Happy birthday!
(sorry for the late greeting)
Mori Hirotsugu
Kamen Rider Slash
Today's introduction is
Someone from Red Action Deliver
Mori Hirotsugu
First time joining the Rider team!
He's learned sword handling directly from Niibori-san, he did a really cool performance.
But!
You’re still developing, polish yourself some more, I hope to see you liven up the field in the days to come!
Thank you so much for this past year!
(t/n note: Mori is also active in Sentai as villains, such as Gachileus in Ryusoulger, and robots like King Express from Kiramager, and TwokaiOh from Zenkaiger)
Fujita Satoshi
Kamen Rider Kenzan
Today's introduction is
Fujita Satoshi
Of course he's a player in Saber, but he's also one who helped me a a lot as Saber's assistant action director!
Really such a big help.
Thank you ^_^
Zero One, Saber, in these two years he's shown dramatic growth and have shown one more side to him!!
Fujita-kun who's very skillful in a lot of things.
Please watch out for this guy!
Okamoto Jiro
Kamen Rider Buster
To continue the introductions
Mr. Okamoto Jiro
The Legend
His action's strength, sharpness, and vigor, all of them top notch!
The awesomeness that comes through even without words.
I'm sure the younger ones have learned so much watching him.
Sometimes showing a little mischievous side of him is one of his charms.
All of these combined has really supported us.
Thank you so much!
Villains
Komori Takuma
Storious/Kamen Rider Solomon/Kamen Rider Storious
Teramoto Shogo
Zooous
Sakae Danki
Legiel/Dezast
Tomorrow at 9AM will be Kamen Rider Revice
But
I'm still going to continue introducing Saber Team!
From left is
Komori Takuma
Teramoto Shogo
Sakae Danki
The three of them played the baddies
They've sincerely faced each of their roles, and really did their best!
They have also supported us on the field with various duties. Thank you ^_^
I’m expecting more in the days to come
Nakata Yuji
Kamen Rider Espada/Kamen Rider Calibur (Fukamiya Kento)
Just a few more left to introduce. Today is
Nakata Yuji
He's good at acrobatic action, but he’s also someone who's earnest with acting. He's someone who's definitely going to be a strength to the action team in the future!
The past few months, he has really stood out!
I'm expecting a lot from you!!
*He's actually quite a shy boy though
Eitoku
Kamen Rider Blades
Today’s introduction is
Eitoku
We're training school classmates, it's already 20 years of working together.
Zero One, Saber, and now Revice
His attitude on consistent effort is impressive.
He's probably the no. 1 player at this point.
But he always says he's still on the works.
If you weren't there, I would not have been able to get this far.
Truly one of my strongest support.
Looking forward to another year of working together!
Asai Kousuke
Kamen Rider Saber
I have introduced the members of Saber's action team and it's the last one today.
Last but not the least
Asai Kousuke
He performed Saber the whole year.
Thank you!!
This past year
I believe you have overcome a lot of hurdles
And now it's time to look back.
How you're going to proceed from here is your call.
I actually got so upset that I had to watch Kirameiger’s new episode to calm down a little. But seriously, what the hell Toei?!
I NEVER thought that they had this planned for Kento. And when I heard rumors and theories about it, I kept thinking “Naaah! They wouldn’t do that to Kento! He’s the 3rd Rider! 3rd Riders don’t die THIS early in the series!”
But then the 12th episode was released and..... I’m confused. I mean, the whole episode was AMAZING! The fights with the Megid were awesome (and funny in Ren’s case ‘cause the scene where he’s chasing the Megid was hilarious to me.) Also, I love how how they used RINTARO as the one to help Touma get his memories back. And only because Rintaro said Luna’s name. I just love how, instead of using Kento who was apart of the original trio, we get Rintaro- an almost stranger to the original trio, but a part of the NEW trio (quartet including Mei hehe)- making a sort of makeshift bridge between Touma’s current and past memories. I know I’m kind of over-dramatizing that but hopefully you know what I mean. hehe. Ugh! I love Rintaro so much!
What confuses me is Kento. He’s the 3rd rider. He’s in both the opening AND ending clips. We’ve seen his Rider suit before his character was even introduced. Why did Toei give us so much information about him when they’re just going to kill him in the 12th episode? Is he really truly dead? Are they going to bring him back somehow like they did Kiriya? Is his death supposed to be some kind of driving force for Touma to get a power up or successfully find Luna? There are just so many questions that I don’t even know we’ll ever get proper answers from Toei.
