[Kurona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.)

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