But the problem is that he's bordering unlikable territory.
Children are assholes. True. Children don't break and enter a home then force them into your life.
He's not acting like a child. He's acting like a sociopath.

Episode 19 and 20.
So Akomaro's plan was to corrupt Kou into a Gorma. Interesting. It was also a neat execution, disguising himself as a young girl and one of the priestesses as the girl's mother to convince him that parents suck and to abandon hope of his mother loving him in the process.
Shame it was stopped by the Dairangers.

Anyway, Kaku shows up for a bit to reveal that he also knows Kou is Kibaranger. Makes me wonder when the titular heroes will learn now. We also learn that Kibaranger's KiDen Beast (Won Tiger? I dunno. To avoid spoilers, I'm not looking stuff up) is about to reveal itself, as well as a glimpse of the main villain (I assume), Gorma the 15th.
However, going by my Sentai knowledge and the fact that I'm only 20 episodes in, I wouldn't exactly be surprised if there's another villain higher up on the food chain...

As a whole, the episodes were decent. They didn't make Kou as assholish as the previous few, so it was a lot easier to feel for him this time around than when Rin tricked him about his mother coming back a few episodes ago. I want to like Kou more, but his debut had him acting so despicably that it's hard to wash that taste out of my mouth. I do hope more episodes like this, that downplay his asshole tendencies while also keeping him like he was a child, would certainly help, though.

Anyway, something that's bugging me is Byakko's presence. Not because of the character, but how he's always in a hammer space sort of situation...Except when he's not. I'll accept that the changers can just spontaneously appear on the characters' wrists. But Byakko just randomly showing up to talk to Kou, then disappearing, then showing up again to Tenshin...Come on. At least when he had his backpack, that offered a plausible explanation, but when he's wearing a form fitting jacket?

Wow. Way to overgeneralize.

Except I'm not. I'm a teacher, I have seen how kids can act, especially towards each other. They are down right mean at times and do it intentionally. Sometimes it is going to the bathroom to text another kid in class that he is worthless and should not exist. Other times it is two girls going in the corner to talk about how much they hate the girl they are sitting next two. Then there are times where half of the class gangs up on one kid because they don't like her mom.

And of course that's not a highly generalized overly specific set of examples personal to you. It's definitely a cross section of society as a whole. Right? :rolleyes

How much time do you actually spend with kids that are not your own?

Also, have you ever seen a Kindergartner say to a classmate, "**** OFF YOU STUPID SLUT!!" I have. It was most shocking. As was hearing a 1st grader call a girl in line a douche bag. If all of this occurred in just one school, perhaps I am over generalizing. However, this has been the case in many schools in various areas from the poor neighborhoods to the rich ones. The point is, kids are cruel. Hell, even us a kids said and did stupid things and knew what we were doing was wrong.

I work retail Kain, I see children every single day of my career. Not all of them are the horrible monsters and petty little jerks you're trying to make them out to be. Yes the occasional kid screams and cries and gets pissed because their parent won't buy them this toy of this comic book from me. But that is far from what ALL children are like. Your personal experience is not indicative of children as an entire demographic. This isn't fact, so stop talking about it that way.

I don't know that you can equate the experience of seeing a kid who is supervised by his parents for a few minutes as a retail shop keeper to seeing a kid all day, every day as a teacher. Teachers know those kids way more intimately than a shop keeper who interacts with kids on a very limited, superfluous basis. They know their relationship structures, their tendency for deviousness, and they have a much larger breadth of experience watching children behave in group settings. So you probably shouldn't discount Kain's experience.

Obviously ALL kids are not monsters, but Kain never said ALL kids. And if we're talking about facts, the fact is that kids don't psychologically develop the capacity for empathy until they're seven, and some don't develop it until even later. They are virtually sociopaths until that point.

There's a pervasive notion that all kids are sweet, precious innocents by default. They are not. This is dangerous, reductive thinking. They come in a wide variety of flavors, and many are less than savory. Having depictions of kids that don't sugarcoat the fact that many of them are less than saintly is important and, from my perspective, way more indicative of reality.

