Recap: Kamen Rider Build, Episode 30 – The Truth of Pandora’s Box

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Martian queen Vernage exerts her power on SoichiStark who is shocked to see she is still alive. He is forced to untransform and then fires back at Vernage/Misora. Ryuga rushes over to intercept the attack. Soichi grins as Ryuga absorbs the attack and is forced to dehenshin.

Vernage whisks her, Ryuga, Sento and Kazumin away. Soichi is excited that the real battle is about to begin.

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Back at the café, Sawa serves Vernage some coffee. Vernage says it’s terrible and tells “little girl” Sawa she may leave. Taken aback, Sawa joins Sento, Ryuga and Kazumi on the floor.

The four of them try to understand the situation. Ryuga wonders how Vernage knows how to speak Japanese. She says even an idiot could learn Japanese after living here for seven years.

Vernage says her body was already destroyed and her soul will soon fade away. She adds that Evolt had used Pandora’s Box to destroy Mars.

Ryuga asks who Evolt was and Vernage turns to him. “Do you not know who you are?”

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“I am Banjo Ryuga,” he replies.
“I see. In that case, you will be the hope.”

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Just then, Vernagesora collapses and her head lands on Kazumin’s crotch. The sensation is too much for him and he asks how much for the experience. Sawa asks for 200,000 dolks.

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Down in the lab as Misora sleeps, the other four try to sort our what they know so far. Vernage’s soul is contained in Misora’s bangle. Sawa wonders what kind of immense power could’ve destroyed Mars. Ryuga says how would he know what happened on Mars, he’s never even left Japan.

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Sawa brings up what Vernage said about Ryuga earlier. Sento says that’s got him thinking as well and admits he’s been interested in Ryuga for a long time. Ryuga asks if Sento is confessing his love for him. But Sento lists what makes Ryuga intriguing: Accused of a crime he didn’t commit, can raise his Hazard Level faster than anyone else.

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Ryuga starts into his life’s story, but Sento says not that far. Instead, Sento asks what happened to Ryuga’s parents. Ryuga says they died in an accident 10 years ago. He doesn’t remember much as he was only a kid.

Ryuga picks up a random stone on the table and it burns up before revealing a Bottle inside. Sento picks it up and asks Sawa if she can investigate Ryuga’s past. In the meantime, Sento will create a power-up to replace the Sclash Driver destroyed by Soichi earlier.

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Over in Seito, Soichi tells NanbaMido about what happened with the Queen of Mars earlier. But not to worry as her power is only temporary.

Misora wakes up from a strange dream hearing the name “Evolt.” Just then, an explosion in the lab. Sento rushes over to Misora to says he’s completed the power-up. She asks where Ryuga is. He hurries back into the smoke-filled lab.

Ryuga is fast asleep and unconscious from the blast, smiling as he holds his and Sento’s dolls close to his chest. He has a note from Sento on his forehead that merely says “Sorry.”

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Sento and Misora head outside amidst the ravaged, war-torn city. He fills her in on what happened with the queen. Sento apologizes for not protecting her like he promised. Misora says she’s fine and that she felt a sense of security while she was possessed, not fear.

Sento believes Seito must be afraid of Vernage’s power as they are not attacking right now. Misora says that her power will disappear soon if Vernage’s soul is about to fade away. Sento says he will retrieve Pandora’s Box from Seito to use as a deterrent from their attacks instead.

Misora points out that taking Pandora’s Box back would be seen as a Touto act of aggression against Seito. Sento pulls out the one dolk from Papa PM.

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Over in Pandora’s Tower, Nariaki orders the Bros to guard it. Gentoku asks Nariaki why they invaded Touto, but he refuses to answer, only that he must follow his orders. Soichi tells Gentoku to calm down and says his fate is in his hands.

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Next morning, breaking news reports that Touto has dismissed Kamen Rider Build as a military weapon because he has committed treason. Misora tells Ryuga and Kazumin that Sento plans on retrieving Pandora’s Box. Papa PM calls Ryuga.

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Sento rides to Pandora’s Tower and henshins. He drives through an army of Hard Guardians who shoot at him. But the Hard Guardians suddenly combine into huge robos.

Sento tries to speed away, only to get knocked off his bike. Suddenly, Ryuga and Kazumi appear, saying how disappointed they are in Sento going it alone. They figured out his plan in getting the dolk from Papa PM to give a reason to accuse him of treason. That would then allow Sento to retrieve Pandora’s Box while not being a representative of Touto.

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Ryuga and Kazumi henshin. Before anything else, Kazumi knocks Sento on the head for worrying Misora so much. She’s be crying while praying for him.

