[AkibaSilver]

10/10 crossover no notes.

But yeah, I appreciate how this film basically takes the exact same starting point as the Zi-O/Build crossover ("Kamen Rider may be fictional, but we're important to something to someone, which means we're not meaningless!") and puts its own spin on things. Not just by being really fun, but by directly involving Ishinomori and Touma's own voice as a writer, it perfectly aligns.

Also, I get what you're saying, about the final battle being a long string of catchphrases (said by some incrdibly bad sound-alikes, Jesus Toei, was your stock library being cleaned that day?) being Toei boasting about how Kamen Sentai is the best thing ever, but I've been thinking about it - Sure, Rider/Sentai might from one angle be a tool to sell impressionable kids some merch, but also, merchandising franchises come and go. These characters, and indeed those catchphrases, wouldn't mean anything to anyone if the writers and characters and stories were just a vessel to sell toys in the minds of everyone. That probably ties into how nostalgia is used in modern media as a crutch vs as inspiration, which is something equally deep as the intersection between art and selling toys. Idk, I'm no sociologist.

Seriously though they had the Akibarangers on screen in 2021 for their 10th birthday and everything I am not immune to nostalgia