This comment fermented like hot milk, huh. :lol

Ultimate Dark Mode's finisher reminds me of Squall's Blasting Zone!

Written by the man who started it all, Hayase Masato!

I'll have a lot to say about this one, since I can refer to my review of it here from 4 years ago.

listen

Shining Finger Sword for me.

Okay that's actually pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW4QlT6OfXw

Did you know that this movie was actually available to English speakers via Netflix up until very recently?

And on one hand, while it is cool that something BIMA related was brought overseas, man, I can only imagine how confused anyone who consumed this as their first bit of BIMA content must've been.

Because this movie very much assumes that the viewer has at the bare minimum seen all of BIMA-X, as it casually flashes back to a bunch of big, spoiler-ific moments from the show. And not only that, but what is probably the biggest emotional crux of the movie won't hit nearly as hard without prior context.

The biggest sin of the movie though, I feel, is that it is very much meant to be a bridge between BIMA-X and a third BIMA show that never came to be, and at this point sadly likely never will. The after credits scene all but confirms it too, what with the appearance of an all new Satria like how new Riders used to premiere for awhile during the Neo-Heisei Era of Kamen Rider.

The pacing and flow of the film is weird too. It's essentially three episodes of BIMA-X glued together into a feature length film. To the point that all three acts of the movie have different title cards(with "Revenge of Darkness" being the final one). And let's just say that the transition between story beats and moods of the three acts isn't exactly the smoothest; with the very somber and melancholy atmosphere of the second act being the biggest standout.

But, despite all of that, I did enjoy this film for what it was.

Despite me not having a big gap between this and BIMA-X like how I did between, well, BIMA-X and BIMA, it was nice to see a reunion of the cast. The visual effects were even better than what was in BIMA-X, and the final act did feel appropriately epic for a final battle, especially given who's involved. And speaking of that, the big star of this movie is very much Iron Mask, or as he's know here, Osiris. Or, if you want to go by his name back when he was human, Wira.

I was really into that middle act, which is all about Iron Mask reminiscing about the events that lead to him becoming a Satria filled with hatred. Long story short, it's the tale of a boy getting in way over his head, and never getting the chance to learn how to process his emotions and move on from his pain; Only ever running from it via pointing the finger at others. What happened was a freak accident, but Wira was never able to let that pain go. He somewhat mirrors Reza in that regard, but Reza eventually allowed his family to help him, while Wira never did. And it eventually lead to Iron Mask being the very evil he felt he was fighting.

Seeing everyone else in the movie is great too, of course(even if Reza's' appearance is never properly explained), but man, Iron Mask really did just steal the show here.

In the end, it's not a perfect movie. Heck, it's not even a perfect three episodes of BIMA-X, let alone a finale. But as an extra piece of content from a tokusatsu that I've grown to love over time?

Yeah, I'm more than satisfied with it.

Yeah, I'd say the highs of this movie didn't quite reach some of Bima-X's best moments, but there's still a lot of fun stuff here. The Iron Mask backstory was surprising but welcome to witness. And there's just some fun stuff all around.

Pacing issues and minor random bits I'm not sure why they threw in aside, this was a pretty fun time. It's basically Bima-X but in more high quality and that's nice. Also it's a dang shame the live action stuff just never did continue cause the new suit they made looks so sick.

The origin of the Iron Mask was beautifully shot. But I also enjoyed Dimas' adventures in Japan. And in general, purely visually and in terms of action, the film is a real feast. By the way, about the new Satria: he really doesn’t have a show, but the first episode was still filmed. Are there any plans for a review of it?

True, but the biggest factor is still your current peak in your capability, not going beyond it.

What are they expecting as Super Kranions are created from humans, or if it signifies them canceling Super Kranion project. Seems they also got another martial artists like Nico to make more Super Kranions. Topeng Besi is being a Starscream to want to backstab Black Lord.

Wait, you mean they took it down? That sucks. Netflix was a great opportunity to introduce Satria to the west, so now I'm concerned about it fading in to obscurity once more.

A third Satria show, but not Bima-focused. Satria Naga Kai, who as Mesnick mentioned above got exactly one episode. Then the staff basically decided, "screw this Tokusatsu, we'll make a Bima animated series and call it Bima-S instead". Maybe DreadBringer can explain a little more about this when he catches up with the thread.

