I think Build can easily be summed up with that.

Why does X happen? Reasons.

Why is the writing varying degrees of average (or good, at best), going at a breakneck pace, and with no real breathing room? Reasons.

Please don't do this again. By that I mean don't force yourself to watch something if you genuinely don't like it just because some fuckwit would get upset at you. I couldn't stand Jetman so I quit it. I can't find the motivation to watch anything Showa for longer than 3 episodes, etc. I feel it's a waste of your own precious time if you watch something you don't like. As someone who loves Build, I really think you shouldn't force yourself

the first episode really feels like that.

This Happened Then This Happens Then This Happens Then this Other Thing Happens Reasons Reasons Exposition and DONE!!
The End see you next week!

after the very first episode I caught my breath like, "WTF did I just see? ..... WTH is a Skywall?"

It really took me a few episodes to start warming up to it.

When Misora did her 'Your Idol' routine, I thought that was cute. Then when Sawa did her 'Great Escape' and was sort of whupping some ass I was intrigued. And definitely by the time we got to Grease and he was introduced I was into it.

But the beginning costumes I really disliked. The Panda, Gorilla/Diamond, Vacuum Cleaner,...it was cringey.

Luckily they really haven't been doing that in quite a while. For the most part he seems to generally be Rabbit/Tank (or a variation) now.

I like Black Hazard form a lot, I think it's really creepy looking.

It feels like they're losing steam though and the show is starting to ...flounder a little bit. It was really 'edge of your seat' for a while there, really good episodes. The one with Sento suffering from PTSD after murdering someone was (imo) amazing,..but that may have almost been the high point of the acting and story telling.

I'm not complaining though I think it's a good show. But lately I don't find myself spending all week like, "OMG what crazy sh*t is going to happen next?! I can't wait to find out!!"

See I never quite understand when people bring this up when Evolt, Blood Stalk, and "Soichi(Coffee Shop Owner)" are the same character just with different faces. In the case of "Soichi", Evolt has been in the driver seat since before the show started.

Well that's true but ever since the reveal he's Evolt and that he wants to destroy Earth he's been less entertaining of a villain, because what I loved about Stalk was how he did most of the stuff behind the scenes, manipulating entire governments. There's a LOT less of that since the reveal

I see your point, but I still feel Evolt is just as entertaining as when he was Blood Stalk/"Soichi" just in a different capacity kinda like when Brajira became the focal villain of Goseiger.

edit: I probably should mention the reason why I still find Evolt/Stalk entertaining and that mostly comes down to his generally laid-back attitude and how quick he's able rework his plans when something goes wrong.

what Annuga said, but also because Evolt has no chill and swagger.

Blood Stalk was a smooth pimp.
Coffee shop dude is a pimp,...sits down,..crosses his legs,...looks at you over his glasses while pulling a got-damn coffee maker out of his briefcase. Hahahahaha

Evolt is just,..generic bad guy. He lacks the swagger and character.

Stalk was interesting

Oh, s***, does everybody else find Evolt kinda boring, too? I haven't been in any of the Build threads for like a month now because... well, let's see, how do I put this?

It's like... I'm still enjoying the show as much as ever, and I'm also starting to get a bit tired of it? It's insanely hard to describe but what it comes to is the narrative is maybe getting a bit too crazy for my tastes. I long for the simplicity of Build just being a vigilante hero who fought monsters while solving mysteries on the side. Even though the directions the story has gone in since then have been interesting and the characters always hold it together, the current arc going on right now has been hard for me to enjoy because it's seriously called my attention to how repetitive the last few years of Rider have been in a lot of ways.

We've had the collectibles used as Dragonball-esque plot devices (see also: Ex-Aid, Ghost), additional Riders who start off as really tough bad guys before becoming way less tough good guys (see also: Ex-Aid, Ghost, Drive), the one irredeemably evil jerk Rider who shows up in the back half of the show to act as the "final boss" and thus has somewhat flat characterization (see also: Ex-Aid, Drive), some kind of vaguely apocalyptic change in the status quo that totally prevents the characters from doing anything remotely extraneous to the central plot (see also: Ex-Aid, Gaim), and so on.

