Hearts, Hands, Space, Time: Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie Wars MEGAMAX (director's cut)

[akinoame]

A teeny tiny disclaimer before we start: I originally wanted to review Kamen Rider Fourze before we got to this movie, mostly because it meant I wouldn't have to go into a whole lot of explanation on the season, and because in retrospect, this movie sets up some major foreshadowing for the season that you would not expect because it feels like such a one-off movie. However, it is 2019, and my time is running out to make a specific, extremely stupid joke, before it ceases to be relevant. So my bad sense of humor wins out.

We open in space, during a meteor shower that helpfully informs us that this is the Kamen Rider 40th anniversary project. Thanks, random meteor shower! The meteoroids pass the moon and Rabbit Hatch, the lunar base that acts as clubhouse for the Kamen Rider Club of Fourze, who stop fooling around for a moment long enough to watch the meteroids head to the planet below. Fun fact: if you look carefully, you'll see the M-BUS satellite that becomes more important in the season later, orbiting the Earth. The meteorites pass through the atmosphere almost entirely intact, one flaming one touching down in some kind of steppe, where a young man covered in what looks like a blanket, while carrying his underwear on a pole, completely fails to react until he hears the big fucking explosion behind him. Eiji...what kind of day were you having that "giant flaming space rock zooming behind me" doesn't get a response? And that you only look kind of confused about it? Did your coffee not kick in or something? Is that why you're wearing a blanket over your head? Did you just wake up? But more worryingly, another meteorite lands in the waters of the Kanto region, off of Kodama Pier, creating a temporal-spatial warp that looks suspiciously like the one created by the destruction of Dr. Maki and the Medal Vessel...

What I do love about this movie is that it isn't JUST Fourze and OOO. See, up until this point, the Movie Wars consisted of a short movie about the past season's Rider, a short movie about the new season's Rider, and a final battle that crossed them over. This movie, however, fills in with additional Riders having smaller scenes in-between the three segments, helping link them together a little more organically. Sure, Eiji and Gentaro both have stories that seem separate from one another; but with the help of the other Riders and their investigations, it feels much more natural that the two stories are part of a larger case, rather than, for example, W and Decade suddenly realizing, "Oh, wait, so the bad guy you're chasing is ALSO going in this direction? Well, what a coinky-dink!" And it feels like it's setting up for what we would get with the Heisei Generations movies later on.

Here, we see Kamen Riders 1 and 2 battling an army of Dustards (aka "Fourze space ninjas") in "Eastern European Country A"...which is probably Albania, let's be honest. I mean, I kind of like that they're trying NOT to name any specific place, much like OOO did in trying desperately not to name Eiji's African nation as either Chad or Sudan, but...we can guess when you label it by a letter. This fight is incredible. The music, first off, "Showa Rider War," is a rock guitar instrumental remix of the Legendary Seven Kamen Riders' opening themes. And if you want to see old dudes handing bad guys their asses, this is it. Rider 1 is outclassing the Dustards with fancy but non-powered kicks, and Rider 2 is completely overpowering them with his sheer, raw strength. It really shows off how they are the Riders of "technique" and "power." Only complaint I really have to make right now is that I'm on the fence about Rider 2's darker helmet. See, it seems like Hayato Ichimonji has a different costume every time we see him, and I've actually gotten used to seeing him with the lighter green helmet, as long as he has the red gloves and boots. It's the way I could tell him apart from Takeshi Hongo, while also having a good continuity between outfits. If I recall the manga Kamen Rider Spirits correctly, the red on his hands and feet does evoke the image of having blood on his hands, but that it is being used for good. The dark helmet isn't bad, but I personally prefer them having a closer resemblance, with a symbolic difference between them.

In "Country G" in a Mediterranean archipelago, Kamen Rider V3 and Riderman fight Trash Yummies amidst several Greek ruins. So...yeah, what's up with the initials when it's PAINFULLY obvious what country this is? Meanwhile, Kamen Riders X and Amazon are fighting Masquerade Dopants (from W) to protect a meteorite that landed in South American Country C...which is either Chile or Colombia, but based on, well, Amazon being there, my guess is it's PROBABLY Colombia. I mean, the dude is named for the rainforest and river, not his shopping habits. Also, props to the writers for making Amazon speak in complete sentences. He's picked up enough language to be able to handle some more complex syntax. The best comparison I can make is to Koda from Power Rangers Dino Charge: sure, he's not about to spout Shakespeare or start rapping a million words a minute, but he's been interacting with people who speak this language long enough that he's gained a lot of proficiency with it, even if he hasn't had life-long experience.

Another meteorite landed in Country A in the northern Middle East, which...uh, okay. You stumped me here. See, my first thought would be Saudi Arabia, but that's not the north. It could be Azerbaijan, but the background images don't look like anything I can identify from Azerbaijan. Depending on your definition of the Middle East, it COULD be Afghanistan, Algeria (like my second thought), or Armenia. But that gold dome in the background looks like the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, and to my knowledge, neither Israel or Palestine is spelled with an A. So if there's anyone better at picking out countries at a glance, please tell me, for my Carmen Sandiego skills are failing me. Two Foundation X scientists are extracting a silver gunk off of the meteorite, calling the goop "SOLU," when they are kindly interrupted by Kamen Rider Stronger coming in and kicking all their bodyguards' asses. They're still able to withdraw to a helicopter, having secured the SOLU, leaving Stronger to have to defeat all the Masquerades, Trash Yummies, and Dustards. Poor bastards never stood a chance.

Back in Japan, at the local Foundation X headquarters that somehow Shotaro and Philip never managed to track down and fuck up, Chancellor Kiima is met by three of her agents, Rem Kannagi, Solaris, and Katar, both of whom are apparently not special enough to get last names. And I have to admit I'm a little sad here—Kiima is played by Azusa Watanabe, who played the mom in Magiranger. And sure, heroes from one toku show play villains in Kamen Rider all the time—I honestly think it's a prerequisite for a part in Ultraman nowadays—but considering it's their MOM, there's just this existential feeling of disappointment. I mean, maybe this is a stealth joke because the Magiranger family's name was Ozu, which is the same pronunciation as "OOO" in Japanese, but still. Her five kids , angelic son-in-law, and formerly fallen angel husband would be so upset. Also, as a disclaimer, I'm working off of the TVN subs because I can't seem to find my O-T copy (I honestly prefer O-T's Fourze, but whatever), but I'm kind of mixing and matching names that are very unusual. I've seen Lem, Lemu, and Remu Kannagi, but Rem is more of a familiar name to me, at least partially because of Ultraman Geed using it for the name of their computer. The same goes for Katar, who I've also seen as Katal and Kataru—I'm basing it off Katar Hol, also known as Hawkman. It's just what makes more sense in my head. Kannagi reports to Magi Mother that they've retrieved the SOLU and that they are planning on obtaining a set of three unknown Core Medals from the time warp in Kanto. Kiima is looking forward to this, as they will use the SOLU to develop an Astro Switch that they will combine with the new Medals in order to complete their mysterious plan. Kannagi says that he wants to complete this project more than anyone, so just leave it all to him. Yeah, I'm sure that kind of enthusiasm isn't going to backfire on SOMEBODY. And of course, as Kiima walks off, Kannagi tells Solaris and Katar that he won't let anyone stand in his way. Yep, I'm sure this is going to work out beautifully for Kiima.

The OOO portion of the movie begins at the big hole in the sky, which is being observed by researchers from the Kougami Foundation, and a ton of Ride Vendor troops. And...well, as much as I have to admit that Kougami is just one mustache-twirl away from being a villain, I have to say that at least he's smart enough to bring some goddamn guards. The scientists are picking up some weird distortions, unsure if they're a side-effect of the meteorite, but the troops unfortunately get to experience the phenomena first—a harpoon-wielding time traveler in armor that resembles OOO's suit, except patterned after a shark, a whale, and a wolf fish. So...unexpected crossover between Aquaman and Doctor Who? When they warn him not to come any closer or they'll shoot, the arrogant fish man tells them that it's fine, as long as they don't waste his time by begging for their lives. And, uh, then he proceeds to kill everybody with a wave of energy from his harpoon. The Core Medals in his belt shimmer for a moment before Cell Medals appear over his body, reverting him back to his base form—that of a human teenager with a streak of blue hair...and I don't know for sure if he's not somehow related to Urataros from Den-O, but I will be running with the assumption that he is. As the boy stalks off, he hears a voice from one of the computers that he hasn't destroyed. Naturally, it's Kougami, wishing the kid a very happy birthday, even if he didn't get the name yet so he can't put it on the cake. Fish boy gives out his name simply as Kamen Rider, though because Takeshi Hongo called dibs, we will be using his official name, even if it hasn't been used in the movie itself: Kamen Rider Poseidon. Kougami is only mildly impressed, since...well, he's seen everything at this point. But Poseidon doesn't care, he has bigger fish to fry.

...Yes, I will be making fish jokes the entire time, why do you ask?

Goto, once again wearing a nice suit but with surprisingly long hair, drives up to the Kougami Foundation headquarters to meet with his crazy ex-boss. There are designs of various Core Medals all over the office, including the Medal Tree depiction from some of the old King's records, and images of Poseidon's three Cores. Also there is a Penguin Core Medal in development. I am so happy that these things finally got created and produced by Bandai. It's too cute. But I also feel that we missed a perfect opportunity for everybody to be attacked by an evil penguin—but then, penguins are incapable of evil, so, maybe that's why. Kougami has been looking at his ancestor's research to create more Core Medals, and Goto rightfully asks what the fuck because that worked out so well in the past. However, Kougami has no intention of creating Greeed, intending to produce the Medals just from desire...which I'm not even sure how that works because the Greeed are...well, greed incarnate. Kougami at least admits that it looks like he's failed, since he recognizes his new Cores are Poseidon's power source. And he also knows that the little merman is from forty years in the future, so...I give up. I just give up on this guy. I just do not understand how he gets his information, where he gets it from, or WHY.

