Kamen Rider x Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen (2012)

Captain Marvellous, the leader of the pirate themed Gokaiger sentai team has seemingly gone bad and teamed up with the Dai Zangyak organisation which consists of the most memorable villains to ever face the sentai teams in order to wage war on the Kamen Riders. His fellow teammates doesn’t seem to understand this term of events. KR Decade meanwhile has also teamed up with the Dai Shocker group as it’s leader to destroy the Super Sentai teams. Past and present Riders and Super Sentai teams are caught up in the conflict amidst some confusion as to why this war has been started. Each leader insists that in order for their respective teams (super sentai/rider) to survive the other must be destroyed. Is there a hidden agenda used by both Marvelous and Decade which would explain why they’ve turned bad and could it be that they are being manipulated by Dai Shocker and Dai Zangyak for their own nefarious needs?

If you didn’t already know this, there are basically 2 superhero franchises over in Japan which has been entertaining kids for well over a quarter of a century – Super Sentai (better known in the West as the various Power Ranger teams) and Kamen Rider. There have been various crossover movies in the past featuring 2 super sentai or 2 riders teaming up to defeat evil but never before has there been a movie where both franchises come together in one movie to duke it out. Depending on whether you’re a serious fanboy/fangirl or just a person that occasionally dips in to both franchises there’s much to enjoy in this movie. It’s a lot of fun and I thought it was even better than the All Riders vs DaiShocker movie. You’d think that both sets of fans would lap this movie up and although it did extremely well at the Japanese box office there’s been a mixed reaction from them. A lot seem to be confused as to why Captain Marvellous (Red Gokai) would team up with his sworn enemies to take on the Riders. I completely understand with Tsukasa aka KR Decade as he’s a total badass and it’s something he’s done before. There’s also the fact that because there’s over 200 heroes filling the screen that it was hard to give the majority of them any decent screen time. Another complaint is why doesn’t any of the Super Sentai teams apart from the GoBusters use their mechas to take on the Big Machine at the movie’s climax. That’s a fair enough comment I thought. As I’m unfamiliar with what happens at the end of both Gokaiger and KR Decade series I can’t say anything on the plotholes that came with the story which made it a real mess in the fans’ eyes. It’s quite a simple story as such with 4 characters from various series trying to figure out why Marvellous and Decade have gone rogue. It didn’t really matter to me that apparently some roles were totally out-of-character from who they usually are. All I saw was an epic movie that delivered on cool cameos, some time travelling courtesy of the Den Liner and plenty of action/fight scenes. The acting by everybody including the camp villains was good. The big rumble which sees the heroes squaring off against the villains was a bit too short for my liking but I still came away feeling very satisfied and happy after the movie finished. Hell, I even thought KR Fourze was less annoying than usual in this movie!

If you’re prepared to ignore the so-called apparent flaws in the storyline as pointed out by hardcore fans and take the movie on face value alone there’s plenty of fanservice here to really entertain you. I loved it and thought it was one of the best tokusatsu movies I’ve seen in a while. Recommended.

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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GoRanger vs JAKQ Movie

The evil alien syndicate CRIME led by Iron Claw and his 4 trusty lieutenants having been defeated by JAKQ reform once again to threaten the planet Earth and Japan. This time they plan to bomb 7 cities and watch the devastation from Earth’s orbit before returning to rule. But they can only do that after they’ve defeated the Super Sentai team JAKQ (Jack, Ace, King, Queen – their helmets based on playing cards motif). CRIME are also launching their offensive on different continents but combatting them are other units such as Kikaider and Kamen Rider. When the body of a CRIME prisoner who tried to escape washes ashore on the Japanese mainland, JAKQ is sent to investigate but find a mysterious woman also taking photos of the scene. When she is stopped by the team they find out she is a member of the sentai team Goranger. Both sentai teams decide to join forces to destroy CRIME once and for all. CRIME are planning on dropping their Citybuster bomb on various locations around the globe which includes London and New York.

Released way back in March 1978, this was the first Super Sentai movie to crossover with 2 different teams. Goranger was the first Super Sentai series to air in Japan in 1977 with JAKQ the 2nd appearing a year later in 1978 so it made perfect sense to get them to appear together to appeal to fans of both series. It was nice to see the beginnings of the sentai era. Though the movie doesn’t have wall to wall pyrotechnics that the newest sentai movies have these days, it still contains a healthy dose of action and explosions to satisfy any sentai fan.

No trailer but I’ve put the first part of the movie up

Sadako’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Chouriki Sentai Ohranger The Movie (1995)

4 children are snatched by the devious Machine Empire Baranoia robot organisation. After being dumped at their base outside in the wilds, the children are ushered into a van with the promise that they’re off to a movie studio and have the chance to be movie stars themselves. This is just another scheme by Baranoia in their quest to rid the Earth of humans and replace them with robots and a chance to finally get rid of the Ohranger team. The Ohranger team are alerted to the kidnappings and manage to find the fake movie studio. This is a trap however and with the children now shifted out of the studio by van to Baranoia’s base in the countryside the attack on Ohranger can begin. With the Ohranger team busy tackling Baranoia’s lackeys, the real purpose of what awaits the children is revealed. Their limbs are to cut off and replaced by cybernetic ones. The Ohranger team meanwhile have finished eventually to wipe out the Baranoia force in the fake studio but find out that what they thought were machines are in fact humans that have been altered and given a robotic mask. Receiving instructions from their base, the Ohranger team rush to Baranoia’s base to rescue the children but find their army of goons waiting for them. Can they get to the children before Baranoia start cutting off their limbs?

I’m still surprised just how violent these kind of movies are in Japan. Take this scene for instance coming near the climax of the movie. The 4 children are made to witness a brutal act by Baranoia as a man is strapped into a chair and has his legs cut off by an axe wielding robot. Although you never witness the act itself you can hear the axe cutting something and the horror on the children’s faces says it all (and they say this movie is aimed at kids!!). Could you see that scene being shown on US and UK TV? Not a chance. You’ve got to remember that all Super Sentai programmes shown in the West has been heavily dumbed down for reasons unknown. They obviously don’t want the little ones to be exposed to death and violence. It hasn’t harmed any Japanese children or adults who continue to watch these shows every year. A hugely enjoyable movie considering that the series is reported to be poor (I can’t comment as I haven’t seen it).

No trailer but a clip from the movie

Sadako’s Rating: 3 out of 5

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