KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 29 - 31

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build29.png

Mixed bag, this episode. On the one hand, it's a sweet story about friendship, the value of teamwork, and putting aside your own desires to better serve a community. On the other hand, I guess this is a series that's 75% about war? Bit of a bummer!

With the introduction of Pandora's Tower and open conflict between Seito and Touto, we're very much in a new phase of the story. I just wish it felt like a different phase of the story. We've still got murder robots, Hell Bros, rubble in the streets, crisis scenes with Rogue's Dad in an office, all the trappings of the last dozen or so episodes. Even as the stakes ostensibly change (Nanba doesn't care about the bottles?) and the danger's increased, visually and structurally it doesn't feel like anything's changed. That can be death for the middle of a Kamen Rider series, and it's a disappointing rut for the series to fall into.

The story is still compelling though, since it's based so firmly in the three hero Riders' history. The beats are familiar (Grease wants to protect Hokuto, Sento doesn't think the answer to war is more war, Banjou is just hopeless at articulating his feelings and convincing anyone of anything except for that one time with Sento), but the resolution still delivers a gorgeous image of the Three Crows adding their strength to Grease and Build. It's lovely, grounding a standard fight in something more heartwarming, and it's easily the strongest thing in the episode

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

Wait, no, Sawa's in the new opening credits! That's the highlight, not just for the episode but for the whole series. Act 3 is off to an electric start!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build30.png

This show is the best at delivering exposition. In what for another series might be a slow set of scenes, the "what can learn from Vernage and what do we know about Banjou" stuff was golden. All the right questions get asked with so much style. Just masterful work by the cast and crew, turning an info dump and foreshadowing into character-driven comedy and meta hilarity. Super, super good.

Similarly, it's both a clever Build plan that gets deployed (it's not an invasion if you've been kicked out of the military for treason) and some nice reactions from the rest of the cast to Sento's would-be martyrdom. Some folks are angry, some are worried, but everyone just wants to be there for Sento. It's a really charming team dynamic.

Other than that, not much stood out for me this episode, partly because the Vernage stuff was so unique and funny, partly because the rest is the same dudes fighting the same dudes on the same set. This show, especially in the second and third acts, is just nailing the smaller character moments, and doing above-average to great work when they can make the fights feel personal, but the overall war setting can feel dull when it's just about the plot. Definitely something that has not gotten better in the last few episodes.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build31a.png

A bunch more exposition (not as impressively delivered), and a really great starting fight with some terrific cinematography, but I left this episode not really feeling it.

A lot of that is because this is an episode designed around revealing big secrets about Banjou, but it's not designed around revealing big secrets to Banjou. The audience, through Sawa and Misora, gets to find out Banjou's Super Special Origin, but Banjou's left (characteristically) ignorant of all of this. It's good info for an audience to get dots connecting, but dramatically the only point is to force the character to deal with it. It's not important for the audience to know Takumi is Sento, for example, but for Sento to know that Takumi is Sento. There's a little bit of new info that Banjou gets, that Stalk had Kasumi killed to motivate him. (Fridging his girlfriend? So he'd have something to fight for? One of the worst tropes in fiction? Stalk is a monster, and a hack.) That's useful to potentially excavate some new layers of Banjou's personality, but practically it ends up resulting in I'll Fight Even Harder Now. Not exactly a revelation! Banjou gets an upgrade, but his character is basically the same. The real change might happen when he finds out Everything He Knew Was A Lie. The Mars/vessel stuff'll mean more to me when Banjou has to process it, and until then it's not much more than an interesting data point.

The fight that kicked off the episode, that's where it felt like the meat was. It just looked so pretty, exchanging tan walls for a wintery beach. Those weirdo frames, creating unusual shots. After a bunch of episodes of city and warehouse fights, it's nice to head out to Kamen Rider Beach. Just, again, a visual change that makes things feel less visually repetitive. Less dull.

And, yeah, unfortunately "dull" is the keyword for this string of episodes, despite some big information and quirky moments. It's tough to care about things like Seito's government and Nanba war robots and Martian civilizations because they feel so big. Too big for the smaller moments that this series kills at. Misora and Banjou and Stalk (I assume Stalk) are all inhabited by space people who have space beefs with each other, but so far it's not telling me anything about Misora or Banjou or Stalk. The Nanba stuff is an interesting take on war profiteering and the military industrial complex, but I don't care about it at all. When this show can tie the massive to the personal, it's transcendent. That's not the show I'm seeing in these last three episodes.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build31b.png

Do not get me wrong, I love Ex-Aid

After this, things stay pretty strong for quite a while, if I remember correctly. You've got a lot of fun, and some pretty crazy stuff coming up

Edit: Oops, didn't see your newest post. Surprised you didn't get into the Cross-Z Magma debut. I remember people really digging that whole episode. There's still more pretty great stuff coming before the next slowdown though

Look, I'm here to talk about things that really matter, like interesting cinematography and the ways the show deploys exposition in clever ways, not minutiae like "new suits". This is rigorous academic work!

Seriously, yeah, probably could've spared a few words for Banjou's upgrade! Wouldn't've killed me!

I'm still not terribly into Banjou's whole Dragon aesthetic, and I'm not sure it plays into what I think the Build suit offers as a design template. (Love the Rogue suit, so I'm probably being a hypocrite.) Magma is a step up from Charge, but I don't think it's as solid as the base Cross-Z suit. It's a little top-heavy to me, with a lot going on around the back and shoulders without balancing it with the lower body. Also, and it's a little hard to tell so far from the one weirdly-lit scene I've had with it, I don't think the orange of the base suit plays that well. I'm getting less "the unstoppable heat of the Earth's molten core" and more "the SpaghettiOs are cooling off enough to eat". Maybe I'm wrong! Maybe it's a scorching color under different lights! But, no, it didn't do that much for me, aesthetically (Banjou's suits just don't mesh to me) or narratively (unlike Sento's, Banjou's upgrades come off too standard to me, how he just has to believe in himself more or whatever).

