Tenjuro Banno is the true main antagonist of Kamen Rider Drive and the creator of the Roidmudes, androids that possessed the ability to "evolve" and become more humanlike. He was a scientist who was Go and Kiriko Shijima's birth father and a friend of Krim Steinbelt. He is also the creator of a knockoff of the Drive Driver, dubbed the Banno Driver , which he uses to transform into Kamen Rider Gold Drive.
History
While he was working on the Roidmudes, their development became stunted. In order to fix this, Banno asked his friend Krim Steinbelt to assist him. Krim provived him with the prototype Core Driviars to assist the continuation of their evolution. However, when a businessman refused to provide an investment in Banno's research, he became furious and forced Roidmude 002 to assume the investor's appearance so he could torture 002 as if he was the real businessman. When Krim found out, he saved 002 and criticized Banno for committing such a malicious act, which ended up putting both their friendship and partnership to a close. Soon after, Banno implanted an evil chip in all of the Roidmudes containing negative emotions and secretly stole Krim's technology for uploading minds.
Banno's body was killed by Roidmudes 001, 002 and 003. He uploaded his mind into a tablet computer that Brain had taken.
When Go found out the truth, the Kamen Rider decided to go undercover to save his father. With help from Chase, he took Banno from Brain and escaped.
While at first he seemed helpful, it soon turned out that he was actually manipulating them to achieve his own ends. Gaining control of one of the Ride Boosters, he uses it to attack the Riders. Later, 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 tries to steal Medic's body when she attempts to reach her Super Evolution,, leaves her when he decides to use Roidmude 006's body, which he uses it to transform into "Gold Drive". Banno also reprogrammed Medic to be killed so his Sigma Circular could have a stabilizer. However, his plans are foiled when Brain sacrifices himself instead.
Banno later initiates his plan to start a worldwide Global Freeze. He fights Go and Chase while the Sigma Circular activates. However Chase attempts to self-destruct in order to finally defeat Banno.
Banno survives and attacks Mach. Mach used the Signal Bike Chaser to become Kamen Rider Chaser Mach, and starts to defeat Gold Drive. When Banno attempted to paralyze the Rider, Chase's Chaser Viral Cores undid the paralysis by merging with the Rider's armor. Gold Drive/006 was later destroyed with a Rider Kick, though Banno still existed in the Banno Driver. He was finally killed by Go using Shingou-Ax's Full Throttle to shatter the Driver.
Trivia
- Despite being the true main antagonist, he is not the final boss. That role is occupied by his creation, the Sigma Circular.
- Tenjuro Banno shares similarities with Isaac Ray Peram Westcott from Date A Live:
- Both are sadistic Complete Monsters,
- Both treated their own minions as pawns for their own ends,
- Both are former friends of the heroes's mentors (Krim Steinbelt and Elliot Baldwin Woodman),
- Both eventually gain their current forms (Gold Drive and Demon King).
- He is portrayed by Masakazu Morita, who is known for voicing Ichigo Kurosaki , the main character of the anime Bleach.