 This article is about an ally in Kamen Rider Build.
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Aoba (青羽), born Syuuya Aikawa (相河 修也, Aikawa Shūya), is a member of Kazumi Sawatari's Hokuto Sanbagarasu who transforms into the Stag Hard Smash (スタッグハードスマッシュ, Sutaggu Hādo Sumasshu)[1] and later the Stag Hazard Smash (スタッグハザードスマッシュ, Sutaggu Hāzado Sumasshu).
History[]
Background[]
Masaru Ooyama was a longtime employee on Kazumi Sawatari's farm, alongside Masaru Ooyama and Syoukichi Mihara. After the Sky Wall Disaster rendered Hokuto's soil infertile, Sawatari used his savings to continue providing for his workers. Eventually, Sawatari volunteered for Faust's experiments, allowing himself to become a weapon of war for the sake of his workers. Out of loyalty, Aikawa and the others volunteered as well, becoming Hard Smashes to aid Sawatari. Aikawa was given the codename "Aoba".
The Japanese Civil War[]
When Hokuto Prime Minister Yoshiko Tajimi declared war on Touto, Aoba was part of the advance guard with Kiba and Akaba. As Kiba watched a live stream of inferior Smash being defeated by Kamen Rider Build, Aoba attributed their weakness to their lack of awareness.
Aoba and the others later tracked down Sento Kiryu and Ryuga Banjo, and transformed into their Hard Smash forms. After successfully knocking them out of their transformations, Akaba demanded that they hand over their Fullbottles, prompting Aoba and Kiba to argue with him over who should get said Fullbottles. By the time they had pulled themselves together, Sento and Ryuga escaped. When the managed to find Sento with Misora Isurugi, a motivated Sento fought continued to fight them. Although the three managed to gain the upperhand, Ryuga used the Sclash Driver to become Kamen Rider Cross-Z Charge and easily defeated them, causing them to lose some of the Hokuto Lostbottles. Kazumi arrived shortly after to challenge Sento and Ryuga.
As Aoba and the others desired to be more stronger to help their boss, they underwent a Hazard Level dose using the Hazard Trigger to evolve into Hazard Smash in exchange of the side-effects of disappearing when defeated in battle.
Death[]
- "I'm worried...If I'm not around...You can't do anything, Boss. No matter what happens...We're together..."
- ―Aoba's final words to Kazumi.[src]
The death of Aoba.
After Sento transformed into Build RabbitTank Hazard, the fight with the Kamen Riders and the Hazard Smash leads to an abandoned warehouse. During his fight against Cross-Z Charge, Build fell into a rampage due to the Hazard Trigger's side effects and started attacking friend and foe alike. As Build knocks Akaba and Kiba outside, Aoba attempts to aid his comrades but is easily swatted away. Aoba would became the first victim of Sento's rampage after receiving a direct hit from Build's finisher, with Kazumi too late to stop him. After Kazumi cancels Sento's transformation, he goes to Aoba's side as his body begins to disintegrate. He hands over one of his blue dog tags to Kazumi and gives his last words before dying, with his body completely disintegrated into a blue smoke. His death shocked Ryuga and Sento, while Akaba and Kiba were filled with sorrow for their slain comrade and rage towards Sento.
Post-Mortem[]
Aoba's death had left a lasting impression with Sento Kiryu as he was the first person he ever murdered, despite having no awareness. He was shown to be emotionally guilty over his death and went back to the location of Aoba's death to pay his last respects, Sento would be greeted by a vision of Aoba, which frightened him due to his guilt. Although Kazumi was angry what Sento did, he at least understood that he wasn't aware of his actions and knew how seriousness of war and death.
In respect for Aoba and Kiba, Sento left a bunch of blue and yellow flowers at the sight of the former's death in Touto, which Stalk took as Sento shouldering their deaths. Soon after, Grease arrived to save Sento from going berserk after using the Hazard Trigger in his fight with Stalk, claiming it was thanks for the flowers.
Akaba proposed to Kazumi that Aoba and Kiba's dog tags be buried at the Sky Road passage between Touto and Hokuto. Before they could tend to this, however, Akaba was confronted by Kamen Rider Rogue while guarding the Pandora Box and, despite calling on the power of his late teammates, was killed in action, leaving his and their dog tags to Kazumi.
Kazumi crafted a grave for the Sanbagarasu at the Sky Road. However, he held onto their dog tags as he participated in the proxy battle against Seito where, despite being outmatched by Rai Washio, he was ultimately motivated to overcome his opponent by looking back to his late comrades. Kazumi would continue to fight to ensure the well-being of the late Sanbagarasu' respective families.
New World[]
Sanbagarasu with Kazumi in the new world.
Aoba, along with his friends, were among the few people who has a counterpart on the World without Sky Wall, and was seen as one of the delivery men who frequents Nascita. On one occasion, they dragged their boss to see the cute girl from the coffee shop they frequent in, which ended up with their boss passing-out after seeing Misora.
Other Events[]
Kamen Rider Build NEW WORLD: Kamen Rider Cross-Z[]
When Killbus reactivated Pandora's Box, everyone who were directly exposed to Nebula Gas in the original World of Build regained their memories from that world, including Aoba. Although he didn't participate in the fight against Killbus, the Hokuto Sanbagarasu were mentioned by Kazumi in the meeting.
