Recap: Utsusemimaru continues to act aloof, but then he’s forced to team up with King to battle the Debo monster who killed his lord

Dragonzigg‘s Thoughts: Another extremely good episode that brings out the very best in Kyoryuger – it’s fast, funny and revolves around what are rapidly looking to be the two best characters in the show. The chemistry between King and Utchy here is excellent and really nails the ‘bestest best bros’ feeling that a good combination of characters in a toku show should have. As before, the show chooses to throw out a potentially intriguing plot pretty quickly – by the end of the episode Utchy is basically completely over his complex about losing his lord – but since this one would have been a bit tougher to spin out for a long period, I’m OK with it being wrapped up right now.

I shouldn’t really need to keep praising Ryo Ryusei’s performance as Daigo, but here goes anyway – he’s effortlessly energetic and brings a lot of charisma to a character who on the face of it is a rather bland good guy sort. His enthusism really conveys the sense of get-up-and-go you’d expect from a Red Ranger, and I think he’s pretty much the only guy on the cast who interacts well with every other member. Atsushi Maruyama is just adorable as Utchy, his dorkish charm perfectly contrasting with his earnestness and desire to hide his personality from the others, and his clumsy attempt to act stand-offish to them in the opening is a comedy highlight. The payoff of getting to see him transform alongside the others is one of the most satisfying parts of the episode

Being the episode where the team also finally fully assembles, naturally there’s an action overload with a bunch of great fights to be had. Sakomoto cracks his explosion-o-meter to all new heights here, resulting in pyrotechnics that are pretty insane even by Sentai standards, but it fits the goofy knockabout tone so well I’m not really going to complain about that. There’s also the debut of some super cool new stock footage, like the traditional ‘everyone attacks in sequence’ segment, and the quite frankly awesome sight of Utchy surfing on top of the Kentrospiker. It’ll no doubt get old after a bit, but this first time out it’s just straight up amazing and it feels like there’s more action packed into these two minutes than some entire episodes.

If there’s a complain I’ve got, it’s the final sequence with the formation of Raiden Kyoryuzin, who’s basically just Kyoryuzin wearing Pteraidenoh as a backpack and using his head as a sweet hat. While I am hugely in favour of mecha with sweet hats (step forward Samurai Sentai Shinkenger) this is pretty underwhelming for a combination between the two main mecha, though the ‘snap-together’ way Kroyuzin works means I’ve no doubt will see many variations on the theme as we go on. Nevertheless, I’m hopeful we get a full, proper ultimate robot somewhere down the line.

That nitpick aside, this was an excellent episode of Kyoryuger, combining it’s now trademark breakneck pacing with excellent character work, good laughs and some thumping action. After a few episodes where the show seemed to wobble a little it’s righted itself imnpressively, and I look forward to further adventures with Utchy on board.

Random Observations

• Farewell sweet facial hair prince. We barely knew ye.
• This episode was broadcast on Children’s Day, hence the festival and the references to it. It’s nice to know the Japanese still make children fight for their amusement.
• The idea of evil kiddie samurai is one they don’t really flesh out too much, but then it’s probably a little too dark for the show.
• Amy’s stern teacher routine is pretty funny but I’d really feel much more comfortable if we didn’t get so many gratuitous dadservice shots.
•  The home-made dances at the end are a) Adorable and b) A reminder that if you’re reading this, you are so, so far outside the target demographic.