It is such pure fan-service, the amount of suits this movie has:

-Every Den-O form
-Zeronos Zero Form
-New Den-O
-The Gaoh suit, basically
-Every goddamn monster suit from the entire TV series
-Seven good Imagins
-Four good Imagins in their mascot disguises
-^^^^^^^^!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's insane, how dedicated this movie was to making sure everyone (except Altair/Vega fans) felt like this movie was for them.

You and this show certainly have a special connection!

If it helps, it's always really interesting to see the way you read into Den-O stuff specifically because it's often so wildly off from the way I look at it.

Final Countdown has never been some amazing, perfect film for me, but I do like it quite a bit, and think it nails what it sets out to do, for the most part. I view it as a sort of do-over after Climax Deka was a continuation that felt like a random bit of filler released way too late. Final Countdown has a whole thing going on where it's a movie focusing on Ryoutarou's future the way the first movie focused on his past, kinda tying them together a loose duology (or bookends to a trilogy! If we're feeling generous enough to include Climax Deka!)

Ryoutarou being possessed for so long IS inherently a bummer, but I see what the movie is going for with it; trying to emphasize how important his presence is, how you can't take it for granted anymore, and how it lets all the other characters that are basically never separated from the guy react to that. It has ~just~ enough merit that it doesn't really bother me, although I vaguely recall having to ponder that a while after first watching the movie.

I don't know, man – I guess I just like Den-O? Hard to be too disappointed by a movie that ends with an entire team of Den-O in every form all fighting bad guys together!

(Oh, and while I usually hope to come in with fun trivia, apparently there was a whole incident making the movie where Seiji Takaiwa collapsed from a lack of oxygen filming a really long take as Momotaros on a very hot summer day, so, uh... yeah, Final Countdown must've at least been a dispiriting endeavor for him, to be sure.)

New Den-O is my favorite. I love the dark blue they used and how the metallic parts seem like they aged giving a vintage look to it despite being new. Fun fact, Teddy's real name is Neotaros and was created after Kotaro hearing about Ryotaro's story. This is evident in the N-shape trims around Teddy's body. While Teddy's name invokes teddy bear, it actually derives from the word steady. The design and color scheme is intended to have a more futuristic aesthetic as well as to make a contrast between Teddy and Momotaros using the red oni and blue oni trope(personal note, some iterations of the Momotaro story seem to describe Momotaro facing off against a red oni and a blue oni).

I also really love Teddy and Kotaro/New Den-o. The design is fantastic and the sword is just the bomb.

Edit: Also I as Kotaro develops over the movies I really start to enjoy his character more, and his relationship with Teddy.

Also! I believe this was the first Toku movie I watched, way back when all this stuff was still available on Youtube before toei took all the fansubs there down.

Don't remember a ton about this one, but I'll give it a rewatch this weekend and get back with some thoughts.

The biggest thing I remember is how much it felt like Takeru Satoh already had one foot out the door. The Denliner gang is always fun, but it does feel weird to have Ryotarou sitting on a train for most of it.

Also, I love how there is absolutely no mention of Climax Deka and the whole time police set-up that it established.

Pretty much. This movie seemed like a send-off as they introduced Kotaro. Plus Sato's career soared to newer heights after Den-O with him being a regular on many successful dramas such as the manga to live-action adaptation Rookies, and more work started piling up for him so his career bulked up in a short period of time.

so a fun thing about Teddy is that the concept art of his weapon form (the Macheteddy) revealed that his working name was apparently Neotaros as the blade is labeled as the Neotaros sword. Making him one of 2 imagin that had their names changed after their designs were approved the other being Sieg originally being called the Swan Imagin

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...ncept_art.webp.

Yeah, the second half of this movie is pretty pretty fun. All them suits! All them catchphrases! All them finishers! So much of what you love about Den-O!

...which immediately reminded me of, like, a parent buying gifts for a child because the parent screwed up or wasn't around enough or whatever. All that fan-service felt a little like overcompensation for how Ryotaro didn't want to do this anymore.

I don't know! I got weird feelings about the disparity between what this movie is doing and what it's saying!

I wish I got a better feel for the Kotaro/Teddy relationship in this movie? It all plays a bit more like New Zeronos than New Den-O, which isn't doing a lot for the new kids. Like, I'm okay with you replacing Momo or Ryotaro; do not even try to replace Yuuto or Deneb.

Yeah, as much as I wasn't going crazy for the new additions, it would've been nice to have a scene, maybe, where Teddy and Kotaro sell their relationship to the audience.

Oh, man, what a crazy first film to see! I can't imagine it made any sense!

The construction of this movie felt very much like the producers were given a strict (and low) limit on the number of days they could have Ryotaro. He seems keen to move on, just like Sora.

Fun fact: It didn't, I'd just heard Den-o was good, and that's what Middle school age deep could find online so I watched it, and kind of understood it. I basically had no idea what was happening for the first half and was pretty confused most the time. I think I didn't even realize ryotaro was the main character the whole time I was watching. I do strongly remember new den-o debut with the timer and teddy, and the whole big everyone stand in a line and get ready to fight thing. Like those have been in my memory for a long ass time. Also that seen where ryotaro transforms into skull for the first time.

Understandable and all I can say for now is, don't give up on them yet. Without saying too much this movie is just the start of their adventure and there is a story for another day that hopefully answers that. Emphasis on hopefully as I will leave the judgement to you after you have engaged with said story.