Tokusatsu Review: Chou Super Hero Taisen Part 2: Ex-Aid and Knuckles.

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Ok presuming I'm Red for my choices I'd go for; Kamen Rider Zolda, Gokai Blue, Ninja Black and Kamen Rider Femme. 

 So where were we? Oh right this movie decided to recreate the events of Pixels only with actually consistent rules and more idiots. Though honestly aside from some setting and character hiccups this movie really isn't all that bad in my eyes. I mean most of the heroes in this movie aren't the real ones just data recreations so our main characters aren't fighting the real heroes, and aside from the fight between the Ex-Aid Riders and Kyuurangers there actually is a reason for the upcoming battles, to determine the strongest team to save the real world from the Xevious invasion. Though this just begs the question of "why don't every single one of these heroes fight Xevious's ships instead of just a special group of five decided by a pointless tournament? You know like how all of the Sentai Teams worked together to fight the initial Zangyek invasion in Gokaiger?"

 It's still better then asinine character destroying reasons like "you're too attached to the dead" or "only Riders or Sentai can exist not both" hell this premise completely opposes that last example. But there's still an hour left to go so it could pull a 180 and go into complete shit. Back to Emu he has to pick the members of his team. Hey you guys remember the Secret Wars Episodes from the 94 Spider-Man cartoon where he has to pick some of Earth's heroes to help him fight the Villains picked by the Beyonder?

 Remember the thought and strategy in deciding who to bring and Peter rallying these heroes to save Battleworld from the Beyonder's villains? Yeah this is like that only with no dignity. Oh but before I forget there's a detail I need to cover, this movie was made this year (2017) which also marks the 10th anniversary of Kamen Rider Den-O which for the longest time was one of Toei's most successful and popular series. So you'd think that they brought back Den-O himself Takeru Satoh to reprise his role of Ryotaro Nogami (his breakthrough role BTW) to commemorate this event right?

 Instead we have his Imagin partner Data-Momotaros showing up as Den-O. This is exactly like if the Iron Man suit did the fighting without Tony Stark, it can be done but you're missing a critical component to be truly effective. Anyway Data-Momotaros joins on as the team's pink member even though as Emu points out he's Red (so really Momotaros and Emu should have switched their colors. I know this is nitpicking but then again the movie is forgoing color accuracy for the sake of a word pun so that's a sin right there.) With Data-Momotaros on Data-Urataros sends him off and tries to get a real Pink on their team for him to flirt with.

What the shell is wrong with you?! You could have picked any of the Pink Rangers but you not only had to chose the child in the grownups body but also one of the ToQgers; my 2nd most hated Sentai?

 As if a sign from the Emperor himself Data-Momotaros just shoos the lolicon shell head off as well as Sleepy Bear Data-Kintaros. Their next pick is Blue so Data-Momotaros just stops the roulette and lands on Kamen Rider Specter, but the world is a cruel bastard and instead they end up with Data-Yakumo (AoNinger). He joins up and for Yellow he picks his mentor MagiYellow. But gets Data-Jin Masato (Beat Buster) instead, but hey they're played by the same guy so close enough. All that's left is green and Data-Jin goes for Data-Kitaoka; Kamen Rider Zolda.

 Ok while Zolda is my favorite Rider from Ryuki this brings up a massive plot hole, Zolda and the rest of the Ryuki riders shouldn't exist. If you saw Ryuki you should know that after the events of that series the riders were erased from existence since the creator of the decks they use to become riders was retroactively erased from existence. And no it's never explained how the Ryuki riders were restored past the rider world unification Decade caused so any use of the Ryuki Kamen Riders is 100% bullshit. This makes even less sense once we learn about who created this game but that's something for later.

 Back on track Data-Kitaoka is missing his #1 guy Goro, sorry dude but the only way to get Goro is through f-ing Pre-Order DLC for Moral Kombat X, thanks a lot Warner Bros you greedy little turd sniffers! Sorry bout that, now that Emu has his team together it's time for the tournament. They defeat their first opponents the Data-DaiRangers with little to no problem but Emu catches sight of the kid from earlier and goes after him. Back in the real world Hiiro is going over medical records of a kid, the same kid skulking around in Chou Super Hero Taisen as well as the flashback he had earlier named Eito (pronounced 8) when Amu, Jousk3po and Discount Spock enter the CR office. Amu asked the two Kyuurangers to look up Hiiro's medical records and learned that Eito was assigned as Hiiro's patient right after he came back from America.

