[Kurona]

I thought The First was an okay movie. Nothing particularly spectacular and their version of Hayato is exactly what you'd expect out of an Inoue-written character around the time of Kabuto, but I think it's a perfectly serviceable reboot and retelling of the original story. There's some beautifully absurd choices like the Shocker Grunts' deaths updating the old cheesy 'bubble bath disappearing' special effects from the original show, and the use of Dr. Shinigami stock footage as the leader of Shocker that I can't help but smile at. I also distinctly remember coming away with it with a need to watch Spiderman 2? It very much belongs in that era of Superhero films! Not something I'd beg you to check out but if you're vaguely interested and have time to burn there's a lot worse you could do with your time.

The Next is the much worse thing you could be doing with your time. That's maybe slightly unfair as I'm a lot more into action, superhero and drama genres than I am those of J-horrors focusing on idols but Inoue's take here doesn't exactly do much to sell me on them, and I certainly get the feeling I'm looking at a particularly bad entry! It's again hard for me to judge but I absolutely could not get into any of its choices beyond a kind-of charming bit of characterisation from Hongou at the start, and Inoue's brand of directing and writing really does not fit this kind of movie. Something I could only ever recommend if, like, you've got OCD and it's bugging you that you've seen The First but not its sequel.