That would've been fun... but then you'd have to cut all of the Hiiro stuff. (Although, Hiiro loves cutting stuff...) The main problem this movie has is that the tournament part is all Emu, and the emotional throughline is all Hiiro. If you want more of one, you need to have less of the other. A tournament structure could work - and it would arguably work better than a movie with a unsympathetic victim and Here's Shocker I Guess - but... uh... hmm. I don't have anything after that em dash. I'd probably rather they devote a movie to a tournament structure, and leave the small story about Hiiro's icy demeanor to an episode or V-Cin or whatever.

I believe the Taisen movies were making less and less as their were being made. And it no wonder a common critcism was that there basically the same thing each one of these movies. Especially this movie seriosuly though Shocker again!? Like the other time had Shocker be there from the very beggining this one honestly felt like checking off a list of things to do. Like Rider and Sentai fight each other and Shocker needs to come back so we can have big battle withe explosions in a quarry. I'm honestly glad they pulled the plug on it souldn't get another big crossover until 5 years later with Super Hero Senki which from what I've seen has garnared a much better reputation than the Taisen movie.

That might also explain how Ex-Aid Lvl 1 defeated Dark Kabuto, Dark Ghost and Dark Drive!

Which: I was so happy to see the Lvl 1 form get so much screentime here. The Lvl 1 suits might be my all-time favorite Kamen Rider suits, and having Ex-Aid's be featured in the Debuting Amazon Riders fight was delightful. It's maybe not a substitute for Mighty Brothers XX (my all-time favorite power-up), but it's a bonkers suit to use for one of the marquee battles.

I think the reason youve had such a hard time "liking" sentai is that you never got into power rangers. For most fans at least, power rangers was the gateway, something cool and different from everything else, then we find sentai, which seems even better, and then rider, which is like the best. Rider is like sentais cooler older brother, pretty much kamen rider zangetsu, in terms of how well put together it is. So while most of us have progressively "leveled-up" from uninitated scrubs through the hallowed halls of pr and sentai to get to get to the creme de la creme that is rider, youve already aleady started with the best, so why would you settle for less (no offense to sentai or pr fans)? We mainly have a soft spot for pr and sentai bc most of us grew up with it, but i totally get why a rider fan would have a hard time getting into it.

You might be right! Nearly every Sentai fan does seem to have started as a Ranger fan. Still, I'm hopeful I'll find a Sentai series that'll help me appreciate the franchise. Unfortunately, it'll probably be Inoue's DonBrothers show, sooooo...

Lol, have you tried some of the earlier sentai, like the ones used for the disney era of pr? Like gaoranger, hurricanger, abaranger-gekiranger? They are a bit more serious, a little sharper with wiritng, and less bright colors and smiles. Especially timeranger, time ranger imo was a great season, really kept me on the edge of my seat.

And yeah most of us like sentai bc pr, even in its more serious moments had a lighthearted campyness that went hand in hand with the darker moments. Its a method that sentai "did" well in until like gekiranger, then go-onger forwards it was like a mixed bag lf goofy series, serious series, and more lighthearted fair. Its moreso the nature that sentai has its actors behaving like 5 year olds to appease a younger demographic, while rider has darker, more serious stories tailored to older youth. Pretty much like the metamorphosis of a toku fan from a puny pr fan to a fully hatched rider fan. (Not like shin tho, never like shin)

I mean, on Ex-Aid, you've got serious storylines like Hiiro's inability to move on from his fiancee's death and Taiga's guilt over his inability to spare Hiiro that grief... but it's also a show where one of the teammates is a video game mascot named Poppy Pipopapo. So, like, I'm okay with a certain amount of absurdity? I kind of require it? I'm sure there's a goofy Sentai show out there that I'll love, and it's bound to have some thematic heft to it, as well. Someday I'll find it!*

*March 6th, 2022.

There's always Jetman. It's the Sentai series that Inoue did serve as a head writer on and as an added bonus, the show itself is available to watch on Shout Factory's streaming app and website. If nothing else, it will give a good sense on how he works on Super Sentai and the show was made before he went on to work on the Kamen Rider franchise through Agito, a decent amount of Ryuki, Faiz, etc. And yes, I did got my start on Sentai thanks to Power Rangers.

And it's even (barely) a Heisei series! Definitely a possibility. Thanks for the recommendation/reminder!