I must stress that none of these story beats are inherently bad (and indeed, part of the reason they keep using them is because they work), but now that we have almost as many "Neo-Heisei" shows as we do just Heisei ones, and with Build technically being the last Heisei Rider (or is that the next guy?), I'm starting to get to a point where I want to see another huge shakeup in Kamen Rider's style on the level of Double.

I don't know how much that qualifies as a controversial opinion, or what this bold new era would look like, but that thought's been nagging at me for a while now.

I don't recall mentioning it, but I'm halfway through Ghost and I'm loving it.

Some of the users on this board have actually helped me see the better (and worst) parts of it~ :D

Dang, reading some of these comments makes me realize that I too am not as into Build as I used to be. I still think it is really great but honestly it definitely comes across as a show that would be more enjoyable if I binged it after it all aired. A lot of Rider shows drag at some point, but you don’t tend to notice it as much when you are watching at your own pace.

I really dont mind Evolt as a villain but I do think he's kinda overstayed his welcome. Usually when an overpowered villain appears, they get their ass kicked about 2-3 episodes later by the new form. I dunno I'm probably just excited to see Build Genius in action.

I think part of the issue people have with Evolt is that he's still siding with Nanba Industries. He said that humans are fun to watch but it doesn't explain why he's taking orders or pretending to still be loyal ever since he got the Evol Driver. Hell, at this point, literally all he needs to win is get back Pandora's Box and get up the tower. It's kind of why I'm hoping that like Ex-Aid, Build ends a bit earlier, otherwise we have 10 episodes of "Evolt fucks about". When he was known as Blood Stalk, he constantly advanced his plans, like Enter in Go Busters. He's not doing anything as further advancements means he wins and the show's over

I'm still really liking the show, I'm just not 'on the edge of my seat', during the week waiting for the next episode.

Remember the PTSD episode, the intro of Black Hazard, the official fights between the 3 districts,...there was a peak there in the middle where I really was on the edge of my seat week after week just chomping at the bit for the next episode.

Remember Greases introduction? That was badass, I couldn't wait to see more of him. Then he turned out to be a cool and funny guy with a Misora fixation, Lol. (which admittedly is sort of understandable, she's adorable.)

It seems like Sawa's characterization has been sort of abandoned, which is kind of annoying. They were really turning her into an interesting character then it all just stopped.

Banjo seems to have the most characterization and growth. Which I admit I didn't see that coming.

It's still a good show, maybe it's just winding down because it's getting near the end. But (for me) it's lost some of that quality of feeling like I'm on a roller coaster and I can't wait to see what happens next.

....plus I'm still waiting for more of the Rogue special.

Actually Rogue has turned out to be really interesting too.

....now that I think about it I think Grease and Rogue are my favorite characters.

Beast isn't the saving grace of Wizard, and after a while gets a little boring and sliiightly creepy sometimes.

Instead I'd say the best part of the show was Mayu, the first mage. Pretty bad Rider suit - and it never even got a Figuarts or SIC! - but as a character she had an actually interesting arc with good pacing, internal conflict and a unique take on a revenge plot that refuses to go down the same frustrating pitfalls revenge plots usually fall into. She's the best character of Wizard by far and she deserved better than this series and a really bad outfit.

I feel too much has happened in Build to the point I hope the next rider series doesn't have as much in it or at least a couple breaks between the story arcs like anime does.

As someone who's adored Build more than any other Rider series, now you've brought this up I actually find myself agreeing with it. I think we DO need a bit of a breather.

Kamen rider Drive is a really mediocre rider show.

Oh, wow, this thread's been buried for a while!

Uh... Ghost was awesome, Saber is fun and Ryuki would have been over in episode 2 if Shinji and Ren had just kissed

Okay my turn Inoue and Shirakura have made great stuff for Kamen Rider. Honestly most of the negatives I have with these two are small potatoes.

Omori really needs to lay off the ominpitent super final bosses. It's getting old. Cronus wasn't intreasting due to the fact that Masamune had two apperance before ursuping control as final boss. Evolt was better when he was Blood Stark and not just an op alien. The Ark was dull and devolved Zero-One into punch the big bad for a couple of episodes before they thankfully blew him up and Azu manipulated Aruto and Horobi for the finale.

Gaim is better when it's being kids finding the strength to live in each other (like Gaim and Ryugen) than when it's being edgy.

