[Androzani84]

Sorry I missed this last week, I had a lot on my plate.But now, I?m back with my review of?

Engine Sentai Go-Onger 10 Years Grand Prix



Now like the Dekaranger one, I have a lot of fondness towards this one. In fact, I?ve got slightly more fondness for this one, because it got me to actually watch Go-Onger and added a new favourite to my list. It?s notably the only X Years After as of this post (the Hurricaneger 20th is also written by somebody different) not to be written by the show?s head writer (in this case, Junki Takegami). In this case, it?s written by Sho Aikawa, of Blade, Boukenger and Decade fame. And notably, it goes for a very different tone to a lot of the others.

For one thing, instead of being purely the characters looking back on their heyday before fighting a new foe, we get a new plot which instead takes a deconstructive lens to some of the newer Toku shows, with a lot of elements getting taken to the extreme. For instance, the first scene shows what happens in a world that has both an active police force dealing with perceived threats and vigilante heroes who don?t bother with a secret identity, both of which are pretty common in modern Kamen Rider shows. Said logical result?



As a result, our heroes have been reduced to hiding out in a detective agency based in a rundown loft. And then we get something of a commentary on while returning main characters are likely to be written somewhat in character.



?it?s pretty rare for the same to be true of secodnary characters, unless the writer actually wrote for their series of origin.









And yes, all of this does set up them reverting to their more familiar selves by the end. But more on that later.

And then we come to our next deconstructive element: A world that has some innovation that ours doesn?t that makes life easier (Enertron, Humagears, et al).





And unlike most series, where the fact the resource is a magnet for the bad guys goes uncommented on and unresolved, here the N-Chips are explicitly and evil plan to turn all of humanity into robots and a way of maintaining a police state. And the story ends with the heroes destroying them (and for a satire alert, the state of the art tech turns out to be old junk that?s been redressed)

And speaking of old junk, here we get to the antagonists of the piece. You may have recognised Dr. Maki and that teacher from Fourze who say ?bad boy? in the prior pictures (he?s also one of the Alternatives from Ryuki, but I forget which one and I refuse to rewatch the show just to check). Quelle surprise, they?re our antagonists for this.







And they contrast our previous antagonists from the show by being themed around electronic junk rather than pollution (with the plot even mentioning that eco products have rendered waste pollution a non-issue). And our bad guy Noizumi has an iPhone and a selfie stick as his weapons.





But in the midst of all this hoohaw, this flick does have what made the main show enjoyable, in the form of comically subverting expectations. For instance, when a character assumed dead turns out to be alive (something that a few people probably saw coming), you?d expect a heartwarming reunion. Instead, he gets a punch in the face.





And then we get our old villain gang back in the fun, and for once, we get an explanation as to why they?re back, as opposed to ?just go with it?.



And whereas Gokaiger had its heroes using the Mantan Guns with ease everytime they Gokai Changed into the Go-Ongers, here we have Aikawa pointing out the problem with that.



And aside from this, we actually have a pretty clever way of circumventing restrictions placed on the production. For reference, Reina Aizawa (the actress playing Saki) was allowed to be in this by her agency, but they didn?t want her wearing her old jacket, or filming a new transformation scene. As you?ve seen, they got around the first part by putting her in a business suit, but there?s 4 steps as to how they did the second part. Step 1: transform her into a mindless robot as a dry run for the villain?s plan (which helps establish the stakes as well).



Step 2: Have our female villain use her Morpher to fight off said robot by transforming.





Step 3: Have her friends break her out of the brainwashing by use of the power of friendship (with the existing stock footage transformation playing in the background, which makes for a good compromise, since she doesn?t look that different after 10 years)



Step 4: Have them pull her out of the robot and throw her into the Go-On Yellow suit (ejecting the current wielder in the process)



Though if I have one complaint about this, it?s the reveal concerning child character Souji. Towards the end, we get a flashback to the events of the first episode to retcon him into it. Which means I?m supposed to think that this clearly elementary school aged kid is older than he looks (though then again, there?s plenty of underage casting in modern Toku, so maybe that?s part of the who deconstructive quality).



And for a final point I?d recommend this movie for over others, we get a (admittedly, very brief) Mech battle. Complete with new combination. (Albeit one you can?t accurately recreate with the toys, unfortunately enough.)



Join me during the next week as I conclude this mini series of reviews with Kaizoku Sentai Ten Gokaiger.