Defying all expectations I'm back with another Sentai recap in our
new one-episode format. Don't get me wrong I nearly feel out of the
whole process what with this past being week being a whirl of school
projects but here I am and with just the fainest recollection of how
to write about anything other than counseling techniques, media
studies, and APA formatting. Come along as we chat about colorful
heroes and I'll try not to slip in some empirical data chart.
Story:
Picking up from the previous cliffhanger we find Stinger and
Takaharu facing off against Gaisorg with Marvelous eventually butting
in. The three get their butts kicked with Marv receiving an
additional lecture from Yamato who's still quite testy about
something. That's when news arrives that Gaisorg is officially part
of this competition, guy even has a golden ticket.
The group begins to separate and do their own stuff. Stinger
investigates the facilities of planet Nemesis and finds surveillance
and guide books about Sentai heroes which hints at some larger
conspiracy. Marv storms off which causes Takahau and Kagura to seek
him out for a pep talk. This leaves Yamato as the only person
available when the next fight arrives pitting him against a trio of
rival heroes. During this battle we finally learn what his big wish
is if he can win this contest. At some point after we last saw the
character he befriended a sick young boy with a love for animals.
Yamato had promised to take the boy out to the wilderness to see
animals for real until the kid either died or become significantly
sicker, it's sort of vague. Now he fights to save that kid, a passion
that fuels him to win this fight and receive words of advice from
Gaored.
Slowly the team starts to reconvene with Yamato making peace with
Marvelous. Stinger is still out snooping and Takaharu didn't make it
back to base as he was seemingly confronted by Gaisorg. Speaking of
the big purple guy, he breaks up another fight only to be met by
Marvelous once again who manages to knock off his helment and find
Takaharu underneath.
Characters:
As for cameos this week the big one is Gaored who has a nice speech
about red rangers fighting with passion. Otherwise most of the extra
characters were suit-actors with voice over which allowed one of my
favorite franchise heroines to appear with Kakuranger's own Tsuruhime
who sadly showed up just to get thrown around by Gaisorg. A few
others had some fight scenes like Dekamaster but nothing major.
Honestly it was nice to see a greater degree of interaction and
personality from members of our main team. Possibly the best scene
was Yamato silencing Takaharu with some rage, wish somebody had done
that during Ninninger. Kagura unfortunately has still had nothing to
do but be the team medic so far. Not only is this incredibly lame but
it doesn't track with the director's past output as any misogyny on
his part is often more exploitative in nature. Oh and I can't forget
that the black and green Ryusoulgers are still strolling around a
cave gathering trinkets, so that's still a thing.
The Villains:
Giasorg's still the only known baddie around and we still know
nothing about him/her/it. I'm guessing the Takaharu reveal is
something like Gaisorg being a suit that takes over bodies or some
such nonsense.
Action:
Much
improved action this week with a little less reliance on cheap
wire-work and more impact to the punches and kicks. The highlight
easily goes to Yamato's one-against-three bout where he changes
between eagle, gorilla, and whale modes to deliver a massive ass
whoopin'.
I've
seen complaints online about two missing components in this series.
One is how we have teams that never fight in larger groups than
three. For god's sake we still have one person who hasn't even
transformed so far. Beyond that there has been absolutely zero giant
robot action. Honestly I don't mind that part so much as the robots
are my least cared for aspect of this franchise but when you consider
this is a special-event series the absence is a bit strange.
Review:
While a good improvement over the first outing this show still has
little to show for itself other than being a novelty. As I said last
week though it's a bit easier to forgive something that's going to be
gone so soon as we only have two episodes left to view, which at the
point of this writing means just over a week before it's over. It's
still nice to see Yamato back in action, wish I could say the same
for Kagura, and the watching the team come-together is preferable to
seeing them stand in corners like wallflowers at a high-school party.
Oh man is it ever nice to write about something nice and silly after
a week of APA had me dodging contractions like a damn robot. I'll be
back in a few days with either our next recap or something different.
Yes, we are going to have some different topics this year as I've got
things lined up about board games, music, and classic horror so stay
tuned.
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