In recent weeks, Kamen Rider Build has been all over the place, tonally. At one moment, the show can be dark, violent, and explore deep philosophical questions such as what it means to be human. In the next, Gentoku will be using his shirts for comedy. That trend continues in episode 43, as we see moments of heavy science fiction and action played off against off-beat comedy, again via Gentoku and Kazumin as it has been in the past. These jokes are mainly physical, or prop comedy, involving Gentoku’s various t-shirt messages, and a body pillow made in the image of Misora’s Miitan persona. Nothing illicit happens, necessarily, just a great deal of corny humour aimed squarely at the younger demographic of Build’s audience.
This week, in the more serious moments, we see Katsuragi Shinobu leave his son questioning what true power and scientific potential are, as once again Shinobu manages to absolutely devastate an end-game level Build using a base form. In video game terms, this would be a level one RPG character one-shotting the final boss. Shinobu has proven on more than one occasion that Build was originally designed for him, but this time he manages to impart some wisdom onto Sento in the process of defeating him. The idea doesn’t fully click, though, until yet more bad physical comedy involving Kazumin and Gentoku failing to cook pasta properly. Something Kazumin says makes Sento wonder at an idea, and the next scheme is born.
Now equipped with a new weapon, the Blizzard Knuckle, Banjou struggles to use it but fights on anyway. The whole team ends up having a big, moving speech and a unified front in battle, truly fighting as one for the first time. Now that Kazumin and Gentoku are significantly stronger, and having the right strategy, the team of four is unified in their assault on Evolt, and manages to overpower him and seemingly destroy him.
With six episodes, or more, left in Build’s run, we know this isn’t the whole story, but it’s a fittingly heroic moment, nonetheless. As the episode draws to a close, we begin to see the layers peeled back just a bit more on Shinobu and what his motives are. The creation of shinsekai, a new world, may not be all there is to it, though the reveal lacks originality in a large way for those who have seen the end of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.
As the episode ends, we are left with more questions than answers. Next week’s preview clip shows a new form of some unknown Rider, what appears to be a Smash kaijin wearing a Driver. The shot is careful to not show us which Driver, though, other than the yellow band as opposed to silver. Presumably, this will be one of Team Evolt’s Riders, maybe even Shinobu himself. All that and more remains to be seen, but the wait time will not be long. The exciting conclusion of Kamen Rider Build draws closer with each passing week, until the finale coming up at the end of next month.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Leave a comment and let’s discuss!
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