[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

DOUBUTSU SENTAI GO-BUSTERS - SERIES WRAP-UP

...

Super glad I finally sat down to watch one of these Sentai shows, and I?m happy I made it a Shimoyama one to start with. Not sure which one I?ll do next ? maybe a Kobayashi one?

Kobayashi is usually a good pick! I'd make sure you stay away from Shinkenger though. It was like this super lame show about cowboys or something? I don't really remember that well, but I probably wrote on here somewhere about how much I hated it back when I finished slogging my way through it.

Shimoyama though! There's a guy who just doesn't miss! Honestly, I still just wish they'd let him make some kind of proper year-long show about ninjas, since, as Die's post about the premiere of the Kamen Rider Shinobi miniseries can attest, he seems like he'd do well with that theme.

Although I suppose I shouldn't be too greedy when his work as the head writer of Go-Busters was already so great. The animal theme really let him show his reverence for the franchise's past with all the fantastic homages throughout. I'm sure it's hard for Die to appreciate the finer details since it's his first Sentai, but really, the greatest strength of Go-Busters is that it knew better than to try and reinvent the wheel. I'd have hated for them to try something different, only to have to retool the show midway when the new approach proved unpopular. You know, kinda like what I hear happened to that one Kobayashi show. I think it was Den-O?

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Here it be, quoted from my reviews at different phases in my brief career doing so regularly

Very thorough! Thank you!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I'd have hated for them to try something different, only to have to retool the show midway when the new approach proved unpopular. You know, kinda like what I hear happened to that one Kobayashi show. I think it was Den-O?

Pretty sure it was Ryuki? I don't think Kobayashi was the writer for Den-O, because Den-O's a train show, and we all know how much Kobayashi avoids writing TV shows about superheroes and trains.

[Kamen Rider Die]

ZYUDEN SENTAI KYORYUGER VS. GO-BUSTERS: DINOSAUR GREAT BATTLE! FAREWELL, ETERNAL FRIENDS



Ha ha, oh man, could there be a movie less for me?

I don’t mean that as a knock on the movie’s quality – although, uh, we’ll get to that – but this thing was a nostalgic look at the great dinosaur Sentai teams of the past, with an emphasis on how unbelievable cool dinosaurs are and always will be. Meanwhile, the person watching this in 2024 is someone who’s only watched one (apparently strongly off-model) Sentai series, and pretty much doesn’t care about dinosaurs and never has.

(It’s incredibly funny to me that I came from watching two dozen bug-themed Rider shows, having not cared about bugs ever once in my life, and the last Sentai thing I’m going to watch for the year is a tribute to that franchise’s main aesthetic, which I also don’t care about.)

I got some of the references, for whatever that’s worth – I can catch a Zyuranger or an Abaranger or Japanese Goldar, I live in the world. But none of it means anything to me, and it made me feel guilty trying to watch this thing. It’d be like watching a Rider film where (and forgive me if these actors don’t one-to-one match with the Legend Sentai) Joe Odagiri and Shigeki Hosokawa both showed up for a major plotline, but you’ve only ever watched Gaim, so it’s just two old guys that you assume matter a lot to other people. That’s huge! That would make grown fans weep, and I’m here like Man You Gotta Stop Saying “Dino Hope” Like It Explains Anything.

Which, hey, “Dino Hope”. Hilarious to watch this movie a day after Doubutsu Sentai Go-Busters, because this weird plot of eternal dinosaurs imparting mystical Dino Charge – sorry, wrong version – Dino Hope to their teammates in order to defeat a space monster that really hates dinosaurs *motivation to be added later* is exactly the sort of heavily metaphorical magical-realism powered story that cracked me up yesterday in minute-long chunks. Don’t… don’t think that was the intended effect here, though. Pretty sure I was supposed to be moved by the power of dinosaur hope, and I definitely was more… not doing that. Was not feeling the Dino Hope, but I wish dino cheer on the other fans of this franchise for whom a whole mess of dino-themed heroes are a dream come true.

It’s nice that this film tried to loop in the Go-Busters whole “buddy” thing to the proceedings, though, for fans coming in from the other side of this team-up. Those themes of partnership and dedication are one of the core components of the Go-Busters, so that being the lesson they pass down to the Kyoryugers was great. It would’ve been even more great if the movie featuring that lesson include more than two lines of dialogue from Nick, or included Gorisaki and Usada at all, but we take what we can get when we deal with Legend Hero status. (I like that this movie was so keen on having Jin back that they wholesale swiped the Final Live bit about Jin having a one-time-only way to reappear and help out the team. Just bring Jin back! He’s already shown up in every post-show piece of content, and I’m pretty sure he’s back for a cameo in that Ex-Aid-era Taisen film in a few years!)

