Japan has just had one hell of a major event with May 1st
marking the beginning of the Reiwa era. The notion is fairly
meaningless for us westerners but I find the notion quite
interesting. People love to reflect on the passage of time in years
and decades, even seasons bring unique alterations to daily life, but
the concept of a while new era with boundless potential for everyone,
now that’s something special. Using that system to look at larger
chunks of time actually puts the past and future into unique
perspective in that things we didn’t accomplish previously have a
whole new stage to play out on. With that in mind we take what we
know works from the past and march forward.
In case you’re wondering why I’m waxing poetically about global
time structures I assure you it relates to our current Sentai series.
As Ryusoulger bridges the gap between two eras it uses a well-worn
and successful theme, the brightly colored dinosaur ascetic, but is
overseen by new talent that brings a different perspective to things.
Honestly though I just felt like talking about this as it feels very
timely (har har) for me with the completion of more college courses,
major home projects, the one-month anniversary of a pet’s passing,
and the renewed search for a job. It’s truly starting to feel like
a new day but at least we have the stability of something like Sentai
to keep us comforted.
Story:
Episodes
five and six are tightly paired and focus on the continued blending
of Towa and Bamba into the core team along with taking out the first
major villain and establishing why Koh is fit to be the leader.
It
begins with the team learning Kureon
is the one capable of creating minosaurs from human emotions. This
info is gathered by using the answer stone on Ui which allows her to
remember her encounter and shed a tear over the trauma. Taking out
the weird slimy monster before he can create more threats is now
priority one. Towa isn’t around for this however as he’s spending
time with a lady friend named Sanae who cares for animals that have
been abandoned by people who would prefer pets as statues symbols
than actual companions. Towa and Bamba dash away to fight Kureon but
when they weren’t looking the little sneak made a fresh critter
from Sanae, a giant wolf with a poisonous
bite.
Soon
enough Towa is bedridden with doggy poison while the rest of the team
must deal with Tankjoh’s efforts to defend Kureon and the
Minosaurs. Bamba is able to defeat the wolf while the others manage
to take out Tankjoh despite his use of harvested Earthquake power.
Everything should be better, only Towa and Sanae are still sick.
In
the following episode the poison turns out to be spreadable as it
moves on to the rest of the team. Those who still have enough energy
to press on are tasked with finding a tissue sample from the beast in
order to craft an anti-venom. Only issue is the monster is dead,
right? Turns out multiple minosaurs can emerge from a single host
meaning there is a second wolf out there. Koh and Melt go
out to claim a sample, obtaining one through badass means when Koh
lets the animal bite him so he can rip out a fang. During that
battle, Bamba is back to his old ways of threatening sickly girls by
preparing to kill Sanae. Both Towa and Asuna give some damn fine
pep-talks despite their sickness regarding the value of preserving
all lives and not giving up. A cure for the illness is fashioned by
the former village elder who now runs a food truck and everyone gets
back into the fight to take out the minosaur and Tankjoh who survived
his last encounter. Using the full combination of all their
dinoknights the teams destroys both opponents.
Characters:
While
everyone grows a little during this two-part adventure, the main
developments belong to Bamba and Koh. Regarding the former it seems
he may have a sob story somewhere in his background. His dedication
to his brother and eagerness to trade lives for the greater good seem
to be in conflict. At the same time he has some vague, sorrowful
reactions to his brothers speeches about personal connections and the
tales the other three have of losing their masters. Something
definitely happened to set this boy on the road of stab people first,
ask questions later. I just hope he gets his shit together soon
because the overall personality and presence of the actor make him
one of the more interesting aspects of the show so long as he doesn’t
waste any good will by being a dick for too long.
Koh
has stepped up and shown what he can bring to the leadership role.
Naturally he fits most of the regular criteria for a red ranger with
his determination and willingness to do anything for a victory.
What’s most important is how he tempers himself during the fights
with Tankjoh. Initially he cares only about seeking vengeance for his
dead master until he
remembers a lesson and reaffirms his true mission. Strength doesn’t
come from wanting to defeat an opponent but from defending loved
ones. This moment makes Koh the embodiment of so much of this series
core concept that he really has earned his role.
Villains:
With
Tankjoh gone it would seem this show plans to move through a
revolving door of villains. On the one hand this is a bit of a downer
as there’s a strong likelihood of a parade of undeveloped threats.
On the other hand most Sentai villains for the past few years have
been poorly-written anyway so at least this method will offer some
much needed variety. I can’t say much about Tankjoh however, not
even sure how his powers worked. He just came and went. Kureon looks
to be staying in the picture though I hope another baddie gains the
ability to create monsters so the team isn’t always focused on this
guy.
Action:
Not
as much to report in the action department. The
showrunners still seem to be searching for the proper balance of
shiny gimmick based trickery and more traditional tokusatsu fighting.
The robot scenes are still some of the best in franchise history with
one detail I’ve neglected to comment on thus far. Ryusoulger is in
the small club of shows where the heroes stand up while controlling
their robot which results in them being tossed around during a battle
rather than simply waiving their arms while firmly planted in a seat.
I much prefer this method as it makes the fights more visually
interesting.
Overall:
One
bug I gotta get outta my butt involves the resolution around Sanae’s
monster in regards to the heroes. We learn of Towa’s friendship
with this girl when we see them taking care of a puppy who has yet to
find a home. Sanae’s minosaur represents her anger at people who
abandon and mistreat animals. So what becomes of the girl and puppy
after all the monster are dealt with? Nothing, we don’t hear a
thing about em. A key
component of making these shows for kids is to teach them moral
lessons about how to behave and care for the world around them.
Introducing homeless dogs as an issue and then failing to ever speak
of it again is seriously lame. I’ve seen this same thing in other
sentai but it’s a bit more egregious here with the theme of our
souls being connected. Not a single one of these dinosaur people can
look after a dog?
Moral
grandstanding aside I’m still enjoying the path this series is
taking. There’s just enough novelty and depth to keep it
interesting though I must admit I feel like it’s missing a certain
something. At this point in the game there are plenty of
opportunities to fix that with greater character development, maybe
some better villains, or some long-form storytelling. Even the actors
don’t seem completely comfortable just yet and that’s to be
expected. I’ve seen many performers grow by leaps and bounds during
these shows. I guess what
I’m saying is this show still hasn’t made that pure declaration
of what it’s going to be, a bombastic action series, more serious
fantasy adventure, what have you. There are plenty of excellent
ingredients here from a solid group of characters, an interesting
threat, and good action. As it is they could carry on and potentially
create a decent series but I’m eager to see if the new guard behind
the scenes has the stones to make something truly special. For now I
shall continue to watch.
That’s
all for today, kiddies. Apologies for last weeks absence. Had a lot
of projects around here including the first steps towards a new
computer which will
hopefully make future endeavors much easier. With classes over for a
little while you should see more consistent updates and some more
variety since I’m aiming to bring a few different features back to
the site. Right now I must sleep. I’ve already made a few choice
steps into the new era and tomorrow I can hopefully make a
much-needed upgrade to this spot. Stay tuned.
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