 Hiiro has another flashback to when he met Eito who didn't care that he was infected with a virus that was digitizing his body; only fixated on completing Chou Super Hero Taisen. No seriously whether Eito died or not had absolutely no concern with him whatsoever to the point where he doesn't even bother with any operation to fix his illness due to him not caring. Now this wasn't out of depression or anything like that Eito literally did not care. Hiiro said that he would only perform operations for those who wanted them and Eito's only response was a "eh whatever" so Hiiro was like "fine whatever" and I guess fucked off for lunch or something. You know I think we might need a second opinion here; Doc, yeah could you tell Hiiro exactly what your thoughts of this situation are?

 Yep, Hiiro, in that one moment you just lost your medical license and would be slumming it out with Taiga right now because YOU DO NOT ASK A MINOR FOR CONSENT TO PERFORM A LIFESAVING PROCEDURE OR NOT!!!! Why in the wide, wide, world of Sports did you ask the underaged totally not living on his own child instead of oh I don't know HIS LEGAL GUARDIAN WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS CARE AND WELFARE?! As we clearly see Eito is not in the proper state of mind both developmentally, mentally due to his fixation on his programing or legally to be making these kinds of decisions on his own. This kid clearly has mental issues impairing his judgment so you just take his word that he doesn't want to be cured and walk off?! This kid honestly would have been better off in the care of that psychotic Nazi fuck Keriger!

 I'm honestly not joking Keriger is more qualified to have a medical license then you after that decision you stupid, pretentious fuckwit! You rag on Emu for being a novice because he cares too much for his patients when even the most incompetent of interns, hell the Janitor from Scrubs can tell you that you don't ask a minor for legal consent on this matter!!! Oh and look after you listened to the moronic brat instead of his legal guardians and didn't perform the surgery on him Eito gets sucked into the Internet after he finished Chou Super Hero Taisen and distributed it online! Now I know next to nothing on Japanese Medical Care much less power of attorney for minors in Japan but I'm pretty damn skippy that this would never fucking fly in a institution that has even the slightest modicum of common sense.

 This right here is the scene that breaks the movie for me because this actually gets worse. Skipping ahead a bit we learn that Eito is the one responsible for all of this, as if his stylized 8 logos all over the game world weren't enough of a giveaway on top of the fact that he was the one who created Chou Super Hero Taisen in the first place; he is the mastermind behind the Xevious invasion and something else that will be revealed later. But the point is this whole situation is entirely Hiiro's fault due to his horribly incompetent and dangerous decision to listen to the moron kid instead of any legally certified guardian and just did not perform the surgery. You know the worst part is that this horrible decision making is somewhat consistent with Hiiro from the main series. Considering his treatment of Saki leading to the perfection of Graphite as well as teaming up with Kamen Rider Cronus to get her back.

 Even though he knew damn full well that Cronus was a psychopath who would never save her and keep using the threat of deleting her data as a means to keep him on a leash which would result in the enslavement of the world by perpetuating Kamen Rider Chronicle when all he had to do was help Emu beat him the first chance they had! Which would lead to putting his crazy ass in Jail, reclaiming all the Proto Gashats and thus save Saki and all the other victims. Honestly Hiiro has always been a problem character for me thoughout this series from his first appearance to the end. His ego and uncaring attitude toward his patients honestly rubbed me the exact wrong way to the point where I was wishing that his hands would be crushed like Stephen Strange if anything to get him off his high horse, get a clue and have a whole humble pie shoved down his gullet! To me a doctor that is that careless, incompetent, uncaring and arrogant should not be placed anywhere near a scalpel much less an ICU, I mean for the love of god Justine are you a real doctor or a doctor like how Dr Pepper's a doctor?

 Enough of my ranting back to the idiot plot; on top of the disease Little Jobe also apparently suffered from what I can guess is Alexthymia (spoilers it's not he was just a disinterested little shit) but if that's the case why would he want to make a video game about the Riders and Sentai? While Discount Spock notices that sounds just like him; in the game world Poppy and Emu catch up to Little Jobe who explains that he refused Hiiro's operation like a dumbass. Which is again ignoring the decision of his legal guardians and not the moronic brat who claims to not have emotions that lead him to being sucked into the internet somehow. Emu thinks that Poppy can get him out but apparently she can't if he's already become a game character (yet that didn't stop you from retrieving Kuroto from the Proto Mighty Action X Origin Gashat a few episodes later so yeah this movie's full of shit what else is new) even then Little Jobe is perfectly content with staying in the game world. Data-Momotaros however tells Emu that the next match is coming up and so he leaves to join up with the team.

 The movie actually decides to be merciful and just skips ahead to the final match between Team Emu and Team Genm which consists of Data-Gemn Level X, Kamen Riders Ryugun and Specter, MomoRanger and much to my dismay Yellow Owl. The match is 5 V 5 with Zolda taking the first point by defeating Ryugun. Beet Buster defeats Yellow Owl and as for MomoRanger Vs Den-O all I can say is Happy 10th Anniversary Den-O!!!!

Weakness IDENTIFIED!!!!

