[Androzani84]

Let?s start our mission with this week?s instalment of?

Androzani?s Tsukai Detour

And this week, we?re covering?

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: The Movie



?The Energy Management Centre, a group that works to thwart the ambitions of Vaglass, a computer program looking to integrate the entire world into its program, via the Special Missions Department.?

Go-Busters:
Hiromu Sakurada/Red Buster: The newest addition to the Busters. Thirteen years ago before the events of the first episode, Hiromu's father had saved the world by isolating his entire research building in Hyper Space to contain the virus called "Messiah". Hiromu, along with two other children, escaped this isolation. A program in his body grants him superhuman abilities. However, his sister Rika refused to allow him join the Go-Busters training program, which is organized and run by the Energy Management Center. Despite her refusals, Hiromu had already decided he would eventually join when the time comes that they truly need him. Thus Hiromu, though irregularly, undertakes some simulations and training in order to prepare for the eventual threat. His training sessions were done unbeknownst to his sister. His Buster Power is super speed. Thus his legs can move at an unbelievable velocity, making him look as if he were teleporting. His partner Buddy Roid is Cheeda Nick. His power, like the other Busters, has a weak point trade-off. Whenever Hiromu panics or is immensely startled, he freezes up completely, even in mid-air. However, it is commonly activated when Hiromu sees a chicken, an animal which he has developed a phobia of.
Ryuuji Iwasaki/Blue Buster: The oldest and most level-headed of the Busters. After escaping the destruction of the Energy Management Center and being injected with the Vaccine Program, Ryuji spent 13 years living with the Special Missions Department with Yoko, making him and Yoko so close that they are like siblings. He is a warrior with excellent fighting technique, as well as the oldest of the team. His partner Buddy Roid is Gorisaki Banana. His Buster Power is super strength. However, this has a dangerous trade-off. When Ryuji uses his power too much he will overheat and have to take time to cool down. If he completely overheats, he becomes very violent, and this puts a great toll on his body.
Yoko Usami/Yellow Buster: The youngest of the group, a high school girl. Her mother was killed in the Messiah incident 13 years ago, resulting in her being taken in by the Special Missions Department. She gained incredible kicking and jumping power from an accident, and as such this is her Buster Power. Her weakness is that if she runs out of calories for her "inner battery" to burn, she will be unable to move. Thus, she compensates by eating lots of candy. Her Buddy Roid partner is Usada Lettuce.
Masato Jin/Beet Buster: One of the engineers who created Enetron 13 years ago. He possesses a dislike for perfection, once awarding second place in a contest he judged to a perfect entry. When the centre was sucked into Hyperspace, he shielded himself from its effects by putting his body in stasis and creating a digital copy to function back on Earth. But unfortunately, the collapse of Hyperspace threatens to destroy his body, and when his body is destroyed, he too ceases. When he learned of the others' fate as Messiah's engineers upon being contacted by Sakurada, given the plans to the BC-04 he developed, Jin decided to escape the subspace and back into the real world.
Beet Jueki ?J? Stag/Stag Buster: Jin?s personal Buddyroid who functions as his partner, a beacon from his equipment to transport to him and a source for his transformations. It is revealed that he had stowed as trash data aboard a previous enemy Megazord from Hyper Space and now acts as a marker for the avatar of Masato Jin, who cannot come to Earth in person. As long as J is operational, he can conjure up the avatar of Masato to operate on Earth. Beet J. Stag is a living testament to Masato Jin's belief that quirks make machines more interesting. J's "quirk" is that he likes appearing cool, though he has a habit of always standing in the way of anybody,especially Masato, which greatly annoys his creator and partner. He is also a self-proclaimed egotist, appearing to have no concerns except for his own. However, underneath it all, J holds Jin in high enough regard that, should harm come to him, J would be relentless in protecting him.

