[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

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.

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

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.

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.