Recap: Utsusemimaru remains aloof from the rest of the team as Candelia comes up with a diabolical new(?) plan.

Aquagaze‘s Thoughts: A neat surprise in this week’s episode of Kyoryuger. We go back to the one billion miles per second pacing again, but in a way, that does restore the identity of the show that got lost a bit in the generic twoparter that preceded this episode. While those two episodes portrayed Utsusemimaru as a rather bland cool guy who is good at absolutely everything he does, this episode reveals “Utchi” is actually a massive dork, and a bit of a loveable oaf, who only acts tough because he doesn’t know how to deal with other people. It’s a neat little twist that instantly turns the guy into a much more likeable character.

Of course, being the girl of the team, it’s Amy’s job to find out his secret, nickname him and keep his true personality a secret from the other Kyoryugers, because that will most definitely be better for all parties involved, right? One sweet outfit change later — check the amazing golden sneakers — the “cool” Utchi and Amy team up to save the other Kyoryugers from Candelia’s evil plan, yet sadly enough, it looks like the team still isn’t fully coming together yet. Should not take too long though, as the our Gold ranger has already been (poorly) implemented in the opening and closing credits. Is that a Kyoryujin/RaidenOh combination I see there?

Speaking of Candelia’s little plan, I must say it could have come straight out of Akibaranger. Disguising herself as a human idol, played by Haruka Tomatsu (Candelia’s actual voice actress), she woos thousands of nerds with her still creepy-as-ever character song while a monster steals their backbones, making them all her slaves. Innocent pun or clever little bit of social satire? You decide, though it must be said it is not one of the brightest plans the Deboss have ever had. Why would you use a power that only works on men if you want to subdue the Kyoryugers, who are at least one fifth female? Why do you have Luckiero dance around on stage when you want to hide the fact that you’re horrible monsters? Why go through the effort of throwing a half-decent concert when can hypnotise your victims anyways? By the way, if you can turn into a sexy lady, why not just use that to seduce m- Oh wait, they totally do that… kids show!

Random Observations

• Tomatsu is also the voice of, among others, Magi‘s Morgiana and Kannagi‘s Nagi
• Neat to see Ramirez pop back up, out of costume this time.
• Sad to see Daigo-with-a-moustache will probably not pop back up.

Dragonzigg‘s Thoughts: I’m always thrilled when a show manages to subvert my expectations, and Kyoryuger manages to do that very well this week. The reveal that Utsusemimaru isn’t in fact the stone cold hardass he pretends to be but isi n fact a hilariously blubbering little boy worried about whether other people will think he’s cool is a fantastic move and instantly propels my opinion of the character from ‘eh’ to ‘I like this guy!’. The scene where he and Amy swing and eat ice-cream is a really good one for both of them, allowing the show to hide an infodump behind some adorable character interaction. With Amy being the confidant of both Ramirez (who pops up in a nice little cameo at the beginning) and now Utsusemimaru she’s falling a little into the ‘the girl is the sensitive one’ sterotype, but it works well and it means she gets plenty of screentime, so I’m sort of ok with this. Utsusemimaru meanwhile gets to act adorably awkward and gains some valuable character motivation. being motivated by failing to protect a master/child/friend is pretty basic (Ian has essentially the same story) but works well in this context, allowing us to really get a feel for Utsusemimaru’s olde worlde sense of honour and obligation.

The flipside of this is that the main plot sort of falls by the wayside – haven’t we had an episode where Candelia attempts to be an evil singer already? – but it’s silly and solid enough to not get too distracting and it’s helped by a return to the breakneck, cram everything in pacing which characterised the early episodes of the show. There’s a lot of very funny bits here, from some of the best Nossan puns yet to the the entire group’s fantastic heel turn into pink clad idol otaku. Amy’s bizarre turn with the unicycle is sort of so weird and rubbish it becomes amazing and there’s some very good action as well, with Amy’s bike skills on display. Utsusemimaru’s lock’n’load powerup montage will probably get old real fast but this first time at least it’s cool and has that weird addictive vibe that the coolest stock footage sometimes gains. Pretty great, if quick, robot fight too.

A shout out is due as well for Haruka Tomatsu, who manages to be both adorable and turn in an excellent performance that really well replicates the girly, pouty movement of monster Candelia. In fact, the acting is universally great in this episode, from Ayuri Konno’s sassy yet sensitive Amy to Atsushi Maruyama’s charmingly earnest Utsusemimaru. I’ve done a total 180 on Gold after this, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he and his awesome clothes will integrate into the team.

Random Observations

• I just cannot get enough of Samurai Daigo’s incredible mustache. It’s like it’s looking back through the screen at me.
• I fully expect one of you to link me to the inevitable gif of the Nossan fist-pump when it gets made.
• In case you forgot that Koichi Sakomoto directs this series, we have some of the most egregious examples of Kalishplosions yet
• As Aqua mentions, Utsusemimaru is rather clumsily integrated into the opening and closing credits. Why do they bother re-shooting some bits but not others? Also Ankydon is now in the opening credits, as is the inevitable Kyoryuzin/Pteraidenoh combination.
• Did I mention the mustache?