Allies:
The Buddy Roids: Cheedah Nick, Gorisaki Banana and Usada Lettuce are the partners of the three Rangers, who have helped look after them following the Messiah Incident and share the vaccine program with them. They function as controllers for the Buster Machines, though Nick can additionally serve as Hiromu?s motorcycle (though he lacks a built in GPS or any memory of routes)
Ene-tan: The first Buddy Roid created by Jin. She acts as the interface for SS-00.
Takeshi Kuroki: The Busters? supervisor. Thirteen years ago, he was one of Yousuke Sakurada's subordinates. He then was left in charge of the three children that escaped the transport to Hyper Space. Now he commands the Go-Busters, the Energy Management Center's Special Missions Unit. He does not take kindly to being questioned, nor does he take kindly to being second-guessed or confronted about his methods.
Miho Nakamura and Toru Morishita: EMC?s technics who scan for incoming Megazords and deploy the Buster Machines.

Vaglass: An organisation originally founded by the Messiah program to destroy humans for its own amusement, its members have split up following Messiah?s destruction.

Enter: The first avatar created from the data of the EMC members who perished in the Messiah incident. Enter was an avatar sent into reality to create mechanical monsters called Metaloids with the use of MetaVirus Cards. He carries a laptop with him. He uses this to transmit Metaviruses to infect (as long as the Metavirus patch is in place) various inanimate objects. As an Avatar, he has the ability to transcend Hyper Space and uses this ability to speak to Messiah in person via his laptop. He has a propensity for thin disguises, though his goggles can be a giveaway. After Messiah's death, Enter embarked on a mission to evolve beyond his programming into the perfect human, by integrating the remnants of Messiah?s program into his own.
Escape: An avatar Messiah created to see its desire for destruction carried out, after Enter refused to in favour of planning to release Messiah. She desires to find and defeat a strong opponent, who she has found in Ryuuji. After Messiah?s death, she plans to gather the 13 Messiah cards containing copies of his program and use them to create a new ?papa? who will be able to destroy as much as he wants.

Zangyack:
Chief of Staff Damaras: A Zangyack warrior known among Zangyack as the "Strongest High Ranked Soldier" (最強格の戦士 Saikyōkaku no Senshi) due to his skills as a warrior and as a strategist. He is ordered to accompany Warz Gill by the Emperor and assist him as his second in command. After discovering the truth of the Greatest Treasure in the Universe, and with the prince refusing to act upon it, Damaras hired Basco to eliminate the Gokaigers so that the events of the first invasion would not be repeated. Following the death of Warz Gill, Damaras was imprisoned for his failure by Ackdos Gill, but was later released when he witnessed how powerful the Gokaigers were himself. Though Damaras initially overpowered the pirates, he was defeated and killed by them in a rematch.

What do I think of Go-Busters? Well to be honest, I don?t like it much more than Gokaiger. The plot meanders for too long, before being abruptly dropped after a retool and replaced with a new plot that doesn?t have much consistency with what came before. The characters themselves aren?t much better, ranging from actually pretty good (Jin, Enter), to bland (Hiromu, Ryuuji, the Buddy Roids, Escape, the EMC crew) to downright bad (Yoko, Messiah). The lack of actual character development or focus episodes doesn?t help. And I can?t even enjoy this as mindless action or for the music as, outside of the Gavan two-parter and Let?s Morphin? Keep Movin? Buster Ship, both are generally terrible. The show?s aesthetic also does nothing for me, which is something even Gokaiger did better on.

As for the credits, while the writer for this is someone Sentai fans will know (Shimoyama), the producer Naomi Takebe and the director Takayuki Shibisaki are ones who?ll be more familiar to Rider fans (the former, when she?s not the assistant to Shinichiro Shirakura, is known for producing Kiva, OOO and Gaim, while the latter was an assistant director on Kuuga and the main director for Drive and Saber). With all of that said, on with the review.

We open with narration expositing on the legend of the Phantom Ranger Keys. (Not to be confused with the other Phantom Ranger)



We then cut to our bad guy (who?ll be named later) and his subordinate (who will be named later, but given how that name will break my speak-checker, I?ll just call him ?Not-Satan?) (a red version of the Action Commander from episodes 11-2 of Gokaiger, purely because he shares a voice actor with J), along with Enter, who vow to unlock the Phantom Ranger Keys? (which they?ve collected 4 of already. It?s amazing what you can do offscreen) true power to revive Zangyack.



On Earth, after putting upon their Buddy Roids for minor issues, the Busters respond to a mysterious appearance that isn?t Vaglass? and are attacked by a black version of Gokai Galleon. (Surprisingly, there is no real world black version)



Jon and J move out, forming Buster Hercules to fight the Black Galleon?? and get overwhelmed.

