Recap: The Legion creates clones of Deboss to attack locations all over the world. The Kyoryugers are forced to split up and confront each threat separately.

Zigg‘s Thoughts: I’m always a little nervous when Kyoryuger goes serious (or, let’s face it, as serious as it can feasibly get) since these plot heavy episodes tend to be less fun than the random goofing ones. Fortunately though this is a great kickoff to what I assume is the beginning of the end, since we’ve got at most 8-10 episodes left. OK, so the reappearance of the ultra dumb Deboss mosnter isn’t really the finest way to convey a serious threat, but nevertheless we do get a good sense that this is an attack on a scale not seen before. As stupid and transparent as it is, the ‘global’ gimmick helps that too, and there’s no denying seeing all the robots on screen at once is super cool. I’m normally not very into the gigantic mech battles in toku, but there’s definitely a high-stakes vibe which raises this one up.

It’s just as well too, because I was a little disappointed with the actual team stuff. For a start, I was hoping we’d get to see a few unusual teamups but they mostly stick with tried and tested partnerships. I’d really have enjoyed say, Ian hanging out with Tessai, or Souji and Yayoi fighting together. What we get instead isn’t bad per se, but is somewhat more predictable, which is still fun but perhaps a little lacking. What’s a bigger issue is how King and, to a lesser extent, Utchy dominate this episode. While Daigo remains likable, the show is so relentlessly focused around his badassery that themed episodes are getting a little bit wearying. Meanwhile, as much as I love Utchy he and Daigo just don’t work particularly well together, especially since the plotline about his guilt over his Lord’s death is now worked out. Utchy needs a goofy fall guy to work his straight man schtick against, with Daigo it’s dangerously close to teamup of the Mary Sues. That’s not to say there’s nothing to be enjoyed here, but merely to point out that these two are not the ideal combination.

Of course, the really intriguing part here is the re-emergence of the Dogold/Endolf subplot. While I don’t think anyone truly believed Endolf was gone for good when Dogold bodysnatched him, the plot has been left to simmer for an impressively long time. It’s been 12 episodes since we last saw Endolf, and he’s barely even been mentioned in that time, so to bring his influence back here with nary even a warning was a good swerve. I liked Dogold slowly beginning to channel his host body’s mannerisms and habits too (though it’d have been better if they hadn’t pointed it out every two minutes)  and the episode ends really strongly by having Dogold blatantly go against Deboss interests in favour of his own agenda, something that seems out of character for him. When Endolf showed up there was much talk he’d be a traitor within the ranks, as Sentai shows are prone to have – could that still be happening, just way later than we expected? It injects a welcome dose of uncertainty into proceedings as we enter the final stretch.

Random Observations

• Surprisingly little Christmas stuff this episode, but I’d be remiss if i didn’t point out the blatant set and tree sharing between this and Kamen Rider Gaim. Also, how adorable is Utchy?
• OK, London, China and New York I get, but why would Deboss attack Hawaii? Beyond the ‘it’s an exotic place Japanese kids will know’ thing.
• Speaking of which, I don’t recall many huge cityscapes in Hawaii and as for London, come on.
• Sort of disappointed Daigo was not strapped to a cross as has happened countless times in toku shows down the years.
• Those trailers for the new Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters movie continue to be pretty sweet, and continue to contain almost no Go-Busters whatsoever.