#heck- just slightly altering the episode plot with something more fitting for 'how to deal with a yenaldooshi'

[whatudottu]

Hey, I noticed your post on Ectonurite religious practices, and I thought the concepts were very interesting. I’m a big fan of the Anur System myself, to the point I’ve learned how to make languages for them, if that’s not too weird…

In reference to this post-

The 'having a favourite fictional setting' to 'make a conlang' pipeline is all to real Pilgrim, my linguistics teacher let me use mine for my end of term project instead of the assigned analysis (transcribing a conversation between yourself and a friend, which probably would've been useful to study); you wouldn't believe what planet I based it on (don't look at my icon that's cheating :P)

But nah yeah, the Anur System is to me one of my favourite parts of Ben 10 Omniverse since I love horror and horror themed things but hate being scared of them so- the Anur System and the movie monsters that influence their design always has a special place in my head!

Even in my mutants and magic au where I retcon even OS to include more mutants and more magic users and presence where I made the Mummy an actual mummified priest who's attempt at resurrect worked (to the detriment to waking up to the grubby mitts of the British museum) and making Viktor an actual frankenstein's monster who's functionally mutant both to parallel Gwen and Max better (Gwen for magic obviously, Max for being a not-so-ex-Plumber who dealt with more than just alien phenomena but humans doing weird things inspired by old books and other stuff), I can't not still have the entirety of the Anur System still exist! I can't remember who but someone made thep khufan siphonophores and well- riding the coattails of my fulmini posting I got excited over them :P same goes for transylians though I haven't thought much about their potentially interesting biology other than the thought of 'how weird can scar tissue adaptations in biology become' so :P :P :P

[furederiko]

The month of November 2017 had the show toying around with the idea of Blood Stalk's true identity, as well as Ryuuga's ascension to hero status. Was it successful?

I'll start with my classic note. This was meant to go up yesterday, and it could even be done Sunday night since I saw the recent episode live. But as usual... a 'Best Match' combination of my unreliable internet and my swaying health condition (yours truly and his limited internet have been both under bad weather for a good while) jeopardized my wonderful plan. Hmmm... IllBandwith form then? ;D As I've stated on my previous recap-view (that was posted earlier this month), starting with this one I will cover a batch of episodes that aired throughout one whole month. Since this one's for November, you can expect episode 10, 11, and 12. Enjoy!

10 - "Scheming Snake"