On the ground, our bad guy appears, introducing himself as Bacchus Gil, Zangyack?s new Emperor. and requests that the Busters battle his subordinates? the Gokaigers (all of whom look considerably more piratical than their own series. If you ask me, it?s an improvement).



The Busters are confused, since the Gokaigers once fought to save the world (no, they came to your planet to find a fabulous treasure that they ultimately gave up due to having it being morally wrong. The Zangyack were simply in their way and all of them had a reason to fight them). But that doesn?t stop a fight from breaking out, with Hiromu facing down Marvelous, Ryuuji taking on Joe and Luka, while Yoko (f*cking Yoko) facing Don and Ahim (how apt. The best character in Gokaiger fights the worst character in Go-Busters). In the middle of the fight, Gai and Navi (f*cking Navi) show up, with the Rangers Keys (so does that mean they asked politely if they could use their powers to destroy the Earth?)



The Gokaigers then decide to counter the Go-Buster?s scientific energy source, with a group powered by a mystical energy source.



After performing the Ribbon Spark (aka, the one Goggle V attack Toei can be bothered to recreate for more than 5 seconds in a Super Video), they then decide to counter the futuristic fuel Enertron with the actually from the future Zeta-3.



Marvelous, Ahim and Don attack with their Vector End attacks to knock their opponents down, but Hiromu?s team escapes damage from Joe and Luka using their Voltech Bazookas by shifting to Powered Custom. As the fight resumes, the Phantom Ranger Keys in Enter?s hand begin to react violently.



The final Phantom Ranger Key, the Red one, flies out of the ground. But the act of bringing all 5 together opens a wormhole that sucks the 6 Gokaigers, Yoko, J and Gorisaki into it before closing.





One jump cut back to the EMC later.



Hiromu wants to know why the pirates were acting like? well, pirates. So Navi explains what happened after they went to attack the Zangyack?s home planet.







Gai and Navi escaped, but they lost contact with everyone else on the way back to Earth. He then fills them in on the same exposition about the Phantom Ranger Keys. As Morishita (had to scroll up to remember his name. Shows you how memorable he is) comes in with a scroll someone wants to deliver? we cut to Yoko and J, who have ended up in 1772, right in the middle of the Sakoku Period (200 years in which Japan closed itself off from foreign imports and visitors, which were ended in 1858 when the British Navy?s Commodore Perry led ?the Coming of the Black Ships?). Not that J seems to know or care.



After making him adopt a disguise, Yoko immediately manages to run into Gai, who gets confused by how to address them since they?re younger (for a similar joke, also involving a character named Gai, check out Ultraman Geed?s movie).



Gai mentions that he?s had no luck calling anyone, so J suggests that he simply writes them a letter, which Gai takes more viably than Yoko. Cut to the present, where Kaoru Shiba, formerly of the Shinkengers, presents the Go-Busters with a message her family has held onto since the An?ei era.





After a scene where Bacchus says that he won?t be like his uncle Ackdos or his cousin Warz, in which Enter reveals he intends to use the Phantom Ranger Keys to open a gateway to Hyper Space so it can cover the Earth, Jin reveals that he?s figured out where everyone is in time through extensive research (Uh huh, but when did you have time to make these paper cutouts?)



Jin is very apprehensive about using the GoZyuDrill?s time travel software to send everyone back to the past in the Buster Machines.



With the mission given, Hiromu and Nick in Go-Buster Ace, Ryuuji and Ene-tan in FS-00, Usada in RH-03 and Jin in Go-Buster Beet teleport to the past.



Ryuuji travels back to 1557 (a years which saw the printing of the Geneva Bible?s New Testament, England joining Spain in war against France, the Battle of St-Quentin and the ascension of Emperor Ōgimachi to the throne of Japan)



He finds Not-Satan looking for the Blue Phantom Key with Joe and Luka? who promptly lose it to Ryuuji.



