Don't worry. Kakuranger eventually clicks. Like Switch said, the Narrator is dropped halfway in, but even before so, the series just starts making more sense as you realize that this is just going to be a weird series :lol

It's not a bad thing, though! Between the 90's attitude, the modern takes on classic yokai, and the entire idea of ninja in the modern area, I think they knew they were going to have a weird series on their hands, so they just reveled in it. However, it's a really enjoyable ride! The way the characters interact with each other is just wonderful, and because they're ninja, they get some very creative attacks (I'll always love red's cloning).

I didn't actually know the narrator was dropped! I am working my way through Megaranger at the moment in an attempt to finally finish a 90s sentai. I'm liking it so far, I don't think I like it more than In Space but they're both very close.

I'm about 2 eps away from finishing Abaranger, and I wasn't a big fan of it, yet I want to finish just for completion sake.
I know a lot of people might not like what I'm going to say, but I really don't like this whole "power of friendship" it has going on. Yeah, I know it's geared towards kids but lines like "There's a monster in every human's heart, but they will conquer it in the end"...When its sister show Kamen Rider Faiz at the time has some of the scummiest people in it. But hey, they just have to conquer it and they'll be good. Plus, I don't the heroes as all goody two shoes and no flaws, I like my characters with a bit more nuance.

Oh yeah, Space is better cause it has a better narrative and it's the finale to the Zordon Era. But, Megaranger is still top notch, since it has the heroes as high schoolers, so they aren't as hardened as the adult heroes of the past. Plus, I don't to give things away, but it has IMO, one of the most emotional endgames there is.

Kakuran-Hey wait a second did I forget to mention the theme song in my last post? If anything was going to slip my mind, you would think one of the catchiest openings in Sentai history wouldn't be it, but here we are. So yeah, the Kakuranger theme. Good stuff. You can tell it's not messing around because even the usual excited shouting of the title at the start is replaced with more catchy singing. Anyway...

Kakuranger 4-5:

Sure enough, now that the status quo is established, things get a lot easier to digest. The fourth episode keeps things very straightforward, and mostly serves to give an overall feel for how the team are going to bounce off of one another now that they're all together. Spoiler alert: They aren't exactly a well-oiled machine. Which only makes things more entertaining, mind you. This episode had all the fun of the first three, but with the bonus of not making my brain hurt, which made it that much easier to enjoy the absurdity of stuff like the crazy shapeshifting showdown with the monster that ends with him turning into a baseball (for reasons?) and getting smacked around by the Kakurangers. It's a great sequence, and the first moment in the show where the style and tone it was going for really clicked with me. The only point of criticism I have is the weirdly underplayed debut of Muteki Shogun. Granted, it kind of got a cameo in the first two episodes, but this is the first time we see everyone combine, and it's not treated like much of an occasion. The only one trying to build any hype for it is the dang narrator, and you can imagine how much that (doesn't) help.

Episode 5 further settles the show into a nice groove by being the first usual spotlight style episode. I still don't feel like I can actually tell you anything about Saizou's personality, or how it differs compared to his teammates, but hey, once again, the episode is fun, so it's not a huge deal. Nor, apparently, are giant monsters, because for some reason everyone just sits back and lets Ninja Blue try to take care of it all by himself. I guess they're just trying to respect that it's his episode, but geez, guys. You could help him a little. If Muteki Shogun had been there, you might've even actually beat the monster. I joke, but of course, I actually love when the individual mecha in Sentai exist to do something beyond combining, and the obvious advantage the Jusho (or Beast Generals or whatever) have in this department on account of all being dudes in suits makes them huge winners for me.

As for more general observations, first of all, as much I'm ragging on him, the quick rundowns the narrator provides on the Youkai when they show up genuinely are pretty helpful, and would especially be so for anyone who has zero knowledge whatsoever of this kind of thing. It's probably the only useful thing he does? Honestly, if they had they had just went all the way and replaced the parts where he's talking about the show with more assorted trivia, he'd probably be a way more endearing character. Speaking of endearing characters though, I can't help but like Jiraiya. The fact that he doesn't speak Japanese well means a lot of his dialogue so far consists of just shouting his teammates' names in a concerned manner when they're in danger, which has lead to me quickly having the impression he's the only one on the team who's actually glad to be there. All these other guys are always bickering while he stands off to the side, only making the occasional quip, like he's just really happy to be hanging out with everyone and going on adventures. What a guy.

Oh, and that ending theme is also pretty catchy.

Oh, I didn't really mention it, but I actually figured as much about the show getting more stable. I went through I similar enough experience with Carranger, where the show took a bit to really zone in on what it wanted to do, so it wouldn't surprise me if the same thing happened here.

The bit about the narrator is pretty interesting though. We'll see how I feel when I get there, but right now, I'm seriously appreciating how amazing Gekiranger was to have a character like this who was literally a gross fly, and have him be way more charming and likable.

Kakuranger 6-7:

Episode 6 is another one that really pushes the out-there atmosphere of Kakuranger in a good way, taking a completely absurd plot about a Youkai trying to marry Tsuruhime, and just rolling with it as far as it can go. Even in a show going for wacky comedy, having her and the Youkai arguing about the subject would probably be considered enough, but Kakuranger goes the extra mile by having them end up in Youkai court for a bit to go through divorce proceedings. I can't hate that kind of commitment to being wacky. Although despite the episode being about Tsuruhime, once again, Jiraiya is the guy drawing all my attention. Between being the only one to say hi to the team food truck in the morning (oh, uh, their food truck is also a cat, if you didn't know), being the only one to notice when Tsuruhime mysteriously disappears, and being the only one not to laugh at her dreams here, my assessment that he's the nicest person on the team is quickly proving more and more correct. Sure, he does get in on some mild teasing at the very end, but that's probably just because he didn't want to look like a stick in the mud.

7 is Naruhisa Arakawa's first crack at writing the show, and he immediately reminds me why I like him by having the very first thing that happens be the narrator nearly getting killed by some stray shuriken, which I can't help but interpret as an subtle act of rebellion against the format on his part. It's genuinely a really inspired way to open the story, too, making the narration bit feel less disconnected and getting right to showing the Kakurangers training to do ninja stuff, which, in of itself, is also new and very nice to see. I like the implication these people actually are putting some work in, rather than just randomly gaining all these skills out of nowhere. The plot itself deals with Seikai being unable to control his appetite thanks to a gluttonous Youkai, and again, Kakuranger dares to go places with these concepts other shows wouldn't. Having some cheap gags where a character chows down on so much food there are stacks of empty plates all over the table and they get fat? Yeah, whatever, that's cool. Having that character also become a giant, and having the resolution involve Tsuruhime turning herself into an equally huge burger to lure the Youkai out of Seikai's stomach? That's something I haven't seen before. And coming from the writer who later went on to make eating tomatoes seem epic in Gingaman, you'd better believe the episode has some of the show's most solid character drama so far in-between all the laughs. Plus, Jiraiya's sole line in the episode is to express sympathy for Seikai's plight, so that's one more shining moment of camaraderie from him. He even said it in Japanese so everyone would get it!

