You know I do like the idea of these Gaiden stories becoming something that toei does after a season outside of beloved ones, but when they began to do these annually by the gods did they get off on the wrong foot. Gaim's gaiden are for lack of a better term dissapointments, I'll go into more depth when we get to those soon enough (want to guess what is coming after this drive stuff.) but unlike W's Gaiden material, Gaim had opted to split the films into half hour dedicated to one rider, they introduced character's you were not going to care about after watching and unlike say Eternal, Chase and Skull, whereas they give more but primarily superfluous stuff, the gaim gaiden's did really nothing of that, nothing of the chosen rider's is expanded upon in interesting things or just would be more interesting if they had the time that was not 30 minutes. So yeah, of the things from those gaiden stories to carry over, it was trying to do both in saga, while Chaser was a full length movie, the second saga is two 30 minute episodes that are focused on Go Shijima and Heart of all people. because unlike Gaim, we needed to make more riders.
KAMEN RIDER HEART
Having return to Tokyo, Go reunites with Rinna and Kyu to revive his boy frie- I mean friend who just so happen to be a boy Chase. Suprisingly it actually works... in not reviving Chase but Heart... and Brain... and Medic... the later two are merely core's inhabiting Heart's body, meaning both of Heart's love interests are inside him... let that sink in. While confused about their return, they soon find they have a job to do as a roidmude has been targeting people who have relations to roidmudes, now its up to him and of all people Lieutenant Otta to discover the truth behind this case.
So just a quick yes or no question about whether you will like or hate this segment, did you enjoy Drive's early more wackier bits. If the answer is no then this segment is going to be a bit of a tough pill to swallow. Heart fully embraces the series wackier side to it's inconsistency, its telling that one of the first portion's of its segment has heart taking a milk bath that he was forced to by Medic being rather thirsty towards him, much Heart's portion is a bunch of that really over the top zaniness and if you weren't fond of it, espcially the face stuff with since Otta play's a big part in this is a healthy dose this portion, then this special is by all accounts get old to you really fast and your probably better off skipping to the Mach portion because everything you didn't like about drive's first portion is here.
Well this takes Kitbashing to new extreme's, I give thee Type Swienic
But if you are willing to put up with the comedy, you will find a solid cap to the roidmude story. In terms of villains, Heart is probably one of the most interesting and unique antagonist the franchise has created, in a world of take over, destroy or some kind of other motivation, Heart felt like a standout in a way of he is only the antagonist becuase roidmudes and human's coexisting seems impossible. The special gives him the introspection on what to build towards as he goes from villain to ally, it also helps that in comparison to the human's who have had their goofy switches flipped to max, the comedy stuff involving Heart, Brain and Medic sharing a body is some of the funniest bits. But yeah if their is a weakness its in Otta and Rinna, who feel like their here more for the comedy rather than characters, it is a shame considering what they were capable in the show but its not the worst comedy.
A heart redeemed in justice
Heart's main plot is by all accounts, by the numbers to say the least. The main villain, Roidmude 5886, is more a threat than a character, something for Heart and co to overcome, the buddy cop elements that are nice to see if don't amount to much, but it is nice to see such an odd pairing, and Shinnosuke kind of just shows up to give a speech to give Heart the push to fight Roidmude 5886, that leaves us with Heart's form which, oh yeah that's the purest definiton of a kit bash but with how it comes about and what it represent makes up for all of it. Overall, despite some comedy issues, Heart's segment is a nice cap to Heart and the Roidmude story but leaving some threads that may come up in the future.
KAMEN RIDER MACH
Not long after the Roidmude 5886 incident, Go is preparing to meet with Reiko Nishihori, the daughter of copycat criminal Koya Nishihori, who had just been put on probation for her involvement with the Seeker Roidmude thanks to Go who was able to testify in order to lessen her sentence from 5 years in jail to probabation. Unfortunately just as she got out she ends up as the prime suspect in a murder case that mirrors her father's crimes. Go now finds himself trying to find the truth behind this in hopes of pulling Reiko out of the shadow of her father.
So if Heart catered to the early days of Drive, Mach is cleary taking its tone from the later half, which can sort of give a bit of mood whiplash compared to the light hearted, to an extent Heart. Mach deals with a lot more serious theme's ranging from depression, homicide and has a rather graphic hanging scene at its climax, Mach doesn't really pull its punches (I mean, it goes about as far as a show like this can go, we are not talking Spec ops the line levels of dark tone.) While it does have its comedic moments, its mostly left to the opening minutes of the film before it focuses on its plot, which gives it more consistency than Chaser ever did as it ping ponged all over the tone scale.
I mean, its not the worst first date she has been on.
Mach also does well in digging into Drive's past cases for its villain, as the Nishinori plot line has been a fixture of drive from its beginning up to its end, and 005 coming back and using him gives us one of drive's and by extension these kinds of v-cinema specials compelling and terrifying villains. This sociopathic psycho to contrast the roidmude's more standard monster feel, 005 Nishinori has this air of dread and creep that is felt throughout the whole film, as if to contrast the brighter colors of Heart, Mach's portion is noticeably more muted, with a lot more darker places an that also leads into the climax taking place in a claustrophobic warehouse.
Like with Accel, Kamen Rider Mach feels like a cap to the character arc, now without the shadow of his dad lurking over him, Go feels the need to reach a hand out to someone who was in a similar situation to him just like the Drive crew and by extension Chase did for him. And Despite the fact that their interactions prior to this was a singular arc, their is a legitimately nice chemistry that grows between the two that makes you want to root for their happiness. It really works towards a theme that people are more then their parent's children, they can grow beyond the shadow they may bear and it is shown in how a shadow of the past is the villain here, as what is holding Reiko back from being happy and a remnant of Go's monster past.
Kitbashing, now recolored
That being said, the Mach chaser suit is unfortunately not that great, its a recolor that swaps the name of Go's final TV form, while the colors are nice, its just that, it doesn't even get the axe which feels wholey, disappointing regarding the relationship the two do have.
CONCLUSION
While maybe digging too deep into the sillier side of Drive, Heart and Mach offer solid caps to the show's most three dimensional characters while leaving threads for future follow ups, while the new suits have their faults and again the comedy in Heart is... inconsistent, these two stories are some of the better v-cinema epilogues on offer.
FINAL GRADE: A-
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