Sorry I forgot to mention that! It is not a small thing!

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 32 - 33

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build32.png

So, I didn't care much for last episode because it was information without character impact, and character growth that lacked specificity. And along comes this episode, that I guess read my post from a day ago and went back in time to do it better? Is... is this the time-traveling Kamen Rider series? Have I just not been paying attention to the credits?!

(jk, the credits might be the one part I wouldn't want to miss)

Yep, I felt almost the exact opposite about this episode as I did 31. The big info about Banjou's genetics is deployed immediately, and classically. I cannot believe that Sento just blurts it out like a) it's only vaguely interesting, and b) it won't change anything. I could not stop laughing, not just because it's another great way the show swerves on exposition, but because it's exactly what that character would do. (Also, he's exactly right on both counts, as proven by the rest of the episode!) This whole episode is full of smart, in-character decisions that progress the story without feeling like the boot of the plot is on the show's neck. There was no way Grease was going to give the enemy what he'd fought so hard to keep from them, so he just doesn't go save his people. We could've gotten some betrayal, then some team-up, then some reconciliation, and that would've killed an episode, but it would've sucked. (Also, thank god those farmers ran for Touto because they were being used for leverage, like, daily.) Likewise, Rogue is enough of a tactician to realize that, if the farmers don't work as leverage, there's zero point in killing them. Plan didn't work, cut 'em loose. He'll destroy anything that gets in his way, but he's not going to murder restrained civilians. This was an episode where the plot moved according to character decisions, and it was the better for it.

That's evident in the main runner with Banjou, as he sort-of grapples with his newfound otherworldly heritage. It's great how the show dealt with it. Banjou's faced with an existential crisis, but Banjou doesn't even know what "existential" means, so he's mostly just grumpy about it for half a day and then he's over it. That's fantastic. Even better, I feel like I got the most clarity yet on what being a Kamen Rider means to Banjou. The idea that he's not like Sento, that he doesn't care about people the way Sento does, but he wants to be that kind of man and he's going to keep fighting until he is, I found that explanation enormously compelling. Way, way more compelling than the winter movie's "I want to protect some people sometimes" explanation.

A super-smart episode all the way around, where character decisions shape the plot rather than the other way around. That's almost all it takes!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build33a.png

Lot of arc stuff around the edges (Evolt, Evol Driver, all of the Hipster Dad backstory), which is kind-of a hallmark of the third act of Kamen Rider shows I've seen. (Not to be one-size-fits-all about it, but: First act, Introduction; Second act, Elaboration; Third act, Revelation; Fourth act, Resolution. The end of the first act is usually around the winter movie, the end of the third act is usually around the summer movie. I'm sure there are a billion exceptions to this framework!) We're certainly given some sense of what Stalk's been up to the last decade, and what he's trying to achieve. We don't get a lot more with Banjou's alien abilities, but it's still mentioned as a thing. We do get almost a whole episode with Rogue, though, and I loved it.

Military Adam Driver is a tricky character, a constantly-shifting antagonist who seems exactly as crazy as the current plot needs him to be. I'm not going to say I didn't care about him, but I cared about him a little less once he abandoned Touto (and Night Rogue) for Seito (and Rogue).This episode went a long, long way to making me care about him again, maybe the most I ever have.

I dig Tragic Riders. Not every show has them (most don't), so it's always a treat to me when one is worked into a show. Rogue is, like, a textbook example of a Tragic Rider. He's a villain with a goal, and it's a goal that is only 3 degrees away from being reasonable, but he just takes his ambition way too far and ruins basically everything in his life. Eventually, he gets some clarity, and tries to harness the poor decisions he's made to redeem himself, but... uh... there's this expression, it's about how many wrongs you need to make before something right happens, I can't remember it right now, but you know the one I mean, probably. Anyway, things inevitably go even further south, right towards rock bottom. That's the journey Rogue has been on, and I super dig it. This episode takes some pretty diverse portrayals and, remarkably, makes them all seem like the path of one person. He's not some raving lunatic or a calculating overachiever, he's someone who got their life ruined by a freak accident and is only now able to find his way out of some poor decisions. But, it's Kamen Rider, and he's a Tragic Rider, so there's one more thing in his life that needs to go wrong.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build33b.png

ALL DADS ARE DEAD.

Oh, and speaking of dads: Kamen Rider Evolt! Love the bottles, love the henshin, love the color scheme on the suit, love the helmet design, love the astronomy motif on the suit (science!), don't love the shoulders a whole lot. Feels like shoulders are a design weakness a lot on Kamen Riders. Frequently they're just too floppy, too obtrusive, and I'm not a fan of the "more power = bigger shoulders" design philosophy. The shoulders, swinging and flopping everywhere, end up making the fights between powerful adversaries look a bit too goofy as movement is hindered. Not my favorite part, but Evolt still has a lot working in its favor. I'm excited to see where it goes as it moves into other phases. Shoulders as big as a Rider? A boy can dream!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build33c.png

This is a super minor point and I don't actually care if you just ignore it, but the character's name is Evolt while his Rider name is Evol. It's a moot point anyway since the cast just always calls him Evolt and that distinction only matters in merchandising.

Anyhow, I wss also really happy with these episodes and Banjou's classic Kamen Rider dedication where he says he'll use his power that came from an evil source for good. And while I don't entirely like Rogue's bit about how 'oh the pandora's box effect is gone so he is less evil now', it ultimately made little diffetence in what I think is an effective redemption arc.

