[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER X KAMEN RIDER DRIVE & GAIM: MOVIE WAR FULL THROTTLE



The Gaim portion of this movie was always going to be an uphill struggle. As an epilogue… like, Kouta and Mai became space gods. What could be a threat to them? What story is there left to tell with the title character of Kamen Rider Gaim?

The answers to those questions would turn out to be “Brainiac from Superman” and “Nothing, so let’s do a story about Micchi and Takatora instead”.

Megahex isn’t much of a villain, practically or thematically. This movie’s opening and closing thirds are about the power of individuality, and that’s fine. Megahex is all about homogenization triumphing over messy uniqueness, and the cast of Gaim is a prime example of messy uniqueness. But Megahex is overpowered from the start, a typical post-show villain: if the hero took 50 episodes to get a Final Form, the epilogue movie will immediately make that Final Form look like an HBV suit. Worse, he’s just some robot guy, looking down his robot nose at humanity’s inability to welcome its own destruction/salvation. He’s better than a bunch of movie villains, in that there’s even a token attempt to provide an origin that ties into the show’s backstory, but he’s still not that fun to see operate. There’s, purposefully, not a ton of variation to either his attacks or his personality. You get one fight, but multiple times in a row. Doesn’t make for the most compelling adversary!

That puts all of the pressure on a semi-redemption arc for Micchi and Takatora, and I just don’t feel like there’s a lot there? Despite cameos by Ryouma and Kaito, there’s a real sense of Well Who’s Still Alive to the plotting here. A redemption arc for either Micchi or Takatora is, in theory, the best possible use for a Gaim epilogue. But their utility in this particular story isn’t great, because the villain isn’t really built to say anything about their specific journeys. This is a villain attacking individuality, which doesn’t really mesh well with Pragmatism That Curdles Into Cruelty–

wait

Ha ha, OH SHIT, I get it now. Megahex is just their plan for the Genesis Ark (or whatever it was called) blown up to intergalactic proportions. Okay, yeah, absolutely, I get why Megahex is put up against those two. Wow. Clever plotting!

There’s still some stuff that didn’t work for me, though. Micchi’s story with Mai in the series is unbelievably tricky, and I don’t know that there’s enough time devoted to trying to untangle it. He’s mostly just trying to rescue her as a means of personal salvation, and that’s… I don’t know if that really gets the point of how he hurt her? She never brings it up, but Mai’s relationships with the men of Gaim are so horrifyingly toxic that I feel like Contrite Incel probably looks a lot like real friendship to her.

Also, I just find it super funny that they clearly did not have Kouta for a lot of days in the filming of this movie, and so we got a Gaim epilogue with a very small amount of face-time with The Guy Who Played Gaim. It’s a whole lot of VO for the co-headliner of this movie.

Beyond all that… man, I was all ready to be down on this film for its thematic flimsiness, but they really ended up trying to say something about recognizing your weaknesses, and pushing through them into a place of self-improvement. I have grown to like you, weirdly Gaim-less Gaim portion of this movie!



This, though! I do not need to convince myself of anything for this Drive story. What a delight!

It’s tough to pick a favorite Phase 2 series. It’s really the sweet-spot for my Kamen Rider fandom: I came in through Ex-Aid, devoured W through Ghost, and then started my TokuNation membership with Ghost and Build. I ended up loving all of them, for different reasons. OOO is usually what I’ll cite as the Best Kamen Rider series; and Ex-Aid will always be my Unimpeachable Kamen Rider series, since it was my first; but, man, Drive might be my favorite?

Shinnosuke is almost definitely my favorite lead Rider. There’s just the right mix of Competence and Weirdness to allow for both propulsive mysteries and comedic interludes. There’s a part in this section of the film where he has to mourn the (definitely not final) death of his crime-fighting partner - a talking belt named Mister Belt - and it is heartbreaking. He is so present, emotionally, for every single scene in the film, no matter how ridiculous they might seem. He’s the most committed actor in the story; and he’s the most charismatic, as well. You’re just rooting for him, you know?

And the Drive Team is such a memorable selection of weirdos, where everyone contributes to Drive’s success. This isn’t some coffee shop or other coffee shop (I genuinely could not think of a non-cop shop, non-coffee shop example), this is a collection of trained individuals who all have applicable skills. They all have a reason to be in the story, which is… not a guarantee!

So, boy, this was a real delight, getting to spend time with a Drive adventure. And it’s a good one! It’s Cop Toku Hero versus Thief Toku Anti-Hero, an idea that would never again be dealt with in tokusatsu. I don’t know that the ensuing story is any great shakes – the “mystery” doesn’t exactly play fair, but it barely matters – but the bones of this are terrific.

A ton of it is in the iconography. Ultimate Lupin! I mean, if you need a thief, there’s your guy. Kamen Rider Lupin is a dazzling costume, a fun powerset (those film reels!), and a Villain With A Code that slots in perfectly with the overall Drive themes of self-actualization and personal evolution. He’s like a Mach mixed with Chase, another thing I just made up that is unique to this post. Add in his backstory that quotes from Krim’s (much like Megahex’s Helheim notes), and you have a really solid, really fun one-off Drive adversary.




And that fun just spills over into the movie’s finale, which is mostly an excuse for The One Returning Gaim Character You Hoped Would Appear, and a much wackier Gaim/Drive team-up than I was prepared for.

Kaito! Kaito came back! It’s only really a couple three beats, but they’re good ones. It’s hilarious to see him resurrected for the purpose of unifying all life, only for him to go Why Did You Think I Would Do That. He’s a character that’s always been about his own personal struggle, so a race that wants personal victories subsumed into their collective… HA HA HA HA JESUS. They literally could not have picked a worse Gaim character to resurrect.

All of the Gaim/Drive stuff is priceless. I love how low-key bummed Kouta seems when he realizes that someone else got to be the Car Kamen Rider. He really loves Drive's aesthetic! It probably doesn’t help that Kouta seems adorably unprepared to defend his motif or life choices. I don’t know if it’s the Drive Is A Cop energy permeating into the finale, but there’s a real buddy cop thing going on in the finale, where Kouta and Shinnosuke are both about 40% more manic than on their respective shows. Whatever it is, it absolutely works for the end of this movie, making the movie-only form changes hysterically tongue-in-cheek and the final victory disarmingly thrilling.

I found the opening third a little dull (if smarter now than when I was watching it), but once Drive shows up? This thing is in top gear, all the way to the credits. It’s like the best-ever theme song says, I guess: All We Need Is Drive!