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Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Build
Hi, hello, welcome. My name's Kamen Rider Die, and I'm a Kamen Rider fan.
Briefly, I got into Kamen Rider as a franchise early in 2018 by blowing through Ex-Aid. I loved it, and moved back to Kamen Rider W, working my way up to the present. I've done W, OOO, Fourze, Wizard, Gaim, Drive, Ghost, Ex-Aid, and Amazons in the last year and a half. That's my limited, but growing, knowledge base. So far, here on the boards, I've spent some time talking with folks about my first time through Kamen Rider Ghost, and a recent quick rewatch of the Ex-Aid movies. Chronologically, that means I'm ready to start watching and talking about Kamen Rider Build. Maybe y'all want to talk about it with me? That's my hope, anyway. My only request, if you've got stuff you want to say about Build, is please please please don't spoil anything. I haven't seen these episodes before, and I've purposefully tried to limit my exposure to spoilers. Please, don't even hint at upcoming Build stuff if you can avoid it. I know it's old news to most/all of you, but I'd like to see it all without preconceptions. That said, anything from W to Ex-Aid is fair game, and I imagine I'll be referencing those series liberally, so, uh SPOILER WARNING if you haven't watched those series. Thanks! Okay, that's the preamble. Let's check out Kamen Rider Build! Will it and I be a Best Match? Or will this experiment end in failure? IT'S SHOWTI--oh wait shit sorry, that's a different show. Just, uh, let's do the next post. Sorry. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build0.png |
KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 1 - 4
Well, that was a goddamn delight. Is this show just going to have me writing glowing reviews for a few weeks? Will these write-ups just be me saying "it was great" and nothing else? I am okay with that! https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build1.png Starting any new Kamen Rider show is tricky, both for the show and for the audience. As a viewer, I basically need to empty out all of the last show from my brain to make room for the new show. Forget the villains, the heroes, the monsters, the gimmicks, all of it is irrelevant now. (At least until the winter movie.) All that space is necessary for learning about new villains, new heroes, new monsters, and definitely for learning about new gimmicks, which is what's tricky for the producers. They've got an entirely new status quo to set up, and they have to do it within the formula of a Superhero Kicks Monsters Until They Explode franchise. It's got to create a world that can support a year's worth of entertainment, and it's still got to be fun right this minute. It's a tough balancing act, for sure. The Build team gave themselves, in my opinion, a huge advantage by pulling a lot of story scaffolding from one of my favorite Kamen Rider series: W. In these first few episodes, there's a bunch of elements that remind me of W, and I'm digging all of them. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build2.png First, there's the Build/Banjou dynamic, which is straight out of the W "two leads" playbook. (I am having a weirdly difficult time remembering anyone's names so far, so expect maybe a higher than usual amount of substitutions. I'm trying my best!) Build and Banjou don't have to be one Rider, but the way their different approaches to solving a problem end up coming to a solution faster than if they were alone, the way they have different outlooks but still care about doing the right thing, the muscle/brains combination, how one of them has amnesia... I mean, that is a lot of overlap with W. Second, you've got (at least in the third and fourth episodes) the emphasis on investigation. It's more straight-up detective work than I've seen in a while (I do not miss the Ghost story generator of "someone runs in and says a monster is outside"), and the show doesn't shortcut it a lot. I mean, a little. There's some "I checked with sources" offscreen kinda bullshit, but in a 20-something minute show, I'll allow it. There's a refreshing insistence on connecting dots, plot-wise. Why did this happen, when did this happen, what will happen next, and so on. I don't mean this to be faint praise! This sort of nuts-and-bolts stuff is what helps keep a show on the rails enough to do some really excellent stuff down the line. They're, if you'll forgive the expression, building something in the first few episodes that'll need to support another 40-odd chapters. Screw it up now, it's all probably going to fall apart later. Using the reliable W formula of "the team tracks down the week's monster, while making incremental progress on the season's mystery" is a super solid way to kick things off. Third, it's a very humor-forward Rider show. I don't remembering laughing (on purpose!) this much since W, and maybe only with W? There's fun parts of a lot of shows, but very few that are really funny. (Admittedly, your mileage may vary on this.) The writing