Kamen Rider Gaim the season is one of the most beloved entry in franchises history, Kamen Rider Gaim the expanded universe is... less to an extent. I know this seems like a rather negative beginning but that's sort of the thing you get with toku media outside of the show, a rather hit and miss of excellence, mediocrity or just plain bad, especially since unlike the series, Urobuchi's involvement here is minimal. But yeah, like with most rider's the our journey begins with a farewell to the old in the form of Wizard getting an epilogue and essentially a side story for gaim because again, little to no involvement from Urobuchi.
Following the defeat of Gremlin, Haruto has continued his journey to find the best place to lay the ring created from the philosopher stone, and by extension Koyomi to rest. Little does he while he is on this journey, things are not as peaceful back home as Rinko and the gang break into a artificial laboratory and run into the ogre phantom, a cannibalistic phantom who gains the powers of the phantoms he devours and seeks to become the most powerful phantom, and he's set his sight on the dragon inside Haruto. After beating him down he takes off with Koyomi's ring as Haruto proceeds to head back to japan to meet up with the old gang, only to be attacked by a clone of Koyomi who is out for vengeance. Meanwhile in Zawame, the beat riders have gotten together for a "friendly competition against one another one that is interrupted when a monster pops out of a crack and attacks Mai. Kouta, Mitchy, and Kaito chase after the monster and end up in a feudal location and are confused when the locals run from Kouta in fear. Turns out the location they have traveled to is a warring states world where lords and their bujin riders fight for dominance, but the stalemate is destroyed when the bujin gaim begins his attack to absorb the other riders with the monster that attacked Mai, now the group finds themselves having to take part in this rider recreation of the warring states and if your wondering how these plots connect... keep thinking I don't know either.
Yeah Movie war connection are rather flimsy but this is probably the least connected movie war since the first two, probably even more since The wizard story wraps up nicely then Kosuke Gets kidnapped by Bujin Gaim's monster dragging them into the plot of the other story, its just so sudden and abruptthat it feels like an epilogue that got turned into the movie war portion, and honestly I can't believe I am going to say this, but... Wizard's portion is actually a whole lot better than Gaim's.
WIZARD
I know it seems odd to say that, but arguably Wizard's portion plays to the strength, giving closure to the last plot thread of Wizard in Koyomi's ring while giving her probably the strongest contribution to the plot rather than just sitting around. Having her as an antagonistic force helps us to see a new side of Haruto that was lacking for much of the season. Yeah I did enjoy the snarkier side of the character, but a lack of character depth was the biggest fault for him. Here, we get to see his more vulnerable emotional side in having to confront Koyomi and finally having to let her go to move on with his life.
Koyomi's angry about her lack of screen time, now she's back for vengeance
Now while the main conflict is well done, it is still flagged by some of Wizard's issue, character's who just show up and don't do much, this includes the mage's getting beaten up early, Rinko just is also their like in the show (still a shame.) To the unexplained like Kousuke just finding the chimera off screen and just undoing his last moment from the show. Now I am not saying that Beast couldn't have been apart of the film but their could've been others ways of showing him regaining his powers, don't get me wrong I find him actually tolerable here and his attempts to fight Koyomi makes more sense then him trying to force his way in between the two, but him just having Chimera feels... cheap. Shunpei likewise is decently toned down by comparison... until a deus ex machina and the Ogre phantom... what about him, he has zero character, explanation for where he was during the main series, and is treated to probably the worst curb stomp of a movie war villain I have seen. Much of the conflict is between Koyomi and Haruto and I get that they needed someone to bring us an evil Koyomi but man do you sort of forget that he is their until he just decides to break into Haruto (why he doesn't do that to start I don't know, just bond villainy.) and a ring that Shunpei had made they thought was worthless turns out not be worthless creating a clone wizard who chases after Ogre for the last conflict.
But you know, in terms of ending, I honestly like what is done here, Haruto leaves the ring deep in his memory with one of Koyomi and he returns to the real world, his journey finally over and ready to celebrate victory, only ruined by Kousuke getting dragged into Gaim's story so Haruto also has to follow. But as an epilogue goes, this is one of the better segments, it still retains the series great looks and action while fixing... some of the issues the series had.
