SHOWA VS HEISEI: Kamen Rider WAR talk up

[BLASTMATIC]

Anyone else noticed this?




Coincidence or fan-service?

Definitely fan service.

definately fan service ........ indeed

 

[Dr Kain]

If you have seen the last two Taisen movies, then you already know the plot. Evil villains make a plot to destroy world, both sides of the good guys have to battle each other, one of these heroes is pretending to work for the villain, but lackluster fight appears, the end. That is pretty much this movie in a nut shell. And if you are wanting to see the big fight against the two eras of the riders, you might as well just skip to the 90 minute mark of the movie for one of the most unexciting battles in Toku history. Add on top that the big bad villain is actually taken out by the ToQGers and KyoryuRed while Kamen Rider 15 doesn't even use half of his fifteen rider abilities, this movie just flat out sucks. The only Heisei riders to get any sort of screen time are W, Gaim, Kabuto, 555, and of course, Decade, while the rest are excretionly mistreated here. If you are a Kuuga, Agito, Blade, OOO, or Ryuki fan, prepare for major disappointment as each of them get maybe 15 seconds of screen time. If you are a Zo, Riderman, Super-1, Skyrider, or a Shin fan, expect the same amount of dismay. Overall, this movie just flat out sucks and is not worth sitting through the 98 minute running time. Go watch a good Toku movie instead.

 

[Scissors]

To be fair, how do you expect them to give 30 characters focus while trying to follow a plot?
If you ask me, the biggest mistake in these movies is that they have TOO many characters.
They should just include the characters, whose actors are available, and then focus on these.

This movie would not have been any worse if we had Gaim, Decade, Wizard, W, Faiz, ZX, X and Rider 1 as the only Riders to appear.
Heck, then we could actually have spend more time on building a better plot.

 

[NeonZ]

The only Heisei riders to get any sort of screen time are W, Gaim, Kabuto, 555, and of course, Decade, while the rest are excretionly mistreated here. If you are a Kuuga, Agito, Blade, OOO, or Ryuki fan, prepare for major disappointment as each of them get maybe 15 seconds of screen time. If you are a Zo, Riderman, Super-1, Skyrider, or a Shin fan, expect the same amount of dismay. Overall, this movie just flat out sucks and is not worth sitting through the 98 minute running time. Go watch a good Toku movie instead.

Why is Skyrider there? As a Skyrider fan, this was pretty much his best post series appearance. He actually uses two special abilities aside from flight and Rider Kick and beats someone else on screen! He also had three short scenes in the final battle, while several other Riders, like Shin, only had one. Of course, this just highlights how shafted he generally is in post series appearances. Even in the Super-1 movie, when he was the second newest Rider, he was sidelined. And by ZX he was apparently considered so unimportant they don't even give him a scene destroying a monster.

Anyway, Fourze also appears quite a bit for a suit-only Rider. There's the scene in the beginning, the battle against Fifteen, where he even references being Wizard's friend, he also appears attacking Badan's flying fortress with the Rocket Switch later on, and there's also a scene against Riderman in the final battle with the Gatling Switch. He also gets a quote in that shaking hand sequences at the end, and does his signature pose in the final scene while everyone else remains neutral.

OOO is shafted in comparison, but they still use the joke of his interrupted Rider Kick. Riderman, in the same way, although not getting much screentime, uses his Machinegun Arm on screen for the first time. There are several neat details thrown even in some small participations in this movie. Some Riders do end up completely shafted though, like Shin, ZO, Kuuga, Ryuki and Blade, but even "being shafted" here still means some quick fighting scenes with finishers or special abilities, like Shin's new energy claws. That's still significantly better than just appearing in the background or appearing to do punches and kicks like what they had gotten in previous crossovers.

This movie would not have been any worse if we had Gaim, Decade, Wizard, W, Faiz, ZX, X and Rider 1 as the only Riders to appear.
Heck, then we could actually have spend more time on building a better plot.

Well, I enjoyed the past Rider fanservice here and would miss it. Anyway, since it'd be a Shirakura movie, it'd still focus on hero vs hero, and giving excuses for that is where the movie is at its weakest.