The Movie War format is actually one of the things I thought was pretty cool and unique about this movie! I suppose the tonal clash is kind of hard to get around when you have to switch from Dimas' comedic Japan adventure to Wira's tragic road to evil, but I could argue that it keeps the movie fresh and interesting, which is the appeal of conventional Movie Wars like Ultimatum and Megamax for me. The transition between thirds also led to that cute humorous moment of Ricca angrily stabbing the Torga-shaped icing due to Dimas leaving her behind in Jakarta. :lol Imagine how mad she'd be if she knew about Saeko crushing on him!

It was awesome to see Ray's return by throwing his cloak! Uh, what did you think of that weird Ray/Rena scene though? Feels like Hayase had some unfinished business there.

The entire climactic fight sequence of Bima-X, Azazel and Torga VS Osiris was amazing from start to finish. We get the return of Ultimate Dark Mode, a bullet energy finisher, Satria Naga Kai showing up to buff the heroes while promoting his non-existent upcoming show, Osiris trying to drop the Revenge of Darkness in the cauldron, a new griffon mount made from the combined spirit weapons and the triple Satria finisher in the apocalyptic sky above Jakarta!

I certainly wasn't expecting to get a whole episode-length story about Topeng Besi's tragic backstory, but after all, he is the franchise's most iconic villain and I have to appreciate how this movie is as much an encore for him as the main characters. As exciting as that Torga VS Evil Torga fight was, this movie really brings to the foreground his rivalries with the 3 heroic Satrias and that just feels right, especially after seeing the aforementioned tragic backstory that spawned his undying hatred for them.

The plot of Wira training to surpass Torga Legend so he can get revenge on the monsters who orphaned him and Arsya reminds me of the Oni from Hibiki, with the message about using your powers for good and not becoming consumed by hatred, which escalated during the events of this part after Wira recklessly borrowed Torga Legend's Power Stone (which is ridiculously still called Oranye, even though this is in the ancient past!) to become Torga himself, causing the death of Arsya. His hatred was then misdirected to the Satrias when Noir refused to let him bring back Arsya from the dead.

In his defense though, Torga Legend was kind of unsympathetic for coldly demanding Wira to give him the Power Stone and Arsya, while he was grieving for the only loved one he had left. Noir deciding to lock him up outside of time for millennia was maybe also detrimental to his mental health, but I can understand why Noir did that after years of fighting him, since he was clearly a severe danger that needed to be taken care of quickly. I liked the cool detail of how their fight resulted in Evil Torga having the cracked visor.

According to the wiki, Reza was revived as a darkness construct by Power Stone Hitam after Black Lord destroyed his body, so it seems that he can no longer hang around for too long or he will die again. Honestly, I'm surprised by such a bittersweet ending, but I guess, other than calling Master Green's miracle delivery service, it makes sense that Reza can't just be brought back fully after what happened to him. Seems like both he and Ray have come to terms with it though, which is a small consolation.

Dimas got to fight ninjas, so that was cool!

It was subbed by FlameSubs and I did watch it a few years ago. Definitely feels like the Kamen Rider ZX of Satria.

Absolutely. Would love to see the timeline where Satria Heroes becomes a big name franchise.

For sure, the cinematography was on point.

I feel it's moreso signifying how it's a bad idea now, yeah. I don't see them making any more Super Mooks in the future.

Perhaps one day we can see a company like Discotek bring the franchise over to the west. Would love that.

You know? Thinking of the movie as a Movie War film isn't a bad idea. I might adopt that viewpoint.

I'd like to pretend that scene didn't happen, thanks.

Oh yeah. While the consequences of Wira's actions were understandable, they definitely didn't do much in inspiring him to turn his thinking around, that's for sure.

Interesting. My interpretation was that Reza's' soul had become one with the Black Power Stone, and as such he could only manifest for brief periods of time. Seems I wasn't too far off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu46afed5Ao

This is a pilot episode for a Satria show that never was.

And it really disappoints me that, atleast from what little I've looked up, that the show got stuck in development hell before getting canned.

Because really? I had alot of fun with this pilot. The Naga Kai suit is really cool, and I love the card gimmick. And from what little we see of him, Furio seems like a likable lead hero.

A big shout out to the opening sequence though. The song itself is catchy, yeah. But man, I really dug the visuals. That shot of Furio walking towards a Jakarta under siege, all while meteorites rain down from the sky? Man, I absolutely adored it.

Such a shame that this is how the Satria Heroes saga ends, but I suppose if there's any sort of silver lining, it's that it leaves alot of room for fanfics, assuming you're into those.

That was a pretty neat pilot episode, shame we never ended up getting the series.