[Fish Sandwich]

Oh man, Sento. You have no idea how true that is...

This episode was excellent. I haven't been this drawn in to a Rider show this fast in years. One of the strongest premieres we've gotten since... Wizard, maybe? Anyway this basically had everything, including but not limited to:

- Pacing that felt just the tiniest bit less "cramped" than the past couple shows. I have a hard time explaining it if you don't know what I mean but, while it certainly wasn't as slow as something like Agito, it didn't move a mile a minute the way Drive, Ghost, and Ex-Aid did. A sort of "Best Match" of styles, if you'll forgive the obvious wordplay.

- Solid exposition on the unique bits of the setting without feeling too bogged down by said exposition.

- Seeds for all sorts of mysteries to be solved, again without throwing too much at the viewer all at once.

- Some really great action. Major props for an extended sequence of bike action at the end. I'm still prepared for the poor thing to stop existing by halfway through, but for now, I'm very happy.

- A pretty likable main character. I was expecting Sento to be obnoxious but he's mostly just enthusiastic, and having a bit of an attitude is a nice change of pace for the lead this year. The whole scientist shtick adds justification to the piles upon piles of possible Forms Build has too. Of course he'd want to try mixing and matching all his toys constantly, how else is going to find what works and what doesn't?

- Toei living up to that article where they said Build would take all the good bits of every Kamen Rider show. We've finally got a cafe again, for crying out loud! And Build's helmet has the "tears" under his eyes! I didn't even notice that until now! Also Build is actually a vigilante who has beef with the authorities. I like stuff like that. Hopefully it makes for some drama down the line.

- Consistent continuity! Ryuuga totally did have his pants unzipped the whole time. Which felt like kind of a weird thing to go back and check for, but hey.

- Sento's f***ing watch:



That's either so genius it's stupid or so stupid it's genius. Possibly both.

So in a single half hour of television, I've been made super hyped for what's to come. All this considering I wasn't even that excited for the show when all the announcements were being made. You did good, episode 1. You did good.