In 1772 (which saw the first Partition of Poland, the discovery of Biela?s Comet, the people in the colonies deciding to create a group to UNITE them in their STATES of chaos caused by British rule OF AMERICA and Britain abolished slavery, which only annoyed the people in the previous point more), Yoko?s group run into Jeloushitto, who has the Yellow Phantom Key. (Don?t ask about either)



In England, 1805 (which saw the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson, with his infamous last words ?Kiss me, Hardy.?, Jefferson was re-elected President of America, Michigan was established, the abolishment of the French Republican Calendar and the birth of Hans Christian Andersen), Ahim and Don (wearing clothes that are 30 years out of date for 1805. Powdered wigs died in England in the 1780s) have found the Green Phantom Key in a mansion.





But as they set off the booby traps, Jin, dressed as the Dandy Highwayman, saves them and takes the Key.



In the Cretaceous Period, Gorisaki can only watch as the Zangyack take the Pink Phantom Key. He then gets chased by a T-Rex and saved by Usada.



And in 2005 (which saw the return of Doctor Who after 16 years off the air, the establishment of YouTube, Bush getting re-elected, the death of Pope John Paul II, North Korea revealing they had nukes and Egypt trying and failing to hold a fair election), Hiromu finds Marvelous inside Dino Curry.



Marvelous reveals that he?s eating chicken curry.



After going outside, Marvelous reveals that he was pulling a Decade to get the Phantom Keys, a ruse that also gets revealed to Ryuuji and Jin. But it?s at that point that Bacchus, Not-Satan and their subordinates take the Blue, Green and Red Keys. (And the Gokaigers switch back to their old outfits. Boo.)



In 1772, Usada arrives to rescue Yoko, Gai and J.



As if history can?t get more messed up, Enter shows up in the Epsilon Megazord (previously seen in Go-Busters? movie, and episodes 30 and 35 of the show) to wreck the place, while Bacchus comes to claim the final Key.



But then Hiromu and Marvelous show up in Go-Buster Ace and Tategami Lioh to fight it off.



Marvelous then goes to fight on the ground, choosing an appropriate Legendary Ranger mode for samurai times.



With limited resources, and having lost the Key, the heroes are forced to withdraw back to 2012? where the Buddy Roids promptly explode.



By the next morning, the three are repaired? but their personality data was beyond recovery, leaving them with ?Siri? voices.



As the Busters lament how they might lose their only friends (guys, you have each other. And you barely get any episodes with these guys, at least compared to other ?partner? based Sentai), Enter and his allies insert the Phantom Ranger Keys into their machine, opening the doorway to Hyper Space.



But they get disrupted, as it turns out Navi went back in time and stole Gokai Galleon from the past Gokaigers (when in the show?s timeline did he do that?) to fight the Black Galleon.



As the commanders are knocked to the ground, the heroes show up to face them, transforming to settle the score.

Morphin Brace/Morphin Blaster: It?s Morphin? Time!

Gokaigers: Gokai Change!

Mobilates/Gokai Cellular: Gokaiger!

Busters: Let?s Morphin!

Hiromu: Red Buster!

Ryuuji: Blue Buster!

Yoko: Yellow Buster!

Jin: Beet Buster!

J: Stag Buster!

Hiromu: Tokumei Sentai?

All: Go-Busters!

Marvelous: Gokai Red!

Joe: Gokai Blue!

Luka: Gokai Yellow!

Don: Gokai Green!

Ahim: Gokai Pink!

Gai: Gooookaaaaiiii Silver!

Marvelous: Kaizoku Sentai?

All: Gokaiger!

Hiromu: Busters! Ready?

All: Go!



After the heroes make short work of the Gormin and Buglars, Enter decides to move onto the level 2 bosses: copies of Basco, Damaras and Escape.



Marvelous, Joe and Luka face Basco as the three-man Sun Vulcan team, with Marvelous vanquishing his rival with the Hiba Returns.



Don, Ahim and Gai fight Damaras, turning into the Gouraigers and Shurikenger (I just can?t escape Hurricaneger, can I?), defeating him with a series of attacks (although it?s not identified as such, I?m pretty sure Gai uses Shurikenger?s Tenkuu-Zan to win)



Finally, the Busters fight and destroy Escape, though not without having to use two finishing moves.



They then move on to fight Bacchus, only for Not-Satan to intercept from above with the Black Galleon. Hiromu and Marvelous put a stop to that, taking back the Phantom Ranger Keys and destroying the Black Galleon. Before Not-Satan can get his revenge, a new challenger appears. He introduces himself as KyoryuRed of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger!