Also, Muteki Shogun is freakin' brutal, man. The mecha fights in both these episodes last like under 30 seconds, and most of that is just the windup to the Youkai getting chopped in half by a flaming sword. They don't stand a chance.

Jiraiya was easily my favorite of the series up until Sasuke really strikes the perfect balance between comedic and serious.
The fact that Jiraiya doesn't speak Japanese really helps sell him as a character. He doesn't know what anyone is saying, and no one knows what he's saying in return. Entire conversations are had with him right there, and he probably picks up a fourth of what was said, if that, so he has to just...Go along with things. Just makes him so amusing to watch :lol

Yeah, judging by what little I know about Kakuranger I think Jiraiya's gonna be my favourite as well!

Kakuranger 8-9:

Episode 8 is a pretty bog-standard Sentai episode that I can't work up the energy to say much about. Which is a bit weird, when the plot is about a Youkai abducting children to eat them, but that just goes to show what a high bar this show has set for weirdness already. It's a satisfying enough romp, but it's paper thin, accomplishing nothing in terms of developing the cast, despite some extra attention for Nekomaru, and it isn't outrageous enough to compete with the other episodes so far for comedy.

Thankfully the next episode does a lot to make up for this by cutting to the chase and finally giving Jiraiya his day in the limelight. Apparently it turns out he's a massive dork who becomes easily obsessed with watching his favorite Japanese TV shows about awesome heroes to the point he starts imitating their mannerisms and dialogue. 熱いな、それ！Talk about relatable! So, yeah, this is a pretty stellar episode with a great escalation, that isn't afraid to make Jiraiya look completely insane if it means we get to see him get into a shirtless swordfight with the Youkai of the week, a rival TV nerd whose heart has been corrupted by a desire for fame, whereas your boy Jiraiya knows how to keep things humble, helping out a kid for no other reason than he's just that compassionate. Seriously, the Kakurangers don't know how lucky they are to have this guy around.

I just watched this Megaranger episode where the monster is trying to turn everyone into sea coral and I found it very disturbing, I hope I don't have nightmares about it tonight!

I found Kakuranger pretty underwhelming, but 7 was great. The gag where they do the X-Ray jutsu to see the youkai in Yellow's stomach, but Red looks at White's chest instead slays me...

Kakuranger 10-11:

The double digits kick off with... look, I don't want to call it a "clunker", it's just that, well, that's the word that comes to mind. There's an interesting enough gimmick to the monster, a Youkai who creates a "family" for himself by going around disguised as a crying baby, luring people to the stroller he's in and then stealing their souls so he can put them in his collection of dolls. That probably sounds pretty crazy and fun, and it is, but from a critical perspective, I can't ignore that there's nothing else to the episode. There aren't any exciting twists in the plot, you don't learn anything about the characters, and the action is about standard, aside from the excitement of seeing the Kakurangers pay homage to Goranger by kicking a football around, which is admittedly awesome. So, just to be clear again, the episode isn't awful, it's just I've already seen far better from this show.

Things pick up a bit for episode 11, which still isn't one of the show's best, but benefits from stronger characterization. It plays off previously established traits of the Kakurangers, namely that Tsuruhime gets no respect, Seikai is a skirt chaser, and that everyone hates each other. And they're all idiots. So to see Seikai tell Tsuruhime he'll help with laundry, only to go try and pawn off everyone's clothes at the flea market as part of a scheme to get a date is both logical and hilarious. Seeing Sasuke, Saizou, and Jiraiya jump straight to trying to beat the s*** out of Seikai in public when they find out what's going on is even funnier. When the episodes go this insane, they don't need a whole lot more to them for me to have a great time.

I actually wanted to mention that but totally forgot to! The comedic timing on that gag is unbelievably perfect. Everyone is standing together looking off at Seikai in the distance, and then out of nowhere Sasuke just turns 90 degrees. It's amazing.

The bad guys in Megaranger are nasty. I'll just leave this here as a reminder:

Kakuranger 12-13:

Episode 12 starts off simply enough, with some mooks going around absorbing children into a big ball of mud, and a mysterious town where everyone is in a trance, but really this is all a formality to get the back half, a battle royale so epic, it had to be filmed in a quarry. It's the Kakurangers versus around a half dozen old Youkai led by one new one, and the episode gets to deliver by devoting so much time to a single elongated fight like this. It feels like an occasion, even before the introduction of the Jusho Fighters. They're neat and all, but considering Muteki Shogun can still defeat any enemy in 30 seconds or less just by giving them a menacing glare and then going for the finisher, I have to question how much extra help is really needed here. Maybe the Kakurangers just believe in fair play, I don't know.

13 is about a Youkai who makes people unlucky. I repeat, episode 13 is about bad luck. It could be a coincidence, but that'd only make the timing that much spookier. Anyway, this one has a lot of the issues as some of my least favorite episodes so far, like the nearly nonexistent characterization of the heroes, and a plot that's a little too "sane", for lack of a better word. However, I actually enjoyed this one a lot, which I think is mostly down to the aforementioned Youkai having such a strong personality. He borders on being obnoxious, which should be a problem in its own right, but the fact that he's the bad guy means he gets his comeuppance by the end. Said comeuppance unfortunately doesn't come from Muteki Shogun for once, which really speaks either to how pathetic a monster we're dealing with, or how shameless a toy company, considering the task is left to the Jusho Fighters for no particular reason. They even got as many clips added to the opening as some sixth Rangers do!

Kakuranger 14-15:

14 continues the streak of the show really wanting you to know how totally cool and amazing the Jusho Fighters are. I don't know why this is sticking out to me so much more than usual. Obviously Sentai is all about the merch, but the sheer amount of reverence these things have been getting just feels strange to me for whatever reason. Youkai are now basing their plans entirely around their ability to defeat them, and the Kakurangers themselves talk about the things like their arsenal was totally understocked before they came along. It's just some cheap clones of the robots you already had! They don't even combine! I don't even know when you guys learned the technique to summon them because Sasuke just gave the order to use them in 12 like it was some secret weapon you always had! It probably sounds like I'm complaining, but honestly, all this weirdness jives perfectly with the kind of show Kakuranger is. A show where a visit to the doctor for a stomach ache can end with nurses storming into the room with comically oversized scalpels and syringes, and new enemy commanders are punk rockers who make their presence known by manifesting images of terrifying giant skulls in the sky. There's an energy to it all that makes it hard not to have fun with whatever the show wants to throw at me.

