The Ride Review (at the movies): Kamen Rider Gotchard: Graduations

 The final Gotcha ! I'm is back at the movies as my time writing for Toku Sources approaches its end, Hotaro, Rinnie and the Gotchard gang's time at school is ending too and what's that about a timeloop ? Let's jump into the last Major piece of Kamen Rider Gotchard’s Story !       

 

Recap: 

  So six months prior to the movie actually starting the Door to Darkness in the Ouroboros Realm is acting up since no one bothered to seal it or anything so the trio of alchemist riders transform and rider kick the Door to Darkness and it shots a dark evil looking beam out that hits Spanner and disappears and just like when the evil giant monster hand killed Geryon in episode 27 everyone just shrugs and assumes its fine. 

So at the start of the movie, it's Graduation day for everyone and the day before Mr Minato and Professor Kyoka are set to get married and well I know I normally give much more of a summary but with a time loop plot I think it would be best to just cut to when answers happen. So as you might have put together the movie is about Spanner being in a time loop.

After seven loops of explaining that there in a loop to everyone, them assuming its a new Chemy and starting to hunt it do they realises actually it's Ouroboros, and it's not filled by malice but instead Spanners heartfelt wish to not see the gang split up, following this revelation and Spanner purging Ouroboros from him everyone goes to the Ouroboros Realm to punch it. And it does take a physical form that rewrites time to undo its death and while fighting the Trio in their respective final forms Spanner catches another L and gets his driver destroyed. again . 

Just in time for Professor Kyoka to show up, hand him an upgraded version of his normal driver and him to transform into Valvarad GT, which is a…. Suit alright… Hmm anyways Spanners toothpaste arm form aside (RIP Iron Gotchard my beloved) he holds Ouroboros back while everyone channels their power into … well it's just a Magic Spell that will separate the Door to Darkness from our world which after Spanner Riderkicks Ouroboros into the Door to Darkness they do and the day is saved and as everyone is catching their breath a energy snake somehow gets tough the spell and yoinks Spanner trapping him in a realm outside of space time. 

We then see the starting conversation of Hotaro and Rinne visiting Renge and Sabi on Graduation day but Spanner is missing.. Everyone goes about their day like normal, but Spanner is missing. Everyone graduates but Spanners not there. And during the post credit scene at the wedding. Spanner makes it back home. 

Thoughts and conclusion:

 This movie is.. Fine, I don't really like the movie suits, Spanner explaining his growth from the series to the audience was unneeded and the ending didn't really hit for me. But I didn't hate it, if I did the review would be looking different, it was just nice to see the Gotchard gang all together one last time before Hotaro goes off to cooking school, Rinne comes here to the UK to study Alchemy. Yeah hard to really put into words but while I didn't enjoy the movie, it was nice to see everyone again and I do feel like it's a good note to leave off on.  I could go on and nitpick the movie a new one ( if Ouroboros can yoink Spanner why can't it get itself out in time and undo the kick etc) but I don't really have the negative feelings to really rant off like that, I’m just kinda indifferent really. 

Kind of a bum note to end out on, I did go into this with high hopes just because that would be a great thing to end out on, close the Ouroboros loop of my time writing for the Toku Source, and on a thematic level I guess it does work well as we on the content writing team graduate to new things (be sure to follow us on other sites if you wanna keep up to date with our respective post TS adventures!) I do feel like Spanner, not wanting these days to end, to keep on with everyone else but having to accept change and move forward to a new tomorrow.  

Anyways, what did you think of the movie ? Do you like Spanner's new movie form more than me ? did you also think of Kingdom hearts every time someone mentioned “the Door to Darkness”? As always I've been Ethan Writer, Reviewer and soon to be Graduate of the Toku Source and I’ll cya around for the new adventures I'll be getting upto here !!

Tokusatsu Throwdown- Captain America Vs Kamen Rider Ichigo

 

 

Marvel’s First Avenger, The first Kamen Rider. The origin points of two rich franchise tapestries share one thing in common. Punching Nazis but who would win if these two titans threw down ? Well, join Ethan as they attempt to settle the debate once and for all !  


To insure a fair fight and so we all know what rules we are working under for this series we will be using the same rules that the series Death battle work with:

RULES
1. Combatants have no prior knowledge of each other unless specified.
2. To ensure a fair fight, any specific moral restraints from killing are removed from combatants. All other traits are considered.
3. A combatant's maximum personal potential is examined unless specified otherwise. Factors unrelated to combatants cannot end the battle.
4. Unless specified, all official material related to a character is applied unless found contradictory to the primary source material. - so things like Kamen Rider spirits,Manga and supplemental material will be considered unless it's contradicts things in the main TV series. 

