Gate Keepers -The Shadow
The teenage psychics of the AEGIS Team find it difficult to keep their work hidden as the Invader attacks grow in scale and visibility--and the filmmakers return to the main plot of this 2000 comedy-adventure series. Reiji the Evil Gate Keeper has somehow restored the physical forms of Invader leaders Baron Akuma and Kaiser Kikai, whom AEGIS defeated previously. He's using his charisma to recruit followers for his Political Thoughts Club (the thoughts consist of dismissing humans as maggots) and manages to seduce the intellectual Megumi. When the Invaders seize control of a world's fair-like exhibition site and take Ruriko's father prisoner, Shiro and the gang rush to his aid, only to become trapped within the Invader structure. Despite holiday celebrations and these dire threats, Ruriko and Kaoru manage to continue their comic rivalry for Shiro's affections. Rated 13 Up: Violence, mild profanity, occasional risqué humor.--Charles Solomon