Especially when it throws an episode as good as 15 at me! Geez, that was spectacular. I think this is the first time an episode of this show has really gotten me dramatically invested in the plight of the heroes, but that's not much of a surprise when the plot takes the training wheels off like this. So, new bad guy leader Junior launches his goon squad on a mission to destroy the Kakurangers once and for all (after warning them about how dangerous the Jusho Fighters are, of course), and he does not play around. Our intrepid gang of bumblers are lured into a forest and promptly hunted down one by one like animals, resulting in an episode that's at maximum tension nearly the entire time. I can't even really analyze much of what I saw because I was way too busy being on the edge of my seat to even process it that much. I didn't even consciously realize how much I was getting into things until almost the end. And what an ending it is! That is how you do a cliffhanger, right there. I am beyond pumped to see the back half of this.

Kakuranger 16-17:

Episode 16, man. I love this stuff. Love it, love it, love it. There's nothing quite like a good superhero story where the protagonist has to succeed against impossible odds by relying on cunning and skill rather than raw power, and this is a 10/10, perfectly executed version of that. It's also the perfect use of a two-part format, since the last episode ended at the exact lowest point for the Kakurangers, making the inevitable comeback revenge here that much more satisfying. I could gush about this one for days. Seeing Sasuke fighting back huge gashes while evading his pursuers, him sneaking around in air vents, cleverly slipping his tied up teammates a file, and then deliberately attracting the bad guys' attention to give them time to escape, it's all so dang engaging. If I wanted to criticize something, it'd be the continued questionable purpose of the Jusho Fighters, but I don't want to criticize that. Like I said, the show is pushing them so hard it becomes more adorable than anything, and here, it not only leads to a good fight scene, but it's the best of both worlds, since the monsters still learn the hard way what the "Muteki" in Muteki Shogun means in the end. This is some grade-A Super Sentai right here, make no mistake. It's easily my favorite single episode of Kakuranger so far, and, while time will tell how much it sticks with me, it may very well go down as one of my favorite Sentai episodes in general. It's almost definitive in how awesome it is, if that makes any sense. Like it just perfectly encapsulates the genuine, uncomplicated glee of seeing people in colorful spandex beat up evil monsters that makes this franchise so compelling.

I don't know if it's just because I'm in such a good mood from the previous episode, but 17 was a very enjoyable, standard sort of episode. A simple premise with a Youkai going after Saizou because she lost a fight to his ancestor way back, the usual little kid who learns a life lesson, nothing too crazy. Ordinarily, that'd be bad news for Kakuranger, which works wonders with crazy, but the execution of this episode is so solid I can't find much to pick apart. Saizou gets to be both fun and cool, so as a spotlight it does its job of making him seem more appealing as a character, and there's some really strong action, including some great use of the classic artificial sunset backdrop for dramatic effect. The episode keeps things so focused and trim, the Jusho Fighters don't even show up, which means the mecha action part of the episode lasts under a minute total, because once again, this is Mu~te~ki Shogun we're dealing with.

There's also been some minor stylistic changes to the show in the past few episodes I might as well mention. The addition of a tease of that episode's Youkai in the opening is pretty neat (and took the spot of one of the Jusho Fighters' somewhat excessive three shots), but the quizzes at the end? Not feeling those so much. First of all, it took a few episodes for them to realize the answer should probably be displayed more prominently on-screen than the text for the credits it's surrounded by, at which point they changed it to a nice big, centered box. But the whole concept itself is a bit strange. The questions themselves so far are pretty weaksauce (guess what color Ninja Blue's underwear are!), and I'm not entirely sure why the show suddenly decided they needed a hook to entice people to stick around during the commercial break to make it to the credits. Was nobody watching that ad break and the sponsors got angry? Did Toei just want to make sure as many people as possible were grooving to Ninja Matenrou Kids? Because I can totally get behind that cause, it's just, a quarter of the show went by without this being an issue, you know?

All of Saban Era I on DVD up to Go Go V and finished Dai (Great ) Ranger on DVD.

For Jetix I watched the Jungle Fury and RPM source shows.

Also Samurai and Mega Force Part 1.

I just watched the Megaranger version of Five of a Kind and I must say I LOVE both Shun and Yuusaku, they are such awesome characters!

Did the Astro Rangers fight a bee and an elephant in Power Rangers In Space? I was watching Mega Ranger on DVD recently so I wanted to ask.

Also for Mega Ranger I'm on Protect It - The Mysterious Boy's Forest.

When was the Silver Ranger's entry? Also Mega Ranger's version of the Psycho Rangers leg of the series?

The Japanese Psycho Rangers(Nejirangers) took forever to debut, it's at like episode 38! I just checked MegaSilver, it was episode 24.

Kakuranger 18-19:

18 is an instant winner for me simply for being about Jiraiya, so anything else it does right is basically extra credit. Which would make this episode a serious overachiever. Not only is the focus on my favorite character, the plot they chose to put him at the forefront of is my absolute favorite stock Sentai plot, the reluctant monster. In this case, a perfectly nice Youkai taking the form of a child, who Jiraiya becomes extraordinarily invested in befriending in a very short span of time, since he's so dang warmhearted. Which means it really stinks for him when Junior shows up to turn everything to s*** and brainwash said Youkai into going on a rampage. Junior kinda steals the spotlight in this one. Every scene he's in is just such a delight. You've seen villains teleport away from a battle before, but how many of them do it while laughing maniacally and giving the bird to the heroes? This guy is so nuts. I hate him, and I love that I hate him. Dude comes after Jiraiya, knocks him out of his transformation so he's lying helpless on the ground, and then busts out the chainsaw. He even tells Jiraiya "goodbye" in English, just to make the barely averted gruesome murder that much more personal. And all this is before he straight up roasts the Youkai to death by firing evil red lighting from the eyes of his ever-terrifying "sky skull" form. Which is naturally followed by more laughter. Yeah, suffice it to say, between this and the forest trap thing a few episodes back, Kakuranger has found itself a heck of a villain. And this is a heck of an episode. They even skip out on doing the quiz at the end so as not to kill the emotion.