Noted! Also, this goddamn show and its goddamn Rider names...

Yeah, I thought it was clever the way the show had Blood Stalk try to rile him by demeaning his dedication to justice, claiming all he wants to do is fight. And Banjou comes back at him with, basically, "That is all I want to do, and I'm going to do it until I'm as good a person as this guy." Just, like, owning who he is while dedicating himself to being better. That's a hyper-specific character motivation I can get behind.

For Rogue, I mean, we always knew that he'd been affected by Pandora's Box, so if anything I like them saying the Rogue Nebula Gas thing changed his mind because at least there's a reason why he's behaving differently. If he just suddenly didn't feel like being a stop-at-nothing military warlord, that'd be a hard circle to square. With what they gave in this episode, I think it all makes sense for his character.

I love Evolt overall, it helps that Stalk has been a constant during the entire show, it also helps that both his voice actor and human form actor do a great job portraying the character and give him a lot of personality, not to mention the fantastic suit acting for him.

I think my favorite thing about Hipster Dad/Blood Stalk/Evolt is how much joy he takes from scheming, taunting, betraying, and just generally being a thorn in the side of good. It's like, if you love what you do, it's not work.

I don't care what else happens on this show, this is what I will always think of when I think of Stalk:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...stalkswing.gif

Dude swings out of frame after thwarting Night Rogue's plan to take back the bottles from Build. Swings. He just loves spoiling people's days!

Worth mentioning that Evol isn’t even short for Evolt. It’s simply “Love” spelled backwards, according to the character’s image song.

Good to know! Also infuriating to have to know! Thanks!

I had no idea. I mean I made that joke to myself especially since Spongebob did it before, but I had no idea it was an actually acknowledged thing. This is the worst thing ever but it is also amazing? On top of being short for evolution, his name is the opposite of the ideal of love and peace our heroes are always fighting for.

I think I can let ridiculous spellings like Para-DX or Cross-Z slide when we get things like this sometimes.

And then on top of love and evolution, it's also one letter away from 'evil'. It means so many things!

It's a very busy name, for a man with far too many names to begin with. I feel like Hipster Dad is doing it as a joke? It wouldn't surprise me.

"Hey, Soichi."
"No, call me 'Stalk'."
"Okay, Stalk."
"No, call me 'Blood Stalk'."
"Bl--? Fine, Blood Stalk."
"No, call me 'Evolt'."
"That... what? Evolt? Fucking... Evolt. Got it, Evolt."
"No, call me 'Kamen Rider Evolt'."
"Kamen Ri--?! Unbelievable. Jesus. Whatever. Kamen Rider Evolt."
"Kamen Rider Evol. The 't' is silent."
"...I hate you."
"Ciao, bitch!" *transteam puff of smoke*

I was today years old when I found this out.

...

I hate how clever this is, and how dumb I am for not realizing it sooner.

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 34 - 35

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build34.png

A barnburner of an episode, here. Instead of the typical two or three stories that get a check-in, or some larger threads that need developing, this one's a big ol' Banjou spotlight episode.

Taking away Sento for an episode and giving the reins to Banjou (why in the world Grease would let Banjou be the one in charge is utterly beyond me) gives us a different type of Build episode, and it's weirdly one that shows just why Sento is such a fun Rider to watch. Banjou's a dumb guy, and he's easily led by Evol(t). He's not a planner or a plotter, so all he can do is acquiesce to Evol(t)'s demands and hope to beat him in a fight. That would probably not be Sento's play. Sento's a genius, and he's got a rare Rider ability to figure out a solution besides facing an opponent head-on. He can think around a problem, not just through it. That makes for Build stories that have some fun surprises to them, ways the heroes don't just fight harder but fight smarter. This, though, was just Banjou trying his best, for better or worse. It's an incredibly straightforward Rider story that gains points in propulsive action and deadly stakes, but loses points in a lack of twists and (to me) not doing that much with the dramatic potential of the story.

For example, Evol(t)'s strategy, of riling Banjou up enough until they can combine, was visually impressive, but dramatically only adequate. The flames during the nighttime portion of the fight (how, uh... how long was Grease just lying there?) looked awesome, and made the fight feel appropriately apocalyptic. The problem, for me, was that Evol(t) was trying this "we're not so different, you and I" villain thing, trying to cloud Banjou's thoughts, and it's just, has Evol(t) not met Banjou? Does he think Banjou's smart enough to dismiss his humanity in favor of a different paradigm? Does he think Banjou can even spell "paradigm"? How this cunning dude thought that musclebrained Banjou could be manipulated philosophically, I don't get it. All he had to do was threaten Sento and he was good to go. The emotional taunting through the fight, it just felt unnecessary to me. Gilding the lily.

Great fight, though, and a killer cliffhanger as Evol(t) seems to be fully in control of Banjou. There's even a cool new helmet for Kamen Rider Evol(t) Phase 2! I'm not sure dragons work that great with an astronomy motif, but I'm also not sure Evol(t) cares what I think.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build35a.png

There're times I feel like this series is 90% about people telling the real story this time about something. I'm a fan of the narrative trick in principle, where you can give just enough information to move the story forward, while leaving room to surprise the audience later. It's just, this is the fourth or fifth time we've gotten The Truth About Mars, and at least three of those are from Hipster Dad. It's more convoluted each time it's told, as it has to line up with all the various versions that've already been put forward. I kind-of don't care anymore what happened on Mars!

