[Androzani84]

Here we are again, with another instalment of

Androzani’s Tsukai Detour

And this week, we’ll be covering…

Kyukyu Sentai GoGoV Vs Gingaman

(There’s no title card image this time, due to me missing the timing. There is this though)



Since I already did the majority of GoGoV’s cast last time, I’ll be using the slot here to cover those who didn’t appear in “Clash! The Brand New Super Warrior!”

Allies
Liner Boy: A sentient robot that transforms into a space shuttle built from designs provided by Kyoko Hayase, with an AI unit developed by Dr. Kagami, that not only allows it to function without a pilot but also gives it a voice and personality of its own, essentially making it the*"sixth"*of the Tatsumi siblings. Can function as the front of the GoLiner in Max Shuttle form, or combine with Victory Robo to form Max Victory Robo.

Psyma Clan
Grand Witch Grandiene: Matriarch of the Psyma Clan and the ultimate combination of all the negative energy in the universe, who came into being four billion years ago. She set everything up for her arrival in this reality on the day of the Grand Cross. However, the GoGoFive interrupted the ritual and Grandiene ended up trapped half-way. Since then, she has ordered her sons and daughter to gather the negative energy needed to recreate her true form.
Dragon Dark King Salamandes: Following the defeat of Zylpheeza at the hands of Max Victory Robo, his Dark King Star passed onto his brother Drop, causing him to undergo a metamorphosis into first a young boy with pyrokinetic powers, and following Grandiene’s return, the adult demon Salamandes. Using the Dark King Star on his chest, Salamandes can create the Saima Zone in which the solar light is completely cut-off, allowing the Psyma beasts to boost their power tenfold, while leaving the Victory Robo, LinerBoy and the Max Victory Robo combinations vulnerable. He will do anything to earn his mother’s favour, even sabotage his own siblings in their schemes, but his recent failures have caused him to fall out of failure with her.

Skipping the opinion part, I’ll go into the credits. In addition to the new producer Hikasa, this VS movie has a new writer, Yasuko Kobayashi (if you haven’t heard of her, then what rock have you been living under?). The director is Takao Nagaishi, who has worked on one of these before. So with all of that said, on with the review.



(Yes, we’re going all in on the creepy this time)

We open with a horde of hooded creatures emerging from the ground (represented by them walking up a hill) at the dead of night, during a storm.



A sole figure emerges from the other side to take them on in battle with his sword.



But then their leader appears, which gives the demon soldiers the strength to prevail.



This does not go unnoticed at Psyma Paradicio, where Grandiene reacts… With recognition.



After a sequence of the Tatsumi siblings doing firefighting drills at the beach, set to the theme song, Matsuri notices a young boy sitting alone on the rocks.



The boy is about to sit down and read a book.



When approached by Matsuri, the boy says that he is waiting for a friend, who he points out to them in his book.



They thus assume the friend is imaginary, until Ryouma appears in real life to greet Yuuta.



As the Tatsumi siblings are shocked to see the guy in the picture book in real life, and as Yuuta gifts him the Star Legends book, Ryouma collapses. Matoi discovers that he’s bleeding (this ain’t your daddy’s vs movies anymore), with his attackers appearing soon after.



The Tatsumi Siblings equip the GoSuits and shoot the enemies down with their Five Lasers… which fails to defeat them, as does the V-Lancer. It takes Ryouma summoning up a Honoo no Tategami to repel them. Ryouma is taken back to the Tatsumi Disaster Prevention Institute (read: Their house), whereupon it turns out that Daimon has read Star Legends and become a Gingaman fanatic instantly (dear god, he’s us)



Enquiring after the Starbeasts, Ryouma explains that they lost contact with them a few days ago, during the Grand Cross (considering Victory Mars appears in this, and that was 5 episodes after the Grand Cross, evidently a lot happened in a few days, considering none of the interim episodes were multi-parters), Hyuuga is searching for GoTaurus and that the other Gingaman members have split up to find anything they can on the new enemy beyond “they appeared in the dark”. Cue the tv reporting on someone who Mint thinks is Ryouma’s ally. Sure enough, it’s Gouki.



As Gouki nervously soaks in the spotlight, Hikaru is frustrated.



