Final does end up having some BIG consequences in the main show further down the line and teases some other things that play into another major plot thing, so it does in the end matter a great deal.

"OOO wasn't perfect, it just did literally everything right."

Yeah, okay.You can try and be modest about it, but one day we're all going to have to accept the obvious truth here. :lol

As for Heisei Generations Final, I actually had the True Ending problem with the title, where I expected more of an upgrade from the first than it was. In retrospect, I think it's a fairly strong "sidegrade" that trades some of the bombastic fun of the original for a slightly more in-depth plot and probably better use of the returning Riders (I'm not totally sure on that one, but obviously, you know, Ankh).

I disagree that you could just slap Ryuuga's arc on any secondary Rider and have it work as well. There are similar characters out there for sure (Beast is a good example), but Love & Peace, you're going to find is a major component of Build's themes as it goes along, and I think doing a little compressed version of his development from the show that gets to specifically contrast him against some of the most selfless Riders out there (and I mean, even by the usual standards, guys like Takeru and Eiji really like helping people) was a great idea.

It's simple and a bit trite in its delivery, but I think it's specifically appropriate for Cross-Z, and having a clear throughline and character arc is unfortunately not something we can take for granted in a Rider movie, so I'll give Final some credit for trying.

Also, and this might just be because I haven't seen that movie in longer, but I don't remember a thing about Dr. Pac-Man, and I do about Bikaiser, for what it's worth. He- er, they were really fun, and the evil plan at play was memorable.

I mean, taking parallel worlds and smashing them together is some devious s***. You'd have to be a real jerk to wanna do something like that.

I mean, I don't want to it seem like I think Final is a failure or anything. I found it to be a step down from Dr. Pac-Man, but there's still plenty to enjoy. The Legend Rider stuff is easily the highlight of the film. The OOO stuff, like, I can forgive a lot because of that. The Muteki/Sparkling Double Rider Kick is awesome. I guess I'm just a little more critical of it because the story felt weaker than the Build stuff I'd been watching. But, y'know, it's a movie, not a TV show, it's trying to do different stuff. Like I said, it's great at being a Legend Rider delivery system. That's something I cannot dispute!

One of my favorite suit aesthetics is W, so Build is definitely in my sweet spot. The main Build designs, I just love that shit. Weird combos, the mixing and matching, I enjoy that a lot more than full-suit form changes. I haven't mentioned it (I keep forgetting!) but I LOVE that the Build/Cross-Z henshin comes in on injection kit runners. It's so blatantly "go buy this toy" that, god, it kills me. Hilarious. This franchise is great.

So, yeah, Build is good, Cross-Z hasn't quite done it for me yet, and I really like the militaristic tones to the transteam suits like Rogue and Stalk. I think my favorites are probably the base Build suit, Hawkgatling, and Blood Stalk.

Plus, I mean, Dr. Pac-Man had Hiroshi Tanahashi in it, and Final didn't have a single New Japan Pro-Wrestling superstar. Not one! New grade, F-!

You're right about shoehorned in Legend Riders. That was something I loved about Dr. Pac-Man, how the movie took a few scenes to set up why Drive was there, and had him and Wizard do more than just show up to fight. They were working the case, and then they intersected with Ghost and Ex-Aid. This one, it's just Fourze flying in from off-screen, OOO walking by, Gaim looking into the sky and showing up... it's a bit like there's this enthusiasm from the producers, and they're so excited to get those Legend Riders on the screen, that they can't slow it down a beat or two. But, devil's advocate, I absolutely pumped my fist when I heard RoCkEt ON and Fourze comes blasting through a hole in the wall. It feels so rude to be, like, Do It Better.