There are a few things that I did like about his death though.
We kinda know that Kento had no idea Touma was alive after the battle 15 years ago occurred. So the day he flew into the bookstore on his magic carpet was the first time he’s seen Kento since that day Luna went missing. So maybe, when Touma was shocked when he realized that Kento was the mystery boy in his memories, young Kento’s face was too blurry for Touma to actually see??? I guess?
We also know that Kamijo Daichi has no relation to Touma other than he was the boy Kamijo saved 15 years ago. Which means that Touma wasn’t an apprentice or the son of a friend like I theorized before. Touma just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We also finally know the promise that the original trio made 15 years ago. Which, not gonna lie, was like a nail to the heart when Kento died after that was revealed. Toei really knows how to put salt onto a wound. The “I was so happy that you kept you love for books and became an author.” was the best part, I swear! I’m just a bit frustrated that Kento had to say that AS HE WAS DYING.
I also loved the scene where Mei got mad at Kento. I’m starting to love her character more! Especially when she bought Rintaro eclairs because he was injured and she knew he wasn’t able to get any last time. That was just way too sweet. I was seriously scared that Mei was going to be like Ui from Ryusoulger. But now, I think Mei’s turning in to what I had hoped Ui was going to be like. Which is awesome in my book.
I’ll end this... rant... for now. I really hope they bring back Kento like they did Kiriya soon. I know there’s so much to his character than just dying so early.
Heroes Odyssey: Not likely to cover every episode, but will cover this episode a little. Zero is talking about people, villains and defenders across the universes. All the heroes I saw listed below, but on with the episode. Zero still not admitting Zero is his apprentice, come on dude. Okay, Zero is talking like the events of Z are still ongoing here. I might not talk about this much until nearer the end, we'll see.
Hayata, Dan, Go, Seiji, Misuzu, Gen, Choichiro, Yamato-sensei, Ryoko, Scott, Chuck and Beth, Jack, Kai, Spark Lens, Reflasher, Gamu, Fujimiya, Katsuto, Genki, Seven 21's girl disguise, Ginga, Musashi, Julie, Maki, Himeya, Komon, Kaito, Serizawa, Sakomizu, Mirai, Jin, Rei, Ran, Nao, Taiga, Hikaru, Shou, Daichi, Gai, Riku, Leito, Asahi, Isamu, Kataumi, Hiroyuki, STORAGE, Haruki. So a couple of oddities, specifically the use of Misuzu instead of Kotaro, the not using Asuka even though Tsuruno Takeshi is definitely not a problem like Nagano Hiroshi's agency is, never mind I have learnt some stuff, and using all 3 of Zero's hosts and only one of Nexus' (counting The Next and Noa as separate). There's also stuff like not using Tsubasa, Amui or Yuuto or Tomoya, or not using Kazamori even though they used Jim, but that's less weird really. Okay
The Absolute Conspiracy: We're now set between Zero & Z Voice Drama and Z itself. In Tartarus' relative past he brought Reibatos to Future Earth, where he revives Bat Seijin. Bat Seijin concluded that with a heart Zetton could defeat the Ultra heroes, creating Uchu Kyoju Majin Zett. Later, the Tri Squad train on Planet Maijii, a high gravity world where Taiga and Titas had trained before meeting Fuma, when Zett appears. Taiga and Titas recognised him from when they faced another version on U40 and sealed him, probably referencing a Voice Drama scenario. Zett summons the Zetton Army, two regular Zettons, 2 Hyper Zetton, EX Zetton and, a modification of a Baltan Zetton fusion from around the same time as Zett on stage, Zetton Falx. The team struggles against them. At Ayaka City Ultrawoman Grigio is still fighting on behalf of her brother's against Zandrias and Noiseler, managing to drive them off. Zero arrives to recruit her, Grigio mentioning her brothers are helping in the hunt to stop Devil Splinters. Tartarus arrives on U40, noting it will be a problem for him one day. Joneus' quickly appears and Tartarus challenges him. After determining he will be a threat, Tartarus leaves, Zero arriving right after to ask for his help. The Tri-Squad continue to struggle against the Zetton Army until the sudden arrival of Galaxy Rescue Force members Andro Melos and Ultraman Ribut.
