Saraba Kamen Rider Den-O: Final Countdown (2008)

A disappointing send-off for Takeru Satoh in an otherwise merely OK Den-O movie

*pulled from my LB review*

Weakest Den-O movie so far perhaps, or at least not as good as the previous, feels very low energy for what was SUPPOSED TO BE Den-O’s last film. The story about letting the past die and moving on with the future is fine on paper, but the storytelling feels kind of emotionally removed - Ryotaro and Sora barely interact, the latter just kinda mentioning she died long ago, kinda saddened by Shiro attempting to reverse life and death for her sake (funny that Kobayashi pretty blatantly recycled the Ryuki villain’s name and motivation here lmao), while Ryotaro just hears out her super minimal story, barely tries to actively break through to her, little in the way of gravitas to anything.

Even the whole dilemma of Ryotaro being possessed by the villainous Imagin is undone just by willpower eventually and a not-so-suspenseful fatal injury to Momo which leads to a quick turnaround, just kinda whatever. The historical stuff is very tepid flavouring, plot details seem kind of lost, everything just boiled down to moving things along for indistinct structural beats. Even the focus on either lead character, Ryotaro or Kotaro gets kind of put off to the side, while the 2 characters themselves get little time to interact until mostly just at the end, a lot of it is just the Taros driving everything forward, quite a shame that Takeru Satoh as Ryotaro’s final major Den-O role is mostly eclipsed by the Taros, who have basically become the real Kamen Rider Den-O themselves (mainly Momo ofc). Ryo and Ko’s few moments to shine are nice I guess, and having each Taro form in that big lineup brawl was kinda nice, but this movie’s highlights are kind of fleeting.

A mild disappointment as Ryotaro’s farewell and a weak Den-O story, but it’s passable I suppose.

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