'Kamen Rider Build' Episode 17 Air Date, Spoilers: New Rider Makes His Television Debut When Series Returns on Jan. 7
The live-action special effects series, "Kamen Rider Build," took a break this week, but is scheduled to be back next Sunday with an explosive opening to its second chapter. The war between the three capitals is about to begin, and who better to fight this battle than a handful of Riders all trained and equipped to in an all-out Rider War?
Soon after Gentoku Himuro (Kensei Mikami), the acting prime minister of the eastern capital of Touto, declared war against the two other capitals over the possession of the powerful Pandora Box, Prime Minister Yoshiki Tajimi (Ryoko Gi) of the northern capital of Hokuto wasted no time at all and took the first strike by sending an army of Smash monsters to Touto.
By the end of episode 16, it was revealed that Soichi Isurugi (Yasuyuki Maekawa), a.k.a. Blood Stalk, and the former landlord of Sento Kiryu (Atsuhiro Inukai), a.k.a. Kamen Rider Build, has been in cahoots with Hokuto all this time.
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And now that their enemies are conspiring against their very home, will Sento and Gentoku be able to move past their differences and work together, if only for the sake of protecting Touto? What could Prime Minister Masakuni Mido (Norimasa Fuke) and the western capital of Seito be planning at this point? Will they be participating in the upcoming war head-on or wait until either Touto or Hokuto is left standing before making their move?
The synopsis and screenshots from episode 17, titled "Rider Wars Start," tease the debut of several new characters, including what looks to be an upgraded form of Ryuga Banjou's (Eiji Akaso) Kamen Rider Cross-Z.
Kamen Rider Grease, the mysterious new Rider shown in the final scene of the previous episode, will be making his full debut in "Build" as his human alter ego, Kazumi Sawatari (Kouhei Takeda). Grease was first introduced in the 2017 Japanese live-action and special effects movie, "Kamen Rider Heisei Generations FINAL: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Riders," which featured a Movie War crossover between "Kamen Rider Build" and its predecessor, "Kamen Rider Ex-Aid."
Additionally, the so-called Hokuto Three Crows, a trio of what looks to be a higher level of Smash monsters that Grease is leading will also be debuting their Smash forms. The trio consists of Akaba (Eishin), a.k.a. Castle Hard Smash; Aoba (Tateto Serizawa), a.k.a. Stag Hard Smash; and Kiba (Takuya Yoshimura, a.k.a. Owl Hard Smash. They will all be fighting for the Hokuto government.
On the other hand, it seems that Touto will be hard-pressed in convincing their own Rider to fight in the upcoming war since Sento seems adamant to stand by his belief that that Rider system that he has developed himself is not meant to be a tool of war. He does also realize that none of this would happen if he had not created the Rider System and Smash in the first place. What will his ultimate decision be?
"Kamen Rider Build" episode 17 airs on Sunday, Jan. 7, at 9 a.m. JST on TV Asahi's Superhero Time block.