- Let's get one annoying bit out first. That scene where the three Prime Ministers meet and reveal their Lock Cards? One of the poorly-acted piece I've seen in the show so far, if not in ANY Tokusatsu. Come on, must they behave like disciplined robots, all lining up like school boys... when it's pretty much a casual meeting and not a televised event? And that over the top response by Midou and Tajimi? Those didn't feel natural. FAKE even, thus they grated on my nerves. - Thankfully, that's the only bad thing about this episode, as the episode picked up to better things almost immediately. Hmmm... so Sawa is indeed a traitor? That made her motive became... unclear. More than Gentoku who could easily tail Sento and locate where he lived, Sawa ALREADY knew about Misora's location. Heck, she has gone on and off to the secret hideout. If she IS working with Faust, why not hurry up and bring her back to the organization? I hope the answer to this mystery won't be as dumb as the way the writer handled Gentoku. It would be such a wasted potential. - Situation at the Touto building was intense too. Thanks to Stalk controlling the mechanical soldier (note to governments, don't rely on robots for security), there's so many human casualties! Intriguingly, it's too obvious he wanted to betray Gentoku as well, and used the Pandora's Box for his own scheme. I'm surprised that Gentoku didn't see this turn of events coming, when Stalk has been defying his command over and over again. LOL. Night Rogue vs Blood Stalk! - Of course, Ryuuga just had to ruin the moment. After knocking Smash-ed Kawai down, Ryuuga just had to hunt Stalk to the rooftop and became a third wheel. Yep, Sento called him out of the blue to inflitrate the building. An act that felt... forced now that I think of it, because soon after Sento arrived by air to rescue him. Why not just FLEW there right away, then? *sigh*. I guess the episode wanted to see them make up or something. - Double Battle Redux. Ryuuga dealt with Stalk with his glowing fist, and actually almost defeated him, while Build used FireHedgehog to press Rogue. It didn't end well for the latter, as Sento was broken out of his transformation... a condition that sly Rogue immediately capitalized to... take most of Sento's Full Bottles. Apart from one on his hand, the rest filled up the Pandora's Panel. So it's ELEVEN of them. Ain't that a bummer! - Does this mean, Ryuuga is going to become the second Kamen Rider?! Nope. Sento still has the Lock Full Bottle. And with Ryuuga's consent *grins* over his Dragon Full Bottle, Build's new form "The Security Fantasy" KeyDragon debuted. Cool design with great color scheme and neat finisher move aside, the Dragon side overwhelmed Sento that he just had to take them off. That's what you get from shaking that hand-sized Bottle too much too often, Ryuuga! Yeesh, that sounds... dirty somehow. LOL. - Stalk performed a twist, by using the TranSteam Gun to actually free Kawai from his Smash influence (turning it back to the webby Bottle form)! I did NOT know the gimmick could be used for that. This means Sento doesn't have to become a Kamen Rider in the first place, because all he needs is that gun to revert back the Smash. - Before Stalk presumably killed and did something creepy to Kawai, the scientist calls him... wait for it... Katsuragi. Yep, CALLED IT! *grins*... Stalk is INDEED Takumi. At the very least, that seemed to be what the writer wanted us to believe. If poor Kawai's words to be believed, then Takumi possesed a certain technology to 'fake' his death. Not really a tech though, because that creepy thing Stalk did to him? He used his hands to turn Kawai's face into Kuwata's. Yeeessh. How he could even include the glasses is beyond me (filming mistake IMO), but this fit with a snake's ability to... change skin. But wait, what does this mean? Is Sento the real Takumi with a different face then? Probably not that elaborate. I think Takumi killed someone else, and altered the deceased face into his. Suffice to say, he might be the Kamen Rider version of 'Kaijin Nijuu Mensou'. - Another bit that seemingly further hinted that Stalk is Takumi, was that clash of scientific ideals between him and Sento. Goodness grace, I LOVED this argument because both sides have a valid point. The Rider System as a military tool can be used for defense, but it's also designed to 'spill a lot of blood'. Science can be optimized to help people and bring joy, but on the other hand, it has also been used for mass destruction and humanity's decline. This dual-edged function is nothing more than a real life fact that we have witnessed throughout history. - This time around, Rogue got to ruin the fine moment. Mr. Pickpock... er, I mean Gentoku snatched three more Full Bottles from Sento's sleeve (Rabbit, Tank, and Lion). Our hero could no longer transform into RabbitTank, or used his Lion-powered motorcycle. Gentoku also had another win. His father Taizan had a heart-attack after Tajimi and Midou put him at a corner (a MUCH better scene for them compared to the intro). Gentoku has been made the Acting Prime Minister, which would easily put Faust's and Nanba's plan into motion. Dang... that hideous smile. - Oh, and yeah, Misora discovered a bug in the HQ. Should we even wondered who that belongs to?

Overall: This episode went back and forth with distractions, but really, the core of the story was pushing a theory that 'STALK IS TAKUMI'. I admit, it WAS my initial prediction when I started writing this essay too (after I've seen the episode around two weeks ago). But then our next episodes would slowly counter that notion, forcing me to change my tone. I have to hand it to the writers this time, because they somehow managed to fool me. Anyway, the episode was also intense. It had amazing action sequences, and ignoring Gentoku's sinister albeit slightly cheesy maniacal smile (that last shot was completely unnecessary, because it's a little over the top silly to be taken seriously), an excellent choice of cliffhangers. So it's another good one, albeit not as great as the previous two. Why? Because the whole theory was spoiled ahead of time so it wasn't as effective (obviously I had to compare this to Kyuranger episode 37 that aired the same day), and the whole 'bad guy snatching all good guy's collectible' twist was a repeated plot that we've seen... pretty much every year in the franchise. No originality there.

11 - "Hero at a Cross-Z Road"

