I mean, I felt like it was more the son realizing "Hey if music doesn't work out, I can go back to this thing I used to love" than him being entirely wrong. But idk.

Anyway, Kenji's antics in trying to get Fire Kong's cooperation were great. The Banana bit was probably my favorite part of the whole affair. Also hey, we've got actual normal suits for unique monsters this time instead of CG monstrosities. Was wondering if we'd ever get more traditional ones aside from Jack Moon.

I'd be down for that angle if not for this little bit at the end.

https://i.imgur.com/oQfQjjk.png

Basically it makes it sound as if he's giving an excuse and that the dad was totally right with how his son never actually commits to anything. Combine that with the whole "The son took the dad's' bait" thing with Kenji and I just can't give it any leeway.

A very emotional episode that I really dug.

Rin the desk lady takes center stage here, as the vast majority of the episode has to do with her backstory and how her relationship with her brother affected her.

While we don't get anything super extensive on her brother's' personal life, we do learn what type of person he was via comparisons to Kenji as well as learning where his passions lied, and how he fought to protect what he held dear.

Combine that with some really strong atmosphere and Rin's' own reflections on her inaction, and I was incredibly invested in everything going on with this one. Rin joined SHOT to carry on her brother's' dream of protecting smiles(Kuuga in the making!), even if she's not exactly a combatant.

The episode itself is really pretty to look at too; featuring alot of outdoors locales and, fitting enough, water. Multiple types of it too. Lakesides, swamps, even a flowing riverbank. It makes for an especially heinous scheme of the villains too; Pollution, which of course ties into the underlying environmental angle that the episode also features.

Oh, and the newest Beast King, Aqua Shark, also gets introduced in the episode's' climax. Makes for a pretty cool surf board, and is the only animal companion so far that Kenji manages to tame immediately. Which really works, as it shows the Shark empathized with Kenji's' fierce emotions at the time like what Leon and Kong did. Just a slight shame we didn't get a unique finisher out of it. But hey, Ryukendo freezing the lake was cool.

Overall a standout episode, and definitely my favorite so far.

I'll second it here that I consider this episode my favorite so far too. While I've been enjoying the show so far, this episode really stepped things up in a lot of aspects.

We get some more neat world-building, Rin gets her time in the spotlight, and we get a fairly unique plot that doesn't involve actively chasing the monster/threat around the entire episode which give us a lot of chances for some down time.

It really does help the show the range of the show runners, too. And it makes me excited for what other stuff we might see in the future.

Something tells me this episode was originally supposed to air right after the Fire Kong debut.

Not only is Fire Kong the main tool that's focused on in this episode(no new toy in sight for once), but the overall plot of "Kenji and Gekiryuken need to learn to get along" works alot better if put earlier in the show.

Because really, the two have had their spats, but it was always in the sort of "friends ribbing eachother for fun" sort of way, rather than any serious annoyance. And in terms of the events of this specific episode, there isn't really any sort of triggering incident to make them get at eachother. Gekiryuken just kinda starts being alot more hostile for no reason.

That said, while I setup is certainly weak, I did still like the episode for what it was trying to do. The atmosphere was handled decently, and getting backstory on Gekiryuken while highlighting that Kenji has his faults just like anyone else was nice to see.

Overall it's fine, just kind of weirdly placed in terms of the overall story so far.

This was a nice episode.

I do like how we decided to just go full Drakengard here with out monster this week and getting some more background on Gekiryuken is nice.

I mean, they didn't have to play a next to impossible rhythm game in order to unlock the true ending so we aren't quite there yet.

Why did Kenji travel to Akebono City anyway?

While that question isn't explicitly answered in this episode, it does give us some backstory on him and lend itself to a pretty solid theory.

It's actually pretty neat, the way this episode explains a detail that we often overlook in Toku: Why does the hero know how to fight the way they do? In the case of Kenji, he actually is a trained swordsman.

Infact, his style was made specifically to slay demons, leading me to think he was sent to Akebono as a part of his training. There's also the introduction of Umi, who is Kenji's' (arranged) fiance, and by extension the establishment of Rin having a crush on Kenji. It's not ideal, but I'm fine with it.

No new toy this week either. Heck, not even a new finisher. But the monster this time around is pretty fun. Not just one flying shrimp, but an entire legion of them that fly to the tune of Flight of the Valkyries. There was also some serious effort in modifying set pieces to look like the monsters had taken big ol' bites out of them, which I appreciated it.

Overall, this was a fun episode that was only highlighted by touches like the surprisingly solid musical score and the citizens of Akebono willing to help Kenji out. Yet another episode that highlights many of the show's' strengths.

It's pretty heartwarming to see the various regulars of the Akebono Shopping District pitch in to try and help Kenji out with his issue.

This episode was also pretty neat in just giving us a little bit more background information. And I do like that Umi found out about Ryukendo via the way Kenji fought than anyone outright telling her.

Also, truly only in Toku can you get an entire battalion of Anomalocaris set to Ride of the Valkyries. Honestly incredible.