Recap: An illusion-casting Debo monster traps Nossan and his family on a visit to the amusement park. He must help his sister overcome her demons while the other Kyoryugers attempt to break in past a powerful barrier.

Aquagaze‘s Thoughts: Stock footage robot battles and odd gimmicky monsters of the week? Yes sir, this is most definitely a filler episode. As opposed to that other genre often marred by fillers, however, the fillers in toku are very often where you see the true creativity and charm of the show at work. Not all that much of the former here, but the latter shines ever the brighter. I personally find Nobu to be the most interesting character in the cast, not only because of his distinctly unique background, but also because of the interesting hints that keep being dropped about his past. Why was he at the North Pole? Why does he appear as a successful businessman in the flashback while his brother-in-law is wearing his trademark worker’s jacket?

For an episode centered entirely around lame jokes, Over-Time did a great job at translating Nobu’s horrible puns to make them so bad they become good again. I always appreciate how these guys make it possible for even children to enjoy their subtitling efforts. It is a show for kids after all. As opposed to two weeks ago, that little did not become all too apparent during this episode. The monster of the week’s gimmick was a pretty creative one, and it served as a pretty neat catalyst to tie two subplots together. As a result, the other Kyoryugers are pretty much nowhere to be seen, but it does tone down the usually hyperactivity down quite a bit. You cannot have too much happening in too little time with around 50 episodes to fill, after all. That said, though, is that a Sixth Ranger I see in the preview?

Random Observations

• Time for a power-leveling dispute! What is stronger? The power of old man jokes or the power of tickling?
• If you are hoping for Zigg and I to attempt making it into the credits by recording a video of us doing the Kyoryuger dance, I am afraid you will be sorely dissappointed. Then again, we are funny foreigners, and Toei loves funny foreigners.

Dragonzigg’s Thoughts: This episode is very clearly middling filler but it still manages to be enjoyable enough, mostly because Yamato Kinjo brings decent charisma to his role as Nossan and the pace is kept high enough that you don’t really ask too many questions about the whole thing. One complaint I will levy though is that the episode seems oddly unfocused on how it wants our Monster-of-the-week to intimidate our heroes. The battle in the mind idea is solid enough and with enough possibility that you could base an entire episode around it, and shows frequently have done in the past. yet here it barely affects Nossan and is pretty much a non-factor except for giving an excuse for some minor angst on his sisters part. It’s probably a little much to ask for some deep, probing psychological analysis but I would have liked a little bit more done with the idea.

That aside though, this is a decent little romp. I have no idea if Over-Time’s translation for Nossan’s old man jokes are anything close to accurate, but they successfully convey the groan-worthy nature of the puns. There’s also some nice little insights into his character, like his refusal to lie to the park steward to get entry, or the intriguing flashback that shows him as a sharp-suited business guy with his brother donning the trademark scruffy jacket. There’s definitely some more stuff to be uncovered there. His interactions with Rika are adorable, helped by the fact the little girl is actually capable of some basic acting.

The tradeoff is that the other Kyoryugers are pretty much sidelined in this episode (and Ian and Souji come dangerously close to looking like morons in their attempts to break the barrier). They’re pretty much just there for the obligatory robot fight, which is actually something of a damp squib this week. The big plot sting though is the continuing story of Dogold being able to control Pteragodon, and the mech ably demonstrates its power here. In short, this episode was throwaway but sweet nonetheless. It’s being able to still enjoy episodes like this that marks out the good Sentai from the bad ones, and this one was lots of fun.

Random Observations

• So your innermost anguish looks like a rainbow filled black void or a filtered quarry? Even I’m beginning to get sick of everything being set in the same god damn quarry.
• How stupid is Nossan’s sister to not work out it’s him in the suit? Pretty funny though.
• Nice touch – when the team do their ground pound on the bridge handrail, the appropriate sound effect of metal being struck is foley’d in.
• Even by Sentai standards the spoilers in the preview are colossal. Also, I’m a genius apparently!