Kamen Rider Build NEW WORLD: Kamen Rider Grease[]
Aoba's appearance in NEW WORLD.
Because of their memories being restored, Misora's attitude towards Kazumi went back to the way they were in the original world, which worried Aoba and the others. After a misunderstanding between Kazumi and Misora, Aoba and the others did their best to cheer their boss, to the extent that they were willing to join him in his self-searching. This led them to an island which was formed from the point of contact between the two worlds that merged. Kiba felt something dangerous from the island at first, but calmed down after finding a hot spring. While they were bathing in it, a geyser suddenly emerged, which soaked the four even further to the water. After being soaked, the four went to a cave to try and warm themselves up, as they were feeling some strange after-effect from the water. They would later recover and find their way back to the Sawatari Farm, only to find it attacked by a foreigner, which Massugu described as a green monster. Confronting the perpetrator, they were confused on to what the attacker wanted to do, and was more confused when it suddenly flew away after it saw them transform. Kazumi then contacted Gentoku, who hinted that he was captured. After the call, they then went to Sento's place to find out more. Given the task to safeguard Misora, Aoba left with Kiba and Akaba, leaving behind Kazumi due to the trauma their boss still have. Arriving just before Down Fall took Misora, they were confronted by Kamen Rider Metal Build and were taken out all at once. Regaining consciousness just after Sento was explaining the power-up item to Kazumi, the Sanbagarasu waited for their boss to leave, before willingly agreed to help Sento. Sento then explained that he will need the three to give-up a majority portion of their Phantom Liquids, the extraction was painful, but they were able to gather enough for four and complete Grease Perfect Kingdom. After Kazumi successfully defeats Kamen Rider Phantom Build, Aoba and the others revealed to Kazumi that they had to play along Sento's plan to elevate Kazumi's Hazard Level by believing them to be dead, from which Kazumi calls Sento the Devil Scientist again.
Personality[]
Aoba is the most level-headed of the Hokuto Sanbagarasu, and seemingly the most selfish, both by a small margin. He appears to get to the point of his missions quicker than the others, but still indulges in petty quarrels such as arguing over who would take Sento Kiryu and Ryuga Banjo's Fullbottles.
According to Kazumi, before the war, Aoba was one who cared about his friends and would cry for even a complete stranger.
Forms[]
Stag Hard Smash
- Height: 205.2 cm.
- Weight: 124.4 kg.
Aoba transforms into the Stag Hard Smash (スタッグハードスマッシュ, Sutaggu Hādo Sumasshu) using the Kuwagata Fullbottle.
Abilities
- The Stag Hard Smash is armed with the pair of sword-like Rapture Scissors (ラプチャーシザース, Rapuchā Shizāsu).
- The Stag Hard Smash can move at super speed.
Stag Hazard Smash
- Height: 205.2 cm.
- Weight: 124.4 kg.
After being administered with the Hazard Trigger's energy, Aoba can transform into the Stag Hazard Smash (スタッグハザードスマッシュ, Sutaggu Hāzado Sumasshu) with the Kuwagata Fullbottle.
The Stag Hazard Smash is far more powerful that its Hard Smash form. However, this form comes with a risk: being defeated will cost Aoba his life.
Abilities
- The Stag Hazard Smash is armed with the pair of sword-like Rapture Scissors.
- The Stag Hazard Smash can move at super speed.
Stag Lost Smash
- Height: 205.2 cm.
- Weight: 124.4 kg.
The New World counterpart of Aoba transforms into the Stag Lost Smash (スタッグロストスマッシュ, Sutaggu Rosuto Sumasshu) using the Stag Lost Fullbottle.
This form is exclusive to Build NEW WORLD: Kamen Rider GreaseEquipment[]
Devices[]
- Kuwagata Fullbottle - Transformation trinket.
Behind the Scenes[]
Portrayal[]
Aoba is portrayed by Tateto Serizawa (芹澤 興人, Serizawa Tateto). As Stag Hard Smash, his suit actor is Kotaro Kaji (鍜治 洸太朗, Kaji Kotaro).
Etymology[]
Aoba's name translates to "blue wings", sharing a color theme with Kiba (黄羽 lit. "yellow wings") and Akaba (赤羽 lit. "red wings"). Incidentally, his name is also phonetically identical to the phrase "blue leaves" (青葉, Aoba).
Concept Art[]
Stag Smash was designed by Tamotsu Shinohara (篠原 保, Shinohara Tamotsu).
Notes[]
- Same as other member of Hokuto Sanbagarasu, all three name had a color name. in Aoba's case, it's ao (青) which means blue.
Appearances[]
Kamen Rider Build
- Episode 16: The Weaponry Hero
- Episode 17: Rider Wars Start
- Episode 18: The Golden Soldier
- Kamen Rider Build: Birth! KumaTV!! VS Kamen Rider Grease! (Smash image only)
- Episode 19: The Forbidden Item
- Episode 20: The Devil's Trigger
- Episode 21: The Unstoppable Hazard (death)
- Episode 22: Victory of Tears (flashback)
- Episode 23: The Phantom of the West (mentioned only)
- Episode 24: A Man Called Rogue (mentioned only)
- Episode 40: The Final Revolution (flashback; archive footage only)
- Episode 46: An Oath to Be The One (imitation by Evolto)
- Episode 49/Final: The Tomorrow Build Will Create
- Build NEW WORLD: Kamen Rider Grease