Kamen Rider Build is by far one of the best Kamen Rider series I have watched. The mature science theme, unpredictable story, and lovable characters. Kamen Rider Build is definitely in for a good story. The main character, Sento Kiryu aka Kamen Rider Build, is very charismatic and is the one who influenced the other characters. The conflicts started from personal, then national, then international (sort of), and then planetary. The conflicts escalated steadily which means the script for this drama was very well written. I don't really like plots where it starts off as something personal then suddenly the world is at risk. Sometimes these plots do work, but usually they don't even make sense. Kamen Rider Build has avoid this pitfall with it's well written script with steady conflict evolution. 

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Spoiler Alert!

Read at your own risk! You have been warned.

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How they started the show was excellent. A martian artifact has been discovered on Mars in a space exploration and has been brought back to Earth. That martian artifact was called the Pandora Box which soon caused the Sky Wall Tragedy. Impenetrable walls erected from the ground splitting Japan into three nations, Touto (Eastern Capital), Seito (Western Capital), and Hokuto (Northern Capital). Each Prime Minister of each capital wishes to take over the other capitals and claim the Pandora Box which contains immense power. Except for the Prime Minister of Touto who just wishes to solve things as peacefully as possible. 

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We were then introduced to the main character, Sento Kiryu who has no memory of his past, but is a genius physicist. He was taken in by a coffee shop owner, Soichi Isurugi who made him into Kamen Rider Build, the hero of the story. Then we were told there was an underground organization, Faust, which turns people into monsters called Smash using Nebula Gas, a substance that turns people into violent beings. These monsters cannot be reasoned without defeating them. That's where Kamen Rider Build comes in. He defeats the Smash, extract the essence from the Smash and the Smash will become human again. But what's the essence for you may ask. Well, Sento Kiryu needs the Build Driver, and two Full Bottles to transform into Kamen Rider Build. The Full Bottles contain either an organic element like Rabbit or Gorilla, or a non-organic element like Tank and Gatling. When one organic Full Bottle and one non-organic Full Bottle are placed on the Build Driver, Sento can transform into Kamen Rider Build of a certain form corresponding to the bottles he used, like RabbitTank form. The elements come from essence of the Smash. The CGI of transformation sequence is not bad and is actually great concept-wise. The fight scenes are interesting to watch especially when he uses a cool finishing move which pretty much says, "Everything is calculated."

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Banjo Ryuga who was framed for murdering the scientist Takumi Katsuragi and has escaped from prison. Sento and Ryuga met eventually and Sento helps him escape believing Ryuga was innocent. The story then plays on with Sento trying to find his memories and Ryuga trying to clear his name. Ryuga was soon able to transform into Kamen Rider Cross Z. Sento soon discovers that Soichi Isurugi, the coffee shop owner, and his savior was in fact Blood Stalk, one of the villains all along. Sento has been dancing in the palm of his hand the whole time, playing hero all accordingly to his plans. Sento then goes through another emotional roller coaster when he finds out he was actually the 'Devil Scientist', Takumi Katsuragi himself whose beliefs and ethics stood against Sento's. Takumi Katsuragi founded Faust,the organization Sento has been fighting. Sento who found out who he really was in the past was broken and refused to accept it. Knowing that he was the one who caused harm to others in the first place. It took a while for him to pick himself up but this twist in the story was very well played. It was conflicting to Sento, challenging everything he believed in. 

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Soon, Hokuto declared war on Touto and sent Kazumi Sawatari who could transform into Kamen Rider Grease to retrieve the Pandora Box. Kamen Rider Grease's power was too overwheming for Sento and Ryuga until Blood Stalk (yep, the villain) offers Sento one of Takumi Katsuragi's (or should I say, his own) inventions, the Hazard Trigger which will greatly enhance the user's strength but make the user go berserk while using it. Kamen Rider Cross Z's power was too much for Banjo to handle, making him wanting to fight even more. Sento decides to stop him. Transforming into Kamen rider Build with the Hazard Trigger (Honestly, I really like the design of the Hazard form suit), he went berserk. With the overwhelming power, he forcefully disengages Ryuga's transformation. However, because of the Hazard Trigger's berserk effect, Sento continued to destroy everything around him. Unfortunately, Sento killed one of Kazumi Sawatari's comrades before Kazumi could stop him. After being disengaged with the Hazard Trigger, he realizes what he has done and refused to fight any longer, knowing he might just kill someone. 