on this show isn't the forced-gag variety, it's clever comebacks and unexpected escalation. Every single member of Team Build got a real, honest laugh out of me at least once in these first few episodes, with some (Build/Banjou, Misora, Sawa) getting a couple three in. That's not to say there's no room for drama! The dramatic beats each episode (especially the "make new memories with your dad" beat at the end of Episode 4) always felt earned, and never gave me whiplash. They balanced the action, drama, and humor well, but I really enjoyed how dominant the humor was. It's not quite a Kamen Rider comedy, but the jokes worked great. Fourth... y'know, I was going to mention how W and Build might have slightly similar gimmicks, but I'm not really sure that's the case. I mean, W's thing is taking two separate items, each representing a powerful ability, and then inserting them into the Driver in different combinations to create the right match to defeat a particular monster, while... Build's... thing... is... oh. Oh. OH. Yeah, okay, got it. So, okay, that may seem like it's biting a fair amount from W. And it is? Sort of? But there are two big advantages Build has over W so far. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build3.png The biggest advantage at this stage is the cast. It's much larger than W and (I'll say it) much better than W. Team Build snaps into focus very fast, and the first few episodes do a great job of constantly mixing the pairings, finding a variety of interesting matches right away. (It's a motif!) Build/Banjou, Build/Sawa, Banjou/Misora, Build/Misora, Hipster Dad/Build, Banjou/Sawa... that's a whole lot of killer combos in just four episodes. Very few Rider shows manage that over an entire run. Fourze had a huge cast, filled with very fun archetypes, but it was one of my few disappointments that we didn't get to see enough weird combos for their stories. Kamen Rider Build seems like it knows what it has with this cast and these writers, and it's going to get its money's worth. The other advantage is that they've given themselves a plethora of story generators. Maybe too many? Build's memories, Banjou's framing, Faust, the Sky Wall, the Touto Institute, Pandora's Box, and it just goes on. There's a whole lot of ways to get the characters moving each episode beyond the usual A Monster Appears And There's A New Form Change. Again, it's possible that they've given themselves too many story generators (who knows what about which secret thing was a little hard to keep track of), but I'll always take too many generators than too few. W eventually got to a deeper place with the story, but they were pretty content for a while to do two-episode mysteries and not much more. Build is throwing a whole mess of ideas in the air, and it keeps the early story very propulsive. Overall, I'm really impressed with how great these first few episodes are. There's really nothing I disliked from this first batch. The suits are gorgeous, the theme song is catchy as hell (be the one, be the lights, alright, now it's stuck in your head too), Night Rogue is an awesomely named villain with a creepy-ass voice, Sawa is a vision and wait what the hell she was in the Accel movie and that Robin Hood episode of Ghost oh and Banjou was in the second season of Amazons is this like an all-star season of Kamen Rider CRAZY. Sorry, where was I? Oh, yeah, this show is a blast so far. Really having a fun time with it. To think, I was worried I wouldn't have enough to talk about, what with the show being so fun. Ha ha WHOOPS. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build4.png |
Yeah, you're getting started on a bloody good one here! Just reading through what you've put down is bringing back memories of what I loved in this first stretch of episodes -- especially nostalgic when it was the second series I checked out while it was airing; immediately after finishing Fourze. They got in a writer completely new to Tokusatsu on this and the freshness just exudes from every angle; toy adverts aside everything about this feels just new and revitalising. It's in my top 5 for a reason; I think you'll like this one and I'm excited to see your reactions to a few things!
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Ah, early Build is some good stuff. As is middle Build. And late Build.
I love Build, can you tell? |
Misora is one of the best comic relief characters in Kamen Rider when she chooses to be.
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Oh, man, I can't imagine getting to see this directly after Fourze. That must've been a dream! Quote:
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Kamen Rider Build is objectively the best Rider show I've ever seen. It's great and I love it.
I hope you have fun watching it :) |
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Oh yeah, build is a real good one and Banjou is just to die for later on. Early build reminds me a lot of early fourze with main cast just forming strong connections with each other, and feeling like fourze is always a good thing.
