Otakuism

Story:

Seven Years ago a catastrophic meteor hit the earth and dried up all the oceans. Even worse than that, the meteor brought with it the Worm, aliens bent on destroying the human race. To fight the Worm ZECT and the Masked Rider System were created. But now there is dissent among the ZECT ranks as Neo-ZECT has formed to rebel against ZECT’s control. Into this volatile environment enters Tendou Souji aka. Kamen Rider Kabuto, offering himself to the highest bidder. And behind the war of the Riders the secret plans of ZECT begin to unfold…

Impressions:

God Speed Love is basically the TV series in a nutshell: great action and characters with a poorly thought out plot. First what I liked about the movie. Like I said the fight scenes are great, from the opening melee between six different Riders to Kabuto’s and Gatack’s final stand against Caucasus. Also since this is a movie set in an alternate universe you get to see a lot of the characters die, which adds a ruthless elements to the fights. The new riders serve their purposes and looks stylish while kicking some ass. Gotta love Kurosaki’s obsession with roses and that silly box hat he wears. Sure you’re the strongest rider. For an enjoyable superfluous element the ZECT cape uniforms were badass and I liked how female uniforms had switched to miniskirts. Very nice. Wish that had been in the TV series.

Now for the few things I didn’t like. One is that the movie completely sidelines the Worm, the supposed main enemy, until the very end of the movie where some weak plot twists are used to try and make them relevant again. Before that we have all this stupid ZECT vs. Neo-ZECT fighting, which doesn’t even make that much sense. The only reason Neo-ZECT wants to rebel is that they hate being controlled. Admittedly ZECT can be pretty evil, but some fleshing out of Neo-ZECT would of been nice. It also doesn’t make much sense that an organization with only two Riders would pose a threat to ZECT, but whatever.

For a personal pet peeve, later in the movie there’s an orbital elevator Kabuto, Ketaros, and Gatack are on. While fighting both Kabuto and Ketaros fall off into the atmosphere. Kabuto survives fine while Ketaros dies. How the hell did Tendou survive reentry? He was on fire the whole time! And then Gatack’s back on earth the next minute with no explanation how he got down. I know random scene changes are a common element, but this was just silly. Hard to take the movie seriously after that. Tendou’s various emotional breakdowns were also funny. I swear the guy showed more emotions in this movie then he did in the whole show. If you enjoyed the TV show then you’ll most likely enjoy the movie since they’re just so similar. Just remember that it’s Kabuto, so turn you brain off and enjoy.