"Amazon, Fourze. Friends!"

You have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this.

Terebi-Kun Hyper Battle DVD - Kamen Rider Fourze: Rocket Drill States of Friendship

Terebi-Kun Hyper Battle vids tend to fall somewhere between "Net Movies" and "Stage Shows" in terms of importance to their respective series. They're fun little bits of fluff, but hardly essential viewing; they're really meant for kids or the hardcore fans that must know what a dual-wielding Flame Form looks like. But the mail-away videos have been a regular staple since 2000 (for Rider, I forget how long Sentai's had 'em) and they're always worth checking out in my book. At the very least, they're usually good for a few chuckles, and every now and then we get something like Ryuki's, which has some historical importance. Or Faiz's, which is a musical.

As these videos tend to be comedic and over-the-top, they could have done one for Fourze in their sleep had they wanted to. Heck, they could have just edited together a bunch of series outtakes, slapped a title on it and called it good. Instead, they went for something a little more interesting. Fourze's entry into the HBV pantheon is a standout. This is one of the two that I own the physical copies of (the other being Decade's) and it was a worthy purchase.

It's basically a Fourze/Amazon team-up minisode. While the choice of Amazon as the guest Rider might seem unusual at first, I think upon watching it, it's pretty clear why they went with him over the 'obvious' choice of Super-1, who influenced both Fourze (space technology) and Meteor (martial arts), but thematically is a very different story.

There's the journey. Supes was on a journey, but it's one Fourze makes in his opening credits sequence. His is more of a battle against both the internal and external forces barring the way to his dream. Amazon, and Fourze however, I think had/have more traditional coming-of-age stories, where they're the weird new guy just trying to find a place to fit in while also taking up an incredible burden. Decade's take on Amazon touched on this, and I think Fourze has managed it subtly as well (the episodes in Kyoto, while delivering it in a fairly comical manner, did get across that Gentarô still isn't quite like everybody else. Not because he's a transfer student, as was the case at the beginning of the series, but because he's Fourze, and there's something that could be kind of disturbing about that.)

More obviously though, both Amazon and Fourze have a huge predilection for making friends. It's an important part of both their characters. They each have their own unique gesture of friendship, and this video lets you choose which one gets used in the story. Yes, this sucker's interactive! Sort of.

The story is as complex as your standard HBV fare, i.e. really simple. Gentarô and Yuuki are practicing an Amazonian welcome dance for their guest of honor, much to Kengo's confusion. When he realizes the Amazon they're talking about is Kamen Rider Amazon, Yuuki pulls out her copy of the All Rider Battle Hyper Picture Book (get it on amazon.jp, kids!) and we get a brief explanation of Amazon Rider, complete with the theme song and stock footage.

Gentarô mentions wanting to meet again after the previous time they fought together. That's right, this is a sequel to MEGA MAX (also represented with stock footage.) They even namedrop Foundation X, when the villain of the video (Sadondas-Beta, a repaint of that movie's version of Sadondas) shows up and starts threatening a bunch of extras! We learn via flashback that Sadondas-Beta fought with Amazon down in South America, and apparently defeated him while Amazon was protecting a mysterious new switch. Gentarô, understandably ticked off, becomes Fourze to settle it one-on-one.

The first of the interactive segments comes in here, where you get to choose which of the four basic switches he'll use. Rocket, Launcher and Drill all fail and lead to Yuuki and Kengo telling you to try again. Humorously, Sadondas-Beta says that he's "different than the other Sadondas" when you try to use Rocket on him. Also, he has a habit of ending his sentences with -dasu.

By choosing Radar, you'll get a scene where Ryûsei calls up Fourze and explains the mysterious switch (and also namedrops Tachibana) which is the Clear Drill Switch, apparently a byproduct of Fourze's use of cosmic energy when destroying foes in space. This crashed in the jungle and was found by Amazon, who planned on bringing it to Fourze when he was attacked.