This is all followed up in 19, which is its own plot featuring a gross spider Youkai and something of a horror flavor, with a lot of awesome darkly-lit cinematography, but as it goes along it puts in some extra effort to connect back to the last episode, and really give the impression there's a growing animosity between the Kakurangers and Junior. There's a great back and forth right now where Junior is pretty much untouchable, and yet the Kakurangers don't come off as ineffectual. They're still stopping the monsters of the week, but that's of little long-term consequence to Junior, and even if they have the skills to get out of it, everyone but Sasuke deliberately walking into a trap because they're that desperate to get back at him says a lot about how much Junior is getting into their heads. All in all, a solid episode, which has at least one advantage over 18 in that this one features Muteki Shogun, complete with its own insert theme, slicing up the monster, which is awesome. Although it probably says something about how good 18 was that I didn't even feel the need to mention them only using the Jusho Fighters in it.

The bee definitely happened. I can't remember whether or not they did the elephant.

Thanks. I'm almost at The mid point for Mega Ranger and on Disk 3 from Shout Factory.

Kakuranger 20-21:

20 is the third time in half a dozen episodes the show has pumped the "Sasuke gets separated from the team" well for plot ideas, which, by all rights, should be getting old by now. Yet, this episode is good enough in its own right, and just barely different enough, that I can't be too upset. The unique twist this time is that Sasuke has to protect a little kid while on the run, who Junior's goon squad of kunoichi are also trying to kill specifically because they know having to worry about that on top of everything will throw Sasuke off his game. It's another really good showing for Sasuke, portraying him as a vulnerable human being, who pushes past his own physical limitations through sheer heroic determination, never giving up until the last possible second. He fights the good fight here, and you know it's the case because at the end Muteki Shogun tosses him the big flaming sword in approval, so he can turn the tables on his foes. Awesome. Hard to go wrong with this one. It's good drama with a tasteful dash of the usual wackiness where it counts. I mean, where else are you gonna see an evil mad scientist with radio equipment strapped to his head riding around on a bicycle?

21 is all about the Kakurangers hitting the streets to raise public awareness of how cool and interesting ninjas are. Come on guys, I'm sure the show's not doing that poorly, have some dignity! This ends up leading to a monkey with sweet shades learning to copy all their awesome ninja abilities to fight them with, and if that isn't enough to sell you on the episode, I don't know what is. Pretty fortunate, too, because this is another one that doesn't have much going on beyond a straightforward confrontation between the team and the Youkai of the week. No Muteki Shogun, even! Although, just to be honest for a second, it's hard not to acknowledge that scenes with the Jusho Fighters have more energy to them, and that's certainly appropriate for a lighthearted, goofy episode like this one.

Back on the subject of minor changes to the show's formula for a second, it seems they're still having trouble deciding exactly what they want to do with those quizzes at the end. When they first started, the questions were about things in the episode, to see if you were paying attention, which makes sense. Then they were about trivia related to the episode, like whether or not spiders are insects, or the etymology of the word "kunoichi". You know, stuff that might actually be mildly interesting? But now here comes the end of episode 21 with a completely random riddle that's just a setup for a terrible pun. I can only imagine the disappointment of kids back in '94 who actually had to wait through an entire commercial break for that answer.

Kakuranger 22-23:

22 is a perfectly okay episode about Seikai's latest (and surprisingly successful!) quest to win a random woman over. Nothing mind-blowing, but, you know, it hits all the basic points. It's playing to the unique aspect of the spotlight character, it's got some fun absurd bits like the monster being defeated by a vacuum cleaner. Still, with Junior nowhere to be seen, it's so disconnected from everything it could just as easily be one of the first dozen episodes, if not for the presence of the Jusho Fighters, of course. They're here to do a giant-sized Kakuranger Ball at the end, which I really want to be all over, but, uh, I'm kinda angry at these things all over again. Yeah, I know, but the second I started cutting them some slack, the very next episode just had to go and feature Muteki Shogun losing to some random monster of the week like it's nothing to "justify" the Fighters stepping in, even though the show has never been bothered about having a reason before. Did they seriously need to undercut one of the coolest Sentai robots ever in some random filler episode? What about the name?! The name is a lie now! The Youkai even points this out when he beats him! The show knew what it was doing was wrong and it did it anyway! I swear, if they don't do something to make up for this real quick...

In 24, the show attempts to make it up to Muteki Shogun by giving him the bird. Not like Junior, I mean. He's busy holding a rock concert to summon forth the ultimate evil (this show, man). I'm talking about Tsubasamaru's debut, which means Super Muteki Shogun. I'm honestly not too sure how I feel about this one. It's definitely good, but it feels like it should be great, and would be if not for a few problems with context. First of all, it's very, very obvious Muteki Shogun losing a fight and needing an upgrade was supposed to be a big, shocking event, which makes it all the more baffling the previous episode featured him crying (yes, seriously) and losing to random smoke guy. That episode's script wasn't from main series writer Noboru Sugimura, so it's likely something simply got a little mismanaged there. What's less of an issue, but still much weirder, is the Kakurangers' sudden surprise at seeing Muteki Shogun showing up without them combining, even though there have been several prior instances of Muteki Shogun doing so, all of which were in episodes written by Sugimura, including the very recent 20. So to see Sasuke in particular get so confused about the notion of him being alive at this point is an oddity. It feels like I'm missing something. All that being said, this is still a pretty strong start to a massive turning point for the series. It has a sense of finality to it. Especially when it starts with Tsuruhime celebrating her birthday and remarking on how much closer the team has become.

Which leads me to something I've been giving the show until this halfway point to talk about: the characterization. I don't doubt Tsuruhime's assertion the group has been getting along more over time, but Kakuranger has had a hard time establishing these characters, to say the least. I think part of the issue is that they avoided going for particularly generic archetypes. Nobody is "the smart one", or "the tough one". There's no brooding loner or cool guy. Where that went a bit wrong is that, for the first dozen episodes or so, everybody was basically one interchangeable idiot. If I have an issue with Kakuranger so far, it's definitely that. And yet, I feel the need to turn this back around into more praise, because, all things considered, it's only been a minor issue. Not something that ever truly bothered me. Especially since, after those initial episodes, the show has been steadily finding a groove for everyone. Tsuruhime is competent. Sasuke's dedicated. Saizou is frivolous. Seikai impulsive. Jiraiya sensitive. We're definitely getting somewhere with these guys, who even to begin with were still likable. I'm excited to see whatever new direction the show is going to move in from here, and how hopefully, it carries the progress it's already been making into something even better.

I've now finished Megaranger and have gone back a year to Carranger! I'm then planning on watching Liveman, then Maskman and then either Goranger or Battle Fever J but I think this time maybe when I'm more into Carranger I might start Liveman alongside it just for a bit of variety.