Mokk then contacts Ryouma from within the Galaxy Forest, to tell him of a strange force (way to be helpful, Mokk), while Matoi looks about ready to murder Daimon over his obsessive fanboying (believe me, I’ve felt the same way sometimes)



Ryouma leaves Yuuta at the Institute while he and the Tatsumi siblings leave… just as Mondo enters, looking for a legendary warrior to help make sense of some readings he’s been getting. The group meet up with Gouki and Hikaru at the beach, where the sky starts to darken and the wind picks up. (And it turns out that while Ryouma is aware of GoGoV, Gouki isn’t and Hikaru doesn’t believe it’s the guys wearing the GoGoV emblem on their jackets. Truly the gamut of secret identity reactions here)



Both sides are soon attacked by the demon from earlier, now fully visible.



A demon Grandiene recognises as Gil (which is a common name for evil demons in Japanese media. Don’t ask why).



As Kobolda and Denus wonder who Gil is, Salamandes fills them in (how he knows and they don’t, I’m not sure about)





They then ask why he isn’t ruling alongside them, to which it turns out that even an abusive mother obsessed with destroying everything alive in the universe has some morals.





As Salamandes wonders why he’s returned from ruling over the dead, Gil summons up an army of his ghosts, revealing his status as the perpetrator of all this to the heroes (but not the audience, who already knew).





The two groups transform/equip and fight the ghosts, only to meet with the same results as before. But Ryouma’s Honoo Issen, Gouki’s Geki Ryu Ittou and Hikaru’s Ikazuchi Issou annihilate them handily. Both groups then realise that Earth power is the one thing that can affect them, which gets proven when Matoi’s V-Mode Punch fails to make contact with Gil, who then makes short work of both Gingaman and GoGoV alike, sending them into a pit. At Psyma Paradicio, Salamandes reveals that if Gil destroys the surface world, then he’ll rule the planet. But Salamandes isn’t worried, since their mother cast him into hell once and she can do it again. He then reveals what exactly Gil is aiming to do.



Grandiene orders Denus and Kobolda to combine their powers, as we cut to a girl named Yuka and her mother going to visit the man of the house at his job (Yes, Lightspeed Rescue didn’t invent the subplot with the little girl’s parents getting captured. They just introduced it sooner and gave it more prominence). As you’ve probably guess from my bracketed comment, they find the whole office has been converted into a set of cages, wherein the workers are drained of blood (Jesus). And Yuka and mother are next. (With Yuka seeming rather bored at the prospect of her papa being leeched)



Salamandes then visits his brother at work, whereupon Gil reveals what he’s doing with the blood. Namely, satanism. (Jesus!)





Salamandes looks forward to it, while Gil refutes being his “Aniwe” (old fashioned form of address for an older brother), since he insists he no longer has the blood of a Psyma.

As the heroes recuperate in a cave, where Gouki and Hikaru reveal that the building they were recorded outside is where the plan is taking place and the woman that they caught was pushed (nice to see our heroes have an actually plot-relevant conversation, after the boat scene from last time), because she saw what they were up to (then why didn’t they just leech her? Why make it obvious something shady was going down). As the two groups argue over whether or not GoGoV should come with them (Now this is the kind of tension hat was missing from Ginga v Mega), with Ryouma taking them along after Matoi makes it clear he cares more about saving lives than fighting.

Elsewhere, Mondo and Yuuta track the readings to a beach, where they meet up with Hyuuga. (Who in the introduction to the tradition of VS hair, has grown a mullet. It’s not an improvement)



As the three set off on a boat, Mondo reveals that he picked up 5 meteors coming down during Grandiene’s arrival, which Hyuuga believes to be the Starbeasts.



As they set off to revive them at the exact point, they are observed by a ghost. As the leeching continues (with Yuka’s drawing getting stained in blood. JESUS!), the heroes evacuate the building by posing as firefighters (okay, Matoi, Nagare and Shou actually were, but they’re not employed as such currently, so… it’s a good thing the fire captain knows GoGoV’s identities, or they’d face serious repercussions for this).



As Ryouma and Matoi head upstairs, sounding the fire alarm in the process, while Nagare and Matsuri team up with Gouki and Hikaru to create a real fire (talk about method acting), Matoi and Ryouma get into a dick measuring contest over Ryouma insulting firefighting equipment (no, really). They still make it to the room, where the leeching stil, hasn’t made it to Yuka yet (oh thank god), but another poor sap is completely dry (JESUS!!!!!)





As the two face Gil in battle, the others head up to he,p, only to be blocked by Salamandes, Denus and Kobolda, with a group of Imps.



Back upstairs, Matoi gets everyone thrown out of the window, only for him to be saved at the last minute by Ryouma, who now understands his viewpoint (glad that “plot-line” was resolved).



The two are then saved by Hayate and Saya (who unlike Hyuuga, are actually rocking the VS hair), who disguised themselves as ghosts to go undercover.





