Tokusatsu Review: Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever Part 1: Crisis of infinite migraines.

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 Oh wowie the last of the Generations Movies! The first one was a great tie-in to one of my favorite Rider series and did the impossible by actually making Ghost look good.

Part 1: https://ondavidsbrain.blogspot.com/2017/07/tokusatsu-review-kamen-rider-heisei.html

Part 2: https://ondavidsbrain.blogspot.com/2017/08/tokusatsu-review-kamen-rider-heisei.html

 Heisei Generations Final once again fills in the blanks for Kamen Rider Build while getting some of the best Heisei Riders back while giving closure to some of those riders while showing Build as just as worthy to stand along side those heroes.

Part 1: https://ondavidsbrain.blogspot.com/2018/08/tokusatsu-review-kamen-rider-heisei.html

Part 2: http://ondavidsbrain.blogspot.com/2018/08/tokusatsu-review-kamen-rider-heisei_18.html

Part 3: http://ondavidsbrain.blogspot.com/2018/09/tokusatsu-review-kamen-rider-heisei.html

 I mean considering how good the last two were there's no way they can screw it up right?

 You poor fools forgot that the last two movies were written and directed by people who actually knew what they were doing. Instead we have the crew of Kamen Rider Zi-O helming this turkey which means that Kento Shimoyama wrote this and the producer was the Japanese Dan Didio himself Shinichiro Shirakura. So in the words this is a Taisen movie in Generation movies' clothes. Oh and before I forget this movie involves time travel, pants to be darkened!!! So let's not put this off any longer; time for the Heisei era to end, not with a bang but with the disgusted sneers of an old bastard who hates this franchise and the people who love it with the intensity of a million Foreman grills!

 After the traditional Toei logo we get an actually cute and fitting little montage of a kid growing up with Kamen Rider, from a Kuuga figure in his delivery cradle to him getting a picture with Den-O ect our torture session opens in 2018 with Sougo walking back from school where Geiz and Tsukuyomi are chasing after him in their Time Mazine. Wait, by the emperor's toes the series is starting over again!

 Ahahahahahahha oh dear god no I can't do this all over again I can't!

 Ok, no no thankfully Shirakura felt somewhat generous that day and decided not to subject us to Zi-O all over again because once Geiz and Tsukuyomi corner Sougo an evil version of the Den-Liner makes a crash landing; knocking the Time Mazin out in the process. Then one of the only good things in Zi-O; an Another Rider jumps out of the wreck to kill Sougo. Of course since he has the year 2007 and the name Den-O on his body and came out of a twisted version of the Den-Liner it's clear that this is the Another Rider of Kamen Rider Black.

No it's obviously Another Den-O, Black already did some time travel but we don't like to talk about that.

 Before Another Den-O can kill this would be despot Geiz transforms and stops him from doing what he originally came back to 2018 to do in the first place. During the fight Geiz and Tsukuyomi know who Sougo is but he doesn't recognize them. It's only when Another Den-O knocks him around and Sougo sees the Zi-O Ridewatch does he remember who they are.

 While Another Den-O deals with Geiz and Zi-O a little kid escapes from the train. (Warning sign #1, a little kid in a modern Tokusatsu movie is a good sign that Shirakura was involved with the production and that it will be bad. Nobody likes it when guest child actors are involved in a Toku movie unless they're written well. As they often tend to steal focus from the main heroes, are not compelling to watch and are usually portrayed as bratty, annoying, moody or all three and refuse to advance the plot unless the threat is staring them in the face.) Anyway he escapes before getting swept up by a green cyclone and lands in front of Kiryu Sento and Banjo Ryuga.

Hallelujah!

 Before you ask, no these aren't the Sento and Banjo that Sougo met and got the Build and Cross-Z Ridewatchs from in the disastrous first two episodes. These are the Sento and Ryuga that landed on the main Toei Earth after Sento merged the Build Earth with the main Earth to stop Evolt. If you're asking how that makes any sense, then shut up the makers of the movie clearly don't care even though they wrote the damn show that these events spun off from. Ok it is kind of explained later but we'll get to that later. Anyway the kid runs and hides because "it" is coming.

