Recap: Kamen Rider Build, Episode 47 – Zero Degree Flames

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As Kazumi goes Blizzard, Sento, Ryuga and Gentoku run into copies of the Washio Bros. Gentoku tells them to leave the Bros to him. He henshins as Sento and Ryuga continue to the top of the Tower.

Misora and Sawa arrive with Pandora’s Box and are shocked to see Kazumi in his current form knowing he has signed his death warrant. Misora asks Sawa to continue on without her. Sawa takes Pandora’s Box and hurries off.

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Gentoku is doing what he can against the Bros copies who are much stronger now than they ever were. Nariaki arrives and henshins. Gentoku is ready to take the three of them on. But Nariaki says Gentoku doesn’t need to pretend. Gentoku won’t be able to defeat the Washio Bros without him.

Gentoku is surprised when Nariaki actually attacks the Bros. Nariaki says they can’t beat Evolto with the current Rider system. He only kneeled down to Evolto in order to find a way to avenge almighty Nanba.

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Gentoku can’t believe it, but Nariaki reminds him he is a Nanba Children. In that case, Gentoku says he will fight for love and peace while Nariaki fights for Nanba Heavy Industries. Each of them take a Bro.

Sections of Japan continue to get sucked into blackholes. The Bros combine and can now take on both Gentoku and Nariaki. But Sawa arrives with Pandora’s Box. Turns out it was Nariaki who called Sawa earlier and explained how she of all people should’ve known he would never turn his back on Papa Nanba.

Nariaki asked Sawa to bring the Bike and Shark FullBottles for him and Gentoku to use against the Bros. That does the trick. But Evolto suddenly appears and demands they hand over the Bottle that was produced from the now-defeated Bros.

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Kazumi continues rampaging against the Copy Crows. But he suddenly begins to sparkle. He’s getting close. Misora comes running to him and tells him to stop or he really will die. Kazumi says he’s happy Miitan is worried about him, but he knows there’s no turning back now. He takes the Bottle and jabs it into his chest, knowing that is what needs to be done in order to save the world.

“I leave the rest to you, Sento.”

Kazumi wants to put on a good final show for his Miitan. He attacks the Crows.

Sento and Ryuga arrive at a live feed of the events downstairs and are shocked to see what has happened to Kazumi. Ryuga grabs Sento by the collar and angrily asks why Sento gave Kazumi such a dangerous thing in the first place.

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“Let’s go,” Sento quietly says.

Evolto has an easy time tossing both Nariaki and Gentoku around. Nariaki says he only joined #TeamEvolto so he could input Evolto’s data into his own Driver. But Evolto says he knew that all along. That is of no use to a human though, Evolto says.

Nariaki announces he has passed through to Phase 3. He lands two huge punches on Evolto and reaches Phase 4.

“You’re just a lowly human!” Evolto says as he charges toward Nariaki. Nariaki replies with an “All to the glory of Nanba!” But something seems to short-circuit and that gives Evolto the opening to deliver a huge attack that forces Nariaki out of his henshin.

“Oh, right. You’re a cyborg.”

Sawa and Gentoku are in disbelief. Evolto seems to imply he turned Nariaki into a cyborg after Gentoku shot him on the bridge. And now he overloaded before he could reach Evolto’s level.

Gentoku is incensed. He charges at Evolto, but Evolto delivers an Evoltec Finish at him, forcing him to dehenshin. Sawa runs over to him, but Evolto demands they hand over the Lost Bottle. He charges toward them. Sawa and Gentoku try to shield themselves.

But Nariaki suddenly stands in Evolto’s path and he takes the blade right in the back.

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“I didn’t do this to save you… but to protect the Lost Bottle.”

Evolto tosses Nariaki aside like a now-dead rag cyborg.

Evolto approaches Gentoku and Sawa. But Gentoku mists him and Sawa to safety.

Elsewhere in the Tower, Kazumi almost finishes laying waste to the fake Crows and realizes it’s almost time for him to go. He recalls all the friends he has made and regrets that he has to leave them and this world.

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Misora is beside herself as Kazumi thanks his friends and says he will continue to pray for a love and peace-filled world from wherever he will be with the real Crows.

Kazumi finishes off the last Crow with a Glacial Finish. And with that, he is forced to dehenshin.