So, here's kind-of the problem I have with focussing the movie's emotional thread on Banjou's need to understand what heroism means, and how the Riders demonstrated that to him. When you have a Main Rider on a show, there's nuance and specificity to their portrayal. Emu isn't Takeru isn't Eiji isn't etc. They all push themselves differently, relate to victims differently, prioritize in a fight differently. When you have two Riders, the story starts with their differences, but resolves with their similarities. They may have different attitudes, but they both want to help people, that's the usual Movie War ending. Once you get into three-or-more Rider stories, they all flatten out into one attribute: Kamen Riders fight for justice, no matter what. Gaim fights for the same reasons as OOO, who fights for the same reasons as Ex-Aid, as as as. The constant But Why Heroism that should be creating something for Banjou to react to, to compare himself to, amongst the different Riders just felt to me like he was responding to the idea of a Rider in general, not these men specifically. It's the opposite of the effective work the show did, where Sento's view is something so clearly defined that Banjou can interrogate it, and shape his worldview accordingly.

I guess I didn't find him that dull? He's not, like, Genm, or anything, but I thought the story they'd concocted for him was interesting. And, man, after a few of these movies that just feel like trifles, colorful explosions of disconnected storytelling, I'm not going to feel mad about a movie plot point coming back (several times!) in other places.

Yay!

I love OOO! I do! But it's a show I frequently describe as "not the best at anything, but good at everything." There're shows with better suits, better villains, better theme songs, you name it. (Well, Ankh might be the best character. I don't know.) It's just that OOO never drops the ball, never makes me wonder why they made a particular story choice, never had me lamenting a focus on an actor who couldn't deliver, and it always entertained me. It was always good.

I'd quibble about the plot being better (there is really not a lot to Bikaiser's scheme!), but the Legend Riders definitely get a bigger spotlight in this one. That's actually maybe part of the problem? All of that Legend Rider stuff, while being hugely entertaining and also sort-of necessary for the Banjou storyline, doesn't leave a lot of room for Emu or Sento to make much of an impression. Build and Ex-Aid, the title characters, are not super integral to the progression of the plot. I mean, yeah, Build does most of the investigating, but it makes for fairly dry, exposition-heavy scenes. There's not a lot of meat on those bones.

It's mostly that "secondary Rider has to learn the heroism and sacrifice necessary to be a Kamen Rider" is a storyline that happens basically every season of Kamen Rider. Like, variations on that storyline happened to (off the top of my head) Accel, Birth, Meteor, Beast, Necrom, and Brave. Also, Cross-Z just a few episodes prior. It's fairly stock. I don't mind it, though! It's a necessary part of the standard Kamen Rider story, a way of differentiating the main Rider from the secondary Rider, and a way of reemphasizing the primacy of the main Rider by making his heroism more heroic. Like, not mad at them for trying. And, yeah, it's definitely better that they tried something as a throughline, rather than just throwing Legend Riders up until the credits rolled. I just thought the answer they ended up giving Banjou for how his viewpoint changed was not exactly worth an entire movie's worth of focus. Like, he's fighting to protect the people he cares about? Okay? That seems like an incremental shift in character (it's not like he never cared about anyone) rather than the solution to a crisis of conscience.

Dr. Pac-Man wore an evil Pac-Man mask and had a daughter who wore a lab coat longer than her skirt. What the hell else do you need to know?!

Dr. Pac-Man had a daughter?!

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 15 - 16

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build15a.png

Weird two-parter, this one. I mean, it's great. It's so well done. It's just, like, two very different episodes telling one story.

So, obviously, after the game-changing reveal of Hipster Dad as Blood Stalk, the entire status quo of the show has to change. Can't just hang out in the basement doing sciences when the government knows your deal and you know the government's deal. What I was not anticipating was the show just going balls out, with Night Rogue immediately storming the cafe and Sento immediately saying, "Oh yeah, we completely know who you are, Military Adam Driver. Time's up!" That is a show that doesn't feel like they've got to save up big moments, which is great as a viewer. I don't have to deal with weeks of "Oh no, is this the moment that Build slips up and reveals what he knows to Military Adam Driver?" It's just, the audience knows, so it's way better if the characters all know, too. Plus, like, the gloves are off, so the show can just launch into open conflict between characters who have nothing to lose. We get plans, schemes, fights, and a real back-and-forth in the first part, when Rogue gets defeated and his daddy shows up to yell at him. (Is there a more humiliating loss in franchise history? Not one that I've seen!) Just a rousingly entertaining episode, with a propulsive burn when other shows would spend time regrouping. It was so thrilling, that I sort-of couldn't believe they ended the episode with the reveal that Sento is Takumi.

