Written by Shoji Yonemura
Directed by Takayuki Shibasaki
Japan, 2014
Since the premier of its first series in 1971, Japan’s Kamen Rider superhero franchise has spanned more weekly television series, films, comics, videogames and other assorted media than one would think possible for a franchise the core concept of which is “Man in vaguely insectoid outfit rides motorcycle, fights monsters”. And yet, the franchise’ cast of characters has grown so massive that it’s become en vogue in recent years for massive teamup movies featuring every main character in Kamen Rider history to be produced every year or so. Most recently, these have taken the form of the Taisen series of summer event movies, beginning with 2012’s Kamen Rider X Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen, which saw the Riders battle and then team up with one of their primary rivals for the hearts of children (and the wallets of said children’s parents), the Super Sentai franchise. Super Hero Taisen was followed a year later by Super Hero Taisen Z, which threw the somewhat obscure Space Sheriff Gavan series into the mix, leading many to wonder where the Taisen films could possibly go next.
Rather than try and top themselves in terms of scale, Kamen Rider producer Toei Studios opted to scale back for the third Taisen film, producing Heisei Rider Vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai, which sees the classic Riders of the “Showa” period (the era of Japanese history corresponding to the rein of the Showa Emperor, Hirohto, which ended with his death in 1989) and the modern Riders of the “Heisei” period battling for supremacy. Kamen Rider Taisen is undoubtedly the strongest of the three Taisen films to date, owing mostly to a stronger balance of characters over previous films in the trilogy, a generally improved script and much better action spread more liberally through the film’s run time. However, the film still suffers from many of the same problems that have held the previous films back from greatness.
After the villainous Badan Empire emerges from a mysterious second world found deep underground, the protagonists of Kamen Rider Gaim find themselves guarding a mysterious boy with even more mysterious abilities. But Team Gaim is soon confronted by none other than Hongo Takeshi, the first man to take the name Kamen Rider and fight evil as Kamen Rider Ichigo. Hongo warns Gaim that the boy must be returned to the underworld, or disaster will follow. Soon after, Gaim is met by another Heisei Rider, Kamen Rider Decade, who says that he and the other Heisei era Riders must be brought together to defeat Badan, and if necessary, their Showa Rider predecessors. Soon, the two sides begin to gather, as Badan’s own forces marshal under the leadership of a man calling himself Kamen Rider Fifteen.
Like previous Taisen films, Kamen Rider Taisen features an impressive number of familiar faces reappearing to reprise roles from previous series. The crown jewel in Kamen Rider Taisen‘s cast is the return of Hiroshi Fujioka as Hongo Takeshi/Kamen Rider Ichigo. Though Fujioka lent his voice to Ichigo in previous films like the 35 Anniversary movie, this is the first time he’s appeared on screen in the role in nearly forty years. But what makes Kamen Rider Taisen feel more like a proper crossover than previous Taisen films and similar “summer event” movies is that when familiar old faces appear, it’s more often as actual characters than meaningless cameos. When Kento Hanaa reappears as Kamen Rider Faiz, or Ryo Hayami as Kamen Rider X, they’re given things to do besides spout a few lines of dialogue before transforming and letting the stuntmen take over. Previous Taisen films have largely felt like a meeting between a small handful of characters, with the vast majority of their fellow Riders as little more than set dressing. Kamen Rider Taisen feels like a break from this, presenting more fleshed out characters and fewer token cameos for the sake of it.
Which is not to say that Kamen Rider Taisen has a shortage of token cameos. As the full title indicates, several faces from the Super Sentai franchise appear towards the end, in a sequence that really serves no purpose besides facilitating the crossover between the train-themed Ressha Sentai Toqger and Kamen Rider Den-O characters that fans have been imagining since Toqger premiered.
And in some ways the extensive returning cast can be a double-edged sword, as it becomes all the more obvious when some Riders’ voices have obviously been provided by new actors, their original actors either unavailable or unwilling to return. This only occurs once or twice, but it’s especially distracting when Kamen Rider Fourze belts out lines in a nasal screech, or when Kamen Rider Black speaks with the voice of Commander Levi from the popular anime Attack on Titan.
In terms of action, Kamen Rider Taisen also presents a more full and satisfying experience than previous films in the franchise, with more action scenes and more opportunities for individual characters to bring their unique abilities to the table. The opening sequence alone is so impressive that it isn’t hard to see why it was used in its entirety as one of the film’s preview trailers, and the fight scenes feel more numerous and enjoyable than the usual formula of saving almost everything for the big finale. And refreshingly, Kamen Rider Taisen‘s climactic battle for once doesn’t take place in the same abandoned rock quarry that has played host to so many final battles for various scenes in various Japanese superhero films and TV series. The locations over all feel more varied and interesting than is often seen in Japanese superhero TV properties, which have a habit of repeating their locales ad nauseum.
But when the Rider Kicks aren’t flying and the film has to rely more on scripting than stunt work and special effects, more cracks begin to show. Like previous Kamen Rider crossover films, the “surprise twist” that everyone in the audience knew was coming anyway doesn’t sense on any real level, falling prey to the same lazy writing that plagued Superhero Taisen and its sequel. Taisen series writer Shoji Yonemura remains the master of the half-baked finale, and those who took issue with the script quality in his previous efforts will find many of the same issues of inconsistent or entirely absent internal logic here. However the overall characterizations are much improved over Yonemura’s previous works, which sometimes saw characters acting against their established personas and previous character arcs. Kamen Rider Taisen feels generally more consistent with its characterizations, and the improved use of the ensemble cast marks this as one of his better scripts.
Kamen Rider Taisen is by no definition a perfect film, and when viewed by someone unfamiliar with the Kamen Rider franchise, it would most likely seem like an unintelligible mess of plot contrivances, melodrama and characters thrown wholesale at the audience. But when viewed in the proper context, weighed against previous films in the Taisen series and with enough knowledge of Kamen Rider‘s history and characters, Kamen Rider Taisen reveals itself to be one of the stronger summer movie specials to come out of any Japanese superhero TV franchise in recent years.