Tokusatsu Review: Toku Summer Recap: Kamen Rider Build: FOR SCIENCE!!! (Spoilers)

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 Now I know that I'm waaaaay behind schedule with discussing 2018's Sentai; Kamen Rider pair but there's a good reason. I usually do this in conjunction with the spring crossover special between the two shows as a teaser for the the upcoming spring movie. But since the spring Taisen movies are discontinued due to Toei's executives putting pressure on the Japanese Dan Didio/ Joe Quesada; Shinichiro Shirakura to can them due to the combination of these movies being financial, critical and just all around horrible products that damages the reputation of their two biggest franchises there's no spring crossovers for me to give brief synopsis of the currently running series. I'm of two minds on this, one I'm grateful that this happened and it honestly should have happened much sooner since the Taisen movies were flaming pieces of rat feces that should have died sooner. On the other hand I'm now out of free easy review material as my previous reviews of Kamen Rider Taisen (aka the worst of the worst) the crossover of Ninninger and Drive and last year's Cho Super Hero Taisen can attest.

 But now that they're done with they seem to be moving on the Space Squad crossover movies, where the current Space Sherif Gavan and the Dekarangers pair up with either a metal hero or a space/dimension themed Sentai or Rider to deal with a syndicate composed of the remnants of the Metal Heroes' enemy organizations. Or at least that's what I gathered, I'll be covering the first one and Girls in Trouble later to make sure everyone is on the same level when I take yet another shot at Dumbluck and his band of morons. Now on to the main event; the two current series. Now I know why aside from the lack of spring movie thing they didn't have a crossover, Build takes place in an alternate universe, separate from the main Toei earth. That's not speculation they clearly establish that in Heisei Generations Final that Build is on another earth, as if the Skywall stuff wasn't enough of a giveaway, now once again there will be massive spoilers for Build since unlike Ghost or Ex-Aid there's actually quite a bit of backstory for Build that I need to cover so don't say I didn't warn you, I repeat this is your final spoiler warning.

 Now for the main story as of right now, back in 2007 an astronaut named Soichi Isurugi discovered an artifact on Mars called Pandora's box and became possessed by an alien being called Evolt, who was the one who destroyed all life on Mars utilizing the power of the box. Returning to Earth Evolt tried to activate the box again to destroy the planet. However the queen of Mars, Vernage possessed Soichi's daughter Misora and drained the main power source for the Box, 60 small tubes referred to as Fullbottles which contains the essence of something native to the planet, 30 organic; 30 inorganic. Because of her tampering; when Evolt tried to activate the box it only erected a large wall that divided Japan into three (all still Japan but in the chaos of the Skywall's creation several governments were created to seize control).

The three new countries are Touto (green) Hokuto (Blue) and Seito (red).

 Those present when the Sky Wall was erected were also subjected to a light that caused their desires to overcloud their sense of morality, basically everyone there was brainwashed into being unhinged, power-hungry nut jobs that shouldn't be near any position of power, and yet they were and now we're in this mess. One of the people present was a scientist named Takumi Katsuragi who later earned the nickname of the Demon Scientist for his extensive research on Pandora's box as well as his human experiments with Nebula Gas, a byproduct of the Sky Wall that turned people into monsters called Smash when concentrated into a liquid form. His experiments were uncovered but was recruited by the son of Touto's prime minister; Gentoku Himiro to continue his research under his new organization Faust.

 Under Faust Takumi continued his research, resulting in Project Build which would utilize the concentrated and distilled Nebula Gas to fill the FullBottles which would be utilized by the Build Driver and similar devices to become what was deemed a Kamen Rider to be weapons of war. However the Build driver had requirements to reach as well as an unexpected side effect. To use the Build Driver the user had to have a Hazard level of 3.0 (which is a tolerance and resistance to Nebula Gas, any lower levels would have the user just become a Smash or die). Also if someone who was exposed to the light of Pandora's box used the driver and had the Hazard level requirements would have the psychological effects removed.

 Which when Katusragi completed and used realized how far he'd fallen and remembered the true purpose of Project Build, kill Evolt by reverse engineering the Evolt Driver to create the Build Driver. Eventually Takumi would confront Evolt but he was defeated, had his memories erased by over exposure to the Nebula Gas, his face swapped with a recently murdered clinical trial subject and used by Evolt to use the Build Driver to stop Faust and the Smash as Kamen Rider Build, hijinks ensued. Now that the main back story (leaving out a few minor details) is out of the way time to discus our main characters and where the show is now.