Now, I don't think this was a huge surprise. (I mean, especially after the Heisei Generations Final movie, where Sento straight-up remembers something that happened to Takumi.) Like the Blood Stalk reveal, I don't care so much about the reveal itself. Unlike the Blood Stalk reveal, I don't care about the "why" or the "how". (It's a pretty basic reprogramming of a mutineer, and the specifics of how Stalk did it are, eh, whatever. A little convoluted, but mostly irrelevant. They close the loopholes, though, as far as I could see.) What I care about is what happens next.

Turns out, what happens next is Sento, Banjou and Misora talking through their feelings in a refreshingly direct, adult way. I mean, even the fight between Cross-Z and Build isn't choreographed to be Awesome, it's choreographed to show that Banjou feels things viscerally, and demonstratively, while Sento internalizes, shuts down. Banjou thinks with his fists, and that's how he works through his emotions. Sento just dwells on it until he can't even function. Luckily, Misora's there to balance the two. She can call each of them on their bullshit in a blunt but caring way. She can tell Sento that he isn't Takumi, that he's Sento: a self-aggrandizing brainiac who is also a self-sacrificing hero. (She tells Banjou that he's really stupid, which: fair!) She pulls the team together, which feels like it might be her Act 2 role. I'll miss the sleepy asshole, but this version of Misora is pretty compelling.

(Quick parenthetical shout-out to the way the Build as a series, including the winter movie, really dials back on the melodrama, keeping the emotion in scenes more subdued and close to realistic. Misora's goodbye to Hipster Dad, the way that she doesn't cry until he leaves, it's just a dagger in the heart. It reminded a bit of one of my favorite moments from Heisei Generations Final, which, of course, is about Ankh. When Ankh comes back, you can see in Eiji's eyes that this moment is huge for him. After six long years, after circling the globe, his friend is back. He wants to cry. He wants to reach out to him. But, this is Ankh. You can't do that to Ankh. So Eiji has to pretend it's no big deal, another day at the OOOffice, just saying hi to a coworker who hasn't been around in a while. But in his eyes, it's all there. There's very few Kamen Rider Build anythings so far that are shirt-rending melodramatic outbursts. Just solid acting. Pleasant change of pace!)

After about two-thirds of an episode that's darker than usual and full of exposition (that "Blood Stalk reprograms Takumi and frames Banjou" scene feels like it goes on forever), it all comes together with an absolutely kick-ass (and ass-kicking) finale, featuring the full version of the theme song. It was appropriately epic, solidifying a brilliant start to the second act. This two-parter had a ton of moves in it, emotionally, and it was such a blast. I'm pretty sure I liked this about twice as much as I liked Heisei Generations Final, and I liked Heisei Generations Final. But Build! This show! It's so goddamn good!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build15b.png

p.s. you guys that bears game tonight i mean that last minute holy hell

So right now what I'm gathering is that, uh, yeah; Build really fucking good!

You're exactly right, I have discovered something unique in Kamen Rider fandom! I don't know that I'd call myself a hero, but since you offered, thanks!

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 17 - 18

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build17a.png

There's a little bit of the show trying to have it both ways with this story. It wants to do a Horrors Of War story, with guilt, and fear, and sacrifice, but it also wants to poke fun at those tropes. It's intermittently successful, but this is still one of the weaker outings for Kamen Rider Build.

There's a lot to cover this time, since (way more than the last two) this is the story that really feels like it's kicking off the next stage of Build. Hokuto's invaded Touto, sending their most fearsome weapon: three idiots and the world's laziest Kamen Rider. Yep, it's the introduction of Kamen Rider Grease and the Hokuto Three Crows! If there's stuff that works in this story, it's largely down to their introduction and piss-taking attitudes. It's tough to do a serious, melodramatic scene with these four characters. Grease is the sleepiest badass I've ever seen, and the Crows are just dopey-ass henchmen. I mean, I shouldn't say "just". The Crows have some good comedic chemistry, but it's predominantly of the "wacky" variety, something I was pretty much hoping Build could entirely avoid. It was not to be! They're portrayed as a threat, but it's hard to see them as more than chatty Smashes, not worth spending too much time on or with. Grease, though, that dude's awesome. He gets some super funny gags in, he's got a clear moral code, and he's more than a match for Sento and Banjou. If Stalk is going to have to take a step back for a bit, and Rogue has his hands full, Grease is a nicely charismatic villain (I mean, "villain", there's no way this dude doesn't eventually join the team, he's too cool) to keep things feeling dangerous.