 Way to treat one of your biggest cash cows and most popular Kamen Rider series Toei! Yakumo also loses to Specter so Ex-Aid has to take down Genm to break the tie which he of course does otherwise the movie would end already. So Team Ex-Aid has won the tournament and can now claim the power to stop the Xevious invasion force, the combined powers of the Kamen Riders and Super Sentai, Kamen Sentai Gorider!

 Ok to be perfectly honest it's not that bad it's just five Kamen Rider Ichigo suits with the GoRanger color-scheme and a cape big freaking woop. Though a personal cool part is that they each get their own battle vehicle (no combination thankfully since that would have most likely been an off balance asymmetrical mess) AkaRider gets the Variblune, AoRider gets Castle Doran, MidoriRider gets the Gokai Galleon, KiRider gets MagiDragon (we get the joke), and of course MomoRider gets the Den-Liner. They manage to destroy the Xevious forces with little fanfare and destroy the main ship by completing the Independence Day homage and hit the giant glowing red fuck me spot underneath the ship, granted without Randy Quaid pulling a Kamikaze attack.

 With Xevious all clear the Kamen Sentai powers down and the five GoRider Clow cards fly off leaving only Ex-Aid behind. Just in time for the bonus stage or as I redundantly like to call it, the Season Pass from hell.

"Corporate Commander here to tell you about the AAA hit from Namco Bandai, Chou Shocker Taisen only for PS4 because Fuck PC gaming! It comes with everything you all love, Microtransactions, a 100 Dollar Day one collectors edition and of course a 60 Dollar season pass! This little beauty will be localized by the wonderfully talented people of Bandai of America and published by Gearbox Software; which will be handled by my personal favorite sock puppet Randy. So pick it up the same day as this years Call of Duty you stupid fucking Whales, and remember YOU NEED IT!!!"

 Ok to be fair this isn't the real Shocker; again it's just the Data versions of them because let's face it if Little Jobe was going to make a villain faction for the Rider and Sentai to fight; Shocker is sadly the first and most famous villain group in this franchise so that does make sense. Besides if the real Shocker were involved we'd know about it already because Shirakura has made them as subtle as a wrecking ball slamming down on your foot. Anyway Data-Shocker as I'll be calling them begin their rampage with the Black Cross King leading the charge with additional Sentai Big Bads and foot solders.

Who the hell is that asshole?

 This is actually the "Great Leader" of Data-Shocker, Shocker Great Leader 3 as he calls himself and he, of course wants to avenge the destruction of the real Shocker by taking over the real world and this is soooo not getting the M.Bison clip. This asshole even had the balls to steal Fruit Jesus' catchphrase, I now despise this tool with all of my hate! So Fred Fuchs orders his army to start the attack after Emu gets whisked off into the corn fields. Amu and Hiiro arrive but both leave just as quickly after Taiga tells Hiiro that unless the connection between the two worlds is broken the real world will be destroyed. Parado arrives as well and thankfully he's in a good mood because he joins the game and fights Data-Shocker with Taiga. The two transform and take on the forces while Hiiro goes into the Game world again to talk with Data-Hiiro.

 Speaking of; Emu is confronted by Data-Hiiro and Little Jobe who finally reveal they're the ones behind all of this. It's the same plan as Kamen Rider Taisen, Data-Hiiro is destroying the real world leaving the game world for Little Jobe as penance for the real Hiiro failing to save him. The two walk off while Poppy gets a transmission from Discount Spock saying that he wants to talk with Little Jobe. So she pulls him in while Hiiro goes back to his apartment and pulls out Little Jobe's laptop that he somehow has. You'd think that thing would be kept at the hospital to analyze how he got sucked into the Game World but that would mean that you're a logical and sensible person, thus not Toei's target audience for this brain dump of a movie! So somehow Hiiro uses Little Jobe's computer to get himself sucked into the Game World too, how?

"With Scieneeeeeeence!!!!!!!"

 That's it my stupidity meter has hit its limit for now so come on by next time as we wrap up this stupid movie with Hiiro trying to clean up his own damn mess and the final fight against Fred Fuchs!

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Archer is owned by Adam Reed, Floyd County Productions, Radical Axis and FX Productions.
Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Super Sentai is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Metalocalypse is owned by Brendon Small, Tommy Blancha, Titmouse, Inc and Williams Street.
Phelous and the Movies is owned by Phelan Portland and Channel Awesome. Yep. 
House is owned by David Shore, NBC Universal Television Distribution, Heel and Toe Films, Bad Hat Harry Production and Shore Z Productions.
Superman Returns is owned by Dc Comics, Bryan Singer, Warner Bros Pictures, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Legendary Pictures and Peters Entertainment.
Spongebob SquarePants is owned by Nickelodeon, Stephen Dillenburg, United Plankton Pictures, and Viacom International Media Networks
Dinosaur Adventure is owned by Dingo Pictures

Tokusatsu Review: Shuriken Sentai Ninninger Vs. Kamen Rider Drive Spring Special: Part Three: NOT THEM AGAIN!