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KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 5 - 8
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build5a.png It's interesting to me that Build would dive so quickly into clearing up some of its initial mysteries, or at the very least, confirm viewers' suspicions. That's not what I expected! I thought we'd get the usual Just Show Off The Gimmicks early-season plots, along with some fun character moments, but nope: we are all in on Sento's mysterious origin, the nature of Sento and Banjou's abilities, where Hipster Dad got the Pandora panel, even some clues to who Sento was before he was Sento. That's a lot! Maybe too much too fast! It's not such a bad thing, at least in episodes 5 and 6. It helps that, first off, the revelations about various mysteries are there to reaffirm some of the growth and introspection we saw in the last few episodes. The show does an excellent job feeding these answers (or, possibly, "answers") to Sento and Banjou as not just exposition and Plot, but to test the characters' beliefs and give the audience a clear sense of who each character is. Sento is, we're told, a character who worries about others, who tries to help people because he wants to think of himself as someone who helps others. Banjou is, we're shown, someone who can be ruthless about clearing his name and getting answers for why his life is a nightmare. So, the smartest thing to do as a story is to force the two of them into opposite roles. Sento is driven into a myopic rage by Blood Stalk, ignoring victims to get to the truth about his missing memories. Banjou has to abandon the one person so far who seems to know what's going on to save a bunch of strangers and help Build see that getting revenge isn't the answer. It's smart, you guys. It's so, so smart. The other, maybe bigger reason I don't mind so much Revelation this early in the show is that I'm sure there's bigger bombshells to come, plus I don't know how much I beleive a lot of what we're being told. Hipster Dad in particular, man. I feel like a lot is being left out. I don't think it's lies per se, but there is clearly More To Come with that dude. Oh, one other thing about this two-parter I loved is the noir-ish moral complexity to the characters and mysteries. (There's that W influence again...) The few victims that Build has rescued are, one mom aside, kind-of unknowingly/reluctantly complicit in kidnapping, assault, and framing someone for murder. No one's a saint in this show, is what I'm getting at. Even Banjou setting Nightmare Teeth loose to track down the Faust base is something that is sort-of defensible, and the show doesn't treat it like anything more than a dick move. It's a lot more mature than I'm used to from a franchise that exists to get children to ask their parents to buy them toys. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build5b.png So, uh, I didn't love how episodes 7 and 8 turned out? I still liked them, there's fun stuff in there, but, yeah, maybe this story is the downside of having a lot of mysteries bubbling in the series. It's a lot of people telling us things that I don't totally trust. On any other Rider show, a villain saying Here's What Happened, you can usually trust them. I don't think the producers want to confuse kids that much, so any reveal can be taken at face value. With Build, it's a smart enough show that, short of actual proof, you're smart to be skeptical of who's saying something, and why. The downside, narratively, is that you can eat up a lot of time dropping plot bombs that provoke a reaction roughly along the lines of "jerk-off motion". That is maybe not the desired reaction? The thing that keeps those plot decisions from doing any real damage is that the show doesn't assume viewers are morons. It's a very tough line to put forward information that seems true, but has the ability to be expanded later into something different. Not lies, but, like, stuff that's true from a certain point of view. You don't want to cheat an audience, but you need to give them a plausible enough answer that they maybe won't ask so many questions for a few episodes. Build does an admirable job having every character act like they aren't suffering from a concussion, and can think clearly. (Well, except Banjou, who may actually be suffering from one or more concussions.) No one really thinks Sento killed Takumi. Like, Banjou's super suspicious, but he doesn't actually have any proof, so he's willing to just investigate until they know more. Sento's concerned, but he's not, like, turning himself in. In general, when presented with information that could rock them to their core, everybody in Team Build is like, "Let's take a step back and really consider not just the information, but the source of that information. Maybe there's more going on here." That is some smart plotting! It gives the characters something, but keeps them from feeling like they can stop working. Similarly, the audience gets to see a part of the puzzle, without the show trying to tell them they've seen the whole picture. I never felt like the show was wasting my time or dragging things out, so that's appreciated. I just didn't feel like the actual story was as engaging as they'd been previously. The villains and their conflicts are great, but the supporting cast was basically nowhere for this story, and too much information was just someone telling us a long story. Just, you know, not that kinetic for a superhero program! Oh, and so you can mock my inevitable wrongness, here's a couple theories: Sento is Takumi's knowledge/brain in Punk Rocker's body (Build is all about combinations! It's a motif!), and Hipster Dad is Blood Stalk. Please laugh at these in private. Thanks! https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build5c.png |
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And, yeah, I think comparisons to Fourze's awesome cast are totally earned. I cared about all of these wisecracking nerds so fast! |