In things that make much more sense, Satonaka is giving the same infodump to Hina, whom she is driving to the airport. Though Hina's skeptical how a space rock can warp time and relative dimensions in space, Satonaka tells her to believe one thing: the new Rider is an asshole who only cares about fighting. Which I think technically makes him a Ryuki character. His targets are the Riders of this time, despite them all being retired. That's why Goto's been called back, and that's why they're on their way to the airport—they need to pick up Eiji, who has been sent back for his own protection. Goto is given back the Birth equipment, but not just for his sake—Kougami has realized, SOMEHOW, that Poseidon also carries inside him all of the Core and Cell Medals lost during Eiji's final battle with Maki, and it seems like he's lost control. And on a roof somewhere near Yumemi Town, Poseidon calls on the powers of Uva's Core and snaps some Cell Medals in half, creating Trash Yummies. I won't lie, it's kind of a shame that although his eyes glow green for a moment, it doesn't mean that Uva's in control. Rather, it looks like his personality was completely destroyed by becoming the Medal vessel. It's sad, since he's the only Greeed who has all nine of his Medals intact. It would have been interesting to see him have the last laugh.

Hina, being too sweet and innocent to know anything about Ryuki, Faiz, Decade, or the later Gaim, Amazons, and Zi-O, asks why one Rider would attack another. Please stay this sweet. Don't ever learn. But she does understand that Satonaka is there to protect both her and Eiji during this pickup. Satonaka swears it's just work, since Eiji is doing his research on behalf of the Foundation, trying to find a way to use the Medals to create peace. Nicely, we even see a flashback of Eiji wearing the same outfit he'd worn in the last scene of the finale, crouching over an archeological dig somewhere in the Middle East and taking notes, implying that he called everybody right after he left the dig. Hina reveals that Eiji's got another motive for doing this research—to find a way to fix Ankh's Medal and bring him back. Both Hina and Shingo have promised to do everything they possibly can to help. Which I hope means dragging him back home and putting him to bed when he overdoes it again.

But Satonaka has to bring the car to a screeching halt when the Trash Yummies attack. She tells Hina to stay put while she whips out her Birth Buster and a canister of Cells, then starts shooting the hell out of anything that moves. Can I say again how much I love that Satonaka secretly cares about these morons and will actually put effort into trying to save them? I swear, that is a key personality trait to most of the characters here. Unfortunately, a few Trash Yummies get close enough to force her to engage in hand-to-hand combat, even snatching the Birth Buster from her. With Satonaka getting swarmed, more make their way over and grab Hina out of the car. She manages to throw a couple of them off, but others grab her by the arms and throw her. Excuse me, I thought we established earlier in this season that Hina is a precious angel who must not be harmed. Who needs their heads ripped off? With Satonaka unable to protect her and more Trash Yummies arriving, our hero finally makes his appearance. Eiji, looking oddly serious and pissed off, grabs the Yummies and starts hitting them as hard as he can, much to Hina's relief and delight. But Poseidon was watching from the shadows and races out to greet him with a fatal slash with his harpoon. Caught completely off-guard, Eiji takes the full hit and goes flying, landing hard on the ground and going completely still.

Hina races over to Eiji while Satonaka recovers her gun and starts shooting at Poseidon again. Poseidon admits he's really disappointed that Eiji died so easily, but dude, that's YOUR FAULT. You're the asshole who snuck up behind him and cut into him, without giving him a chance to defend himself. C'mon, I know Asakura was bad, but even he usually let someone have a fighting chance. Most of the time. Except for all those other times. My point is, don't complain that someone dies easily when they don't even have a way to transform. Satonaka continues to shoot him in the face, and he suddenly remembers that she exists, threatening her life and preparing to kill her, but then in runs Date...who has shaved. Yeah, I know, movies always end up with at least one actor having changed their appearance—with Kotaro Nogami in Let's Go Kamen Riders probably being the most notable, what with going blonde—but around the time this came out, there was a Samson joke about Date and his facial hair. Apparently, Date was also flying into the same airport and was supposed to be picked up, since Satonaka has all of his Proto-Birth gear, but despite him saying he'll try to give Poseidon a fight that'll cheer him up, he does about as well as you can expect. The Birth system was never designed to put up with Greeed, let alone what's essentially an upgraded OOO with Greeed powers, and Proto-Birth is even worse. There's even a part where Poseidon tosses his harpoon, like "hold this," and Date catches it, leaving him open to attack. This is what happens when you shave, Date. You lose all of your strength! Credit to him, though, he does grab Poseidon by the waist and throw him, but Poseidon has a really impressive recovery as he lands. Fortunately, Goto finally gets there, transforming into Birth and once again sacrificing his motorcycle. It's a good thing Kougami is a crazy billionaire who doesn't mind replacing all of the shit Goto breaks. The twin Births tag-team Poseidon, but even together, they're no match for his strength and power. He nearly breaks their hands holding them in place while his harpoon flies around like a boomerang, striking them again and again before he delivers a Rider Kick to knock them back. He throws them back farther with another blast from his harpoon, then isolates Date long enough to spear right through his henshin belt, destroying it. You know, it's a really good thing this isn't Ryuki. Goto tries to protect him, but the power of his Breast Cannon is thrown right back at him, forcing him out of transformation. Poseidon begins to gloat, but you know what they say—a villain should never stop to monologue. As he's right in the middle of laughing about how weak the Births are, something gets him right in the back, through his mass of Medals. It's Eiji, unhurt and still acting bizarrely out of character as he notes that Poseidon has finally shown an opening. But what has everyone's attention isn't Eiji's lack of injuries or strange behavior, no—it's Ankh's hand on his right arm.

Gradually shifting from Eiji's voice to his own, Ankh says that he can't believe that the Medals lost during the battle with Maki traveled through time. Poseidon is determined to keep hold of them, but Ankh leaps to a high scaffolding to get out of the way, holding his prize—the TaToBa Medals, which he says are what he needs to start. And then he screams for Eiji.

The real Eiji emerges, still carrying his underwear, catching the Medals perfectly. He grins back and tells Ankh that the plan worked out perfectly, while both Poseidon and Date try to figure out just wtf is going on and Satonaka and Hina are more worried about evacuating Date and Goto from the battlefield. Eiji transforms into OOO, and for someone who kept going on about how bored he was and how weak everyone was, Poseidon starts saying it's not fair that Eiji and Ankh tricked him. Yeah, well, it's not fair to murder a bunch of civilians, so, shut up. Just as Eiji's getting Poseidon on the ropes, Ankh orders him to switch Medals, tossing him Kuwagata and Condor, leading to a really cool reverse-TaToBa combination. Eiji has very obviously improved his fighting, blasting Poseidon with lightning and rapid-fire Condor kicks, then slashing him with his claws before Ankh switches him for Gorilla and Cheetah. The transformation energy shields Eiji from more of Poseidon's harpoon blasts, and he races in to punch him and throw him before switching back to TaToBa and meeting the harpoon with his sword. But in the midst of the clash, Poseidon suddenly reaches one hand up to Eiji's shoulder, pausing for a moment as if asking for help. Eiji looks at him in surprise, but Poseidon throws Eiji off, screaming, "Don't get in my way!" as he thrashes, his transformation breaking. Breathing heavily, he looks up at Eiji with flashing blue eyes, then leaps away on a stream of water. He staggers on a rooftop, fighting against something inside him. A blast of dark blue energy comes off of him, and his eyes flash again as he tells whatever it is to just do what he says.

Though Eiji's confused about what all that was about, Ankh stalks over, aggravated as usual that the enemy got away before he could get more Medals. Eiji begs him to change back, too freaked out at looking at an exact copy of himself, and Ankh says that no, he's the one who's freaked out. I would say "get a room," but you idiots have one and a beach, and you still didn't resolve anything. But he does change, red flames surrounding him as his Cell Medals shift, revealing that he is no longer borrowing anyone's body, but using his own and choosing the human form of the blonde Shingo doppelganger, the one that Eiji and Hina have come to know and love. He turns back to Eiji, a ghost of a smile on his face, but Hina has no such reservations. She runs up to him, asking if he's really back. But even though he tries to look away, she grabs him in a massive hug, catching him completely by surprise. He freezes for a moment, wide-eyed at her reaction and her insistence of "Thank goodness," and the way she holds him even tighter. But that seems to be the limit for his personal space, and he pushes her off of him, but keeps his voice calm as he tells her to stop. He starts to look away again, even as she grins at him, and Eiji deactivates his belt, watching them with his own smile.

Eiji, Hina, and Ankh return to Cous Coussier, which is having a "Dragon Palace Fair," which...okay. On the poster, there's a little dude riding a turtle. It took me a while to realize that the little dude is carrying a fishing rod. So, on a hunch, I looked up the fairytale of Urashima Taro, and yes, that's what the kanji for the Dragon Palace and the little dude with the fishing rod allude to. If the name sounds familiar, that's because the story of Urashima Taro lent its name Urataros, a blue turtle. And wouldn't you know it, there's a blue turtle right in front of that poster? So...I guess my jokes about Poseidon's host being related to Urataros were accurate?

Hina and Chiyoko are both wearing costumes that Hina probably designed herself, based off the princess in the fairytale, Otohime. Chiyoko puts a punch of what looks like homemade ice pops in a bowl and brings them out to Ankh. And I know that blue ones generally are supposed to be ramune flavored, but based off the whole underwater theme going on here, I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that they're actually sea salt ice cream. Because Ankh is a pissy blonde with another half voiced by Miyu Irino. He's practically Roxas. Ankh peels off the wrapper, throws it on the counter, and bites into the ice cream while completely ignoring Chiyoko saying how glad she is to see him again, even if she's surprised he came back so soon. Eiji's sitting at a table nearby, spacing out as he watches Ankh, and Hina walks between them, telling Ankh how hard Eiji worked to restore his Medal. This interrupts Eiji's reverie, and he insists he's only just started, clutching at something in his pocket while Ankh watches him, turning away again when Eiji says that this is whole thing is a surprise to him too. Apparently, he showed up at the airport after Eiji got off the plane and refused to explain how he came back. Ankh continues to refuse, asking who cares how it works before biting into his ice pop again. Chiyoko insists that maybe Ankh has a point—the important thing isn't what happened in the past, but the fact that they're here, now, together again. All that talk about important things jogs Eiji's memory, and he realizes that he left his underwear behind, back at the scene of the fight. Ankh rightfully points out that Eiji's priorities are messed up, since there's someone out to kill him and here he is worried about his underwear. But Eiji says yes, and Ankh calls him an idiot. Eiji takes away his ice cream, even snatching the one Ankh was just eating and putting it in his mouth...because apparently he's gotten used to Ankh just doing this to him, and Ankh starts trying to fight him. Fortunately, Hina finally puts her foot down and grabs both her idiots by the ear, scolding them to be nice because it's been a long time since they were together like this and they're ruining the moment. Go, Hina! Don't let either of them get away with this! And Chiyoko's just glad that her idiot children haven't changed a bit.