For a recap on my thoughts so far, here they are. Where we last left off our Ninja destroyed several buildings, slaughtered thousands of people and are rightfully being detained by the police. We then cut to Mach getting the crap beaten out of him by Sangou, but he just leaves saying that Mach will die eventually. So.... why not just kill him now? OH YEAH there is no good reason. Yeah it's not like you work for Shocker or anything and getting rid of a Rider THAT CLEARLY STANDS NO CHANCE AGAINST YOU would benefit you and your bosses or anything down the line, but there goes me and my logic again.

                            
 Speaking of not making sense we then shift the focus of this crossover to Shinnosuke who is confused at not only everyone's attitudes starting to take a turn for the tyrannical but also the higher ups decision to making sure that the Ninningers fry like bacon in the chair, even going so far as to give them higher priority then the Roidmudes. But then again them escaping their cells didn't exactly help Shinnosuke's case.

There were Ninningers here, they're gone now.

 Hell even Krim is all for carrying a torch in this proverbial witch hunt. Granted his reasoning is a little bit more sane, he thinks that the Ninningers are dangerous since they come from another world, which could lead to some serious problems if they are not dealt with.

In other words the universe doesn't like its peas mixed with its porridge.

Shinnosuke still wants to try and help them by sending them back to their world by hunting down #089 but Krim says its no dice until the Ninningers are dealt with and the people of their world come first and the needs of the mango out way the needs of the figs or something like that. Shinnosuke walks out to get some air and think when.... oh for god's sake.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

GEE DICK LET'S FIGURE THIS OUT! Was the mansion always there, no THEN IT IS AS SUSPICIOUS AS ALL HELL YOU SCHMUCK! Seriously how did nobody notice a mansion teleporting outside of a frigging police station?! You'd think that maybe somebody would notice something this frigging big that sticks out like Godzilla's thumb. Hell even a drunk, blindfolded Ray Charles could tell you that this doesn't fit here! Ugh anyway because even Shinnosuke isn't stupid enough to miss something this suspicious (granted it's right in front of his face but still better late then never) he checks it out. Inside the Ninningers are panicking over Tsumuji fading away and they can't find where the enchantment under the sea dance is to fix him. Their Grandpa is vanishing too but he's less then helpful.

I could tell you where to find him so you can kill him faster and hopefully save us all but I think you should find him for yourselves because, well let's face it I'm dying before you all either way so I might as well take everyone else with me.

         
 So after Old Ninja moonwalks out of there (seriously) the team walks out to find #089 but of course since Old Ninja is a psychotic old coot, he gave them nothing to work with and are pretty much up the creak without a paddle. Making matters worse Shinnosuke tracks down Takaharu at the docks. Shinnosuke is of course conflicted between his duty as a police officer to bring in the Ninningers on his superiors orders and his duty as a Kamen Rider, to help those he can who desperately need it. So of course he decides to help Takaharu and his family get back home. But then Otta and other officers show up and the two decide to book it, leaving Kiriko and Krim behind. Meanwhile Cloud discovers some workers who are under the effects of Buruburu's slime, he's then attacked by the Yokai from behind. Cloud manages to transform and hold him off until Kasumi, Fuuka and Nagi provide him with back up. We then cut to our red heroes not having a clue in their heads about where to find #089. The two then get attacked by the Hitokarage.

The foot solders of the Yokai.

The two make an escape thanks to Kiriko and her getaway van. She gives Shinnosuke a picture with two familiar images on it.

Oh god, not them again.

Kyuu found the picture of the silver haired man online, he apparently went by the name Dr D and was researching something at an odd research facility, and that it exploded 40 years ago and Dr D went up in flames with it screaming about how he found a way to "return the era to zero" as it were. How that website knew about any of that is beyond me and this whole situation doesn't make a whole lot of sense but let's move on. Kyuu also says that there have been reports of his Ghost wandering around the abandoned site so the trio decide that's where #089 is hiding. At the site the trio are attacked by a familiar monster; Hiruchameleon aka General Black of Gel-Shocker.

Now the one hang up I have about this is that he's wearing the wrong emblem on his belt, as I said General Black worked for Gel-Shocker, not Shocker Classic. I know that both organizations were essentially the same thing since the Great Leader was running the show for both groups but I just want some consistency here. Also I think Gel Shocker had a cooler emblem. I mean snakes make things cooler by default.

Using his camouflage powers he nearly choked Shinnosuke until Mach chased him off. Go powers down telling them about his encounter with Sangou.