So here we are, as promised, with something interesting to talk about.

Rather than a full montage, we simply go through the majority of the tournament subplot with a tournament graphic. And rather than just make up a bunch of lineups, there’s some actual thought put into them.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FLHGubBX...pg&name=medium

First up is Team Ex-Aid, which consists of a competitively balanced lineup, including Ex-Aid Robot Action Gamer (the melee fighter and the only way Ex-Aid can be considered a red hero), Shuriken Sentai Ninninger’s AoNinger (the magic knight), Zolda (the muscle), Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters’ Beet Buster (the brains) and Den-O (the guy itching for a fight).

Next is Team Dairanger… which is just the lineup for the Sentai series of the same name (to quote my dad when he learned that someone in my class, when asked to create a short script featuring a detective, used Shaggy and Scooby-Doo as the detective and assistant, “No imagination”)

Then it’s Team All Red Sentai, which is… exactly what the name implies. Consisting of Battle Fever J’s Battle Japan, Kagaku Sentai Dynaman’s DynaRed, Ninja Sentai Kakuranger’s Ninja Red, Mahou Sentai Magiranger’s MagiRed and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger’s Shinken Red.

And for a thematic match up, we have Team All Blue Rider, which contains Den-O Rod Form, OOO Shauta Combo, Wizard Water Style, Diend and Gatack (the first three are kind of pushing it here).

And now for the ones that don’t appear in person:

First off is Team Woman, which consists of Electro-Wave Human Tackle, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger’s HurricaneBlue, Bravo (yes, I know he’s not a woman, quiet you), Engine Sentai Go-Onger’s Go-On Yellow and Malika.

They’re up against Team Hikō (flying), who consists of OOO Tajadol, Knight, Skyrider, Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger’s AbareYellow and Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger’s Ptera Ranger.

For the next matchup, it’s Team Kosoku (high speed), consisting of Kosoku Sentai Turboranger’s Red Turbo, Drive Type Formula, Go-On Green, OOO Latoratah (the only one here who isn’t car themed) and Gekisou Sentai Carranger’s Pink Racer.

They’re facing Team Keiji (detective), who comprise Accel, G3-X, Denshi Sentai Denziman’s DenziGreen, Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger’s DekaYellow and JAKQ Dengekitai’s Heart Queen.

Up next is the rather more obvious Team Card, who comprise of Spade Ace, Tensou Sentai Goseiger’s Gosei Blue, Leangle, Odin and Decade.

Their opponents are Team Konchu (Insects), who comprise of Wild Chalice (a mantis), KuwagaRaiger (a stag beetle), V3 (a dragonfly), TheBee (a wasp) and MagiPink (okay, she’s a fairy, but she looks like a butterfly)

Then it’s Team Ninja, who boast ZX, Ninja Blue, Shurikenger, Hikari Sentai Maskman’s Yellow Mask and MomoNinger in their membership.

They face off with Team Dandy, consisting of Hibiki, Skull, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger’s KyoryuBlue, Wolzard Fire and Signalman.

And for a bit of a meta fight with the next matchup, we start with Team Jiro (a given name meaning “second son”), who feature Black, IXA, Shinken Gold, Seijuu Sentai Gingaman’s GingaBlue and GoseiKnight.

And their opponent is Team Takaiwa (a surname meaning “high rock”), which should make the theming behind these two teams more clear, as it includes Faiz, Denji Sentai Megaranger’s Mega Blue, W, Fourze and Gaim.

And for our final matchup, we start with Team Genm, who are literally the opposite of Ex-Aid’s lineup. They include Genm Zombie Gamer (Ex-Aid’s evil counterpart), Specter (a blue hero who debuted in 2015), Ryugen (a tertiary rider from a Rider Battle series who shares a Rider identity with someone else and isn’t what they first appear to be), Yellow Owl (who hails from an Inoue season to contrast Beet Buster being a Kobayashi season) and Momorenger (okay, there isn’t much in common between her and Momotaros besides the names).

And the final lineup is Team Fukatasu (revival), who feature Kurokishi Hyuuga, Ressha Sentai ToQger’s ToQNigou, Kamen Rider Nigou, Riderman and Kamen Rider Mach.

I’ll let someone else explain the significance behind the names and lineups, and instead ask “if this was an actual tournament, who would be your favourite to win?)