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“ | You cannot rob the world of my glorious intellect! | „ |
~ Banno shortly before his demise. |
Tenjuro Banno is the creator of the Roidmudes and the overarching antagonist of Kamen Rider Drive. He was a scientist who was Go and Kiriko Shijima's birth father and a friend of Krim Steinbelt.
He originally worked with Krim Steinbelt to design the Roidmudes, which he envisioned as robots capable of "evolving" to become more humanlike by experiencing human emotions. However, Banno soon began mistreating his creations, and after Krim discovered Banno was torturing them, he ended their partnership and the two split up. Banno's abuse of the Roidmudes eventually led to them rising up and killing him, before attempting to take over the world in an event known as the "Global Freeze".
Secretly, Banno survived by preserving his consciousness in a tablet and later tricked his son Go into releasing him, allowing him to go forward with his plans. After kidnapping Mr. Belt, Banno created a knockoff of the Drive Driver to download his consciousness into, dubbed the Banno Driver and used it to transform into Gold Drive after possessing Roidmude 006. His ultimate goal is to use Sigma Circular to become god by digitizing the entire world and force everyone to bow down to him.
He will return in Kamen Rider Outsiders in a new form as Bronze Drive.
He was portrayed by Masakazu Morita, the voice actor who is famous for the voices of characters like Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, Marco from One Piece, Ri Shin from Kingdom, Tidus from Final Fantasy X, Auel Neider from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny and Pegasus Seiya from Saint Seiya Hades: Chapter Inferno.
History[]
Past[]
Banno was once the lab partner and close colleague of Krim Steinbelt. He originally conceived of the Roidmudes as robots with the capacity to develop into being humans through experiencing human emotions, but while he was working on them their development became stunted. Banno asked Krim Steinbelt for help with completing the Roidmudes, so Krim provided Banno with the prototype Core Driviars to use for them, granting them the capacity for evolution.
At some point, Banno dated Sumiko Shijima and fathered two children with her, Kiriko and Go. It is unknown if the two ever got married, but they eventually split up, likely due to Banno's abusive nature.
Banno later met with a young entrepreneur to persuade him to fund the Roidmudes, but when the young man, a furious Banno activated Roidmude 002 and forced to assume the investor's appearance so he could torture 002 as if he was the real businessman. Krim later walked in on Banno torturing 002 with an electric cattle prod and rescued him, shocked at what Banno was doing. Banno told Krim that he was just testing out the Roidmudes' pain receptors, but a disturbed Krim refused to hear it and, after saving 002, criticized Banno for committing such a malicious act and ended both their friendship and partnership. Seeking to get back at Krim, Banno implanted an evil chip in all of the Roidmudes containing negative emotions.
Death[]
As a result of Banno's actions, the Roidmudes rose up in revolution against their creators. Banno was killed by Roidmudes 001, 002 and 003, who went on to murder Krim as well. However, Banno also secretly stole Krim's technology for uploading minds and, while his body was destroyed, he was able to upload his consciousness into a tablet computer that 003 had taken.
Return[]
Go later found out that the Roidmudes were in possession of his father's mind and decided to go undercover to save his father. He joined up with Freeze and Brain to get close enough to them to steal the tablet and, with help from Chase, he took Banno from Brain and escaped. Banno at first proved helpful to the Riders, assisting them in ways such as providing them with information and healing the infection Yukari had gotten from the Thief Roidmude. Upon discovering that Banno was back however, Mr. Belt immediately expressed his distaste for Banno and refused to work with him, surprising the Riders and the Special Investigation Unit.
Despite Go and the others' trust in Banno, it soon turned out that he was actually manipulating them to achieve his own ends. After gaining control of one of the Ride Boosters, he uses it to attack the Riders and trash the Drive Pit. Once Shinnosuke was kncoked off a cliff, Banno had his secret agent, Roidmude 004, steal the Drive Driver from him. Banno and 004 brought Mr. Belt to a secret hideout, where they used a makeshift lab to copy the Drive Driver's schematics. With the stolen data from Drive Driver, Banno was able to successfully transfer his will into a brand new Driver he called the Banno Driver.
Banno later approached Medic as she was trying to reach her Super Evolution and offered his help. When the Riders showed up, Banno possessed her to fight them but was torn off by Heart. Before Heart could do anything though, Banno shot out energy tentacles before slipping away. Roidmude 006 went after him with six other Roidmudes, but Banno tore out his core before possessing his body and using it to transform into the powerful "Gold Drive", demonstrating his power against the other Roidmudes and Mach. Faced by Go, Banno confessed that he never loved him and always saw him as a tool before departing.
