The Trilogy: Episode Yellow (Spoiler-Free Version)

Tsukasa, have you eaten any Spoiler Warnings?: This is the Spoiler-Free Version of the review for the third part of the Chô Den-O Trilogy. That means there's no spoilers. If you want to know about the plot details for the movie, there's a Spoiler Version just below this one. Well okay, there's loads of spoilers for the Decade series, but you've probably seen that by now if you're reading this.

Still the same trailer for Kamen Rider Double Forever: A to Z/ The Gaia Memories of Fate. Futo must die!

Alright, it's time for the final part of the Chô Den-O Trilogy, this time starring a character not from Den-O, but from Decade: Kamen Rider Diend, alias Daiki! Is that enough "D"'s for you? This was probably the most anticipated part of the Trilogy for me, given my unabashed love of Decade and even more so, my love of Rider crossover team-ups. Not to mention Diend is a character with loads of storytelling potential still in him, but I'll get back to that. How does it stack up?

Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider The Movie: Chô Den-O Trilogy Episode Yellow: Treasure DE End Pirates

Review

Now that's what I'm talking about.

In a lot of ways, this is the Den-O movie that finally really delivers on a facet of the series that up until now has mostly gone unexplored: presumably, they can meet anybody in history, or at least Rider history. It's a trait shared with Decade, though while that show is built around the concept, Den-O's only briefly toyed with it in the past.

In the previous team-ups with Kiva and Decade, the guest Riders were basically doing cameo appearances. Here however, Diend is definitely integral to the plot and entrenched into the Den-O mythos. The movie simply wouldn't be the same without him. It's still a Den-O movie featuring Diend, but he's the first name in the credits and it's not hard to see why.

After all, the main selling point of the Trilogy, beyond the idea of 3 Rider movies spread out across 6 weeks, is that each one focuses on a Rider other than Den-O. Although so far, they've still been Riders to come out of the Den-O series/movies, whereas finally we have a character from a different series, albeit one that has crossed over with Den-O in the past and has the potential to cross over with it easily.

From this point on, it'd be interesting to see if Toei will up the ante with the next inevitable Den-O movie/series of movies. How about Episode Green featuring V3? Episode Black featuring BLACK? Episode Bluey-Purplish featurning Hibiki? The sky's the limit. Of course Diend, like Decade, is a unique case, given how steeped in Rider mythology the character is. It's practically his whole reason to exist.

Diend is a strange character; in many ways his inclusion made Decade's narrative infinitely more complex, as it added in another mystery man who knew about the hero's back story but refused to tell, and who had his own world-hopping abilities and motivation. We did find out a little about him along the way, but he's still largely an enigma by the end of the series and subsequent movies. What's more, he has some of the oddest characterization in Kamen Rider, appearing to regress with each appearance back to the core concept of "world-hopping treasure hunter" despite whatever he'd just been through in the previous episodes.

I'm mainly thinking of the one-two punches in #22-23 & 24-26, where we got some of Daiki's back story, learned about his inner demons and then saw him get taken down a few pegs when a Sentai villain swipes his weapon and goes hog-wild. It seemed like at that point the character might go from his earlier, more reckless and somewhat morally dubious self where he's not a bad guy (but he'll still shoot at Tsukasa and Yuusuke and heaven help them if they don't dodge) into something a little more conventionally heroic, and maybe even give us some of the answers we've been waiting to hear.

Instead we have Daiki at probably his all-time most head-scratching. In #26 & 27, he intentionally opposes Tsukasa to get his hands on Apollo Geist's Perfecter, which is already not a very smart idea as it is ("Yes, I'll just walk up to one of the most dangerous Rider villains in existence and take it! Treasure Hunting wooooooooo!") You gotta love how quickly he runs once he realizes he's up against an enemy who actually uses his shield like a shield. To be fair, he still proves in the end that he's a good guy by bringing in another Kurata Tetsuo for that moment every fan still gushes over. Also, Daiki drops some serious X-Rider continuity in these episodes, so he's all right by me.

In #28 & 29, he's even more bonkers, but I say that as an Amazon fan knowing that on their own, the Gigi and Gaga are basically just cool-looking jewelry; combined is where the real power lies. Not to mention that as long as you have one, pretty much anybody who knows the back story will be after you 'til the end of time. This arc also saw him getting his power-up card from Narutaki, a plot development that's still pretty hard to explain (and after this movie, nothing's changed there. I'm pretty sure Daiki's still using the old Kamen Ride Diend card anyway. My fan theory is that the card just gave him some new tricks, Illusion & Barrier, etc., but I dunno)

The last two are confusing enough as it is, and (along with the trip to his own world) another look into how emotionally unstable he can be at times; see his almost-teary-eye "only I can destroy you!" bit with Tsukasa. And then of course there's that ending, though with the re-aired episodes chopping out the face-shooting bit, it's hard to know what actually has happened anymore. On this one, I'll vote with my wallet, and say I still consider the original ending to be the real one until Toei's marketing department says otherwise. Given that books published post-re-airing still refer to it (Yuusuke turned bad; Diend's headshot, etc.) you gotta wonder.

To be honest, I don't remember Double & Decade Daiki much, other than a lot of standing around and being as confused as everyone else by Wataru's gibbering nonsense, and then joining in for the kick-ass fight at the end. But All Riders is where the character finally sort of hit his apex for me, despite a shaky start (he gets to be the top 3rd Heisei Rider in the tournament because he showed up late?)

That movie has Diend facing down some serious bad guys and joining with the rest of the Rider family at last; probably the two defining moments are his classic Shocker soldier reveal, and then escaping with Natsumi while having to fight off pretty much everybody after the Rider pow-wow goes bad (what'd he expect, hooking up with two nutbars though?) At last, Diend really felt like a proper hero here, as opposed to simply a thief with a heart of gold.

The other big thing about Diend, apart from his characterization, is the fact that he's kind of indirectly responsible for making Narutaki into such a worthless character, given how he took his one cool ability (summon in old Riders to fight Decade) and put a more marketable spin on it. Thus we go from feeling like the real Hoppers and Kaixa have come into he show, to just a bunch of grunting digital copies. To be fair, Diend does it far more over the course of the series than Narutaki, who could conceivably still do it later if he wanted to (re: Hibiki World) so it's more the writing's fault than it is Daiki's.

And yet... I honestly can't say I dislike him. Yes, his character has qualities I don't (and still don't) understand. Yes, he looks like the super heroic equivalent of a PS2. Yes, we still know so little about how he travels between worlds that the "he journeys through the plot holes" theory actually makes complete sense (that said, Episode Yellow does offer up a pretty good explanation of how he gets around Den-O's world, anyway.)

But at the end of the day, he's a cool concept both as a character and as a Rider: A world-hopping guy who wants valuable bits of fan service and fights by bringing in anybody from the past 10 years, and even beyond. It's another case of Decade's high concepts rising above how effective/ineffective they might have actually been realized.

And really? It's just so good to see him back. Decade's barely over a year old and for all the ups and downs it has, I love that show, and bringing elements of it back gets the nostalgia gears grinding. That there's still so much untapped potential in it is only a bonus.

So that brings us to the main man. It's a good outing for him. I'm not sure if you'll have a lot of your questions answered about him, but you'll still get a good handle on who he is and where he might be going. The movie does some brave things with its lead.

It's got bold ideas, and kind of makes me feel like the Chô Den-O Trilogy stars really should have been all non-Den-O Riders. I enjoyed Episode Red and Episode Blue (the latter particularly so) but they've inarguable got a Den-O-centric appeal to them. If you didn't like the series and movies before, those probably won't make you like it now. With Episode Yellow, it's a bit more tricky. If you liked Decade and mainly Diend, you'll probably like this, because even with the Den-O cast appearing, he's still front in center.

As for characterization... well, it's Daiki. Written by Yonemura, the man who probably handles him the best. Although I brought up his wacky turns earlier, if you just sit down and examine the Yonemura-written episodes with Diend, there's at least some consistency among them. Under the other writers, I always felt he seemed just a bit too antagonistic, as if they all expected he'd wind up a villain by the end, and it's up to the actor to keep you liking him. But Yonemura seemed to get it. He writes Daiki as a magnificent bastard who always seems to have a plan, or at least is good at making it up while he goes, and beneath the bluster there is a good guy in there.

If it at first looks like he's doing something really stupid (going after treasures that happen to be attached to Daishocker leaders, etc.) then usually there's some twist or trick to it, a method to the madness. Hibiki World Daiki is one of my favorite depictions of the character, who up until then had seemed a lot more sinister than he really is. It's also the best-ever use of him as a rival to Tsukasa I think, with each backed up by an opposing school in that killer confrontation which quickly descends into unabashed lunacy. If When I get to write for Kamen Rider, I'd like to create a secondary Rider who never actually voluntarily gets into fights with the main one when they're transformed, but only when they're in human form. And even then, it's less fisticuffs and more about then pitting their wits. I like that stuff, like Tendô and Tsurugi trying to one-up each other.

Such is the case here. Daiki's at the center of a great crazy plan. You'll have to see the movie for yourself to get it, but there's a lot of time-trickery involved. The plot's bonkers, but I liked it and it all works out in a weird sorta way.

For a Diend fan, this is really a pretty solid outing, giving him a chance to exhibit all his trademarks. He uses some of his usual tricks, although probably better than ever before. He of course gets one particular new one that you probably already know about. Needless to say I liked it. Its introduction is a bit odd, but if you're used to how some past Heisei Riders got their new toys, it's pretty much in-line with what we've come to expect. You'll like that final attack, no doubt.

The movie's other main star is an interesting character, or maybe I should say characters? There's a pretty good storyline going on with him and you might be surprised at who the actual villain turns out to be. It's signposted, but the way the movie went about it was interesting and not what I expected.

The new Rider, G Den-O, is okay. As a costume it's pretty much what we've come to expect from movie Riders in Den-O, that being they took the basic Den-O Plat Form look and changed around the armor here and there, new helmet there, etc.

As for the rest of the cast: at this point I've just run out of things to say about the regulars. We had them in the last two movies, we've had them before that, etc. Mizoguchi is still amazing, Momotaros is still hilarious, with one scene that's become one of my favorites ever involving the character. And everybody else is about what you'd expect.

Actually, one of the other regulars fares pretty well in this one too, coming to have a special kind of role in the story since given what he gets to see. If you think he's been sidelined in the past few films, you might like this.

There isn't a whole lot else to say beyond the characters (as the Trilogy has been pretty character-centric.) The plot's crazy and goes all over the place, but like I said, it somehow all works. Good action, good music and all that. The song as the end's a funny mishmash; I'd have liked a new version of Treasure Sniper or something, but it's cool. If I had any complaints, and it's a smaller complaint: I would have liked a small cameo from a particular series, but I'll live. We do get a nice little shout-out to it in the form of something that's in almost all the episodes, and always seems to be changing.

How does it stack up to the others? It might be my favorite, though Episode Blue was pretty good too. At some point soon I'll do a final Trilogy wrap-up with my thoughts on the whole shebang and all that. Although I might need to watch this one again. Also, that'll be loaded with spoilers most likely so you might want to pass on it for now.

So that's it for the Chô Den-O Trilogy. Given the box office success of each installment, I'd say we're due for more Den-O in the future, though I'll speculate on that another time.

Di-End!

***

The Trilogy: Episode Yellow (Spoiler Version)

Tsukasa, have you eaten any Spoiler Warnings?: This is the Spoiler Version of the review for the third part of the Chô Den-O Trilogy. That means there's spoilers. If you don't want to know about the plot details for the movie, there's a Spoiler-Free Version just above this one.