You know I'd say that the design of Pennywise for It Chapter 2 jumped the shark but he is a shapeshifter so I don't know maybe the Turtle that holds the Earth or something from Dark Towers can explain it, because it's either one or the other.

 No this is Another W who attacks after Sento and Banjo transform into Build and Cross-Z. We then cut back to the wreck of the another Den-Liner to see the main villain of our story, the Time jacker who created Another W and Another Den-O.

This is Tid and his incredibly stupid plan is to destroy the Heisei era of Kamen Riders. Because I guess the Shōwa era riders just weren't worth his time I guess? But then again considering the last time Shirakura did anything with the Shōwa Riders, we don't want him to touch them ever again, Phrasing!

 After the tittle card we see the two pairs of Riders forcing their opponents to retreat. But in both instances there was a crowd of people watching and cheering the riders on like it was a live show. Hell even Build and Cross-Z get back up from Kamen Riders Grease and Rogue, who shouldn't be there since they were killed before the world merger. There wasn't even a chance to have them be like a Jay Garrick and Barry Allen Flash situation like after Crisis on Infinite Earths where since they were so radically different the new world decided to keep both versions of the Flash like with Sento and Banjo they're just here because the Kool-Aid man is red. During the Build Riders fight with Another W a high schooler is watching and recording the fight on his phone while the kid that Another W was after escapes into the crowd. We're then subjected to I kid you not, 8 minutes of pointless scenes that can basically be summed up with "things aren't what they're supposed to be!"

 Sento finally corners the kid and tries to ask why the Another Rider was after him but he refuses to trust and talk to him like the dumbass brat that he is. He does finally talk when Sento mentions that he's Kamen Rider Build and the kid thinks that he fights alongside Kuuga. But before Sougo can ask any more questions Tiddlywinks shows up to abduct the kid who he identifies as Shingo. Sento tells Shingo to run while he holds him off but Tiddlywinks uses his Timejacker powers to toy with and possibly molest him.

"slurp You have the taste of a Heisei Rider!"

 Seriously Sento looks legitimately uncomfortable, I can't help but think this was ad libbed, I'm starting to get a Jerod Leto's Joker vibe now, never go full Jerod Leto. So after, that Tiddlywinks wonders what Sento is even doing here since there apparently shouldn't be any Kamen Riders in this world. But he decides to make Lemonade from this lemon and uses some unexplained mind control powers on Sento. Speaking of Jojo references we catch up with the kid who was recording the fight talking to a voice in his head who tells him that Sougo is following him, who he recognizes as Zi-O and introduces himself as Ataru Hisanaga who claims to have the power to draw riders to him, despite the voice telling him to quit acting so cocky.

 Ataru decides to demonstrate this by taking Sougo out for Fumen at a stand in Futo. He says that this will lure out W, well he's half right (ha) as instead Shingo shows up being chased by Another W. Sougo begins to transform but Another W retreats before he can finish. When Sougo tires to talk with Shingo the stand owner hands him the W Ridewatch because apparently Shotaro told him to give it to Sougo when he recognized him, because he "protected the city". Wow not only does Futo have their won Kamen Rider but they also have their own plot convenience Fairy!

 Sougo and Ataru decide to bring Shingo back home. Along the way Shingo says that his mother's in the hospital because she's about to deliver his baby brother, he's happy about is since he has someone he can watch Kamen Rider Kuuga with. Ataru is impressed that a little kid knows about such an old Rider series since he himself was born one day before Kuuga aired, making today his birthday. After some antics about Sougo's home not being the same as he knows it and Geiz and Tsukuyomi's memories being rewritten as what happened to Banjo, Kazumi, Gentoku and Misora he decides to look for Shingo's house with the map app on his smart phone.

 And the fact that Shingo says that he's never seen a smart phone should have been a major tip off to him not being from the present day! Now, what a normal person would do in this situation would be to ask Shingo what year it was due to the two major oddities about him, but since this is an idiot plot neither Ataru nor Sougo do this. Even the two Persona Q games got this plot point out of the way faster then this pair of brain trusts!!! While we painfully wait for the characters to catch up with the audience for the solution to this obvious mystery Kazumi and Banjo show up asking Shingo where Sento went. After he tells them about his confrontation with Tiddlywinks Sento's bike shows up to take Banjo and Sougo to where he is keeping Sento, somehow!

