[Kiwami]

After the figure was announced I decided to give Kamen Rider J a spin. I went in without any expectations since I didn’t particularly enjoy ZO, which was my reason for ignoring J in the first place. But now that I watched it… I’m glad I gave it a chance. Spoilers ahead as always, but if you haven’t watched J yet I suggest you do!

For one, the suit design, props, sets and effects are top-notch. Like, damn. ZO already had some great stuff going on but J goes even further. It also might’ve helped that I watched the movie in 720p, this way I could really enjoy the details put into this movie.

The setup is very simple, but I think it works better than ZO did. For one we skip the boring character introductions entirely and go into the action almost right away, and the amount of characters is effectively reduced to two human protagonists and three / four antagonists, I think that’s perfect.

Yes they are all very bland but as far as characters for a 40 minute movie go? Not bad.

I like J as a Rider. "J Power" is a silly name but he has everything a classic Rider needs. And I think this more mystical approach works better than ZO’s "homo superior" thingy. The Rider suit is also better than ZO’s IMO. And Berry is really cute, even though he looks hideous and even scary at times

But the monster design is what takes the cake for me. "Agito" (heh) looks almost real at times. In the full shots it’s easy to break the illusion since a human on four legs in suit still moves like a human on four legs would, but in the close-up shots? This thing looks like a real dragon, holy shit. The other two aren’t bad either, although I already forgot their names. The woman one looks kinda cool with the mouth exposed in her monster form (I had to think about the Mouth of Sauron all the time) and the Cobra Commander (how could you not make this joke?) is pretty imposing. Especially in the close-ups with his moving eyelids and mouthpiece, that reminded me of Gills from Agito, in a good way. And all those little monster babies? Wow. I’m glad I grew out of my fear of puppets; this shit would’ve given me nightmares as a kid. Fog Mother herself or rather her ship is very cool too, I dig it.

Story is okay, it’s your basic "rescue the girl" kinda story with an environmental message through in, J is basically the Captain Planet of the Rider universe (I'm terribly sorry about all those shitty comparisons, I stop now), but it’s not too bad. The protagonist is enjoyable, and I believe the actor is the same who played the Red Ranger in Zyuranger? It kinda damned on me once they explained how the dinosaurs were extinguished by Fog Mother

And the action is awesome. Especially since we get both regular Rider-action and some delicious Kaiju segments, because as we all know, J can grow into a giant. I think this was executed very well, and J’s final giant Rider kick was awesome!

Music is good, sets the mood well without standing out too much. Except the song for the ending credits which I count as J’s theme, it’s very Showa and I love it because of that.

So all in all a very enjoyable movie. Again, I’m glad I gave it a chance; I can now fully understand why so many people in this fandom cherish it as their favorite among the three movies which closed the Showa era, it is really good. I’m thinking about going back to ZO and giving it another chance, but for now? J is fantastic and I love it. Good stuff!