Still the same trailer for Kamen Rider Double Forever: A to Z/ The Gaia Memories of Fate. There's a new one at the end of the movie which doesn't show a whole lot new aside from suggesting that Shroud's identity will be revealed (though I'd be shocked if it isn't a fake-out, since I can't believe they'd blow that in a trailer.) There's more of the baddies, including the resident sexy villainess kissing her Gaia Memory, Fang Joker vs. Eternal, and a lot of people looking like they're about to bust out dancing when they use the T2 Gaia Memories. Most importantly, we see Philip just plain losing his shit and punching out Shôtarô! Exciting stuff.

Alright, it's time for the final part of the Chô Den-O Trilogy, this time starring a character not from Den-O, but from Decade: Kamen Rider Diend, alias Daiki! Is that enough "D"'s for you? This was probably the most anticipated part of the Trilogy for me, given my unabashed love of Decade and even more so, my love of Rider crossover team-ups. Not to mention Diend is a character with loads of storytelling potential still in him, but I'll get back to that. How does it stack up?

Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider The Movie: Chô Den-O Trilogy Episode Yellow: Treasure DE End Pirates

Synopsis

The movie opens with a pan of nighttime Tokyo. High atop it all, a mysterious man casts out sparkly sand out as he leaps from building to building. This has naturally attracted the attention of Momotaros, who is following his non-existent nose on the trail of an Imagin. He's dragged Urataros, Kintaros and Ryuutaros along with him, although all 3 of them would clearly rather be doing something else (sleeping, taking a bath, etc.) The crew confront the man, who Momotaros finds suspiciously familiar. As well he should: it's Kaitô Daiki, Kamen Rider Diend! Although it takes Momotaros longer to realize this than it does the audience.

He outwits and outfights the four, who end up punching each other silly. Daiki is sporting pinkish-purple strands in his hair, suggesting possession by an Imagin. It turns out to be a Spider Imagin (straight out of the TV series) who emerges once Ryôtarô arrives, as confirming his identity was apparently all the Spider Imagin needed to complete his contract. He opens up Daiki and goes into the past. Our heroes soon follow, with Ryôtarô noting the blank expression on Daiki's face as he puts a ticket to him and learns the date the Imagin fled back to: November 22nd, 2008.

The Den-Liner arrives back in time and Den-O Sword form appears on the Den-Bird ("Arriving... with the bike!" he shouts) and he attacks the seemingly-confused Spider Imagin, who is quickly destroyed with what I think is yet another new version of the Extreme Slash, but I've honestly lost track at this point. Basically Den-O does the "flying sword" bit then finishes it off by running into the monster, reattaching the blade, and slashing him again. Anyway, the rehashed monster blows up and Den-O reverts to Ryôtarô and Momotaros.

In one of the best jokes in the movie, Momotaros forces the others into helping him look for the Rider Pass. Yes, every time he just tosses it aside like that, he actually still has to go and find it after the battle. This time though, Daiki has found it first, and he's already on board the Den-Liner. As it turns out, he tricked everyone, allowing himself to get possessed by the Spider Imagin so that the Den-Liner would go back and he'd be able to take it over. If you think Daiki's plan is pretty crazy now, just you wait. Before the movie is over, you're going to find that Daiki is either a total genius, or the luckiest man in fiction.

After Daiki shoots at them a bit, Momotaros remembers him as "that robber guy". We never get any flashbacks to prior movies/episodes like in Episode Blue, but we can just assume he's talking about Decade #14 & 15, and any subsequent meeting they've had. At this point, don't even try to bring in the concept of alternate universe Den-O's any more. The Chô Den-O Trilogy has basically taken any hope of that, doused it in kerosene, and lit a match. Not that I mind though! It's all one big happy thing and it pulls in Decade, Kiva, Ryuki and whatever the hell else it feels like. You could probably go as far as to say that Dragon Knight and the stage shows are all viable ground too.

Daiki takes off in the Den-Liner, leaving Ryôtarô & company behind. Cue the same opening credits as the last two movies. It's kind of funny how some stuff featured so prominently in it was on screen for a few minutes, tops (like Mantis Imagin's masked dude persona.) In any case this is the last time we'll be seeing this credits variation anyway, since it's part 3 of the trilogy and any further movies/trilogies will likely have something new. And yes I'm just trying to fill space in this paragraph while I remember what the hell happened next.

As the 'Liner careens through public domain footage the Time Vortex, Daiki holds Owner and Kohana at gunpoint, but since this is at least the 7th or 8th time the Den-Liner has been hijacked/sent out of control/etc., they take it pretty casually. Naomi, not so much. And if you've ever wanted to see Akiyama with a bucket helmet, wish granted.

Owner explains how, despite the Imagin being destroyed, the date on the stolen Rider Pass remains, so the Den-Liner will return there because, after all, that's where whatever Daiki wants is. You gotta wonder why he bothered stealing the Den-Liner then; my guess is that Daiki doesn't really know how it works, despite coveting it back in Decade, which fits in with his "ho ho ho, this must be precious" personality. Ryôtarô & the guys see the Den-Liner returning and hoof it. On the way Ryôtarô spots Daiki and decides to follow him. Guy sure gets around fast! So what is Daiki after, anyway?

Apparently, he wants to kill himself. No really, he finds his past self, and shoots him dead, much to Ryôtarô's shock. To Daiki's shock, he doesn't die! I mean either version. The bloody wound vanishes and past Daiki gets up and runs without asking any questions. Daiki tries to shoot himself some more, but the bullets (or whatever the Diendriver fires) just seem to disintegrate into some kind of force field. So basically, Daiki is like the Borg. The other Imagin show up to chase the Daiki who is also chasing a Daiki.

As if things couldn't get more ridiculous, a man teleports in, Terminator-style, though thankfully wearing more clothes. This is Kurosaki Reiji, and almost every time he shows up in a scene, this guitar riff comes on to remind us that this is some serious @#$% we're dealing with here. Kurosaki is a Time Cop... there's really no other way to describe it, that's what he says. He's armed with a golden revolver and a badge that talks. This badge holds the face of Eve, an artificial Imagin who is basically Deneb and Teddy combined, but without either's charm or morality. His eyes light up whenever he talks, and he talks a lot of trash. Kurosaki's also wearing a Den-O belt, but with a big chunky golden circle on the front (the time police's logo.)

Daiki is under arrest for wanting to erase his own existence, causing a time paradox; such actions are illegal. Kurosaki throws in an odd comment about feeling the same way, and brings up his mom (!) This will come into play later. Anyway, the other Imagin are impressed with the new guy, who proceeds to transform into Kamen Rider G Den-O! He tells Daiki that if he wants to be erased from history so badly, he'll be more than happy to oblige.

It's a similar process to the other Den-Os, although with different armor on the body of course and it's a police car-looking thing that drives down his head and forms his mask. It's... weird. There's also a tune before he swipes the pass over his belt, but it's just like someone mucking around with a synthesizer, and not as elaborate as some of the others. Eve's face also takes a place on his chest, sort of like the Vega Forms.

G Den-O starts to form his Den-Gasher pieces into a knife-like weapon. Of course, our star treasure hunter isn't taking this well. If there's one thing that Daiki (the future... er, present version) hates, it's being deprived of freedom, so he transforms into Kamen Rider Diend. And before anyone worries, no, it's the same as ever. No continuity-busting "why-is-it-moving-towards-them-like-Leangle!?" changes made here.

Unfortunately Diend brought a gun to a knife fight. You'd think he would just shoot the other guy and be done with it, but G Den-O gets in quickly and starts thrashing him good. So he naturally resorts to Diend Combat Procedure #1 and summons a bunch of Riotroopers. G Den-O changes his weapon to a gun, and with help from Eve (who knows everything, including where they all are in relation to him even from behind) kicks their butts.

Diend uses his Final Attack Ride, but G Den-O counters with his "Perfect Weapon", a confusing attack that the creates an unbreakable force field which the Riotroopers suddenly decide it would be a good idea to run into. It stops Diend's blast and sends off all these red and blue lasers... it's one of the messier final attacks I've seen, I'll need to rewatch that one on DVD a few times to figure out what's going on. I think the Riotroopers try to get in the way to save Diend, but it doesn't do much good. They all get destroyed and Diend is knocked back to Daiki.

G Den-O zaps Daiki with some laser handcuff thingies. Momotaros and the others are impressed by how he apprehended the thief, and his ability to time-travel without a Den-Liner. There's some plot exposition about Eve, the first of the manmade Imagin, who apparently has near-infinite knowledge and has made G Den-O the ultimate crime-fighting machine. He's also tiresomely by the book. Kurosaki is just kind of a smug bastard; considering he's in a movie with Daiki, that's saying something.

Their admiration soon turns to dismay when he shoots at Ryuutaros trying to retrieve the stolen Rider Pass, and announces that they're under arrest too! They're in violation of the rules with all that unlicensed altering of history and being rogue Imagin and all. This is actually a kind of interesting bit: G Den-O talks of the Imagin like they're extinct, despite Spider appearing earlier in the movie and Piggies and Mantis in the previous installments. Is he just clueless, or is there something bigger being seeded here? Am I just hoping there's more to this than there actually is? Will Jiro ever find happiness?

G Den-O traps Momotaros, Kintaros and Ryuutaros in a net blast from his gun, though allows Ryôtarô to go free, since he's no threat to the time stream without them. However, one has slipped away... as a side note, the spiderweb-like design of the net is a funny choice, considering the movie just had a Spider Monster a few minutes earlier. You almost have to wonder if somebody read the memo wrong.

Urataros has trailed the past Daiki, who I should mention here wears a hat and dresses similarly to Daiki at the beginning of Decade, although it's questionable if it is supposed to be a pre-series Daiki, given what happens later. Then again, Daiki stomps all over his own time line in this movie and doesn't end up as his own grandfather or anything (I think) so it all works out, somehow.

Anyway, he's breaking into... the Kurosaki estate! To steal a wooden chest containing the same golden revolver Kurosaki was seen with before. On the way out, he is confronted by a boy who tries to stop him. Daiki shoves him aside and leaps over the perimeter fence, and tells the kid that it's nothing personal, yadda yadda treasures blah blah justification!1! talky-talky. Urataros witnesses all this, but is found by G Den-O, and soon proves to be a pretty lousy escape artist.

We see the time police headquarters in the time-desert place, which looks like a clock tower over a bunch of King-Liners. Actually, it might be the Terminal, since they reuse the heck out of that set here. Speaking of clocks, Kurosaki is often seen carrying around a pocket watch; it's mostly just a little character detail since the other thing he's always seen with, the golden gun, is the important thing. So no, he's not secretly Sakurai or anything. Speaking of which, where is Yuuto anyway? Kôtarô's back in the future I guess, but Yuuto and Deneb must be having one hell of an adventure to miss out on this.

Momotaros and co. are tossed in a cell, and Daiki is in the cell across from them. He laments the amount of noise he must put up with as the Imagin do nothing but demand to be released.

The actors for Airi, Ozaki & Miura were apparently all under contract to appear in all 3 movies, so here they are. They don't do a whole lot, other than Airi making some disgusting-looking dish (which she tells Ryôtarô to eat so he can grow up to be big like he "used to be", which I guess means she knows about the whole de-aging thing?) Ozaki and Miura forget all about Episode Red and continue to pine over her. Ryôtarô and Kohana try to work out what Kurosaki's deal is and what exactly Daiki was trying to accomplish with that whole "killing my past self" thing. The name reminds Ozaki of an incident on November 22nd, 2008 when a valuable item was stolen from the Kurosaki household. And that item was... the golden gun! The kids formulate a plan...