There's also issues of actor availability - like how if you keep track of his appearances, Fujioka only appears on set with the other actors once - in that scene from the beginning of the movie with Kouta. Otherwise, he only appears in two other scenes, and both are by himself, with only suit actors. So, his role likely would remain restricted even if there had been less Riders in the movie. ZX's actor might be in a similar situation, although that one is harder to say for sure.

 

[Khaiden]

Rather than calling the old colors in the henshin effects fanservice, I'd say it's just them playing around with the mythology and further paying tribute to a great character, just like the new abilites X-Rider got and the appearance of Kaixa were to me.
Don't forget to see Fujioka's face during that second henshin to catch a glimpse of his surgical scars for a moment (which were only seen in the manga). Got that info from Igadevil.

If you have seen the last two Taisen movies, then you already know the plot. Evil villains make a plot to destroy world, both sides of the good guys have to battle each other, one of these heroes is pretending to work for the villain, but lackluster fight appears, the end.

I think Super Hero Taisen Z did not force the hero vs hero stuff as much as this, the first Taisen and Movie War 2010 did.

The only Heisei riders to get any sort of screen time are W, Gaim, Kabuto, 555, and of course, Decade, while the rest are excretionly mistreated here If you are a Kuuga, Agito, Blade, OOO, or Ryuki fan, prepare for major disappointment as each of them get maybe 15 seconds of screen time. If you are a Zo, Riderman, Super-1, Skyrider, or a Shin fan, expect the same amount of dismay.

They didn't get as much screen time because their actors weren't back. And frankly, every Rider except one, which I'll get to later, got an amazing treatment here. This is the best display of everyone's abilities, skills and unique mannerisms and fighting styles I have seen in a long time. Only thing that was lacking was the voice acting (and I'm talking about the Riders only, because Tomokazu Seki did an astonishing job as the Great Leader)... and well, there's a few OOC-ness from the Showa team, but if you go with the explanation ''We were just testing you youngsters, none of what we said was true, we are all as kind as we've always been and we just wanted to see if you were too'' then it doesn't feel as bad.

The Riders are all over the place for all of the movie. An example of them getting the shaft would be a Skyrider and a Super-1 in Movie War 2010; or all the previous heroes in Taisen Z; or most of the Riders in Let's Go Kamen Rider.

To be fair, how do you expect them to give 30 characters focus while trying to follow a plot?

They gave them great focus without to having to sacrifice the plot at all.
It's a terrible plot, yes, but that's not the point.
Look at how the movie just takes a long breather in the middle with Faiz and X-Rider, and even when that ends we get to see the explanation behind Shu's importance in this movie and his parents. Only until all of that is over do we get back to the action.

If you ask me, the biggest mistake in these movies is that they have TOO many characters.

Of all the films of this kind we've had in recent years (which have ALL Rider/Sentai/Superheroes/etc.) this is the one that has handled them the best. By that, I mean they don't wait until the end to have them all join together and have a fight that takes a short time and only highlights a few of them (like the past 2 Taisen films did). The fight in which all 30 finally teamed up against Badan was great, and they made sure to give every Rider a moment to shine, some of them even got to shine at some other point in the movie.

They should just include the characters, whose actors are available, and then focus on these.

They did it here and with great effect, without sacrificing the screen time of the others too much.

Why is Skyrider there? As a Skyrider fan, this was pretty much his best post series appearance. He actually uses two special abilities aside from flight and Rider Kick and beats someone else on screen!

Meh, I wouldn't count beating someone else on screen good since they're not really getting beat and it's an awful treatment for the Riders that are getting beaten.
Kabuto's Rider kick vs Stronger's Den Kick should have turned them both into lockseeds. But who am I to argue with this flawed logic when we also see Skyrider get blown up by Fourze just bumping into him, Fourze getting destroyed by ONE simple punch from J, and J by a single generic slash from Watermelon Arms?

Anyway, Fourze also appears quite a bit for a suit-only Rider. There's the scene in the beginning, the battle against Fifteen, where he even references being Wizard's friend, he also appears attacking Badan's flying fortress with the Rocket Switch later on, and there's also a scene against Riderman in the final battle with the Gatling Switch. He also gets a quote in that holding hand sequences at the end, and does his signature pose in the final scene while everyone else remains neutral.