No one is discounting his experiences at all, all anyone has pointed out is that to say "kids are brats" is both a sweeping statement and a massive overgeneralisation.

Which, y'know, it is.

... Moving on. I'm still enjoying Abaranger. Now in the bandwagon with everyone else clamoring for Aba-Figuarts.

Abaranger is a really solid show. It has its moments of absurdity, and there were a few times when I was ready to stop watching the show when I first saw it, but the pay off was so worth it and it is only a show that gets better with each viewing. Hell, now that I can finally watch the entire show subbed should also increase my enjoyment of it immensely.

So do you understand Japanese then if you don't watch shows subbed? If you dint understand Japanese, then it's practically a waste of time.

Well then...

21 and 22.
So Kou finally gets to meet up with his mother again, only for her to the thrown and disappear again. Akomaru certainly has a grudge against this kid, even when he's not even certain he's Kibaranger...

Won Tiger is also born, and he looks pretty nice. I'm a fan of his warrior mode, but I wish they slowed down on introducing his combined form. Oh well, though.

I'm curious for when the others will learn of Kibaranger's identity.

In what way? There are a lot of people on this site, and in general, who watch Raws of episodes and movies as they become available. And then again once the subs drop. So don't generalize.

I didn't know I needed to fully understand Japanese to enjoy something. I know a small amount of Japanese because my g/f and I were studying it since we were trying to go to Japan to teach English. I know enough (or knew, since I have lost some of it in the recent years) to understand the basics of a series that is simple like Sentai and Kamen Rider. Also, you don't need to be fluent in a foreign language to enjoy the action scenes.

Oh yeah, and back in 2003, having subbed Sentai and Rider shows were a rarity. As such, you had to watch it any way you could be it raw or with poor Engrish subs. I have several Region 2 DVDs as well because I liked the series enough to buy them (some more than others) so I could support official products.

Well of you don't understand the language, then you don't know what the characters are saying, which is pretty important to know what's going on in the show.

Uh, well that makes more sense. Its weird to me to hear about a time before I got more into tokusatsu, how things used to be back then.

I enjoyed the Hong Kong subs of Kuuga and still watched it.

and Hong Kong subs are TERRIBLE.

I got to agree that this is wrong. I have been learning Japanese and watching RAWS have been aiding in that and I can still enjoy the show. It is made for kids, you can always tell the tone and direction of the episode even without words. My daughters enjoy it and they are really young.

The Japanese in Super Sentai isn't that hard either. Rider requires a bit more knowledge (especially Gaim), but generally, the vocabulary is pretty simple. While I do watch the subbed version to confirm certain things (and because Convoy and the others sometimes talk over stuff when we watch the raws), I usually watch the stream and even translate parts myself during the broadcast.

23 and 24.

Kujaku's arc continues. So she's deteriorating from the pollution in the atmosphere? How very 90's. Anyway, I'm most curious in how the arc will continue, now that she's searching for a sacred feather to heal her.
As for the episode itself, it was only okay. Kujaku's sentiment of "Only I can kill [X]" is pretty generic, since it's popped up so many times elsewhere. It's kind of facepalm worthy to see a villain (Or sometimes, hero) on their last leg, only to be saved because someone else wanted the kill, be it for revenge, glory, pride, etc. Daigo literally punching his way out of the monster's gut was pretty cool, though.
However, the biggest failing of this episode was the melodrama. The Kujaku episodes tended to be the heaviest in terms of tone and drama, but here it was dialed way too high. Daigo spontaneously confessing his love for her, Kujaku being a dramatic bitch, Shouji throwing a hissy fit and then being completely calm out of nowhere, the others abandoning him then feeling bad...This episode just had too much going on. It would've benefited to be a 2 parter like the other Kujaku episodes.
Well, now she's on her journey to find this feather and restore her body. Time will tell how this advances.