Kurosaki and some guards confronts Daiki and they have a little chat, with Daiki mentioning how Kurosaki's pleased that he's taken away the ultimate treasure— his freedom. Kurosaki paraphrases a line that Urataros finds familiar: the last thing past Daiki said to that kid when he stole the gun from the Kurosaki house. I think you can make the obvious connection. Kurosaki points his gun at Daiki and we see that the handle is damaged...

The Imagin are told they will be put on trial, but suddenly Owner appears, trying to use his street cred to get them out of jail. Eve pipes in that Owner is guilty of harboring renegade Imagin and generally screwing with the laws of time himself, so he's placed under arrest! As Owner comically resists, Daiki grabs a guard through the bars and begs to be released, claiming he'll renounce his thieving ways. Kurosaki doesn't buy it and decks him before leaving, but anybody who knows Daiki knows that he snatched the keys off of the guard. He lets himself out, then throws them to the Imagin... where they land just out of reach.

The Den-Liner is now under the jurisdiction of the time police. Kurosaki boards, but is informed by Naomi that Daiki has escaped. He senses something though, and pulls his gun on Naomi, who he insists is actually Daiki! Sure enough, it is. Yes, Daiki is wearing a rubber Naomi suit. No, I have no idea how that works, and I'm not sure I want to know. After unmasking, the two have a stare down.

Ryôtarô & Kohana have gotten themselves arrested somehow (probably for claiming to be Satô and Shiratori since they're going to be old enough in a few more years) and are being placed in the jail adjacent to the Imagin, who have been trying desperately to get the keys. Ryôtarô tells Momotaros to "Come over here", and after being slightly puzzled, the big red one gets the hint and merges with Ryôtarô. M-Ryôtarô beats up the guards. Kohana busts loose and performs a "Matrix"-y flying kick that's about a decade out of date. Okay, I think they were also going for some Bruce Lee homage or something.

It turns out Owner had no trouble taking care of himself either, and joins the kids as they release the Imagin. Ryôtarô concludes that they need to get to the Den-Liner and figure out just what's going on so that they can clear their names and settle all this. Owner tells them that he has important business with the Station Master (I guess it is the Terminal after all) so he hands Ryôtarô the Infinity card and tells him to look after the Den-Liner. This is a great moment, really showing just how far Owner has come to trust Ryôtarô and his friends.

As if this escape couldn't get any cooler, our heroes then jump out of the tower with parachutes, though Momotaros' fails on him. He's had worse.

Kurosaki forces Daiki out of the Den-Liner at gunpoint. Daiki tries to distract him by telling him Ryôtarô & co. are escaping... which they actually are! They board the Den-Liner, taunting Kurosaki after Urataros uses the Den-Gasher (Fishing) Rod Mode to steal back the Rider Pass. Momotaros has a really evil laugh here. The train leaves, and Daiki uses the distraction to escape, firing a laser grappling hood into the end of the Den-Liner and being pulled along with it. So that's how he does it. Kurosaki is ticked off and so is Eve, who says that all their judgments have already been passed. Total elimination.

On the Den-Liner, Diend appears in the front to hold Den-O Sword Form (who's driving) at gunpoint. There's then a big exposition info dump, where Daiki explains (sort of) what he was up to on November 22nd, 2008. After stealing the chest from the Kurosaki house, he paused on a bridge to examine the prize... and noticed something else beneath the gun. Pulling away the felt, he finds something that shocks him, but the gun and chest are shot out of his hands by some trigger-happy cops. Yes, cops actually chasing Daiki! The gun is damaged as a result, and Daiki escapes. Also, a whole lot of papers flutter around everywhere...

Our heroes speculate that Daiki wanted to go back to that day so he could try stealing it again and get it right this time. Daiki does confirm that he likes his treasures in mint condition, though it still seems there's more to the story yet to be told. Despite everyone else just about ready to dump Daiki in the middle of the desert, Ryôtarô decides to go along with his demand to take them back to November 22nd, 2008 (after which the thief will turn control of the Den-Liner back over to them, he claims.)

Ryôtarô, Daiki & the Imagin disembark, but are ambushed by G Den-O teleporting in. Eve instructs him to issue them the maximum penalty, and the police Rider assembles his weapon and attacks. Momotaros takes a blow to protect Ryôtarô, who becomes Den-O, though Kintaros pushes out Momotaros so he changes to Ax Form. After a brief fight, Ax uses the Dynamic Chop. There's a great nod back to the beginning of the movie when he takes out the Rider Pass, swipes it... then after a moment, carefully puts it behind his back where he got it from rather than tossing it aside. G Den-O is able to block the attack with his force field.

Ryuutaros takes command and Gun Form goes up against G Den-O. Despite being well-matched shots, Eve's targeting skills are superior and Ryuuta gets blasted clear. Momotaros takes control once again. G Den-O fires at Daiki, but Urataros covers him and possesses him, transforming (much to Daiki's disapproval.) U-Diend uses his rod weapon to deflect G Den-O's bullets and attack him directly. He changes back to the Diendriver and uses the Invisible card... but surprisingly, not to run away! Den-O does his Extreme Slash on G Den-O, who blocks it with his force field... then Diend comes out of cloaking and blasts him away point-blank. This is probably the best use of that power yet!

With G Den-O temporarily down for the count, Diend reverts to Daiki and hoofs it. For much of the movie Daiki has been checking his wrist watch; we get a full-on countdown here, and he rushes to find his past self and prevent the gun from being damaged... seemingly. As the countdown hits 0, Daiki finds himself cornered by Kurosaki, who Eve eggs on to just get it over with and put one right between his eyes. Ryôtarô arrives and watches on, shocked.

Daiki reaches for his gun, so Kurosaki shoots, and the bullet pierces right through Daiki and out the other side, where the past Daiki is running by with the suitcase. The bullet his the case, knocks past-Daiki over a railing. The papers from before scatter everywhere, and the present, shot-up Daiki catches the gun in his hand. As a result, the gun disappears from a shocked Kurosaki's grip, and Daiki seems to be just fine.

Let me try and explain what's basically happened here.

Daiki made contract with a Spider Imagin and let it go back in time to November 22nd, 2008. He used the intervention of Ryôtarô & friends to steal the Den-Liner, which after a brief joyride returned to that time anyway. He then attempts to shoot himself several times, eventually giving up (he admits "I thought it would be like that" upon failing to kill himself the first time.) As it turns out, this was all really to lure Kurosaki into coming after him (Daiki already knows who he is when he first appears.) After a fight, he gets arrested, but breaks out, commandeers the Den-Liner again, goes back to the same point in time and ends up getting "killed" himself.

Except that since the stolen gun from the past falls into his future hands, it never would have been damaged and later retrieved by Kurosaki (which is why his future, adult self has had it all this time.) So basically, Daiki saves his own ass by getting shot, having his past self lose the gun to his future self, who then would have always had it from that moment on. And as a result, Kurosaki never could have gotten it back, and never could have shot it, so it disappears from his hand. And since he never could have shot Daiki with it... Daiki's now okay.

Just wait, it gets even better.

The papers are in fact letters from Kurosaki's mom. Remember the mommy issues he hinted at earlier? They seem to run pretty deep, but the truth is Kurosaki's mother loved him even if he never realized it. Kohana arrives to spell it all out for us, though I must confess this is the part of the movie where my memory fails. It actually is fairly adequately explained, I just forget the exact reasoning behind it all so if it seems contrived, it's actually pretty well foreshadowed and you can chalk this one up to reviewer brain degradation.

Either they divorced, or she died early, or something like that. Probably none of the above! I also *think* that Kurosaki got the letters as a kid, and just never read them/forgot about them, burying them under the gun. Seeing them now though, he comes to realize what he's been missing out on. It explains his cold, clinical personality so far (seeing Eve as his only true partner in life) and as part of the Daiki Master Plan™ (unintentionally turn hapless child into future arch enemy, then show him he's actually been a dick all along!) it oddly works.

Truth be told, I was also kind of distracted during this scene by some nearby graffiti (unnoticed by the characters but visible to the audience) which looks like it says 井斗... as in (Sakura)i (Yuu)to. Simple coincidence, reference to a Den-O story I totally forgot about, or the most subtle foreshadowing to a future Den-O adventure yet? Is Yuuto the Bad Wolf? Did I just read it wrong? (Probably)

Daiki tells Kurosaki that these letters are a great treasure, but one that he has no need for, so he hands them back to the man himself. Eve has been getting constantly irritated by the emotional stuff of the last few minutes, and orders Kurosaki to uphold the law and take down Daiki. The man is too overcome with emotion though, which ticks off the logic-minded Imagin to no end.

So of course he has the very natural reaction of forcing himself to split from Kurosaki's badge, manifesting into the corporal form of G Den-O, and declaring that artificial Imagin must rule the world and humans are weak, emotional wrecks! You couldn't make it up if you tried.

To be fair, Eve's heel turn is signposted early on enough. You know he's by-the-book, but in this case is psychotically so. I'll talk more about that later though. Now split from Kurosaki, Eve/G Den-O goes nuts and our heroes scatter.

Daiki ends up running into his past self. They have a brief Mexican standoff, since even Daiki loves pointing his gun at himself. G Den-O shows up growling like a feral dog, so they transform together. Things get a little confusing here but I think the present Daiki that we've been following for most of the movie proceeds to escape with the golden gun, outwitting his other self (who is of course impressed: "I'm really great!") and leaving things up to him. Or maybe it's the past one. Well, there's now just one Diend in the fight, we'll leave it at that.

Ryôtarô/Den-O and co. join in the fight, though the out-of-control G Den-O easily holds his own against 2 Riders and the Imagin. Kurosaki is still around to watch the ensuing chaos. An attempt to finish G Den-O results in him using that force field/laser thing attack, and a stray one goes towards Kurosaki. Diend pushes him out of the way though, saving him, and the grateful man takes out his badge and pushes some buttons on it. It changes into a metal briefcase with Diend's logo on it, inside of which contains Diend's own K-Touch.

Alright, I'm not too sure what the story is with this... the dialogue implies that Kurosaki has always had it, waiting for the right person to give it to. Considering it's meant for Diend, you've got to wonder about the implications there. Anyway, Diend is impressed by this "true treasure" and uses it to change to...

Diend Complete Form! He uses the special Attack Ride Gekijôban card to summon an array of familiar faces...

Kamen Rider G4!
Kamen Rider Ryuga!
Kamen Rider Orga!
Kamen Rider Glaive!
Kamen Rider Kabuki!
Kamen Rider Caucasus!
Kamen Rider Arc!
Kamen Rider Skull!

Somewhere in here Den-O becomes Den-O Climax Form too. The Movie Riders and Diend perform their finishing moves, overwhelming Eve/G Den-O. The rampaging Imagin's cry of anger fades into nothingness as he explodes.

Then comes the multi-part ending similar to Episode Blue. Daiki parts ways with the Den-O crew, and we get a nice little cameo of the exterior of the Hikari Photo Studio! Nobody else, but at least we know they're all still around and Daiki's traveling with them. Kurosaki goes to visit his mom (in 2008 or 2010, I'm not sure) who works at a flower shop and it's a well-done, touching scene on par with Blue's original character wrap-up. I'm going to need to see the movie again because I think I missed out what exactly caused such a rift between them. Well hey, time-travel made it all un-happen anyway so it's cool!

