Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

A genius Rider who builds everything.
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< Ex-Aid | Build | Zi-O >

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Ratings

Poll ended at Thu Oct 25, 2018 4:46 pm

☆☆☆☆☆ Built
9
47%
☆☆☆☆ Build Up
5
26%
☆☆☆ Dragon Ball-Z
3
16%
☆☆ Second rate cafe
1
5%
☆ Opened Pandora's Box
1
5%
 
Total votes: 19
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Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by takenoko »

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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by Catastrophe »

I'm in a love hate relationship with Build. It was really good up until the start of the first war arc and then is a bit up and down and repetitive.

The good outdoes the bad though. Suit designs are sexy (minus the brown undersuit they use for Rogue and the Bros). Most of the characters are enjoyable and despite how bleak the tone has become, still manages to inject humour well (not like, Emu randomly falling over or Dan acting like a child).

I'll wait until it's over to make a hard conclusion obviously, but at the moment it's on pace to be my 3rd favourite post-Decade series behind Gaim and W.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by takenoko »

Just middle of the road for me. There's some enjoyable moments. There's not even really bad moments, but I definitely feel like some flaws are showing that might just not have existed a few years ago when under different staff? There's just something really shallow about the characters and plot that I think really holds it back from having anything substantial to it.

Build's fine to watch, but I never find myself looking forward to it.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by Kurokage X »

So far Build is good

Good: Characters are a treat to watch. Rider suits are beautiful.

Bad: Sento's narcissism. Some may say it's charming, I say it's irritating because it feels like being a child forcefully. Thankfully it's not as abundant as Lucky's god awful catchphrase but it's enough for me to want to randomly appear to punch him in the face everytime it happens. There are too many Best matches which is kinda expected but at the same time I feel like you can get rid of some of those matches then there would be no problem for me. Some secrets are not well handled like who is Night Rogue, who's the spy in team Build.

Overall I can watch Build but I don't think I see Build in my top 10 rider series
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by ViRGE »

Build is okay. It's not great, but it's not bad either.

On the one hand I appreciate the series' ambition in doing a serious series. Especially after the end of the first arc, it's really cut back on the comic relief, something that Toei has struggled to balance in past series and derailed many a serious story line. Misora suddenly became a real person, Banjou gained some depth, etc.

On the other hand, I think Toei may have taken the idea a little too far? I'm all for cutting out forced humor, but the flip side of that is that it seems like we end up with these overly dramatic long stretches. Points where in a poorly-written series the comic relief character would break things up - and in a well-written series the main characters themselves would loosen up a bit - instead are played entirely straight. So all of a sudden there's a need for levity; the pendulum has swung too far the other direction.

"Seriousness" is a trap for both writers and audiences. So often it's conflated with "darkness" and instead of just making characters' actions have meaningful consequences and allow them to think a problem through and judge the solutions, instead we'll just lop an arm off of a character and everyone acts shocked. Which is why, for as much as I want the show to have consequences, it's important that it doesn't become too "serious". Then you just end up with an overly dramatic show with no hope. And that's definitely something that Build feels like it's been skirting with at times, particularly before the new form unveils in the last two episodes.

As it stands the show has its good moments. Anything with Misora and Sento is as heartwarming as hell, Sento and Ryuga make good heroes, even in this recent state of war they don't believe war must be the answer, etc. It's just that those moments are a bit too few and far between; we get too much soap opera-style melodrama in between them. i don't know if it's to intentionally pad out episodes or just bad writing, but it does rob the show of its momentum at times. The end result is that while the series itself is ambitious, the individual episodes seem to be lacking in an ambition of their own that serves to drive people to tune in week after week.

Ex-Aid, for its own flaws, definitely had higher highs. The comic relief got to be a bit much at times, but the arcs and the characters were a lot more dynamic and exciting. By this point Ex-Aid had found its groove and was going on strong, but even after 28 episodes Build seems like it's struggling.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by takenoko »

I definitely agree that Build probably is more serious than it ought to be, considering the two leads should be spending more time talking smack to each other. In that sense, it feels like the relationships between the main characters are underdeveloped. Banjou and Sento are in a love/hate relationship, but the duo never genuinely feel like buddies or rivals. Banjou started off with some relationship with Misora, but that's completely fallen away to the focus of just Sento and Misora.

I guess the pretty lady is still around? I forgot her name already, despite being the focus of this week's episode.

The addition of Kazumin and his ridiculous over the top antics is a breath of fresh air. I love his fanboyism with Miitan, him butting heads with Banjou, and his respectful relationship with Sento. It kind of feels like he's taken over for whatever's broken in the main trio. His comic relief buddies that were sacrificed on the altar of "serious drama" just didn't work. They gave Kazumin some backstory, but they were never funny or dramatic and their deaths were eye rolly at best.

Oh God, are we comparing this to Ex-Aid now? At this point, I get that my mileage varies compared to other people's experience, but Ex-Aid never stopped feeling like its drama was forced and silly. It introduced a silly world, somehow got really good and dramatic around episode 28, then fell on its face for the last third act. Sento is overly stoic, but at least his acting wasn't completely wooden compared to Brave's inability to emote at all. Thinking back on the series, I'm surprised by how much I hate Emu as a character. Taiga was neutered to have his stuff relegated to Blu-ray spinoff nonsense.