The blue Boy scout, Captain America Steve Rogers

The year is 1922, born to two poor irish immigrants in the great depression, Steve Rogers was weaker than most and this upbringing helped shape the world view and heart that the US army would put forward for their super soldier experiments. These experiments would go on to make Steve into Captain America, a being that's at the peak of human condition. allowing him to do things like bench press 2,200 pounds (1,100 lbs on each side of the bar) as a warm-up. Now for context the current world record at time of writing belongs to Jimmy Kolb who pressed  635.4 kg (or 1,401 lb) on July 29 at the 2023 IPA Tri-Star Bash in Elizabethton. And Cap cleared that as a warm up,

On top of being/having Peak human Strength, Speed, Reflexes,Stamina,  Human Senses,Mental Processing  and Agility Steve is also a  Master Martial Artist and has said that he is adept at every form of hand-to-hand combat known to man. He has even made his own fighting style combining boxing ,Judo, Defendu, kickboxing, Jujutsu, Tōde, Aikido,Karate, and other forms of unarmed combat disciplines, Master Marksman, Master Swordsman, Master Stick Fighter, Master of a wide range of Weaponry, Master Pilot , Multilingual and Steve “man out of time” Rogers is even a Master Hacker. He's one of the greatest strategists in the marvel universe, his tactical might, leading the Invaders during WW2  and the Avengers in present day Cap’s keen tactical mind saw them saving the day time and time again. 

"i see faster" what does that even mean

 

In addition to all of this he's a Master Fighter with his primary weapons, his trusty Shield is composed of a unique combination of Vibranium, steel alloy, and a third catalyst that has never been duplicated called Proto-Adamantium making it near indestructible and is able to absorb a great deal of kinetic energy. This frisbee is immune to Magneto's powers.

The only things strong enough to break Cap’s shield are cosmic forces, and things that break it down on a molecular level.

Between his battles with the invaders fighting hydra and their plots to his time leading the avengers when he woke in the present day, Steve has been a beacon of hope and an inspiration to Assemble, no Cap.

Takeshi Hongo, Kamen Rider Ichigo

Takeshi Hongo was just your average 600 Iq biochemistry major, training in his free time to become a  professional motorcycle racer when Shocker a terrorist organisation who splintered off from the nazis kidnapped him and modified his body to be one of there animal/insect  themed super warriors, but before they could brainwash him to their side one of their scientists broke him out. Having experienced Shocker's horrors first hand Takeshi swore to use his new cyborg body for good and to take down Shocker and be a warrior for humanity protecting it as best he could.

Over the course of his battles around the world, teaming up with Kamen Rider Nigo the pair defeated countless modified humans and did beat shocker but the pair continued to use there altered bodies for the betterment and defence of mankind as new nazi/nazi adjacent organisations formed and repeatedly and inadvertently make an insect themed modified human that would awaken to justice and team up with Ichigo, Nigo and all the others to beat them, even appearing to team up with more recent Kamen Riders such as his team up with Kamen Rider Ghost.

During his countless battles he's beaten many powerful  enemy combatants such as when Takeshi fought Owlman and dodged his X-ray blasts (which is a light beam containing electromagnetic waves that could reduce normal people to skeletons), tanked a point blank nuke exploding along with Nigo, i'm just going to leave the clip from V3 to explain that and prove i'm not making that up

 


And that's not even his craziest feat, he and the other nine original Kamen Riders once survived getting hit with Badam empires Space Time rupture device which transcends time, space and dimensions, and warps it, while converting matter to energy and energy to matter, erasing the targets without any trace left even with 0.0001% capacity then resorted themselves to reality by combining there Rider power in a move called Rider syncro. These ten wouldnt have needed two movies to beat Thanos that's for sure.
(the part im refrencing in particular is from 39:30 but really you should watch it all be Kamen rider ZX is cool)

 

Having fought through countless cyborgs, getting jumped by countless Shocker made copies of himself (on more than one occasion in groups of six or twelve at a time), forging friendships with all the riders that came after him and aiding them in their battles. and even thanking his creator, Takeshi Hongo may not be a normal person but he's never riding alone.

Community response

 as this is the first edition of this new series i dont really have anything to put or respond to but in future if you would like to maybe have your responces heard please keep an eye on my bluesky ! or comment below and on the next Tokusatsu throwdown ill respond to a few or your comments !

So who wins ?

So in order to reasonably work this out between my researching we are going to break it down into a few categories:  

Stats:

This is not even a little bit close, Ichigo takes his category with ease, remember that strength feat about cap bench pressing ? well  2,200 pounds in tons is roughly a little bit more than 1 US ton, Ichigo's base punching force is 60 tons or 120,000 pounds.  That point blank nuke I mentioned ?   Of course other people have already ran the numbers on that and found the blast they survived was about equal to about 539.1 Gigatons of TNT. But from this you can see the gulf between their stats. Cap is peak human and Ichigo is well, well above that. I don't think Ichigo breaks the shield by any means but he sure isn't getting scratched by it either.
 

versatility

While both are extremely well experienced steves adeptness in every martial arts known to man give him the edge here to be sure.