There's then a scene on the Den-Liner that... look, you're just going to have to see this one for yourselves. It's got Owner and Station Master facing off, using spoons as golf clubs to throw chahan rice onto plates from the Den-Liner's Holodeck. No really, that's pretty much exactly what it is. I suppose this ties back to the spoon-polishing stuff from Episode Blue and maaaaybe the tape measure from Episode Red, I dunno.

And of course to top it all off, when everybody gets served coffee, Ryôtarô realizes his mug is missing. It turns out Daiki did steal something from the Den-Liner after all, though the main man (or boy) isn't too bothered by it, because they'll most likely meet again...

The End

Review

Now that's what I'm talking about.

In a lot of ways, this is the Den-O movie that finally really delivers on a facet of the series that up until now has mostly gone unexplored: presumably, they can meet anybody in history, or at least Rider history. It's a trait shared with Decade, though while that show is built around the concept, Den-O's only briefly toyed with it in the past.

In the previous team-ups with Kiva and Decade, the guest Riders were basically doing cameo appearances. Here however, Diend is definitely integral to the plot and entrenched into the Den-O mythos. The movie simply wouldn't be the same without him. It's still a Den-O movie featuring Diend, but he's the first name in the credits and it's not hard to see why.

After all, the main selling point of the Trilogy, beyond the idea of 3 Rider movies spread out across 6 weeks, is that each one focuses on a Rider other than Den-O. Although so far, they've still been Riders to come out of the Den-O series/movies, whereas finally we have a character from a different series, albeit one that has crossed over with Den-O in the past and has the potential to cross over with it easily.

From this point on, it'd be interesting to see if Toei will up the ante with the next inevitable Den-O movie/series of movies. How about Episode Green featuring V3? Episode Black featuring BLACK? Episode Bluey-Purplish featurning Hibiki? The sky's the limit. Of course Diend, like Decade, is a unique case, given how steeped in Rider mythology the character is. It's practically his whole reason to exist.

Diend is a strange character; in many ways his inclusion made Decade's narrative infinitely more complex, as it added in another mystery man who knew about the hero's back story but refused to tell, and who had his own world-hopping abilities and motivation. We did find out a little about him along the way, but he's still largely an enigma by the end of the series and subsequent movies. What's more, he has some of the oddest characterization in Kamen Rider, appearing to regress with each appearance back to the core concept of "world-hopping treasure hunter" despite whatever he'd just been through in the previous episodes.

I'm mainly thinking of the one-two punches in #22-23 & 24-26, where we got some of Daiki's back story, learned about his inner demons and then saw him get taken down a few pegs when a Sentai villain swipes his weapon and goes hog-wild. It seemed like at that point the character might go from his earlier, more reckless and somewhat morally dubious self where he's not a bad guy (but he'll still shoot at Tsukasa and Yuusuke and heaven help them if they don't dodge) into something a little more conventionally heroic, and maybe even give us some of the answers we've been waiting to hear.

Instead we have Daiki at probably his all-time most head-scratching. In #26 & 27, he intentionally opposes Tsukasa to get his hands on Apollo Geist's Perfecter, which is already not a very smart idea as it is ("Yes, I'll just walk up to one of the most dangerous Rider villains in existence and take it! Treasure Hunting wooooooooo!") You gotta love how quickly he runs once he realizes he's up against an enemy who actually uses his shield like a shield. To be fair, he still proves in the end that he's a good guy by bringing in another Kurata Tetsuo for that moment every fan still gushes over. Also, Daiki drops some serious X-Rider continuity in these episodes, so he's all right by me.

In #28 & 29, he's even more bonkers, but I say that as an Amazon fan knowing that on their own, the Gigi and Gaga are basically just cool-looking jewelry; combined is where the real power lies. Not to mention that as long as you have one, pretty much anybody who knows the back story will be after you 'til the end of time. This arc also saw him getting his power-up card from Narutaki, a plot development that's still pretty hard to explain (and after this movie, nothing's changed there. I'm pretty sure Daiki's still using the old Kamen Ride Diend card anyway. My fan theory is that the card just gave him some new tricks, Illusion & Barrier, etc., but I dunno)

The last two are confusing enough as it is, and (along with the trip to his own world) another look into how emotionally unstable he can be at times; see his almost-teary-eye "only I can destroy you!" bit with Tsukasa. And then of course there's that ending, though with the re-aired episodes chopping out the face-shooting bit, it's hard to know what actually has happened anymore. On this one, I'll vote with my wallet, and say I still consider the original ending to be the real one until Toei's marketing department says otherwise. Given that books published post-re-airing still refer to it (Yuusuke turned bad; Diend's headshot, etc.) you gotta wonder.

To be honest, I don't remember Double & Decade Daiki much, other than a lot of standing around and being as confused as everyone else by Wataru's gibbering nonsense, and then joining in for the kick-ass fight at the end. But All Riders is where the character finally sort of hit his apex for me, despite a shaky start (he gets to be the top 3rd Heisei Rider in the tournament because he showed up late?)

That movie has Diend facing down some serious bad guys and joining with the rest of the Rider family at last; probably the two defining moments are his classic Shocker soldier reveal, and then escaping with Natsumi while having to fight off pretty much everybody after the Rider pow-wow goes bad (what'd he expect, hooking up with two nutbars though?) At last, Diend really felt like a proper hero here, as opposed to simply a thief with a heart of gold.

The other big thing about Diend, apart from his characterization, is the fact that he's kind of indirectly responsible for making Narutaki into such a worthless character, given how he took his one cool ability (summon in old Riders to fight Decade) and put a more marketable spin on it. Thus we go from feeling like the real Hoppers and Kaixa have come into he show, to just a bunch of grunting digital copies. To be fair, Diend does it far more over the course of the series than Narutaki, who could conceivably still do it later if he wanted to (re: Hibiki World) so it's more the writing's fault than it is Daiki's.

And yet... I honestly can't say I dislike him. Yes, his character has qualities I don't (and still don't) understand. Yes, he looks like the super heroic equivalent of a PS2. Yes, we still know so little about how he travels between worlds that the "he journeys through the plot holes" theory actually makes complete sense (that said, Episode Yellow does offer up a pretty good explanation of how he gets around Den-O's world, anyway.)

But at the end of the day, he's a cool concept both as a character and as a Rider: A world-hopping guy who wants valuable bits of fan service and fights by bringing in anybody from the past 10 years, and even beyond. It's another case of Decade's high concepts rising above how effective/ineffective they might have actually been realized.

And really? It's just so good to see him back. Decade's barely over a year old and for all the ups and downs it has, I love that show, and bringing elements of it back gets the nostalgia gears grinding. That there's still so much untapped potential in it is only a bonus.

So that brings us to the main man. As you've probably sussed, this movie doesn't do a whole lot for explaining where Diend came from, though it might serve as a good indication of where he's going. The reason for this is one that's both a little disappointing, but also rather brave: Decade is nowhere to be seen or even mentioned; outside of the Hikari Studio cameo at the end (and even that's just a building.) This is Diend striking it out on his own, almost divorced from the series from which he came. It's like that episode of New Kamen Rider where Riderman guest stars solo and holds his own as well as anybody. You know you've hit the big time when you can do that.

It's a bold idea, and it kind of lends credence to the idea that the Chô Den-O Trilogy stars really should have been all non-Den-O Riders. I enjoyed Episode Red and Episode Blue (the latter particularly so) but they've inarguable got a Den-O-centric appeal to them. If you didn't like the series and movies before, those probably won't make you like it now. With Episode Yellow, it's a bit more tricky. If you liked Decade and mainly Diend, you'll probably like this, because even with the Den-O cast appearing, he's still front in center. In fact I'd say that unlike Episode Red, where Zeronos felt sidelined by his own movie, Diend is all over the place here (sometimes twice) and gets the big hero moments at the end. To be honest, I can barely even remember what Climax Form did!

As for characterization... well, it's Daiki. Written by Yonemura, the man who probably handles him the best. Although I brought up his wacky turns earlier, if you just sit down and examine the Yonemura-written episodes with Diend, there's at least some consistency among them. Under the other writers, I always felt he seemed just a bit too antagonistic, as if they all expected he'd wind up a villain by the end, and it's up to the actor to keep you liking him. But Yonemura seemed to get it. He writes Daiki as a magnificent bastard who always seems to have a plan, or at least is good at making it up while he goes, and beneath the bluster there is a good guy in there.

If it at first looks like he's doing something really stupid (going after treasures that happen to be attached to Daishocker leaders, etc.) then usually there's some twist or trick to it, a method to the madness. Hibiki World Daiki is one of my favorite depictions of the character, who up until then had seemed a lot more sinister than he really is. It's also the best-ever use of him as a rival to Tsukasa I think, with each backed up by an opposing school in that killer confrontation which quickly descends into unabashed lunacy. If When I get to write for Kamen Rider, I'd like to create a secondary Rider who never actually voluntarily gets into fights with the main one when they're transformed, but only when they're in human form. And even then, it's less fisticuffs and more about then pitting their wits. I like that stuff, like Tendô and Tsurugi trying to one-up each other.

Such is the case here. Daiki's time-travel scheme is unbelievable, some of the most insane plotting ever inflicted upon Rider... and yet it completely works. I mean that both in the literal sense (it all works out) and that as far as the story goes, it's logical in its own mind-melting way. I mean think about it: how can he have been shot by the other guy if the other guy never had the gun at that time in the first place? Admittedly if you've seen anything else involving time-travel, including other Den-O movies, it may break your brain, but hey.

Totani is having a ball as usual. He even makes for a convincing action hero at times, fighting G Den-O untransformed and running around with the Den-O regulars like part of the gang. Of all the Rider worlds out there, he fits into the Den-Oniverse one quite well. For a Diend fan, this is really a pretty solid outing, giving him a chance to exhibit all his trademarks: the smugness, the greed, the cockiness, and the layers beneath all that where we see that Daiki really is a good guy beneath it all, if more than a little cracked. I'd like to think that maybe traversing the worlds and seeing things like Kamen Rider THE NEXT World has taken its toll and kind of driven him a little bit batty.

Diend uses his usual tricks, although probably better than ever before. The Riotroopers are always great to see and I maintain that this movie might be the best use of "Invisible!" yet. And as for Diend Complete...

Well, honestly? I'm fine with the suit, because Diend is already such a strange, unorthodox design that throwing a bunch of cards on there and some silver paint works about as well as anything. The whole process by which he gets his K-Touch is a little out of left field, but considering some of the stuff Kamen Rider's pulled in the past (power-ups in the mail, power-ups hidden in the walls, power-ups brought by Fuse Akira, etc.) I can roll with it.

The assemblage of movie Riders is the highlight of the whole movie and elicited the most audience response in the theater. Any time you throw together a bunch of different Riders, people are always going to eat it up. Granted they're basically just there for a final attack, but it lasts long enough that you get to see everything clearly and remember who's involved. And hey, this is like the first Decade-related thing where Ryuga doesn't die! Also, this is Skull's second movie appearance with another one apparently on the way. Okay Toei we get it! He's cool! The hat thing was a good idea after all! Sorry we ever doubted you!

Also, you've got to love the commentary of having a movie Rider killed by movie Riders with a card that flat-out announces they're movie Riders. Only in the (Rider) movies.

Moving onto the movie's other main star, that being Kurosaki/G Den-O, although I should say Kurosaki and Eve/G Den-O. Kurosaki's good. He's pretty much what you'd expect from what the trailers have shown: time-traveling by-the-book cop guy. He's a great foil for Daiki and the implied twist that Daiki is sort of responsible for his creation (as a time cop) is a neat one. It adds another layer, as does the whole mom thing. I gotta rewatch the movie to get what that was all about, but it was pretty good. As far as movie-Riders-being-bastards go, he's got good enough reasoning behind him.