I think this "Abandoned laboratory" is actually one of Toei's prop warehouses. You can see three of the cloths that were most likely used by the Greeed from OOO and that weird viewing globe thing that the Vyram used in Jetman and Dr Samejima used to get to Nejirejia in Megaranger.

Anyway Go apparently did some research on Dr D and discovered the Double Riders. Even though at this point in continuity Shinnosuke already encountered Kouta Kazuraba AKA Kamen Rider Gaim in their crossover movie. But there is a possible explanation for why they don't know about the past Riders, but I'll discus that when we get to that plot point. The most interesting part is that Go mentions that while the Double Riders fought Shocker, there was no mention of a third Rider.

Again, during the time of the Original Shocker/ Gel-Shocker. V3 didn't come around until Destron was running around.

Go then theorizes that the world is being distorted, not only due to the appearance of the Yokai and Ninningers but also that of Sangou as well as the people's subtle personality changes. It all becomes clear when Shinnosuke notices the Shocker emblem in Go's photo and he starts to put the pieces together.

Though I may have to call BS on this one, especially if this really is a former Shocker facility. I may have very little experience watching the original series, but if I do know one thing about Shōwa era Rider series; it's this. Rider finds base, Great Leader makes it go boom like he was Michael Bay. So yeah for this facility to be this intact is nothing short of a miracle.

Or the Great Leader may have been waiting on this one for some dumb reason since we see Turtle Bazooka firing at the base with everything he's got.

Again, Turtle Bazooka was a Destron Monster not a Shocker Classic monster. Hell in this crossover he isn't even wearing any emblem on his waist.

Once the base is destroyed the we see the other four Ninningers struggling with Buruburu, and are forced to pwer down when they are hit by a sneak attack by some Hitokarage and Roidmude #076. Suddenly the Trailer Cannon shows up and sends several Shift Cars out to protect the Ninningers from the Hitokarage's attack. Yep Shinnosuke, Kiriko, Takaharu and Go made it just in time. Yep apparently Krim used Tridoron to get the four out of the building before it was completely destroyed. Wow, way to keep us in suspense guys, M. Night Shyamalan would be overjoyed by this. -_- Shinnosuke even figured out who is really behind all of this nonsense. The revived Buruburu reveals himself to be Dr D aka Roidmude #089. But the Roidmudes aren't the true masterminds, and if anyone with a frontal lobe was paying attention you have most likely figured it out for your self, spoilers it was Shocker.

Yeah as if the old monsters, and the giant emblem weren't enough of a tell, but if you still needed me  tell you this then congratulations, you ate paint chips as a kid.

OH GOD HIS CROTCH IS THE REAL MASTERMIND RUN!

No no, that's just the Shocker emblem as a belt buckle, the Great Leader loves to communicate through these things. He then explains that Dr D did die 40 years ago but they had enough of his cells left over to recreate him through the Roidmude. Hold on stop, time for some major deconstruction here.

This is a screenshot of the Original Dr D from the original Kamen Rider show back in 1973. In the episode he was featured in all he was doing was researching how to defeat Kamen Rider 1. Keep this in mind as the special says that he dies two years later doing research about how to rewrite history.

 Also keep in mind that Great Leader here says that Dr D worked for Shocker, again time to call this into question as when Shocker was transitioning to Gel-Shocker part of the change involved killing every single remaining Shocker member. Stupid yes but it did happen. So yeah if Dr D did work for Shocker he should have been another body on the pile, but from the picture up there we can clearly see the Gel-Shocker emblem so we know that Dr D was around during that time, meaning Dr D was recruited after the culling of Shocker. Next, the time of his death, he supposedly died 40 years ago, but if he were still loyal to the Great Leader that would have meant he was working for Black Satan, not Shocker, and yes I know that all of the Great Leader's organizations are still technically Shocker since they were still lead by the Great Leader but still this special says Shocker so I'm calling it out! Now for the major elephant in the room, how in the hell did Roidmude #089 copy someone who has been dead for 40 years by their own admission? Now I know that there was a case in Drive about a Roidmude copying a dead person.

This is Volt, aka Roidmude #024, he was copying a person who had been dead for an indeterminate amount of time.

 Now the major difference is that the Roidmudes have been in hiding for at least 15 years, so #024 could have copied him while he was alive. Bringing this back to my point about #089, Roidmudes can only copy living subjects, so how did this one copy someone who has been dead for DECADES?! Maybe it could be explained that the Great Leader kept extensive visual and audio records of all of those who worked for him, whether willing or coerced, and he kept several DNA samples from like Shocker health exams or something. But it's never stated, all they give us is that some of Dr D's DNA was kept on ice and #089 somehow was able to completely recreate himself from that. But I'm sticking to my theory as it would be the only way this makes any sense. Also, for that matter, how in the hell did Shocker manage to get their hands on #089 in the first place? My theory is that Shocker was studying the Roidmudes (as well as every other evil group that came after them that wasn't lead by the Great Leader) and discovered the Roidmudes' copy ability, captured one and had #089 recreate Dr D from the visual records that I mentioned before. But I'm done deconstructing how this doesn't make any sense in regards to continuity I'm just going to say the Great Leader stole the Continuity gem from Deadpool and move on.

