[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 15 - 16



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!



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