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KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 9 - 12
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build9a.png A really good two-parter, but one I'm having a tough time evaluating thematically. Like, there's sort-of two good things happening across this story, and they don't seem to really be saying anything together. That's not a failure or anything, but it makes for two episodes that really nail Plot but kind-of shrug at Theme. The first thing I loved was that Banjou/Misora date. Just in general, they're two characters I like to see just hanging out. The performers are stellar, and the amount of feeling that comes out is next level. It's a very sweet, very nuanced sequence about two people whose lives are insane, who feel disconnected from the world, trying to find a little happiness. There's a, I don't know, kindness to that idea. A little tranquility. There's an understated (for Banjou and Misora!) progression where each of them opens up, without it feeling like we're getting, like, a thesis statement on Who They Are. Just some character stuff, necessary to flesh them out, but delivered in a very entertaining way. Then there's the other 3/4s of the story, which is just The Villains Win Big. Night Rogue and Blood Stalk just totally run the table, even when they're fighting each other. Sento and Banjou score a largely symbolic victory in, uh, finally being friends officially? And not getting murdered? They didn't do great, basically. Pretty much totally lost. But the villains had a great plan, Blood Stalk is incredibly charismatic in his double-crosses and taunting, Night Rogue still manages to be one step ahead of everyone, and now the bad guys have Pandora's Box and run the country. Also, Sawa is informing on our heroes to the military-industrial complex. Things are going great for Team Build! These were two good episodes, and the second one in particular is pretty much an A+ battle episode, but it's weird how disconnected the Banjou/Misora stuff was from what would turn out to be the rest of the story. Maybe there's some theme running through it all that I'm missing? If so, let me know what you think. Okay, I thought about it for, like, another minute, and I can see how it connects, plot-wise and theme-wise. Misora needs to open up with Banjou, and Banjou with Misora, so she can tell him that Sento blames himself for Kasumi's death. Eventually, during the rooftop fight, Banjou has to forgive Sento by literally entrusting his girlfriend's spirit to Sento, leading to a near-victory with KeyDragon. All of the Banjou/Misora stuff isn't so much there for Misora, it's to explore through Misora how Sento feels. That's the thread, that's why those two sequences are in one story, I get that now. I think I was just focussing too much on the start of that sequence, and forgot some about the end. Really, I should rework the beginning of this write-up, but, y'know, that first paragraph is how I initially felt, so why not be honest. I feel a lot better about this story now, though. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build9b.png So, obviously, this is The One Where Cross-Z Happens. (How am I meant to be saying that, anyway? I can't tell. "Cross"? "Cross Zee"? Help!) And, sure, it's a solid, emotional moment, the suit looks good, it's great to see Banjou taking a more active role in the fights, all good things. High fives all around. Also, Blood Stalk seems to be living his best life, bounding into and out of scenes with the sort of joie de vivre that'd make Kamen Rider Birth swoon. He's a treasure. That's not what I want to talk about, though. I want to talk about the Sawa/Utsumi stuff. That's, to me, the meat of this story, and I thought it was really something special. It's a gamble for a series like Kamen Rider to try and pull a background player up to the main stage for a story. Frankly, few of them are built for that kind of scrutiny. They're gag recipients, or exposition deliverers, or just plain victims. You're not supposed to, like, care about them. So when a show decides This Is The Week Where You Care About Them, y'know, we'll see! Easier said than done. So you can imagine my surprise that I actually cared about Utsumi's sudden, previously unmentioned existential struggle. What had mostly been a smirking lackey, perpetually in Night Rogue's shadow, is now this fleshed-out character, grappling with the way his once-noble goals have been twisted by the compromises of ideological survival. The needs of Faust as an organization are greater than the hopes of its servants, and Utsumi gets ground up by the machine he admired. It's tragic, and the show doesn't flinch at portraying it as such. Even more interesting is the way the show weaves in Sawa's backstory, and how it thematically supports Utsumi's. Sawa is another person who started down a road with noble intentions, but now she doesn't know where it all went wrong. What should've been justice for her father, the downfall of evil men, is now a betrayal of good people and life as a fugitive. Except, no, because Team Build doesn't stand for that sort of thinking. Sawa's a friend, and she was trying to do good, and that matters more than the mistakes she made while trying to do good. It's more of that moral complexity I'm loving, where choices aren't judged, they're weighed against goals and intentions. Good people can do bad things for good reasons, and bad people can do good things for bad reasons. It's linked thematically with Sento's view of science as not inherently good or evil, but subject to choices and goals and intentions. Trying to do good is maybe more important than actually doing good. The world's a complicated place, but maybe with a group of friends and some good intentions you can get through. It's sad that Utsumi never got that chance. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build9c.png |
Okay, one other thing from episode 12. This is driving me crazy, and I need your help with this. I almost made a poll about it, I'm so conflicted.