I also don't think Ghost is awful, in fact found it's theme about life to be very endearing and overall it was a lot of dumb fun. Also I don't think Wizard is that bad at all and is a pretty decent meat and potatoes rider show, I think it just came at a bad time since by then the very rigid and episodic two parter formula, only two riders (for the most part), and all the riders being strictly good guys was starting to get old at the time.

Ironically I'm gonna follow the last post up with the same Ghost stance and an opposite Wizard stance lol.

Ghost is a solid series that gets too much hate, imo. I feel most of it comes from the fact that the series' spiritual theme wasn't horror-based like his Surprise Future cameo made it seem. The biggest issue Ghost has is that the story does have some pacing issues and relies on repeating ideas or drawn-out arcs that don't impact the story much (The number of times Takeru seemingly passes on, the Makoto arcs where he's under Necrom's control for multiple episodes or Another Makoto, etc.) Outside of that, the main character cast and story work better than given credit.

Wizard on the other hand feels way too by-the-numbers. As mentioned, it runs the two-episode arc format into the ground with a lot of really boring and unmemorable Phantom encounters. The supporting cast to Wizard and Beast are weak at best and annoying at worst with the exception of the doughnut truck owner despite how little an impact she had compared to the rest. Medusa was a boring general-tier villain that stuck around way too long while Phoenix was way more interesting yet got killed off halfway through and Gremlin was fairly hands-off until the final arc of the series where he took over the main villain role.

Beast was a great secondary rider that became boring once he got his power-up form. Going from things like the dice-roll mechanic of his saber and the mantle-swapping to just a gun felt like an utter downgrade. As for Wizard, All-Dragon was a waste of a form seeing as it was only used once and Wizard himself was really boring. His subtly smarmy and slightly cocky personality came out way clearer in movie appearances than the series itself, making me love Wizard's cameos and team-up movie roles way more than his in-series depiction.

Imo the best version of Wizard we've ever gotten was the one we saw in Heisei Generations. Pompous, self-assured, slick, he was fantastic.

Masaru Igami, the original head writer of Kamen Rider, was limited. Just watch any number of his other shows like Inazuman or Message from Space: Galactic Wars or even his few episodes of Return of Ultraman and you'll see how often he recycles the same plots again and again. He was also very sloppy at dropping plot points, something which his son, Toshiki Inoue, unfortunately inherited.

I don't understand why people shit on Kamen Rider J. Sure, it's not celluloid perfection like Kamen Rider ZO, but it is a fun 45-minute movie that's still a damn sight better than most Heisei Rider films.

In some ways I like J more than ZO. It's not as visually amazing, but the story is a lot tighter.

I'm going to throw this out here:
-Wizard is a pretty good series, despite it's rather stale formula.
-Decade Complete isn't that bad a suit.
-Kamen Rider Ginga should have his own series.
-Brave Dragon is a great suit.

I can't think of anything else to say. But if we're talking about controversial opinions about Kamen Rider, I'll share a bit about my taste in Rider.

Brave Dragon is an awesome suit design! I think I was super turned on it when Fish said something along the lines of "if a kid wants to draw this, no matter how simple or scribbled it'll look; you'll know it's Saber". It's very distinctive and stands out in a crowd; really nails how crazy the season's aesthetic goes!

Decade Complete is dumb, which is exactly why it's a great Kamen Rider suit! It's maybe a bit too reserved in places, actually, which is why Complete 21 ramping up the silly stole my heart instantly!

Wizard... I stand by what I said about Mage being by far my favourite part, but yeah, it's Fine. I have no real problem with it, I just struggle to recall much about it beyond Mage!

I am BEGGING you to tell me more about your need for a Ginga show

Anyone got some Showa takes? I do.

These two.I know they're technically heisei, please let me have this I find them more appealing than the OG double riders. Not only in design, but also in length. It almost became a chore to watch OG back when I was a kid, so these guys with them being movie length was a lot easier in the mind.

Also, more need to watch their movies, please. I love them.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/737ccfed...rvkpf6_400.jpg

Decade wasn't trash, although there are parts I find were badly executed. First up, Narutaki comes off too much like a manipulative asshole for it to feel right when Decade goes violent. Secondly, the part where the show ends on a cliffhanger.