“Grease!” Misora calls out as a barely-hanging on Kazumi continues emitting gold sparkles. He asks her to give Sento the purified Bottle. Misora, unsuccessfully trying to hold in her tears, can only utter one word: “Grease.”

“Calling me ‘Grease’ until the very end, eh?”

Misora says of course since she knows that once she calls him by his real name, he’ll disappear forever. That’s why she will never say it. Kazumi looks at her, uses all the strength he has left to stand and puts the Bottle in her hands.

Misora asks him to hold on and live. She grabs his jacket and begs him to please live.

Kazumi says he’s a lucky man to finally have his idol care about him. He says he will be able to brag about it to his three BFFs.

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Misora cries into Kazumi’s back, continuing to call out “Grease!” But it’s no use. Kauzmi finally disappears in a gold light.

Misora falls to her knees. “Kazumin…”

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Most of Japan has been sucked into holes by now. Sento and Sawa are bandaging up Gentoku when Misora arrives on the rooftop garden of the Tower.

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Misora hands Sento the Bottle and tells him. They are all distraught. Misora again falls to her knees and cries out. Sawa hugs her. Ryuga punches a wall. Gentoku screams. Sento clutches the Bottle.

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“Yo!”

Evolto appears with a smile.

Sento screams.

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Episode Thoughts

WELL THEN!

I think this might have been an amazing episode. Even though, again, I was unable to avoid stumbling upon spoiler pics of both Kazumi and Nariaki’s deaths.

Regardless, I think the episode really hit all the right notes. I might not be completely in love with Evolto’s endgame progression. But I am however very happy (and sad!) with the effects Evolto’s whims have had on the Gang. I’ve noted how I really have enjoyed, maybe most of all from this season, the bonds and relationships our friends at Nascita have developed. Sento and Ryuga’s bond certainly right at the top.

But Kazumi’s final “Thank you” and his flashback to the friends he had made really was a great example of how the Gang has really formed that close relationship. It’s something that I’ve pointed out has been missing in many recent seasons. Like, I might like the characters (heroes and villains alike) on their own, but I would be sad not feeling a connection to them and between them.

That’s not the case here on Build. I’ve felt like the overall arc of the season is secondary to the great character moments we got all season. And all the character moments we got in this episode made sense. It all fit. (Aside from Evolto though because he’s always all over the place. lol) But for everyone else, nothing was out of character. Nothing came out of left field.

And that includes the revelation Utsumi Nariaki was a cyborg. I absolutely remembered Sento joking about Nariaki being a cyborg in one of the opening narrations. It was even complete with one of those wacky animations that went along with the usually random and wacky narrations.

I decided to search this Kamen Rider Build Word document I keep my recaps and thoughts in for which episode that narration was on because I remember pointing it out in my Episode Thoughts. But to my surprise, “cyborg” popped up all the way back in Episode 9 as well. Sento had joked Nariaki was a cyborg for suggesting Sento pull an all-nighter at the lab. And then Episode 39 where Sento’s narration specifically calls Nariaki a “cyborg.”

That side comment and apparent joke aside, every beat of Nariaki’s story in this episode made sense. He was shot and fell into the river, thought to be dead. It makes sense Evolto would fix Nariaki up by using robotic parts. And his Nanba loyalty was on display from the very first revelation that he was working for him. Him hailing the almighty Papa Nanba certainly grew louder and more enthusiastic as the season moved along. Especially with the introduction of the Nanba Children.

So Nariaki’s plan to get in Evolto’s good graces makes sense. It wouldn’t be his first time playing a double agent of course.

I’ve been hoping the Nanba Children angle would come back to give Sawa something nice to do and that certainly happened here. Talking about connections, Sawa and Nariaki have a special bond as well. As creepy a bond that may be, a bond all the same.

Nariaki’s cyborg death was done pretty well. Evolto just tossing him aside like that, Nariaki rolling on the ground like some lifeless little toy was just insane! One minute he’s talking and fighting for what he believed in. The next, he’s just rolling across the floor. That just drove the point home I think. And in a pretty emotional way too.

As for Kazumin’s death, from the way his character has developed and grown through the season, this was a fitting end. (As far as we know.) It makes sense as he has had struggles throughout his time with the Gang. Not knowing what to fight for, then having a purpose to losing that purpose and then finding another one, it only made sense for Kazumi to die fighting for and acting on the bond he formed with his friends and everything he had learned from them as well.