I honestly didn’t hate this thing, despite taking the piss out of it for the last few paragraphs. As team-up movies go, it seemed fairly coherent and at least paid lip-service to the returning characters’ vibe and story. But I was about 10% the intended audience for this thing, and I feel like my a) lack of knowledge about the history of Sentai, b) lack of interest in dinosaurs generally, c) lack of enjoyment in Samba Dinosaurs specifically, and d) lack of engagement with corny/emotional – you pick – storytelling that seems to treat cause and effect as two villain lieutenants it is sworn to defeat… all of that rendered me the anti-audience for this film. Not my thing, man.

The stuff with J in the forest was great, though. Highlight of the film.



EDITED TO ADD: Oh, ha ha, the other thing I laughed pretty hard at was Gabutyra showing up at the beginning to tell King that his best friend was in danger, and King not figuring out it meant Modern Day Gabutyra until after it died... which means Gabutyra definitely thinks of King as its best friend, while King definitely didn't until it died. That is the meanest thing in a movie about the power of friendship!!!

[Sunred]

Loved seeing the first two dino teams, especially Yuuta Mochizuki, Kouichirou Nishi, and Sho Tomita after many years, but felt the Go-Busters were sidelined in return. A shame TTFC wasn't a thing yet at the time because the former dinosaur rangers appearing would've been more suited for that.

[Androzani84]

Androzani84 also watched Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger vs Go-Busters. Dinosaur Great Battle! Farewell Eternal Friends!

Man, that’s a long title. Thankfully, the habit of giving these VS movies long titles didn’t last long.

Anyway, I’m not sure if I mentioned this last time, but these VS movies are generally written by a supporting writer who worked on both shows, but if there isn’t one, then the head writer does it themselves. And that is very much the case here with Riku Sanjo, namely because he wrote every episode, movie and spin-off of Kyoryuger proper (one of three writers in Toku who can claim this much totality in writing a show, the other being Inoue with Faiz and Kobayashi with Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Takahashi wrote all the episodes for Ex-Aid and Geats, with Shogo Muto doing likewise for Build, but there were other writers for some movies and certain spin-offs).

And the reason the three Dinosaur Sentai appear here is because a) Producer Ohmori thought it would be cool to do the team-up and b) they felt the summer movie would’ve been too short to accommodate it. But that’s not to say the Go-Busters are out of it, given that they save the day twice over by destroying Voldos’ machine and by providing Tategami Lioh as the mechanism to combine the powers of the three Robos (it would’ve been Go-Buster Ace, but Sanjo saw how that looked with the toys and changed his mind). We also get the cute nod with Yayoi filling in for Nakamura as Voldos arrives.

Another few tidbits of BTS trivia include:

Before Neo-Grifforzer and Neo-Gayrton (who as my review points out, should technically have been called either Neo-Jeanne or Neo-Asuka) were devised, the villain bringing the Vaglass and Deboss together was a never-before-mentioned daughter of Zyuranger’s main villain Witch Bandora (better known to western audiences as Rita Repulsa).

All the non-red Zyurangers and Abarangers were voiced by their original VAs, wih the voice only thing being done because AbareYellow’s actor was taking a break from acting to focus on raising her children, but wanted to take part in something to celebrate Abaranger’s 10th anniversary. She went uncredited for similar reasons, which led to rumours that Yoko’s actress was doing the voice.

The ToQger scene at the end where they fight Neo-Messiah was filmed at the same time as their first episode and ghost-directed by that episode’s director Shojiro Nakazawa, which is probably why it’s so divorced from the rest of the proceedings.

And to close off, I’ll do something I didn’t get to do with my main review: sub the big insert they made specifically for the big fight.

Vamola Mucho, Rampaging claws, a hope transcending time.
We are the Dinosaur Sentai, protecting Dino Hope. Gaburincho!

The voice of lost souls

Can you hear them?

For the sake of lives engraved into time,

Cross over time!

Hoping that we'll meet again,

Your faith in that is so clear to see.

In search of a future overflowing with smiles,

You continue to battle!

Snapping together fangs, Rampage to the end.
The legendary warriors.
Let your Dino power shine, for the sake of the future!
Vamola Mucho, rampaging claws, a hope transcending time.
We are the Dinosaur Sentai, protecting Dino Hope. Gaburincho!

To take the world back from the brink,

There is a hope that spans the ages!

The dynamic prehistoric memories

Begin to awaken!

Unleash your Dino Guts

Undying Warriors of Eternity

Combine your energy all into one

And you'll have nothing to fear

Snapping together fangs, Rampage to the end.
The legendary warriors.
A miracle like none ever seen before, giving you nothing to fear!
Vamola Mucho, rampaging claws, a hope transcending time.
We are the Dinosaur Sentai, protecting Dino Hope. Gaburincho!