I also liked that in the end, he's not really evil, and he's not even just doing his job; he's misguided and really being egged on by a voice actor. It's a funny blend, reminding me of something like combining G3-X with G4, having him teamed up with an evil Deneb, then turn out to not be a bad guy at all really.

G Den-O's okay. As a costume it's pretty much what we've come to expect from "bad" Riders in Den-O, that being they took the basic Den-O Plat Form look and changed around the armor here and there, new helmet there, etc. I have to applaud them for having an actually pretty heroic-looking design be used for a villain. G Den-O looks like he could easily be a good guy suit, or even a not-so-bad guy suit, but he's straight-up bad news from start to finish. While Kurosaki might ultimately be a good guy, G Den-O as a character in himself never is.

Which brings us to Eve, and his revelation as the movie's true villain. To be honest, I did not see that coming. Or I mean I did, but not the way they went about it. I thought that maybe he'd take control at the end, force-changing Kurosaki into G Den-O, or that Kurosaki would reject Daiki's kindness and turn out to really just be beyond help in the end. Or something. The whole "Eve flies off of him and manifests as G Den-O himself" bit is weird... until you consider that it's a natural extension of what we've seen elsewhere. Negataros turned into Nega Den-O directly; the other Imagin all got to go Den-O in Final Countdown. It's basically the same idea, just that we never see Eve as anything other than a face on a badge/G Den-O's chest, with the exception of the splitting-off-of-Kurosaki process (there's a brief outline of what he might look like if he had a full bipedal form like the others.)

As for the character, Eve is kind of fascinating. It'd be easy to just say that him going bad and becoming this nutter who rants about taking over the world and how all humans must be put on trial is just some wonky characterization, but I actually have a different reading of it. I think Eve might be one of the few truly insane villains to come out of Kamen Rider. The franchise has had a lot of crazy guys, but more often than not they're either half-putting up an act or only nuts to a certain degree.

For example... Asakura's got some loose screws, but I never found him as truly mad, because he's shown to be able to exercise reason, he can decide when and when not to be a megabastard (those episodes with the girl on the boat) and while he clearly enjoys inflicting pain on others, I think the writing paints it as that being because he's a bad apple rather than because he can't help himself. He's a sadist, but he's also a schemer, and he often uses manipulation and deception to get one over on others, usually only flying into homicidal rages when he's actually legitimately mad at something. He's dangerous, but you could still have a conversation with him, as often happened later in the series. In other words, you can still talk him down, though given that it's Ryuki it'd much easier to just blow him away with a giant bull mech thing.

Tôjô on the other hand always did strike me as someone who is literally is incapable of stopping himself, which makes him a far more frightening character. Asakura knows he's bad to the bone, but Tôjô's truly convinced what he's doing is good, even when it involves him murdering the people who he respects and trusts. His ending is one of the most powerful in the show; yeah you can say it's typical Inoue where a nigh-unstoppable character dies of some small thing after his big last battle in an attempt at irony or the like, but with Tiger I thought it worked since the character wasn't really a hero before that except in his own mind, but his last act is heroic... if almost unintentionally so.

Another example is Kagami Riku. Now I love Riku, and he is off-the-wall craziness at times. But much like Owner, it always struck me more as a cover; they play the goofs to hide that beneath it, they're actually very smart and completely in control; the silliness and eccentricity is just there to distract everyone. When it hits the fan at the end of the show, Riku steps up to the plate, even if he goes through what can only be called a breakdown when Mishima turns on him. In the end though, I always felt like he's mostly just doing the "lemmings! Mozart!" thing to cover up his real intentions. Dunno about God Speed Love though!

With Eve however, I could actually buy it that the character is completely out of his gourd, because of how irrational and illogical his actions are. It's one thing to get ticked off at Kurosaki for putting personal feelings over duty, but Eve pretty much loses it at that moment, and this is after the movie showing that for all his by-the-book follow-the-rules logic-conquers all mentality, he really just plain hates Daiki and co. and wants them removed because they're simply wrong.

They don't fit into Eve's version of how the world should work, and you get the feeling that trying to convince him otherwise will only end with him wanting to shoot you in the face. Speaking of which, isn't amazing how they're still finding new ways to combine the Den-Gasher?

Ultimately it's a pretty fascinating idea. We've had evil Imagin by the boatload, and even an evil-taros, though this might be the first one who's also just plain psychotic. In a way it's kind of the culmination of the whole time police idea, because if you stop and think about it it really doesn't make much sense. Protecting time is like, the whole reason for Den-O and the Den-Liner; these future cop guys just do more harm than good.

I'm not really clear on what happens with them at the end, other than that the Den-Liner team is cleared and everything ends happily. I'm going to throw it out there that maybe Kurosaki meeting his mom had some effect on his relationship with her as a kid in 2008/2010, and as a result maybe they got erased from history or something. Hey, it's easier than having to explain why they haven't been going after Wataru for ensuring that he actually gets born.

As for the rest of the cast: at this point I've just run out of things to say about the regulars. We had them in the last two movies, we've had them before that, etc. Mizoguchi is still amazing, Momotaros is still hilarious (the parachuting scene is one of my favorites ever involving the character) and everybody else is about what you'd expect, with Owner really coming out of this one well, perhaps to make up for last time.

Actually, Urataros fares pretty well in this one too, coming to have a special kind of role in the story since he's the one who witnesses how it all started. U-Daiki is great of course, and along with Spider-Daiki continues to further my theory that Kamen Riders = Singularity Points. Seriously, with maybe one or two exceptions, every person who's gotten possessed by the Imagin with the hair and eyes and all either is a Rider (Ryôtarô, Yuuto, Kôtarô, Wataru, Tsukasa, Daiki, Yuusuke, the Diend dupes) or eventually becomes one (Natsumi.) Maybe there's another one in there I'm forgetting, but it's an interesting idea.

There isn't a whole lot else to say beyond the characters (as the Trilogy has been pretty character-centric.) The plot's crazy and goes all over the place, but like I said, it somehow all works. Good action, good music and all that. The song as the end's a funny mishmash; I'd have liked a new version of Treasure Sniper or something, but it's cool. If I had any complaints, and it's a smaller complaint: I would have liked a small unannounced cameo from someone else from Decade. Maybe Eijirô or even Kivaara. I'll live, but these movies really need more total surprises. Everything's so advertised these days, and it kind of builds expectations too high. I think Kiva's appearance in Climax Deka would have gone over much better had it been a complete surprise, small but welcome, rather than being promoted as like half the movie.

How does it stack up to the others? It might be my favorite, though Episode Blue was pretty good too. At some point soon I'll do a final Trilogy wrap-up with my thoughts on the whole shebang and all that. Although I might need to watch this one again.

So that's it for the Chô Den-O Trilogy. Given the box office success of each installment, I'd say we're due for more Den-O in the future, though I'll speculate on that another time.

Di-End!

***

The Trilogy: Episode Blue (Spoiler-Free Version)

Teddy says: This is the Spoiler-Free Version of the review for the second part of the Chô Den-O Trilogy. That means there's almost no spoilers. If you want to know about the plot details for the movie, there's a Spoiler Version just below this one.

First: Same old trailer for Kamen Rider Double Forever: A to Z/ The Gaia Memories of Fate.
Looks good.

With that our of the way, it's time for part 2 of the Chô Den-O Trilogy, this time starring Den-O's successor from the future, the amazingly-titled NEW Den-O. or New Den-O, but I like using all caps like they do in Japanese because he is not simply new, he is NEW. So NEW that the next Den-O had to settle for just being a "G".

Although in a couple more years he'll be old, but who knows. Some people still think Kuuga is part of the "new generation" and in the time since that show was on the air, I have graduated high school and college, and lived in Japan for 3 years straight. So for me Kuuga (and Agito, and basically every Rider up to about Kiva) feels a bit old. And yet, that's not a bad thing! Who woulda thunk it?

So snarking aside, Old NEW Den-O is in this movie. Let's talk about it.


Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider The Movie: Chô Den-O Trilogy Episode Blue: The Dispatched Imagin is NEWtral

Ever since the character first appeared back in 2008, it seems like a lot of people have taken to the idea of NEW Den-O having his own spin-off series. After all, he was in the supposed "final" Den-O movie, right? If you want to get technical, it was, since everything since has been Den-O appearing in someone else's show/movie, or part of the Chô Den-O Series, which basically translates to "putting this extra word in front to cover our collective butts."

But the fact remains that while that movie was intended as a way to say goodbye to the Den-O cast we knew and hopefully loved from the TV series, it also introduced the next generation of a Den-O-style Rider, who conveniently enough is Ryôtarô's grandson from the future. And there's a whole lot of story potential right there. Who is his dad? Who is his mom? Does he have any siblings? What's the future like anyway? Is it a cool future or a crappy one (given what we've seen, I'd say it's basically the same as the present except there are more Den-O movies around by then.)

And then there's the fact that he just looks cool. I know people who hate the standard Den-O designs, but love the NEW Den-O look. Maybe it's the eyes; I dunno, but NEW Den-O has some cool-looking eyes. The color scheme is great too, with all those blues and gold. And he's got a big honking sword. Whatever the case, it's a unique design, taking Den-O as we know it and dialing it up further, and coupled with interesting story potential has made the character an instant fan-favorite.

Personally though, I've always been iffy. NEW Den-O is great in Final Countdown, because it's his movie. He's all over it, arguably the main character even though that film is the very definition of ensemble piece; virtually every character feels important in some way. But his basic plot line was also pretty much tied up: at the beginning of the movie, he's a cocky bastard who thinks gramps basically sucks; by the end, he's learned some humility and realized the old guys are every bit as cool in their own way, but he also still comes out of it as the hero. In terms of his central idea (the new kid on the block who thinks the old kid has lost his charm) we basically got it over and done with.

I think this is evident in the first Chô Den-O film where he's basically just part of the crew: he gets in some good fights, gets captured for a while, gets back on his feet by the end and helps fight evil (and also gets a new form.) That's really Yuu's movie, and considering it's also got Ryôtarô and his cast plus Decade characters in on the fun, Kôtarô and Teddy just sort of blend in with the crowd.

Ah yes, Teddy. I like Teddy, but if I had to rank all the main Imagin in terms of how they've fared over the years, he'd probably be near the bottom. Momotaros is still the king, pretty much half the reason Den-O is still as popular as it is in Japan, because we can't get enough of the big red one, thanks to the 1-2-3 punch of great writing, great suit acting, and great voice acting. Heck, he gets as much screen time in All Riders vs. Daishocker as some Riders and it still feels forgivable.

After that, there's Deneb, who was one of the best things about the TV series and continues to steal scenes wherever he goes. He kicks, ass, plain and simple. You could basically put together a 25-minute Kamen Rider episode of Deneb, Apollo Geist, the Hoppers and the Agito cast painting a fence and I'd call it the best episode in years.

After that, things sort of boil down to personal preference. Being a Kansaiphile, I'm always going to love Kintaros, even if he does next to nothing anymore that anybody else doesn't do. Sieg is always good for a laugh, but you kind of need to come up with a good reason to have him around; just sticking him in doesn't do him any favors.

Urataros & Ryuutaros I can take or leave, since the really interesting aspect they each have (ladies' man and hyperactive ball of destruction) tend to get downplayed lately, and they're just kinda there. And then there's Teddy. Like his partner in crime, I think Teddy worked great in his original movie, then just sort of fell into the background. In the first Chô Den-O, I barely even remember what he does aside from not be the giant sword during the end battle, and be one of the guys to be like "Oh craaaaaaaaaaaaap" when Diend swings by to drop some fan service on us.