Meanwhile, Nariaki updates NanbaMido on the ruckus near Pandora’s Tower. NanbaMido remains calm and confident that Nanba Heavy Industries will take over the world. Gentoku listens from around the corner.

Over inside Pandora’s Tower, Soichi seems to be having a conversation with himself, that is, a Stark-voiced version of himself. He transforms into Blood Stark.

Sento, Ryuga and Kazumi Rider kick through the robos and then kick themselves straight into an open door in the Tower. They are met by the Bros and two Hard Guardians. They battle.

Sento gives Ryuga the new power up. But he doesn’t power up. Sento says Ryuga fainted before he could test it out, so he should just use it as a weapon for now.

SoichiStark touches Pandora’s Box and the room begins to come alive with Minecraft blocks attacking from all sides. SoichiStark says he can control the tower any way he wants using the Box.

Back at the lab, Sawa comes down the stairs and is happy to see Misora is feeling better. Misora asks about what she’s found out about Ryuga’s past. Sawa says she’s found something so shocking and unbelievable.

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“Ryuga… might not be human.”

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Episode Thoughts

I thought this was a very enjoyable episode as it harkened back to earlier episodes’ fun slapstick stuff while still dealing with important and more serious plot developments. The first half was a nice way to get us back into the swing of things with the Nascita gang. But the second half got down to business, big time.

The biggest development has to be the idea that Vernage lives in Misora’s bracelet and can possess her body until she fades away. There’s definitely some possibilities there with how it relates to Mars and expanding on just what was on Mars before it was blown to smithereens when someone decided to open Pandora’s Box. But more importantly maybe is that it sets up Stark (whoever that may be) possibly possessing Soichi. Or sharing the body at least. Whether it’s possession or a Jekyll and Hyde situation, I just hope this doesn’t negate what they’ve set up with Soichi so far. That is, I hope he isn’t some innocent guy being controlled by Evolt or Stark or Pandora or whomever. It would really negate all the great drama that has come from his duplicitousness.

At the same time, we’re not even 100% sure about whether or not he and Misora are really father and daughter or if either of them are really human even. Anyway, I was happy to see Soichi doing Stark-things while not as Stark.

And of course, speaking of… Ryuga not being human definitely presents some interesting possibilities as well. It would explain his different quirks, as pointed out by Sento but also including his knack for knowing Best Matches. I would love to see Ryuga actually not be human and also not merely being possessed like Misora is (and maybe Soichi). It’s that kind of high stakes that has no easy solution that makes things interesting.

Also interesting to remember Ryuga had started on telling his life’s story before as well, but Sento stopped him. The answers might have been there all along if Sento just let him tell his long story. Lol

Back to the Nascita Gang. I “Awwww”ed at Ryuga jumping in to save MisoraVernage at the beginning. But I slow clapped the entire sequence with the whole “Sento is interested in Ryuga.. not in that way” scene to Ryuga sleeping with the two dolls, which included Sento holding a heart note/envelope thing. It was cute and definitely a huge tease to the shippers and bromance fans out there.

But that really also helped to reorient us to the great bonds they’ve formed the last 29 episodes. Sawa (yay!) was back with the Gang and Kazumi fit in the best he’s ever fit in so far. Seeing their back and forth with the lighter scenes in the beginning was great. Some wonderful rapport between them all. A great breather from the pretty exciting war stuff, but also good character moments to help make you care about these people. (Even more if you already do.)

Overall, a great, enjoyable episode. A good mix of fun, lighter character moments and the big, dramatic revelations.

2 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Build, Episode 30 – The Truth of Pandora’s Box

  1. Man, that sitcom-ish “re-enactment” was just flat out hilarious. I am really more fond of this “back at you” kind of humor rather than the slapstick of the previous seasons. This just feels more grounded and actually lends weight better to the serious parts.

    I was kinda expecting that twist of Soichi being possessed by Evolt ever since they hinted that Misora is possessed by Vernage. Though yeah, it would be interesting to see just how much is Evolt in control of all the actions that Soichi made in the first half of the series.

    As for Ryuga, it’s amusing how Sento jokingly referred to him several times in the past eps as the “side character who is just stealing the hero’s limelight” only for him to have a much bigger impact on the plot at the moment than Sento. Pretty good meta-humor there.

    1. It’s refreshing to have a “secondary Rider” actually have a big part of the story. Sento is obviously still the lead and star and main character. But Kazumi got a pretty good arc for himself. And Ryuga has gotten pretty good material so far (Misora too) and they are very much involved. Now he might get an even bigger role in the story and that also another refreshing thing compared to previous seasons who have really dropped the ball with the secondary Riders.

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