At Musashikawa General Hospital, last seen in episodes 13-14, Satonaka reveals to the bedridden Goto and Date that Proto-Birth has been damaged beyond the point of repair, but Birth itself can be restored with regular maintenance. However, Goto and Date are going to be out of commission for three weeks. Goto argues that they can't just leave it to Eiji to fight the deadly waterbender from the future, but Date insists that they need to rest and recover. And then promptly falls asleep, leading both Goto and Satonaka to wonder how he can call himself a doctor.

Hina catches Eiji thinking hard about something again, and she asks him what's wrong. He describes the weird moment where Poseidon took him by the arm, and wonders if maybe he really doesn't want to be doing this, since he's stuffed to the gills with Core Medals. He thinks Poseidon was trying to tell him something before, but Ankh tells him he's worried about nothing again. Eiji, however, points out that he knows from experience what it looks and feels like to lose control over great power, and because of that, he wants to save him. Hina doesn't know where Eiji would even start, given that this guy is from the future, and beyond that, they don't even know his name. Ooh, ooh, I know! It's Ariel—his name is Ariel! But Ankh senses that Poseidon has sent more Trash Yummies after them, and it's all the warning they get before an army of them bust down the doors.

Ankh wastes no time and starts fighting them off, Eiji getting the ones that make it past him and warning Hina and Chiyoko to evacuate the panicking customers. It's here, during this fight, where it becomes obvious that this is a Koichi Sakamoto-directed action sequence. See, back in Power Rangers RPM, he was fond of having battles in cramped spaces, often with improvised weapons, and with really exciting choreography where you use every bit of the scenery to its full advantage, whether it's having Eiji jumping off the rock facade of the walls or Ankh slamming down the overhang from the bar area onto a Trash Yummy. It's not limited to Power Rangers either—all throughout Koichi's work in Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, you can see this, though it's not as prevalent in Ultraman because, well, giant aliens in large cities. Eiji's fighting skills have massively improved since the series, with him throwing Trash Yummies off of people and making really impressive kicks. Chiyoko even tells him and Ankh not to worry about destroying the restaurant, so long as they don't lose...which, again, could basically sum up the finale of RPM—blow up everything, including dropping a building on the bad guy. Ankh, however, already seemed to have that idea in mind, since he just smirks like, "What, I wasn't supposed to wreck everything?" Even Chiyoko and Hina get a few good hits in, shoving Yummies out of the way so they can save others. I'm just so proud of them! Ankh's fighting has also improved, and while he still favors fighting with his hands, especially his right side, he looks like he's become stronger after his resurrection. He still fights much dirtier than Eiji would, getting in cheap shots whenever he gets close, then throwing the Yummies once they're incapacitated from said cheap shot. He even tears apart the kitchen when the Yummies try to corner him inside, knocking down shelves on them, throwing them onto the prep table, and kicking a cart full of food at another.

Eiji and Ankh finally find an opening to bring the battle outside, escaping to what looks a lot like the same field where they took their last stand against Maki and became TaJaDor. Poseidon comes out, wanting a fun little battle between Riders, nothing big, and transforms, showing that his sequence is exactly like OOO, down to Akira Kushida providing the vocals, but no song. Eiji still sees the young man inside him, and despite Ankh insisting he needs to focus, he walks right up to him and tries to reason with him. Even Poseidon can't believe he's trying this, and he rejects Eiji's offer of help and releases another wave from his harpoon, urging him to transform. Ankh grabs his idiot and pulls him to the ground as the attack narrowly misses, exploding on the ground in front of them. He screams at Eiji that he can't save Poseidon, but Eiji insists he can, just like Ankh and Hina saved him from PuToTyra. Ankh says that this is different and reiterates what Hina said—they don't know this guy, not even his name. But Eiji argues they do—after all, he said it when he first introduced himself, right? Kamen Rider. That actually stops Poseidon in surprise, and Eiji insists that because they're both Riders, he's going to reach for his hand.

But Poseidon's surprise only lasts a moment, and he sends more blasts Eiji's way. Eiji tries to outrun them, but the last hits too close, and too quickly for Ankh to save him from. He goes flying, flipping through the air and landing directly on his head...and I honestly can't screencap it because it's actually horrifying to watch. I don't know how controlled that stunt was because it really looks like the stunt double broke his neck and I cringe every time I watch it. Either way, Eiji is badly hurt when he fully hits the ground, and Poseidon takes that opportunity to leap forward, standing directly over him and raising his harpoon. Ankh hurls fireballs at him, but Poseidon knocks them away effortlessly before bringing his harpoon down...

And missing.

Instead of spearing Eiji through, Poseidon only grazed his left bicep, drawing blood. Even Ankh watches in shock as he realizes that Poseidon's aim was thrown off by his own left arm, grabbing hold of his right and pushing it out of the way in time to save Eiji. Poseidon staggers back, cursing at whatever is inside of him, but it's too late. The other being forces his way to the surface, breaking the transformation and revealing their human form once more—the same teenager, now speaking without the reverb in his voice. Eiji sits up and watches, smiling in relief that he managed to save the boy, but he cringes in pain when he tries to move. The boy runs over to help, but Ankh pulls him away from Eiji, demanding an explanation.

Hina catches up with them at what I swear is the abandoned bike garage where Uva became the Medal Vessel. She treats Eiji's injuries while Poseidon's host, Miharu Minato, apologizes. And I know, the wiki and a lot of promotional material put forth his name as Michal Minato, but both Over-Time and TV-Nihon translated his name as what they actually say: Miharu. Michal looks like it would either be pronounced Mi-shal or Mi-kal, but instead, they go with a soft "h" sound, and Miharu is an existing Japanese name, so this would make sense. Besides, it's not the first name in OOO with a weird official spelling that everyone ignores—TaJaDol, anyone?

Eiji insists that Riders are supposed to help each other, but Miharu insists he's not really a Rider at all. In the future, there are "monsters" attacking people—and yes, using the English term, as in Ryuki, so...valid about Poseidon being a long-lost Ryuki Rider. Miharu was chosen to become Kamen Rider Aqua in order to defeat them, using the element of water. There's just one little problem—he's afraid of water. And it's at this point that I must point out that we finally get a good look at his full haircut and...wow. I know Kamen Rider tends to have some really unusual styles—Ankh's haircut and Eiji's complete inability to understand how a brush works are just a minor example, but... Look, I understand that yes, it makes his head look like Poseidon's helmet, but do you know what I see? Do you know what stupid joke that isn't worth the wait but makes me incredibly happy to make is?

The goddamn Baby Shark song.

Congratulations, if it is still relevant, it is now stuck in your head.

So, yeah. While Eiji tries to be nice and not say anything about Baby Shark being afraid of water, Ankh...well, yeah, he laughs his ass off, and Eiji and Hina throw things at him. Miharu ignores the OOOT3's antics and explains that someone saved him, and in a flashback we see Old Man Kougami...in probably the single most horrifying suit he has ever worn, since it's covered in blue sequins and has a black shirt with polka dots and WHY?! Kougami presents Miharu with the Poseidon driver, the culmination of four decades of research into the Core Medals, his own OOO. And Eiji, Hina, and Ankh are not exactly surprised to hear any of this continuing into the future. But Miharu's first outing as Poseidon was a failure—he was overwhelmed, and he was pathetic (once again using Eiji and Ankh's term "boroboro"), and he was ready to give up. But that's when the portal opened, and all of the Medals entered his body. From the massive influx of power and desires, the Poseidon Medals came to life, and the driver also entered Miharu's body and took control of him, the new lifeform insisting that he wanted to fight. So you see, Miharu never "lost control," like Eiji. It was more like he was possessed, like Shingo. He was possessed by an extremely powerful entity that was not a Greeed, but was born from the Medals all the same. Furthermore, this being, Poseidon, was a perfectly in-control vessel for both the Core and Cell Medals. Poseidon succeeded where Mezool, Uva, and even Eiji failed. But Miharu believes that his possession is a sign of how weak he is, and Ankh agrees because sometimes Ankh is just a dick. Eiji throws his shirt at him and then has to stop Hina from picking up a barrel and throwing it at him.

That night, Eiji, Hina, and Ankh are sleeping outside by a fire when Miharu approaches Ankh. But Miharu smirks and his eyes flash, proving he's not the would-be Kamen Rider Aqua, but the anti-Aqua. Unfortunately for him, Ankh also smirks, and Eiji runs in, right on cue, to grab Poseidon from behind, revealing they'd been waiting for him to surface again, so they could grab the Medals without fear of hurting Miharu in the process. With Eiji losing his grip on Poseidon, Hina runs over and straps the OOO driver to him, with Ankh inserting the SaGoZou Medals while Hina swipes, giving Eiji the strength needed to hold Poseidon still. Ankh reaches into Poseidon's body, but instead of snatching the future Medals, he grabs Peacock, Orca, and Eel. Poseidon admits it's more fun when they resist, and I'm not entirely sure he's not just hitting on all of them at this rate. He releases a burst of energy from his body that forces Eiji back and breaks his henshin, then pulls himself and the rest of his constituent Medals free from Miharu's body, now finally strong enough to exist on his own. For a moment, he seems to hold Miharu hostage, but then he decides to take them all out at once, and throws Shark Bait at the others before aiming another harpoon attack. Ankh holds it off with a fireball and shields Hina from the explosion while Eiji takes care of Miharu, but as the smoke clears, they realize that Poseidon has fled.