So as mentioned, it was with some skepticism that I approached this installment of the trilogy. Both episodes Red & Yellow had/have something I really wanted/want to see. There's something really engaging me in both movies. Episode Blue... well, I like NEW Den-O, but what else can you really do with him? As it turns out, quite a lot.

I'm pleased to say Kobayashi found a way, though it remains to be seen if this is a one-off or she could keep it up for future adventures with the character. If Final Countdown was basically about deconstructing Nogami Kôtarô to then build him back up as a hero at the end, Episode Blue is about taking apart the relationship he shares with a certain other character and really looking into how it works.

As for the previous trilogy episode, how does the second installment stack up? I'd probably have to say that I enjoyed it more, despite not expecting to. While it continues with the "Chô Den-O Trilogy, in that Den-O is the star" vein, it also feels like there was more focus on the episode-specific characters.

Of course, I should mention here something raised in the review for the first part: how this trilogy is a trilogy, and I'd say it mostly comes down to the reoccurring characters in each part. On the one hand, if you're only planning on seeing one or two episodes, you're in luck. If you want something with a wider narrative though... well, I'll get back to that when I do a wrap-up review of the whole trilogy. That one will be spoilers-only though, so be warned.

Anyway, the movie immediately removes some characters for a good chunk of the action early on, letting the movie-specific stars have more of a chance to shine. And shine they do; the movie really made me care about them. The rest of the supporting cast is their usual good selves, though in a couple specific cases you might be surprised by what we get this time around. Without spoiling too much:

An old face from the series and previous movies joins in the fun this time. He doesn't do a whole lot, but if you're a fan of the character you'll appreciate his presence.

I commented in that podcast I keep forgetting to link to that Episode Red kind of felt like a Den-O script that had been shelved back in 2007, being a bit more in-tune with how the TV series was than a natural progression of the movies that came after it. Episode Blue almost has that same feel, getting back to a couple elements from the series that I wasn't expecting to see. The characterization of one regular cast member feels more in-tune with this than how he's been in other recent movies, though not without good reason.

Lastly, the side characters. They pulled off a nice trick. I was not expecting to care about these people as much as I did, but there's some strong writing going on here, particularly with regards to how their storyline concludes. It's one of the most mature things I've seen Kamen Rider do in a long time, actually. Kudos to that.

The villain is pretty cool. Can't say much more than that. Nice song at the end too.

Beyond that, not much else to say. My big gripe with Episode Red does kinda hold true here. But Episode Blue feels like a solid movie, throws in a couple good fights, and has some serious heart. If you think Den-O movies are now nothing more than an excuse to have the Imagin throwing food at each other... well, you're partly right, but it's just the frosting on what's still a very rich, layered cake. Mmmmm, cake...

Definitely recommended.

Next time: It's Diend of the Trilogy!

***

The Trilogy: Episode Blue (Spoiler Version)

Teddy says: This is the Spoiler Version of the review for the second part of the Chô Den-O Trilogy. That means there's spoilers. If you don't want to know about the plot details for the movie, there's a Spoiler-Free Version just above this one.

First: Same old trailer for Kamen Rider Double Forever: A to Z/ The Gaia Memories of Fate. Dopants new and old tearing through Futo, a lot of people looking wistfully at the camera, and just you wait... if we don't see a limited-edition 26-piece set of T2 Gaia Memories sold somewhere (probably online), I will be amazed. Double is in there somewhere too.

With that our of the way, it's time for part 2 of the Chô Den-O Trilogy, this time starring Den-O's successor from the future, the amazingly-titled NEW Den-O. or New Den-O, but I like using all caps like they do in Japanese because he is not simply new, he is NEW. So NEW that the next Den-O had to settle for just being a "G".

Although in a couple more years he'll be old, but who knows. Some people still think Kuuga is part of the "new generation" and in the time since that show was on the air, I have graduated high school and college, and lived in Japan for 3 years straight. So for me Kuuga (and Agito, and basically every Rider up to about Kiva) feels a bit old. And yet, that's not a bad thing! Who woulda thunk it?

So snarking aside, Old NEW Den-O is in this movie. Let's talk about it.


Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider The Movie: Chô Den-O Trilogy Episode Blue: The Dispatched Imagin is NEWtral

Synopsis

The movie opens with an unseen, heavy-breathing someone or something crawling along a sewer pipe. Oh #&$% me, it's Chiharu!

Okay, it's not. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's meant to be the film's villain, who is at this point a mystery (though you'd have to have been living under a rock for the past few months to now know who it turns out to be.) The mysterious character enters into the Station Master's home turf, the imposingly-named The Terminal, which has some kind of weird Middle Eastern-flavor bazaar deal going on.

The PA announces that there's a ticket thief on the loose and everybody begins making sure they've got their Den-O trading cards tickets while a bunch of security guards run around yelling. I admit it's been a while since I watched Den-O, but it's kind of weird to see people other than the core Den-Liner crew puttering around in the desert-that-time-forgot place. As weird as it was to see them on the Den-Liner last movie. I mean, I dunno about you, but I can't picture a bunch of Victorian cosplayers chillin' in the caboose during Final Countdown, but maybe it was "out of service" for that one.

This masked man covered head-to-toe in cloth gives them a merry chase, and by that I mean throws a guy into an escalator and kicks another one onto a shelf of stuffed animals. If you're lost, so am I. The masked guy then sprays out purple stuff that at first I thought was just sleeping gas, but apparently is nerve gas, as it leaves the security guys twitching and writhing on the floor. With that in mind, I think this movie has one of the highest body counts in Den-O if you're not counting all the times people got erased from time/existence. There's the massacre here, then a bunch of OL's take it later for no clear reason other than to showcase the villain being evil! No qualms there.

We also see that masked guy has a ticket dated for June 10th, 2010. Gotta love how this movie will be futuristic for at least a few more days. Escaping the Terminal, he(?) proceeds out onto the rooftop to run into Ryôtarô, still wearing a few shoe sizes less than he used to. I guess we've got to get used to the idea of him growing up all over again from here on out, though if they ever rope Sato back into appearing, I have the best way of how to go about it (he is ravaged by age-inducing Time Winds™ in a desperate attempt to save his friends!)

Ryôtarô becomes Den-O Sword Form and unmasks the villain in a tussle, and he turns out to be a she: the Mantis Imagin. The official pamphlet says this is the first-ever Female Imagin. I could have sworn one of the Snail ones from the series was, but at this point I'd be surprised if anyone's even keeping track any more.

Mantis Imagin is cool. She's got cutty things, which is pretty much a requirement for mantis guys/girls. They also take great pains to give her some sex appeal complete with saxophone music, though I'd wager that the slim design work of Nirasawa probably gets this idea across better than the suit does, though it's a cool suit and surprisingly dexterous at times. You also gotta love how Den-O ignores the collateral damage when a stray blast clearly blows out a chunk of building. Are they in the Abandoned Warehouse District or something?

Mantis kicks Den-O's butt and severely injures his ankle. It looks painful, in the audience-shuddering kind of way. The Den-Liner shows up to save him and we go to the opening credits, same as last time.

As an aside, something I noticed last time which I forgot to mention, but noticed again here: I'd swear that the Den-Liner exterior has changed, or maybe it's just innovations in high-def/computer graphics/my ability to notice pointless details. The front "windshields" look like they have more indentations or something, giving it a slightly more textured, circuit-board look. Dunno what it means though! It was probably always there and I never bothered to notice, but then again I admit in the old days I was just constantly distracted by that "backwards jumping thing" they did in the OP. How does he do that?

Anyway Momotaros and Ryôtarô are both heavily injured, though the former more so. His ankle's busted! Once again, I always thought that injuries Den-O took mostly affected Ryôtarô, but I guess it just works however they want (as witnessed in the last movie.) At the rate the Trilogy is going, Momotaros is going to end up in a coma at some point during Episode Yellow.

Sieg shows up. I'm going to preempt things a bit but he really doesn't do much, he's basically in the movie because the guys at Toei looked at each other and said "You know who wasn't in the last movie? Sieg!" So here he is. He basically just hangs out on the Den-Liner all movie, eating/drinking, annoying everyone and getting physically abused on multiple occasions. Maybe in the next trilogy (also featuring Episode Pink: Just Passing Through! and Episode Green & Black: Guess Who?) Episode White will see him getting his own plot again at last.

Let me backtrack though. Sieg appears because Owner shows up and tells everyone not to worry about the hero(es) of the series being beaten up; they've still got hope. And it's not Sieg.

It's not Zeronos either, since we just had his movie.

It's the other Den-O, Kôtarô! Along with Teddy, they make this triumphant walk through the Terminal, where just about every clumsy comedy accident happens (a kid drops a bucket of marbles, a guy drops a bucket of water, a huge stone boulder careens down an escalator... what?) And we learn that Teddy can always save him because he has Spidey-Sense! Or Teddy-Sense! Or maybe he's an Agito. I dunno. Basically the point here is to show that with Teddy around, Kôtarô could trip over a black cat sitting under a ladder and smash into a house of mirrors, and he'd be fine. The blue guy's got his back. They are summoned to the Den-Liner, and Teddy spots a trinket at one of the bazaar stands: two interlocked stars. This reminds him of something we'll get to later.

Meanwhile, on June 10th, 2010, a teenager named Uehara Miku says goodbye to her friends and heads to her house, only to spot an identical twin of herself standing in the garden. Despite momentarily freaking out, it appears she just imagined the whole thing. Or did she? Also, I'm convinced I read the time wrong, because I thought it said 5 AM and it sure as heck doesn't look like 5 AM during this scene, though I don't know when it could be. It's not 5 PM, but they've just come back from shopping and it's hard to find any place around here that opens before 8 or 9. The future is weird.

Back on the Den-Liner, Owner drops a bombshell: despite Kôtarô and Teddy being the central characters of the movie and presumably needing to be partnered up to do some world-saving (seeing as how Teddy is his favorite weapon and all) he reveals that the contract between them is now technically complete. Cue some stock footage right out of Final Countdown. There you go. At this point, we might as well just start planning on counting the Shin-O thing as canon (and trust me, I say that with much trepidation.)

Continuity blathering aside, the point of this scene is to show that Kôtarô and Teddy were really only supposed to be working together for that mission, as Teddy was assigned by the Terminal to work with Ryôtarô's grandson, rather than the way in which the main man (or boy) met his Imagin and is with them for life. And since Teddy plays by the rules, he has no choice but to agree to Owner's order that he start working under him. He crumbles away into sand and goes to Owner, reforming, and leaving Kôtarô (and everyone else) stunned. Kôtarô realizes how it's "just that simple..." that Teddy can move on to the next job. Owner comments that Teddy will need a new name, and calls him Aleksandrovich. Why? I don't know.

(This seems like a really jerk move on Owner's part, though don't worry, it makes sense in the end. Sorta.)

Kôtarô immediately starts having bad luck, like his grandaddy (back in the TV series, anyway.) Before breaking the contract, Teddy was there to protect him at all times, as we see earlier in this scene when he deflects Naomi's giant ice cream sundae bucket onto the other Imagin. Now? As Kôtarô tries to leave, the door only opens halfway and he smacks into it headfirst. This door will give him trouble later, including a scene where he attempts to run through and it closes on him. The old Nogami Luck, or something.