Saber: Is the rooftop near Fantastic Bookstore Kamiyama? I thought of it as being like, Kento's place, but we're still using it so I don't know. Mei's editor is now a Yeti Megiddo. Yuri has been in Avalon for a thousand years it seems, doesn't like the comic SwordXMan, which seems like he might be making a comment on the show itself? Anyway, we're finally going to Southern Base. A reminder to the fandom that the fact to us Reika is clearly evil, or at least lying, doesn't make the fact the Northern Base members took her statements at face value contrived. Rintaro is incapable of seeing flaws within Sword of Logos due to his past, but at the same time wants to believe in Touma, while Ren is against Touma for believing Kamijo about the traitor given Kamijo killed Kento. Ogami and Daishinji don't really know what's true, but will follow Reika's instructions for now. Yuri seems... intrigued? Confused? By Legeiel...have they met, or does he know Legeiel as someone else? Okay, defeating Yuki-san's Megiddo form seems to part complete the new Alter Book she's using, or rather it's just time spent, if it completes she'll be gone. In the next battle Yuri demonstrates his next ability as Saikou, producing Shadow to fight with.
Kiramager: More focus in finding the last Kanaema Stone, and what is up with Takamichi and Garza? Oh, Illusia, that's what. I knew the mention of a crescent would tie into Garza somehow. Takamichi has unresolved issues with Garza, brought about by Oradin interrupting the last Graduel, in a way Mabusheena doesn't. And yeah, that Garza was trying to kill him I suspected. Garza symbolically destroys the image Takamichi has of him ever being a loving uncle. Yodonna gets away with Illusia.
Dogengers: Yabai Kamen declares to the assembled members of AHK that with the treasure he has acquired, a Golden Seal, they will end the era of the heroes. In Fukuoka City Tanaka Jiro watches the news, which is interrupted by Shaberryman, who announces he is on the run from heroes, specifically Fukuokaken Fukuokaliber, a wielder of two swords and the politest hero in Fukuoka. Fukuokaliber had been active for 8 years, and Dogengers is the debut of his new costume, indeed the promo images all use the original. The hero asks Kitaqman for help, but he's too busy showing off a drink on his blog, Shaberryman then runs into workers for Yahata Construction, including the boss, along with their hero, Tengen no Yusha El Brave, a masked wrestler who now fights as a hero, El Brave is completely resistant to the attacks, and is aided by the workers in fighting off Shaberryman, who bemoans the company finances going down the drain when he's interrupted by the Yamashiro Gas Co. Sales Department Hero Division, Redron, Aoiron and Daidairon. Redron is polite and a little naive, Aoiron has something of a cool image and Daidairon is the curry lover. Yamashiro Gas Co. is actually based in Saga Prefecture, but has offices in Fukuoka. With permission from the company, the three are able to combine into Yamashiron, and defeat Shaberryman, and the crowds celebrate the heroes. Tanaka admires the heroes' strength. He's talking with his childhood friend, Yuki, who he last saw 17 years ago when he moved to Tokyo, they're making plans to meet soon. Both make use of Hero related stickers. On Nokonoshima Island the heroes are filming Hero House, during which we see Kitaqman's Kitaq Machine. The girls seem to be having fun. On the ferry back to the mainland to get lunch, as they arrive the city is attacked, and they're soon confronted by Yabai Kamen, some Karami, as well as the Arakuremono thugs who support the two members of Marou Project, Marou Kaijin Gulf and Marou Kaijin Gallia. Marou just means Evil Wolf, Gulf is the elder brother with an Osaka accent who loves to fight, Gallia is the cuter younger brother with a Tokyo accent. As Yabai Kamen demonstrates his power, explaining he took the chance to invade while they were on Nokonoshima, the heroes evacuate those nearby to the island before confronting the villains, but Yabai Kamen demonstrates his power further. Tanaka finds himself at the scene of the battle, watching. The heroes are able to defeat the Karamis, but Gulf and Gallia demonstrate they're also stronger, wiping the heroes out. Tanaka, remembering his childhood, tries to stand up against the villains, but his heroic speech never makes it out if his imagination, Yabai Kamen does offer him membership as an Arakuremono. Sending the Marou's off, he tells Tanaka he's Fukuoka's last hero, and gloats, before the arrival of Ohgaman, who swiftly defeats the Karami with his thermometer projectiles, leaving him ready to challenge Yabai Kamen one on one.
What I find interesting in the naming of SOL members is that their surnames contain a homophone for the kanji for 'god', that said, looking for the specific kanji is driving me nuts. Can you clarify?