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Touto's Prime Minister requested a proxy battle of a Kamen Rider representative from Touto and Hokuto since he did not want any more casualties from both sides. Sento visited the grave of Kazumi's comrade because he felt very guilty about killing him. Sento begs Kazumi to punch him and beat him up until he's satisfied. Kazumi was not the type to hold grudges but told him to fight in the proxy battle and he will beat Sento up all he wants there. Sento was reluctant to fight since he knows he might go berserk again if he uses the Hazard Trigger. But Ryuga was still unable to control his power and if they lose, Touto will be finished. So Sento decided to get up and fight for the sake of Touto. At the proxy battle, Sento was still forced to use the Hazard Trigger since it was the only way to win. Sento soon won due to the Triggers' immense power but was already berserk. Fortunately before Sento destroys even further, Ryuga jumps in and stops him, also managing to control his power in the process. The proxy battle ends with Touto's win.

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Then we see Blood Stalk siding with Seito and captures Hokuto's Prime Minister, ending Hokuto. Seito's Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Rogue makes his appearance (I love the crocodile design on Rogue. I guess he's western after all). His true identity is Gentoku Himuro, Touto's Prime Minister's son who was banished from Touto earlier in the story. With his new power, he defeats Sento, Ryuga and Kazumi combined and steals the Pandora Box effortlessly. Another proxy battle was requested. Sento discovers a way to prevent him from going berserk. Sento comes to the battle field with his two new forms. With RabbitRabbit form and TankTank form which neutralizes the berserk effect of the Hazard Trigger, he manages to defeat Kamen Rider Rogue. Blood Stalk kills Seito's Prime Minister and was soon revealed that he was not Soichi Isurugi. In fact, Soichi Isurugi was just a host for a mysterious extraterrestrial life form, who goes by the name Evolto which caused the destruction of the civilization on Mars and the cause of every event up until now.

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Knowing he must be stopped, Gentoku Himuro soon sides with Sento and the others. Gentoku fights Evolto even after Evolto manages to get his alien powers back. Gentoku lost the fight and Touto's Prime Minister, his father died protecting him from Evolto's attack. Touto's Prime Minister's last words to his son was heartbreaking. "Unite the country. I'm counting on you, my foolish son." It was too late for Gentoku to realize how much his father loved him and pleaded his dying father to stay with him.

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Evolto soon reaches his omnipotent Black Hole form (but I like his primary form better) and Sento regained his memories of Takumi Katsuragi but loses his own. Takumi creates the Genius Bottle which was soon used by Sento when he re-obtains Sento's memories. With Sento being able to transform into Kamen Rider Build Genius Form which is able to put up a bit of a fight against Evolto. However, when Evolto turns into his true form which allows him to destroy planets within seconds and gain more power, the Kamen Riders were overwhelmed again. 

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After a few episodes, the Kamen Riders regained formation and started raiding Evolto's Pandora Tower. In the battle, many sacrifices were made. Kazumi dying after transforming into Kamen Rider Grease Blizzard, a form which he needed to use to clear a wave of enemies. Gentoku (Kamen rider Rogue) who died in attempting to stop Evolto's movements for a while. And countless citizens were killed in Evolto's 'game'. In the end, after many struggles, Evolto was used to create a new world. The current world where Sento and the others live fused with another world and then created the third world where there was no Sky Wall, no Pandora Box and no Evolto. Sento and Ryuga became the creators of this new world. Sounds sweet? Not really. Because they came from the old world, no one remembers or knows who they are. They don't have a place in this world. Although this world's Kazumi and Gentoku are alive and well, they don't remember or know who Sento is. Which is very sad after all they have been through. In the end, Sento and Ryuga decided to start life all over again in this world they created.

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I know I have missed out a lot of details, forgive me. Honestly this is a great show. There's so much more I haven't mentioned that made this show even greater. You might just need to see for yourself. The suits were amazing and the actors really brought the characters to life, so hats off to them. The action scenes were great and the CGI was not bad at all. There were lots of sad scenes and great quotes. For example, "It is not the politicians or the influential who make the country, it is the common folk." by Touto's Prime Minister while talking to his son, Gentoku. I really enjoyed the story because the parts were fit together perfectly. The characters were lovable, especially Sento who's a believable character. He's not perfect, he has flaws like any other person. This makes a great superhero. However, I feel that Evolto could have destroyed the world easily after awakening his true form if he took the Riders seriously. But anyways, it's still good. Overall, Kamen Rider Build is a superhero series worth watching, but however, usually overlooked because of the Tokusatsu genre which is usually not taken seriously by western countries. If you think this is not worth your time, you're definitely missing out on a good story and action.

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Score: 9/10