Take away Grease and the Crows, though, and I think there's a couple of misfires in this episode.

It's interesting, I guess, that the show wants to do a thing with how Sento and Misora both feel responsible for the destruction in Touto. The execution, I don't know if worked out at all. Sento's guilt over Takumi's actions, like, I feel like we just covered this last episode? I know there's a war on now, but we literally just covered this, and resolved it. It's weird to do that story, and then immediately do that story again. I'm not saying there can't be nuance, a reexamination of culpability with regards to higher stakes, but, like, can we wait a few weeks? Go to that well too often, it's going to run dry.

The Misora misfire is smaller, maybe, but more troubling. After some nicely understated emotional storytelling last story, in this one we get Wracking Sobs and WHY, WHY DID THIS HAPPEN, Pounding On The Sidewalk, the whole gamut of bad melodrama. Sure, it's because she maybe (almost definitely) armed a monsterized insurgency, and yeah, the Crows immediately crack wise about it, but the show still did a full To The Cheap Seats bit of bad writing and bad acting. Crack wise if you think it'll help, but also maybe just write it better in the first place? If shit like that keeps happening, you can't paper over it with jokes forever.

That said, there's a bunch of great jokes in this. The Crows intro, Grease's nearly breaking his hand and getting lost, Sento's genre savvy (he knows that the secondary Rider can't ever be more powerful than the main Rider!!!), Grease's Miitan fandom, it's not like the show stopped being Build. Still funny. It did, however, stop being also W, and started being also Gaim.

I got a huge Gaim vibe off of this one, and maybe, retroactively, for the season? Like Gaim, there really hasn't been much in the way of Monsters Of The Week. The few Smashes that are people, those are the early parts of an episode or a way to get at larger arc stuff. And it's been 95% larger arc stuff since, like, episode 5. Gaim had the same thing, where the villains all have personalities, goals, quirks. It's not just some random stranger with a problem to solve who becomes a monster for two episodes. Build's been similar to Gaim's early stages, and now it's a full-on city-occupying war between rival Kamen Riders who want an all-powerful McGuffin, soooooo... Yeah, bit of a Gaim vibe!

Anyway, this two-parter, not my favorite. The action was solid, I'm ambivalent about the Sclash suits (Grease yes, Cross-Z no), I love how Military Adam Driver could not care less about how Sento motivates himself to fight in the war (Rogue is not your goddamn therapist!), and the various arc machinations are very, very appealing. There's just some nuts-and-bolts emotional storytelling that feels off-base. Hopefully just a hiccup, because this series is still doing a lot right.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build17b.png

CHAIR UPDATE:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/nrchair4.png

Stalk took it with him to Hokuto! STALK TOOK IT WITH HIM TO HOKUTO! HE DIDN'T TAKE HIS DAUGHTER BUT HE TOOK THAT CHAIR!

I personally remember absolutely buying into the emotional moment of Misora crying over her part in the war happening, but I do in hindsight see how it might be too heavily done and too soon as well. And regarding Sento... I hope you don't get too tired of them running that Katsuragi well, because as far as I can recall, they never stop running it in some form or another.

I love Grease. And I don't mind the Crows, but I really love Grease and I'm happy he's already made a good first impression on you.

One thing I do like here is them showing that sometimes war is not about good vs evil, but good people can be caught up in both sides and still be at war. Grease is clearly portrayed as still being a hero and a good person, but also very much an enemy and on the opposite side of the war. It's surprisingly mature and sober in spite of the all joking and silliness that gets thrown in. In a way, said silliness is necessary. This is HEAVY stuff they are dealing with for a kids show.