As day breaks, Kougami calls with the bad news—Poseidon is headed for the time warp, to continue his fight in another era. I'm assuming around 2002. And of course, Kougami is quite proud of his future self. Here is where I take back what I said about Kougami "almost" being a supervillain. He fucking knew this in the future. He knew that he would succeed in creating Core Medals, but that he would not be able to prevent them from coming to life. And he did it anyway because it meant he would have the first and only successful vessel—not just for the Core Medals, but for both. So what if he takes advantage of and hurts another depressed teenager? The guy really is one of the more dangerous people Kamen Rider has ever produced, but he's nominally a good guy. But I guess that's why he finally grew a mustache in the future, so he can twirl it while he ties Miharu to the railroad tracks. At least Ankh is outraged enough to try to throttle him over the phone, but Eiji holds him off long enough to hear even more bad news—they're completely without back-up. Eiji's hurt, but Goto and Date are worse off and still in the hospital, neither of them able to transform. But Eiji's not about to let a little thing like astronomical odds against him stop him from trying to do the right thing, which surprises Miharu. Hina also seems worried, but Eiji says he'll be okay...except for the fact that he never recovered his underwear. But Hina smiles in relief, and after some ridiculously adorable and fluffy hesitation, she hands him a gift bag of underwear. And no, not just one pair of boxers, mind you, but a whole bag full, since she wasn't exactly sure what he'd like. Dear god, you guys! Just kiss already! Eiji is thrilled with the gift and confidently says that now he's sure they'll win, but Miharu stops him and Ankh, asking where his strength comes from and how he can be so confident. Eiji hands him the pair of boxers he just took out and passes along his grandfather's wisdom and last words, that a man never knows when he'll die, so he should always have a clean pair of underwear for tomorrow. Miharu still doesn't get it, but Eiji tells him it's less about the underwear and more about the tomorrow—live a full life today in order to face tomorrow. He affirms that Miharu is the Rider who will protect their future, so he'll make sure to protect Miharu's past. When they look back at Hina and Ankh, both are in agreement, giving Miharu a true understanding of what he is fighting for and how much they care about his future, that they will fight for him. Eiji reminds him that he is not alone, and that they will always be there, in the past, giving him that support across time, before heading off to face battle.

Eiji and Ankh approach Poseidon at the pier, just before he can enter the warp. Unimpressed that these two morons don't seem to appreciate his generous gift of sparing their lives, Poseidon creates more Trash Yummies. Ankh warns Eiji to stay focused, but Eiji says it's been a while since they fought together like this. In the middle of the fight, he asks Ankh how he came back, but Ankh insists that he told him not to worry about it. Instead, Eiji asks if this is going to be their last fight together, and Ankh says that if he wants there to be a next time, he needs to stay alive. Eiji tells him the same before transforming into TaToBa and facing on Poseidon head-on. He struggles, and Poseidon manages to get the upper hand and force him into the water, where he has a major advantage. When Eiji is thrown out of the water by a blast, Ankh throws him the ShaUTa Medals, evening the odds. We finally get to hear ShaUTa's theme, "Shout Out" by Shu Watanabe and Kaori Nagura, then Kiva of the Kamen Rider Girls. Why they didn't get Hitomi Isaka, the OOO Girl, is still a mystery to me, but whatever. It's...all right. There's nothing particularly wrong with the song, but it's not one of my favorites.

Eiji does all right for a while, but Poseidon is still vastly stronger and also not injured. Plus, if you'll recall TaJaDor's fight against the Blue Macaw Yummy in episode 25, Eiji is at a disadvantage whenever he matches the element of his opponent. Fortunately, this time he's saved by a couple of dumbasses on jet skis—Goto and Date, who Satonaka helpfully informs are on painkillers that are only going to work for another half hour or so. So...they really shouldn't be driving. And somehow "Date and Goto are stoned out of their minds and think they can fight the god of water on jet skis" sounds like a perfectly logical explanation for why this is happening. And why they shouldn't be doing this. And unfortunately, they don't really do a whole lot. They draw his fire for a little bit, but then their jet skis get hit, and they fall into the water, and it looks painfully obvious that they're in extremely shallow water for the shot. It doesn't help that most of the fight choreography actually focuses on Satonaka and Ankh being badasses fighting the Trash Yummies. Eiji really would have been better off with Satonaka coming in on her own to back them up.

However, someone else on a jet ski arrives and looks a million times less embarrassing. Yes, it's our Aqualad, Miharu on his Aqua Miraider, which is how all the future Riders get around. Zi-O just hasn't shown it yet. Miharu has finally realized that the timeline he calls his present is Eiji's future, and he owes it to Eiji and everyone else to face his fears. It's never been strength that he's lacked, but courage. He straps on the Aqua driver and transforms into his true Rider form for the first time. Congratulations, Miharu. You are no longer an Aqualad now, but an Aquaman. His suit is interesting—a very classic design, reminiscent of the original Kamen Riders, but water-themed. The light metallic blue and silver give it a very futuristic look, while also making it clear he's water-themed, but with yellow eyes similar to both Poseidon and ShaUTa. And his mouthpiece also has the same gill design that Poseidon has. It's a good balance of designs from both the future and the past. Eiji watches, amazed, as Aqua expertly flips the Miraider over all of Poseidon's attacks before ramming right into him. Poseidon tries to flee to land, but Miharu chases him down, disarming him and overpowering him with tai chi attacks enhanced by water. So...literally the definition of waterbending. With Poseidon down but not yet defeated, Miharu calls Eiji in to help, and Eiji calls over to Ankh. Ankh throws him TaJaDor...which sounds really coincidental now that I'm reviewing this from 2019. I mean, a red fire warrior and blue water warrior, where the blue one is actually called "Aqua" and is named "Minato"? It's just a little weird. In any case, the waterbender and the majestic fairy princess make their final Rider Kicks on Poseidon, with Miharu pushing him back with a sliding Oceanic Break, bringing him into range of Eiji's talons ripping into him, destroying him and scattering his component Medals.

Miharu, now using Eiji's underwear as a flag on the Miraider, returns to his timeline through the time warp, thanking Eiji and promising to protect the future. Eiji and Hina wave, and the Birth trio head off, presumably back to the hospital. Ankh watches Eiji and Hina with tears in his eyes for a moment before softly smiling. Eiji starts to ask again about him, but when Hina turns to look at Eiji, she realizes Ankh is no longer behind them. It's then that Eiji reveals what he's been clutching in his pocket all along—Ankh's Medal, still broken, always broken. It's what he's been trying to ask. But now he knows: Ankh came back to them from the future, and when they look back at the time warp, they see a red star going through before it finally closes. Despite Hina's shock and sorrow, Eiji can't help but feel hope. This means that one day, they succeed in repairing Ankh's Medal and bringing him back. And when he puts it like that, Hina can't help but believe in tomorrow.

But this is the OOO trio, and apparently they can't have any kind of happy ending, because Eiji has to tackle Hina to the ground to avoid a blast from an unknown assailant. As Eiji starts to get up, he sees Kannagi, Solaris, and Katar approach. Completely ignoring the rest of the Medals, Kannagi retrieves Poseidon's, recognizing them as being from the future and claiming that they are what he's been after. Then they head off, leaving Eiji and Hina confused, ending the OOO segment.

The next segment returns us to a familiar place: Futo, the Windy City of Kamen Rider W, where Shotaro Hidari is pursuing another black Foundation X van, before he's nearly hit by a white Foundation truck. He manages to get in front of the van and stop it, yelling at them for being reckless drivers, which...Shotaro, c'mon. This is the least of their crimes. When the white-suited men and Masquerade Dopants come out of the trucks, Shotaro recognizes them and puts his W Driver on to telepathically call Philip. So...did he just have no idea what was going on? Was it just "THESE GUYS ARE DRIVING DANGEROUSLY AND I'M GONNA DRIVE DANGEROUSLY TO TELL THEM TO STOP DRIVING DANGEROUSLY!" because I can kinda see Half-Boiled doing that because the only three cops in the city are one guy who likes him and believes anything Shotaro tells him, one guy who hates him, and one guy who's married to his boss. So, yeah.

Philip, however, is engrossed in important research in the Gaia Library at the time of Shotaro's call and can't focus right now. It's really interesting seeing Philip here, since it's one of Masaki Suda's last performances as him before he really hit it big, but he's also just stepping out into his own as a popular actor. He's losing his baby face and looking more mature, and his hair is also a little shorter than Philip's usually is, since he'd shaved most of it off between W and OOO for another role. It's great seeing him, but it's also a little bittersweet, just because we know he's growing up and moving onto bigger and better things. You're proud of him, but you also feel bad that you're not going to see him as often anymore, and not looking as ageless as Renn Kiriyama somehow manages to be.

What is this critical research that is distracting him from helping his partner transform? Why, it's that he just discovered that rice cracker soup is a thing that exists and he has to look it up, of course! Seriously, though, I can sympathize, given how many Wikipedia articles I can look up when I am working midnight shifts. By the way, did you know that although it's called "rice cracker soup," the crackers in it actually are made from wheat, and not rice flour? Shotaro cuts off his explanation, however, and switches to the Lost Driver, somehow gifted to him by the ghost of his dead boss...don't ask because I honestly do not have an answer for you. As the Foundation X agents produce Yummies from themselves...somehow...presumably from the desire to get their asses kicked, Shotaro places the Joker Memory into the Lost Driver and gives us a beautiful, clear view of the weird lines that the Gaia Memories cause all over his face when he transforms into Joker or W. And I also want to gush about the suits, because W is one of my favorite designs ever, particularly Cyclone Joker. The aesthetic has a classic, insectoid Kamen Rider feel to it, but completely modernized and streamlined, in a way that even the Aqua suit isn't. It looks more like armor. Cyclone's half is gorgeous with the metallic green color that the lighting always manages to make look really pale (which I can attest to, given my Figuarts W turns very pale under camera light, while the green is vivid in normal light), and the silver half-scarf. But seeing Joker on its own without Cyclone doesn't disappoint. I complained about Kamen Rider Ryuga's suit back in Ryuki and how lazy it looked, with the matte black all over the Ryuki design. We don't have that problem here. Yes, Joker is matte black, but the W design was intended to be simple and clean all the way through, so the colors would jump out during form changes. And unlike Ryuga, they made sure to add some contrast, with the bright red eyes standing out like rubies, and his silver antennae, and especially the metallic purple accent details on his chest, shoulders, and wrists. This is how you do a black costume, people!