Kakuranger 24-25:

Hoooooooo boy did I ever like episode 24. When the preview and the title both hype it up as the end of a chapter for the show, I kind of expect something that feels like an event, and this nailed it. You get an awesome fight between the Kakurangers and Junior's kunoichi where everyone gets to show off their skills, and, having delivered on the big action upfront, the rest of the episode is free to tell us how the series is changing gears for the time being. A lot of it is just exposition, but it's compelling exposition. It's like this was just the goofy ninja show, and now all of a sudden there's an epic quest, a more defined mythos, and a problem so huge the team has no choice but to leave it be for now, and each go their separate ways to gain the power to eventually confront it. It feels huge. There's a level of solemn sentimentality to the group, lit by a setting (rising?) sun, all vowing to one day meet again that feels totally earned. It really is kinda sad. Don't split them up! This is totally uncharted territory! How are we gonna have a Sentai show with no team?!

Well, I guess it looks something like episode 25. Funny thing, I actually knew about this chunk of Kakuranger already, but I've been getting so into it, I completely forgot it seriously had the audacity to break up the protagonists in the middle of the show. That's pretty daring, and I can't help but like it. Naturally, things lead off with Sasuke, and given the track record of his focus episodes, it should go without saying this is a pretty solid one. He's playing to his strengths here, protecting the weak, occasionally doubting his ability to so, and then gritting his teeth and doing it anyway in the end. He also makes some time to take a brief vacation at Rindo Lake Family Farms, but come on, all the cool 90's Sentai were doing that. What's a little more noteworthy is Sasuke's new and improved monkey robot, which gets some time to shine in the climax, since we're currently a few pieces short of a combiner. Just one more way the decision to do this plotline is paying off big time.

Since the Youkai in 25 provides his own exposition, I figure that's my cue to pay my respects to the narrator. I badmouthed the poor guy a lot at the start, but now that he's gone, I have to admit I wouldn't mind him still being around. His presence rapidly started getting downplayed after the first few episodes, which meant he didn't have time to make annoying jokes, and at that point, there's not much to be annoyed at him for. I said the pop-culture theming was flying over my head without context, and indeed, after learning what koudan is, I gained a certain level of respect for Kakuranger's creative decision to deliberately employ a form of traditional Japanese storytelling that was already considered outdated in the 90's in their hyper-modern action TV show aimed at youth. It's emblematic of the kind of "past and present in a blender set to puree" style that makes it unique. The good news is that it feels less like the show gave up on the narrator, and more that it's naturally grown into something that doesn't need him over time. Like it doesn't need gimmicks to stand on its own two feet now. Which is great... as long they keep the "SHU!SHU!SHU!" onomatopoeia whenever someone throws shuriken. I love that.

They say you don't realise how much you care for something before its gone, and so you took the narrator for granted...

Kakuranger 26-27:

Episode 26 hits it out of the park. It's exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for from this stretch of the show, taking the opportunity provided by splitting everyone up to drill into what makes them tick as individuals. In this case, I feel like I knew Tsuruhime better after these 20 minutes than I did in 20 episodes. I don't mean that to sound like too much of a backhanded compliment, but going back to my gripes with Kakuranger's characterization, if I hadn't been told on a few occasions she was the leader of the team, I would've never guessed. While she's obviously supposed to be in that position, instances of her doing actual leader things, like motivating the team, or giving them orders, are few and far in-between, and usually end with her being ignored. This episode doesn't go as far as to like, directly say she's doing a bad job or anything, but it does roll with the central idea of this whole plotline, that the Kakurangers aren't totally done baking. We get a sense of Tsuruhime's backstory here, which is nice too, but it's the way it moves her forward that makes the episode so good. Just like Sasuke was given cause to think a little harder about what he's protecting and why, Tsuruhime is put into a scenario that results in her having a deeper understanding of what she contributes to the group by the end. I'm a sucker for character-driven, introspective stories, and this one puts a very Kakuranger spin on things by having the vehicle for that be Tsuruhime being given a team of wind-up copies of the other Kakurangers, animated by ninja magic (of course), to help her get her scroll. It's a cute workaround to get the others in the episode, and comes with the rather unique emotional dilemma of her being told it's totally cool to let these guys bite the dust for the sake of the mission, since they aren't alive to begin with. It's bizarre, it's absurd, and it comes with a dramatic payoff that's expected, yet still satisfying. What more can you ask for?

I could ask for Muteki Shogun being treated with some respect, that's what. 27 is inexplicably called "The End of Muteki Shogun", despite this not being the end of Muteki Shogun, and the fact the plot isn't even remotely about the "end" that is there. He just gets wimpily defeated to once again make newer toys look cooler. The plot proper is about Seikai and Saizou. I actually don't mind the idea of pairing them up to get their scrolls. They're very similar characters in that they're both still basically the same carefree idiots they were at the start, so one plot could easily be made to service both of them. It's perhaps a missed opportunity to make them into more unique characters, but I like the basic plot here. Both of them start turning into monsters, suddenly finding themselves dealing with a situation that's a lot heavier than usual all on their own. There's great potential in that. It was cool seeing them get over their initial despair through the power of friendship. Something about the execution feels like a bit of a misstep for this arc though. Sasuke and Tsuruhime got excellent episodes that felt very uniquely like they had to be happening at this point, but this one lacks the same weight. The lesson Seikai and Saizou learn doesn't feel as particular to their characters. It's more or less a standard Sentai plot that, once again, could be slotted in wherever and make just as much sense. Super Muteki Shogun doesn't even show up, which makes it all the weirder. What the heck was Tsubasamaru off doing this episode?

In what I'm sure is a complete coincidence, this episode is by Hirohisa Soda, the same guy who wrote 22, which had a similarly disappointing showing for Muteki Shogun. This leads me to something I've been wanting to mention for a while. Now, Soda is a massively prolific writer for Sentai, and having not seen any of the many, many series he was the head of, I don't want to make any hasty judgments about the quality of his work, but I've gotta speak my mind here. The episodes of Kakuranger written by him, and fellow old-school Sentai veteran (to a lesser extent) Susumu Takaku, have universally been the least entertaining of the series so far, even when I still liked them. Go look at an episode I said had a thin plot, or just plain wasn't great, and rest assured Sugimura probably wasn't the one behind it. While this is the first series helmed by him I've seen too, based on how excellent this show has been, and the reputation of shows like Dairanger, I can't help getting the impression Sugimura and Arakawa were this exciting new wave for Sentai, full of fresh ideas and innovative concepts, that the old guys were starting to struggle to keep up with. That makes sense for Arakawa, who legitimately was the next generation at the time. However, Sugimura had actually been writing toku about as long himself, so I guess the fact he was still new to Super Sentai in particular just made that much of a difference. It's less that the episodes by the other writers are bad on their own merits, which they aren't, and more that they feel stylistically disconnected from how Sugimura was approaching his scripts. Their priorities are similar, but differ in some very noticeable ways.