GAIM/MOVIE BATTLE PORTION
So a big thing about Gaim was that it was the 15th heisei Kamen Rider. You know something else that was associated with the number 15, the warring states, and since Gaim takes some inspiration from the period, it makes the perfect setup for a glorified side story. Look I am not saying a side story that involves the past rider's is a bad thing but it would be a lot more interesting... in an actual film, but here the other rider's are offed quickly and amount to basically nothing of any substance outside of something that comes out later. And Toei, I know its hard to get back actor's sometimes, what with them potentially exploding in popularity or just leaving the business but if you can't get someone who sounds similar enough to the character, pick someone else or keep em voiceless, or heck just make them entirely different characters. While their is some decent fan service like the lords of W and OOO's are the secondary riders is neat, their mostly cameo's than anything else and why Ieyasu is not Kousuke's actor to keep consistency makes no sense to me. That being said it's not like the stuff that the gaim rider's do is not bad per se, but compared to what is going on in the main series it feels lesser, Kaito becoming the new leader of the OOO's faction is arguably the most interesting, but like much of it feels limited by the half hour time limit.
Blood orange is the new black
That also applies to Bujin Gaim, despite it's solid evil rider look of the blood red color suprisngly giving Gaim's main suit a much more menacing look, like Ogre his backstory and what he is basically left unexplained and just has the standard take over the world plot. It is a shame that what could've been a dark reflection of Kouta since this could've been a reflection of Kouta up to this point, but it doesn't amount to much, he mopes around when Mitchy gets eaten by the monster until Mai (who follows along and is rescued by Wizard) and Haruto show up to lift him up as they prep themselves for the final confrantion against bujin Gaim. Oh yeah and Takatora shows up too because... because, also he can't tell the difference between red and orange since he just helps him defeat bujin W without questioning what is going on. Whether this was foreshadowing to his own Naivety I couldn't tell you that.
But going back to Haruto showing up, I do like that even how small it is, the two rider's do get some interaction, its not much here, but considering how all prior films had little to no interaction during down time made it feel less personal, having Haruto talking with Kouta does at least do a little, again it's not much but its a start... 5 movies in. Anyway, Kouta and Kaito fight since Kaito had his own plot and Kouta had to drag him into the actual plot and they then free Kousuke and Mitchy from Bujin Gaim's monster. Takatora shows up and the 6 fight him only to be out fought by one guy until the BG uses the other 14 bujin's power to transform into a giant lotus flower that may just be the worst final form a villain has taken in these films. Then all of a sudden the not-mai shows up and grants them fruits to create lockseeds from the respective transformation item to make a new to- I mean collectib- I mean new forms to fight against the villains. Now the use of legacy toys has not been out of place, with the past two films using them to restore or summon rider's for a big fight. Sengoku movie battle changes things by making it that the legacy creates a new form for the riders from the heads of previous riders. But surprisingly, they all look really good, looking really good and making the most of the rider's equipment they get, with the exception of Gaim's Wizard arms that doesn't do much. Oh yeah remeber that gold infinty dragon style from magic land, well it's back again. Anyway, you know how this goes, cgi explosions, rider's flying through it and then rider kicking the monster to death. The end go rest our heroes, teaser for new generation riders... Oh right and Kousuke gets an alternative food in the form of the helheim fruits so he can continue to be a rider, even though with the exception of Zi-o, he has not popped up since making this whole thing, kind of pointless.
Obligatory "your series has feudal japan influence so pose behind a castle" Pose photo shot
CONCLUSION
Sengoku Movie Battle is not the worst of the movie wars, but it is probably the most forgettable. While Wizard's portion offers a well done emotional send off to the series, Gaim is held back by the knowledge that it can do better, and this is not in the case of the latter portion which, yes is better than the opening arc, even the opening arc is a lot stronger than this side story that does nothing for anyone here, no one feels like they have grown, changed, or developed from it and unless you want more of early Gaim, you really only need to watch this beside the wizard portion.
FINAL GRADE: C
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