Did Ex-Aid have higher highs? As much as I criticize the repetitiveness of Build's "war is bad" plotting, I appreciate that there are actually stakes that are believable, and that we have characters whose problems and actions are understandable. Sorry Ex-Aid, I love games, but you were clearly created by 50+ year old old Japanese dudes who've probably never played a modern game in their lives.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by ViRGE »

takenoko wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 1:12 am The addition of Kazumin and his ridiculous over the top antics is a breath of fresh air. I love his fanboyism with Miitan, him butting heads with Banjou, and his respectful relationship with Sento. It kind of feels like he's taken over for whatever's broken in the main trio. His comic relief buddies that were sacrificed on the altar of "serious drama" just didn't work. They gave Kazumin some backstory, but they were never funny or dramatic and their deaths were eye rolly at best.
It's funny you say that. I still feel like we don't know Kazumin as a person. We know his backstory, but he's either playing things so stoicly or forced so far into the background that his character moments seem muted. I really want to see him get some more individual focus, and quickly.
Oh God, are we comparing this to Ex-Aid now?
Well would you rather I compare it to the last "rider war" series, Gaim? An all-but-uncatchable series? :P Ex-Aid was merely last year's series, after all...
Did Ex-Aid have higher highs?
Yes. By this point in the series we had Dan going full evil and Emu having to deal with being unable to save him, not to mention his gal pal being kidnapped and working against him, the start of the start of the KR Chronical arc with the Ride Players dying, and Taiga finally bonding with Nico during that fantastic fountain fight. Not to make this all about Ex-Aid, but it was really on point by this far into the series. Build still seems somewhat aimless despite being this far in. I'm accustomed to good KR series having figured themselves out by now.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by takenoko »

Hmmm, I guess Kazumin is extremely shallow, but at least he's fun to watch? He certainly adds something that Banjou and Sento are lacking.

I dunno about Ex-Aid. Outside of Dan being the best villain, none of that other stuff you mentioned really got me emotionally invested. But then again, I don't feel emotionally invested into Build either.

Maybe we should turn to Drive, a show that I legitimately enjoyed. Sometimes a weak plot can be supplemented by having a cast that is enjoyable to be around (but fuck Go).
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by ViRGE »

takenoko wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 5:43 amMaybe we should turn to Drive, a show that I legitimately enjoyed. Sometimes a weak plot can be supplemented by having a cast that is enjoyable to be around (but fuck Go).
Hear, hear!

Drive was slow to start (no pun intended), but it was well in its stride by the 20s. This is where we got the public reveal of Drive's identity, evil humans merging with the Roidmude, Brain's plot to frame Drive, Chaser's epic debut, etc. Right now I just can't look back at Build and find very many things that are similarly awesome. (Which again, isn't to say that Build is bad. But this is why it's merely "okay")
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by takenoko »

Image

Found this compilation of Sento's expressions I made from one episode. I probably bag on Sento more than he deserves, but I guess he doesn't really do it for me as a leading man. I think he had some redemption during the moment when he begged Kazumin for forgiveness, since at least he realized his arrogance and short-sighted view of science/technology can lead to tragedy... (But it'd be nice if the main character could have a character arc without accidentally killing people.)
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by jamebarktoku »

So far, I think Build is good, but a little inconsistent. The initial arc up until episode 17 was great, despite the form overload that we got with this one. I absolutely love the dynamic between Sento, Ryuga and Misora, as it resulted in the funniest moments in the season for me. After 17, things went a bit downhill. The war arc went on for a bit too long, the Three Crows were pains in the ass, and Grease just felt like the grumpy dad with anger issues to start with. Sawatari is great, but his introduction was a bit off. Sawa feels a bit one-note to me, as they basically repeated her arc. I found Souichi annoying to begin with, so his betrayal felt kinda forced but inevitable.

The writing can be a bit strained, the directing can be as bad as Kyuranger's ending theme was initially, Build has far too many forms (more than OOO could have), and they severely underused the base Cross-Z suit, although I like both the Cross-Z suits we've seen. The supporting cast can be a bit flat (especially Gentoku's dad), the humour can be irritating but endearing at the same, and I wished we had just stuck to the first 10 best matches to begin with.The OP, on the other hand, is superb. The BGM is really fantastic, the jingles can kick ass, and Build's super forms are really good. The acting's not that bad either, especially the change in Gentoku.

Overall, I have been enjoying Build thoroughly, despite it's problems. Ex-Aid still has more issues for me, and I enjoyed that even more. We'll see if I'll like this more than Drive. I doubt it though.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by darkmage02 »

I really like Build and it's safe to say it's the first series since Drive that I really find myself invested. It does have its fair share of problems, but generally I enjoy the series for being somewhat different in terms of how it chooses to introduce the Riders and villains into the story. It also didn't try to force in comedy whenever inappropriate - something I really appreciate. I also like the Rider designs and forms (except for Grease, I can't get over how ugly his suit is) and trying to incorporate much more adult themes into its plot. I see a great deal of potential for this series to be really good, but its mediocre writing and character development hinder it from greatness. A 7/10 for me.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by Limewire11 »

I think right now as Sento is possessed by Evolto (in Episode 36) i am thinking this will be a good hell of a season before the next rider joins the conga line.
This is the worst... :(
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by kangchan »

Rating recent episodes of KR Build, picture from Twitter:

Image

Compare to KR Ex-Aid, it is worst rating than Ex-Aid.

Compare to LuPat, this is first time rating of Sentai is better than Rider. Although LuPat has to compete with anime One Piece from Fuji TV.
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Re: Poll: What's your opinion of Kamen Rider Build?

Post by Catastrophe »

Can we keep this rating shit out of the opinion thread? There has been a constant decrease of ratings over the years and its never indicative of the quality.
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