Kakuranger 28-29:

Episode 28 is so mindblowingly amazing it really rubs in how much I wish Sugimura had taken it upon himself to write this entire arc himself. Actually, this episode even grants a little bit of my wish, with a flashback to the showdown from the end of last episode shown, re-edited to make it look like God Kumard and God Logan actually fought alongside Muteki Shogun, the way things happened in Sasuke and Tsuruhime's episodes, rather than Saizou and Seikai standing around doing nothing while that sequence played out. So, alright, already, we're off to a fantastic start, and I haven't even mentioned the good part yet. Guess who still hasn't gotten their scroll? That's right, my boy Jiraiya! Now we're talking! Much like the show figured out Sasuke is at his best when he's being determined, it very quickly realized Jiraiya is at his best whenever you can get him to start crying. He's a sensitive guy that way, you know? He wears his heart on his sleeve, and as a consequence, a great plot for Jiraiya specifically is having a bad guy who can step all over it. Which is what we get here, is the most dramatic possible fashion, as Jiraiya ends up tragically facing off with his own mentor. The man who made him who he is today. The one who knows all his skills because he taught them to Jiraiya in the first place. It's a classic martial arts story trope, and it's used to great effect here. We learn about Jiraiya's past, building the depth of the world, and in the present, we see him pushed to the limit, building the depth of his character. One thing in particular I found impressive was how effectively Sasuke was used. At first, you'd think it'd ruin the whole spotlight thing this arc was about, but he's essentially used as a prop, in a good way. He shows up early on to give Jiraiya someone to bounce off of and exposit about his past to, promptly leaves the story, and then only comes back at the end to escalate the conflict by being put in danger. It's very clearly all about Jiraiya, with Sasuke merely serving to move the plot along faster and more efficiently. It's so fast and efficient, you can only imagine my surprise when it turned out the plot wasn't actually over at the end! I guess God Gammer not being anywhere in the preview for this one should've been my first hint.

Woah woah, hold up a second! I guess I wasn't paying enough attention to the credits in the last episode, but Jiraiya's mentor is totally played by his actor's actual father, who is also ninja B-movie legend (from what I understand) Sho Kosugi? Dude! As if these episodes weren't epic enough already! No wonder their entire showdown never involves Jiraiya transforming. Ah, man, I can barely keep calm enough to even talk about what a great conclusion episode 29 is. I guess I'll keep it simple and say pretty much everything that was great about the last one carries through here. A huge chunk of it is devoted just to Jiraiya's fight with his master, which is naturally super tense and exciting. The plotline has some good twists and turns to it, and wraps up in a way that's a little less obvious than I was expecting. It's a stellar pair of episodes even by that point, but there's still a third of an episode left, which is devoted to Jiraiya getting his turn with his awesome new mecha, and the reunion of the Kakurangers. God Gammer is awesome. Maybe my opinion is being colored by my love of Jiraiya and these episodes, but it came off way more impressive than everyone else's new toys. This thing is huge, it jumps for days, can summon an army of minituare versions of itself, and spits fire. What a versatile combat machine! There's no doubt about it. Frogs are clearly the superior choice for any ninja.

Kakuranger 30-31:

Man, the Kakurangers sure are keeping busy lately. You'd think returning from their epic quests to finally defeat Junior, save a bunch of people who got turned into stone, and prevent an ancient evil from entering our world and laying waste to civilization as we know it would be enough to fill episode 30. But as it turns out, Tsuruhime's allegedly deceased father is now back, apparently working for the bad guys. I still remember when a Youkai wanting to be on TV, or turn everyone's clothes into rags were considered enough to constitute a conflict in this show. Now everything's gotta be all heavy. Not that I'm complaining. This is another great episode, with a lot of tension and intrigue, that also somehow manages to avoid feeling redundant in spite of having the same basic premise as the last two episodes with Jiraiya's master.

Things come to a suitably epic conclusion in episode 31. Well, I say conclusion, but the team didn't quite manage the whole "prevent an ancient evil from entering our world" thing in the end. After all, there's still about 20 episodes left to go. I'm actually struggling a bit to say a lot about these ones, probably because they're just as much of a new beginning as they are an ending, but they really are great. This whole arc launched the show to new heights. Capping it off with the Kakurangers having to move on without their mentor was also a great way to symbolize the growth of the team, and another in an increasingly long line of surprisingly solemn moments from this series.

It's not all bad news though! They did get a spiffy new robot out of the deal. Kakure Dai-Shogun's debut really feels like an event in a way that doesn't always happen in Sentai. Granted, the combination itself isn't treated with a whole lot of fanfare, but the context of this being the end of a huge story arc, and the fact that we saw this thing getting assembled bit by bit over the course of said arc, give it a huge impact anyway. It's also just a plain cool robot that seems to have an easier time moving around than Muteki Shogun, supporting a theory that's been rattling around in my brain ever since the Jusho Fighters showed up out of nowhere. I think the original Jusho and Muteki Shogun ended up being way too bulky as suits, and the show was kind of desperate to get rid of them. Obviously new mechs = new merch, too, but the Fighters were such a weirdly specific, redundant concept (robot guys but... still just robot guys!) it wouldn't surprise me if part of their creation was the staff on the show wanting something slimmer to work with. It would definitely explain why so many of Muteki Shogun's appearances were almost nothing but stock footage if they straight up didn't want to film new material for him whenever it could be avoided. Even Super Muteki Shogun is largely shown standing in place.

I think the only Super Sentai or Kamen Rider that I watched last year was the Dr Pac-Man movie from Ex-Aid, so I've been craving some lately. Since I never finished Lupat (due to a mixture of depression and not wanting to wait for weekly episodes) I decided to pick it back up and start again from the beginning.

It's a pretty good first episode for a Sentai. I really like the pacing - it almost starts in media res, with the different factions already being at war with each other. I used to prefer when Sentai started off introducing the characters and showing how they got their powers, but this was a nice change of pace. I also really like how they didn't show the mechs in episode one. I've always preferred when the first episode was kept to introducing the characters, their transformations, and the villains, and then setting up the mechs in episode two.

So far so good. I only got like 6 episodes in previously, but I loved all 6 of those episodes, so I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

Bonus points for the villain being Okuyasu.

It's me, I still exist! Furthermore, I finally finished dragging myself through Jetman! It took me over a year I think, but I had my reasons, like being busy with life and also not liking Jetman.

