[DreadBringer]

So the Geats x Revice movie is discussed here.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Oh, for sure. I'd've loved to see any of the Phase 1 ladies back again, even if it's just to shove a guard or provide moral support. Luckily, I think Mari ended up in Outsiders, and you can blink and Naomi'll show up in something. I think my biggest wish is to see Kohana reappear, because now she's just Hana's age? Or older, I guess?

Hana's (adult) actress Yuriko Shiratori retired cuz of a burnout, they're pushing her too hard to make her a big thing like Takeru Sato, but she couldn't take it. And now, Kohana's actress Tamaki Matsumoto also has retired as well. Man, a Den-O talk happens here, so the reason for me to refer to Mei Hanakawa's character as Aguilera.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER GEATS X REVICE: MOVIE BATTLE ROYALE

I liked the individual components well enough in isolation. Revice got to tell a story about the ways families change and grow without losing their power or substance; and Geats got to tell a story about the difference between fighting for a reward, and being rewarded for fighting. Those are perfect themes for each section to explore, but they never really add up to one complete story. The Revice part just feels like a prologue for the Geats part, and the Geats part barely feels like a Revice story. They don’t… they don’t mesh, really at all. Honestly, the Geats part gets more juice out of its Very Special Legend Rider Guest Stars than it does Ikki and Vice, who are mostly treated like a MOTW victim to be saved.

The Revice portion feels similar to Battle Familia where the focus is saving someone to prove a point, like the pregnant woman in the former, but Koshiro in this one - so Koshiro is more of the MOTW victim, but not a stranger for the cast. Koshiro's demon has carefree and perverse traits, but dunno what's the thematic in his personality relating to Koshiro. And of course, the Ryuki part is only mostly about them being some extra muscles to fight for both Geats and Revice cast... with even less moments of them interacting unlike Revice cast. Ren's hairstyle here is closer to the original than the RT Ryuki one though (should be like this if he'd cosplay Geiz). Perhaps more time can be used for those rather than the Baridero and Izangi fight. Otherwise, Keiwa claims that the Ryuki Riders are way too strong, but it felt like shafted (as per female Rider) when Jeanne feels weaker against Knight compared to others to have her being down (to the point that Na-Go can't rescue her in time to escape elimination) due to Guard Vent alone.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Like, the Ryuki cast makes perfect sense in the back half of the film, as a way of contrasting Ace and the gang’s motivations against those of the villains from Ryuki. Ace fights to achieve a goal, while Asakura and Ryuga fight for pointless things like Power and More Fighting and Destruction. They’re destined to lose to heroes like Revi and Geats, because they inherently lack the vision of a world beyond survival and death. In the most delicious irony, Seeker is a construction-themed villain who doesn’t know how to build a better world. The thematic coherence on the latter half of this film is Geats in its goddamn zone.

Felt that Ren and Asakura's wish are similar to Geats cast's, but in general form. Ren is "the power to destroy a̶l̶l̶ ̶K̶a̶m̶e̶n̶ ̶R̶i̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ everything" (general version of Michinaga's Kamen Rider exclusive). While Asakura's wish is "fight i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶D̶G̶P̶ until the day I die" (general version of Ace's DGP-related first wish). It also feels smart to pair Ryuga with both Keiwa and Daiji - Keiwa's actor is named Ryuga Sato, and Daiji has dark twisted version of his personality in Kagerou like Shinji's Dark Shinji. Ren turns out to only joined the war to retrieve Shinji back, but I wonder what'd Ren do if he somehow won and get said wish. Geats' lesson is that no wish are pointless though... even if you feel that at first glance - cuz as said above Ace's first wish sounds like Asakura's. And so I now understand why people think Powered Builder Buckle is on higher level like Feverslot, because Seeker is really a huge threat with it in this movie, can building off anything to control the battlefield or preventing the rip from closing, though I'd just deem Powered Builder as another Large Raise Buckle that feels OP in debut like Ninja and Monster, albeit it may be due to seeker's compartibility with that?

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

(Even the Desire Royale stuff is typically smart commentary from Geats. The Desire Grand Prix represents the way culture and influence commodify our desires; how they sell us our dreams and profit off of our hopes. The Desire Royale is that concept curdled into nihilism: the way hollow, pointless entertainment tells us that hopes and dreams are ridiculous notions in a world of abject cruelty. Also, Tsumuri looks great in her redesign.)

