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Kamen Rider Bulid:Be The One: Review9/7/2019
Bulid was a good Kamen Rider. I fell off towards the end because school got hard, but I caught up afterwards in the main series, and while there was a bit too much politics in play, and I felt that Evol was pulling BS out of his ass towards the end, it was fun. But how does the movie hold up?
Rules as always: 1.Spoilers(and I'm talking series, not just the film this time) are abounding folks. 2.I am watching TV-Nihon subs. This is my review of Kamen Rider Bulid: Be The One.
So before we begin, I should note that this film is canon to the Kamen Rider Build story between Ep. 45 and 46. If you go from here, I am assuming you have watched up to those episodes.
We begin with a flashback to Shinobu Katuragi, who talks about the energy of Pandora Box and how it could destroy Earth, and that the fate of Earth depends on someone, though if you watched the show, you know who it is already. We then cut to the present day, where Sento is talking to Sawa and Misora about the weather, as well as where the other Kamen Riders are. Gentoku is sleeping, while Banjo and Kazumi are visiting the graves of their fallen ones. The new governors of Touto, Seito and Hokuto make themselves known, with Kengo Ino, the new governor of Touto, saying to the people that Build should be eliminated He then puts them under mind control, and the Hunt for Bulid begins. Saigo Ryouka, the governor of Hokuto, goes to fight Bulid, but Grease(Kazumi) and Rogue(Gentoku) fight her off so Bulid can keep running from the people.
Banjo Ryuga on the way back hears about what is happening, but he ends up in a car with Goubara Mitsuomi, the new governor of Seito. He was also the one that chose Banjo's girlfriend to become a smash, because Banjo needed a reason to be pissed off? Maybe I'm forgetting something in the series, but this kinda comes out of nowhere. Ino shows up, activating Banjo's alien nature, making him pure evil, and granting him the power of the Great Cross-Z Dragon once again. Oh and Kamen Riders aren't affected by the mind control, probably because of the Nebula Gas injected into them.
Sento goes into the government Labs again to research the the Kiwami(extreme in Japanese, though I have seen it called Zenith in relation to Kiwami Arms from Kamen Rider Gaim) Project. This is where Sento meets Kengo Ino, who is a part of the Blood Tribe. This is the tribe that Evolto is a part of, and they were going to destroy earth together, but Evolto had his own plans of course. They also manipulated the wars for each region somehow, though they all saw of the light of Pandora Box(that's not a typo btw, just saying), which increased their motivation to go to war. Himuro Taizan wouldn't have of course(he sent Gentoku, his son in his place), so if we subtract Touto wouldn't Hokuto and Seito gone to war in the first place? Maybe I'm over thinking it.
With the help of Evil Banjo, Kengo is able to retrieve the Hazard Trigger, and combines that with the power of the other 2 governors(who can turn into smash) to become Kamen Rider Blood, a really cool looking dark rider form. He tries to kill Sento(they ended up fighting for the Hazard Trigger), but Evolto keeps him alive, probably to advance his own plans later in the series.
Sento ends up wandering in the rain for a bit, speaking to Katsugri Takumi, and if you haven't watched Bulid, why are you still here? Takumi is still worried about Banjo destroying the Earth, though in a flashback, we see that Shinobu said that Banjo holds the key to the Earth's fate. In that flash back Sento(possessing Takumi's body), asks why he became a scientist.
The next day, Sento goes to fight Kengo, and despite the people being against him, fights valiantly. Misora is saddened, despite being under the mind control, probably because of Vernage's infulence and Sawa seems to be the same way because of her smaller exposure to the Nebula Gas. Sento says he'll keep fighting even if no one is on his side, and using the Gold Rabbit full Bottle(they explain later that riders with High Hazard Levels can make bottles evolve), he's able to free Banjo, however Blood activates the Hazard Trigger to dig into the earth and destroy it from the core. Kamen Rider likes set piece final battles for the movies don't they? Ghost had the 100 Eyecons Battle, Ex-Aid had the City Being trashed while fighting Gamedeus, and now this. It's not bad, in fact it works for the movies, just a trend I've noticed.
Grease and Rogue take on the 2 smash, while Sento thinks of a using Gold Rabbit and Silver Dragon to stop Kengo, but Misora(now with the Vernage personality)combines 2 Gold and Sliver bottles with Genius to form Cross-Z Bulid, a really good looking form which you can is based off the Rabbit Rabbit and Tank Tank suits for inspiration.
Rogue and Grease defeat the smash, while Cross-Z Bulid, in what is a really cool fight scene, fight Blood, and reveals that Shinobu became a scientist for the reason that Sento and Banjo fight: Love and Peace. They defeat Blood, returning the people to normal, and Sento ends the film saying he's happy as long he can create a future for others, along side Everlasting Sky, which is a nice ending theme.
After the credits, Sento is taken to a world where other Riders are fighting, when Zi-O steps in and explains who he is after kicking the monsters asses. This is better than the Ex-Aid movie, because at it feels like the slot at the end was intended.
The story overall is pretty good, though one thing I will levy against it is that the Blood Tribe are not that interesting, which is a shame considering Evolt's character and personality. Kengo does comes off as a charismatic leader, and while a bit bland, I do like what they do with him, as he comes off as a more serious Evolt, but I feel like Goubara and Saigo could have been removed and we would have nothing really missed.