Anyway, hi. Sorry. This episode. This one's another very plot-driven episode, with not a lot of character development or choices. It's a Big Picture one. There's a little bit of character business during the Build/Evol(t) throwdown, but even that's a retread of Sento's "science is as good or bad as the intentions behind it" speech that we've had a couple three times already. Mostly it's another one where Evol(t) has a plan, and he acts on it, while the heroes react to it.

It's maybe a little rushed? There's a ton of time in the beginning devoted to Evol(t) connecting all of the Martian dots, then Sento wakes up, calls Rogue, they all get abducted, big fight at Pandora Tower Field, the end. There's plenty of time spent on plot stuff and Evol(t), but a potentially huge scene like Build recruiting Rogue is only a minute or so until Bad Hair Banjou shows up to start the endgame. Wasteful! I'm not sure why they didn't drop one of those Nanba scenes or something and let a big moment like Rogue Joins The Team play out. Bonkers. Confusing decision.

At least the final fight was good? It was! It was so good! I really like Evol(t) Dragon(z) as a suit. It's imposing without being over-the-top, the color scheme is great, the collar is great, the dragon helmet maybe works great, the suit actor has full rotation of his shoulders... it's a real winner, I think. And, yeah, the fight itself was a winner. It's very cleanly choreographed, with fun moves against each opponent coherently conveyed, some great Holy Shit moments like punching Rogue and Grease over the Sky Wall, but the fake out with Banjou's plea for mercy? Loved it. I was wondering why they'd only used the Evol(t) voice all episode, when Hipster Dad would usually use his own voice, but that's why. If Evol(t) uses Banjou's voice through the episode, it wouldn't play as though Banjou was resisting, because he's been talking like that all episode. If they save it, the audience buys it, Build buys it, and then Evol(t) wins. I love it. I love Evol(t) as a season-long villain. His plan has a billion discrete phases to it, and requires tricking a hundred different people over a multiple-decade period, but he does it all with so much confidence and style, I'm almost rooting for him. And I'm a human! And that dude hates humans! Like, a lot!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build35b.png

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 36 - 37

It's been a few days. Where were we? Oh, right -- the end of the world.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build36.png

Build, for better or worse, has had a few points where it seemed like the story could be over. Emotionally, episode 22 felt like it said everything that needed to be said. It felt like a series finale on every axis. But it wasn't, it was barely the midpoint of the series. What came after has been strong, but it's definitely felt to me like almost an epilogue.

It doesn't help that a lot of the villainy that's driving the plot recently is of a somewhat amorphous shape. Seito wants to rule the world while Evol(t) wants to destroy it, and while that's definitely villainous (I mean, I live in the world, it's where I watch Kamen Rider, it'd suck if that couldn't happen anymore) it's also kind-of generic and hard to feel that connected to, despite giving it the face of Banjou or having Sento reiterate his personal responsibility for the war. The villain plots are just sort-of there for me, nothing to get too thrilled about.

Luckily, everything else is thrilling. I've compared my relationship with Kamen Rider to pizza before (even bad Kamen Rider is still Kamen Rider, and thus pretty good), so let me go to the pizza metaphor well once more. The villain plots are like the crust on a pizza: a base that's necessary for construction, but rarely the thing that you're most interested in. It's better if it tastes good, but it's more important that everything else tastes good. And this is a pretty delicious episode! It's great to see Rogue integrated more fully in the line-up, and the scene with him and Grease was exactly what I want out of a Kamen Rider fight scene: it's visually enjoyable while still telling me something about the characters. Grease needs to feel some closure over Rogue's actions while making sure Rogue can contribute to the fight, while Rogue needs to address his past mistakes and figure out what he's even fighting for now. It's a well-done scene between two characters I hope get more to do together.

The concluding Evol(t)/Build fight is an episode highlight. Sento's got yet another fake-out up his sleeve, staying one step ahead of the unstoppable plotter. I appreciated that, while the show was absolutely going to have Sento try to sacrifice himself to stop Evol(t) and save the world, the characters get to push back a bit through Misora. The "Misora yells at Sento to stop trying to kill himself" scene wasn't exactly the most poignant or best delivered, but I liked that it existed and that it had a decent list of reasons Sento was being an awful friend. Sometimes it needs to be said! It's hard for a friend to watch another friend almost blow themselves up but instead give a more powerful form to an extinction-level supervillain, y'know? We've all been there.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build37a.png

Is this the ideal episode of Kamen Rider? Does it have absolutely everything it takes to satisfy the average Kamen Rider viewer? Let's check!

GOOD EPISODIC STORY - The Sento/Evol(t) stuff is terrific. It's a clear, immediate, personal goal for the characters to free Sento from Evol(t)'s clutches, and it's edge-of-your-seat storytelling. Sento/Evol(t) is a grinning asshole, convinced he holds all the cards. Team Build has lost their best strategist, leaving only an underpowered Grease, a depowered Cross-Z, and a devastated Rogue. Not exactly an all-star team! But the method through which Team No Build has to fight anyway, to figure out what they're fighting for and what it'll take to win, it all feels vital and it all feels earned. A great beginning, middle, and end to this story.

CONNECTION TO SERIES ARC - The Evol Trigger is the power up du jour, and so much of the story is about what it'll do once Evol(t) gets it working. After a few feints, the Trigger's up and running by the end, and it feels suitably apocalyptic.

HUMOR - Banjou's henshin anxiety in the beginning is laugh-out-loud funny, and the show (as always) does a great job of not forcing the humor. Jokes just land, like Rogue's admission that the only reason he ran a lab was nepotism, or Evol(t)'s general dismissal of every single Rider. Not an all-out side-splitting episode, but plenty of humor around the edges.