- "Katsuragi is Stalk?", asked Ryuuga who just couldn't buy it. And after that, we got a new video of Takumi demonstrating... the TranSteam Gun and *drumrolls* Blood Stalk. Oy oy, apparently Stalk was created to be a 'perfect rival' to encourage hazard level's growth. It had a voice altering feature too, which is convenient. As in, ANYONE could become Stalk, even female characters like Sawa (turning into Smash ruled her out) or Misora. Hmmmm... - New Acting Prime Minister wasted no time to piss off the other Prime Ministers. I guess that's what you get when a deranged psychopath and sexual harrasser became a country leader, huh? Nope, I'm not trying to throw a shade to a certain... real life person here. Or am I? Hmmm. Now that he's on top, he's pissing off Stalk too, who used to be his partner in crime. Is that a wise thing to do? Probably not. - Sento's stuck with one Full Bottle, so the only solution to fight Faust was by relegating his Kamen Rider duty to Ryuuga. Well duh, wasn't it too obvious? After all, the Cross-Z gadget's CM has already aired since the previous episode. Problem is, Ryuuga needed to sync with his Cross-Z Dragon first... and that would require a whole episode to accomplish. LOL. - Birdwatcher? Ryuuga's costume cosplay joke already got VERY tiring to see. Can't the writer think of a better joke, or at least ditch this running gag entirely? Anyway, Night Rogue trapped Sento and Ryuuga so he could steal the remaining Full Bottles. Aaaah, the Rogue-Stalk feud has gotten VEEEEEERY tiring too. Felt like it's being dragged out a little too much. - Oh hey, even if the Lock and Dragon Best Match would malfunction, Sento still transformed on the scene. Very briefly *sigh*. You don't think a show entitled "Kamen Rider Build" would let Ryuuga entirely steal the spotlight, do you? Ryuuga tried to follow, but he hasn't had the 'desire to help', so it didn't work. - Sawa totally planted the bug, but instead of capturing her or telling the others, Misora confronted the culprit directly. Not a smart move, girl! Because it ended up causing problem... to Sawa herself. You see, Chairman Nanba is a world class prick. Since Sawa could no longer provide information, he put her for another use: turning her into Smash! That's the price of working and then become useless for bad guys, I guess. By the way, if she could become Smash, that means she didn't have the Hazard Level fit to become a Kamen Rider. Too bad. - Sento tried to deal with her, but couldn't hold his KeyDragon form too long. And Night Rogue has been waiting to snatch the other Full Bottles, because he still required 3 more. For what? Who knows. That's when Ryuuga came to the rescue. Again, predictable much? Turns out, Ryuuga visited Kasumi's grave (it's in Tatsuoka Cemetery Area A5 if you feel like giving tribute too... XD), and discovered a letter written by her encouraging him to help other people. Heeeey wait a sec, WHEN did Kasumi have time to write one? Aaaaah, I see what you did there... Sento! Thank goodness Ryuuga's head a little slow. Oh well, at least we got to see her memory again. - With a new spirit, Ryuuga lit up Sento's Build Driver, combined it with Cross-Z Dragon and transformed into... Kamen Rider REDACTED. Hold on, we already know his official name, right? Well, the show did NOT think so, and would prefer saving it for another episode (NOT kidding! *sigh*). He had a neat transformation, and this new Rider possibly became one of my most favorite second Rider thus far. I really dig his dragon kick attack/effects, and how the dragon part served as some kind of outer armor for the clawed interior. I'd argue he didn't need that Beat Crosser sword, but oh well... the "Million Slash" was cool, and Japanese kids need their toys. - Sawa has been saved, and revealed to the two that she's a spy. Naturally she would change side after this. Which was too bad, because the show could've played around with this potential much longer...

Overall: Aside from several important moment (Sawa x Misora, Ryuuga's reluctance and followed by his bromancing moment with Sento), this episode irritatingly felt dragged out. With a predictable story, it's as if it's a filler or some sort, eventhough it's supposed to be a grand debut for its official second Rider! I'm still a fan of Ryuuga's REDACTED form, but I also think the episode could have been better written and executed. Oh well, I have nothing else to say, so let's move on...

12 - "An Act of Conspiracy"