And remember kids, when a dude in a really stupid hat offers you chimichangas for some time with your special stone, kick him in his special stones and take the damn chimichangas and have yourself a merry little fiesta. There's my cameo gimme my pay.

 Yeah hows about hell to the no tumor mouth! I already have two 4th wall breaking assholes to deal with and at least they don't point guns at me when I get on their badside.

Wanna repeat that, Fatass?

 See what I mean, also because I run this show I can just shut you out. Bye bye; hope Ryan Reynolds doesn't mess you up as badly as last time. Back to this madness, #089 says that using his body as the foundation they were able to finish the original Dr D's dimensional distorter. Takaharu figures that destroying #089 will fix everything but #089 says that he's achieved a new power after absorbing the Sealing Shuriken that Izayoi gave him, becoming Shocker Buruburu.

Meet the new boss, same as the old. Also get used to seeing this guy in future crossovers involving Shocker, if you have the emblem odds are good they'll use you again and again and again.

 Now with the true enemy exposed our heroes transform, the bad guys get reinforcements from Turtle Bazooka, Hiruchameleon and some Shocker Combatants.

COBRA KAI, STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE HARD, NO MERCY!

 Thus the battle begins. It seems to be going well until Shocker Buruburu demonstrates being a embodiment of fear with his Terrible Pressure power. He might not have a Sinestro Corp ring but he does do the job of immobilizing the heroes in a field of pure terror. Drive then transforms into his Super Form, Type Formula to break out of the AT Field using his super speed and attack Shocker Buruburu. Not one to be outdone Mach transforms into Type Dead Heat to help Drive. With the distraction the Ninningers combine to form a freaking tornado to slice Shocker Buruburu to pieces, the seven then combine their finishers to send Shocker Buruburu to the scrapyard, destroy his core and collect the original Buruburu's sealing shuriken. So UFOmaru, Tsumuji and Old Ninja show up to take the Ninningers back to their world, good-byes are exchanged and we cut to Sangou who says that #089 was just a prototype for their history revision machine. Which finally could explain why everyone was acting so weird and why Shinnosuke didn't know about the previous Riders. As we see in the movie Sangou was sent back in time to kill the double Riders and thus the world would fall under Shocker's rule and every Rider that follows the originals would be a Shocker Rider. It could also explain the differences in continuity seen here. This whole time they could have been in an alternate world, not the Rider's prime world if the universe uses the Multiverse theory. This could have been a alternate universe created from the invention of the History revision device which generated the wormhole that Izayoi used to get to this world and create Buruburu as part of the plan of the Alliance of Shocker, the Roidmudes and the Gengetsu army. The Great Leader really did steal the Continuity gem and this is the effects slowly affecting the world. Whatever, this crossover, had some problems. There was very little character interaction pieces aside from the ones with Shinnosuke and Takaharu, but then again Ninninger was only five episodes into its runs o the limited characterization is a little more tolerable and understandable. To make matters worse the franchise history seemed to get kicked in the head more then a few times as I mentioned before and I honestly can't help but think that the "history manipulator" was just a convient plot device for Riku Sanjo to cover his tracks. Could you tell this and Drive were written by the same guy that wrote the screenplay for this thing?

For those who hate Drive, you now have more evidence in your case regarding the flimsy quality of the storytelling engine (not pun intended) of the show.

 But there were some concepts that I think were executed far better then the Gaim/Toqger crossover that we got last time. Like for example there was a small scene of the villains interacting. Granted it lasted less then a minute but it was there and maybe next time we can get some more with the next generation of bad guys. I also liked how much better the Gengetsu army's methodology interacted with the Roidmudes, and when the Rider Monsters grew to fight Shurikenjin at least it made some semblance of sense. The scenes trying to tie into the movie was questionable but at least it showed Shocker doing a test run on their latest take over the world scheme, and at least this time travel plot doesn't involve Den-O. And when we see the Ninningers interacting with Drive to fight the Rider Robot thing we at least know how they know each other if history has been altered. All in all, not bad but definitely one you need to switch your brain off for. I will return you to your regularly scheduled Persona retrospective next time.