First off is the titular Kamen Rider Build. After Takumi's mind was erased and face changed Evolt (while posing as Tsurugi) takes the amnesiac young man into his care eventually giving him the name of Sento Kiryu and setting up the scenario of refilling the Fullbottles. Eventually Sento discovered the truth behind his amnesia and has sworn to right the wrongs that his previous self did. That is until recently where Takumi's memories came back leaving the fate of the false persona Sento in question.

Next is the secondary Rider, Banjo Ryuga Kamen Rider Cross Z. Originally a boxer whose girlfriend was turned into a Smash and died due to the strain of the transformation process on top of her pre existing condition. Her extracted Nebula Gas was refined into the Dragon FullBottle which Banjo uses to become Cross Z. It was later revealed that he's actually a fragment of Evolt that possessed the fetus in his mother resulting in the split off Evolt losing his powers and memories. The main Evolt eventually reclaimed the splinter from within Banjo resulting in him losing his ability to transform, but regained it by stealing the Dragon Evoltbottle resulting in his new current default form. Though over the course of the series Banjo's had four (technically six) different forms throughout the show, excessive much?

Following up is Kamen Rider Grease Kazumi Sawatari. (heh heh that's a girls name) He was originally a farmer from Hokuto but when the land became infertile after the Skywall was created and thus unable to pay his workers he volunteered to become a Faust Test subject for their newest driver, the Sclash Driver to ensure their survival. The SclashDriver utilized packets of refined Fullbottle liquid that was processed into Gel to transform into a far more powerful Rider but at the cost of higher Hazard level requirements and promoting more aggressive behavior from the user. Initially a solder for Hokuto he joined Touto after Hokuto was taken over by Seito and his three comrades were killed by Seito's forces. 

Speaking of Grease's friends, the guy who killed the last of them, Gentoku Himiro as Kamen Rider Rogue. As mentioned before, he was the head of Faust, Night Rogue. Gentoku was exposed, defeated by Build and exiled by his father. He escaped and fled to Seito for revenge, so after he was tortured and experimented on by Evolt he was able to use a Sclash Driver with a special Crocodile Cracked Fullbottle to become Kamen Rider Rogue. This freed him from the influence of Pandora's box but was under Seito's thumb by way of a chip in his body that could kill him with a press of a button. But that was fixed and now fights with Build to stop Evolt as his atonement for all he's done.

This leads to the main world destroyer Kamen Rider Evolt. His personal driver was repaired by the Katsuragis but needed the Evol Trigger to completely regain his lost power. This was accomplished by possessing Banjo and Sento, slowly regaining his previous Hazard levels and finally absorbing the attacks of Grease, Rogue and Cross Z Magma to restore the Evol Trigger and regain his true form Evolt Black Hole. Not only does he still have the powers of his previous forms he can also generate Black Holes (name on the tin) and can destroy planets by utilizing Pandoras Box along with this power.

Last is the newest Rider; Kamen Rider Mad Rogue Nariaki Utsumi. He was the second Night Rogue and second in command for Namba Heavy Industries under Juzaburo Namba. He and several other children were brainwashed to become scientists, spies and solders for Namba with undying loyalty. Basically he's Albert Wesker, only he didn't kill the old geezer himself. Nope that was Evolt who finally decided he was done with his toy and snapped it before tossing him in the garbage. With his master dead Utsumi went insane and accepted the second Evol Driver that Evolt gave him as payment for all he and Namba Industries did to ensure the destruction of Earth. He was an average villain but he was a brilliant scientist being not only the one to reverse engineered Katsuragi's design for the Sclash Driver but also the Kaiser system used by the villain in Heisei Generations Final to create the Hell Bros.

 So that's where we are as of this article, Evolt has almost all of the Fullbottles, Pandora's box and a brand new lunatic on his side ready to destroy Earth or nearly conquer it since he finds humans to be so damn entertaining. While our heroes are up against the wall with the reawakened Katsuragi unable to keep up with the tech of Builds latest forms. So they're up the creak without a paddle or as American Dad so eloquently put it.

 Good thing there's always the final form ready to go as we prepare for the debut of Builds' final form, Genius form. But that's a while away we still need to rank and discuss Ex-Aids Muteki Gamer. But for now we have this year's new Sentai to cover, Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger vs Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger. Now despite what you may think of the show, it's definitely a better Persona 5 adaptation then Persona 5 the animation.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
American Dad is owned by 20th Century Fox Television, Seth McFarland, Fuzzy DoorProductions, Underdog Production and Fox television Animation.