[ZeoRangerV]

With ZX having a prominent role in the Kamen Rider Taisen movie and me getting his Figuart cheap last weekend, I decided to check out Birth of the 10th! All Riders Together!!

I started watching it on a really dated rip (no idea who subbed it, its been sitting on my hard drive for about 3 years) that had a short summary of the original Kamen Rider series with some narration that went a bit behind the scenes. It was pretty interesting to hear about some of the landmark episodes and the kind of ratings the show was pulling in, plus it provided me with this gem of a screen cap:



Oh Japan.

Moving on the the special itself, I switched over the MCS' better quality MKV. It was a pretty good special, but didn't really do much for ZX. His origin is completely glossed over in about 2 minutes, his personal supporting characters are paper thin and a fair chunk of the running time was either spent reminiscing on the past Riders or watching them fight. The suit itself was pretty cool, as were what little I saw of his powers. I should probably get around to reading the manga so I can see a bit more of him.

Badan was...generic evil organisation made up of reconstituted old suits. Kinda what I expected from a 45 min special to be honest. The Ambassador Hell/Darkness confusion gave me a chuckle though.

Before the age of yearly crossovers this must have been a pretty awesome thing to see, but now it's just kinda there. And its success kinda hinges on the crossover-ness of it all, since ZX doesn't really leave a lasting impression.