[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

You basically described all the taisen movies. They're especially thin on stories and especially abundant on over-the-top action cramming in as many suits and shoehorned-in cameos as they can. My favourite of them is the Grand Prix one with Drive and Sangou, but that's not a great achievement. (It lead to the Yongou special though, which I liked a lot.) The Ex-Aid and Kyuuranger one was the last of these and I'm not sad to see them go, the budget is probably better spent elsewhere.

Oh, man, I don't think I even realized that Sangou was a Sentai crossover movie! I mean, they're in it for, like, a scene or two. Jeez. As much as I'm not a Sentai guy, I still feel bad if that's all their fans get out of these films.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

Also don't worry, I don't think anybody is going to lynch you for not liking Sentai! Even though these movies are hardly a good introduction to the franchise, I don't think you're too far off from how those shows work. Sentai as a whole is much more formulaic and even the most plot-focused seasons are more episodic than the average modern Rider show (I don't consider this a flaw, but it personally makes binge-watching them less appealing to me). That said, plenty of them, even the goofiest ones, have their moments of seriousness and deeper pathos.

Okay, thanks. I never felt like these were totally representative, but I thought they'd maybe get their hooks in me a little. They just, y'know, haven't.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

I'm sure you'll get thrown recommendations for Sentai eventually that will just be people asking you to watch their favourite shows (I was this close to just yelling 'hey watch the one that makes up my avatar') but it's fine either way, whether you eventually find something to stick with in the franchise or if you're a Rider fan first and foremost.

There will probably be a point where I'm like "Just tell me where to start with Sentai," but it's definitely going to be after the twelve full series (Zero-One I'm not going to be able to start until it's just about done, probably) I've still got ahead of me.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

I don't have much to say about the movie other than gigantic Ex-Aid is funny, and I'm glad it at least led to the Go-Rider miniseries.

I'll also bring up, since I didn't before, that the tournament structure had a ton of unrealized potential. The fights that were included were good, but it seemed like something you could've built the whole story around? I'm sure it's been done before (I think I saw that there's a Decade tourney film?), but, like, it works so well to build drama and maintain momentum. It's a good framework that they maybe half used.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I can't tell you if the goofy fun factor of a show like Kyuranger would ever click with you, but just like Rider, Sentai seasons actually vary quite a bit in terms of their style, tone, overall quality... you know, the works. So I guarantee you there's at least one out there you'd like.

I definitely don't want to paint every Sentai series with the same "do all these teenagers have concussions or what" brush. My experience with Sentai is limited (a few scenes per movie) on top of limited (a few series out of dozens). I haven't seen nearly enough to carve anything in stone. It's just been a weird experience of thinking each time, "Maybe this crossover is the one where I'll want to see more of them." And then, hopes dashed.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Of course, you've got plenty of Rider still left to work through, so I'll get things back to the subject at hand by saying I'm sorry for any whiplash you endured having the misfortune of watching Chou Super Hero Taisen directly after Heisei Generations.

I mean, the only person I can be mad at is Kamen Rider Die. I did it to myself.

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Originally Posted by barnstenchfartface

To be honest, I feel like sometimes knowing everyone can actually make the films worse. In Chou Super Hero Taisen specifically, the character they brought back from Ryuki is practically my favorite Rider character overall. Love that guy. Love the guy they brought back from Go-Busters too. But the film does nothing with the characters. Compared to good, involved crossover stuff like GoRider, it's just an absolute waste of the opportunity, and that frustration really drags the whole thing down (even beyond the bad plot and everything else). That's not uncommon for the Super Hero Taisen stuff in general. The other empty suits playing out pointless fight scenes don't fare much better still.

Oh, wow, good point. Even in Go-Rider (which I liked!) I was frequently thinking "Shut up, you other nerds, and let Baron talk!" If they'd brought, like, Birth back to be the green Go-Rider, and he didn't get much to do, I'd've probably thrown my TV out a window.

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Originally Posted by barnstenchfartface

As far as Sentai goes--one thing to keep in mind is that while there are definite tonal differences and just overall different structure to the shows, there's actually a fair bit of overlap between the staffs that make them. It's not huge overlap, but writers and directors don't necessarily stick to only one franchise. So if you're ever interested in checking out a Sentai, it may be worth looking into whether the people behind Riders you enjoyed have also worked on some Super Sentai seasons. For an example, I lurked the Ghost topic, and I noticed for instance that you really liked OOO--OOO's writer has also penned a number of Sentai seasons, and you'll find similar strengths in those shows even though the formula and overall dynamics of the series are much different.

So that's just a thought. Still, I'm also far more of a Rider fan and have waded only ankle-deep into the ocean that is the Super Sentai franchise myself. Especially with such a huge catalog of series in either franchise, I can totally understand the disinterest--I myself basically only started looking into Sentai seasons when my Rider watching hit a wall (lack of subs, mainly). But as Fish Sandwich said, as formulaic and child-oriented as it may appear, there's actually a lot of variety there. So just to echo some previous points--don't write it off just yet, but also certainly don't feel like you have to watch it.

Yeah, that's all fair. My intention isn't to, like, name and shame Sentai. I'll try and give a serious effort to understand it as a franchise. In the distant future, when I finish a Zero-One write-up (Hope it's good! Like the suits! Really, really don't want them to screw up on Valkyrie!) I'll probably append it with an ask for Sentai reccos. It just feels a little different from getting into Kamen Rider, but I'll talk about my Kamen Rider origin story some other time. Not that it's great or involved, but, uh, I really should get ready for work. Sorry, and thanks everybody for the feedback!