Shotaro gives his usual spiel about punishing the people who make his city cry and then makes good on his word, ensuring it's the bad guys who are going home crying. I do have one very minor...not really a complaint, but a point of confusion here. See, throughout this movie, they start adding an echoey sound effect to the Rider's voices. The sound is akin to placing a bowl over their mouths in the recording booth, to make it sound like they're wearing a helmet, and this happens for the Legendary Seven, W, and the new Rider we'll see in a bit. And I guess that's okay, although I do kind of wonder if it might bother Japanese-speakers who have auditory processing problems or who are still learning Japanese, if it makes it harder to pick up what they're saying. Mind you, I don't speak Japanese, and I'm reading subtitles, so it's moot for me, but I do wonder if it's something that gets in the way for others. And on top of that, this effect isn't done for Eiji, Miharu, or Gentaro, so...why do it at all? If the current Riders and one of the movie Riders don't have this effect to maintain consistency across their seasons, why are you doing it if you won't do it for everyone?

Shotaro spots the agents trying to escape with a tube full of the silver gunk from before. Being Shotaro, he decides it's time to get help, and throws a Dopant at the agents. This causes them to drop the tube, and the silver sludge glows before slithering into a storm drain. Well, great job, Half-Boiled! You just polluted the city's water!

Meanwhile, at "Airport X" somewhere in Japan...which gives me the sense that Foundation X has the most obvious airport in the world...Kannagi and his henchmen meet up with more agents at a space plane. They board, setting the Medals in a driver of their own creation, noting that they still need an Astro Switch to complete the project, but it won't be long before they have it. But the Legendary Seven Kamen Riders aren't about to let them get away with it, barging aboard the plane (through the No. 40 hangar at that, nice props to the anniversary). Stronger confronts Kannagi, stating that the Foundation seeks to control the world's energy...which seems like a needlessly complicated plan, honestly. This movie takes place in 2011; the planet still mostly runs on fossil fuels. Even within the franchise itself, Futo is about the only known city that has made a major investment in clean energies, what with their famous wind turbines, and even then they still have vehicles that presumably run on petroleum. Foundation X could have saved themselves a lot of resources and just done what every other shady organization in the real world does and just buy up some oil fields and coal mines.

Kannagi gives the whole "You can't stop me" spiel, bragging that he will become the Galaxy King...which I know is a reference to the same character in Skyrider, but come on! Skyrider comes after the Legendary Seven and was intended as a reboot of the franchise, which never ended up happening because it was incorporated anyway, and there is no lip service paid to Skyrider throughout the entirety of Fourze! Even their auxiliary Rider outright skips Skyrider as a reference and goes for disco-spaceman-Bruce Lee like Super-1! And on top of that, Kannagi, you are not in the least convincing me that you are a serious mad scientist who will not get his ass kicked at the end of this movie. You just proclaimed yourself king and swore you couldn't be defeated—you are a delusional megalomaniac just like all the rest, and I will enjoy seeing the heroes take you down. But hey, in his defense, he does have some weird device set up on his ship that starts electrocuting the Riders. I sure hope that he has the sense to use this again when the Neo-Heisei Riders inevitably come after him.

Over in Futo, Shotaro destroys the Yummies, proving how much stronger he's become in a really subtle way—by using his Maximum Drive twice in a row, first as a Rider Punch, then as a Rider Kick. See, back in his own series, his attempts to use a Double Maximum resulted in catastrophic injuries. But in-universe, he's been Kamen Rider Joker for a year now, and presumably had to work twice as hard to overcome his shortcomings on his own. And it's not just Shotaro—after all, Eiji just used two combos while badly injured and still remained conscious and standing afterwards. Megamax really highlights how much the newer generation of Riders have improved and excelled, making them appear just as powerful and talented as the originals. And I really, really hope there isn't a fucking stupid-ass battle between the generations that completely ignores this movie.

Shotaro breaks his transformation and goes over to look at the minor ecological disaster he's created. Obviously, he doesn't see the space slime, but he's very intrigued by the canister all the same.

Which brings us to the Fourze segment of this movie. So, Fourze has always been one of my favorites, and in fact, it's the first Kamen Rider that I watched as it aired, rather than catching it some months or years afterward. Again, I generally prefer the Over-Time subs of Fourze, if only because I'm a sucker for "It's space time!"...or it's ANYTHING time, whether it's morphin', hero, or clobberin' time. But either way, it's a fun show no matter what subs you watch, and if you haven't gotten around to watching it, I recommend it. As a basic breakdown of the story for those who don't know, Gentaro Kisaragi is a new transfer student to Amanogawa High School, which for some reason has been shorted to AGHS on all of the varsity jackets, much like Angel Grove High School from the Power Rangers franchise. It was founded by a mysterious former astronaut named Mitsuaki Gamou to cultivate students' individuality...and experiment on them with Zodiarts Switches, which is pretty much treated like a drug metaphor. One of Gamou's fellow astronauts, Rokuro Utahoshi, conducted research in the lunar base Rabbit Hatch, developing the Astro Switches to counter the Zodiarts, before he was left to die on the moon. However, his son, Kengo, recovered his research and found a portal to the Rabbit Hatch (in a locker, of course, because where else is a nerd going to be found?). Along with his friend, Yuuki Joujima, they began researching the Cosmic Energy that powered the Switches and was centralized around the high school. Kengo intended to use his father's Fourze Driver to transform and fight, but due to his frail health, he would never have withstood his first transformation. That's where Gentaro comes in—he's Yuuki's old friend from elementary school and decided that no matter how grumpy Kengo is, he's gonna be his friend, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let Kengo get hurt becoming Fourze. So instead, he transformed and fought off the Zodiarts, eventually befriending and adding to the team the head cheerleader Miu Kazashiro, football captain Shun Daimonji, gossipmonger Kaizo Jingu (in Japanese, Jingu Kaizo), who goes by "JK", and shy and creepy goth girl Tomoko Nozama. Tomoko has been researching urban legends online and has become aware of masked warriors who first appeared on the scene forty years ago, the Kamen Riders, and Gentaro decides to name himself Kamen Rider Fourze in their honor, while the rest of the group forms the Kamen Rider Club in order to back him up and protect their school.

If it sounds like Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and Glee had a baby and shot it into space, that's because it is. Fourze definitely draws a lot from American high school tropes and archetypes, whether Saved By The Bell or The Breakfast Club or Boy Meets World. It's why I consider it a good starting place for new Kamen Rider viewers—not because it's similar to anything that's come before, because it's definitely not. But it has a framework very familiar to English-speaking viewers, that may make it a little easier as an entry point before exploring the overall franchise and its various forms. Just don't expect to make the jump to, say, Amazons immediately after.

We open at the Amanogawa School Festival, where Gentaro is running late. He's stopped by a masked psychic who offers to read his fortune, and it's painfully obvious that the psychic is actually one of his teachers, Mr. Ohsugi, but Gen is not very bright. Ohsugi predicts that Gen will experience heartbreak, and the only way to avoid it is to hook up Ohsugi with Gen's homeroom teacher, Ms. Sonoda. It's at that point that Gen finally realizes who he's dealing with, and calls out his teacher on being full of shit. But Yuuki finally catches up to Gen and makes him hurry over to their booth, so they can reveal what they've learned.

This movie introduces something kind of odd to Fourze, in that they refer to the Kamen Rider Club as the "Urban Legend Club." While it makes sense for them to not advertise that they're all in league with the mysterious hero...Gentaro is the Rider with the least amount of shits about having a secret identity. He transforms in plain sight, he keeps saying he's going to be everyone's friend both in Rider form and human form, he polishes his helmet the same way he runs his hands through his hair...he could not make it any more obvious who he is if he wore a "Hi, my name is KAMEN RIDER FOURZE" nametag at school. He just does not care about this whole "keep your identity secret" thing, and it's really lucky that the villains don't really care all that much about him not having a secret identity either.

Another cute thing about Fourze is that with the exception of Gentaro, all of the Kamen Rider Club members have names alluding to the first six Riders. Kengo Utahoshi is an anagram of Takeshi Hongo(u), Shun Daimonji is a kanji-based joke on Hayato Ichimonji, Miu Kazashiro is an anagram of Shiro(u) Kazami, Yuuki Joujima is a feminized version of Jouji Yuuki, JK's initials refer to Jin Keisuke, and Tomoko's last name, Nozama, is "Amazon" spelled backwards. So it's obvious which club member did research on which Rider, especially when Tomoko made sure to drench Amazon's paper in blood while having a frickin' adorable painting of him. Gentaro, by default, has Stronger. They also all made costumes of their respective Rider out of cardboard boxes and duct tape. Miu confidently takes the mike and starts presenting the history of the Kamen Riders, with Kengo looking like he's about to die of embarrassment when he poses, while Shun is all up for this, Miu getting their few audience members cheering over how cute she does her pose, Yuuki also being really cute, and JK...missing in action. Tomoko is ready to just skip him and do her own thing, but the rest of the club are pissed and go looking for him. Especially Gen, who didn't get a chance to do his Stronger pose and was really looking forward to it.

They find JK hiding in the classroom, where he's given up on his costume and argues that if they really want to make the other students aware of who the Riders are and how they protect the peace, thereby preventing more Zodiarts Switches, they should just be open about being the Kamen Rider Club and not play all these games. Because, again, lack of shits given about secret identities. Kengo warns that it's dangerous for them to advertise their connection to Fourze, what with a lunar base being connected to his locker, so JK asks what's the whole point, then? Why don't they just go out there and get some girlfriends instead? JK, while I appreciate you looking out for Tomoko, who's shown hints that she's bisexual, and that you're apparently totally ready to hook up Miu and Yuuki with some cute girls too...you are probably the most closeted character I have ever seen. You really are. But all this talk about girlfriends again has Gentaro feeling a little off. Yeah, he's really coming off as coded asexual to me, even moreso than Eiji.

Somehow or another, they finally get JK in his Kamen Rider X suit and head outside, where the rest of the student body is looking up at the sky. Turns out, they're not looking at a bird or a plane, but a teenage girl gracefully falling from the sky. Gen, being Gen, does his adorable "it's space time!" pose and races over to catch her. Specifically, he says, "kanojo kitaaaaaaaaa!", and I do have issues with how both TVN and OT translate "kanojo" as "girlfriend" here. Yes, it continues on the conversation, but given what we'll see in a bit, he really has no fucking clue what he's getting himself into.

