Every so often I start up an article
with the full intent of finishing it only to have the basic outline
wallow on my hard drive for weeks, if not months. Such is the case
with this Super Sentai recap that I originally started writing weeks
ago when everybody was losing their shit over the election which I
tied up in a fancy bow as a theme for our recaps. Problem is, when
you don't finish an article and wait until your mind is more
concerned with ingredients for Thanksgiving stuffing, you sort of
lose the point. Oh, wait, maybe that can be our theme. This whole
recap is pure stuffing; a senseless yet tasty combo of old bread and
anything that's not tied down.
Alright, so when we left off last time
the villains have decided to get off their butts and be bad guys
again instead of letting Bangley take over the whole series. With
this goal they send out a monster that amplifies peoples hidden
emotions which not only caused strife among the team but revealed
more of how they really feel about Misao. Poor guy had to toughen up
and face the fact that he's a bit of a handful.
The best part of this situation was
how the monsters ability had zero affect on Leo. Our painfully honest
lion stood back to offer commentary on all the horrible thoughts his
friends keep in check. Likewise, Tusk had an unforeseen side as he
revealed he likes Misao much more than he tends to let on. One would
think this would deepen their friendship but Misao's personal brand
of puppy love is still aimed squarely at Yamato.
Another stand alone adventure came
along as our cat themed rangers, Leo and Amu had to train in the art
of Sumo in order to defeat the newest alien threat. This has to be
one of the most enjoyable episodes in some time even though it
feature hideously built men in sumo thongs. While one may think Leo
would be the cat to save the day, it actually comes down to Amu.
Though she was far too weak to beat the baddie in a match of brute
strength, she faked some romantic interest to move in for the kill.
The silly stuff out of the way it was
time to get back to the bigger story at hand. Bangley continued his
hunt for Cube Whale to the point of making copies of the rangers and
even kidnapping Yamato because as we all know this isn't a proper
recap unless one of these kids finds themselves in a creepy bondage
situation.
Bangley furthers his plans to break
Yamato's spirit and prove the futility of friendship. In a big
dramatic moment, most of the team is seemingly murdered by a laser
beam, causing Yamato to loose all hope. Of course this is still a
heroic show for kids so everybody was fine.
Several major developments came out of
this two-part tale. First and foremost is the death of Bangley, and
might I say thank god for that. The big B may have been an
interesting addition at first but he soon overstayed his welcome by
becoming something of a one trick pony. His prescience wasn't a total
waste however as it gave Kubar some character development, especially
when he steals Bangley's mind-reading hand for himself to use in some
still secret revenge plot. The final development was the appearance
of a new robot form made up of all the cube animals thus far. Don't
get too excited though as the show introduces another new animal just
two episodes later.
Of all the neat surprises we actually
got a Halloween episode this year. As far as being a Halloween tale
it was a bit of a let down. The main focus of the story was on a
preteen girl who develops a crush on Tusk. We eventually learn she's
just prone to being in love with anyone since she later moves on to
Amu. While not the best fit for the holiday, there was still plenty
of nice, spooky scenery and it proved that both Amu and Leo can
totally pull off cross dressing.
After that we've got a two-part story
where the group finally meets back up with Larri the gorilla and Bard
the bird. There's a whole sequence of events in the group getting
the cube octopus as well as the bird guy becoming a 7th
ranger. Essentially he get's Yamato's costume with different trim and
more of an orange tone. He doesn't stick around for long so I suppose
he'll be a sporadic teammate.
More important that just getting a new
ranger is finally learning why the bird guy hates Zyuland so much and
why he prefers to keep the link between realms shut down. Years ago
he was a link cube guard just like most of our heroes. One day he
encountered an injured young boy who had stumbled through the
gateway. Though his duty as a guard was to take the kid to the
palace, Bard decided to nurse the child back to health first and in
the process developed a friendship. The higher-ups of Zyuland didn't
treat the kid quite as nicely, first locking him in a cell so he
could never return home, and eventually chasing him off a cliff
during an escape attempt. The whole thing was covered up and never
spoken of again. Angered by this turn of events and fairly certain it
wasn't the first incident of this kind, Bard left his home behind.
Seeing Yamato and the others fight side by side has somewhat
rekindled his hope for both species one day working together, just
not enough to stick around permanently.
Holy crap, we're finally caught up. As
you can guess the show is making something of a return to form after
dragging a bit during the previous batch of episodes. More than
anything, the writers have done a better job of inserting character
development in unexpected places. For instance during the two-parter
with Bard, Misao finally figured out how to best help the team and
stop screwing up so much.
With only a few months left to go
before this series wraps I've been wondering whether or not to
continue with Sentai coverage on this site. At first I'd been
thinking it was time to quite the recap game when Zyuohger ends but
I've noticed there seem to be less and less websites offering this
sort of content on the web. Now I've shifted into trying to find a
way to still cover the franchise while leaving more time to write
about other topics (rather important since I hope to expand my
contributions to other sites). Over the remainder of this series,
I'll be experimenting with the formula a bit more in an effort to
find something shorter, faster, more concise, and hopefully more
frequent. I want to hear what you folks out there crave the most from
your recaps. Do you demand the basic beat by beat run through? Or
would you prefer something more vague and snarky? Lemme know and I'll
keep on writing.
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