Mediablasters' Kamen Rider movie collection

[lhb412]

This was announced a while back and tentatively scheduled for release this fall. It's gonna be an ambitious blu-ray set containing Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue, Kamen Rider ZO, Kamen Rider J, Kamen Rider: The First and Kamen Rider: The Next. In short: all the standalone films that can be enjoyed without watching an associated TV series.

Mediablasters, who majorly screwed up a pair of Godzilla releases a decade ago and deservedly incurred a lot of scorn (then kinda faded away and did little for a few years), has really be revving up these lately and consistently popping out great tokusatsu releases with Gappa, Hakaider, the two Zeiram movies, and the two Zeberaman movies among the titles. I'm so happy with their stuff I take back some of the bad things I've said about them!

[DannyBeane]

I've only dabbled in Kamen Rider but I am looking forward to these releases. I picked up the KR Zero One from Shout factory and look forward to starting that when I'm caught up with Ultraman. I've also collected all of America Blasters recent toku releases these past few years and really enjoy them. Especially Hakaider

[Dai]

This is exactly the kind of news I've been missing out on for the last two years!

[lhb412]

It's been two years since Mediablasters acquired five Kamen Rider films for distribution and since then... well, they lost the main distributor for the 18+ material that is the company's bread-and-butter and had to create their own store, organized a convention, and had flood damage of some sort? I mean, it's annoyingly late, but I understand the delays. Anyway, we're apparently going to get news on the releases very soon. Last update indicated we're getting single releases rather than a big set.

[Benjamin Haines]

I'm just looking forward to having more Media Blasters releases in my collection. I got their blu-ray discs of Gappa, Zeiram and Zeiram 2 a few years ago, and before that I think the most recent Media Blasters release that I got was Godzilla vs. Megalon.

Actually, now that I've seen all of Android Kikaida, I should get the 1995 movie Mechanical Violator Hakaida that Media Blasters put on BRD.

[lhb412]

Speaking of which, they just released Jissoji's Last Megalopolis movie on Blu-ray and are about to release the (never before released in the US) sequel. Always wanted to see at least that first one.

[lhb412]

Finally, Mediablasters officially announces a box set of Kamen Riders Shin Prologue, ZO, and J! We also get a pretty thorough explanation of why it's taken a year and a half since the official announcement!

https://youtu.be/RNF1wesJkcw?si=eD5PFR6mngkLkB4H

A second set, with the '00 reboot films The First and The Next should be out in time for the holidays!

[Benjamin Haines]

^ The way that guy pronounces "Kamen" with a hard "A" makes my eye twitch.

That's great news about the 8-minute theatrical short Kamen Rider World (1994) being included in the first box set! I haven't yet seen that or any of these Kamen Rider movies so these will be a real treat.

While it's totally understandable given what a small company Media Blasters is, it is funny how release delays and subsequent online explanations have been a staple of their tokusatsu releases ever since the mid 2000s. Some things never change.

[lhb412]

^ ZO and J are terrific. I hope you enjoy them!

They're short, like, under feature length but longer than a short film; that 45-ish minute mark that Japanese media sometimes has when originally intended for theatrical exhibition bundled with one or two other shorts or features. The brevity just ads to the experience, though; each one is a marathon of insane creature designs and gooey effects, chases, stylized fights, crazy optical effects, stop motion animation and with only as much plot and exposition and dialog as is necessary! Hell, these things are like Tom & Jerry cartoons; you can watch them with the sound off and get what's happening.

As for Shin Prologue? Well, it's kinda dull, but it has some nifty creature effects. It was intended to kick off an adult oriented reboot of Rider as a series of direct to video films, but since this one bombed before any sequels could be made (which would introduce more of the classic Kamen Rider elements) the whole thing feels inexplicable. Funnily enough, we should be used to the idea of studios mining IP to produce prequels to movies that won't exist, as we've seen several prospective cinematic universe starters and spinoffs flame out in the last decade. Shin Prologue is the Madame Web of its day!

[lhb412]

The trilogy set is up for preorder on MB's site:

https://mb-storefront.com/products/kamen-rider-the-trilogy-elite-kollection-bd?_pos=1&_sid=76b804022&_ss=r

Here's the skinny: this set, avaliable ONLY on MB's site, will have fancy packaging (still in planning stages) and include the Kamen Rider World short (apparently it's licensing is different). The standard edition, presumably available everywhere, will follow after with no World and standard packaging.

[Benjamin Haines]

$70, eh? Somehow I doubt the difference in price from the standard edition will be worth it for just an eight-minute short and some fancy packaging. I'll still try to get this edition but that price puts it in the same boat as the last few Discotek releases that I haven't gotten yet.

[lhb412]

Yeah, it's steep - but I kinda suspected it would be due to MB being a small company and Toei's apparently steep licensing fee for anything under the KR umbrella.

I'm probably not gonna get Geats unless I get it at a good sale, but these are some of my most wanted, so I took the plunge.

... plus, I ordered so early they were still honoring their 10% off coupon code!

[lhb412]

Mediablasters' most recent YouTube vid says preorders should shop in September, gave a preview of the in-progress packaging art, and described some of the extras (commentaries and a "digital booket" which basically sounds like the liner notes Mike Dent does on Discotek's releases) - though things haven't been finalized and they may include more stuff.

[lhb412]

Hell yeah! They've conducted a few interview with Keita Amemiya!

[lhb412]

Got my copy. Great package, cool extras. The eventual standard edition will have the same extras on the disc, just no booklet or slipcover.

Apparently, there may be an audio issue with Shin Prologue: a fraction of a second out of synch? I can't really notice. Maybe I've become so used to old foreign films that are totally dubbed and ADR and I've gone synch blind!

[lhb412]

Update: the audio for Shin Prologue is six frames off. No one noticed because, just like I said in my last post, they were so used to heavily ADRed films that the sound being slightly out of synch didn't raise any alarm bells. They're fixing the discs which have yet to be shipped and anyone who's already received one will get a replacement shipped automatically.

[Benjamin Haines]

I'm glad they're fixing the error. Are they still planning to not include the Kamen Rider World short on the standard edition disc?

[lhb412]

The plan now is for the disc contents to be identical between the limited edition and standard release!

[Benjamin Haines]

^ That's great news! What other extras are included besides the Keita Amemiya interview? Did they end up including audio commentaries?

[lhb412]

All three films have really informative commentary tracks, Amemiya also does an intro for the set, there's an explanatory intro for World, and an image gallery.

[lhb412]

The replacement discs are already being made, but I didn't want to wait (and I could hardly notice the synch in Shin Prologue anyway) and watched all the contents of the set. My final verdict: it's an excellent release, with a great presentation of its three features coupled with plentiful extras. I know the wait for this was crazy long, but I think this was worth it. The Amemiya films, which are masterpieces of visual oppulence in spite of small budgets, certainly sparkle from the HD treatment as opposed to crunchy online uploads.

My only complaint: unlike every other US Kamen Rider blu-ray release this disc's cover doesn't have a Rider head on the top of the spine, so it looks a bit out of place when shelved between RX and Kuuga!

[lhb412]

Replacement discs are printed. Replacements are shipping for folks like me and the rest of the preorders have resumed shipping.

[lhb412]

Regular retail version tentatively scheduled for Spring.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ Nice! That's definitely on my 'to-get' list for next year.

[lhb412]

Got my replacement disc from Mr. Mediablaster!