Next have the 3 idiots return for a game of baseball. So the Baseball Sentai Dairanger appear to challenge them!
This episode wasn't so hot. Villains want to leave the bad guys, convince heroes to go along with it, turns out to be a trick and they're still just trying to kill the heroes. It's cliched. I was actively hoping they legit wanted to leave Gouma and change, desperate that they weren't just trying to double cross them.
Well, they did, and it was very by the numbers. The baseball theme did keep it from feeling tired, but the charm wore off quickly.
Ultimately, they survived. I wonder if they'll show up again and challenge the rangers to a game of basketball next...

Anyway, Kou was strangely absent. For a character that had the last 6 or so episodes devoted to him, it's odd that he's gone completely for the next two. Kibaranger did appear in the baseball episode, but, like usual, it was Byakko doing the talking. Kou didn't make an on screen or vocal appearance at all these past two episodes. I don't mind having him be pulled from the spotlight, it was just an observation.

I said if you don't understand Japanese then it's a waist of time, especially when you're just going to watch the sub later. But if you're learning Japanese then it is a good tool to see how much you know age get more fluent in the language.

It's still not a waste of time; the show can be enjoyed without understanding the language. That is the beauty of toku; the action drives the story mostly (use to be the other-way-around, but times have changed).

Episodes 25, 26, and 27.
25 wasn't anything special. Copy machine makes evil copies. There's so much that could've been done, but wasn't, unfortunately.

So, 26 and 27.
We're introduced to a new character, Jin. A Dark karate user who goes around assassinating other martial artists. It's fairly interesting. Cold hearted after losing his left hand to his former master, he only cares about using his fighting skills to kill other martial arts masters. Unfortunately, they drop the ball a bit, having him attempt multiple kills from sucker punches (Granted, they do evolve into full fledged fights, but it's kind of a dick move for someone proving his skill to kill a person before they even realize they're in a fight).

Ryou challenges him, but loses. He takes him on again, against Doushi's wishes, and loses. All the while, Gouma lets loose a monster who can absorb and block impacts, making him more of a match for the Dairangers. After he absorbs Rin, Ryou undergoes training from hell to increase his reflex and punching speed. After defeating Jin in their 3rd fight, he moves on and defeats the jar monster as well, freeing the captured Dairangers.

However, Jin proves that his cold heart is basically just an ice sculpture in the shape of a heart, accepting power offered by Gouma in exchange for proving that he has no good inside him, killing his ex-girlfriend who he still loved. Defying Gouma immediately after gaining the power, he becomes a solo agent akin to Akomaru defying Gouma for his own vendetta.

I like the change in status quo for the villains. Akomaru kind of brought one, but he was still loyal to Gouma until his last plan, where he just threw a hissy fit. I hope that Jin isn't going to just show up once, lose, then get his powers taken after how they built him up. I'm curious to see where this will go.

Also, 3 more episodes where Kou and Kibaranger are entirely absent. I guess being the second series to have a regular sixth, they're didn't feel like shoving him in? Man, coming into Sentai in the late 2000s, it's weird to watch a series with a sixth who isn't featured in every episode after their arrival :lol

That is what I love about the Sentai series of the 90s though, they didn't shove teh 6th ranger down our throats. The sixth rangers showed up to kick ass and left until they were needed again. It wasn't like today where the sixth rangers are there to get their asses beat with the other rangers.

And most of the time there was a legitimate reason for them not showing up. Burai having to stay in the other dimension, Byako not wanting to reveal Kou as Kiba, and Yuusaku having to go back and forth from Earth and the moon while also dealing with the time limit to name a few.

It is nice. It makes his appearances more interesting. I still don't like the secret identity angle, though.

Oh, Yuusaku. The one ranger who I actually liked more when he WASN'T transformed :lol
As Mega Silver, he was an OP piece of shit that made the other rangers look like bitches. Un-transformed, he was hilarious as hell, trying to act like he was 10 years younger than he actually was while everyone scolded him :lol

Well, episode 28.
We're introduced to a new group of subordinates for the main villains. I was going to be incredibly disappointed if they were just killed off in their introduction, because they were taken down curiously quickly...

You must be talking about the Shitennou/Four Winds, right?

Eeyup. Those guys. I'm glad they didn't just die off like bitches. I'm curious about what they have in store.

