So this was a fun movie. My only problem is that this movie basically has no connection to the characters as they were depicted in the A to Z movie.
Abbreviated version: It's a good movie with a bad ending through no fault of its own. Even if the movie is pretty good in every other aspect, there's really no good way to make it connect to the KRW Forever movie with the premise of this movie.
Hit the spoiler tags for a more in-depth rant:
Spoiler
So in this movie, the writers have a conundrum. They need to make these guys likable. They've got to make the audience cheer for what they're doing. A good writer would show some sort of character arc that take shows Katsumi's change in personality and explains his villainous behavior in A to Z. Unfortunately, we've got writers who are about as subtle as the Star Wars prequels, so all we get is a switch going off at the end of the movie and suddenly Katsumi and gang are bad guys.
The worst part of the ending is, "Hey Katsumi, you like/love Mina? Then make her a NEVER." "Noooo!" "Wait, what? Why not? You're about to do that to everyone in Fuuto. You've got the fucking power to bring dead people to life, what are you being so emo about?!" It's like the writers knew this was a plot hole, so they decided to fill it with Katsumi throwing a temper tantrum. It makes no sense, nothing about the ending about this movie makes any sense! I almost wish they just cut all the scenes of Katsumi going crazy and just left it with NEVER doing their poses and walking cool down the beach or on the top of buildings.
So I spend the movie liking these guys then <record scratch> now I have to hate them. Totally jarring.
But shoddy story aside, it was still a pretty fun action flick. Since Reika was the most sympathetic villain of the bunch, the movie basically follows her entrance into NEVER up to the events that begin A to Z. And if not scrutinized too much, it was still a pretty fun movie. They even gave Trigger and Metal Dopants some lines in this one (catchphrases and taunts yelled in battle don't count as lines) and made Luna actually kind of likeable... in one scene.
It's just a pity that this'll be the last of the W movies, because it definitely comes off as the weakest of the bunch. And it has a pretty weak ending as well. After the story was done, what happened to Mina and the surviving W members? I guess Shoutarou and Philip make amends with NEVER, but overall it doesn't feel like those two and Akiko (why is she in this movie) really take away anything from hearing that story. And what happens to Mina? The movie just kind of ends on kind of a hollow note since the main thrust of momentum was in the back story.
Edit for Cod-E music video:
I'm surprised by how much work went into this. They had that power rangers director do some action, plus Takanashi Rin (ShinkenPink) credited as the heroine. And you know, we don't get to see how cute Takanashi Rin can be, like when she's singing along with the band. Plus, if you overlook the age difference, they sort of made for a cute couple.