Kamen Rider x Super Sentai: Superhero War Draws Mixed Reactions Despite Box Office Win

Kamen Rider x Super Sentai: Superhero War, pitting current and former Rider and Sentai teams against each other across more than 200 characters, drew a cooler reception than its scale suggested it might, according to independent filmmaker Bueno, creator of the web series Gun Caliber, who reviewed the film shortly after release.

Bueno’s core complaint was that the sheer volume of returning heroes left the plot thin and undercooked, thinner, he argued, than a typical episode of Kamen Rider Fourze, with the film’s central mystery, why both Marvelous and Tsukasa each end up running rival evil organizations, resolved within the first fifteen minutes. Fourze and the Go-Busters got comparatively little screen time relative to their billing, the Gokaiger’s female members were largely written out to a separate subplot, and a much-hyped “Gokai OOO Change” sequence lasted only seconds, seemingly included to promote a toy line rather than serve the story. Den-O’s segment fared better by his account, delivering the crew’s usual chaotic energy in full.

Writer Shouji Yonemura and director Osamu Kaneda, both credited on prior entries including All Riders vs. Great Shocker and the previous year’s Let’s Go Kamen Rider!, drew specific criticism for repeating what Bueno described as the same structural and visual shortcomings across their run of Superhero Time films.

Commercially, none of that dented the film’s opening: it topped the Japanese box office for the weekend, unseating a new Detective Conan release, with theaters adding extra showings to keep up with demand.