[Daikaijuman54]

Ironically, the movie a lot of people are divided on happens to be one my favorite movies. Unironically, I still love this movie.

Yeah, it's not perfect, but I genuinely enjoy this one, and the fact that I was initially worried when Ghost showed up and I would have no context about him, the fact that this could be your introduction to Kamen Rider and you wouldn't need to worry about whether or not you know any of these characters, since you're pretty much along for the ride. And this was indeed one of those cases (for the most part).

Takeshi Hongo, as Die has stated, is awesome, even 45 years later (I've yet to see Senki), and I only knew him from the first episode of the original show, and it still felt like seeing an old friend. As shown in those lines at the end of the movie about Riders will always be with you, is a powerful line that Rider has stuck with for a long time, and it shows, the whole legacy or Rider, heck a lot of things, always have its fans of specific parts of what makes it for them, from nostalgia to favorites or what have you, we are all connected, which at the time, I was just fresh into Kamen Rider with not a full season under my belt (pun intended), and I still felt the weight of what it was I was entering.

And as we've all established by now, the Ichigo suit is a beast! It towers over the Shocker goons, and it even looks as though the suit has grown stronger and older, that it's a part of Hongo that grew with him, even at the supposed end of his rope the movie tried to reach for, then have him revive in the most glorified way possible, by exploding, just like every monster he kicks.

It was kind of funny how old Shocker was getting ousted by Nova Shocker, because secret underground evil organizations are so Showa era, that they decided to be something modern and more productive, which in a sense pairs with Ichigo's upgraded suit. Then they fight together to bring down Nova Shocker, and Hongo, who is so used to beating Jigoku Taishi at every interval, almost treats him like an old friend when they part ways, which is only something I've come to understand better now, but I thought it was a really nice scene.

Speaking of nice scenes, I didn't mind Takeru or any of the Ghost crew at all, so I don't know how I'll perceive them once I get around to watching Ghost. And Mayu, at first, I thought it was going to be a very simple "girl angry at hero for abandoning her because he likes fighting evil" or something like that, which it is but not exactly, since Hongo is pretty much ready to retire, avoiding having this become another repetitive family drama where they only make up at the end. And then they drop the aforementioned line at the end, and show "well, there's still Ghost, if you want a Rider," and connectedness all around, so in the end, I'd say this is still a movie I like.