Conclusion

While Steve may be more skilled, he is no master in any of the martial arts he knows, and skill can only make up so much when your that out stated, there's no reason to believe Steve wouldn't try his iconic shield throw only for Ichigo to catch it, throw the shield out of the area the fights taking place in then processed to beat Cap Red,white and blue.

The Fight goes to Kamen Rider Ichigo.

 
So do you agree with my conclusion ? Who do you want to see next ? keep an eye out on the toku sources socials for a chance to be featured in a future Tokusatsu Throwdown ! I've been Ethan, Writer, Reviewer and Battle ring master and I’ll see you next time !


Source: Vs battle wiki for the nuke calculation

Fate/Samurai Remnant is looking to be amazing and we know who Saber is

 

Lots of exploring, monster fighting and food to be eating.  

By Ethan Gurr

Koei Techmo has released three short but interesting gameplay videos for the upcoming
Fate/Samurai Remnant giving us a better look at how the games combat functions. For the
unaware the main character Iori Miyamoto and his servant saber. Swapping between Sabers
powerful elemental attacks to open up enemies for Iori’s devastating combos and combined
super attacks

The emphasis on crowd control against larger enemy groups has drawn a lot of comparisons to
the Warriors series of games what with the large sweeping attacks that can hit whole groups at
once, but with the presence of larger mini boss-esque opponents the player will be forced to
dodge and counter attack using Saber and Iori’s various strengths to take them down.

The third and most recent video focuses on exploration around the Edo era, showcasing how
you can explore landmarks, enjoy meals and spend time with Saber, we know for other
prerelease material the bond you have with saber will be important as well as you explore
multiple cities.

Everything shown so far has been met with positive reactions from all corners of the fate
fandom, with fans from reddit and twitter all commenting how smooth fights look, wondering how
the recutable rouge servants will play into everything, and enjoying Sabers cute reactions to
things.

 

 Iori and Saber take a moment to pet a cute dog. Something other interviews have confirmed

 also heal the player

While many future players have been discussing the upcoming game with a lot of excitement there has been an equal amount of speculation about the identity of one of our main duo, Saber and thanks to a manga short released in a Japanese Typemoon magazine at the end of July there's enough evidence to make an informed guess as to who they are, this evidence being a single panel. 

The panel in question is of Saber releasing their Noble phantasm; a powerful object or technique related to who a servant was in life normally they are kept secret because if someone knows their world myth and history it can make guessing a servants real identity much easier. And proving this is the fact many fate fans across the internet saw this and instantly set to work identifying the sword. Eventually landing on the Kusanagi-no-tsurugi (pictured on the right) to be the most likely match, which would make Saber one of the blades two most prominent users ether the Japanese god Susano or the far more likely Prince Yamato Takeru from Japanese myth and history. Regardless of who Saber is eventually revealed to be, it is evident they are a welcome addition to this franchise. 

Fate/Samurai Remnant launches on  Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows in a little over a month on September 29th.  

what ive been watching- Shin Kamen Rider 2023

   By Ethan Gurr

edited by Kwame Obiri-Addai

 

 

 Directed and written by legendary maker of great things Hideaki Anno and produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kamen Rider, Shin Kamen Rider recently hit Amazon Prime and of course you know I had to watch it. Much like Shin Ultraman, this film is a reimagining of the original series covering several arcs. Unlike the Ultraman, however, the original Ultraman series the original Kamen rider clocks in at a massive 98 episode length which would be near impossible to fit into one movie. Anno has mentioned in passing that he has sequels planned out but would need Toei’s approval and that he's taking a well deserved break for the first time in 30 years so much like the announced Shin Ultra7 movie, for any sequel to this, it will likely be a good while before we see anything.

So what's the plot?  “Hongo Takeshi awakens to discover he has been transformed into a grasshopper-hybrid cyborg. Becoming the Masked Rider, he must fight the mysterious evil organization SHOCKER to protect all of mankind.”- IMDBs summary of the movie. But to expand on that, Hongo, working with the daughter of the man that turned into a cyborg and two government agents,  sets about working through the known-about evil cyborg agents of SHOCKER. Here, they are reimagined from their original nazi selves (think marvel's Hydra) and into an allegory for Happy science, the nameSHOKER even being an acronym meaning Sustainable Happiness Organization with Computational Knowledge Embedded Remodeling.

 

The most negative thing I can really say about this film is that Anno recreates the original 70s series style and if you didn't like that and didn't enjoy Shin Ultraman, this film probably is not for you. Speaking personally, this movie was made for me and I loved it.

Sorry this is not as much of a review as some of my others, but if I kept going it would just be the words “I LOVED THIS GO WATCH IT NOW ON AMAZON PRIME” over and over. Oh, just a heads up, it’s on Amazon Prime as “Shin Masked Rider” so when you go watch this, go search that.