Gentaro, being the only one willing to get involved here, catches her before she can hit the ground and immediately asks if she's okay. She opens her eyes and stares directly at him, and he suddenly feels his heart pounding. The rest of the club runs over and saves him from gawking helplessly, pointing out that they need to bring her into the infirmary, where they immediately notice that she's not wearing the right school uniform. She's completely mute and stares at them with a blank expression, which Kengo notes is probably a result of the trauma from her fall. But Tomoko, being the most perceptive of the KRC, notices that Gentaro is also in shock, only able to gasp out "So cute.." The others turn toward him with expressions of shock and amusement, and JK decides to save their twitterpated friend by going up to the girl and checking her school ID in her wallet. It says that her name is Nadeshiko Misaki, and she's a second year student at Subaruboshi High School. Yuuki points out that it's rude to just take people's wallets like that and gives it back, but something catches Nadeshiko's attention—space ninjas. At Miu's orders, Shun and Gen rush them, but Nadeshiko runs out of the room. Gen chases her down, catching her just before more ninjas attack them outside. He realizes that the ninjas are after Nadeshiko, not him, and focuses his efforts on fleeing, even having this really awesome moment where he tosses her in the air, fights off more ninjas, and then catches her, presumably because his parents were a ballroom dancer and a Power Ranger. Nadeshiko watches his moves intently every time she stops, and finally, they're forced back inside the building, where the rest of the club catches up to them. Gen places Nadeshiko in their care and transforms, fighting off the bad guys trying to interrupt because come on, you're toku villains, you have a code! Don't attack the hero when they're busy transforming! You know this! Another reason why I love this season is how infectious Gentaro's energy is. When he celebrates after transforming, everyone else celebrates with him. And he finally gets to do his Stronger impression, which throws them all off until he goes, "Just kidding!" He gives his usual "Let's do this man-to-man," but Tomoko points out that he's outnumbered, so it's not really a one-on-one fight. And that's when Nadeshiko walks up, produces a blue, two-Switch copy of the Fourze Driver, and transforms.

I love Kamen Rider Nadeshiko. No matter what comes of this, I still love her. Her suit—just take the Fourze suit, spray paint it silver, blue, and just a bit of pink, cross it with Sailor Moon's school uniform style, and add kitty ears. It is such a girly suit, but at the same time, it looks just like Fourze's—you can look at them both and take them equally as seriously. In that they both look a little over-the-top. Also, I just love that while the dudes are all like "wtf just happened," Tomoko, Miu, and Yuuki are all like "f--- yeah!" They know what's going on. Gentaro finally starts to piece together that she's a Rider, and Nadeshiko just runs in and violently beats the motherfucking shit out of the Dustards. Gentaro is watching and copying her! It's just...it's hilarious. She's adorable and happy about it—the best way I can put this is imagine if Asakura from Ryuki were a cute teenage girl. She breaks a Dustard's neck. She's...she's something. I love her. She needs her own show.

Gen finally remembers that the show is named after him, so he should probably go outside and help her, even though she clearly doesn't need any help. Once they're finished with the ninjas, he asks her where she got the belt, but the Virgo Zodiarts rudely interrupts. Virgo demands that Gen hand over Nadeshiko, and even though Kengo points out that Virgo's one of the boss characters, Gen charges in, switching forms to Elec States to counter her, something that Nadeshiko finds fascinating. His Limit Break isn't enough to finish Virgo, so he switches back to his Base States and encourages Nadeshiko to join forces with him, creating a Double Rider Rocket Punch, which tells Virgo she should probably gtfo.

As soon as they break their transformations, Gentaro's little heart starts thump-thumping the second he sees Nadeshiko, much to her confusion and his own. Yuuki clearly has a crush on Nadeshiko herself and just gleefully runs up and greets her, welcoming her to the club with their secret handshake. Nadeshiko then tries to shake Gen's hand, and Gen chokes, which fascinates Miu. Of course, Kengo is still stuck on "wait why does she have my dad's shit?" Miu and Tomoko refocus the conversation back on Gentaro's behavior and pink aura, and Miu points out their boy is in love...something that utterly shocks Shun and has JK laughing in disbelief. But they realize that it makes too much sense—for the very first time, Gen has experienced love at first sight.

Kengo still has no time for love, so he goes up to Nadeshiko and asks where she got that belt. And then Nadeshiko grabs Gen's hand and runs off. Kengo tries to run after them, but he has another of his weird dizzy spells and collapses.

Nadeshiko doesn't stop running until they reach the amusement park, stopping at a food stall. Not really knowing what else to do, Gentaro guesses she's hungry and orders two large meat buns, showing how to take a huge bite out of it. Somehow, she slurps it all down in one bite, then does the same to his when he offers it to her. He starts to think that he's blown it on this first date, but she takes his hand again and points at the ferris wheel. As they rise, Nadeshiko smiles and points at the sky, and he points out it's the first time she's smiled so far. She nods, replying, "Smile, smile!" and he realizes she really likes heights, so the next thing they try is standing on a rooftop. But she runs too close to the edge of the building, and he races over to grab her before she can fall. As he pulls her away from the edge, he freezes, realizing he's hugging her, and then he lets go and backs away, completely clueless as to why his heart is beating so loud and fast. Nadeshiko asks if he's having fun, and he immediately answers yes, so she tries to shake his hand again, but he freaks out once more. He can't even explain to himself why he doesn't want to do his friendship handshake with her, but when he looks at her face, he can only decide that they need to go to the one place he knows is higher than anything—the moon.

They put on a pair of spacesuits and skip out to the lunar surface. Nadeshiko grins as wide as Gen and makes a giant leap, looking like she's about to break away from the moon's gravity and fly off into space, so he jumps up and takes her hand, bringing her back down again. They gaze into each other's eyes, and he realizes he's holding her again. Their heads get closer, but their helmets hit against each other, preventing them from kissing. Nadeshiko reaches up and takes off her helmet. Gentaro is about to do the same when he realizes suddenly that something is very, very wrong, and Nadeshiko's face momentarily shifts to silver space slime.

Back on Earth, Gamou meets with Foundation X, providing Zodiarts Switches to them. This is still kind of a point of contention for me, as far as Foundation X goes. I appreciate them trying to create one villain for the Kamen Riders to have in common for team-up movies that isn't Shocker for a change, but I don't like how Foundation X gets shoved into everyone's stories. I've talked about how W ended with a hint that Foundation X would be involved in OOO, only for a different Foundation led by an independently wealthy madman to be doing all the research, with—as we saw in this movie—absolutely no ties to Foundation X. Fourze gave almost no indication that Foundation X was bankrolling Gamou until this movie and a single episode in the series. There's no reason for these guys to work together—they have entirely different goals. While I wouldn't put it entirely past Gamou to use Foundation X as pawns to obtain his ultimate goal, I would hope that an evil organization would recognize when they were being duped and do what they could to prevent one client from using their resources to...I don't know, destroy the world and fuse it with a parallel dimension. Needless to say, I am disappointed that this continues to happen. Hell, half the time, I don't even know what they're doing all of this for—sure, you say it's to control energy, what with the Medals and Switches, but the Gaia Memories were about knowledge! The NEVERS were about immortality! The Mutamits are about creating fucking weird-ass mutants! What is your end goal, guys? You have never given us a satisfactory answer!

Kannagi is grateful for the Switches but pissed off that Gamou has failed to collect the SOLU, which, need I remind you, is your own damn responsibility. Think of it like you're lending Gamou the money to run a business, okay? He pays you back the interest on the loan, through his profits (i.e., his research), and whatever dumbass shit you failed to do is not his job. He's the client, not the employee. Gamou is amazingly gracious, saying how he wanted to repay the Foundation for their kindness and mostly money, but this job turned out to be much more than he was anticipating. Kannagi threatens him with the Mutamits, but Gamou handles it like a pro, going, "Oh wow, your research on them is amazing!" and then calls in his bodyguard, the Leo Zodiarts, and asks which is stronger, Mutamit or Zodiarts? Again, Foundation X in general, you wouldn't be in this situation if you just fucking kept tabs on the people working for you. So, like the boss he is, Gamou just walks away with Leo. Katar is ready to attack them from behind, but Kannagi warns him not to, since he'll just get the shuttle trashed. Kannagi realizes now that Gamou is the real galactic king, and they are not to encroach on his territory until they've completed their project. Gamou, as he steps off the shuttle, notes that Kannagi's clearly gotten too big for his britches, with this space base and all, so he's just going to munch on some popcorn and watch while Fourze takes him down. And yeah, he's saying that still at their front door because really, what are they going to do about it?

Kengo runs tests on Nadeshiko in the Rabbit Hatch, determining that she is SOLU—short for "Seeds Of Life from the Universe," a space slime organism composed primarily of Cosmic Energy, that can shapeshift and split off its own cells to create anything—something she demonstrates by creating a larger version of their Burger Meal foodroid, the Mega Burger Meal. Rubbing it in further, Kengo reveals that the SOLU is not sentient, and probably only mimicked the body of Nadeshiko Misaki after coming into contact with her at some point.

And here I have to break away again and ask something very important—the SOLU that Shotaro found fell into the storm drain in Futo. Nadeshiko fell from the sky in the Tokyo area. If we're to assume that Nadeshiko is the SOLU that Shotaro found, how did she end up in the sky over Amanogawa? And how did she come into contact with a girl from Subaruboshi? I mean, there were other meteorites everywhere, and the one that created the portal off Kodama Pier was in the sky. It feels like it would make more sense for that to be Nadeshiko's origin, and there's a very lost Shotaro clone somewhere in the sewers of Futo. And maybe a lost Eiji somewhere in the mountains. I'm just saying, Nadeshiko probably has siblings, and this would be the funniest answer.

Gentaro finally tells Kengo to shut his face, pointing out that Nadeshiko talked to him and smiled with him, but Kengo tells him that as SOLU, she reflexively mimicked what she saw. Making it worse, Nadeshiko repeats the word "mimic," much as she'd repeated some of the words Gen had used with her. Kengo tells him to calm down and admits that while he usually thinks something's wrong with Gen, today he's really worried something's the matter, but I think that's mostly because he's completely unwilling to read the room. Seriously, Kengo, SHUT UP. In fact, that's what Gentaro shouts at him, but he breaks a little more when Nadeshiko repeats that too, and finally, he just runs off crying. The other five club members who are not assholes just stare after him with concern, unsure what to do.

