Welcome to the new year, everyone. I've
been doing my best to stay busy. Putting together home improvement
ideas. Deciding on which jobs to apply too, appropriate given how
much I dread work tomorrow. I even made my first visit to Ikea. A
worthwhile experience with one important note. If anyone talks you
into dining within the eatery don't expect actual human proportions
for your meal. Swear I've had snack packs with more substance. Guess
they don't wanna weigh you down so much that you loose the energy to
cavort through miles of furniture.
In case you're wondering, I did buy a
few items. A milk frother and some sparkling juice. Not exactly the
reason one shops at Ikea, I know. Still, I am considering a bully
bookcase to help tame the Horror collection, currently standing at
767 by the way. Not bad for a guy who gets paid in peanuts.
So what do I have in store for you
guys to kick off the this fresh year? Last Summer's Sentai movie
actually. Alright, it's nothing all that special but I've been
something of a blogging deadhead this past week. Not to mention I'm
sequestering one topic for an application article for another site.
Fingers crossed on that. Life updates outta the way, let's check in
with cinematic ninja antics of seasons past.
A little historical perspective first.
Some of you may remember the group of episodes where the team battled
western monster like Frankenstein & Dracula. This movie takes
place within that portion of the series, I believe right before the
mid-series clip show. None of that matters a great deal as like most
Sentai Summer movies interaction with the primary storyline is
minimal at best. Also of interest to those who've never encountered
one of these flicks. They are nowhere near feature length, running
more along the lines of 28 minutes. Playing alongside a similar Kamen
Rider feature is how these franchises get your butt to the theater
when it's not one of the full-length team-up or Superhero Taison
films.
The action gets off to a running start
as the kids are assigned some Summer homework. The ninja village of
Shinobigakutre is under siege by the Kibaoni general Yumihari who
since you've never heard of him before I bet you can guess his
ultimate fate. The team has a two-part mission: save the lord of the
village and restore love & peace. Part one goes off rather
swimmingly until they realize this lord is a dinosaur.
Turns out the position of village lord
has held a curse for quite some time which makes one wonder why any
fool would take on the job. The curse states that whomever holds the
position will experience fear, anxiety, etc before transforming into
a wicked dragon that will bring great calamity. Yumihari also holds
an odd obsession for this dragon but we'll come back to that later.
The sad story of this particular lord is that he cared so much for
his town that he neglected his family causing his wife to run away.
Cue shame spiral and one nasty skin condition.
Most of the team is dispatched to
continue fighting for the town. Meanwhile, Takaharu is tasked with
serving the lords every whim. That all changes pretty quickly when
most of the crew disappears in a large explosion. Taka decides to
lend a hand which can only mean action, tons of it. That's really the
primary draw of these short movies. A higher budget allows for all
sorts of unique additions to ninja fights and sure enough the whole
team regroups and unleashes a rainbow of ass-kickery. It's some of
the best fighting this series has ever offered, which is pretty
important when you consider it takes up around 70% of the run time.
Just when it seems the day is won,
Yumihari shows off his trump card. A magical shield that can only be
destroyed by the wicked dragons power. Can ya guess what happens
next? I'll give you a hint. The dinosaur lord appears, having been
inspired by Takaharu to do what he wants in life, which is currently
to protect the villagers. This was apparently the point of the teams
Summer homework as healing his soul brings love & peace back the
land....until Yumihari shoots the lord and turns him into the wicked
dragon of legend. Don't worry, the evil dragon phase doesn't last
long as our kids break it's horn, obtain a dinosaur robot, and save
the day before lunch.
In the end this tale wasn't a bad way
to spend nearly thirty minutes. It would probably hold up as one of
the better episodes if it had actually been placed within the series
proper. Instead it suffers from a strange detachment which serves to
make it feel like more like grand fanfiction than a real piece of the
franchise. Since I've viewed a couple less than stellar Sentai movies
I'm willing to give this one a pretty decent grade. It may not matter
much in the long run but at least it was entertaining. Now if you'll
excuse me. Hiding doesn't stop taco night!
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