Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs Kamen Rider Drive 1-Hour Special Episode

[Toku Prime]

So a few weeks ago Drive is asked to do a flashy intro like Mach and he performs the Carranger pose, and now Red Racer's actor is turning up to play Doctor D? :laugh:

It was OK. I'm kinda glad we saw very little of Rider #3 and also that they made it different dimensions merging rather than just continue the "of course every super hero ever exists in the same universe but have somehow never heard of each other" routine. It helped it feel like they'd thought of how it would work as a stand-alone special episode, and not just as a 48 minute movie commercial.

There were some bits I really liked. Seeing the much more manouverable Roidmudes fighting against bulky Shurikenjin made that feel like something different to the usual obligatory mech fight. The more true-to-life reactions of a Sentai appearing in a world that had never seen them before was cool, and the conflict between Belt and Shinnosuke gave it a bit of meat. Plus we got an in-situ Ninninger rollcall for the first time (IIRC they've only used the one with animated backgrounds in their show so far).

It was kind of obvious this was meant to fit in last week, when the film came out and before Drive episode #23 (otherwise they'd undoubtably have been shilling that trio of formula support cars too). Although the tonal clash here wasn't as bad as between Gaim and ToQger last year, there were still occasions where I felt Shinnosuke was been "goofed up" a bit. And I can appreciate as others have said that seeing Shocker combatants yet again has stopped being fun.

 

[Wing Saber]

Regarding Shocker, I'd be right alongside you complaining about them being overused, but this (alongside Kamen Rider 4) is the first time I think they're getting how to use them. Rather than making it seem like they were completely destroyed and now return (only to be destroyed again 30 minutes later), both this episode and Kamen Rider 4 seem to be going with the idea that Shocker still exists in the background, in spite of the heroes' efforts, kind of like the role that Foundation X seemed to have but never went anywhere.

Shocker being portrayed like this is way better than before. To where instead of being destroyed over & over again, they went into hiding for 40 years until the time was right. Right now they've become a recurring threat that's so large that every hero has to band together to stop them. It's like what they doing with Hydra in the MCU.

 

[Liac0s]

When it comes to Shocker, I know it is annoying, but it's kinda hard not to use them for a 40 anniversary special... At least the story seems more than decent and it's something lazy. Though I will keep this into consideration till I see the movie.

 

[Clocktower]

This was a lot better than last years cross over. It didn't feel like it broke continuity, both shows meshed pretty well, it didn't interrupt the progression for either and we got some nice character bits for both Takaharu and Shinnosuke. Some of the gags were pretty funny too, I really liked the re-use of the "look, there's a giant robot!" scene and the episode overall felt like less of a blatant ad for the movie, it was mostly a self contained story that just left the question of Rider 3 open.

The rest of the Ninningers and Gou were slightly underused, but that's hardly surprising.

 

[PowerPhantom245]

I was surprised how well this special was written.
As much as I enjoyed last year special (since I enjoyed both ToQger and Gaim), it did felt bit cluttered and rushed.
The working together aspect could have handled better.

Despite not enjoying Ninninger (as of this writing), surprisingly they were written much better this time, where every one worked as a team and Takaharu wasn't too obnoxious compared to the show.
It wasn't perfect, where it did have its problems, but they were much more tolerable this time.
This may sounds shocking (and surprising), but I almost wished Sanjo wrote Ninnninger instead of Shimoyama IMO.
As much as I utterly loathe Kyoryuger, Sanjo has far more experience and potential for writing a character.
After all, I'm enjoying Drive (despite mixed feeling), where he did seems to learn from mistake (I think).
But that's another topic.

I like the setting, where it stated that Ninninger and Drive are from different dimension, which I thought it was interesting.
It's nice that it was explained this time, thanks to Belt and Rinna.
I really lol'd of how Shinnosuke assumed that Ninninger were Roimude.

The mech battle gag wasn't as funny as last year IMO, since Brain's been getting really annoying recently.
I have to admit, it worked much better last year because of Takatora!

There's more variety in villain this time which I liked.
It's nice to see Yuji Kishi (Red Racer/Carranger) reprise as villain, even though find his voice annoying though.
It was nice to see classic villains (Shockers) from the old series.

Nice roll call!
I like how Mach was standing next to Shiro (white), where it matches pretty well.

Seeing Kamen Rider 3 at the end (helmetless) was a nice surprise.
So badass IMO!

The only thing I really didn't like is that Toei seems to claims (I think) that this is part of the "canon" of the both shows, due to the fact it features Roimude which is a part of 108 and one of 48 Sealing Shuriken for Ninninger; unlike last year where it was pretty much standalone.
Now I have to watch this special (and movie), when/if I want to do marathon of the series.

Overall, this was a improvement from last year special, despite that Ninninger and Drive are inferior to last year shows.
The interaction between the team had improvement and it was entertaining.
Hopefully, this will be yearly special and looking forward to how next year would turn out.

 

[Captain Shark]

So lets see:

-Kamen Riders all take place in the same universe
-So does Super Sentai
-By extension so does Metal Heroes and Kikaider
-Suddenly confirmation about main shows in alternate dimensions (Ninnger); Decade does not count

Anyone want to bet that Toei will forget this and screw up the timeline again in a year?

 

[Undrave]

So lets see:

-Kamen Riders all take place in the same universe
-So does Super Sentai
-By extension so does Metal Heroes and Kikaider
-Suddenly confirmation about main shows in alternate dimensions (Ninnger); Decade does not count

Anyone want to bet that Toei will forget this and screw up the timeline again in a year?

Don't worry about canon, TOEI clearly doesn't worry beyond VS movies and a serie within itself.

 

[NeonZ]

So lets see:

-Kamen Riders all take place in the same universe
-So does Super Sentai
-By extension so does Metal Heroes and Kikaider
-Suddenly confirmation about main shows in alternate dimensions (Ninnger); Decade does not count

Anyone want to bet that Toei will forget this and screw up the timeline again in a year?

It was stated in both SHT and Gaim vs Toqger that Rider and Sentai are different worlds. This is just actually using that as a part of the main premise, rather than only a throw away line.

The Ninninger are having the previous Ninja Sentai and Goranger appearing in their tv show itself due to anniversary stuff (although they actually appear before the special episode itself).