 When Zi-O and Cross-Z find him he has the still mind controlled Sento transform into his TankTank form and attack the two. After more obvious foreshadowing Shingo gets taken by Another W and Another Den-O after they beat the ever loving tar out of Grease. But not before Another Den-O shows Ataru who he really is, Ataru, wait what?! Back to the Rider fight we learn that Sento actually wasn't under Tiddlywinks control and was just playing along until he can learn what his goal is. But he never learned what that was so he wasted his time and nearly killed his allies for no reason, our heroes everyone!

 But thanks to his two Another Riders his plans can get started with Shingo, how? Well that's what next time is for and oh dear lord is it convoluted and stupid. But before that, there's something that requires my attention in Kamihama city, toodles!

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Superman Returns is owned by Dc Comics, Bryan Singer, Warner Bros Pictures, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Legendary Pictures and Peters Entertainment.
Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse Episode 2: The Tomb of Sammun-mak is owned by Telltale Games and Chuck Jordan.
Aliens (Film) is owned by James Cameron, 20th Century Fox and Brandy Wine Productions Based off of characters by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett
Hellsing Ultimate is owned by Kouta Hirano, Studio Madhouse, Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, Geneon and Funimation.
Hellsing Ultimate Abridged is owned by Team Four Star.

Video Game Review: Persona Retrospective: Persona (PSP) Part 9: They're eating her, and then they're gonna eat me.

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So the group finally and I do mean finally make it all the way up to Kandori's lair where he's not exactly feeling all that good. Even when Aki offers to kill the group right then and there he just tells her to piss off and she does. Essentially the reason why he stopped acting like a bad Final Fantasy villain (at least for right now) is because even after he gained the power of a god he doesn't feel like he actually accomplished anything, so he asks the group what it is they're living for. He says that goals are what gives people the strength to carry on living, so after every single goal you have is achieved, what's the damn point? Mark says that they live to make the most out of every second of life.

 Reiji says its to wipe Kandori's bloodline off the face of the earth; question; does that include yourself? Kandori asks Naoya who replies that his purpose is to find his purpose. Well my solution, find something new, trust me if anyone has true desire, then nothing will ever be enough. You're essentially a god now right so take the route Dr Manhattan did and create new life in another part of the universe, come on this isn't all that difficult dude; you have all the time in the world.

Or you would if you really were a god, because guess what Kandori? Unless you truly are this all powerful entity that you claim to be you would have come across this solution already, but the truth is, you aren't a god; just a sad, miserable, egotistical schmuck with Crazy Steve level delusions of grandeur. Nanjo pretty much says that adding that seeing Kandori like this is just painful to watch him acting this pathetic. He knows that Kandori admits that he did absolutely nothing on his own and that's why he's sunken to this level. He says that Kandori and Maki's desire to destroy everything comes from their anxiety of the future; that if everyone feels as miserable and scared as they are that would somehow make them better.

Kandori snaps at this and attacks. After he's beaten; guess what you're still not done. Kandori's Persona Nyarlathotep turns out to not actually be his Persona and forcibly gives Kandori more power, transforming him into a monster called God Kandori. God Kandori is going to kick your teeth in. Not only does this transformation occur right after the fight with Kandori but it's still the same battle, so all the damage you took in the first battle is carried over into this fight, joy. Also God Kandori's weaknesses have almost completely reversed from his first form; he's stronger, has new attacks and has more HP. Yeah, have fun with that.

So once Kandori and Nyarlathotep are down for the count Nanjo asks him where the real Maki is. Where the alternate reality is revealed to be the real Maki's world in her heart; everything she knows as perfect and idealistic as she intended where everything is perfectly fitting with her world view from before her hospitalization, born from her despair of being trapped in the hospital, with little chance of getting better, cursing the world for her frailty, and her isolation from her friends and workaholic mother. The world was created when Maki's mind became linked to the Deva system before the first successful test run was finished one month ago. Her mind supposedly synchronized with the system creating a link between the worlds where Kandori entered and came into contact with Mai and well we know the rest.