Yuuki and Tomoko find Gentaro sitting on a hill, utterly miserable. He admits that his manhood code says it's okay to cry, but usually for stuff like losing your wallet or getting dumped. He has no idea what to do when your first girlfriend turns into space slime. Yeah, that's rough, buddy. In a really sweet moment, Tomoko offers him some of her candy, but Gen can't respond. So Yuuki tells him to just let it out and cry. It doesn't matter that Nadeshiko isn't a real human. Gentaro's feelings for her are real, and his heart is broken. The fact that he's so broken about this is part of what makes him so special. Tomoko suddenly realizes that someone's coming for Nadeshiko soon, and Yuuki explains that Kengo responded to some internet post from a college saying that their space slime escaped their lab and they want it back. ...Really, Foundation X? We're resorting to Craigslist now? And here I thought my opinion of you could not get any lower. Either way, Gentaro realizes that Yuuki's right about his emotions being real, no matter what Nadeshiko is, and his heart isn't broken enough yet that he's not going to try. He finally takes a lick of Tomoko's candy and runs off.

Kengo turns over the canister full of Nadeshiko to Solaris, who didn't even bother to change out of the really noticeable white-and-silver uniforms, because she's really trying to add "outsmarted high schoolers" to her resume. Gentaro, however, just runs over and rips the canister out of their hands, and I'll be honest, those agents probably had a fucking heart attack for a moment, wondering how he managed to see through their clever not-disguises. Gentaro tells off both Kengo and Solaris, insisting he hasn't told Nadeshiko that he likes her, and when Kengo brings up the whole "she's not sentient" bullshit again, Gen points out that she kept trying to get him to return her to space by seeking high places and bouncing with him on the moon. When Kengo says that her smiles were a reflex, Gen asks him a very poignant question, and dear god do I want to review Fourze because of this question: Gentaro smiles, Kengo smiles back—is that a reflex? Or is Kengo feeling their friendship and expressing that emotion?

Gen admits he still doesn't know why he couldn't make himself shake Nadeshiko's hand, but he knows that what he wants is much more than friendship, and that emotion makes his chest feel tight. He can't help it—he likes her, and he asks if she can hear him say that to her. And miraculously, she reacts, bursting out of the canister and retaking her human form. Then, unprompted, she smiles at him and calls out his name. And while he stares in shock, she thanks him, then runs up and hugs him—things she couldn't do if she were merely a mimic.

As Gen hugs her back, the rest of the club cheers him on, realizing it is a goddamn miracle of love. Kengo, being a buzzkill, says it's not a miracle, and the SOLU is probably just evolving, but shut up, Kengo. He does admit, at least, that Gentaro is the catalyst for Nadeshiko's evolution. But seriously, Kengo, shut up.

Oh, right. There are evil assholes here. Katar signals to Solaris, who runs up and attacks Gentaro. The rest of the boys also get beat up by the agents, while the girls have the sense not to stand in the way of feet coming at their faces. Solaris finally sends Gentaro flying and grabs Nadeshiko, dragging her to the van. Gen actually climbs in and starts fighting them inside the van, but they're able to throw him out somewhere in the abandoned warehouse district. Kengo, making up for everything he's done throughout this movie, rides up on their motorcycle and apologizes, encouraging him to go get his girlfriend back. Gen transforms and takes chase, finally pissing Katar off enough that he leaps out of the driver's seat and transforms into his draconic Mutamit form, Suddendath, who I understandably keep wanting to call Sadeath. He blasts at Gentaro, finally forcing him off the bike, but Shun takes care of the van by taking command of Power Dizer, since Shun is a romantic like you would not believe.

Nadeshiko escapes, pursued by the male agents, who all transform into Masquerade Dopants. Apparently because they no longer look human, she decides that it's space time and transforms herself and gleefully defeats them. She arrives to help Gentaro just as he gets set on fire, and they team up to take Katar down. The rest of the club arrives while they celebrate their victory, and once again, Nadeshiko holds out her hand. Gentaro, because he's a goddamn MAN, understands that right now, she just wants to be friends, and he...wipes the sweat off his glove...and starts the handshake.

But all of a sudden, Nadeshiko freezes up, and her henshin breaks as she's caught in some kind of tractor beam that Kannagi's generating...from his mouth. Ew. Kannagi blasts Gen out of the way and injects Nadeshiko with something that starts breaking down her form. Desperately, she reaches out to Gen, shedding some of her SOLU his way as her Cosmic Energy is drawn into the Switch in the injector, destroying her.

So...yeah. You know how I said that Gentaro was the odd man out in his team, since his name didn't refer to Stronger, the Rider he was paying tribute to in the presentation? Stronger's partner was Electro-Wave Human Tackle, Yuriko Misaki. Misaki as in "Nadeshiko Misaki." Tackle is infamous for being the first female warrior in Kamen Rider, not being recognized as a Rider, and dying, kicking off the oft-repeated phrase "Women Riders no survivors." Fuck that rule, I swear.

Gentaro screams in anguish, and the club run up to him as Kannagi gloats, declaring Nadeshiko dead and all of her energy placed in the Switch. Gen gets up and runs at them, but Solaris, Katar, and Kannagi easily beat him. Kengo realizes that not a damn one of the three is human, and Kannagi gloats that as Mutamits, they've evolved beyond humanity and will soon surpass God. He orders Katar to kill Gen, who's too heartbroken to lift a finger against him. But Shun is not, beating on Katar with Power Dizer, refusing to let his friend come to harm. When Shun is defeated and ejected from Power Dizer, Kengo drives the bike straight up to Katar, telling Gen that it's okay to cry, because they will give him the time he needs to grieve. Yuuki, Miu, and Tomoko run up with the foodroids, reminding him that he's not alone, and they will support him in his hour of need just as he's always done for them. Goddamnit, I love you guys. Katar bats Kengo aside and blasts at the girls, and at JK, who had run up to try to dry Gen's tears, because he knew he wasn't strong enough to fight. Seeing his friends' love and courage, their willingness to be hurt and die for him, gives Gentaro the strength to dry his tears and rise once more. He thanks them, telling them that even though he's still angry, he no longer needs to cry. And all together, they count down his transformation and cheer.

Gen tells Katar that he won't lay another hand on his friends and takes him on with Fire States. As he charges, he finds what Nadeshiko left for him—a special Rocket Switch, Super-1 Rocket, created from her SOLU. Realizing what she was trying to do, he changes States again, activating the new Switch. Rocket States is an ungodly orange repaint of Fourze Base States, with bright blue eyes and two Rocket arms...and it's perfect. Gen charges at Katar and launches him into space. Then, after disengaging the rocket over his left hand, he activates his Limit Break, Rider Tailspin Crusher, which sends him into a spiraling flight path directly into the Mutamit, destroying him for good.

Gentaro returns to Earth, solemnly looking at his new Switch before asking Kengo to find out who the bad guys were and where they came from. But Kengo doesn't have to do a lot of work—Eiji drives up, asking how his friend is doing. Gen is a little surprised to see the other Rider, but Eiji reveals they're working the same case and asks for his help.

The plotlines finally come together in the crossover proper, as Eiji and Gen ride up to meet Shotaro and Philip in a parking garage near the airport. Gentaro walks right up to Shotaro and introduces himself as the man who will befriend all Riders, and Philip points out that they're very, very alike, down to their names even being similar. Shotaro protests, but when Gen says he won't forgive anyone who makes his friends cry, Shotaro is just ready to adopt him, and the two of them have a ham-off that...I'm not sure if this was even in the script. Seriously, you can see Philip trying not to laugh while Eiji looks like he wants to run away. As the 'taros get louder, Eiji finally reminds them that they are on a mission, and Shotaro and Philip explain who Foundation X are and what they've created, and that they are most likely the ones behind these crimes. Philip explains that Kannagi is the head of the Unknown Energy Department and developed the Mutamits. He believes that Kannagi seeks to control the world's energy by bringing together the power of desire and the power of Cosmic Energy. And he's specific on the "singlehanded" part—as we see, Kannagi is confronted by Kiima, who finally realizes he's a traitorous maniac, but he disintegrates her with his power. Shotaro recounts that Kannagi betrayed the organization and is trying to become ruler of the planet. As Gen gets pissed, Eiji points out that, naturally, they're the only ones who can stop him, right? Shotaro nods, and Philip starts to lead them off, but Solaris appears with more agents, utilizing the Zodiarts Switches. Shotaro tells Eiji and Gen to go, since they clearly have something personal to settle with Kannagi. Eiji is reluctant to leave them, but Shotaro reminds him of something he said when they first met—Riders should help each other. You sweet summer angel, you. He'd saved Shotaro then, and it's time that Shotaro paid back the favor. Eiji's surprised that Shotaro remembered that, but he agrees and tells Gentaro they need to go. Gen claps Philip on the arm and tells his "sempais" to take care of it—something that tickles Philip to no end. They're sempais now, and Shotaro has to admit it has a ring to it. For the first time in a little while, they transform into W, and Gen hurries to catch Philip when he realizes he's unconscious. He then stows Philip somewhere safe and transforms alongside Eiji. Gen's post-transformation scream throws off Shotaro for a minute, but "space" is a reasonable enough answer for him, and he and Philip take on the Zodiarts while Eiji and Gentaro drive off. W fights the Zodiarts to "W-B-X" by Aya Kamiki and TAKUYA, the theme to their show, and I am such a sucker for this you have no idea. Plus this is one of my all-time favorite Kamen Rider themes. Switching between forms, they make short work of the bad guys.

Two helicopters shoot at Eiji and Gen as they try to reach the shuttle, but they leap off the roof and charge into them, blowing them up. As they arrive, another agent shows a briefcase to Kannagi before they start to board the shuttle. Gentaro leaps out of the sky and tries to run them over. Eiji comes from the ground and succeeds. The briefcase is thrown aside by their attack, but the agents are forced to forget it as Gen and Eiji confront Kannagi. He blasts them away and starts monologuing about how humanity has fought over energy in all forms, whether food, petroleum, or nuclear, and how he'll use the power of desire and Cosmic Energy to end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy blahblahblah. Gentaro calls bullshit, but Kannagi just turns and starts walking away, calling on an army of Masquerades, Trash Yummies, and Dustards to keep the Riders busy. Much like with Shotaro and Philip, we get theme song battle tunes for Eiji and Gentaro, with "Anything Goes!" and "Switch On!" Except that Eiji's is a little special—it's a special remix of the theme featuring Shu Watanabe himself singing half the lyrics, ensuring that the only song he has not sung from this series is "Reverse\Re:Birth." It's great to watch, honestly. Eiji is using every single combo he has available, and Gen is just going to down on his Switches. It's like one of those swarm battles in a videogame that they make so you can't lose. It's fun.