Okay, early in the series, in Faust's Sky Wall base, Night Rogue has this swank chair: https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/nrchair1.png That base is destroyed in an explosion, everything buried under tons of rubble. BUT. Later, when Touto forces storm a different Faust base (located at scenic Kamen Rider Dam), the counterfeit Night Rogue is sitting in the exact same chair: https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/nrchair2.png So! My question to you is, a) did Night Rogue dig that first chair out of the rubble because he was so attached to it, b) did Night Rogue rebuy the exact same chair because he's so attached to it, or c) does every Faust base have the exact same chair just in case Night Rogue shows up? Gimme that headcanon! |
I'm Kiwami and this is my favorite thread on the citadel. Also, I want to watch Kamen Rider Build again.
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Considering my amazing future knowledge, I'm gonna say B). Night Rogue just has the tackiest taste, ya know?
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... That is correct. Quote:
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Is all I’m saying to that. That, and please make sure to watch the Hyper Battle Video after you've finished the show. |
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It sounds close enough to the show, so I've always said it as "Craw-zuh". Not exactly how I'd naturally say Cross-Z, but there you go.
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KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 13 - 14
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build13a.png OH MY GOD WHO WOULD HAVE PREDICTED okay, yes, I sort-of figured Hipster Dad was actually Blood Stalk a few episodes earlier. Some of it was because of Hipster Dad's frequent disappearances. They didn't directly coincide with Stalk's appearances, but it was usually a scene or two later. Mostly, though, it's the scientific principle of Conservation Of Cast. The producers could have hired a completely different actor to be the un-henshined Blood Stalk, but you've got this supporting dude who does not that much, sooooo... Yeah, it was going to be Hipster Dad. (Takumi was always a total red herring. There's no way that dude was an affable badass like Stalk.) With that certainty, the reveal of Stalk's identity wasn't so much what I was looking for. The "who" wasn't a big deal, the "why" was. And the "why" is SO GOOD. Kamen Rider Wizard was not a very good show. (I swear, I'm going somewhere with this.) It's overly repetitive, the characters lack charisma, and it's overly repetitive. The one thing it did insanely well is the reveal of the mastermind's plot. The idea that Wiseman was the White Wizard and had the villains attacking people specifically so Wizard could save them, thereby potentially creating the tools Wiseman needed to cause the next Sabbath, it is fiendishly clever. It's not enough to save the season, but it's a great villain scheme. It makes the various villain sacrifices make sense, because they never really mattered. It explains all the times the Big Bad had the heroes on the ropes and let them go, because the Big Bad was also the mentor. All of the help the heroes got was just a way for the Big Bad to eventually win. Stalk's scheme activates the same excitement in my brain. The idea that Kamen Rider Build is only a means to end, that everything Sento's done is basically irrelevant, that Misora is the only one who matters, that is fantastic. That is a crushing emotional hit to the Riders, to know that they were not only betrayed, but everything they've fought for is pointless. That all they've been doing is getting the villain closer to his goal. It's monstrous and terrifying. It is also so, so thematically appropriate. Stalk has created something in Team Build that he's used for evil. But Team Build itself isn't evil. Team Build can, and is, used for good. The invention doesn't matter, the intention matters. People decide if science is used for good or evil. Now that Sento and Banjou and Sawa and Misora have control of Team Build, they can use it for whatever they want. They can stop Stalk and save the world. It's an uphill battle, for sure. But they've got a lot of people rooting for them. Even, uh, Blood Stalk? https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build13b.png |
CHAIR UPDATE: Now Stalk has it and he moved it into the vault at Nanba Heavy Industries?!?!?!