Oh, I forgot to mention Kameo. The fat dude who has just shown up a couple times now has a name. He also collects and raises turtles.
I do know there is a turtle/tortoise mech in Dairanger, so I'm curious if he's involved with it at all.

Episodes 29 and 30.
A lot happened, which is interesting considering the main monster was more of a silly one.
The biggest revelation is that the Dairangers found out that Kou was Kibaranger. Their reaction was surprisingly subdued. I guess when you fight a monster whose main gimmick is throwing bombs that can only be stopped by tongue twisters, you become more accepting of other happenings. I was hoping Kibaranger's identity would be revealed soon. The secret was starting to wear thin.
We also learn that Kou's father was a Gouma, so I'm thinking that his father is Shadam, Akomaru's father. I could be entirely wrong, but that's just my theory. Anyway, due to this, Kou could become a Gouma unless reunited with his mother soon, making the problem a lot larger.

As for the episodes, they were just okay. Aside from setting up the next set of plotlines (Kou needing to reunite with his mother, whatever the hell is going on with Kameo, and Gouma the 15th was fishing for something in hell), they weren't anything special. I'm not a fan of their new weapon, the KiRyoku Bazooka. It looks very 80's in design and I preferred their KiRyoku Bomber. Kou's reveal as Kibaranger to the Dairangers would have been a lot bigger if the audience didn't know for 10 episodes already.
I'm curious about Kameo and the 7th RaiRai Jewel, but they make Kameo so childish that his scenes border on facepalm worthy. It's like they took Raita from Jetman and de-aged him mentally by 20 years. He still has a sense of charm, but he's just too over the top in his reactions.
Well, the story is moving forward at full force, and I'm curious about what they all have to offer, which is nice since many series tend to have rather uninteresting side stories. I'm also still interested to learn about the other two plot lines (Kujaku and Jin).

Well, since Gouma the 15th is starting to do something and Kameo is getting a lot of screen time, I'm assuming their story arcs are the next two to be resolved. While Kou's does have a timer attached to it, I'm assuming it'll be clutch time for increased dramatic tension.

EDIT
Episode 31.
So, Gouma the 15th was fishing for Akomaru in hell. That's pretty interesting. I thought he would be fishing for some generic super warrior or something. Cool. I'm curious to see where Kou's story will move next, now that Akomaru is back, too.
In other news, we find out the relation between Kameo and DaiMugen, the giant turtle mech. I can honestly say I didn't anticipate this. So Kameo IS DaiMugen? Huh...Well, I guess they didn't want to have another "Large" ranger. Shame. I would've loved for a Kameranger. Still, nice to see him be significant to the story. I don't know if Kameo's story arc is done, though.
However, I never liked DaiMugen's (Or, for me, Tor's) design. It's too boxy (I know, tortoise and all) and the choice to have his shell open to store Won Tiger or RyuSeiOh means that he has no transformation space. I like the idea of having a mecha that's all about defensive power, but making him a brick, even on screen, just isn't the way to do it (See Pyramidas/King Pyramider for another failure at doing so).
However, I do have to admit that Heavy Armor Chi Palace's finisher of just dropping on the enemy is still pretty funny.

Holy shit, it IS Raita from Jetman. Damn :lol

Yeah. THe original actor they got to play Kameo was only in for his first 2 or 3 episodes and then he quit the show.

BTW, the reason Daimugen is a turtle is because it all goes in line with the Chinese mythology the show dives into. The Four Guardians are the Azure Dragon (East), the White Tiger (West), the Red Phoenix (South), and the Black Turtle (North). However, in Japan, the White Tiger is sometimes replaced with a Kirin.

That's interesting. I guess me seeing a lot of Raita in him was more on point than I thought :lol

And yeah, I know about the cardinal beasts. No worries. I was curious about the other 3 rangers' beasts, though. Since I knew the significance of the dragon and phoenix, and I knew that a tortoise and tiger were going to be used, too. I never got why a lion/shishi, tenma, and kirin were chosen.
Didn't know Japan used the kirin in place of a tiger, though.

