Recap: Kamen Rider Build, Episode 39 – The Unstoppable Genius

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Nariaki maniacally laughs in his new Mad Rogue outfit before he charges toward Gentoku, shooting at him. Nariaki says he no longer cares what happens to Japan as long as his scientific ability gets to shine for everyone to see.

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“Don’t you realize you’re making the war worse?” Gentoku asks. “You’ll only create more victims!”

Nariaki continues the beat down on Gentoku saying he’s one to talk. He revs up the Evol Driver and delivers an Evoltec Attack that literally blows Gentoku out of his henshin.

Ryuga hurries over to Gentoku as Nariaki prepares to shoot the finisher at them to kill them for good. But Kazumin pops up to shield them from the attack and whisk them back to Nascita.

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Sawa bandages Gentoku up as the others are downstairs trying to process what’s just happened as well as try to figure out what Evolto’s endgame is. As Ryuga jabs at his punching bag, he gets another sudden flashback of the destruction of Mars. He excuses himself and says he needs some fresh air.

Katsuragi is happy distractionRyuga is gone so he can finish the new power up in peace. Once he does, he can destroy Evolto… and Ryuga. Misora and Kazumin are taken aback, but Katsuragi says Ryuga still has Evolto’s genes and they could emerge at any time, like his own memories. So they must kill Ryuga before that happens.

Ryuga takes time to himself at the park, trying to figure out why he has these memories of Mars ever since he started using the Great Dragon FullBottle. He refuses to accept that he and Evolto are the same.

Just then, Kazumin comes running right at him.

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Over at the Tower, Evolto says he will pose as PM Mido and destroy Touto to unite the country and make their ultimate goal easier to attain. He orders Nariaki to capture the Kamen Riders alive as he still has use for them.

Nariaki asks where this 2nd Evol Driver popped out from, but Evolto says he shouldn’t ask unnecessary questions. He just needs to do as he is told.

Back at Nascita, Gentoku finally wakes up. He doesn’t understand how he’s still alive after what Nariaki did to him. Sawa says she never thought Nariaki could be capable of such a thing.

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Sawa explains that she was a Nanba Children like Nariaki. Gentoku remembers shooting Nariaki immediately after he expressed his wish to just live a normal life, laughing at stupid stuff, crying with emotion.

Gentoku feels it is his fault that Nariaki has become so twisted in this way.

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It is now nighttime. Nariaki is on a bridge as he remembers that same moment and being on the verge of death. He slams his hands on the railing and happily yells out “I WASN’T WRONG!!!”

Back at the lab, Misora is sleeping, but is awakened by the purifying contraption bursting open. Katsuragi takes the new power-up item out. It is powered with all the Bottle elements combined.

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The Genius Bottle.

Katsuragi says with this, he can defeat Evolto and Ryuga. Misora insists that Ryuga would never betray them, but Katsuragi wants a logical and scientific explanation as to why.

“How about trusting your ally more?” Misora says. Katsuragi just laughs at the idea.

Misora explains to Katsuragi that as Sento, he trusted his allies and comrades more than anyone else. Surely he still feels that way deep in his heart.

Katsuragi remembers that he once trusted Gentoku as an ally. “I was nothing but a fool when I trusted my allies,” he says. “I only believe in science.”

It is back to daylight as Kazumi tries to raise Ryuga’s Hazard Level by sparring. It doesn’t seem to work as they instead knock each other to the ground.

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Kazumin tells Ryuga about Katsuragi wanting to eliminate him because of the threat of Evolto awakening in him at any time. But Kazumi says he won’t let Katsuragi do anything to him.

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Ryuga misses Sento very much. Just then, they get a call from the Prime Minister’s office. They are under attack by Seito, let by Nariaki.

Ryuga and Kazumin hurry over and Nariaki henshins.

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Back at Nascita, Gentoku tries to force himself up to go and help Ryuga and Kazumin. Sawa tries to get him to lay down, but Gentoku still feels responsible about what’s happened to Nariaki. Just like how he’s responsible for Katsuragi becoming the way he is now.

“I took advantage of you two to start the war. It’s not something that can ever be forgiven. But just this time, let me fight for this country. Please! Just this once! Believe me!”

Gentoku collapses and falls unconscious. But his words seem to reach Katsuragi.

Nariaki powers up with pirate and train power. Kazumi charges forward, but absorbs the full attack and is forced to dehenshin.

Just then, Katsuragi arrives. “What are you doing here?” Ryuga asks. “Not to help you,” Katsuragi answers.

Katsuragi henshins to Rabbit Rabbit and takes a dozen Hard Guardians on his own. He then charges toward Nariaki.

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“Don’t you understand my feelings about Evolto?” Nariaki asks. Katsuragi says he understands being fascinated by something that goes beyond human understanding. But that is not science that will benefit humanity.

Nariaki then tosses the Rider System back at Katsuragi. It ended up being a tool for war and reawakened Evolto which is now leading toward the destruction of Earth.

Katsuragi is distracted as he thinks about that fact. And that allows Nariaki to shoot at him.

They confront each other. ‘That’s easy to say in hindsight!” Katsuragi says. But Nariaki believes Katsuragi foresaw this, yet moved forward with it because of his ego.

Katsuragi denies that. But Nariaki says there’s nothing wrong with pursuing the possibilities of science. In fact, they will reunite Japan through the power of science.

“We weren’t wrong!” Nariaki gleefully proclaims. He proposes they work together to change the world with science.

Katsuragi says they are different. He pulls out the Genius Bottle, but it doesn’t activate. He doesn’t understand why it is not working. That leaves him open to Nariaki’s attacks.

Katsuragi is overwhelmed as he tries to figure out what’s wrong. Nariaki prepares a finisher, but Ryuga jumps in and engages Nariaki.