Of course, the question you're all asking (and that Kohana asks) is why can't Teddy still hang around with Kôtarô and help him when he fights? According to Owner, doing so would be in violation of his contract and lead to his death! I guess it sucks to be the next generation some times, since this rule apparently doesn't apply to anyone else, what with Deneb jumping into everybody he can and Momotaros taking no fewer than 3 non-Den-O Riders out for joyrides.

Airi, Ozaki & Miura are apparently under contract to appear in all 3 episodes, so we get a scene of them yammering away about Miku's Doppleganger. At this point I think Ozaki & Miura have given up on trying to woo Airi and just turned into her loyal footmen or something. Anyway the point of all this is to have Kôtarô (who overhears things and needs something to do now) come in and have them explain the plot during a jump-cut, after which Airi comments that he reminds her of Ryôtarô. Fan service!

On that note, poor Kôtarô. He has got one messed-up time line by now. "Well basically, I went back in time to help my grandfather at the time he was around my age, but then he got turned into a kid and is stuck that way so I'm like his big brother, and now I just met my own aunt who has already met the guy who she falls in love with, but she's meeting him again now at a point before he met her. I also met him when he was a kid. Also, I think that little girl who used to be like 20 might be my aunt or something. Also, I was in a team-up movie with Decade."

Back to the B Plot, where Miku (who lives with her grandmother) is preparing to go out for her birthday, even though she promised she'd spend it with grannie. Oh no, domesticity! Fortunately they tone it down when things get interesting: Grannie lets Miku go, putting away the gift she was going to give her (a wind chime) but then Miku comes back in, but she's much less jovial and ditzy. Then another Miku comes in, presumably the first one, and thinks that the sour-faced Miku is actually an imposter! Or is she?

Kôtarô and Kintaros (in an elephant costume) are wandering around and hear a scream, and rush to find the scene with Grandma and the two Mikus. The more emotive one insists that the serious one is the fake. We see that the latter Miku has sand pouring from her, like an Imagin contract-holder. Grandma looks at her and believes her to be real though. Elsewhere, Mantis Imagin observes and is upset that "Den-O is too close" so she starts jumping around to get Kôtarô's attention. He and Kintaros make tracks, with Kôtarô encountering more ill fates along the way (getting splashed with a bucket of water, running into two guys carrying a billboard across the street) and he thinks back to how this wouldn't happen if Teddy were around.

Kintaros lends a hand by possessing him and K-Kôtarô tracks down the female monster to a warehouse. He becomes NEW Den-O, and Kintaros morphs into the Kintaono, a bigass Kintaros-shaped ax (this is apparently a NEW Den-O-specific ability, turning his Imagin buddies into weapons.) Whilst powerful, it proves to be too heavy for NEW Den-O to really use effectively, so he gets thoroughly thrashed.

Back on the Den-Liner, Kohana tends to Kôtarô's injuries. Teddy (sorry, Aleksandrovich) and Owner come in, and Teddy/Aleksandrovich's job is to polish Owner's giant spoons that he keeps in a metal briefcase. Sieg's still eating and annoying everyone. Kôtarô wants to get back to investigating the Miku thing, as he's got one of those "feelings" (that the B plot will actually make sense with A plot) so Ryuutaros elects to go with him.

R-Kôtarô goes back to Miku's house, where her grandmother is having the two Mikus make spicy pickles to determine which one is truly real. It turns out both make some damn nice pickles, though the serious sand-dropping Miku is more skillful in the culinary arts. By the way, Sakurada's possessed acting here is great, using the chopsticks like toothpicks to skewer pickles.

So Grandma has the two Miku's playing tennis against each other while Kôtarô and Ryuutaros watch (well, Ryuutaros is sledding down the mountain on cardboard. He's at his lowest attention span ever in this movie.) Kôtarô is victim of more bad luck, getting bashed in the head by a soccer and rugby ball (though not at the same time) and having a bird crap on him. On the upside, at least that mysterious hammy-tough guy-creating virus that was all over the place in Episode Red seems to be gone, so nobody wants to randomly beat him up. Actually, everyone who wrongs Kôtarô in some way is awfully nice about it. Maybe these movies are taking place in separate continuities!

Mantis Imagin is also watching and, upset by how long things are taking (since she wants to get to the whole "going-back-in-time-and-wrecking-stuff" part) and she sprays her purple toxin out everywhere, killing all the leaves on the trees. This gets our hero's attention of course. The Den-Liner swoops in to pick up Kôtarô and the more serious, competent Miku, and leaves behind Ryôtarô, who is back on his feet and has joined with Ryuutaros to become Den-O Gun Form.

It's at about this point that Kobayashi (who is on writing duties again) plays the ace up her sleeve, and the pretty mundane Doppelganger plot turns into something a whole lot more interesting. You see, up until now I was thinking that there'd be some twist like someone else wished they could be made to look like Miku so as to take on the life that she doesn't seem to appreciate, or it was Imagin time-trickery, or something.

It just seemed like one of those plot lines that isn't quickly resolved because nobody thinks to do it. Tendô would call Worm shenanigans, the other-other-other Kôtarô would say it was a Gorgom plot and Tsukasa would probably deck both of them in the face and whoever got up was the real one, then he'd reveal he knew that all along. In other words, why is this being dragged out like so?

It's actually one of the best twists in a Den-O story yet and elevates Episode Blue from being the middle child between "At Last! Zeronos's story is complete!" and "At Last! Maybe we'll finally learn more about who the hell Diend is!" As it turns out, the sand-dropping grim-faced "Doppelganger" Miku is actually her from the very near future. As she relates to Kôtarô and Kohana on the Den-Liner, when he told her grandmother that she was going out and they could celebrate her birthday "another time", that kicked off a bad habit. "Another time, and then another time, and then another time..." She kept putting off doing things with her grandmother, until it turns out she passed away later that summer.

Miku didn't realize what she had until she lost it, and she wants to make amends. So she made a contract with the Mantis Imagin, who had to steal that ticket so they could go back a couple months and she could set right what was wrong. The problem of course is that she was already there as well, oblivious to her own future actions and thinking she was some kind of imposter.

Miku's story resonates with Kôtarô, who realizes his relationship with Teddy was the same: even though Teddy is his friend, he never really, truly appreciated him when they were together, simply taking advantage of their friendship. Now that he's lost that though, he can understand how she feels (Teddy overhears this, of course.) Kôtarô resolves to still help any way that he can, and good thing too because Mantis Imagin knocks Ryuutaros right back onto the Den-Liner, leaving Den-O reduced to Plat Form and of not much use.

Miku wants to get off of the Den-Liner and set things right, though Kohana warns that if she returns to her past (our present... oh hell, June 2010) she is in danger of vanishing entirely because the Mantis Imagin can jump further into her past and prevent her from existing... or... something. I guess it's the usual Imagin antics but Kohana phrases it like it'd be instant death if she steps foot back in regular time.

Kôtarô goes along with Urataros, who is prompted by Momotaros. This is a cool scene for Momotaros, who has been berating Teddy all movie long for just up and abandoning Kôtarô like that, telling him how he knows his mind is elsewhere (he goes from shining spoons to shining a pepper shaker. Uh... symbolic?) There is some amazing acting going on here from what's basically a bunch of guys in unmoving masks; it's all down to body language and the voicing. Great stuff. Teddy will soon join the fray, but not quite yet.

NEW Den-O shows up, now wielding the Uratazao, which is what happens when he turns Urataros into his weapon: he becomes a fishing rod/whip. After momentarily getting stuck on a tree, NEW Den-O starts whipping the hell out of Mantis Imagin. And yes, it's every bit as innuendo-laced as you think (with Urataros commenting "it's almost like she enjoys it.") Hey, they've got to do something for the adults in the audience I guess. In the interest of fairness, Plat Form gets accidentally whipped a bit too.

NEW Den-O gets beaten up, and knocked back to Kôtarô. Urataros gets thrown back onto the Den-Liner (this is becoming a trend) prompting Miku to hoof it, as she's decided that the only way to set things right is to find Grandma. Kohana goes after her, and after the aforementioned prompting from Momo, Teddy goes as well, even though he knows it may kill him.

Teddy drives up on Den-Bird, saving Kôtarô. How, I'm not sure. Mantis Imagin gets hit by bullets and then there's Teddy. I can't remember, but does Teddy shoot anything? Does the Den-Bird? Maybe it was Deneb hiding in the bushes? Or time-traveling Hyper Kabuto? Or maybe Double Luna-Trigger shot at her all the way from Futo because Philip is just that hardcore.

Anyway, he explains how he feels the same as Miku and Kôtarô. Up until now, he has been Kôtarô's partner-in-crime, his ally and bodyguard... but he's also been his friend, even if he never realized it until they were separated. Even if it's the end for him... it would have been worse if he could never see Kôtarô again. At least this way, they can fight together one last time.

Kôtarô becomes NEW DEN-O, and Teddy becomes Macheteddy. Mantis Imagin turns day into night all so we can have a shot of her rising up in front of the moon, referencing the story they based her design on. The effect here is funky, a seamless blend of obvious on-location wire work to obvious green screen. It's like merging two iffy effects shots into something that's actually really good-looking!

NEW Den-O and the Mantis Imagin duke it out (there's a cool moment where he uses the sword part of his gun before he finishes her off with his trademark big slashing attack thingy, Counter Slash. They even do "the countdown we haven't done in a while." "Make it 12... no... 10."

The monster goes boom, and it's a happy ending, right? Right? Kôtarô thinks so, but Teddy shakes his head. He broke the contract, and he begins to crumble away. With some parting words, he hands Kôtarô the interlocked stars charm (he had one too, symbolizing their friendship) and he becomes a pile of sand. Kôtarô sinks to his knees, depressed to see his friend gone again.

Miku goes back to her Grandma and we wrap up that plot as well. I have no idea what happened to the other Miku as there's only one in this scene and it's the future version. I guess time just straightened out the wrinkles or something. Grandma reveals that she knew that both Mikus were her real granddaughter, and that no matter what happens from here, the memories they share together will live on forever and all that jazz. They celebrate Miku's birthday together.

Kôtarô's back on the Den-Liner feeling depressed, as is everybody else, over the loss of Teddy. Owner shows up to reveal that he has a new Imagin for Kôtarô to make a contract with. Momotaros is angry at him for being jovial at a time like this, but Owner covers his ass reveals that Aleksandrovich is no more... and Teddy peeks in to the room! Surprise, he's not dead! Owner reveals that his friendship with Kôtarô was stronger than even the laws of time or whatever, so there you go. And besides, he fulfilled his contract to Owner anyway and polished those spoons. Him crumbling earlier was just signaling the end of the previous contract (just like how he crumbled and reformed earlier in the movie when he left Kôtarô.)

Everyone is overjoyed to see him back, not the least of which is Kôtarô. After the celebratory coffee and more Sieg-bashing, the Den-Liner drops the two off back in their own time, and Kôtarô and Teddy walk down the road into the end credits. And try to figure out what happened to their Den-Liner, presumably, since the current one swiped their interior decorations.

The End... for now.

There's a post-credits scene with Miku being returned to her own time (August 2010) and walking through her now-empty house. Though one thing has changed; a letter and a present from her dearly departed grandmother, thanking her for the memories. She cries as the wind chime jingles in the background.

Review

Ever since the character first appeared back in 2008, it seems like a lot of people have taken to the idea of NEW Den-O having his own spin-off series. After all, he was in the supposed "final" Den-O movie, right? If you want to get technical, it was, since everything since has been Den-O appearing in someone else's show/movie, or part of the Chô Den-O Series, which basically translates to "putting this extra word in front to cover our collective butts."