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/nrchair3.png |
Toei only has enough budget for so many sets; it makes sense they only have enough budget for one chair
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I'm definitely starting to think that The Chair is some formative thing between Stalk and Rogue and the foundation of Faust, and the worst insult Stalk can pay him is to steal not just Pandora's Box, but The Chair as well. Now it's personal! |
The chair is Rogue's favourite posession and Stalk keeps it around because it makes Rogue far easier to deal with.
Also, because I can't exactly remember how it lines up - has Rogue's identity been revealed yet? I'm thinking yes, but I don't want to accidentally say something stupid. |
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KAMEN RIDER BUILD MOVIE: HEISEI GENERATIONS FINAL
So, I've seen this one before. Back when I was first watching Ex-Aid (I want to say before I watched Another Ending?) I saw that there was a Build/Ex-Aid movie on the Wiki. I'm like, sure, I'll watch that. I saw Build in the True Ending movie and a brief bit in the series, so this should be a good continuation. It, uh, really wasn't. I didn't know virtually anyone in the movie, and, unlike Dr. Pac-Man, Ex-Aid wasn't even the main character. It wasn't a super-fun watch. I mean, bad Kamen Rider is still fun, I didn't regret watching it, but there wasn't a lot in the story I could latch onto. I didn't know or care about any of the Legend Riders. However, as I would almost immediately go back to W and start watching forward on the Heisei Riders, this became a movie I was desperate to revisit. Not because I remembered it as being some franchise highlight, no. I remembered that this is the one where Ankh comes back. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/winter1.png It's, unfortunately, not a huge part of the story. Most of the movie is a slightly-dumber version of a Build adventure. There's a strange emphasis on Banjou, and why he's a Kamen Rider. I think that's a solid idea in theory (science term!), but the execution is mostly a corny-ass "Always help people" whatever. It's fine. It's totally generic, in that it applies to literally every Rider in the movie, but, sure, okay, Banjou wants to help people now. You could've plugged nearly any secondary Rider from the last nine years in his place, but it's still a serviceable story that largely respects his storyline to date. (It's a bit of a step back, but only a bit.) Sento is pretty much just a dogged investigator, with a story that should feel more personal (this villain has a grudge against Takumi!) but just comes off as some random mad scientist Build has to beat to save the world. There's fun guest appearances by the non-W Riders who didn't show up in last series's winter movie. The Legend Rider fight sequences aren't as good as the last winter movie, though. Honestly, nothing was as good as the last winter movie. Dr-Pac Man was outstanding. This hits the beats, it's all decent, but the story just never elevated it for me. The "what is heroism" runner is so dull. But, Ankh comes back. I think OOO is maybe my favorite Kamen Rider show. I feel like I watched it in a day or two. (It was probably a couple weeks.) I couldn't get enough of it. I don't think it's the perfect show, but it's good at everything. It's the rare Kamen Rider show where I don't think it makes any mistakes. (Okay, maybe the theme song? Ska has not aged well!) Other shows may beat it at certain things, but they all have problems. OOO only problem is that I can't watch more of it right now. So, here's this gift I'm given where, six years after we were promised Ankh would be revived, they actually pay it off. Sure, it's for a minute, and sure, he doesn't stick around, but Ankh comes back. And he immediately tells Eiji he looks like shit! (He sort-of does. He is, uh, definitely six years older.) This was a thing that, when I first saw it, meant nothing to me. Now, it means everything. I don't want to say it made this movie great (it didn't, this is a pretty forgettable movie), but it's hard to take too many shots at epic fan service like this. It obviously would've been better if that kind of moment, along with the Fourze and Gaim and Ghost stuff, had been part of a better movie. I don't know. It's possible I'm being too hard on it. Build is a really good series, and I sort-of expect better from its related content. The villains on Build, in particular, are so richly realized that Bikaiser feels even more thin. He's a couple of cackling lunatics, trying to destroy the world. Whatever. It's no wonder that, while I remembered that Ankh was in this (he came back!), I remembered virtually nothing else about the plot. It's a movie that's great at being a Legend Rider delivery system, but only okay at being a Build or Ex-Aid story. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/winter2.png |
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The chair is Takumi Katsuragi's Smash form. |
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I must admit I kinda feel the opposite -- that Dr. Pac-Man is the dull forgettable movie while HGF is the outstanding incredible one. Nothing about the former sticks out to me in any particular way - though it's still a fun ride nonetheless; and certainly better than a good few of the previous Movie Wars - while HGF manages to perfectly hit every beat and is a joy to watch from at least the 20-minute mark.