Rogue and Slark paid good money for that chair, there's no way he's abandoning it in Touto when he could he sitting in it.

Oooh yeah, Cross-Z Charge! Welcome to everyone's least favourite Build suit!

The downside of binging this show after it originally aired is that you missed out on the week of speculation on exactly what the deal was with Grease’s initial reaction to Misora. I remember a lot of people guessing he was her brother or something.

And it turns out she was just his waifu. Good times, good times.

The Misora thing... I can't tell if the show knew it was lurching into melodrama, so they had the Crows joke about it, or if the show made it lurch into melodrama so the Crows could joke about it. I don't love either choice, but one's a realization that you screwed up, and one is trying so hard to subvert a trope that you embody the trope.

Grease is a very solidly realized character, after only two episodes. This show does a create job creating layered, compelling antagonists. No one's a one-note cackling lunatic, you know? No one just wants to blow everything up. That's why the Bikaiser stuff from the winter movie felt so un-Build, you know? I want my villains ("villains") to have more moves on them. Even Rogue straight up harrasses Sawa in his first scene! There's a lot of different types of villainy, and this show gets it.

Yeah, the show does a good job talking about various characters' motivations, but it also focuses on one key point: once a war starts, it really doesn't matter who's fighting for what reason, you have to win at all costs. Like, Sento can give his "Kamen Rider is an instrument of justice, not a weapon of war" and Military Adam Driver can just go *jerk-off motion* because it doesn't matter to anyone but Sento! All Touto as a country cares about is if you're going to fight! There's a, like, pragmatism to it all that I find refreshing. It's not some high-minded But Why Heroism, it's a boots-on-the-ground, problem-solving approach. War is complicated, and, yeah, it's cool that a kids' adventure show is willing to address that.

800 Hokuto soldiers died on a mission to extract The Chair from Touto, he damn well better be sitting in it!

Cross-Z Charge doesn't work for me, and, honestly, Cross-Z doesn't work for me as a suit, either. I don't think it works in the show aesthetic.

Build is a suit design that's based around model kits, and the snapping on of different parts to "build" a different design. Rogue and Stalk, the transteam suits, have an industrial, bolts-and-screws motif, as well as pipes to vent steam. Grease is covered in, y'know, grease, an industrial lubricant.

Cross-Z is a dragon, while Cross-Z Charge is a jelly dragon.

It's just so outside the established aesthetic of the show, and it really bothers me. He feels like he's from a completely different show. This is Kamen Rider 101! Gaim is all fruits! Ex-Aid is all motocross video games! Drive is all cars! The main Rider informs the rest of the suit designs and the internal logic of the suits! Banjou did not get that memo, I guess!

(I also just, separate of the unified look, really think it's ugly. The mask, those shoulders, ugh.)

So, believe me or don't, but the first thing I thought when Grease does a double-take at Misora was, "Oh, he's a fan. He's a Miifan." The show was so clearly trying to make viewers think they shared some secret history, and I was, like, Naw. He follows her online, for sure. Mostly because this is a funny show, and that would be the funniest outcome.

More than that, though, I really like how it's instantly paid off (no waiting weeks to find out their shared secret), not some dour thing, and that it allows the darker second act to keep my favorite element of Misora's character. It's a great move, and I applaud it.

Putting aside the Cross-Z Charge stuff - because, well, we agree; It's ugly and it's difficult to derive anything from it in a thematic sense. Not much more to say there - I can see where you're coming from about Banjou in general tossing the theme away in his normal design as well, but I kinda disagree on... what is honestly kind of a simple ground.

Sento himself has a lot of duality to him in how he thinks things through; if not more. He constantly has so many things on his mind that's weighing him down and he tries to balance it out as best he can. It's natural that his rider form would be made up of two different sides, and that he'd be the one with the gimmick of finding out which sides are best for which situation and which ones work well together at any given time beyond even the general Best Matches.

Banjou though? He's a bit more simple. He punches things. He's a one-track mind, and so having his design be a derivation of Build where it's just two of the same thing but enhanced works really well to me.