Hoping that we'll meet again,

Your faith in that is so clear to see.

In search of a future overflowing with smiles,

You continue to battle!

Snapping together fangs, Rampage to the end.
The legendary warriors.
Let your Dino power shine, for the sake of the future!
Vamola Mucho, rampaging claws, a hope transcending time.
We are the Dinosaur Sentai, protecting Dino Hope. Gaburincho!

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I'd make sure you stay away from Shinkenger though. It was like this super lame show about cowboys or something?

I see what you did there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

ZYUDEN SENTAI KYORYUGER VS. GO-BUSTERS: DINOSAUR GREAT BATTLE! FAREWELL, ETERNAL FRIENDS

Which, hey, ?Dino Hope?. Hilarious to watch this movie a day after Doubutsu Sentai Go-Busters, because this weird plot of eternal dinosaurs imparting mystical Dino Charge ? sorry, wrong version ? Dino Hope to their teammates in order to defeat a space monster that really hates dinosaurs *motivation to be added later* is exactly the sort of heavily metaphorical magical-realism powered story that cracked me up yesterday in minute-long chunks. Don?t? don?t think that was the intended effect here, though. Pretty sure I was supposed to be moved by the power of dinosaur hope, and I definitely was more? not doing that. Was not feeling the Dino Hope, but I wish dino cheer on the other fans of this franchise for whom a whole mess of dino-themed heroes are a dream come true.

As somebody who had only watched this movie to see the Gobusters once more, I experienced Dino Despair instead. And I generally like dinosaurs. I'd like to see more of the Zyurangers and Abarangers (and Ryusoulgers if this movie had released a few years later), but I don't really want to see them instead of the Gobusters I'd came to see. There's a time and a place for that and like Sunred suggested, this would've worked a lot better as a TTFC special. Let the returning Gobusters have their crossover without all this dino stuff stealing their focus!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

And the reason the three Dinosaur Sentai appear here is because a) Producer Ohmori thought it would be cool to do the team-up and b) they felt the summer movie would?ve been too short to accommodate it.

Between this and the reduced runtime of King-Ohger VS Donbrothers, I think Ohmori seriously needs to chill out about dinosaurs and stop forcing it in to everything he produces. Maybe he should consider producing the next ninja Sentai instead, so he can get his mind on something else.

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Between this and the reduced runtime of King-Ohger VS Donbrothers, I think Ohmori seriously needs to chill out about dinosaurs and stop forcing it in to everything he produces. Maybe he should consider producing the next ninja Sentai instead, so he can get his mind on something else.

I looked it up and it appears he left Toei after King-Ohger this year. But hearing how he loves dinos maybe it's time he reboots this.

[wentwood]

I saw Go Busters on NTSC region 1 Brazil DVD.

I actually liked Go Busters.

The cyber dimension aspect was good. I have a question however -

Given that silver was an andriod in Beast Morphers was that the case in Go Busters?

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wentwood

I saw Go Busters on NTSC region 1 Brazil DVD.

I actually liked Go Busters.

The cyber dimension aspect was good. I have a question however -

Given that silver was an andriod in Beast Morphers was that the case in Go Busters?

He was, yeah! And he's one of the best parts of the show! You can see why people kept bringing him back for comedic scenes in these movies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

Loved seeing the first two dino teams, especially Yuuta Mochizuki, Kouichirou Nishi, and Sho Tomita after many years, but felt the Go-Busters were sidelined in return. A shame TTFC wasn't a thing yet at the time because the former dinosaur rangers appearing would've been more suited for that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

As somebody who had only watched this movie to see the Gobusters once more, I experienced Dino Despair instead. And I generally like dinosaurs. I'd like to see more of the Zyurangers and Abarangers (and Ryusoulgers if this movie had released a few years later), but I don't really want to see them instead of the Gobusters I'd came to see. There's a time and a place for that and like Sunred suggested, this would've worked a lot better as a TTFC special. Let the returning Gobusters have their crossover without all this dino stuff stealing their focus!

Weirdly, this part didn't bother me so much? I felt like the Go-Busters got as much to do as the Gokaigers did in their crossover film, which is to say Largely Support The New Team's Nonsense. The Go-Busters got the first big action sequence in the film, they imparted the lesson to the new team, and they got to blow up the villains' base, allowing for the new team to get their Dino Mojo back in time to save the day -- that's a pretty good showing for last year's heroes!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

We also get the cute nod with Yayoi filling in for Nakamura as Voldos arrives.