“You lack spirit!” Ryuga says as Katsuragi dehenshins. “He wants to help and protect others! Those are the reasons he fights. You don’t even have a little of that fire!”

“Kiryu Sento…is a hero of justice!”

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Nariaki and Ryuga battle until Nariaki delivers an Evoltec Attack to force Ryuga to dehenshin. Nariaki mocks Ryuga for saying Sento is a hero. He is no hero, he says. He created a tool for war and now there’s no one around to save Ryuga.

“There are no heroes!”

Nariaki slams Ryuga onto the ground right in front of Katsuragi. Ryuga is in immense pain.

Just then, Katsuragi gets memory flashes of all the times Ryuga and the others have depended on him. All the time they have depended on each other. He then remembers Gentoku asking him to believe in him earlier.

Suddenly, Katsuragi meets Sento in his head. He asks Sento about believing in his comrades and friends. Sento just smiles.

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“Then show me the future you’re create.”

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Their hands meet and their memories merge together.

Ryuga is still on the floor, struggling through the pain.

“What are you doing, Banjo? Looks like even being a secondary rider is too much work for you.”

Ryuga can’t believe it.

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“The egotistic superhero has returned!”

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Kazumin realizes Sento’s memory is back.

“You’re late,” Ryuga says as he unsuccessfully holds back tears.

“Let’s start the experiment,” Sento says and he henshins using the Genius Bottle.

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Sento henshins to Build Genius.

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Episode Thoughts

Oooo! A pretty good episode. I think I enjoyed the little character moments the most. There were nice moments for each of our main characters.

We had Misora fighting for Ryuga, Sawa reflecting on being a Nanba Children, Kazumi showing that he does see them, even Gentoku as a comrade. And Gentoku not only feeling the guilt of how he used Katsuragi, but now feeling guilty about using Nariaki as well.

But the most enjoyable moments involved Sentoragi, Ryuga and Nariaki.

First off, I don’t even know about Cyborg Utsumi. So, he’s a cyborg now? Or just a joke in the opening narration? Well, that’s not important right now. I think. lol

What is important about Nariaki was them connecting back to the early episodes, especially Episode 13 which was the first time he really broke out in a significant way. We got some inkling into what he might have been thinking at the time, including some foreshadowing about his time as a Nanba Children. And they called back to that here.

I’ve really wanted to see more about the effects of being a Nanba Children. We’ve seen a little from Sawa. The Washio Bros were enlightened too late. And now Nariaki may have wanted a different life before, but instead was driven into insanity. Maybe in the coming episodes, we’ll get more. I liked Sawa pointing out that she never would’ve thought Nariaki would go down this path. Maybe there’ll be more to that.

Next, we have Ryuga. The Evolto/Mars stuff is okay, but less interesting than him missing Sento. Him being so sad that Sento might be lost forever, enduring that pain against Nariaki and then his sheer tears of joy when Sento surprisingly pops up at the end. It was all so good and felt very sincere. A great job by Eiji Akaso. It was tough to see Ryuga in so much pain, but it paid off with that moment of joy when Sento appears. They really care about each other. <3 Hee.

Finally, we have Katsuragi’s mental journey.

I really enjoy seeing Katsuragi working through what’s happening. I hope we get lots more of development from him in the final episodes. Because the look on his face when Ryuga compares him, unfavorably, to Sento was almost heartbreaking. You can see Katsuragi is confused and upset. He feels guilty. He wants to do something to right his wrongs, but does not know how to, despite being a genius scientist. I think that is maybe what hurts the most. He originally thought science is all that was needed to further humanity and help it evolve. But maybe there’s something else that can do that too. And maybe he’ll learn a little bit about that by observing what Sento has and can do.

I look forward to that. If that’s the direction they’re going of course. Which, I hope it is.

Is Katsuragi going to let himself disappear to allow Sento to be the one that lives? (Of course, he could return in future movies. Hehe) I dunno. It should be very interesting.

I always enjoy seeing the actors themselves in confrontation scenes. So I enjoyed seeing Nariaki/Yuki Ochi and Katsuragi/Yukiaki Kiyama in that scene. The show has done a really great job of introducing us to Katsuragi, the real one, in these last couple of episodes.

Elsewhere, there was some odd sense of time though. Kazumi and Ryuga were in the park during the day, yet everything else was happening at night (Nariaki on the bridge, Katsusento and Misora in the lab). What was that about?! lol It was very awkward.

Otherwise, this was a pretty good episode. I liked it and I think the important aspects of it, especially the character moments, worked.

2 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Build, Episode 39 – The Unstoppable Genius

  1. Poor Utsumi is arguably one of the more tragic characters in Build. The guy has been brainwashed and used for his entire life that he just lost it when Nanba bit the dust. It’s as if he is just clinging to Evolt to give himself a sense of purpose (possibly manifested in that creepy way he caressed his Evolt Driver).

    And I definitely love that inner conflict and dialog between Sento and Katsuragi. It’s just a pity that they didn’t introduce this premise earlier (say after it was revealed that Sento was Katsuragi all along). That would have made for an interesting character drama in preparation for that “inner mind” scene where they merge. Also wish they had referenced Katsuragi’s mother at this point.

    1. Yeah I’m glad they really gave Utsumi a solid storyline. It works with giving Nanba’s entire existence purpose (lol) and also helps make us forget they recycled Sawa being a spy weeks apart lol

      And yeah I definitely think they could’ve done more with Sento and Katsuragi. Especially seeing Katsuragi a little earlier because what little we’ve seen of him so far in recent episodes, it would’ve been fascinating to watch. He seems like he could be a great character. And the contrast between him and Sento would’ve been great.

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