Kannagi places the Switch in his Driver, cackling maniacally as the shuttle takes off. Gentaro's about to chase after it when he notices the briefcase, opening it up to find Astro Switches and Core Medals, each emblazoned with either the face or the symbol of one of the Legendary Seven. Eiji finds boss Dopants and Greeed approaching them next, all dummies presumably created from existing W technology, and he gets blasted into the sky, Gentaro having to leap up and catch him. He's doing that a lot today. As Eiji's about to continue fighting, Gen gives him the Medals he found, reasoning that they might be a power-up or something. Eiji decides it's worth a shot, and they activate the Medals and Switches. But instead of creating new, movie-specific forms, the tech activates as a Scanning Charge and a Limit Break, releasing the energy within and freeing the trapped Riders.

Gentaro is freaking the fuck out that the Legendary Seven do exist, which kind of makes me lament that Fourze wasn't set in the Showa universe only. It would have been interesting to see that the Riders had succeeded and created a peace that lasted for decades, their deeds eventually fading into myth. But because W kicks off a shared universe for at least the start of the Neo-Heisei Era, we do lose that opportunity, even if we gain a really good new one.

The Legendary Seven thank the rookies for saving them, with Amazon very happy to hear that Gentaro plans to be their friend. Eiji tries to remind Gen that they have a mission, but Stronger takes command, telling them to go after Kannagi while they handle the dummies. After all, Kannagi will only get stronger if he reaches space, where he'll have unfiltered Cosmic Energy—no one would stand a chance against him. So they have to prevent his shuttle from leaving the atmosphere. But they're not the only ones there to help. The time vortex opens up once more, and Aqua touches down, providing Eiji with three Super Medals, before the future Rider goes to join the past Riders, leaving Gen very put-out that Eiji wouldn't let him befriend Miharu before they had to go.

Since they're short on time, Gen drags Eiji behind him, screaming his head off, as he flies at the shuttle with a Rider Rocket Drill Kick, managing to infiltrate just as the shuttle takes off. They meet Kannagi in the shuttle bay, and I do kinda wonder why he doesn't just try to trap them in Medals and Switches, the way he did to the Legendary Seven...especially since they were the only ones who would have been able to restore themselves. Just saying, I'd be a better supervillain. Kannagi starts on the whole "friendship is weakness, a real king rules alone" bullcrap and activates his driver, transforming into Super Galaxy King. It's a letdown of a costume. There's no thematic similarities to Poseidon at all, and he really only looks like the lame Horoscopes Zodiarts that nobody wanted to invite to the party. He really just looks like a mid-level general from Super Sentai. What he lacks in aesthetics, he makes up for in power, using Cosmic Energy to temporally distort the future Cores to partially freeze time for a few seconds, allowing him to attack Gentaro and Eiji before they have the chance to react. Although it really looks more like he's moving at the same speed as Kabuto during Clock Up, so strictly speaking, he's nothing special. He throws Gentaro off the shuttle, trapping Eiji alone as Gen plummets to the Earth. Fortunately, Gen still has a little help from his friends, and Power Dizer catches him. Kengo remotely transforms it to tower mode, launching Gen and his bike back to the shuttle and...really, Kannagi, you're being outsmarted by high schoolers. Once he's close enough, Gen activates his Winch Switch and hooks onto the shuttle, trailing off of it.

Kannagi starts strangling Eiji, telling him to remember the new king as his last sight before he dies. But the joke's on him—strangulation is how Ankh tells Eiji he loves him, so Eiji's doing just fine and tells him he's a pretender on the throne. When he tries to finish Eiji off, Eiji just kicks him and gets away. Once he's got room, Eiji activates Miharu's Medals, transforming into Super TaToBa...and yeah, Kougami definitely had a hand in this. The colors are inverted on most of the costume, so it's an ungodly yellow torso and green legs with black lines, and TaJaDor's helmet, along with the tiger claws permanently outstretched. But because these Medals are also from the future, he's able to perfectly keep up with Kannagi, negating his time freeze powers. Like I said could happen.

On Earth, Philip and Shotaro have activated Xtreme, using its power to defeat Solaris, the last of the Zodiarts. Miharu finishes off Dummy-Kazari with another Rider Kick, Aqua Vortex. Not to be left out, the Showa Riders get some nice, updated effects as they defeat the dummy Dopants and Greeed with flashier but still classic finishers.

Eiji makes his way outside and gives Gentaro a hand, bringing him atop the shuttle as the rocket boosters break away. Kannagi again starts the whole "let the new king be the last image burned into your retinas" bullshit, but Gentaro decides it's time to use his own ridiculously colorful super mode and activates Nadeshiko's Switch. What follows is a very CGI-heavy fight scene before Kannagi goes for a very low blow and taunts Gentaro about using his girlfriend's Cosmic Energy against him. Gen immediately jumps ahead to shield Eiji...which turns out to be the right choice, as some of Nadeshiko's energy takes enough form to speak to him. She admits she's not really alive, but puts her energy inside his body to use. And, well, if you ever wondered if Gentaro would scream "IT'S SPACE TIME!" when he climaxed...yes, yes he would. Either way, Gen and Eiji use their Rider Kicks in unison to defeat Kannagi, who somehow did not see any of this coming. And then, just to add insult to injury, it's not their Rider Kicks that kill him. Oh, no. They just THROW him into the path of his own space shuttle, which hits him before breaking apart.

Gentaro and Eiji find themselves inside the shuttle, face-to-face with Nadeshiko, who is now a sentient energy being. That's still rough, buddy. But she's not upset that her body's been destroyed—Gentaro helped her make memories and friends. And he affirms that she'll always be his friend. He finally does the handshake with her, but Nadeshiko steps forward and kisses him before the shuttle explodes and she flies away. Eiji has switched to TaJaDor while a dazed Gentaro falls beside him, saying goodbye before he activates his Parachute Switch. Eiji notes that it must be painful, being young, and I would like to remind you, Eiji, that you're only about two years older than Gentaro. He's seventeen. You can't be any older than nineteen or twenty. Even Shotaro and Philip regard you as being about the same age as they watch the explosion and their descent, congratulating their juniors on a job well done. Eiji and Gen then run up to meet with the Legendary Seven and Miharu again, and Miharu affirms that their future is in good hands with him. Gentaro turns to Eiji and offers his handshake once again, and the other Riders watch on at the new generation's powerful friendship.

At Cous Coussier, Chiyoko and Hina are cleaning up the mess Poseidon left behind, with Goto and Date either finally released from the hospital or using the last few minutes of those painkillers wisely. Date finally realizes how long Goto's hair has gotten, and not to be out-moroned, Goto asks Date what happened to his mustache. Goto looks around at the rest of the destruction and tells Chiyoko she might be out of business for a while, but Chiyoko says she'll just call it a "ruins" theme and open normally tomorrow. Date has to admit he's impressed with her creativity and determination there. Hina mostly keeps to herself as she watches her friends plan for tomorrow, and she remembers Eiji's promise—not just to Miharu, but to themselves and to Ankh: someday, in the future, they will be together again.

Eiji returns to the Middle East and waves bye to some of his friends as he walks on, smiling. Finally, he stops and looks at Ankh's Medal, silently telling him that they'll reach that future where he's waiting, then grins at the sky.

Gentaro leaves the train station, walking over to reunite with his club. But the sight of girls from Subaruboshi High School makes him freeze in his tracks, especially when the original Nadeshiko Misaki walks past him without any sign of recognition. It clearly hurts him, but when he looks over at his friends, they all confidently pound their chests and point at him, the way he always does with them. That gets him smiling, and he slicks back his hair before repeating their gesture and running up to them.

But that wasn't the end of Foundation X. Several agents managed to escape in the night and are on the run, meeting up with a disco-spaceman who calls himself Kamen Rider Meteor. Unimpressed, they transform into Masquerades, but Disco Spaceman Bruce Lee swiftly hands them their asses. He activates a switch on his bracelet, summoning a miniature Saturn, and punches them with the planet. Because this is Fourze. As the flames clear, Meteor deactivates his driver, revealing himself to be a student from Subaruboshi High School, Ryusei Sakuta, who's now interested in the goings on at Amanogawa High School...

So, in case it isn't obvious, this is probably my all-time favorite Kamen Rider movie. While there are disappointing moments, like the lack of full reunion with Ankh and Nadeshiko's fate, quite honestly, it hits on everything it really needs to. It's a beautiful epilogue to OOO, offering hope. As for Fourze, it's very easy to dismiss this as a one-off movie. And to be honest, yes, the series does completely forget about Nadeshiko and the Super-1 Rocket Switch until one particular point in the series, where Gen is coping with the loss of all of his friends; he takes out and says her name with pain in his voice, showing that he's still hurting over losing her, but given the circumstances of what he's facing right then, he would rather deal with the pain of loss than be the kind of person who never gets close to anyone just to avoid that pain. And it's a great chance to see the first seven Showa Riders proving they still have it, and it's one last, excellent hurrah for Shotaro and Philip. What I love about their appearance is that it does give them the chance to be the senior class. Sure, Eiji might have a year's experience over Gentaro, but Shotaro and Philip were already W for a year before their series began. And where Eiji and Gen had support technology and teammates, Shotaro and Philip had to scrounge together everything from tragedy. So yes, Eiji and Gen both do come off as their little brothers, so to speak, but there is never a sense that any of the senior Riders looks down on any of the rest of them. Just as Eiji respects Gentaro as his equal and friend, even if his younger, Shotaro and Philip regard them both as their worthy successors, as do the Legendary Seven. And it's a great tie-in to everything going on with Miharu—a young Rider with no sense of self-worth who just got a major boost of confidence thanks to Eiji treating him as basically a younger brother that he will protect but knows will rise to the occasion when it presents itself. Miharu's return completes the circle—he's no longer the junior Rider needing assistance, but a seasoned Rider offering aid to a friend and going to join a generation eighty years his senior as their equal in battle. This is the movie that I point back to every time I see Kamen Rider pulling its inter-generational bullshit, or inter-continuity bullshit. Hina's right—why should one Rider seek to defeat another? There is nothing that they would stand to gain. This movie proves that they are at their greatest when they fight beside one another, and nothing anyone says can ever prove otherwise.