Hey um, remember that X-Men reference back in Part 4? Yeah let me see if I've got this straight, a woman who is under extreme psychological stress, cursing the world for its unfairness and cruelty uses an unnatural power to create an alternate, ideal reality? OH MY GOD, PERSONA 1 REALLY IS HOUSE OF M!

Though thankfully this is nowhere near as stupid as House of M. It turns out that the Maki in the group, Aki and Mai were also parts of the real Maki's heart, Maki's ideal self, and her dark and light parts of her inner child respectively. Maki of course freaks out about this and runs off to the real Maki who Kandori has been keeping in the castle. Kandori asks the group to save Maki from becoming like him with his last breath.

So he dies and I'm sure he and Nyarlathotep will never trouble the world again. The group manages to find the Maki's with the real one hooked up to the Deva System like a life support machine. Aki is of course furious over Kandori's death and says that there's no one left who can save them now that they've killed the only person the real Maki could count on. Ideal Maki is not exactly stable at this point and is freaking out, even with everyone trying to calm her down she knows that everything that's happened, the town getting wrecked, the demons, Kandori nearly killing humanity is because of her. Aki and Ideal Maki run off with the Mirror of Chaos showing the Deva System overloading shattering the core and the Mirror of Chaos shatters as well leaving the group little chance of getting back inside the world of Maki's heart.

However the Ideal Maki left behind her compact and find another compact mirror on the real Maki. The real Maki's compact is complete while the Ideal Maki's is empty so the group fill in the empty compact with shard of the Mirror of Chaos and use its power to go back inside Maki's heart. One trip later and the group wakes up in the entrance of the Lost Forest with Setsuko waiting for them. Nanjo explains everything to Setsuko and take her with her to meet with Mai who's crying in the forest. They find her in her gingerbread house again and Setsuko apologizes to her for everything that's happened.

After she calms down Mai says that Aki has gone off the deep end and has gone to awaken the darkest, most evil part of Maki's heart, a monster called Pandora. Aki was then swallowed by Pandora who is now trying to completely destroy the world of Maki's heart which would end up killing the real Maki. The group asks where Pandora is and theorize that she could be behind the door in the Library that they couldn't open before. Mai says they're right but they'll need the power of the three compacts and the help of the Ideal Maki. They already have the green and red ones but they still need the last one and the Ideal Maki. Mai says that Ideal takes priority and that she's deeper in the forest. So the group finds Idea where's she's not exactly in a talkative mood.

Nor a very distinguishable mood right now.

She tells everyone to go away and that's she's going through her "I'm a monster" phase right now and with everything we've learned so far realizing that she's ultimately the cause of all this BS I can't exactly refute her claims.

See Shouichi, this is someone who's fears about being a monster are justified you self-absorbed butt-plug.

Mark and the others basically tell her that it's perfectly human to be jealous in someway or another and that no matter what happens, she's their friend. But she still insists that everything is her fault and that she's the worst person alive, until Naoya tells her to stop hiding behind her misplaced guilt. With some more words of encouragement from the rest of the group Maki comes to her senses and joins up with the rest of the group to stop Pandora. Back at the Gingerbread house Mai explains that to get to the last compact they have to find the true Maki Sonomura.

The one that they got from the real world doesn't have the power they require, Mai says that the real Maki's consciousness is hiding in the Alaya Cavern behind the shrine. Setsuko agrees to stay behind with Mai while the team goes to the cavern to find the real Maki. Mai gives them one more instruction. That when they have all three compacts, chant the spell Erusaer Tsymmom (Mommy's Treasure backwards) at the door and they'll finally have access to Pandora. Now to prepare for next time where we enter the cavern, find the real Maki and stop Pandora once and for all.

Shin Megami Tensai Persona is owned by Atlus and Sega.
Troll 2 is owned by Claudio Fragasso, Filmirage and Epic Productions.
Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse Episode 2: The Tomb of Sammun-mak is owned by Telltale Games and Chuck Jordan.
Monty Python' life of Brian is owned by Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Python (Monty) Pictures and Orion Pictures and Warner Bros. 
Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.