Recap: When Ian and Utchy discover one of Souji’s friends has a crush on him, they decide to play matchmaker for the unknowing couple

Aquagaze‘s Thoughts: You know what? After a series of very enjoyable episodes, I can comfortably say that I retract my previous statements about Kyoryuger failing to succeed at being funny. In fact, this show is at its very best when it decides to leave its admittedly meager plot be and focuses on enjoyable, character-focused filler. While I am still a bit bummed Souji’s original character arc got thrown out of the window prematurely alongside everyone else’s, this episode certainly delivered in making us care about him. And with “care about him” I mean “want to punch him in the face”.

Our literally and metaphorically green Ranger finds his life being turned into a high school romance anime of the most stereotypical sort, complete with sweet childhood friends, obsessive stalkers, cartoonish delinquents and people being called “idiot” in a very loud voice. While it is already pretty fun to see the animated tropes we are all too familiar with sprout to life in the real world — with some extra Super Sentai goofiness thrown in for good measure — it becomes even more fun to see how Kyoryuger‘s charismatic cast reacts to them. Souji’s childhood friend Rei is absolutely adorable and you will start rooting for her within minutes, which makes it all the more frustrating that she, even with some help from professional social experts Ian and Utsusemimaru, fails to break through his impenetrable shield of male protagonist denseness. Sorry girlie, he’s a tokusatsu hero. You know he cannot be straight.

Rei not getting the happy ending she deserves is by far the most disappointing part of this episode, which should tell you something about how enjoyable it was. From a giant, wacky scissors monster turning people into blubbering messes or obsessive Yuno Gasai types to Daigo dressing up like a lady with all the flair of Elton John, this episode showed us just how quirky and loveable the Kyoryugers can be. That makes it all the more saddening that the show is so afraid of allowing the Rangers to have lives outside their little group. When is the last time Nobu’s sister and niece did anything substantial? Or Souji’s father? Or Amy’s butler? When there is so much fun being had, it just feels strange not to share some of it with people who don’t dress up in brightly coloured spandex all the time.

Random Observations

• Sneaking into high schools and calling Souji “boy”, Ian keeps being the best at being unintentionally creepy. Oh my.
• Amy is apparently in college, even though we never actually see her attending class. Kinda like me, then. Given the fact that the girl who plays her is 16 years old, Super Sentai seems to be keen on doing the exact opposite of the casting adults as teens thing Power Rangers is so known for. “Teenagers with attitude” indeed.
• Very attentive toku fanatics may have recognized Rei as Chizuru, the streetdancing girl in episodes 7 and 8 of Kamen Rider W. I bet she wants to show Souji her Heaven’s Tornado, if you know what I mean, hurr hurr hurr.
• What is better than ending credits with little kids doing the dino samba? Ending credits with little kids and their teachers dressed up in crappy cardboard boxes resembling Torin and Gabutyra doing the dino samba, of course!

Dragonzigg‘s Thoughts: Kyoryuger has been at its best when it plays to its funny, living cartoon style and if ever an episode epitomised that, it’s this one. There’s a merciful step back from toy shilling and explosions for the most part, instead playing a fast and loose variation on the high school comedy. These are pretty tired tropes but the fact we’re seeing rubber-faced humans act them out rather than anime characters brings a whole new kind of life to them.

The show is still at the point where it can simply throw different characters together and watch as they bounce off of each other, and that’s exactly what we get with Ian and Utchy here, as the naive samurai and the arrogant loverboy combine in a tornado of hilarious stupidity. Their dressup act is the highlight but the whole clash of Ian’s loucheness and Utchy’s adorable innocence works well. It’s nice that Souji gets another focus episode too, as he’s felt a little pushed into the background as of late, and Rei is cute and sells a generic part pretty well.

In the action department meanwhile we find out that Pteraidenoh can snap together too, opening up hundreds of new merchandising opportunities …um…merchandising opportunities? Seriously though, it’s a pretty cool move which hopefully will lead to some wild and wacky robot combinations. The ending is also a pretty great joke and while I know it’s extremely unlikely, I do hope we see more of Rei, if only to give Souji’s everyday life some more character.

Otherwise, I’m going to be brief for once – this was a hilarious episode and one which I thoroughly enjoyed. Utchy being with the team, and everyone else settling into their groove, has led to some consistently funny, exciting episodes that have pushed Kyoryuger to a very high standard indeed. Looking forward to more.

Random Observations

• Ian ‘shooting’ the screen is a very cool way to cut.
• Disappointingly telling that the entire Kendo team is male but the one who makes the tea is a girl.
•  I absolutely love that Utchy can’t recognise King but instantly knows it’s Nossan.
• Seriously Souji, are you blind or something?
• The adults dressed as Torin and Gabutyra in the ending dance are true heroes.
• I guarantee a shout out on the next post if anyone can identify the manga Luckiero is cribbing from.