That's not to say that Banjou Kazoouie doesn't have layers or complexities to him, of course; he's one of my favourite Rider characters for a reason (full disclosure? The three biggest reasons Build is my second favourite show is pretty much Sento, Banjou and their relationship), but looking at how he is consciously and how different he and Sento are in how they present themselves, yeah, I feel base Cross-Z makes a lot of sense. Of course he wouldn't bother with using a ton of different bottles and finding which ones go well with what and which one to use at which time; he just needs to know which one's the most powerful, which one lets him punch things, and how he can get two of them!



... also, given the gimmick; you naturally just kinda want to see a what-if scenario of if someone just used one bottle and how they'd do that. So that's cool as well. Going beyond thematic stuff for a second as well; there's actually some really nice touches where the 'inorganic' Dragon side has a few flames on it where the normal organic Dragon side doesn't. And going back to thematic stuff for a second, actually, that works even more with Banjou's differences to Sento. Sento's slightly more reserved side with Banjou's all out I'M GONNA PUT FLAMES ON EVERYTHING side.

Sorry I just love this design a lot lol

I was hoping someone would give an impassioned defense of Cross-Z's design so I could see what people liked about it, so, thanks!

I agree that Banjou and Sento see things differently, and it's good that their personalities are reflected in their suits. That's the attention to detail where Build excels! It's just, to me, visually, if you put the last chunk of secondary Riders in a row, Cross-Z is the one where I couldn't match him to the primary Rider. He's a bit like Accel, in that way, where there's a duality to the main Rider's design, and then the secondary Rider is Some Other Thing. Story-wise, for both Accel and Cross-Z, yeah, it reinforces their single-mindedness and independence, but I wonder if there's a way to that within the show's aesthetic. And, maybe there isn't! I don't know. Cross-Z just doesn't work as well for me as the other show designs.

That said, my absolute favorite part of Cross-Z's henshin is that his cowl and pauldrons come in on a different runner than his suit. I love shit like that!

Well, I'll fully admit: a big part of it is that it looks really, really cool.

Now that you've put it into terms of design consistency I do kind of get it, but I think once again I'll just have to disagree on terms of subjectivity. Cross-Z instantly looks like a Build design to me with the black undersuit, the style of the legs and lower body; and then especially the eyes adding in that little touch of crazy in what is otherwise a relatively reserved suit design.

Compared to the likes of Specter and Brave I can kind of get it though; especially when Cross-Z is like an 'enhanced' version of a Build suit rather than just a different style of the suit like Baron or just being a completely different thing that still clearly has the same thing like Meteor and Beast screaming Space and Mage respectively -- and that extends to Banjou's Henshin item, being an 'enhancer' of the gimmick item rather than just being a Different gimmick item or a new belt entirely. It still works for me though, so I'll mildly agree to disagree :p


(though, also: Birth?)

I love all the Cross-Z designs you're going to / already have seen, so I'm very biased here, but I love how the suits do have that differentiation. They don't make Banjou just seem like Build's sidekick, he is his own hero for his own reasons, and the suit design reflects that. Especially since it still looks, especially on the legs and undersuit, like a Build design.

And yeah, Cross-Z Charge isn't the prettiest of suits, but it grew on me. It's kinda ugly, and sleek, with none of the build-y-ness of the early Build and Cross-Z suit, but that partially feels like the point. Its a different system, especially given what I've just realised about future developments, so to me it makes sense it looks incomplete. Add to that the Sclash Driver's origins, and how the suit is a base layer with additions, and it even seems much like a mass-produced thing today. I was reading a thing on the 2010 redesign of the Daleks a couple of weeks ago, and it mentions how they wanted to get away from the "industrial" look of the 2005 era, and more towards a sleek, plastic aesthetic to seem more futuristic. And while the jelly gunk kinda disrupts that (and is definitely the weirdest part of the design), the Cross-Z (going off the toy and how similar their designs are) and Grease suits share that kind of design philosophy.

Oh, man, "does a suit work and/or look cool" is the most subjective Kamen Rider thing to talk about, so it's completely no problem to like it just because. Although, it's not really "just because", since you make a lot of good points regarding the base suit and the henshin tying it together. Maybe it'll grow on me? If it comes back?

