Kamen raidaa Jei

Directed by Keita Amemiya the same director as Kamen Rider ZO.Kamen Rider J is one again about our favorite superhero on motorbike but this time he not only stronger but bigger.There lot of practical effect that make the movie much more cheesy and wacky.We finally have a true Henshin scene with the Rider Belt and a one epic battle near the end make it stand out from all Kamen Rider series.Curse all the people think 50 minutes is enough

At the end of the 20th century, the Earth is in danger due to a string of unusual weather patterns, as a mechanical beast known as Fog Mother comes to Earth from outer space and is ready for her new brood to hatch. Her three eldest children capture a young girl named Kana to serve as sacrifice, even going as far as to kill her older brother, nature photographer Koji Segawa. However, Koji is soon revived by the spirits of the earth and given the power to become Kamen Rider J, a warrior of J-Power. Guided by Berry, a talking grasshopper, Koji fights Fog, not only to save Kana, but the planet.

The third movie in the 1990's Kamen Rider trilogy, which started with Shin Kamen Rider and was preceeded by Kamen Rider ZO, Kamen Rider J is the final movie by series creator Shotari Ishinomori before his death four years later. A stand-alone adventure like ZO before it, J is a movie that surprisingly has an environmental theme to it, as one battle takes place in a developmental area where a mountain is dying and dead animals are among the construction vehicles, and one flashback has Koji investigating a polluted lake, and meeting Kana as she makes graves for the poor animals who died because of the pollution, this movie shows the actual price nature pays when we pollute bodies of water or demolish forests to make new buildings. Here, Koji has an actual belt buckle allowing him to transform into Kamen Rider J, and even transform his motorcycle into a grasshopper-themed form, harkening back to the older series, and the fights are well done, as the choreographing is well done, and the special effects and story are amazing. This film was well received to the point where J would appear in future Kamen Rider movies, and Fog Mother and the monster forms of two of her three children would be adapted into Saban's Masked Rider as monsters of the day for select episodes.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Kamen Rider J -- after all, it's a 45-minute theatrical feature, where most incarnations of Kamen Rider are 50-episode TV shows. However, the plot was kept simple and the action was abundant, and by the finale I wasn't thinking about much except "Go for it, Kamen Rider J!" Like some of the better self-contained anime OAVs I've seen, the 45-minute runtime is plenty to tell a simple story in a straightforward way. Plus it's almost all action!

Koji is investigating the sudden wave of pollution and animal fatalities around some unspecified lakes in Japan. One evening, as he's about to turn in, a little girl called Kana turns up with some coffee for him... and gets abducted by aliens! Good quick intro.

The aliens kill Koji and take Kana off to feed to their newly-hatched brood, but Earth Spirits intervene and resurrect Koji with the sacred energy known as J Power. With his new power he can transform into Kamen Rider J and fight the powerful mutants sent by Fog Mother as he tries to rescue Kana and save the world.

Which, of course, he does -- in his regular form and, in a memorable sequence, in giant form! Kamen Rider J closely resembles my fave Showa rider, Kamen Rider Black. His bike looks just like Battle Hopper, too! The giant version (and some other particulars) reminded me of the Ultra Series, making me wonder if it was a deliberate nod from one classic franchise to the other.

The action in this movie rocks. The suits and FX are good quality, and the miniatures for the giant bits are cool. Although the running time is just over two episodes' worth of regular TV, the story comes across well and the finale is very satisfying. As the only two human characters, Yuta Mochizuki and Yuka Nomura both do a good job, and the villains are loads of diabolic fun (especially Yoko Mari as Zu).

I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed this, and I'd recommend it to any and all Kamen Rider fans out there.