- Hey... no opening sequence? Was the episode meant to be 'special' then? Hmmm... I honestly can't see how, but let's just play along. Perhaps they need to retool it to insert the new Rider somehow... - Sawa admitted to be a spy for Nanba Heavy Industries, the biggest and influential industrial operation of the country. The company's good label is just a cover up, because they have secretly been doing shady military stuff, including controlling Faust. Turns out Faust has known about Nascita's true nature, but didn't do anything to let the Build team work freely. Was that really the main reason though? - Surprisingly, Sawa had no idea that Gentoku is the government guy who is connected to Chairman Nanba. Turns out, she became a spy in order to prove this link. Why? Her father was a researcher at Nanba General Research Laboratory, and was killed in the explosion set up by the government three years ago. So the whole espionage movement is personal to her too, huh? Well, at least we got a backstory for Sawa... who became the chained one now (goodness, this show sure loves its SM angle). - Thanks to Sawa's lead and Utsumi's leak, Sento and Ryuuga headed towards the abandoned lab. Apparently that's where Faust kept the stolen Pandora's Box. But of course, Night Rogue was in the vicinity, so a fight broke out. Since Sento could only shake off that one yellow Full Bottle, cocky Ryuuga (who got himself his own Build Driver! Aaaawwww ;D) got to be the leading hero. LOL. - Until Stalk showed up and... attacked Rogue, that is. AGAIN. Seriously, the whole riff between the two has been TOO PREDICTABLE that it's not even fun to see anymore! Stalk punched the wall, and what's hidden inside it? Pandora's Box and its Two Panels. One set was filled with Full Bottles (the ones Rogue stole from Sento), with seven others lying around. Ain't that mighty CONVENIENT!!! That means... Sento got to transform too! After all, Bandai still need to sell more toys... - Aaah yes, "The Scheduled Renegade" PirateTrain form debuted. Neat shoulder parts! It's still lacking its own weapon, but Band... I mean Sento would fix that up in the jiffy with the Pirate Platform. The arrow-shaped weapon has four levels of attack, and you can purchase one at.... uhmm, never mind. - Sawa decided to report her findings to Prime Minister Taizan Himuro who has been hospitalized. But the sickly old man was stubborn as always, so there's no way convincing him that someone in the government has been in league with Faust. She was forced to perform an acrobatic move instead! Seriously, that's a gutsy move jumping out of the window like that. I won't be surprised if Marvel Studios' Black Widow is her role model. LOL. - This was where Utsumi became the star of this episode. And by star, in an actual act. After spending 11 episodes basically serving as Gentoku's shadow without being given any distinct personality, things immediately sped up when Nanba old creep turned towards him for help. In an effort to clear both Gentoku's and Nanba Industries' names, Utsumi took on the mantle of Night Rogue as the Faust facility (hidden neatly under an actual dam!) got ambushed by the Touto Government. Oh come on, don't tell me you're surprised by this?! The whole affair was obviously staged, and the turnout was pretty much predictable from the get go. Pawn-boy Utsumi was merely used as a scapegoat, and seemingly got 'killed' in the operation. Sawa got her due last episode, this time it's Utsumi's turn. - Oh wow, that scene at the bridge was... silly. I basically rolled my eyes when Utsumi started monologuing, because the show somehow forced him to showcase emotions like... out of the blue. It's not working, and felt out of his usual stoic character. A great example to how this show LOVES to over-dramatized its moments ("You and I are both inside the same cage"... he said earlier. Yeesh!). Also... I think it's pretty clear that he was only sniped by Gentoku in the shoulder. His fall was NOT that high, so we totally would be seeing him more in the future. Beside, if Utsumi could transform into Rogue, that means his Hazard Level is high enough to become a Kamen Rider. - Sawa wanted to leave Nascita because her role has been completed. Sento said that's not the case, meaning she has been forgiven and now a full-time member of the team. Ryuuga also received an official name for his Rider form. Kamen Rider Cross-Z. Now where have we heard that before? What a real shocker this was!!! LOL. - This episode ended with Nabeshima calling Sento, saying that his memory has started coming back to him. He also secretly mentioned the name of the guy who told him to frame Ryuuga as Katsuragi's murderer... as the camera panned towards the coffee bean jar. - Really? Was that a hint of some sort? Another mere redherring? Because if it's indeed a hint, then it must be foreshadowing the one and only character related to coffee: Souichi Isurugi. By elimination only, who else among the series regulars with a mysterious shady past? Frankly... I'm not too sure I would enjoy this twist if it turns out to be the case. Unfortunately, I realized the signs are all there too. Remember how he had that startling magical ability back in episode 2? Just compare that to what Stalk did to poor Kawai just two episode prior to this one. Both involved... 'ALTERING SHAPE'! Uuugggggh. Let's just say... though it's sad to admit, I'd be completely surprised if Souichi is NOT the mastermind behind all things.

Overall: The last episode for November was a peculiar one. Aside from that sweet ending with Sawa, the entire episode felt... staged. Yes, just like poor Utsumi's sudden change in character. Does this mean Faust has been disbanded? Where would the show go from here now? Will it continue playing circles among its regulars? In a way, it's getting a bit hard to predict. But then after one stops and thinks about it, some things just feel too obvious and predictable. I'm starting to realize that I've developed an unhealthy love-hate relationship with this series. After it got better, the trajectory has gone south all over again. It's not bad, it has its devoted fans, and I will probably keep watching at least until 6-7 episodes. But I also want to be pleasantly surprised, the way "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" has succeeded in. Is that too much to ask for? Next Episode: Meet the Mind-Master... *mindblown*

Episode 10 Score: 7,9 out of 10 Episode 11 Score: 7,7 out of 10 Episode 12 Score: 7,2 out of 10

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Kamen Rider Build" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.