As for Birth, he totally fits in with the coins/vending aesthetic of OOO, since he's a gashapon! That little *POP* his henshin makes is never not funny to me.

I mean, I've got no complaints about the Sclash Driver as a concept. The henshin is cool and sells the idea of a layer of goo on top of a suit, it feels in a line with the bottle/can "drink" aesthetic, and Grease totally delivers on the premise. (Gunk = Grease!) It's just, jelly dragon, you know? Jelly dragon. I can't fault anyone who digs that, but I don't know if I'm ever gonna fly the flag for Jelly Dragon.

Oh, I won't argue Jelly Dragon is still weird. It feels like the Beat Sabre, built for toy designs so it doesn't really "go" with Banjou's personality.

Yeah, it's a fun weapon, but when I first saw it, I was, like, What? What does a musical sword have to do with construction or science or even dragons? Was someone backstage going "We had this thing for an Ex-Aid DoReMiFa upgrade that we never used," and some Build prop master was like "SOLD"? It's so weird, and it adds to my feeling of Cross-Z being a hodgepodge of gimmicks.

Honestly, something of that level is probably developed by the merch team with the initial concepts and stuff, and given to the writers to work in. So there's some universe where Sento uses the Beat Crosser with some form, while Banjou uses that Anchor Bow thing. And I, for one, want to visit that universe.

(I can half imagine Sento being "Eh, I already designed a sword, but I already made myself a sword, so Banjou can have it. He probably knows how to use a sword, right?)

Like, it's easy to forgive on a show like Build specifically because the main Rider is a wacky/crazy inventor. I'm sure there's a closet in Science Basement full of dumb ideas Sento made into weapons. Beat Sabre, a sword that runs on a musical pump? Tip of the iceberg! Say hello to the Fire Megaphone (the louder you shout into it, the hotter it gets), the Akihabazooka (shoots limited edition merchandise guaranteed to district enemies), and the Ride Rider (generates a duplicate Rider who only gives piggyback rides)!

Hey, that might actually work against Kazumin "I'm a big weeb idol" Sawatari. Shoot a big old Mii-tan pillow at him.

So, here's one of my usual contrarian opinions:

Cross-Z Charge is probably my favorite Cross-Z design.

Which is weird, because I also resent it for changing Ruuga's motif from "Build #2" to the silver counterpart to Grease's gold. This has no connection to the story since Ryuuga and Sento are still very much the Best Match Duo during that part of the show, AND regular Cross-Z had barely been around before it got replaced, which is just sad.

But despite all that, I can't help but love the suit. It's both my favorite colors, sleek and sexy without a lot of overly busy detail, and the translucent bits just pop in a way they don't on Grease. What can I say, it just looks cool to me. I also have a major soft spot for Rider upgrades that are treated as dangerous to add tension to the story, which certainly helped ingratiate it with me.

Also, I've gotta disagree hard about that scene with Misora being melodrama. Considering the level of crap she was already dealing with, I think it's more than understandable that seeing a huge war break out would be enough for her to have trouble keeping it together. The specific detail of her impotently smashing her wrist on the ground, knowing it won't actually break that bracelet, because she's just that desperate to find some kind of escape from the situation she's stuck in? I don't know, that seems like a pretty visceral and realistic depiction of someone having a freak out to me. The thing about both Misora and Sento is that they tend to internalize their angst for the benefit of others, and when people do that, it tends to result in those emotions building up to a point where they can't contain them at all.

I'd argue bad acting, too, but you've got a lot of scenes between those two left that can do it better than me.

*cut to Sento frantically digging through the weapons closet for the Dark Roaster, the only weapon capable of beating Blood Stalk*

I wonder if I'd like Cross-Z Charge if they'd made that Banjou's first suit. Like, instead of putting him in Cross-Z just in time for the winter movie, if they'd held off on his first henshin for the Sclash Driver? Maybe that'd make the Charge suit feel like less like a weird concept on top of a weird concept.

That's a good point, her smashing the bracelet as a way of quitting the conflict, a show of regret for her role. I hadn't thought of that. Good catch!

