Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Riders

Gotta love crossover films. Even when the plots are cohesive their titles can manage to be convoluted.

On April 30, 2019 the Heisei period of Japanese history will come to an end after 31 years. One franchise that rose from dormancy during this time was Kamen Rider, which reemerged onto the scene with 2000's Kamen Rider Kuuga. Since then the series has been redefining and setting itself apart from its Showa era entries and becoming the most prominent and varied tokusatsu property. With the Heisei era's end on the horizon Toei have been using the yearly crossover films to celebrate the series's legacy and the identity it has been cultivating over the last two decades.

Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Riders (2017) is primarily a crossover between Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (which had recently ended when the film was released) and Kamen Rider Build (which was airing at the time and had just finished it first quarter), though it also features the appearance of four returning riders being OOO, Fourze, Gaim, and Ghost. Crossover films have had issues juggling their large casts, but the writers handle it well by effectively using Parad and Banjo as a narrative device that separates the characters while not completely isolating them. Additionally ,Banjo's arc of trying to find his own reason for being a Kamen Rider made sense for his character, because at the time this movie was released he had only been a Rider for a few episodes, and it was a great way of demonstrating the personalities of the legacy Riders by having them inspire him. Plus the theme of understanding and defining heroism is one that often resonates with me.

The character's placement in this shot actually has some significance. Crazy right? 

The returning actors do a great job reprising their roles with Sota Fukushi stepping back into his role as Gentaro/ Fourze so naturally that he was a joy whenever he was on screen. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was how many supporting characters from previous seasons returned and that each of them got a nice moment to shine, which was really impressive. My only disappointment with the characters were how little of Ex-Aid's and Build's supporting casts appeared in the film. While its understandable that there roles were minimized to provide time for the returning faces it was still sad to see them sidelined.

Though this film was not the final crossover film in the Heisei era, that honor belongs to the next one, Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Riders is a great celebration of the franchise that is more than just fan service. If you are a new to Kamen Rider than this should not be your entry point because it will be very confusing, though if you are looking for an entry point I can give you recommendations. However if you are a fan of any of these seasons than this is a strong recommendation. This is a movie worth getting Excite-d for. (Excite is the name of Ex-Aid's opening song. That's the pun.)