Martial Arts Recap: With Kibaranger siding with the bad guys, the Akibarangers must find a way to return Dairanger to normal. But an old enemy is out to stop them…

Aquagaze‘s Thoughts: So yeah, hey, Toei. I have not actually seen Dairanger. Can I enjoy Akibaranger now? No? Oh. Okay.

Zigg’s Thoughts: Akibaranger has always teetered a little on being too smart of its own good – that was my opinion of the end of the first series (although I hasten to add there were many who loved it) and that’s a trap it seems to be increasingly falling into as this season goes on. What was once a gentle ribbing on the excesses of Sentai has now become sort sort of crazed hybrid of comedy show, marketing vehicle and actual Sentai show all folded into one increasingly sloppy whole. There’s still plenty of fun to be had but there’s also some worrying signs that this train might be careening off the rails a bit.

Let’s get the good stuff out of the way first – the return of Malshina is a delight and she gets several of the best comedy setpieces this show, most notably her opening montage (the bit where she declares she’s returned from beneath the arctic ice is priceless) and the bizarre shower scene which is the perfect sort of surreal, non-sequitur comedy I’d like to see the show try more of. Hokona’s excellent performance swings amusingly between sexy villain and spoiled brat and she brings a level of knowing campiness that (somewhat amazingly) the show felt like it was lacking before. There’s also some highly entertaining big-comedy set pieces this week, with both the Dairanger credits recreation and the mimicing of the final fight full of plenty of laugh out loud moments.

Which is good, because elsewhere there’s a worrying lack of momentum and sense to be had. Akibaranger‘s plot is once more becoming more complex, but unlike the fourth-wall bending craziness that made the ins-and-outs of Season 1 more acceptable by painting everything as a meta-joke, here the plot just seems to be floundering all over the place. The whole ‘what is in the delusion world and what isn’t’ aspect is not delineated nearly clearly enough and leads to a great deal of confusion on my part. I also feel that the jokes are diverging into two opposite camps – those that are so broad they basically fall into standard Japanese comedy routines (which I find very unfunny) and jokes which are such incredibly specific references that those of us who aren’t utter superfans simply won’t get them. The joke about Inoue Toskiki is a good example of this – it’s such an obscure reference (and not even one to Sentai) that you’d have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of tokusatsu to get anything at all out of it. A good satire successfully needles its source material, but also has to offer an experience broad enough to remain funny to all. I feel Akibaranger is failing at that task.

Overall, I’m worried. The show seems to have struggled to find footing in these opening episodes, and I’m disappointed that the interaction between the characters’ real lives and the delusion world has been somewhat toned back. I’m still not fond of Luna either, and she’s done nothing to really distinguish herself almost two full episodes in. With this arc over and a new story beginning next week, I hope Akibaranger can pull itself back together quickly.

Random Delusions

• The Inoue Toskiki joke is a reference to his work on Kamen Rider Hibiki, where he led a rewriting team that radically altered the tone, feel and direction of the show about halfway through the run. It remains extremely controversial among fans.
• I’m digging the covers of classic songs used for the ending.
• Reusing the monster costume is lazy and you can’t get out of that just by pointing out you’re doing it.
• Malshina’s joke about returning from beneath the Arctic ice is especially funny because that’s pretty much exactly what the Deboss from Kyoryuger are doing.
• Nice touch – Kibaranger’s chest symbol is the Akibaranger’s ‘Hikonin/Unofficial’ until he reverts to his Dairanger self, at which point his regular emblem appears.