Episodes 32 and 33.
First was an interesting play on the boy who cried wolf, with Shoji using the Aura Changer to wake Ryo up, but then Ryo ignoring it the second time after a Gouma attack. Rather than have it be the same lesson on lying, they put the issue on Ryo's shoulders of doubting a friend.
It wasn't anything special. Gouma had one hell of a kick, though.

33 was another beast, though. Rin falling in love with a Gouma, and the Gouma loving her back, going so far as to halt his plan to save her. It didn't anticipate it, as I was expecting him to pull a Frozen "I never loved you" kind of non-twist. It was hard to watch him die protecting a weakened Rin from Gara, and then having Rin kill his rampaging giant form.
I like it when a series shows it's villains having a heart. I like it even more when it's tragic, as it shows why they don't just defect at moment's notice, having such consequences be evident that surviving is more difficult. Still, it was a touching episode. I'll miss ya, Media Magician.
Probably the best one off episode in the series (Granted, I still have 17 episodes to go).

Aside: I think this was the first episode to feature DaiRenOh being directly piloted by someone other than Ryuuranger, as even in episodes centered on other characters, Ryuuranger was always the one front and center in the cockpit (Granted, the focus character would still call out the attack).
http://i.imgur.com/UjmJkz5.png

Episodes 34 and 35
It wasn't anything special, to be honest. It had a semi environmentalist message to it, but it wasn't inserted well. I don't quite know what this episode was going for, but eh. Daigo's episodes tend to focus more on protecting all life, plants included, so it makes some sense...This episode was just too fast paced and the cactus monster's gimmick was just a less interesting version of the puppet from way early on.

35 sees the return of Jin, the murderous martial artist. Making use of his new abilities and form, he's still up to his old ways, utilizing a spider technique to kill foes through fear.
He's a bit of a cheating bastard.
I really dislike that he can beat the other Dairangers no problem, and that Ryou is the only one on his level. I know Ryou went through training from hell, but it's kind of an insult to see the other rangers beaten so easily.
Anyway, Jin ultimately pulls the cliche "Only I can beat you" card and takes a bullet (Er...Cannon) meant for Ryou and dies/passes out. It's not really clear. What we do know is that Zaidos has abducted his body and plans on turning him into a puppet.
It was an okay episode, but rather weak compared to his introductory episodes.

EDIT: Episode 36.
The Kujaku arc continues, with it seeming that they've found the location of the Sacred Peacock Tear. However, it all turns out to be an illusion set up by a monster and Gara.
The plan was rather weak, basically relying on them being completely unable to focus their ki, but I guess since it was specifically set up to trick the weakened Kujaku, I guess I'll let it slide.

Really though, the part that made the episode interesting was seeing both sides of the coin when it comes to Kujaku and Gara's past. We learn that Gara was a former Dai member who defected to the Gouma tribe, as well as how Gara got her scar (That she can totally hide with her powers), protecting Kujaku from a rain of stone bricks.
At first we're presented that Gara is a vain bitch who was angry because the scar ruined her looks, and Kujaku, wanting to repay her for protecting her, became the avatar for the king of peacocks to use a method to heal her.
However, we soon learn that Gara was angry for an entirely different reason. She didn't care about the scar as long as she had her valued friend by her side. But with Kujaku leaving to learn and train to heal her, she lost that friendship and grew embittered, thinking she was abandoned. It's always interesting to see how one story can split in two ways, and this one was certainly interesting.

In the end, Kujaku still needs the Peacock Tear and they're no closer to finding it, putting them in a predicament.
However, we now know Gara is a former Dai Tribe member, which is pretty neat. I'm certainly intrigued in how Kujaku's story arc continues.

The lion, or Shishi, is another protector in Buddhism. The Tenma, or Pegasus is because the Kirin is often confused with a unicorn, especially in Western ideologies. That is also why both Kiden Beasts are pretty much identical in design.

BTW, the Golden Kick Oni episode is one of my favorites. I love the monster and how crazy unique he is and I love the music that accompanies him.