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Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Super Sentai is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Star Trek The Next Generation is owned by Gene Roddenberry, Paramount Domestic Television, and CBS Television Distribution.
The Simpsons are owned by Matt Groening, Gracie Films, and 20th Century Fox Television.
Beauty and the Beast (1992) is owned by Goodtimes entertainment, Golden Films and Sony.
Phelous and the Movies is owned by Phelan Portland and Channel Awesome. Yep. 
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Tokusatsu Review: Power Rangers Jungle Fury Part 1: It isn't Overdrive, it's better by defalt (Spoilers)

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I mean that subtitle in the best possible way, after the pure unfiltered pain that was Operation Overdrive, Jungle Fury is a tremendous breath of fresh air. Now don't get me wrong; like every season in the Kalish era there were some problems I had with this season. Namely the Kalishplosions and the rushed pace towards the finale. But other then that this season was far better handled then what I've seen so far from the Disney era. Granted the only season I saw in full was Dino Thunder and that was years ago, and the others I saw were either random episodes (usually the first) or from reviews, and from what I've seen so far my favorite Disney era season is still RPM but Jungle Fury is still in the top five in my book in terms of Disney season favorites.

 Granted when your competition includes Mystic Force and Overdrive that's not much to say. Now for this review I think I'll just go over the characters, my feelings about them and what I generally like and dislike about the season over all instead of an episode by episode format. Mostly for two reasons, 1 I always want people to try to go into a topic and see for themselves whether it's good or not and form their own opinions so I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, 2 because I know that my review will just get lost in the shuffle when a certain other, more well-known reviewer releases his review of this. Now for the premise; 10,000 years ago a monster named Dai-Shi lead an army of beast warriors to exterminate humanity. However a secret kung-fu clan known as the Pai-Zhua (pronounced pie shu-wa) used the powers of their own inner animal spirits to destroy the army and seal Dai-Shi in a mystic box which they kept sealed underneath their grand temple.

 Cut to 2008 where Master Mao selects three students of his to carry on guarding Dai-Shi, Lilly who has the Cheetah spirit, Theo who has the Jaguar spirit and Jarrod who has the Lion Spirit. However Jarrod also has the spirit of the jackass, so Mao chooses a rookie named Casey that stood up to Jarrod when he was abusing his authority. Jarrod, not exactly being the most rational of losers confronts Mao and the three students, accidentally releasing Dai-Shi from his prison. After Mao is critically injured trying to stop Dai-Shi from escaping Jarrod runs off. Mao's last words to his students are to go to a city called Ocean Bluff where they can find their new master.

 While the three wait for their new Master at the Jungle Karma pizza shop Jarrod becomes possessed by Dai-Shi and becomes his vessel. Dai-Shi, with his new human body returns to his temple lair where he's greeted by his loyal second-in command Camile and he sends his army of the dead, the Rinshi to terrorize humans to absorb their fear and grow stronger. The three students try to fight off the Rinshi but fail, they are however saved by the pizza shop owner RJ who reveals that he is the master that Mao sent the three to find. Once the day is saved, RJ brings the three back to the Pizza parlor and not only agrees to train them but also gives them the Solar Morphers that he created so that they can become Power Rangers. Now that the premise stuff is out of the way time for us to get started on the Characters, let's start off with our Red Ranger, Casey.

Dull Surprise!

Casey is one of the better Disney era Red Rangers. He seemed like a competent fighter, always was looking for ways to improve and never made the same mistake twice. Though he is the newest and most inexperienced member of the team that only pushed himself harder to catch up with his teammates. One of his better moments for me was near the end of the series in "Path of the Righteous" where he still thinks that he can save Jarrod after he saw Jarrod save Camile from some monsters sent to kill her. Everyone else thinks that Casey is being naive and is just acting out over not getting his masters stripes. Even the Spirit of Master Mao is telling him that Dai-Shi has completely taken over and Jarrod is a lost cause.

 But of course Casey refuses to listen and he proceeds on to Dai-Shi's temple anyway. I'm not going to give away what happens but it definitely proves why he's the leader and soul of the team. Another point in Casey's favor? He's the first Red Ranger since TJ to not get a battlizer. That definitely gets a lot of points in my book because it seems like since In Space every Red is required to have one. Granted most of the time the enemies they fight require the extra fire power and is perfectly valid there. However in the Disney Era it seems like they are mostly just using them on enemies that didn't really require the Power that a Battlizer dishes out, mostly just on lots of goons and the big bad. So it was nice to remind us that not every Red Ranger needs giant armor and what not to fight evil. Yet whatever points Casey might have gained were immediately lost when he got this stupid thing, the Strike Rider.