I certainly understand its huge influence, and it definitely feels ahead of its time, but to a modern viewer it just feels like a bad, slightly more modern show than it is. The writing was typical Inoue and the cast was overall really weak, with Grey being the only character I liked instead of being apathetic about. Grey was a total class act though, he rocked. Overall, it wasn't a great show, but I've seen worse. It just wasn't terribly motivating to watch.

I have to give a special mention to the incredibly unintentionally funny ending though:
I knew the spoiler that Gai ends up dying, but I had assumed it would be some epic heroic sacrifice against the final villain, not Gai getting stabbed by a random street punk and bleeding out on a bench at a wedding while happy music plays. I was in total hysterics!

Ah, Kakure Daishogun, the mech that I felt should have been the Kakuranger's default boy. Oh well, it's still used to great effect here, and gives the ninjas a proper speedy mecha (Something that the other ninja themed seasons would once again forget to do).

But don't worry about the show getting too heavy. You're on your way to meeting Ninjaman :lol

Kakuranger 32-33:

32 goes back to basics after the previous arc, which is a polite way of saying it's an episode where nothing really happens and nobody really learns anything. It's maybe like a quarter of the way there though? We've got Saizou, the guy on the team who has been established to be the most vain, in the spotlight for a plot about a Youkai going around stealing faces. So the concept is actually pretty strong. It's just that this is the kind of episode that isn't too concerned with expanding on the characters, or anything like that. Fortunately, it's also one that's good enough at being weird and silly to pull off coasting by on that alone. Because, crucially, it is fun. You've got great gags like Saizou jokingly suggesting the Youkai must be stealing faces to hang them up and sit around admiring his collection, followed by cutting to the Youkai doing exactly that. You've got some classic Sentai dramedy with Saizou and a little girl having an emotional scene without faces to emote with. It's an episode that probably could've been better, but left me with enough of a smile on my face that I can't care too much.

33 is much the same deal, being little more than another straightforward, no frills, fight the monster plot. It doesn't get particularly wacky, nor does it push the drama any harder than it needs to. A completely serviceable, if safe, episode of Kakuranger. Most of the highlights for me are the more trivial parts. Once again, the show is having a little trouble sticking to a format, because after a string of having the Youkai give their own introductions in this bold new, post-narrator world, Sasuke takes up the job here. Which I don't like as much. The absurdity of the monsters suddenly launching into expository rants fit the atmosphere of Kakuranger perfectly. The mecha action also pulled a trick I don't think I've seen too often (at all?), with Sasuke hopping into God Saruder before the rest of the team gets there, and then having them all show up, already combined into a one-armed Super Kakure Dai-Shogun. It's not really that exciting, I guess. They just took an arm off off the model for a few shots (since Super Kakure Dai-Shogun is just a largely static prop and not a suit), but I don't know. It's weird, and it stood out to me. Either way, it meant more screentime for God Saruder, which I'm totally down for. He even gets to do the finishing move!

Just a heads up, the next two episodes are a lot more comical, with one of them basically being a joke on how the actor playing Tsuruhime was in a Fushigi Comedy series before doing Kakuranger.

Kakuranger 34-35:

34 seems to be Hirohisa Soda's attempt to make me eat my words for talking smack about his writing earlier, because it's great. It still feels a lot less thoughtful than the average Sugimura script, but thoughtful isn't what I'm looking for in an episode that pushes Kakuranger to new heights of absurdity when I didn't think it possible. Sunakake-Babaa is among the best worst monster designs in Sentai history. An astonishing amount of care and skill were put into creating a super well-realized, detailed suit (complete with a moving face!)... of a completely absurd abomination of a Youkai who manages to look more stupid than any other monster in the show so far, and this is a show with a proud history of stupid looking monsters! What makes the episode really click into place though, is that this is all playing out against a surprisingly engaging story about Saizou helping some kid learn to make crepes. It works out way better than it has any right to. Naoki is genuinely a likable character, standing out from the usual hordes of random mopey kids by also being proactive about solving his problems. His friendship with Saizou is endearing, and makes Saizou look that much better, too, because we get to see his affable nature in a situation where it actually does someone some good. He's crazy charismatic in this one, even if it's not the kind of charisma he probably thinks he has. Also, more crazy arm antics with Kakure Dai-Shogun this time, with God Logan launching off to attack the monster with its tail blade thing like some sort of extremely elaborate Rocket Punch. Awesome.

35 features the return of Naruhisa Arakawa for his second and final go at writing Kakuranger. I'm sure it was a total coincidence that he only came back to the show after they dropped the narrator, by the way. The best part is, he even puts a clever spin of the new form of narration, having it take the form of a lecture at the school the Youkai are currently brainwashing kids at. Oh yeah! The Youkai are brainwashing kids in this one! Man, there's so much to talk about with this episode I don't even know how to keep it organized. Sentai plots where the villains directly and specifically target the youth like this are something I'm quite fond of. It's a very, very effective way to make the bad guys look as scummy as possible, and yet there's also something so strangely mundane about the sight of a monster in a classroom feeding children propaganda, it's also kind of funny. A perfect fit for Kakuranger, to be sure. Kamaitachi might be my favorite Youkai design in the series, too. The old-school/new-school mix is perfect. Kamaitachi are known for riding on the wind, so obviously the modern version would be wearing a bomber jacket and a jetpack, right? That's totally genius. This episode is wonderful, even if I would've liked to see some mecha action. I mean, come on, a dogfight between a giant Kamaitachi and God Kark? I guess they figured there had to be some limit to how cool things got.

Apparently Sasuke doing the monster bio in 33 was just a fluke, by the way. It's back to how it's been right there in 34. Until Arakawa mixes it up in 35, of course. Which means I jumped the gun in assuming the show was changing things again. Which is also exactly why I keep commenting on these things. Kakuranger's inability to make up its mind about minor points like this is totally fascinating to me. Heck, here I am talking about this, and I never even mentioned that the quizzes got discontinued alongside the narrator.