As has been theorized by some, I think they wrote Fourze here thinking Sota Fukushi would be back to voice him.

What quote does he get at the end? If you mean the ''Tomodachi!'' I think that was Amazon.

Some Riders do end up completely shafted though, like Shin, ZO, Kuuga, Ryuki and Blade, but even "being shafted" here still means some quick fighting scenes with finishers or special abilities, like Shin's new energy claws. That's still significantly better than just appearing in the background or appearing to do punches and kicks like what they had gotten in previous crossovers.

I'd say only one Rider gets completely shafted.

Only two Riders do not get to hit a finisher at some point in the movie: Fourze and Shin. Unless you count that ambiguous defeat of Skyrider in the beginning as him hitting a finisher. Regardless, even if you don't count it like me, Fourze gets enough lines showing his unique personality and the fight with Wizard, Decade and W against Fifteen to make up for his lack of any finishers.

So, again, everyone gets to hit a finisher at some point during the movie except for Fourze and Shin. And since this doesn't affect the fact that Fourze gets good treatment in the movie we can just say that the only Rider who got the shaft here was Shin. Poor Shin.
All he gets are those neat green-slash effects during his brief highlight on the All-Riders fight scene.

There's also issues of actor availability - like how if you keep track of his appearances, Fujioka only appears on set with the other actors once - in that scene from the beginning of the movie with Kouta. Otherwise, he only appears in two other scenes, and both are by himself, with only suit actors. So, his role likely would remain restricted even if there had been less Riders in the movie. ZX's actor might be in a similar situation, although that one is harder to say for sure.

I think the fact that there are no other actors in the scene at the end was to give his transformation and presence a legendary feel. It's like the picture that was in the newspapers in which all the Riders are lined up, transformed, except for Hongo, who is at the center.

 

[NeonZ]

Meh, I wouldn't count beating someone else on screen good since they're not really getting beat and it's an awful treatment for the Riders that are getting beaten.
Kabuto's Rider kick vs Stronger's Den Kick should have turned them both into lockseeds. But who am I to argue with this flawed logic when we also see Skyrider get blown up by Fourze just bumping into him, Fourze getting destroyed by ONE simple punch from J, and J by a single generic slash from Watermelon Arms?

Well, they weren't really being blown up, just taken to Helheim. That scene still had more effort and unique choreography than anything else Skyrider has gotten after his show. Also, in the Fourze scene with J, it was actually a Rider Drill Kick from Fourze vs J's Rider Punch (it had lightning effects and everything, it wasn't just a standard punch). Gaim's attack on J also had some kind of shinning effect on his blade too.

What quote does he get at the end? If you mean the ''Tomodachi!'' I think that was Amazon.

It's right after the "Tomodachi", "任せろ/Leave it to me!". It's clearly the fake Fourze voice, and no other Riders around on screen at that moment have a similar tone.

 

[Ryuutaros]

You know what was missing? A scene where all the returning actors transform together at the same time. That would've been mind blowing. :shakefist

 

[Scissors]

I am still amazed that they actually made X Rider's transformation work from a long distance view. Old effects and everything.

 

[Dr Kain]

To be fair, how do you expect them to give 30 characters focus while trying to follow a plot?

I'm not saying they need to focus on them, I'm saying they shouldn't just have them throw a punch and then they are never shown battling again.

And when you have a villain that is supposed to have the powers of all of the Heisei riders, he should not be relying on the same 4 powers over again. They should have only had him have the abilities of the five Neo-Heisei riders as 15 was clearly too much.

 

[NeonZ]

I'm not saying they need to focus on them, I'm saying they shouldn't just have them throw a punch and then they are never shown battling again.

And when you have a villain that is supposed to have the powers of all of the Heisei riders, he should not be relying on the same 4 powers over again. They should have only had him have the abilities of the five Neo-Heisei riders as 15 was clearly too much.

Kouta got the power of all Showa Riders and only used one too... There was tie in merchandising for the movie with the Heisei and Showa lockseeds so they needed to be there... but they apparently didn't get enough budget to make many new Arms. The only new Heisei Arms here were Decade's and Gaim's (which has a reused chest, although the back and shoulders are different), the others came from Sengoku Battle. Still we did get Fifteen, in Decade Arms, using a Hibiki Attack Ride.