Moychendizing, Moychendizing, Moychendizing

Look I get that these shows are driven by toy sales and I'm perfectly cool with that, money makes the world go round after all. But if you are going to make a toy at least make it look better then this or have the character do something one of a kind impressive with it, not just use it on foot solders most of the time. That's why I can let Cole's flying motorcycle from Wild Force slide, because we see him use it to destroy Serpentera. Sure the execution was sloppy and the moychendizing was as blatant here but when you still look at it on paper, the Wild Force rider did something truly extraordinary and destroyed a powerful, iconic weapon left behind by one of the most memorable villains in the franchise and not just use it on random goons and occasionally the big bad or his generals. Another point in Cole's bike's favor? It doesn't remind me of those stupid unicycles from Venus Wars when it transforms.

The only difference is that the Strike Rider has a tiny wheel at the front when it transforms, that's it.

Sure design wise it makes sense but aesthetically, yeah no. But we're done talking about Red Rangers on Motorcycles.

RED RANGERS ON MOTORCYCLLLLLLLLLES!

........Yeah, now for us to talk about a funny comparison I was making while watching this show. Some of the characters reminded me of some of the characters on Mortal Kombat Conquest. Not everyone thankfully but the comparisons can still be made. So let's start with our blue ranger.

THEO THE GREATEST POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY CHARACTER!

Though thankfully Theo learned his lesson early on and avoided being too similar to Mr Pride Shine (he also learned it without having to blow up Noob Sabot, point Theo) At the beginning like Siro, Theo was arrogant and more then a bit of an asshole. He also had some of his own quirks like being a perfectionist, a stick in the mud and was more then a little condescending to Casey since he's the new guy and felt that he was stepping in between him and Lily. But he started to change his tune in "Can't win them all" where he gets owned by a monster and starts being a whiny moron and giving up when there's still the problem of a ancient evil trying to wipe out mankind. Thankfully RJ gets Theo back in gear by teaching the schmuck that everybody fails at some point.

So he does get back on. But every so often he needs to take another bite of humble pie and remember that his way isn't always the best way like in "Dash for the Dagger" where he lost a powerful artifact because he thought that the guy originally holding it wasn't being careful enough, even though he managed to hold on to the damn thing up until now just fine. And guess what when Theo took the artifact from the guy who was holding it, it got lost and nearly fell into Dai-Shi's hands. I mean Dai-Shi still got the thing but the point is that if Theo had just left the guy to his own methods instead of micromanaging there would have been less of a chance of the thing getting stolen. I'm more inclined to give Theo a pass because trust me, there are worse Rangers out there. He kind of strikes a balance where he isn't a Gary-Stu.

You heard me!

Nor is he an arrogant and impulsive idiot that never learns his lesson and never tries to improve himself.

Though to be honest, I would love to see a ranger do something like this. It just sounds too funny.

All I'll say for the brains of the team is that I think they originally belonged to Abby Normal. Moving on to the heart of the Jungle Fury trio, Lily.

She brings the gift of balance.

Yeah, Lily is the third part of this trifecta of power, Lily is the heart of the team and acts like a big sister to the rest of the cast. She mostly tries to keep Casey and Theo in line and she succeeds in this area. Though her kindness does tend to lean towards Naivete like in "Pushed to the Edge" where she accidentally inspires Camile (who was in disguise at the time) to release a new evil master for Dai-Shi since she was kicked out by Dai-Shi's master Carnisoar. But other then that for the most part Lily tends to be the voice of compassion, though she can kick several kinds of ass when the need arises so don't go thinking that she's all sunshine and rainbows. She also has a deep comradery with Theo, before the whole Dai-Shi situation came up the two purportedly went out for monthly lunches and often hung out with each other.

 This was also a key reason behind Theo's apprehension regarding Casey. He thought that since Lily was hanging out with Casey more he thought Casey was trying to move in. Lily assures him that nothing has changed and that the three are still friends. Now I'm not going to say anything about what happens in the end, but rest assured that it doesn't go into bad Lifetime Channel original movie territory. Now for me to take a break now that I have the main three out of the way. Next time I'll give my thoughts on the other rangers, the villains and my overall recommendation of this series.

Please be sure to read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

Power Rangers Jungle Fury is owned by Disney-ABC Domestic Television, Renaissance Atlantic Entertainment, Toei Company, Ltd, and Ranger Productions, Ltd.
Star Wars is Created by George Lucas, owned by Lucas film, the Walt Disney Company and 20th Century Fox.
Kamen Rider Kabuto is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai. 
Venus Wars is owned by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Triangle Staff and is licensed by Discotek Media.
Yu-gi-oh! 5D's is owned by Katsumi Ono, Konami and Studio Gallop
Zoolander is owned by Village Roadshow Pictures, VH1 Films and Paramount Pictures.
Mortal Combat Conquest is owned by Threshold Entertainment, New Line Television and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
Phelous and the Movies is owned by Phelan Portland and Channel Awesome
Batman (TV Series) is owned by Greenway Productions, 20th Century Fox Television and Warner Bros. Television Distribution.