Another complant that I have is that Kazumi and Gentoku are absent for most of the movie, as you can tell the writers want to focus on Sento, more on that in a second. Utsumi also made a cameo, but it's nothing noteworthy. I also think that Misora could have been freed from the mind control earlier, given that she has Vernage's power within her, but for how she was used it was good. However, I can apprecate the focus of this movie on Sento.
Ever since Kamen Rider started doing post-series movie with a focus on the main Rider, just to wrap their story or see how they got on after their series. This feels like that, a wrap up of Sento's character and everything surrounding the relationship between him and Banjo, as well as him accepting that even if people hate his existence, he has to fight.
Overall, I can say that I liked Be The One. While there is a lot of pacing issues, characters that go missing and a few uninteresting elements, those are minor flaws for a good written story focusing on our hero Kiryu Sento.
Been a while since I reviewed a Toku show or movie. Hopefully I can get around to doing the Rider Time shows for Shinobi and Ryuki.
But for now, thanks for reading, and I will catch you guys next time. Written By Nana Marfo For Daichi Nobe, the suit actor for Hammer Bros. Kamen Rider/Kamen Rider Bulid (C) Toei
Note: If your thinking about buying either of the 2 belts, please check others sites first! Kamen Rider products have a tendency to be over priced on Amazon, even when new and in box.
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I love Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. I felt the final arc was rushed due to the episode count, but I love the suits,story, characters, video game theme and you can not deny that the villains were some of the best Kamen Rider has ever seen. However, what we have here is a epilogue set after the events of the main series. Gamedeus is back? Hurricane Ninja? Another pandemic? What has happerend to our heroes? Rules: 1.Spoilers(and I'm talking series, not just the film this time) are abounding folkes. 2.I am watching TV-Nihon subs. That's it. Kamen Rider doesn't really get not safe for work, so let's jump into my first Toku review. This is my review of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: True Ending. We begin with a look at Johnny Maxima, CEO of Machina Inc, and Kagenari Nagumo, or Kamen Rider Fuuma, looking for a test player to play their game for them. Let's talk Johnny Maxima for a bit. Maxima was shown in the last few episodes of Ex-Aid, as his company agreed to distribute Kamen Rider Chronicle worldwide(The game was only shown to distributed in Japan), if he got a game driver. However Masumane Dan had his own plans and had to stop the Riders. Of course, he was defeated, and Johnny was left hanging until now. Metal Gear jokes aside, Fuuma goes to the Hospital, where Emu is looking after a patent named Madoka, who is the test patent for the game Fuuma's game, Hurricane Ninja. Ex-Aid, Brave, Poppy and Snipe fight Fuuma and Greyfoxes, but all except Emu(Ex-Aid) are knocked out thanks to the ninja stars inserted. Poppy and Kirya(when he goes to the world) retain themselves due them being Bugsters, but Hiiro(why is his name not just Hiro) Taiga and Nico are now a part of the world. As such, Emu now has to go into that World thanks to Mighty Creator VRX and Kuroto D- I mean Neo Kuro- I mean God Kuroto Dan! Man, I can't keep up with this guy. Anyways, I like the Mighty Creator VRX suit. I really like the white, and the Chronos style and Voice really make this sound powerful. After Emu helps everyone escape the world, we move into the Gamedeus plot, where we found out that it was Johnny Machima along. He is even called Gamedeus Machina(Obvious Joke). After Madoka is given surgery(she is termally ill), Emu Defeats GameDeus, and to say this next part is not relevent, would be an understatement. Bulid shows up after Emu is called out to fight a sudden Bugster breakout, only for Bulid to gather his "supplement". More on that, when I get to Heisei Generations Final. The story is pretty basic, but it helps that the main rider films are only about an hour long, So the plot doesn't really drag on. However, this comes at a cost. Characters are given no development(which I don't mind since the series did tie up all the arcs well in my honest opinion), but I do like how Emu is given a lot of the focus, since he's not getting another movie to end off his character. Ex-Aid's fight is over. Speaking of Fights, HOT DAMN the action was good. I loved the Ninja fights, and Fuuma VS Mighty Creator. Overall, I enjoyed this film. While it wasn't the best Kamen Rider Summer film, everything it did do it did well(Besides the Bulid Cameo). And I will say this right now, if you are looking for somewhere to start, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid is a great place to start.
Thanks for reading, have a great day/night, share if it's not too much trouble for you and take care. Written By Nana Marfo Kamen Rider Ex-Aid(C) Toei
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Welcome!20/10/2017 Hey Everybody! My name is Nana Marfo. I had a blog for a bit, but I wanted to restart on a new site that was more professional and had more options than WordPress. As you can see, it is much better. I will try to create a blog post at least once a month. This will be devlogs, as I try to learn Unity and Blender, so I can make Indie standard games, and become my own developer. However, I don't want to look one track minded, so I will also review some games, as well as look at mediums such as Kamen Rider, Anime and reviewing events I have gone to. I did do a few anime reviews on WordPress, so I will start by uploading those. Another thing to note is that I will be updating my works page as I improve.
Finally, please let me know how to improve this, and what you want to see on this blog. With that, Thank you for reading, have a good night & take care. |