Well, your confusion may come from the fact that 神, ‘god’ in Japanese could be pronounced two ways. ‘Kami’ or ‘Shin’. Also, bear in mind that kanji pronunciations can change depending if they are used on their own or with another kanji, and that the ‘kami’ or ‘shin’ can be spread out across several kanji.
Now, as far as the last names of the Riders go, two of them actually do have the kanji for ‘god’ in it. 神山, Kamiyama (Touma), and 神代, Shindai (Ryouga and Reika). For the homophones, we have these characters’ last names (kanji homophones in bold red)
上條- Kami-jo (Daichi, the previous Saber)
新堂- Shin-do (Rintaro)
富加宮- Fu-ka-miya (Kento and his father, Hayato)
尾上- O-gami* (Ryo)
緋道- Aka-michi (Ren)
大秦寺- Dai-shin-ji (Tetsuo)
長嶺- Naga-mine (Kenshin, the previous Blades and Rintaro’s master)
亀巳川- Kam(i)**-ka-wa (Toshikazu, the previous Buster and Ryo’s master)
鏡- Kagami (Amane, the previous Kenzan)
新閃- Shin-sen (Kyoichiro, the previous Espada)
篠崎- Shin-jiro (Shinozaki, one of the three Kamen Rider Falchion and Rintaro’s birth father)
The swordsmen who don’t follow the naming convention are Yuri, Sophia, Bahato, Desast, Master Logos/Isaac, Storious (none of whom have last names), and the other two Falchions, Mamiya and Tachibana Yuina. Interestingly, those last two could’ve shared the last names of other Riders- Mamiya is actually Touma’s adopted son Riku and could theoretically use his father’s name for himself, and Yuina would’ve taken Kento’s name if they had married.
*Japanese convention usually switches out k with g if it is preceded by a vowel-only, hence the slight difference between Kamijo and Ogami despite being the same kanji
**亀is actually read as “kame”, but changed into “kami” so it flows with the rest of the name better
ok theory time bc i feel like we have enough going right now that i can piece some stuff together
explanation below readmore, contains spoilers up to ep 12
basic breakdown - this arc has taken place within touma’s story. tassel as the introducer/narrator is the one reading the story. tassel and the hooded figure entering the story is in response to kento’s “death” bc theyre upset touma killed him off/touma killing him off changed some kind of timeline that needed to be maintained between the two worlds
pt. 1 - this was all written by touma
potentially anything after touma giving mei his manuscript may be forfeit as novelisation
for the sake of this theory we’ll say it starts with episode 8, when touma starts writing the story of them winning against the gorgon megid
the fiction doesnt stop there. he is still writing, up until the end of episode twelve
however not all scenes are within the novel
notably anything with tassel in it and the avalon bit.
pt. 2 - tassel
obviously tassel is up to something
considering what weve seen of them theyre paying close attention to the story, but they also seem to be experiencing it in a way not affected by the seemingly linear time of the story
the guest tassel has over is the hooded figure from avalon, who then shows up at the site of kento’s death
tassel defers to this figure, meaning they likely have an established relationship related to touma/sword of logos. sword of ethos? probably not i just think it would be cool if logos/ethos/pathos
pt. 3 - additional pieces given by ep12 + predictions
there are two distinct worlds, the one the megid are from and the one humans are from
this has complicated implications regarding rintaro (not human) and ren (described by desast as “like us”)
what im saying is that whatever happened 15 years ago with the sword merge disturbed the two linked worlds heavily, but left the human world more intact due to ???
possibly kamijo’s protecting touma/the power of touma & co.’s promise bc its a kids show
the majin want their world back and are clearly working with calibur to get it, probably with storious selling the unification (read: absorbtion) of the two worlds together as whatever “eternal truth” kamijo was talking about
is this a bad thing???
kamijo thinks hes doing the right thing.
personally it doesnt seem bad to want to save the megid world by absorbing it into the human one but i dont know enough about dimensional fusing to understand the dangers it poses
tassel and hooded figure will interact with the story, possibly setting the timeline back a bit and changing a few key things
kento stays with ren, rintaro stays in bed, etc
most notably, touma doesnt go to the fight at all, and instead starts writing again about his friends
thats about as much speculation as im comfortable with given what we have. i really dont think kento is gone for good bc this is episode 12 and they gave him sooo much screentime. just to kill him off? i dont think so