But the fact remains that while that movie was intended as a way to say goodbye to the Den-O cast we knew and hopefully loved from the TV series, it also introduced the next generation of a Den-O-style Rider, who conveniently enough is Ryôtarô's grandson from the future. And there's a whole lot of story potential right there. Who is his dad? Who is his mom? Does he have any siblings? What's the future like anyway? Is it a cool future or a crappy one (given what we've seen, I'd say it's basically the same as the present except there are more Den-O movies around by then.)

And then there's the fact that he just looks cool. I know people who hate the standard Den-O designs, but love the NEW Den-O look. Maybe it's the eyes; I dunno, but NEW Den-O has some cool-looking eyes. The color scheme is great too, with all those blues and gold. And he's got a big honking sword. Whatever the case, it's a unique design, taking Den-O as we know it and dialing it up further, and coupled with interesting story potential has made the character an instant fan-favorite.

Personally though, I've always been iffy. NEW Den-O is great in Final Countdown, because it's his movie. He's all over it, arguably the main character even though that film is the very definition of ensemble piece; virtually every character feels important in some way. But his basic plot line was also pretty much tied up: at the beginning of the movie, he's a cocky bastard who thinks gramps basically sucks; by the end, he's learned some humility and realized the old guys are every bit as cool in their own way, but he also still comes out of it as the hero. In terms of his central idea (the new kid on the block who thinks the old kid has lost his charm) we basically got it over and done with.

I think this is evident in the first Chô Den-O film where he's basically just part of the crew: he gets in some good fights, gets captured for a while, gets back on his feet by the end and helps fight evil (and also gets a new form.) That's really Yuu's movie, and considering it's also got Ryôtarô and his cast plus Decade characters in on the fun, Kôtarô and Teddy just sort of blend in with the crowd.

Ah yes, Teddy. I like Teddy, but if I had to rank all the main Imagin in terms of how they've fared over the years, he'd probably be near the bottom. Momotaros is still the king, pretty much half the reason Den-O is still as popular as it is in Japan, because we can't get enough of the big red one, thanks to the 1-2-3 punch of great writing, great suit acting, and great voice acting. Heck, he gets as much screen time in All Riders vs. Daishocker as some Riders and it still feels forgivable.

After that, there's Deneb, who was one of the best things about the TV series and continues to steal scenes wherever he goes. He kicks, ass, plain and simple. You could basically put together a 25-minute Kamen Rider episode of Deneb, Apollo Geist, the Hoppers and the Agito cast painting a fence and I'd call it the best episode in years.

After that, things sort of boil down to personal preference. Being a Kansaiphile, I'm always going to love Kintaros, even if he does next to nothing anymore that anybody else doesn't do (Episode Blue had the first really memorable Kintaros action in a while.) Sieg is always good for a laugh, but as this movie proves, you kind of need to come up with a good reason to have him around; just sticking him in doesn't do him any favors. Speaking of which, for something called the Chô Den-O Trilogy, there's a conspicuous lack of Chô Climax Form or Chô anything!

Urataros & Ryuutaros I can take or leave, since the really interesting aspect they each have (ladies' man and hyperactive ball of destruction) tend to get downplayed lately, and they're just kinda there. And then there's Teddy. Like his partner in crime, I think Teddy worked great in his original movie, then just sort of fell into the background. In the first Chô Den-O, I barely even remember what he does aside from not be the giant sword during the end battle, and be one of the guys to be like "Oh craaaaaaaaaaaaap" when Diend swings by to drop some fan service on us.

So as mentioned, it was with some skepticism that I approached this installment of the trilogy. Both episodes Red & Yellow had/have something I really wanted/want to see. Red had strong thematic links back to the TV series, but more than that I just love the characters of Yuuto (his younger, crabbier self) and Deneb. Yellow has... well, Diend swinging by to drop some fan service, but I enjoyed Decade so much I'm always happy to see what they do with it next. It engaged in a way no other show since Blade has quite managed. I like Double, but I loved Decade, even if it's poorer in just about every conceivable way aside from lead villain (Ryuube's cool, but he's ultimately a cranky old geezer with a magical hole his basement. Decade swiped its TV series big bad from another show, but they swiped a really, really good one.)

Episode Blue... well, I like NEW Den-O, but what else can you really do with him? As it turns out, quite a lot.

I'm pleased to say Kobayashi found a way, though it remains to be seen if this is a one-off or she could keep it up for future adventures with the character. If Final Countdown was basically about deconstructing Nogami Kôtarô to then build him back up as a hero at the end, Episode Blue is about taking apart the relationship he shares with Teddy and really looking into how it works. In a way, you almost could have done this idea with Zeronos and Deneb, though Yuuto has extra baggage that we'd probably want to see handled first, which we did in Episode Red.

Speaking of that movie, how does the second installment stack up? I'd probably have to say that I enjoyed it more, despite the lack of Deneb and fact that it's less about resolving long-dangling plot threads and more about introducing new ones. It's a truly-self contained adventure in some ways, while also referencing the past (via stock footage.) While it continues with the "Chô Den-O Trilogy, in that Den-O is the star" vein, it also feels like there was more focus on Kôtarô and Teddy than there was on Yuuto and Deneb (or Yuuto and Airi.) Giving NEW Den-O more fighting time and letting him actually defeat his movie's villain helped.

Of course, I should mention here something raised in the review for the first part: this trilogy is more akin to 3 movies connected by characters, rather than an actual ongoing plot (other than it being the plot of everything Den-O.) That tape measure bit from Episode Red turned out to be nothing, and I couldn't see any kind of plot points set up to be addressed in the final part. It's basically 3 standalone films. On the one hand, if you're only planning on seeing one or two, you're in luck. If you want something with a wider narrative though... well, I'll get back to that when I do a wrap-up review of the whole trilogy.

Anyway, the movie immediately removes Momotaros and Ryôtarô for a good chunk of the action early on, letting the movie-specific stars have more of a chance to shine. The rest of the supporting cast is their usual good selves, though I do have to point out some specifics.

First, Sieg. Like I mentioned, he pretty much shows up and doesn't do much outside comic relief, and if there's one thing Den-O is never short on, it's that. I welcome his inclusion, though I do wish he got to do more. Even a token Wing Form appearance? He's apparently not in Episode Yellow, so I guess this is it for now. Maybe next time. All the same, it's always good to see him back.

Next, Owner. I commented in that podcast I keep forgetting to link to that Episode Red kind of felt like a Den-O script that had been shelved back in 2007, being a bit more in-tune with how the TV series was than a natural progression of the movies that came after it. Episode Blue almost has that same feel. There's a real attempt to flesh out the Terminal place more, filling it up with extras and such. There's an old-fashioned Imagin plot (albeit with a great twist), not dead guys or Oni or crime syndicates.

And there's the characterization of Owner. Early on in the series, I felt Owner had a bit more mystique to him, a bit less credibility and a kind of irritating detachment. He's not entirely trustworthy and tends to speak cryptically, with this blase, almost cold attitude towards "the little people". He's concentrating on protecting time above all else, though never being outwardly antagonistic. Just kind of kooky mastermind-ish.

He mellows quickly, but it's about the time of the first movie that he really matures into being the more lovable guy who would go on to do things like power the Den-Liner with a bicycle to help save Ryôtarô and even be willing to give up the Den-Liner to save his friends. Early-series Owner is a guy I kind of want to strangle sometimes, whilst later on he's channeling every lovable crazy uncle figure I can think of.

In this movie, Owner feels kind of off, though this is the point, and it's mostly explained away by the end. I think you'll have to see it for yourself; I might give the impression from the review that he's a mean old bastard, but it's not quite that bad. I was half-expecting someone to slug him though (and if this were an Inoue production, someone would! Which would then knock him into water.)

Lastly, the side characters. I admit I came down harsh on Episode Red's non-regular cast a bit; and in retrospect it's more down to the script than acting (call me crazy, I just want to see what Yuuto's up to rather than having guys trash the Milk Dipper for no clear reason other than because... yakuza do that? C'mon, they had a whole movie to do that!) With Episode Blue though, they pulled off a nice trick.

I was not expecting to care as much about Miku and her grandma as I did. In the same way that the movie really made me care about Teddy (more on that later) I got pulled into these side characters and their side story. Which, in a testament to Kobayashi's skills as a writer, blended back into the main Kôtarô/Teddy story perfectly. I'm not sure what happened with the whole "two Mikus" thing, but I'm willing to overlook it. It's time travel! You're going to get stuff like that.

That they once again made really interesting use of time travel helped out. Like last time, the Den-Liner really doesn't go anywhere aside from quick hops into the near and slightly further future at the end, but there's time-travel hijinks going on all around this movie. The concept of having an Imagin contract person want to go back and alter their own history is inspired; it's actually the sort of thing I'd like to see tried again on a grander scale. What's interesting about it is that the movie makes it out to be kind of futile and kind of not; future Miku running around in the past doesn't make any massive changes to the time line, though it does "set things right".

In fact, I was really impressed by the post-credits scene (between this and Ryu's "Let's kick some ass" debut in Double & Decade, Toei seems to be on a crusade to make up for that "wonderful surprise" at the end of Kamen Rider THE NEXT. The one that almost caused me to demand my money back!) They handled the grandmother's death really, really well. It's sad, but not movie-crushingly depressing, and even uplifting in a way because you know that at least she was at peace now. It's one of the most mature things I've seen Kamen Rider do in a long time, actually. Kudos to that.

Getting back to Teddy: this movie really made me care about his plight, and I was actually kind of really upset when he "dies". I mean, now all our NEW Den-O toys are outdated! Granted, I should have seen what was coming, but the clever thing is that the movie plays it close to the chest; unlike my summary, enough time elapses between his "death" and return that I really was convinced after a while, and he doesn't have the same bulletproof star power of the main 4 or even Deneb & Sieg.

At least, until now; I don't think they can even try to kill off any of the Imagin anymore without the audience calling foul, though there is another movie to go, and I have my idea of the ultimate Den-O villain that I'm saving up for some day.

Would it have been more bold to really go for it and kill him off? Probably, but coupled with the grandmother would have made for much more of a downer ending and pretty much kicked wish fulfillment down the stairs. What I like about what we have is that the movie's not afraid to land one punch and show that yes, the people we love won't be around forever, but they always live on in our hearts through our memories. Miku can't avert the inevitable, but she was able to get a second chance and find some peace (kinda like that guy in the first two episodes!)

It pulls the other punch and keeps Teddy alive, but he's a creature of fiction. He literally is a memory, in a way. I supposed that once Kôtarô goes, he theoretically should go too, but it's not time for that yet. Keeping him around shows the kids that if you believe in them that strongly (as Kôtarô believed in their friendship) the people you love will always be there. And in Teddy's case, it's literal. Alternatively, if you look at the Imagin as being representative as childhood imaginary friends, that's a powerful little statement.

Beyond that, not much else to say. My big gripe with Episode Red (that it feels like a TV episode stretched out) does kinda hold true here; 73 minutes and only one villain? Yikes! But Episode Blue filled out its running time better, threw in a couple good fights, and has some serious heart. If you think Den-O movies are now nothing more than an excuse to have the Imagin throwing food at each other... well, you're partly right, but it's just the frosting on what's still a very rich, layered cake. Mmmmm, cake...

Oh, and "Double Action: Strike Form?" It sounds mostly like an amped-up version of the original Sword Form, but that's a great song so no problems there. I like it.

Definitely recommended.

Next time: It's Diend, but the moment has been prepared for. Yonemura takes another shot at writing the Den-Oniverse as Daiki takes on a time cop with a golden gun. But the real question: Will Ryuga die while performing his Rider Kick yet again? Be there in 2 weeks!

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