[Sh Ranger]

I don't really like this movie, but I voted for the canon ending and it's relevant to Faiz, so I feel obliged to talk about it.

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Originally Posted by Kurona

I actually really really liked the Takumi-feels-guilty-over-Kusaka stuff in this movie? It might not do the best job of selling the idea of Takumi being guilty over it, but... well, survivor's guilt is a thing! I 100% believe that even in the most positive ending of 555 where he's surrounded by friends, eventually a few years down the line as he just continued living life, those thoughts would enter his head. Getting away from someone like that is extremely difficult -- and that was always Kusaka's whole thing! He is a colossally, irrefutably awful person who still manages to get in your head, still manages to fill you with doubt. And I don't like the idea that this is what would immediately happen after 555 or even a year after, like a V-Cin or something; but as you said this is more than ten years later, so I'm able to buy into this a lot more! I think it's a very well rounded arc for him and that his stuff with Keisuke actually had me thinking at one point that I would absolutely love this if it was just some random 555/X crossover that happened to come out around now. Seeing Kusaka explode into dust two new times is the icing on top of that cake!

I want to agree with you here, since it's definitely in Takumi's nature to blame himself for everything, especially when you have Kusaka telling him he doesn't deserve to live and essentially putting those thoughts in his head (even though the instigating flashback scene isn't even canon to the show!), but I'm inclined to agree with Die on this one. It just feels like Takumi is going through the same moral he already learned. Yeah, he's never going to be totally okay with himself, but there was a point where he found pride and purpose in his role as Faiz, where he found the strength to bear the burden of his sins for the sake of his honorable mission. Kusaka's death wasn't even his fault, so while I can't fault Takumi for feeling the way he does, I feel like his internal conflict is pretty much just there to Justifaiz the Showa Riders' complaints, as an example of unhealthy attachment to the dead. He's there to make the very incorrect Showa Riders look marginally less incorrect, which isn't the best way I'd like one of my favorite Riders to be utilized. Not that I don't appreciate seeing Takumi again, but I think the next Kamen Rider War is a much better showing for him.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

And it's total bullshit, too. Black spent half of his series moping about his lost brother and my very favorite moment from X is when the AI modeled after X's dad blows itself up because it thinks X has become too attached to it (this is, by the way, approximately 2 minutes after they meet and it takes X's cool underwater base with it).

I was also surprised by the self-destruction of Jin Base, teaching Keisuke that you're not a real Kamen Rider unless you're always suffering and lonely! Exaggerating a little, but it's more like a form of tough love, pushing him to be more independent and stop being so whiny. After that, he learned to accept his existence as a remodified human. Maybe that's the lesson he wanted to impart on Takumi, to not get lost in his thoughts and focus on the fighting.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

It also gave us the Haruto cameo, which I love because a) Haruto and 2) it does a much better job than normal of selling the idea that these are all the actual Riders, even though very few of them are ever out of suit.

For all my criticism of this movie, I love how Haruto was presented here. I've only watched it once, but I fondly recall how he gave his sempai Takumi a punch to open his eyes and asserted that his connection to his dead loved one Koyomi is his hope for the future. Takumi and Haruto were like my favorite protagonists at the time, so seeing them fight together with Keisuke was a highlight for me.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Thinking about this for a minute, I feel like this all would have worked much better if Masayuki Izumi hadn't passed away and could have reprised his role as Kiba. Kusaka trolling Takumi from beyond the grave 100% fits him, but the Takumi stuff would have been so much more in-character if he'd been regretting his failure to save Kiba instead.

In a way, Takumi did save Kiba though. He saved his humanity and inherited his wish to protect humanity in both humans and Orphenochs. Kusaka died resenting the cruel world that killed him and that's probably what weighed on Takumi's conscience.

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Originally Posted by Frontier

Also, Faiz was my first Rider, he's my favorite Rider...but did they really need to retcon how Kusaka died?

I commend your very good taste, Frontier. Regarding the inaccuracy of Takumi's flashback, I do have a headcanon about that, concerning a certain event from the next Kamen Rider War....

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Originally Posted by catwhowalks

The reason why the ending with the final fight between the Showa and Heisei guys is the way it is was because the movie doesn't actually have a firm ending. They filmed two endings to the fight, one where Showa wins and one where Hesei wins and put it up to an audience vote as to which to would show. The other ending is included with some fan translations. So there isn't really a set ending that they planned. It was all a popularity contest and not a properly written story element that mattered in the slightest.

I wonder if this movie was an experiment by Toei to determine from the vote which style of Kamen Rider was more popular with the fans, like if Showa had won, maybe future installments would have took more inspiration from that era, but since Heisei was the canon ending, they stuck with formula? I also consider how many Showa voters might have regretted their decision after seeing how their favorite Riders were presented as grumpy old men telling the youth to get off their lawn. Even the slightly better Heisei ending, Kouta protecting the flower feels like Yonemura stole it from Soutarou's action in Gaoranger VS Super Sentai.