But as it gets pointed out to him, he?s only one man, hardly a full Sentai.





But that doesn?t stop him from leaping in to fight Not-Satan and his entourage on the heroes? behalf.

KyoryuRed: It?s about to get wild! Just try and stop me!

It?s then that his teammates show up, having been held up (Black was on a date and Pink was at work).



They then charge into battle.

Not-Satan: Who are you people?

Red: You?ll be surprised when you hear! The Fanged Brave! KyoryuRed! (Gabutyra!)

Black: The Bullet Brave! KyoryuBlack! (Parasagun!)

Blue: The Armoured Brave! KyoryuBlue! (Stegotchi!)

Green: The Slashing Brave! KyoryuGreen! (Zakutor!)

Pink: The Horned Brave! KyoryuPink! (Dricera!)

Red: The strongest braves in history! Zyuden Sentai?

All: Kyoryuger!



Having finished the grunts, they then use their ?Zyudenchi? to kill Not-Satan, leaving the rest to the Gokaigers and Go-Busters. Speaking of whom, the latter get called away when Enter appears with his newest creation, the Omega Megazord (not to be confused with that Omega Megazord), which overwhelms them.



Then, the Gokaigers give Bacchus a lengthy speech about what the Busters are fighting for (the most ?Decade? this show has gotten), before doing an all red change to fight him.



After defeating him with a Gokai Legendream/Gokai Galleon Buster combo, Bacchus downs his entire drink, enlarging to giant size, causing them to call in GokaiOh and GoZyuJin.

However, Go-Buster Oh gets downed by the Omega Megazord, and despite Kuroki ordering them to abandon it and get in Tategami Lioh, they refuse to give up on their BuddyRoids, channelling their vaccine program into them as Go-Busters? usual ?heroic moment? insert song plays.

Amazingly, this works, bringing Go-Buster Oh back to 100%. But that doesn?t stop them from separating so GB-02 and RH-03 can combine with Tategami Lioh to form Go-Buster Lioh. But it does cause the Phantom Ranger Keys to resonate and turn into BuddyRoid keys, holding the Go-Busters? Greater Power.



Using these creates giant sized Ranger Keys, that allow each of the mecha to turn into a Legendary Megazord.





They do so, with GoZyuJin turning into DaiZyuJin, GokaiOh turning into DaiBouken, Buster Hercules turning into MagiKing (because Jin?s actor was Tsubasa in Magiranger), Go-Buster Lioh turning into GaoKing and Go-Buster Ace turning into GekiTohja.



But Enter isn?t perturbed, summoning Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Megazords to join the battle.



While everyone else chooses to show off what their one form can do, Hiromu just decides to try more, changing into Flash King.

He then turns into RyuseiOh (since, per word of the guy playing TenmaRanger, he doesn?t have sufficient willpower to summon DairenOh).

And then he returns to normal to fly into Hyper Space to close the portal, while DaiZyuJin and MagiKing send Enter packing by destroying the Omega Megazord, while DaiBouken and GaoKing (which has now shifted to GaoKentaurus), finish Bacchus.

Bacchus: In the end, I ended up like the others after all.

Then we get one final scene in which the Gokaigers approve of the new team, before departing in Gokai Galleon (I have no idea if they kept the time-displaced one, or if they had the EMC rebuild it). Cue the credits song.

(Super Sentai)

Go on, Go-Busters! Soar high, Gokaiger!
It?s time to travel as we affirm our bonds
Across sea and sky, and even dimensions, we?ll move out
And nothing will stop us doing a good job!

It?s not like we?re weak individually
But together, I know our power is endless!

And the hotter our hearts burn
With the desire to protect the Earth
The more we may disagree,
But all the more we?ll fight as allies!

I feel it in my heart, all limits will be torn apart
It?s Time for Buster in the grandest style! (Ready, go!)
We?re always here for each other, though we may bicker
That?s our Go-Buster bond!

Go, let?s go!

Final thoughts: Aside from the subplot with the BuddyRoids, this was a pretty good piece. Both groups got equal focus, none of their worst aspects were on display, and the action was actually pretty decent. Plus you can?t argue with the concept of Megazord Keys.