The given detail was that Takahashi stated Colus's purpose was to clarify Girori's standing position and the original purpose of the DGP. Here the DR is really about killing off other competitors... I thought regarding original series it's just that the Riders have more freedom to attack each other, but it's still about performing the best on the games. Kaima/Seeker got talked out by Ace to have a desire separate from his corrupt father Eiichi's obligations, but Ikki didn't take part of this as well of Kaima being about an abusive family who puts pressures on him. With the time of the movie's release, Girori is made less hidden that he said "for now" of being their allies, but is still being a concierge. Here Girori is shown to be a fighter to win a katana duel with Colus, so he's not only carried by Glare's power, though that's not enough to beat Geats, Tycoon, and Na-Go ganging up on him. George here is like the commentator among Tsumuri, but he should be like the audience members (I do feel early George vibes from both Ziin and Kekera) who aren't touched upon yet in Geats at this time iirc. No explanation yet on how George became Kamen Rider fan, because this is the helpful self from middle of the series.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The Revice bits, though… I just wish they felt less perfunctory, or irrelevant? The cast integration is pretty fun, but Ikki and Vice’s story only ever feels like a runner, and the circumstances of Vice’s resurrection and disintegration lack the compelling details that help make it all feel less authorial in its payoff. Vice comes back because Ikki will do anything to save his family? Fine. I get that Ikki can’t miss a partner he doesn’t remember, but it still sort of sucks that Vice’s big return has such an Any Devil In A Storm feeling to it, instead of an Ankh-esque reunion moment. But Vice leaving again because it was a limited-time miracle? And Ikki’s going to lose his memories again, despite that only ever being a thing from the last contract? It never comes off like an established turn in the story, just a contrivance to put Revice back where the movie found it. I mean, why can’t Ace’s wish be that Vice sticks around? Why vanish Vice for a second time, when you could leave Revice fans with a happy ending? It feels forced, and it’s hard for even a Revice fan like me to defend.

Your complaint here happens in main series such as W's ending of Philip returning. It was said that Vice (and likely Vail) are still dormant inside of Ikki, though it was never stated how to bring him back, albeit this one just feels easier. N̶o̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶l̶a̶i̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶e̶i̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶h̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶t̶a̶i̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶m̶e̶m̶o̶r̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶e̶i̶t̶h̶e̶r̶.̶ With Hiromi saying that Ikki's power as Revi would be halved without Vice, it feels like a missed opportunity for a reasonable excuse to downgrade a final form to base form (Geats MagnumBoost) of the current Rider honestly. About Ikki's fighting, it's shown that Ikki can fight on equal footing with Ace in both of their base forms, of which Ace has shown to punch above his weight class multiple times, though in his own series. Are Revice's Riders just stronger than Geats' in general by this, or it's explained by Ikki fighting Azuma (not Buffa, but Daimon) who also has lived for thousands of years before? Ikki also can keep up with Ace using Command Twin Form, using a Propeller and a Large Raise Buckle, unlike Michinaga did in ep. 15.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

At least Neon and Sakura got to hang out, though!

Felt like a deliberate contrast that, in Revice, Sakura had a family member who is a streamer, but in Geats, Neon is the streamer herself. Both are also tertiary Riders who are also female leads (yeah, it's not Tsumuri for Geats), but Sakura is already a capable fighter who became a Rider relatively later, while Neon is a newcomer who become a Rider right off first episode (earliest female Rider debut) and thus has to learn and grow, and Sakura has an ordinary family, but a harmonic one, with Neon having a wealthy family, but dysfunctional one. Their chase scene is a play of a cop chasing a cat burglar, and though it's something comedic, it's still not a good thing for Neon to cause some mess, albeit not unfixable one (or likely also knowing that Sakura would fix those), to slow Sakura down. Same goes for Sakura's abuse on Genta early on, or for Ryuki, what the cast did on ep. 30 for gags of stealing to sell or causing a mess respectively. Medias can play off comedies as if they didn't do anything wrong as it's just for laughs, though these aren't a recurring trait that happens constantly (other than Sakura's), unlike for example, an anime that push the narrative of someone being good and pure but is a tsundere who frequently abuses certain someone with them being viewed on the right consistently.