DRAMA - Banjou has to ask for the help of the man who murdered his girlfriend! And then that murderer reminds Banjou that he's responsible for Banjou's girlfriend's death! Like he forgot! And Grease just has to sit there while it's happening! Heavy stuff, handled deftly, no surprise. And, of course, this episode is another entry in But Why Heroism, checking in with Rogue's development. It's a good Tragic Rider twist on "patriotism", separating his need to fix a country he broke from Grease's need to protect his vulnerable country. It's maybe a small thing, but I appreciated the distinction. More than the Grease/Rogue stuff, though, there's Banjou's, like, Will To Henshin, as he regains his Rider status as Great Cross-Z. There's not much to say about his motivation, since "wants to protect the people he cares about" has been his stated motivation for, uh, the last twenty-something episodes, but I loved his pre-henshin fight against Evol(t) because it highlighted and rewarded his skill set for solving problems: Just Keep Punching. He literally punched his way to victory. No high-minded strategy, no belief in the power of friendship, Just Keep Punching. Fantastic. Standing O.

FIGHTS - Um, hell yes. Grease versus the Hell Bros, Rogue versus the Hell Bros, Rogue and Grease teaming-up (badly, but still!) against Evol(t), Banjou versus Evol(t), so much good fights in this one. I love that set (it's been in every show, most recent for me in the Ex-Aid: Lazer vs Genm movie), it's got so many fun areas to get good shots. Great action in this episode!

NEW SUITS AND/OR FORM CHANGES - ha ha ha YOU BET. Starting off the episode with Evol Rabbit, rolling out Great Cross-Z, and ending up with Evol(t)'s final form, this episode doled out bad-ass new suits like they all of a sudden needed space in the Kamen Rider suit closet. All three are based around the Evol design, which is an incredibly flexible template. Some of it's the streamlined nature of the suit, how it's not crazy and bulky like a lot of villain suits, but I think a lot of it is the color scheme. That blue/red/gold is striking, and it easily supports variations based on Stalk (red), Build (red and blue), and Cross-Z (blue and gold). The suits all look good and visually identify what body Evol(t) is in today. Great Cross-Z plusses up a suit I was never that thrilled with, giving it some of Evol's astronomy flourishes and using the darker red to make the suit pop a bit more. It's a great visual signifier of both Evol(t) and Banjou. I don't really love the "final form" for Evol(t) (they didn't name it in the show yet, I don't want to go looking for its name in case of spoilers), but I barely got a chance to see it. I also, rudely, barely got a chance to see Great Cross-Z, my favorite Banjou suit so far. I may have actually said "OH, COME ON" out loud when he switched to Magma. How dare. Anyway, Great Cross-Z looks great, Evol Rabbit was a treat, and I'll probably get used to Evol's final form. Tons of good new suits in this episode.

THE ENDING - A jaw-droppingly good twist ending. They saved the wrong Build. It's Takumi that came out of the Evol Trigger, not Sento. So, so, good. A lot of what's been working for me the last few episodes is how the emphasis on the characters for most of the series is paying dividends as they keep shaking up the team. My favorite part of the first few episodes, and the thing that told me this show was going to work, was how much I wanted to see every combination of characters. This arc, this phase, is applying that to the whole show, the whole premise. It helps that the actors can pull off any variation of their character that the writer comes up with, but it's also the hard work of character-building that makes any change fascinating. A very, very exciting ending.

Yeah, I don't know, this episode really had it all for me. I don't think it's the best episode the series has done, but everything in it is so good. Very interested to see how far the show can take this.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build37b.png

Much as I like Evolt, I agree that there isn't much or any depth to him and all the appeal of him as a villain comes in his charisma and spectacle. I don't think it's a big problem when all the good character stuff is made up for by the heroes though.

Everyone is just at their best, and honestly it's hard to think of a moment across the entire series when they aren't, but Sento being out of commission for a few episodes gives even more highlight to the other riders. Seeing Rogue and Grease coming together after all fistfighting out their differences just feels right somehow.

Of course, Banjou stole the scene by forcefully powering himself up and then beating on Evol like a chump. I distinctly remember feeling myself shake in excitement when he turned into Great Cross-Z the first time, and as someone who loves Magma, watching him just beating on Evol was probably the most hype I got since episode 22. Granted, we don't get to take in this victory for very long since he gets his Black Hole form like thirty seconds later...

It's a thing where I sometimes feel I should be more critical of Evol(t)'s plans and plots: they are ridiculously complex, every six episodes we need to get another exposition scene explaining why he's doing what he's doing, every eight episodes there's some new trinket or gadget that's integral to his endgame... it's a lot. It is a lot. I love the fact that one villain is running the whole series, but I kind-of hate how convoluted his story needs to be in order to last a full series.

But, man, that charisma! That spectacle! The fact that when Banjou learns he can't henshin, Evol)t) just goes, "Sucks to be you"! Like, I don't think it's style over substance, because there so many great character scenes with Hipster Dad/Stalk/Evol(t) and the cast, but that spectacle and charisma definitely obscures some plotting deficiencies.

Dropping Sento out just after they dropped and returned Banjou, which in turn was just after they dropped Sento for an episode, is some brilliant plotting. It not only shines a welcome spotlight on some newer members of Team Sometimes Build, but keeps the tension up right before the climactic arc. It's really great pacing, which is sometimes tough for the mid-30s of a Kamen Rider series. There's usually not much more to learn about the cast, but the villain can't really reveal their master plan yet, sooooo... But these eps solved it beautifully. Fun, fun times.