That was really cute, yeah. (I honest to god thought it was Nakamura when she first showed up in this film, and I'm glad the production team was able to lean into that for a very cute callback.)

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

ZYUDEN SENTAI KYORYUGER VS. GO-BUSTERS: DINOSAUR GREAT BATTLE! FAREWELL, ETERNAL FRIENDS

...

(It’s incredibly funny to me that I came from watching two dozen bug-themed Rider shows, having not cared about bugs ever once in my life, and the last Sentai thing I’m going to watch for the year is a tribute to that franchise’s main aesthetic, which I also don’t care about.)

Dinosaurs are Super Sentai's main aesthetic? Maybe the most consistently successful aesthetic, but if there's any sort of primordial theme Sentai has equivalent to Rider's whole warrior of nature grasshopper deal, it's actually exactly what Go-Busters did, which is a high-tech squad of elite agents. In terms of raw frequency, too, I think more general animal themes have dinosaurs beat? And that's not counting a show like Go-Busters, even, despite the fact that they are, famously, the original Doubutsu Sentai.

Indeed, animal themes go all the way back to the fifth series, Sun Vulcan, whereas when the Zyurangers rocked up to the party 16 shows in, the dinosaur idea was no less fresh and radical than that show's strong fantasy leanings, which contrasted the more sci-fi stylings of the franchise up to that point. One might even argue that Zyuranger was at least as atypical a Sentai in its own time as Go-Busters was in 2012!

I don't know if that person would actually be me or not though. I'm mostly just saying all this because I feel an important part of these sorts of Legend ____ guest spots is to get young whippersnappers like Die more curious about those older shows. Not that it worked too well on him, in this case, of course!

("Doesn't care about dinosaurs" is actually new information to me. Heck, maybe you'd really enjoy Zyuranger then. After all, only 2 out of 5 of them are technically proper dinosaurs!)

Anyway, I would've originally watched this movie after having seen (and quite liked) Kyoryuger, since the home release would've been after ToQger started, but I definitely recall being significantly more interested in getting more Go-Busters action. Much like I had heard so much talk of the show getting a "retool" I'm still not sure ever actually happened beyond a new opening, I was going into the movie dreading the apparent reduced focus of the team I cared most about in favor of more dino guys than I was asking for.

Granted, there's always the possibility it's specifically *because* people set my expectations lower, but I recall being quite satisfied with it as both a Go-Busters thing and as an entertainingly wild dino thing, even if those two things didn't necessarily feel like they needed to be together in the way a crossover ideally works.

That's all based on memory though, because it's been a good while since I properly sat down and watched this one. The thought did occur to me that I did rewatch it like 8 years ago and wrote a thing about it though, so maybe I'll just let past me take this one:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It definitely leans heavily on the Dinosaurs! side of things, with the plot largely centered around the Kyoryugers, but the really genius thing that makes the whole movie come together for me is that, despite seeming less important on the surface, the Go-Busters do like, ALL the actual work throughout. The best part is that I'm not even exaggerating that much. The film really plays up the fact that the Go-Busters are professionals, using their intel-gathering skills to think up plans and executing missions with tactical precision while the Kyoryugers basically run around like idiots shouting about how "bureibu" they are and violating all known rules of gun safety.

I'm pretty fond of Riku Sanjo's writing, and I think this is a great example of why. Obviously he's not actually making his own team look bad, but even though the Kyoryugers are the center of the plot, the Busters are the ones who actually drive it forward. They're so critical to the story that if you wrote them out, the bad guys would win like ten minutes in, and again, I'm only sort of exaggerating here.

It's in no way an epilogue for Go-Busters (which is fine because the ending it already had was great), but the movie takes how the team are basically total outsiders to this bizarre plot about bad guys trying to steal dino energy for eeeevil and really rolls with it in a way that lets them shine one last time.

Beyond the satisfactory treatment of the Go-Busters, the movie itself is totally nuts in the best way possible. I mean, there's a chunk of it where the Kyoryugers get turned evil, put on all-black clothes for maximum eeeeevil style points, and go back in time to exterminate the dinosaurs by shooting them with handguns. And if that doesn't sell you on the movie right there, how about the explosions? So. Many. Explosions. Can you tell Koichi Sakamoto directed this?

It's all very bombastic, as is Kyoryuger's style, building to a big crazy climax featuring three teams of Sentai (and also the Go-Busters), and even more explosions, just for good measure.

Basically it's pretty dang enjoyable. I don't know if it's the best thing ever, but of the VS movies I've seen, it's one of the more memorable.

You know, it's pretty strange. I like to think I've gotten better at this stuff over the years, but honestly, most of that still seems like exactly what I'd probably write if I rewatched the movie now.