His scene with Misora was just amazing. Excellent performances by Takeda Kouhei and Takada Kaho. And it was perfect because it was able to use the contrast of his goofy otaku-ness and the real “flames” and fire insidehim to illustrate his character well. He had found a reason in his friends and once he accepted that reason, he was all in.

Now at the same time, I am expecting the mash-up of the two Earths will help undo the death and destruction we are seeing. (Parallel world copies of course present lots of interesting dilemmas and situations Build will never have the chance to explore, of course.)

But I felt Kazumi’s sincerity right before he finishes off the last Crow and then his direct conversation with Misora. Both Kazumin and Misora were very much in their characters during that final scene.

Characters calling Riders by their Rider names instead of their real, given names has always been a nagging annoyance to me. Even on Sentai when they call each other by their colors or something, even if no one was around and as long as they are morphed.

So it was great to see that Toei toku staple of being less personal when in-suit when it comes to names was used effectively here as a way to give Kazumi and Misora that emotional moment.

For Misora, I don’t think it was a romantic love that made her break down like that and beg for Kazumi to stay. As I mentioned earlier, these guys and gals really have developed a great bond so far. And we’ve seen Misora feel almost desperate at their entire situation many times. So for her to lose one of her friends, even if he was annoying sometimes, her being that distraught and in pain is very warranted and based on actual moments we’ve seen through the season.

The scene right as Misora tells everyone what happened on the roof. There was a great use of silence throughout this episode, but the best had to be on the rooftop of the Tower. Everything is silent save for the wind. So we didn’t hear cries of pain, sobbing, etc. Just the windy silence while we merely see everyone was breaking down, clenching fists, etc. That was a great way to show their reaction to what happened, but also their feelings for each other. Those were sincere tears of sorrow and anger.

It also allowed for Evolto’s popping up with a smiley face all the more hateful and annoying. lol Just at the right time. Everyone was mourning their friend and here comes the happily smiling Evolto. I think we all shared Sento’s scream. lol

Overall, this really was an amazing and effective episode. I felt the sincerity and I felt and accepted the foundation of what these characters have gone through.

3 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Build, Episode 47 – Zero Degree Flames

  1. Goodbye Kazumin… ;(
    It was very sad for me. And now I know Nariaki WAS a cyborg. And in the next episode, Gentoku is gonna die 😦

  2. Kazumin’s death is somewhat an inevitable conclusion to his character arc. The guy never really fully recovered after the death of the Three Crows. Sure, he may have found solace and a new family with the Nascita crew but the three guys’ deaths has hounded him that he seemed to want to join them in death at every opportunity. Poor soul.

    Nariaki also seems to go the same way in that Nanba was like a living emotional crutch for him. Sad part is that, unlike the Three crows, this was mostly due to the old man brainwashing him into loyalty ever since he was a kid.

    Yeah, it seems that greater emphasis was put on character development and relationships than larger plot. Which is why I am actually more forgiving with some of the issues that the plot has, like the slow pacing.

    And since we’re on character deaths here, that’s one thing that our local fantaseryes (and teleseryes in general) tend to lack: meaningful character deaths. Sure, you get one big melodramatic moment when a major character dies. but it rarely becomes a significant part of character arcs in that it never leads to character development outside of the typical revenge plot.

    Oddly enough, one show that I did see doing really meaningful character deaths is Ang Probinsyano, of all shows. That whole Vendetta arc after Cardo’s son got killed actually trigger a lot of interesting developments in the characters.

    1. Yeah, it’s a sadly fitting end for Kazumi. And even Nariaki. And it really is part of Build putting real consequences into what happens and the decisions they make.

      I definitely agree about being forgiving. Build’s overall plot and story certainly has its share of problems, but I definitely forgive them much easier than other recent series because the characters and their relationships really have been very strongly developed this season. At least, compared to recent seasons even.

      With teleseryes, you never really get big, meaningful deaths unless the actor originally signed on for a limited, short-term role. Or if that actor has to leave that show to start taping for another, new show. Also if the series is almost over anyway. Never really about plot, just convenience unless it’s a revenge story where the deaths are at the beginning anyway.

      I haven’t watched Probinsyano. And while even the jokes about its length are getting old and boring, since it’s basically structured like an American crime procedural rather than the typical teleserye, I assume it would have the room to do more of that ~meaningful death~ story since cast turnover would obviously be unavoidable.

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