Yeah, those cliffhangers where Evol(t) has One More Trick Up His Sleeve can take the wind out of the sails, but at least that makes Team A Build But Maybe Not The Build work harder and smarter to bring him down, and sometimes (not always, but sometimes) we get a stupid funny cliffhanger resolution where Evol(t) is still not quite ready to end the world. Fingers crossed because otherwise I think my favorite characters are going to be destroyed in a black hole!

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 38 - 39

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build38.png

A well-rounded set of episodes, centered pretty well thematically on the value of trust and the necessity of ideology. Also, MORE NEW SUITS!!!!!

Utsumi is a character that I don't know that I fully understood since his post-execution return. Previously, he was a guy who got ground up by the machine he believed in, his dreams squandered to protect a cause that disregarded him. Then, he's a Nanba sycophant, until he's a maniacal toady to Evol(t). I just couldn't make sense of it.

Luckily, the return of Takumi allows their similarities to fill in the blanks. Both of them believe in science, in their own genius, to the exclusion of anything else. Takumi feels guilt over the way the Rider System has led to war and death, but the guilt is that he let himself be betrayed by others. His culpability, that doesn't register with him. For Utsumi, he believed in Faust, and it betrayed him, and he believed in Nanba, and it couldn't protect him. So now, with Evol(t)'s help, he believes only in himself and his own power. Evol(t) isn't an ideology or a protector, it's a means to to an end. Both Utsumi and Takumi can only trust themselves, believe in themselves.

Which is why these episodes aren't just great in highlighting those two characters, but in using Team Build to emphasize the value of trusting your friends, in believing in something bigger than yourself. Cross-Z, Grease, Rogue, even a Hell Bros are willing to fight for others, to protect lives. That ideology, of peace and love, it's something that Takumi lacks and Utsumi mocks. So, in the end, it's up to Takumi to give way to Sento, to let him be the one (sorry) to take on Mad Rogue and Evol(t).

And, as a welcome back gift, he gets a brand-new suit to fight them in! Between Evol(t) Black Hole, Mad Rogue, and Build Genius, the designers must've gotten a sweet deal on white plastic. It's a very white palette. I think it works better on some suits than others. Getting a better look at it, I'm not into Evol(t) Black Hole. I like the skirt, but the heavy white torso doesn't work that great with the red-and-blue lower body, plus those shoulders bug me. I like the way the chestpiece lays in the black hole motif, but otherwise it's not a favorite. Mad Rogue uses the white better, creating a more aggressive coloring to the old Night Rogue suit. The purple-and-white is really striking, and I like the way it takes that Night Rogue suit and references Mad Rogue's "underling to Evol(t)" status. Build Genius wears it best, though, from what little I saw. I'm usually down on the overly-busy final forms Riders get (Fourze Cosmic States, uggggghhhhh), but the dominant use of white makes the multi-colored bottles really pop. I'm excited to get a better look at it, and I'm really excited to see how its powers work.

Yeah, these episodes were fun to watch. Less humor than I normally like (which even Banjou mentioned), but there's super-solid thematic work going on, along with some character deaths (Hell Bros, I almost cared about you for a minute) to help clear the slate for the final act, as well as some cool fights. Really good work this outing.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build39.png

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 40 - 41

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build40.png

A weird one-two punch of episodes, with the larger story of Build's Dad and the Lost Bottles being told through Evol(t)'s and Grease's separate emotional evolutions, Gentoku's (oh, he earned a real name this time) fashion war crimes, and what felt like just a billion hours of recap and exposition.

Grease wasn't a character that felt like he needed a spotlight episode, but I'm really glad he got one. His motivation thus far, of trying to save his country, just felt... small? He even addresses it here, and it makes for solid rationale to grow as a person. It's not a huge shift, into more of a pure hero role, but it felt like the show took him there organically.

Evol(t), however, did not come by his evolution organically, instead basically getting emotions punched into him (Is, is that how emotions work?!) by Build. I'm going to try to hold off judgment until I see it a bit more, but it's not a change I love off the bat. I always liked how, y'know, cool Evol(t) was, and I didn't enjoy his Scream Of Rage at Build after he lost. Just, like, tranquilo, okay? Don't be a baby. Hopefully they'll find a good level for him that keeps what works about the character while finding some new shades to play with.

Wwwwwhich is a really good segue to talk about Gentoku. Formerly Military Adam Driver, now and forever Gentoku, because holy shit him in this episode. It is light years away from every single other version of character, unless you count the decidedly non-canonical opening recap. But, like, out-of-character or not, it mostly killed in this episode, him as a series of ridiculous outfits wearing a man, Misora being apoplectic literally every time he entered the room, the fact that Sento needed a scene change to get away from those clothes. I can't be critical of something that made me laugh that hard.

Except, I can, because while the show tried a bunch of funny asides and clever sight gags, SWEET JESUS IN A BOTTLE did they just pile on the exposition and recaps this time out. Exhausting, having the last 40 episodes shot into my brain like that. It's laudable that nearly every element of the show, even early stuff that felt disposable and like a show finding its feet, all of that stuff had a purpose, it's hard to praise the show when it has to stop dead to connect so, so many dots. So many dots, you guys. They made it as fun as possible, but it was still decidedly not fun.

Also, Build's Dad has been alive all of this time, but I don't know what it means to the characters yet, so I don't care about it yet.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build41.png

Post-brainwash Gentoku is best Gentoku.

I can't decide if I like it better if a) he's had this unfashionable side to his personality all this time but we never saw it because of all of the warmongering and tragedy, there was just a dusty closet filled with the worst outfits, or b) all sense of self was obliterated after 10 years of Nebula Gas brainwashing and this personality with all of its many, many quirks is what was created off of that blank slate.

He's great, though. That actor, like so many Build actors, makes a meal out of whatever he's given. Comedy, tragedy, drama, he can make it all compelling.