Yuuki decides to take Kengo and go to the Amazon Rainforest (she conveniently has two tickets for a direct flight from "Japan" to "The Amazon") and look for the legendary Rider and the switch while Fourze fights off Sadondas-Beta.

And that's exactly what happens! We're spared the scenes of them going through airport security (on the other hand, it's Japan, so that probably didn't take very long at all) and next thing you know they're going down the Amazon River.

So now things go back and forth between Fourze's battle and the other two bumbling around in the jungle, looking for "Amazon-senpai" and encountering various rubber reptiles.

3 days in and Fourze tries Elec States with little luck. After 6 days, he tries Fire States to similar effect. 9 days into the fight, he uses Magnet States. By this point both he and Sadondas-Beta are growing tired and agree to a short break, before lumbering at each other once more. All of Fourze's attacks are useless however.

Finally, Yuuki and Kengo find Amazon (who escaped being set on fire earlier and comes plowing up from some branches at the mention of "Friends!") Amazon gets back to Japan by day 12 for a little teaming-up, but not before some stock footage of Jungler! Hey, if a theatrically-released movie could get away with it, a HBV sure can.

Fourze is overjoyed to see Amazon at last, and once again we're given a choice. Whose sign of friendship will you choose?

Amazon's:

Amazon shows Fourze how they did things back where he comes from, and in keeping with a nearly-40-year tradition, any time somebody makes that hand gesture, we get the sound effect. This was written by Sanjô, by the way, so he's now officially passed the Igadevil Test™.

Amazon and Fourze take on Sadondas-Beta together. Fourze uses the Scissors and Claw Switches, and together with Amazon performs the "Double Dai Setsu Dan of Friendship." Unfortunately, Sadondas-Beta survives and hauls ass. Why that sneaky-! Fortunately, the good guys still saved the day and Amazon gives Fourze the Clear Drill Switch for use next time (which is a subtle message to the kiddies to try the other option on their next viewing), and they shake hands.

Fourze's:

Amazon and Fourze do Gentarô's signature handshake, and this reminds Amazon to give Fourze the Clear Drill Switch now (who knew Amazon's belt had extra storage space!) Fourze uses it to become Rocket Drill States, which is basically Rocket States body with Base States' head and a big drill/rocket combo on his right arm. Hey, it is a Terebi-Kun HBV. Ryûsei likes it, anyway.

Rocket Drill States is enough to destroy Sadondas-Beta, and I'm pretty sure they used a real explosion here, which is pretty cool. Fourze shows Amazon his welcome dance, and if ever there was a .gif-worthy scene, this is it. Orah-orah!

Additionally, if you chose the Fourze ending, after the credits there's a scene showing Yuuki and Kengo, still stuck in the jungle. Kengo's now sporting a beard! I guess Yuuki only bought one-way tickets. Poor kids. Good 'ol Amazon'll figure some way to get them back though.

After completing the DVD once, you get the option to watch either the Fourze version or Amazon version in full. There's also a weird little trailer for MEGA MAX with some odd stock music. Hey, if you're going to watch this, you may as well watch that too!

This thing's a blast. Like the other Hyper Battle Videos/DVDs it's short, goofy fun, but a loving tribute to Amazon. While he's definitely letting Fourze take center stage, he's treated with all the badass reverence the legendary Riders were in MEGA MAX, and that's how you should handle the classic guys, IMHO. Amazon has his MEGA MAX voice actor, so he sounds great, even if his dialogue is of the simpler, early-series Amazon variety (I think he's just been away from civilization for a while.) It is kind of funky that he doesn't have clawed gloves here, but that wouldn't be the first time, and a guy's gotta trim them once in a while!

As with the other HBV's, it's not essential viewing, but if you're just in the mood for some more Fourze or Rider team-up fun, you can't go wrong with this.

Only complaint: No Nozama! Okay, they do namedrop her (she's the one who knew about the ancient Incan greeting dance.)