Well it is the end of an era for rider, not something big like some transitional period, but this is the last of the traditional Movie war, following this, the next Movie war does the thing that so many people had wanted these to be, an actual cross over between the current series. But yeah after years of two episodes combined into a movie that was at an end with movie war full throttle. But this is not just about Full throttle, because there are a whole bunch of notable specials and other material throughout the drive's history that we will be talking about, I could've given each their own review but I am not that desperate to force things to go on forever. So in this case we will also be talking about the specials tied to full throttle, the sort of prequel special that sets up a few things in both the film and special and episode 0, this was given to people who went to see Full throttle in theatres as a bonus and showed us the day of the great freeze. So as a final hurrah for this style of movie war, does this film go full throttle or is it stuck in reverse instead.
TYPE TV-KUN
Yeah this is something that this roidmude is use to getting. a beating
Not much to discuss on this end as this special is mostly for fun, it serves as some set-up for the film and has some allusions to episode 0 that we will get to then. About the most interesting thing is the idea that the shift cars actually have souls and personalities considering how Monster and hunter get into an argument, but its a solid few minutes but could be skipped if you didn't care.
FULL THROTTLE
On a distant planet, Kouta Kazuraba is taking in the view of his newly created world, but he is not able to fully enjoy it when a mechanical lifeform comes in kidnaps Mai and starts to assimilate the planet, during their fight, the entity known as megahex absorbs Kouta's memories and finds its next conquest, earth. Kouta follows but is defeated and presumbly killed by him, now the only chance of stopping the earth from being assimilated falls to the Kureshima siblings, Mitchy and Takatora, believing this to be the redemption for their actions during the inves incident. Meanwhile in tokyo (and no, their is no mention of what is happening in Zawame city at all, I guess that's Yggdrasil controlling the media) The Special investigation unit is on the tail of the legendary thief lupin who turns out to be a roidmude. The appearence of the Roidmude stirs Krim's memories and upon going to a mansion that the lupin is Cyberoid ZZZ, having come in contact with aging phantom thief Zoroku Tojo, he has his eye's on a different treasure, the title of Kamen rider as armed with the break... I mean the lupin Gunner becomes Kamen rider Lupin and now challenges Shinnosuke for the title of Kamen Rider.
You know it is kind of amazing how as these went on their was less and less of an attempt to connect the stories outside of a singular scene near the end of one, but in this case I think it works because I honestly think Full throttle has arguably the best segments in the entirety of these films. Starting with Gaim's portion, while I do wish they had done things differently, it does a lot right in terms of an epilogue. I guess the big thing I wish was that the focus was on someone that was not Mitchy. This portion basically sort of does his whole redemption thing over from the last episode of Gaim, which truthfully was not handled very well, kind of their just to have an epilogue to the show, his redemption stint here is a bit better since he actually accomplishes something that he failed to do during his stint as a villain and Takatora gets his own redemption as he fights with a roboticized Ryoma. Oh yeah amongst the things that Megahex brings back alongside Kurokage troopers he also brings back Ryoma alongside a new to- lock seed. While his appearence is mostly that of a general and a shock to the heroes at his return, it does offer a challenge to the siblings before megahex and honestly has more personality than the thing.
The Megahex is not terrible just kind of lacking, just a giant hive mind with a we are superior than you singular minded humans, its design is cool to say the least and that also goes for Ryoma's new dragon fruit energy arm form, the additional metal on the legs adds to the new robotic form the ryoma has taken. Honestly while the story has some issues this has some really great and memorable moments, Takatora grabbing robyoma's genesis driver and catching the melon energy lockseed and transforming with a helmetless shot is the highlight, not just of the special but the whole film honestly, just this epic defiant moment in the face of a superior opponent. While I do wish their were things done differently, Gaim's portion here may be one of the best segments in the entire movie war series, it might even be a better finale than what the main series got (though that wouldn't be tough considering what it was.)
Honestly this segment pictured above is honestly an S on its own, nothing funny just... yeah.