Episodes 37 and 38.
Well, quite a lot happened in these two episodes.
First, Kameo spots the silhouette of a dragon on the moon. Naturally, no one else sees it. It turns out to be the coming of DaiJinRyuu, a being of destruction who is a neutral party in this war. Seeing Earth in constant turmoil, he decides that destroying it would be the best course of action to keep space balanced (Jeez, with that lurking over your shoulder, no wonder DaiMugen hates fighting). Dwarfing DaiRenOh and towering over many buildings, including the Tokyo Tower, fighting him would basically amount to kicking Godzilla's toes and expecting to take it down.

However, that's not all. Kou's birthday is soon approaching as YouRyoku is starting to emit from his body. Gouma takes this opportunity (Mainly Shadam, to spite his son's plan of waiting it out) to fill Kou with YouRyoku to mind control him.

With the constant fighting going on, DaiJinRyuu takes it on himself to kill everyone, traveling from country to country and wrecking the place, mainly wherever he finds the most strife. Kaku takes drastic action and walks into Gouma's front door (And we see he can perform YouRyoku, interesting). Meeting with Gouma the 15th, he demands a ceasefire. The answer is obvious, but DaiJinRyuu shows up with impeccable timing and begins to destroy their headquarters, causing Gouma the 15th to concede and a ceasefire is created. With the ceasefire, DaiJinRyuu relents his decision and returns to space. (However, in the stinger, Gouma just says that he'll keep attacking, only keeping an eye on DaiJinRyuu to make sure he doesn't return)

With Kou missing and under mind control, the Dairangers in a ceasefire with Gouma (Though they will probably break it next episode), and the city in pieces, these two episodes felt quite grand.

Something I enjoyed in these episodes were the scale of things. DaiJinRyuu's appearance was built up quite well, with multiple establishing shots to showcase just how large he was physically as well as how large of a threat he was. The tension was also upped by having the Dairangers aiding civilians, completely unable to compete against DaiJinRyuu. It felt like quite the crisis as all they could do was lift rubble and get people to safety as they watched the destruction occur.
The revelation that Kaku is hiding some kind of relation to Gouma is also pretty interesting. While I'm not surprised, I do want to know more of what's going on (I know Gouma the 15th greeted Kaku as "His old friend," but considering he's a villain with an ego, I'm assuming that's more of an asshole taunt and not taking it at face value).

Quite a lot went down in these two episodes, and I'm super curious if Gouma's decision to immediately go against the ceasefire will call DaiJinRyuu back anytime soon.

Episodes 39 and 40.
We see the return of Jin, who survived the sucker punch, but was modified by Zaidos into a raging monster. However, he is able to overcome it and turn on him.
A notable part of this episode was Jin seeing the good through Ryou's actions, surprising considering he already saw the good in the world through his former partner...And he killed her...
Still though, while he never got his true final duel with Ryou, he went out Western style, fighting down foes before being taken down by a hail of bullets, knowing his death was coming.

40 also focused on the return of former characters, this time the 3 idiots. Challenging Shoji to a race, Zaidos reveals to have rigged the race, anticipating Kamikaze to fail like always and lined the finish line with bombs to kill Shouji as he crosses it.
Kamikaze (Actually neck and neck with Shoji) finds this out and, in a sense of honor for a duel between men, chooses to put his all into winning. The other 2 try to stop him, but they (Along with Zaidos) get caught in the explosion, dying rather tragically. One mech fight later, Shouji laments their loss at the sunset, declaring Kamikaze the winner.
...Until it's revealed that Hell didn't want them. They decide to denounce Gouma and choose to wander Earth, atoning for their sins.

I'm not surprised that these two episodes weren't as heavy considering the previous two. They were quite nice, giving us resolution and (Minor) redemption towards Jin, who ultimately wanted a fight between warriors, not as monster and senshi.
It was also nice to see the 3 idiots one more time. Though they were still up to their cheating ways, it was good to see that Kamikaze held enough honor to sacrifice himself, rather than kill Shouji through cheating.

41, 42, and 43.
I tend to watch 2 episodes at a time, but I thought 42 and 43 were connected. Then I found out that 43 ended on a cliffhanger. I didn't want to forget my thoughts on 41 before posting, so I'll put ep 44 on hold.

