Toku movies can often be very inconsistent, sometimes they are good other tiems they are... not good. Even some of the best seasons turn in mediocre to outright terrible tie-ins. So just because a series is beloved, doesn't automatically make it somethng that is going to be well remembered. So where does shinkenger fall here, well across all three, we have a good one, one that exists and one that is bad... like shockingly bad. But we will get their.
THE FATEFUL WAR
Dokoku's summer tantrums have unleashed the Kusare Gedoshu and its leader Manpuku Aburame, they have waged war on Tokyo for three days exhausting the shinkengers. with morale low against their endurance, they turn to the 1st lord of the shiba clan to find a way to end him.
If their is something that Fateful War has over some other movies... its lore. Its not much lore, just looking back to the very first Shiba and his fight, even getting an actor to play him. It helpfs to make the world seem bigger than it is. Again it is not much just a quick clip and the heroes going to hopefully get the power, but in comparison to some other films, it actually feels important.
Doesn't stop the film from being... another summer movie, meaning a little bit of plot before we get into a bigger fight than is usual for the show, I like the horses they ride on at the beginning. But I get the feeling this was being filmed as the series began since Genta kind of feels quite out of place, he doesn't even fight with them, he instead fights Juzo and doesn't get a morph. Almost feels last minute. But yeah, definietly one of the better summer movies thanks to some lore and actually decent set pieces. But the villain is very much standard movie fair and unless you want to know where the Kyoryu disc and stuff came from. Which Hyper form is just the super form with a red jacket. Its not the worst looking but I do think the white is just a bit better. Then this is a fun but almost forgettable run.
Vs. Go-onger
The president of pollution (Y-Yes really, Go-onger is a very... on the nose season.) has defeated the go-ongers in their best mecha scattering them to different worlds as he returns to earth, teaming up with the Gedoshu to pollute the earth. Sousuke meets up with the shinkengers and despite offering his assistance, Takeru isn't one to take the offer due to how silly he acts as he leaves feeling he is kind of a dick. But when the other shinkenger are thrown into different worlds and their respective mentors are captured. The two different leaders will have to learn to work together.
What I do like about this versus is the set up regarding the inital conflict between both Sousuke and Takeru, in that they are two vastly different people with clear issues in regards to working together. It does mean that the rest take something of a background, as they get banished to Christmas, Edo and junk world respectively for their own adventures we cut to from time to time, but I do like it, a good versus film is often the chemistry both teams have and honestly the way the teams bounce off is actually good, Ryunosuke spends more of his time alone before meeting with Saki and Hant, but the stuff in christmas world and edo is actually decent, especially the way that Daigoyou acts like an officer.
But this is a film that is focused on the reds and how they can come together despite their disparaging personality, and their in lies probably the best chemistry, both actors do a great job bouncing off one another. Mind you, the whole fight between them while pretty is not as shocking, if you know this kind of story then you know that its all a ruse. But that doesn't really matter, what makes these films is not action or the villain who... I really can't say much since its more about the Go-onger side of things and haven't watch that... he was okay, but about the interactions between the new and old cast as potential clashes of personalities in regards to specific rangers.
The film was also a first that would carry over for almost a decade, in which the next team after the current team makes a cameo. And like the show that would follow, the goseigers cameo appearence is okay, it sets the precedence, we see how they fight, their gimmick, don't get much in terms of personalities. Its more a teaser that they stuck in the middle as to give something to the Shinkenger villains since they didn't have much to do here, which is probably the big weakness that sometimes happens with these films in balancing villain factions.
But despite that, this is definitely right now amongst my favorite versus films at the moment for how it handles the character dynamic, its not perfect but it is really good.
SHINKENGER RETURNS
During a fight against the ayakashi Demebakuto, the shinkenger become trapped in various illusions that are meant to be different genre's. Follow as the group tries to break free from all of these illusions.
Calling Shinkenger returns a movie would be almost a lie, its a collection of genre pieces stiched together. Now this is something that Go-busters return would do, but I think the difference in that is setup and what those scenes mean, Go-busters sets up this more showa-inspired world and even if it is more just jumping around their is a clear idea of what each scene go for, parodying showa sentai. Shinkenger Returns... is just a the most generic and unintersting skits, we have an idol scene, a school setting, but its a girl school so the males act like girls. A sci-fi setting. Their's no real rhyme or reason to any of this. Unless I missed the episode where Mako talked about wanting to be an idol.
And there isn't much to this besides just going through a bunch of scenes, they break out of the illusion fight Demebakuto, but then learn they are not fully awake before fully breaking , their's a short wrap up with Ji ending this waste of time. I get this is the first of these return movies but it doesn't really play to any of the strengths of the show, rather it opts to just be a whole bunch of different shows that quite frankly fails at being them with how short they are. it honestly makes me appreciate Go-buster a lot more for what it does. In fact, go watch that, that one is actually funny and feels like it has a purpose beyond quick buck from fans of one of the best sentais. If their was a clear low point for this season, this is it.
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