Now on the ground, the now complete lineups for both Sentai find themselves confronted by the combined forces of Gil and the Psyma Clan.



So of course, they transform/equip.

Gingaman: Ginga Tensei, Ha!

GoGoV: Chakusou!

Ryouma: GingaRed, Ryouma!

Hayate: GingaGreen, Hayate!

Gouki: GingaBlue, Gouki!

Hikaru: GingaYellow, Hikaru!

Saya: GingaPink, Saya!

Ryouma: The legendary blade that peirces the galaxy, Seijuu Sentai…

All: Gingaman!

Matoi: GoRed!

Nagare: GoBlue!

Shou: GoGreen!

Daimon: GoYellow!

Matsuri: GoPink!

Matoi: One life is the Earth’s future!

Nagare! Burning rescue souls!

Shou: Kyukyu Sentai…

Daimon: Go…

Matsuri: Go…

All: Five!

Matoi: Move out!

A fight breaks out, which is a lot more focused than the all out brawls of previous films. After taking down the Mooks in pairs, Matoi and Ryouma face off against Gil, with Ryouma vowing to protect the children, Nagare and Hayate facing Salamandes, Gouki, Daimon, Hikaru and Shou facing Kobolda, and Denus taking on Matsuri and Saya. None of the heroes have an advantage in their fights, until Matoi lands his V-Mode Punch on Gil, wounding him and making him spark, much to his chagrin.



This stops the flow of blood to the stones and distracts the Psyma clan long enough for them to be blasted by a JuuGekiBou/Hyper Mode combo attack.

But Gil survives exploding long enough to stab himself (you know what I’m going to say here) and grow his blood into the pyramid.





The pyramid now full, the Dark Beast manifests in reality as a giant Kaiju.



(I have to say, this is one of the best looking costumes they’ve ever made)

Salamandes then comments on the convenient irony before departing with his brother and sister.



As the Dark Beast begins destroying the city, Matoi calls for Liner Boy to bring them the Mars Machines, which they combine into Ryusei Gattai (Meteor Combination) Victory Mars, while Liner Boy also joins the battle after his Tokkyuu Busou (Special Rescue Armament)

[https://youtube.com/watch?vvlnmbHLYXWeE

As this battle gets off to a rough start,w it’s the Dark Beast proving invulnerable to nearly everything, Mondo and Hyuuga find the Starbeasts out at sea, whereupon the ghosts attack them (why do mooks keep showing up near the end of the fight in these movies), who Hyuuga fends off easily, before he reawakens the Starbeasts.



As things look hopeless for GoGoV, Gingaman sees the Starbeasts, revived and standing before them.



Hyuuga, now transformed, comes running forward to explain this.



Gingaman: Roar! Galactic Light!

Ryouma: JuuSouKou!

Soon enough, ChouSouKou GingaiOh and BullTaurus join the fight, managing to sever the Dark Beast’s arm.



But this just makes the monster angry and it defeats both Starbeasts combinations easily, after tanking their attacks, along with that of Victory Mars. The Gingaman get picked up by Victory Mars so they can still help.



And help they do, as their Galactic Light flows into Victory Mars.



The Gingaman appear inside Victory Mars.



Which is transformed by the power of the Galactic Light into ChouSouKou Victory Mars (which you can’t recreate with the toys, due to the armour parts being uniquely shaped for GingaiOh).



Armed with the weapons of both their robots, ChouSouKou Victory Mars defeats the Dark Beast with the Ginga Double Flare.



As peace returns to Tokyo once more and Yuka gets to show her papa the picture she drew, (glad that subplot got a resolution), after Matoi gifts his firefighter’s jacket to Ryouma, the movie ends with the Gingaman and Hyuuga joining the Tatsumi siblings in their training exercises.

Final thoughts: The good: the focus on one villain instead of two with one for each series makes the plot a lot more streamlined and less stitched together, the character actually get some significant interactions in this movie, with some mistrust realistically arising and the combining their powers to finish the ultimate villain is a much more satisfying end to a crossover movie than the two sides killing a bad guy each the usual way.

The bad: Gingaman had no real stake in this crossover, some of the conflicts seem tacked on to pad out the runtime and the subplot with Yuka is not only utterly unnecessary, but also unnecessarily violent, both of which are complaints I have with a lot of Kobayashi’s works.

Overall: Not the best plot in the world, but it’s heart is in the right place and the direction is great.

The challenge: If you could work as any kind of first responder, what would it be?