As Medic was still seeking a way to Super Evolve, Gold Drive approached her again and offered to reset her back to before she healed the other Roidmudes so she could experience again the emotion that allowed her to evolve the first time. Medic agreed and allowed Banno to operate on her, but Banno secretly lobotomized Medic as part of his reprogramming in addition to giving her the ability to Super Evolve. With Medic as his puppet, Banno blackmailed Heart into submitting to him and became leader of the Roidmudes. In exchange for their obedience, Banno stated he would restore Medic and help Heart with his plans, noting that as Gold Drive he was the only other being capable of joining with them to complete the Promised Number. However, Heart worked to thwart Banno's plans by ordering Brain to go on the run so Banno couldn't use him to complete the Promised Number. Eventually though, Gold Drive and 004 were able to track Brain down. Brain voluntarily submitted to Banno and agreed to help him complete the Promised Number. The four Super Evolved Roidmudes all gathered beside a lake, guarded by Low-Class Roidmudes and Reaper Legionnaires. Gold Drive also sent out a tip to the SIU in order to lure them there so he could take out all his enemies at once. As the Riders fought the Low-Class Roidmudes and Reaper Units, Gold Drive joined with the other Roidmude executives to begin the Promised Number, using a device he devised purportedly as a stabilizer to ensure the Promised Number would go more safely. During the ritual however, Banno attempted to use Medic as a countercurrent for the excess energy, but Brain sacrifices himself to take her place and be destroyed instead. After the Promised Number was completed, Banno revealed that the "stabilizer" he used was actually his ultimate creation, Sigma Circular, and that the true purpose of the Promised Number was simply to power it up. With that, Banno exits the scene while 004 self-destructs to cover his escape.
Gold Drive and the remaining six members of Reaper Legion then took over the SDCC building, planning to use it as the point to stage a second, worldwide Global Freeze. The Kamen Riders stormed the building to stop Sigma, soon joined by Heart and Medic. After destroying the three Reaper Units guarding the path to Sigma, the Riders and Roidmudes are confronted by Gold Drive. While Drive, Heart and Medic went on to stop Sigma, Gold Drive faced off against Mach and Chaser. Despite the best efforts of the Riders, they were unable to stand up to the power of Gold Drive and were defeated. After knocking Chase into a wall, Gold Drive moved to finish off Go, but Chase got in the way and took the brunt of the attack instead. Fatally wounded, Chase attempts to self-destruct in order to finally defeat Banno, but Banno survives.
As Gold Drive mocked Go and Chase's sacrifice, a furious Go used the Signal Bike Chaser to become Kamen Rider Chaser Mach. Shocked that his son was able to obtain such a form, Gold Drive was unable to hold his own against Mach's onslaught. He attempted to paralyze Mach, but Chase's Chaser Viral Cores undid the paralysis by merging with the Rider's armor. After being beaten down, Gold Drive/006 was defeated by Chaser Mach with a Rider Kick, destroying 006's body and knocking the Banno Driver off him. Despite being damaged, the Banno Driver remained intact and Banno still existed within it. As Sigma began the process of converting every human being on Earth into data, Banno attempted to transfer his data to Sigma only for Go to go to finish him off. Banno pleaded with Go to spare him, saying that his genius was needed for humanity, but Go refused to listen. Unable to preserve his data in time, Banno was finally killed by Go using Shingou-Ax's Full Throttle to shatter the Driver.
Kamen Rider Outsiders[]
Despite his apparent demise, Banno was able to survive by somehow escaping into the Internet. He would later be given a new body as Bronze Drive by Foundation X, although he continued to call himself "Gold Drive." He later went to confront Horobi after discovering he was allied with Zein and easily beat him down. It was then however that Banno found himself confronted by Kamen Rider Zein, who overpowered him with the powers of various Kamen Riders before destroying his body.
Personality[]
“ | He is a monster, far worse than the Roidmudes you despise. The marathon of torture that man inflicted upon me...It has been burned into my memory... | „ |
~ Heart revealing to Go Shijima the truth about Banno. |
Banno is a narcissistic human being thoroughly convinced that he is one of the greatest scientists in human history, seeing himself as the closest thing to a god and being motivated by his desire to control everything. He repeatedly boasts about his genius and is unable to comprehend the idea that he is not as great as he believes himself to be, seeing all who refuse to acknowledge his greatness as idiots who need to be subjugatted. For anyone who thinks otherwise willing to go to petty lengths to punish them, such as having one of his creations assume the likeness of an entrepreneur who refused to back his research so he can get revenge by torturing him. When necessary, Banno is capable of putting up a charismatic persona to get people to work with him, though he always ends up revealing his true self eventually. While he has formed several relationships with people in the past, such as his friendship with Krim, these relationships would all fall apart in the end as a result of Banno's egotism. As his true self, when he's not putting up a mask, Banno is petty to egregious extremes, openly reveling in tormenting people. He is prone to taunts against those he sees as beneath him, even mocking Go by calling him the worst thing he ever created.