Anyway, 41.
The Kujaku story arc seems to have finished, and what a story it was. I found it pretty interesting how they handled it. Something I didn't think of was that as soon as they used the Peacock Tear to heal Kujaku, she'd just start deteriorating again since it'd just heal her, not adapt her body to the current time. It was a nice twist that I didn't anticipate.
We are also presented with the option that the Peacock Tear could remove the pollution in the world. While a good idea on paper, there are numerous problems with how that could work out, notably what qualifies as pollution. The episode presents the idea that in removing pollution, we also remove our bodies' various immunities to viruses and bacteria. I don't think that quite makes sense, but the concept of just wiping out pollution in one fell swoop might not just fix the world's problems.
For the story proper, we finally end Gara and Kujaku's rivalry, with Kujaku choosing to use the Peacock Tear to heal Gara's scar (And blindness, which she received in battle earlier) to finally thank Gara properly for saving her life earlier. Throwing the Tear into the lake/river/ocean, she loses her chance to heal, and soon dies. It was a touching scene, watching her fade away, her KiRyoku flying off into the distance as a rainbow peacock and Kujaku becoming Mahamayri Vidyaraja.

That's not all, though.
42 and 43 don't relent at all.
Picking up the story of Kou becoming a Gouma, we find that his birthday is close at hand, barely having a day to fix things. For good news, they are finally able to save Kou's mother, but unfortunately, they lose Byakko Shinken, who is necessary to the ceremony, and Kou is still missing.
As the YouRyoku surges through Kou's body, he finds himself in a helpless trance and attacking the Dairangers before spontaneously retreating. But that's not all. Shadam is also kind of an asshole (Shocking, I know). Choosing to screw over Akomaru's plan, he gets his son banished from Gouma, causing him to go into a rage to keep the Dairangers and Kou's mother from reaching Kou.
And the icing on the cake is that DaiJinRyuu has noticed that the fighting has continued, and returned to Earth. Rather than just destroy at random, though, he chose a more creative path to get his point across. Hypnotizing as many humans as he can, he lines them up across buildings, ready to jump to their deaths at a moments notice if the fighting doesn't cease.

The stakes are certainly being raised with Kou having little time remaining to meet with his mother and DaiJinRyuu making his comeback. We also get the shocking revelation that Akomaru is, in fact, Kou's brother, which I initially assumed. We still don't have 100% proof that Shadam is the father to both of them, but I'm fairly positive he is.

Things are getting tense. Gouma the 15th is seemingly afraid of Shadam, we have no idea how Kaku managed to retrieve Byakko Shinken from Gouma's hands, DaiJinRyuu is ready to have an entire city perform a mass suicide to get his point across, and Akomaru is hellbent on making sure Kou transforms into a Gouma.

EDIT: Episode 44
Wow, so that was one hell of a conclusion.
We learn why Kou's mother never really met Akomaru, choosing to abandon him to save the life of Kou. While it is kind that she chose the route that saved both her sons' lives, it does justify why Akomaru is so cold hearted, being raised by the cruel Gouma with his heartless father. We also get, for certainty, that Shadam is Kou's father, too. Poor kid.

Anyway, Kou is finally cleansed of the Gouma and is back to his normal self. However, the ceremony causes a cave in, trapping Kou's mother for certain death. Tearfully, they share a loving moment before Kou is forced out and aids in defeating the monster. Akomaru finally gets to share a brief moment with his mother, too, being near death after an attack by Shadam himself.

We also learn how Kaku got the Byakko Shinken back and created the true peace treaty, requiring the Dairangers to disband and Kaku return to the side of Gouma. I do love this twist, but because I'm a bit too media savvy, I anticipated it ever since they revealed he had a secret path to the Gouma's base.

With Akomaru's monster defeated and Gouma having formed a peace treaty, DaiJinRyuu removes the hypnotism and departs from Earth once more, but the terms of said treaty don't leave much in the way for wiggle room. I'm super curious to see where this goes next.

Just to fore warn you, you might want to just watch the remaining 6 episodes in one sitting since they are all one big arc.