That being said, the AR Worlds people keep hating on are actually a good way to not mess with continuity, and account for how the previous actors won't necessarily be available, unlike the time travel used in Zi-O. Hell, they're part of why such an epic Sentai/Rider team-up got its own set of episodes in a show at all.

Drive sucks. It has a dreadful first half, rushes to introduce a bunch of interesting elements, but fumbles or doesn't go anywhere with them. Chase and Banno are the only good parts, and even they are handled poorly.

Inoue is amazing, melodrama and all.

Build had a great ending.

B-b-but I liked Drive...

https://i.imgur.com/AEzHdOD.gif

Agito is a boring protagonist because he's too passive. The show should've either focused on G3 or made Shoichi a more active character.

I think that Amazonz (both seasons) was really good and another rock solid Kobayashi rider show (for those wondering she was also the head writer for Ryuki, Den-O, and OOO). Also while I would never want regular rider to become like Amazonz, I think it would be really cool to get another side project like it every now and again. By this I don't necessarily mean that these hypothetical projects need to be a re-imagining of an older show nor does it have to be very dark/gory, but rather something that just does really weird, crazy, out there ideas that they either couldn't do or would be to hesitant to try in modern rider.

Jumping onto the last one, I don't think Kobayashi is all that great as a writer. She can write relationships like no other, but she just constantly undermines herself at every turn with terrible, badly explained logic and her characters often have a 50/50 chance of being utterly unbearable.

OOO's the rare show from her that doesn't suffer from that all that much, Den-O is almost a perfect middle ground where one half of the show sucks hard and the other is fantastic and almost switches on that on a whim and Ryuki just sucks, at least in my opinion. And some of her movies, like the decade and Den-O movie, are some of the worst Rider stuff out there.

And I know, this is unpopular Rider opinions and not Sentai Opinions, but I'll just throw that in as well. Her Sentai shows, at least the one I saw, Shinkenger, and the other I'm halfway through, Go-Busters, are just dull and suffer heavily from a lot of bad elements that undermine the few good ones hard.

All in all, she is a hit or miss writer that more often than not lands on the miss side of the fence.

Okay, here's a new one: I think Saber has been improving by leaps and bounds lately and could turn out to be a legitimately great show at this rate.

yeah me too.

Honestly when it comes to stuff like this, I struggle to remember my opinion is valid too.

I say this, because a lot of people want Shinobi and Quiz to get their own seasons, I do to, same with Kikai. But Ginga is such a weird suit, that I like for some reason, and because I would love to have a Kamen Rider show where the Rider travels to other planets to fight evil. That and it would be kinda funny to have a Ginga show in Rider and Ultraman, like we do with X.

Oh here's my controversial opinion.

Shinobi is the most boring of the future riders and if anyone deserved to get any kind of Rider Time special it's Quiz due to the lack of anything we really know about his time period. Hell like was discussed earlier, I'd even take Ginga over Shinobi.

I'd also more than welcome more Amazons-styled side-series when it's possible.

You could say the Zi-O Rider Time mini-series have been a middle ground for that so far given how much darker they can be outside of the main series (Actual murder and more serious themes don't need to be reworked for kids) and I do feel like since Amazons' success they've been more open to do web series like the Saber chronicle shorts we got during the first 15 episodes.

If anything, I'd just hope that if they do do it again, they don't make the mistake Amazons made and overstay the welcome. First season was great, second was good if excessively gory, the movie was the endcap but was also questionable in terms of story quality. Basically don't let the popularity turn it into a milked project.

I was bored out of my mind watching Kuuga & Agito.

Both main protagonists barely grew or had meaningful connections with other characters. Their villains carried no weight at all, especially Kuuga's because I couldn't even understand what the hell they were saying majority of the time with their fake language. There were times where I forgot I was even watching a superhero show.

The mess that was Decade was more comprehensive & more fun to watch. Whether or not I agree with the decisions made in that show I can definitively say they had put more effort into it than either Kuuga or Agito.

Man those two shows are overrated.

Someone who finally agrees with me on Kuuga. Never thought I'd see the day :lol

That so? I might just have to jump back into it, because my god, I felt the beginning of that show was just awful.