For the rest of it, I just like Sento and Misora when they're more muted because we almost never get to see that kind of reaction on a Kamen Rider show. Everyone's usually Shouting Their Feelings, which, fine, that's the franchise, but I'm enjoying the different looks Build usually gives. Especially for a way to differentiate Banjou from Sento and Misora. He's the fiery one, they aren't. The beginning of that scene, I really liked it! It feels funereal, them looking over the city, quiet and small, aghast at their culpability. Then it's screaming and shouting and, I don't know. It's warranted, maybe, but it's also typical in a way that Build usually isn't.

Does that make sense? If Build was an all-the-time Loud Emotions show, then I'm not kicking about it. Once they show me a variation on that, I'm going to wonder why they'd go back to the routine.

From what I read in your Ex-Aid movie thread, you've only seen post-Decade. I think you need to watch some Heisei Phase I.

I should start a drinking game for all of these.

Okay, so, as a design on its own? Cross-Z Charge ALMOST works for me. It almost does.

But I just hate those shoulders so much.

Then it won't surprise anyone to find out that's actually my single favorite element of the design! :o

I mean, those are some quality Super Robot shoulder blocks right there. He looks like the Victory Gundam or something. It's great! I'm not even joking here. I'd take those things over regular Cross-Z's boring little spikes any day of the week.

You can't keep getting away with this. You can't just keep having these... these... opinions!

You are not wrong! I'd love to be watching all them Phase I shows right now, but this stupid linear deployment of time is keeping me to just the one show right now, and the rest later. I'm as mad about it as you are!

Man, I love it. I love how big of a tent this fandom is. It's awesome how, not contrary, but diverse the opinions are. It's almost never (that I've experienced) a binary good/bad view, but a whole spectrum of likes and dislikes, and reasons why for each. I can't imagine anyone stating their honest opinion of anything Kamen Rider that wouldn't at least get me to go, "Okay, but why?" That's a very healthy fan community!

KAMEN RIDER BUILD SPECIAL: BIRTH! KUMATELEVI!! VS KAMEN RIDER GREASE!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...uildtvkun1.png

WHAAAAAT IS THIS SHOW?! WHAT IS THIS SHOW?!

Jesus Christ. Only Kamen Rider Build would think to take a DVD pack-in special, start it off in the most gratingly mugging-comedy way possible, pivot to a hilarious fourth wall-breaking gag with a TV lady who lives in a bottle providing exposition and commentary, then wrap it all up with a considered plea for empathy even during wartime, and an examination of the way traditional portrayals of masculinity in media disregard maternal influences, creating a toxic reliance on emotionally-withholding male mentors. Jesus Christ.

This special was a whirlwind. It might be the most Build thing I've seen yet. It is insane how much this goofy-ass thing is trying to do. As always with Build, they could've done half as much and probably skated by. It's a TV-kun special; who's going to care if it's a partial-strength installment? Instead, this thing goes all in, hitting some totally unexpected heights.

Like, weird to have one of the themes be a downbeat "but all soldiers are people" message. It generally leads to fights that aren't won, but stopped, which is pretty much what happens here. It's complex storytelling to say, Sure, we could just Rider Kick everyone, but this guy is hurting inside. He's confused, and needs to get his head on straight. That's an awesome lesson for everyone to learn. Incredibly cool to take what's probably a young and impressionable audience and say, Kamen Rider helps people. Sometimes with a Rider Kick, sure, but sometimes with compassion. That's unexpectedly brave.

Similarly, for a franchise that is disturbingly preoccupied with emotionally-scarring father/son relationships, it's nice to get a thing that says it is not unmanly to thank your moms and grandmoms. The source of all wisdom is not necessarily taciturn men like Grease. The woman who raised you deserves your respect as much some fighting badass. This is on a special for a TV show about fighting badasses!

Also there was a TV lady who lived in a bottle who knew everything about everyone and she had a stuffed TV on her head and I wish the rest of Build were about her and Sento teaming up to solve the world's problems! What the living hell! My head is spinning!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...uildtvkun2.png