Banno's egotism is coupled with a lack of empathy or care for anyone who is not himself, be they human or Roidmude. He views others as little more than tools for him to use, even his own family, and even gleefully admits to Go that he always saw him as just a useful pawn. When it comes to human life, Banno is all too happy to throw the lives of others away so long as it brings him one step closer to his goal. His end goal involves the forced conversion of every human being on Earth into data, all so he can assert himself as the new ruler and "god". His ideal society is incredibly horrific, one where everyone is assigned a specific number and controlled by Banno through Sigma Circular, all so he can force everyone to bow down to him by only giving robotic bodies to those who will appease him
Ultimately, the only thing of value to Banno is himself, and he will allow hundreds if not thousands of people to die, including his own children, to fulfill his selfish desire to rule over everything without an ounce of regret. Even as he is pleading with his son not to kill him, Banno still uses the chance to boast about his genius, telling Go that by killing him he would "rob the world of its greatest scientific mind".
Quotes[]
“ | Go: I will defeat you, that is my duty as your son. Banno: Your duty as my son? What do you mean by that? Go: Don't you understand? It's because you are a traitor! Me and my sister, you betrayed our family's love! Banno: Family's love? There's no such thing. To me, a family is nothing but something to be ruled. There is no such thing as love. Go: Wait, then just what am I? What am I to you! Banno: Heh, isn't it obvious? You're a lab rat. You've been so much more useful then your sister. Even more than I expected. Is that all you've got. So frail! I take back what I said. Your time as a lab rat is over. |
„ |
~ Banno showing his deplorability to his son, Go Shijima. |
“ | ("Wait a moment!") Banno: W-wait up, Go! You cannot rob the world of my glorious intellect! ("You may go!") Banno: Go? Go: "You may go," right? Banno: W-wait, please, Go! Calm down! Calm down! Stop! Stop it, Go! ("Full Throttle!") Banno: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Go: Goodbye, father...to my sorrows... |
„ |
~ Banno's demise |
“ | This can't be... THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING TO ME! | „ |
~ Banno after he is murdered by Kamen Rider Zein |
Forms[]
Trivia[]
- Despite being the main antagonist towards the end, he is not the final antagonist. That role is occupied by his creation, the Sigma Circular.
- Continuing the Kamen Rider meets Knight Rider concept, Tenjuro becomes the K.A.R.R. counterpart to Krim's K.I.T.T.
- This is further noticeable in the fact that the colors of their respective belts LEDs are the same as their Knight Rider counterpart's Anamorphic Equalizers (Krim and K.I.T.T's are red while Tenjuro and K.A.R.R.'s are yellow).
- Banno using Roidmude 006's coreless body to transform into Gold Drive mirrors the 2008 installment of Knight Rider where K.A.R.R. assimilates agent Alex Torres in order to destroy K.I.T.T.
- Gold Drive is sometimes erroneously referred to as "Gord Drive" in merchandise.
- Banno's surname is a homonym of the Japanese word (万能 Bannō, lit."omnipotent"), alluding to his god complex and ability as Gold Drive to use others' attacks. If the order of the kanji in his surname is changed, it becomes another Japanese word (野蛮 Yaban, lit."cruel"), referring to his personality.
- Tenjuro Banno is considered to be one of the most hated characters in the Kamen Rider series for his narcissism and abusive behavior towards his son and the Roidmudes. As a result, his Pixiv page had to include a disclaimer asking editors to keep it neutral and avoid inserting hateful statements about him.
- Banno's deaths in his home series and in Kamen Rider Outsiders are karmic, despite having survived both instances:
- He abused his own children, including his own son. Banno is killed by Go in his last stand. In Surprise Future, he corrupted Krim that forced Shinnosuke to kill him with Shingou Ax. Go used the same weapon to kill his father in the same manner Shinnosuke forced to destroy the corrupted Krim.
- His physical abuse of Heart left the Roidmude a great deal of trauma, resulting him to grow hateful towards humanity. In Outsiders, Banno is beaten to within an inch of his life by Kamen Rider Zein, before being impaled from top to bottom. With Zein's human host being an alternate Yuto Sakurai, as his main counterpart is known for physically abusing his Imagin partner Deneb. In a sense, Banno ends up being the victim, with Yuto (and by extension, Zein) being his abuser. Zein's murder of Banno is arguably one of the most brutal scenes in Outsiders.
External links[]
- Tenjuro Banno in the Pure Evil Wiki.