One of the main characters gets an arc that feels appropriate to both him and the movie; the plot is serviceable - not that these crossover movies are ever anything beyond that - but allows for wonderful character moments; and we get extremely satisfying returns for these previous riders we'd grown to love and adore. And Gaim. Dr. Pac-Man, on the other hand... I'd have to watch it again, because I can scarcely remember the meat to it. I do remember having issues with how Pac-Man himself felt like a bit of a waste of time when he took up half the movie and then seemed to just sort of fizzle out of existence, though. I miiiiight be a bit biased since Ghost, Wizard and Gaim are not terribly exciting returning riders and Drive's got to do most the legwork; and then HGF has OOO and Fourze, but... man, I just could not stop coming back to HGF for how exciting it was. I will say though: if you're let down by the villains in this movie being very thin and disappointing compared to the ones in Build itself? Oh boy, watch out for Be The One. |
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As for the thread where Banjou learns what it takes to be a Kamen Rider... it didn't work for me because it was so generic. It missed the specificity that I've loved in Build. It's cool that the Legend Riders are used as Legends, but Banjou's eventual decision is little more than "I'm going to be a hero, because a hero does the thing I'm about to do!" It's a weirdly tautological character moment, and it didn't seem nuanced enough for the characters I'd spent 14 episodes with. Quote:
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FINAL is my favourite of the three Heisei Generation movies, but I'll admit large part of it is because I specifically love Build, Ex-Aid and OOO soooo much (Fourze's entrance was pretty great and nostalgic too, though). The one shot of Muteki and Sparkling next to each other with an explosion behind them, I remember saying aloud to myself 'heck yeah kamen rider' or something to that effect. Although it's also funny because I'm pretty sure that was over once Ex-Aid turned invincible and Build could have just sat back from then on.
Speaking of, I'm wondering what you think of the suits and designs so far? Cross-Z remains a big favourite of mine even now, but maybe you found a surprise favourite in Night Rogue or like, GorillaCleaner? |
When I first watched the original Heisei Generations, I saw a few comments saying that the next one wasn’t as preferable, so I went to watch it afterwards and thought “they were right”. The fights are less inspired, the legend riders seem shoehorned in (though that might be because I’d only seen Gaim and Ghost in any serious capacity beforehand, but still) and the villain’s one memorable trait is the word “funky”. The most I see people talking about it other than the returning legends was Build’s Ex-Aid form just being Ex-Aid’s suit with the Build Driver (“Hey Build, Decade called. He wants his gimmick back”). Thankfully, I got a lot more out of the next Heisei Generations, so I hope you do too.
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I'm a big fan of the Final because of it's Banjou focus - honestly, not understanding nuance feels like his deal in the early part of the show, so accepting being a hero *just* because it's good, especially considering developments in the show itself, hits home. Plus, it has Gaim for realsies. And Ankh!
And yeah, Bikaiser is kind of a let down, but at least his design is sick. |
Bikaiser was a bit more memorable to me because of the whole same-guy-in-parallel-worlds thing, and that they were so different. Also that one of them was absolutely nuts. It's very simple but it's fun enough and serves its purpose.
Dr. Pac-Man, though... I actually dislike that he has such a connection to Ex-Aid's overall story, because that makes it feel like something I'm watching because I have to rather than something I want to, and it doesn't even have that many emotional moments come from it? He's still a super dull villain, just with the added caveat that Oh, I Did Something In Your Backstory. I had the same problem with W x Decade but at least Begins Night was really, really good... |
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