While with drive, it does feel like one of those early episodes of the show, though one of the better ones. I do wish there was something that was brought up what was happening in Zawame, like just a television with "BREAKING NEWS, Aliens have invaded Zawame City." I don't think their is anything like that but It is kind of hard to miss something like that. While nothing major happens here (Oh no, Krim's dead I can't believe this is happening, he totally is gone forever, sad face.) It does well to build on relationships and Lupin is far more interesting a villain than the Megahex.
In contrast Lupin has a whole lot of personality, he owns every scene that he is a part of. He feels like he knows the star of the show here and makes the most of his time. Making himself a pretty good threat in his first use of the lupin suit and oh my god this suit is so amazing. Their is so much style here with the mantle, the red underbody and that top hat oh my god, it is easily the best suit that drive has ever done and its only appears in the movie and a few specials after this auggh, why couldn't he be a major part of the season.
Rocking the phantom thief outfit in both white...
and black and red
But while Lupin does literally steal the show here, the main trio of Shinnosuke, Kiriko and Belt-san also get some character moments through it. From belt-san showing his trust in Shinnosuke when he dies (yep again he is gone for good, what he is still showing up in the episodes after this. No he is dead.) While one could jump into this without much knowledge about the series, some of the moments are better when you have the character's relationship in context. It also helps that the remainder of the SIU does take a back seat for most of this, keeping some of the early over the top zany comedy that some may not be as big about mostly to Lupin. I guess if I were to give a criticism is that the roidmude generals don't really factor much in hear, Chase has the most as he is also trying to kill lupin for what he is and assists in the portion's last moment, but they do show up to assist in the last portion where we do get some more characterization for heart that helps with him. Also, I guess the fact the film just rembers at the end it is part of a movie war so it has to connect to the other plot so megahex just shows up and steals Cyberoid body and Shinnosuke and Belt-san go off to join with the other plot. But overall this is arguably just as good as gaim's portion and feels like one of the better early episodes of the show.
Which leads us into the war portion and it is probably the most enjoyable of the war portion's. I just like how casually when they meet up Kouta says that he is a space god and just Shinnosuke's reaction, it is actaully chuckle worthy if you know what happened in the show. Anywho, there are some honsetly good character moments, Kaito's triumphant return and giving the middle finger to Megahex by fighting with the other heroes, the roidmudes standing with the heroes do to their own philosophies. I also feel that the legacy forms that the two get for each other look a lot really solid for the few minutes of action they get and in terms of big final cg extravaganza's, their really is no way of upping riding you cool car into space and rider kicking an entire planet. Guess that's the reason they stopped doing them this way, you really couldn't outdo something like that. The two groups go their seperate ways and thats it. Honestly, I feel that of the movie wars, Full throttle is probably my favorite of the sextuplet of wars, both stories I feel are really great (Again, I wish they were a singular story rather than this.) While their are some story issues with gaim's regarding main focus choice, it does much better to give Gaim an ending than the show's own epilogue episode, giving the Kureshima's time to shine before Kouta Deus ex machina's himself back with their help and Drive's is good fun for the beginning of the series. If you've put off the movie wars for whatever reason, I wouldn't blame you they are all not winners, but Full throttle is one of the few good ones, and that just leaves us with Episode 0.
Kouta spoiling the end of his story. To save Shinnosuke from the trauma of what he went through
EPISODE 0
A world frozen in time. Only one person stands between hope and destruction
As a prequel, Episode 0 does a lot better of a job of introducing the world of drive than why my time stopped, we get to see what shinnosuke is like to understand how good a detective he is and set up for the main series. Their is also just this feeling of dread going about with the knowledge of what is about to happen and the timer that is their. Seeing drive's early proto form is also interesting and what changes between the finished form. like with TV-kun it is an episode of Drive but honestly if you are going to watch Drive, I recommend starting with this special, it is honestly a better start and introduction to our main rider and the world than what the show did.
And that is the set of the full throttle film and some of its related media, Honestly on first watch I was suprised by what I had seen, a set of really enjoyable material that I would say is worth it, and here's a hint, that is something for most of drives film and specials...Most of them
FINAL GRADE: A+
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