Thank you for telling me that, because, even with the episode preview being as blatant as it is, I probably wouldn't have got the reference, on account of only barely knowing about the Fushigi Comedy series. Kakuranger has been a weirdly educational experience with all the things I've had to look up to understand jokes. :lol

Kakuranger 36-37:

Would you believe I totally forgot about Ninjaman for most of the show? Because I kind of don't. Usually there's a real sense of anticipation for these things. You know, every now and then a thought would randomly pop into my head like "oh man, I bet it's gonna be sweet when so-and-so shows up". Like Junior, or Kakure Dai-Shogun, or whatever else. It's that unique kind of excitement of finally sitting down to watch a show you're already somewhat familiar with despite not having seen it. For some reason, though, Ninjaman didn't enter into that this whole time. Which is crazy, right? Because he's the closest thing the show gets to the usual Sixth Ranger, who I'm almost always way into, and in this particular case, we're talking about a guy with a really simple yet memorable design, and the weird gimmick of also being a samurai for some reason. So Ninjaman is definitely awesome, and while I guess I must've been pretty satisfied with Kakuranger beforehand to not notice his absence, I'm happy to have him present. Especially with such a strong debut episode. The narrative here is exceedingly well-constructed. Having Ninjaman introduced as being trapped in some mystic jar that comes crashing down from space is an immediately attention-grabbing opening, and all the other beats spin out from there super naturally. Some kids find him after he lands, and they bond a little bit in a way that quickly establishes his personality, and how bummed out he is at his current state. The bad guys come after them, so of course the Kakurangers arrive on the scene, providing an opportunity for Ninjaman to explain his backstory, since it ties in with theirs. The bad guys hold one of the kids for ransom to get the jar Ninjaman is in, letting him show his heroic nature by actively telling Tsuruhime not to smash it and release him just yet, because he doesn't want to put one of the kids who was so nice to him earlier in danger. It's a very tight plot that does its job of endearing Ninjaman to the audience pretty much perfectly.

Episode 37 features the opening and the commercial bumpers finally updating to reflect all the new toys, now that Ninjaman is here. Which isn't important, I know, but I'm kind of committed to commenting on these things at this point. Really, everything I have to say about this episode pertains more to random scattered elements of it. It's certainly a good time, though. You can't go wrong with an episode where the ultimate evil overlord celebrates his birthday by having one of his subordinates try and get the heroes to dance for his amusement. Plus, it features the return of Muteki Shogun after 10 long episodes, complete with a throwaway line of dialogue from Tsuruhime expressing surprise he's still alive, as though anyone seriously believes a robot/god/whatever thing as legendary as him was ever in serious danger back in 27. No, he sets the record straight here, blasting at the series' main villain so hard he retreats immediately, all while still refusing to move his feet, or appear in any significant amount of original footage. Like, even the fact that he shows up here at all could be explained by the fact they were also filming some of those shots of all the mecha together to use in the openings and bumpers. I'm still seriously convinced everybody making the show actively hated using that suit.

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Would explain why they made use of the Juusho fighters so often.
"Alright, let's film the kaiju scene"
"I ain't gettin in that fuckin suit again."

Kakuranger 38-39:

38 is another Hirohisa Soda episode that really makes me feel bad for basically saying he was all washed-up earlier. I absolutely would've assumed this one was by Sugimura if I wasn't paying attention to the credits. It has the extra emphasis on characterization he usually does, and that's all the better here, because guess whose turn it is in the spotlight again? Aw yeah, that's right. Jiraiya's back at it again, doing what he does best as he tries to keep Ninjaman out of trouble. Quiet sensitive guy plus hot-blooded idiot is inherently a great pairing, and of course I just love how much Jiraiya goes out of his way to care about people. The rest of the Kakurangers run off to go find the Youkai that's brainwashing random civilians, and Jiraiya turns the other way so he can round up Ninjman (with an actual lasso, no less) and drag him to the hospital to personally apologize to one of said random civilian's kids for accidentally harming their mom. And then immediately after that, he's the one trying to cheer Ninjaman up when the civilian's kids inevitably still hate Ninjaman even after he says he's sorry. Jiraiya then sets Ninjaman up with a chance to redeem himself, telling the other Kakurangers Ninjaman's side of things with such passion you'd swear he was feeling these things firsthand. Which makes sense, because he kinda is, with the show drawing a clever little parallel with Jiraiya's difficulty speaking Japanese early on, and how he understands how much it hurts not being able to get across your feelings. All this, and he still finds time to get in two different epic cowboy quickdraw showdowns with the monster. I've said it before and I'll say it again. What a guy! My bias towards Jiraiya definitely colors my opinion here, but I loved this one.

39 gets extremely creative with its premise, when about a minute in, none other than the narrator himself makes his return, popping out of a trash can to... wait. poppingoutofa- Man, and I thought I was too hard on the poor guy! Sugimura apparently actually threw him in the garbage for over a dozen episodes. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment! Anyway, he's back, and the rest of the episode basically takes the format of a documentary about the Kakurangers. It doesn't hugely take advantage of that idea. It's largely just an excuse to let the narrator make up for lost time before he gets thrown off a bridge and ends up needing a neck brace and a sling (are we sure Arakawa didn't write this!?), but it's cute. It's also way overqualified to be the simple clip show it was probably intended as, with only a few major plot points quickly gone over in a way that legitimately might be of interest to anyone who missed some episodes here or there. It doesn't waste time with minutiae, and it isn't a glorified toy catalogue. Although the episode does cap things off with Sasuke doing his usual cloning shtick in God Saruder to get us a dream team of it plus Red Saruder and Battle Saruder, who make their own returns after being absent alongside the narrator. It's a cool little fight, and the unique gimmick complements the overall special feeling of the plot nicely. Definitely a pretty shallow episode, but still loads of fun.

Kakuranger 40-41:

40 didn't offer me a whole lot interesting to talk about! My stance on Hirohisa Soda's episodes may have softened lately, but Susumu Takaku still isn't doing much to impress me. His last episode was 33, and if you read my thoughts on that one, you've read my thoughts on this one. Right down to the spotlight Kakuranger getting to do the Youkai history lesson, even. The big difference is that it's Tsuruhime this time. Which is cool! I'm probably making it sound like this episode was terrible or something, but fundamentally, seeing Tsuruhime be awesome is a good time. It's not that the episode is bad, it's just that it isn't particularly inspired, especially compared to the best the show has to offer.

41, in contrast, gives me yet another chance to give some props to Soda, for coming up with a very offbeat plot that has a unique feel. Instead of focusing on the Kakurangers directly fighting the monster, we get a Youkai (voiced by Shigeru Chiba no less!) who basically summons up his own Sentai of obsessed ghosts to torment the living and generally make a huge mess of the place. We're talking the meanest of the mean here. You've got some lady who really loves jewelry, some guy who really loves food, some crazy dude who really loves riding motorcycles above the speed limit, some maniac who really loves shooting people, and... some old man who really loves his grandson. Yeah, needless to say, there're actually a few wrinkles in the story this time, but even before we get to that, the episode scores major points for just how visually interesting it is seeing the Kakurangers go up against the ghosts. It's absurdly fun and fresh to have villains that are basically regular humans going around doing things like munching on oversized onigiri, or chucking grenades around. Heck, that old man even saves the day at the end in a way I doubt you'd see coming. It's wild action backed up by a solid little plot about the usual mopey kid learning to stand up for himself, done in a way that's hardly original, but was pretty well executed when all is said and done. There's not much to complain about here.