Without trying to say much about it, this is one reason I think watching the Rogue specials before this point would have been a good idea. They don't explain...all this, exactly, but they do give a little more insight into Gen's character overall.

Either way, I agree. It's not a shift you really see coming in any way, but I think the show and the character makes it work well. I was never really into Gentoku as a character much when he was a villain, but he meshes with the hero cast so well, much better than you would expect in the early show. The back and forth is just great. Even little bits like Sento going "I always thought he was a 'Gen-san,' but you know, he was trying to kill us and everything" is just fun, group and character-building stuff.

Yeah, you know, I had those Rogue specials lined up for after episode 20, which I think is where the Wiki puts them for continuity, but the main show was so good right then that I couldn't see trying to work in 90-whatever minutes of a side-story. I feel like I picked the lesser of two evils, but, there was definitely some loss.

I've liked, weirdly, pretty much every version of Gentoku? I liked him as a scheming soldier, I liked him as a manipulative leader, I liked him as single-minded weapon, I liked him as a tarnished killer, I liked him as a tentative teammate, and I like him as a ridiculous punchline. There's always some weird element he brings that elevates some bizarre shifts in status. Like, when he's Touto's Prime Minister, he has Build at his beck and call, but he's never a huge dick about it. He's just, like, do what I tell you and I don't care about the rest. His character is almost unnecessarily complex, given how minor he frequently is to the proceedings. Just another example of Build going for the A+ when a B+ would do.

I consider episodes 29 to 39 to be the end of a distinct arc, even if it technically ends on a cliffhanger. This is when everybody finds their final footing so to speak, the position where they'll take going into the final conflicts. Grease arguably settled into his place a while ago, but we have Gentoku joining the heroes side and even Utsumi becoming a new big threat.

More importantly, the most major players, Banjou, Evolt, Sento (and Katsuragi!), remind the audience one more time about all their whole journeys from the beginning of the show and they all become the most powerful they've ever been. The ending of 39 with a newly returned Sento transforming into Build Genius to the theme song reminded me a lot of the show's first arc ending back in episode 16. It was such a triumphant scene.

About the immediately proceesing episodes, uuuuuuuh, I'll look forward to your thoughts. I also have liked every side Gentoku and that he has all these sides while still managing to feel somewhat cohesive.

Yeah, I liked how, in retrospect, the first three acts each gave a space for the main Riders to do their But Why Heroism/Villainy stories, and how each act evolved or devolved those reasons. No one was static, no one got their spotlight and was done.

Like, Grease kind-of left behind the I Only Defend Hokuto thing a while back to join Team Build, but the show still took time to acknowledge what that meant for his journey as a character. How does he feel about it? Why is this where he wants to fight, now that the immediate defense of Hokuto and revenge for the Crows isn't an issue? It's not strictly necessary, I don't assume folks were looking forward to Grease splitting or anything, but the show still crossed the Is and dotted the Ts. (I'm certain that's how that expression goes.)

To your point about 39 feeling like the end of the arc, I'd maybe say 40 is that for me? Grease is really the last character who needs to do their But Why Heroism before the final act, and 41 is where the Evolved Evol(t) and Build's Dad stuff really starts to gain speed. That's a minor thing, and I think you make a good point of Build Genius really feeling like an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence.

KAMEN RIDER BUILD SPECIAL: PRIME ROGUE

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...rimerogue1.png

It's to Kamen Rider Build's credit that, frequently, I find myself wishing that it had less superhero fights in it. I mean, it's a superhero fighting show, so that's a sort-of dumb thing to wish, but the character scenes on this show, in this series, are so good that I don't want to have less of them.

This insane special, clearly made just for me, is a prime example. (Sorry.) I could've watched at a minimum thirteen minutes of Gentoku's fears (that are all detailed in the recap of episode 41!), Misora's irritation, nightmarish fashion shows, and petty arguments with small children. It's a testament to how funny that stuff was that the nominal reason for this special to exist, the debut of the Prime Rogue suit, felt like a distraction from what was really working. (I liked the new suit, though. The cape is perfectly timed to coincide with Gentoku's new over-the-top style, and the gold detailing is the right kind of garish. A solid upgrade.) Similarly, the whole thing about the kid needing to stop mourning his father and grow into a larger role in his family feels like it should matter more, reflect more of Gentoku's change in direction, but it's barely addressed. It felt like a special that did this other stuff because it had to, when it really wanted to be a comedic story.

So, yeah, not 100% successful as a special (it really wasn't doing anything thematically) but 110% successful as an example of how great this cast is when you let them go nuts.

PUT GENTOKU IN A KAMEN RIDER BRAIN SEQUEL YOU COWARDS

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...rimerogue2.png

The Hyper-Battle DVD is stupid fun, I love it. I also enjoy the small impact on Build's continuity as you now know where the leather Gentoku wears in the show jacket comes from.

Also, fun fact for you (I don’t think this is a spoiler): The Prime Rouge suit will appear again in a future Build movie, making it the first Hyper-Battle DVD form to appear outside of its own special. I don’t think that has ever happened before.

Yeah, the Wiki (which is terrible about spoilers!) mentioned this was the first appearance of Gentoku's leather jacket, so I figured it'd be a part of the show going forward. That makes both HBVs having a little bit of business for the main series, with the Crows dog tags getting a backstory in the earlier one. They are using every part of the franchise to tell the Build story!

And, no, I wouldn't consider the knowledge that Prime Rogue will be in a movie to be a spoiler. Sento mentions it'll take a month to fix, and he might as well have said, "It'll be ready in time for the summer movie, IN THEATERS NEXT MONTH, ASK YOUR PARENTS TO TAKE YOU." It's not as egregious as the Kikaider promotion from Gaim, but it's a little tacky?

