A new Kamen Rider series kicking off with a sensory overload of characters and new toys to buy is nothing new, but in a series eventually featuring a grand total of 12 Riders, many of whom also had alternate forms on top of that, it was very easy for the series to get completely lost in a sea of product placement. How much Saber manages to improve during its first stretch of episodes is debatable as well. There are also strong elements, such as Touma's interactions with children as he read them stories in his bookshop, that were phased out entirely (a version of Saber with a heavier emphasis on actual storytelling and child involvement is I personally would have especially liked to see, but alas it was not meant to be). The premiere episodepaints a very different Kamen Rider Saber - one that was very obviously held back by restrictions through its heavy use of manipulative camera angles and CGI backdrops. With Kamen Rider Saber kicking off right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic (with Zero-Onehaving previously had to go on hiatus, end up with a shortened episode count and have its movie delayed several months), its initial stretch of episodes are a very different beast - and one that many viewers would struggle to shake off. This is the time where the production team pretty much throw everything at the wall to see what sticks, go above the usual standard when it comes to visuals to entice fans to keep watching and generally just create something that isn't indicative of what the series will go on to become. Kamen Rider fans have been saying for years that you can't judge a series by its first few episodes.
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