Kamen Rider Saber ＋ Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger: Superhero Senki (2021)

A loving metafilm for Ishinomori's toku staples, strongly recommended, a blast.

*pulled from my LB review, vague spoilers*

The Matrix, Evangelion, and now Kamen Rider (and Sentai), was 2021 the year of the major metatext movies or something?

A pretty rousing anniversary crossover movie, it actively delves into the burden of storytelling in creating conflict and that even the pretence of heroism exists as a response to evil, something that the Decade x W crossover movie was a bit more subtle about, so it is almost familiar territory, but nonetheless, the maximalism here is incredibly captivating in its own way.

One of Rider’s newest protagonists literally having a conversation with the—fictitious recreation of—Rider & Sentai’s original writer, questioning the value of stories of conflict and the idea of subjecting characters to harm as a haunting act of creation before arguing its necessity in dealing with the inevitable good and bad inherent to reality and humans themselves and not fully retreating into escapism.

While the lens of Toei as a pretty major company making some incarnation of a dead figure having a dialogue with a new character from a franchise he spawned but who he didn’t directly create while the new character argues for the continued existence of heroes almost seems dubious, you can’t help but feel the earnest sincerity and accepting the bittersweet declarations at the end as heartfelt and truthful, it works quite well.

There are maybe some complaints to be had in how it feels like more of a Rider movie than a balanced one with Sentai, and some of the early parts feel like fluff with so-so cameos, the film is really carried by its pure spirit and spectacle. Just when I thought Heisei Forever was jaw-dropping in how over the top and fun it is, the back half of this film cranks it up even further, just astounding.

With concerns to Touma being the representative for this big meta story, it makes sense since the motif of Saber is stories after all, and I think I’d consider him more of the proper 50th anniversary Rider since the bulk of Saber fell on 2021 as opposed to Revice STARTING in 2021, so it was pretty contextually appropriate even though Touma may not be the most popular Rider (I think he’s solid at least), and just as Saber’s own TV ending was the affecting and grand finale about the power of storytelling, so too is this a similar complement to that.

Just an absolute blast, tender and exciting; I think Touma’s reconciling with trying to return to reality happens a bit too suddenly including the hardship he feels in parting from Luna, but the notes are still there broadly, and you could hardly ask for a more loving tribute to the 2 major franchises here (even if Sentai is a bit skewed against Rider, though Rider has the bigger anniversary here after all).

One of the best Rider movies, highly recommended.

P.S. This movie also gets bonus points for making Reika more serious again, cutting her brocon crap, as well as downplaying Den-O’s role in the back half mercifully (and I say that as someone who likes Den-O but think it’s way oversaturated), even if they do have a part in the front half to a degree.

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