Ghost did it first, actually. I mean, the users weren't the same, but Dark Ghost pulled out the two special forms in the summer movie.

But yeah, it's impressive just how much the writer was able to use literally every side-story and special and tie it into the show in some way. Some of it may be tenuous or technically unnecessary, but there's a continuity and attention to detail there that is appreciated. The way even Build's obligatory Ex-Aid appearances were used for foreshadowing (and then how the writer went out of his way to smooth over some continuity foibles with it in the show) is really cool. With modern Rider shows having like half a dozen extraneous media scattered all over the place it can feel haphazard, but it's neat when they really try to make everything count for something even a little. Ex-Aid did that ok, but I think Build has probably handled all that stuff the best.

Huh - I always understood that part as a joke, that the form wouldn’t be usable for the rest of the show and Gentoku knows it, hence his freak-out. But it can work either way really.

There's this fine line the Build HBVs walk, where it's just connected enough to feel like it's all still in-continuity (never guaranteed with HBVs!), while still feeling optional. Like, if you skipped the HBVs, you'd miss the origin of the Crows dog tags and Gentoku's jacket, but none of that is going to keep fans up at night, puzzling out the details and putting forward their theories on the boards. But knowing it adds a little color, some fun backstory.

And, yeah, it's great that even the Ex-Aid appearances got some retcon love in the series to make everything line up.

Oh! Yeah, you're right, it could be that, too. Dude just got a power-up WITH A CAPE and now it's back to the capeless wilderness. That's worth a freak-out, for sure. I just thought the "one month" thing was so specific that it was referring to the movie.

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 42 - 43

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build42.png

I, hmm.

I don't think these episodes worked.

They didn't work because they're largely retreading things we already know, with an enemy that I'm just not that invested in. Blowing up the Touto headquarters is a big move, but it's not like there was anyone there that we cared about. It symbolized Evol(t)'s victory, but it didn't really evoke any feelings. And while the Riders feel frustrated by being called renegades by the new Seito government, it doesn't have a huge bearing on the feel of the show. They're still holed up in the cafe, hiding from Evol(t) and Seito, but now people we don't know don't like them? I guess? And the final fight against Mad Rogue, sheesh. I cannot believe they'd try to pull a heroic Riders Never Say Die moment out of a fight with the snivelling henchman. He's not that menacing anymore! His taunting, while sort-of reasonable against Gentoku (dude just saw the physical manifestation of his dead father's hopes and dreams get atomized in a black hole), the Build stuff I just don't get. Cannot for the life of me see why Build needs to shout his feelings like that. I can sort-of see how the show's trying to link their daddy issues together, Sento and Gentoku, but those traits are night and day. Gentoku's entire story is built around his relationship with his father, while Sento's dad is a fairly recent concern that the show hasn't begun to do the work on for me to care about it. They are betting so much of the show's finale on how much I care about Sento and his dad, and it feels like a massive miscalculation. (Science!)

The second episode just drives that point home. Sento attacks Banjou to save his OBVIOUSLY EVIL dad, splitting Team Build up and causing everyone in the story (except Banjou) to make terrible decisions. Like, not just "these distraught characters are acting rashly", but "why in the name of anything would this character decide to do that". A lot of head-scratching moments in this episode, the kind of dumb To Move The Plot Forward developments that I honestly can't remember this show ever needing to stoop to. Misora decides to go back to Hipster Dad why?! Rogue and Grease just utterly can't trust Sento so they race to the hidden villain base all by themselves why?! It's dumb. It's dumb dumb dumb. I could not follow why anyone was doing anything, and the actors couldn't sell me on it because I don't think they knew why they were doing it, either. There's a middle section of episode 43 that might be the worst this series has ever been.

It ends sort-of well, though, with Banjou giving his version of Sento's rebuke to Blood Stalk back around the end of the first act. (More retreading! More characters forgetting lessons they already learned!) Build's defeat of Buildad was clever, which forgives a bit of how they got there, but, man. These episodes were weak in so many ways that Build is never weak: cheesy speeches, bad storytelling logic, and worst of all, a villain that I don't care about. Buildad is like Specter's dad from the (horrible) Ghost summer movie. He's a guy that abandoned his family a decade ago, shows back up as a total asshole, but for some reason we're supposed to feel conflicted about this guy? Supposed to want to see the best in him? I thought it was a dumb idea then, and I think it's a dumb idea now. When you've got maybe the most cunning, charismatic villain in Kamen Rider history with Evol(t), why would you ever give that up to focus on a boring asshole like Buildad? Why?!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build43.png

It was more like "ASK YOUR PARENTS TO RENT THE BLU-RAY.", considering Prime Rogue came out after the series was already over. Actually, the summer movie is completely irrelevant to this. The real point of that dialogue is simply to provide a feasible explanation why Gentoku wasn't rocking that cape in the last stretch of the show (and the movie).

It definitely was nice how Build tried so hard to keep its continuity in order like that. It still slipped up a lot, mind you, but there was clearly a bigger effort than usual being made to fit everything together, and Build gets pretty convoluted.

"Build gets pretty convoluted" could be the synopsis of nearly every episode past 12.

I'd argue past 1. :lol

I'd swear the Prime Rouge HBV didn't come out till after the show had ended. I might be misrembering though.
Nevermind, I see someone else already mentioned that. I've gotta be sure I've read the whole page before replying to something

Yep! You (and Fish Sandwich) are exactly right. Looking at the Wiki now, it came out the December after the series ended. I'm just watching it in continuity, where it takes place four episodes before the movie. Totally my mistake!