Due to the precedent set by Gaoranger , Boukenger and Gokaiger ’s anniversary celebrations, there was the expectation that Doubutsu Sentai Zyohger might celebrate Super Sentai ’s 40th anniversary with a special “Vs Super Sentai” movie – featuring guest stars from all across the franchise’s long history. However much like the show itself Toei instead seemed to opt for a more subdued celebration, continuing the standard line of versus series movies with Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger vs Ninninger: Message from the Future from Super Sentai . As well as featuring the return of preceding team Shuriken Sentai Ninninger , this movie also features the first appearance of the Uchu Sentai Kyuranger .

Though all Super Sentai series eventually come to an end, that doesn't mean that viewers have seen the last of that team just yet. While their final (save for the odd big movie crossover) appearance is usually reserved for the succeeding team's Vs. Series movie, the Returns V-Cinema   release has also becoming something of an annual tradition in the past few years. These usually truly take place at the end of a show's timeline, acting as the end of their story while also throwing in a few new surprises as well. 2016 was the turn of Shuriken Sentai Ninninger , returning in the heftily titled Come Back! Shuriken Sentai Ninninger: Ninnin Girls vs. Boys FINAL WARS . While the general English-speaking consensus seems to be that Ninninger failed to impress, could one last outing be enough to turn some of that around?

The annual Super Sentai Versus Series team up movie is more than just a tradition, it's an event. The fact they come around every year might mean that crossovers aren't all that scarce or special in the tokusatsu world, but they all act as an end point for two shows that have (hopefully) captured audiences for the past two years. For the the current team it may only be until they return next year for a second crossover, but for the returning one this truly could be the end so its always important to make it a good one. 2015's entry into the series is Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. ToQger: Ninja in Wonderland , bringing ninjas and trains together in a film full of flash and imagination.

Super Sentai has been host to a wide variety of themes and motifs over the years, but there is a handful that in the past have proven so successful that they are worth revisiting again and again. Dinosaurs is one that immediately springs to mind, as are cars/vehicles and of course ninjas. Shuriken Sentai Ninninger marks the third time Toei have produced a ninja-orientated Sentai, previously used by Ninja Sentai Kakuranger in 1994 and then Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger in 2002. The 39th entry in the franchise ran from February 2015 to February 2016, weighing in at a grand total of 47 episodes.

It's still a few weeks from it's finale, but at this point it seems fair to say that in general  Shuriken Sentai Ninninger is a series that hasn't resonated all that well with Super Sentai 's English-speaking fanbase. But why exactly this is the case is a subject left for a review of the series as a whole, so for now let's cast our minds back to summer 2015, when Shuriken Sentai Ninninger the Movie: The Dinosaur Lord's Splendid Ninja Scroll! was released in Japanese cinemas alongside Kamen Rider Drive: Surprise Future. 

Back in 2009 when Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker was released a giant Kamen Rider crossover was a pretty big deal. The film itself wasn’t the best, but it was the largest gathering of the franchise’s heroes yet and that certainly held its weight in spectacle. But since then these crossovers have become commonplace, even briefly roping in the Super Sentai and Metal Heroes franchises for Super Hero Taisen and Super Hero Taisen Z . A few of these offerings have still managed to hold their own in terms of spectacle, but more often than not these films have suffered greatly from the law of diminishing returns. After last year’s Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai , Toei are continuing on the Kamen Rider focus with Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider 3 . The draw this time however is perhaps not the mass assembling of Riders, but the first onscreen appearance of a lost piece of Kamen Rider history.

With the introduction of the sixth team member getting a bit earlier since Zyuden Sentai Kyoruger , it's naturally also meant that the toys have followed suit. In fact  Shuriken Sentai Ninninger marks the first time in recent years that a sixth ranger mecha has actually been the second release in the candy toy/minipla line rather than the third. Of course is more likely due to there only be two auxiliary Otomo Nin at the time and the third joining later, but the point still stands nonetheless. Bison King is the personal mecha of the selfie-taking American youkai hunter Star Ninger , and is comprised of his two Otomo Nin partners Rodeomaru and the Bison Buggy. So grab your cowboy hat and cheeseburger transformation device, because this is going to be one glorious American stereotype. Yeehaw! Truthfully this was a review I should have made three months ago (yet another Ninninger minipla set has come out since Bison King's release), but thanks to a busy schedule and a gen...

Traditionally individual Super Sentai mecha tend to fall into one of two categories - animals or mecha. Sometimes you'll get the occasional series that mixes the two ( Go-Busters doing this in a particularly clever way by providing both in the same component) but most of the time it's one of the other, which means the combination will either be entirely made of animals or entirely made of vehicles. This year  Shuriken Sentai Ninninger has thrown that completely out of the window by mixing things up while homaging various mecha from the franchise's long history. Shurikenjin has proved to be an interesting and unique mecha design in a number of ways, so it's very interesting to see how it has translated to Bandai 's more affordable line of minipla candy toys.

The beginning of a new year - and arguably the most important time for the Super Sentai franchise. A years' worth of adventures for one team reaches it's explosive conclusion while a brand new ones' begin (along with all the wonderful new toys that come with it). But before either of those happen, it's time for the annual versus series team up movie.  Ressha Sentai ToQger vs. Kyoryuger sees the cast of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger return for one last roar, teaming up with the ToQgers against a rather large story thread left hanging from their own show.

Super Sentai isn't a franchise to shy away from using the same theme multiple times. After recently hitting the hat-trick for dinosaurs with Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger , 2015 marks the third use of ninjas with Shuriken Sentai Ninninger . With declining ratings and toy competition from the non-stop juggernaut that is Yo-Kai Watch , it isn't all that surprising Toei are playing it safe again with a motif that's proved a success in the past. After the final two episodes of Ressha Sentai ToQger were pushed back due to television coverage of tragic world news, Ninninger premiered a week later than originally intended on 22nd February. With that date actually marking "Ninja day" in Japan, it's surprising it wasn't meant to start that day anyway.