Super Samurai Episode 16 - "Fight Fire with Fire" Discussion
 

The episode many have been waiting for has finally arrived as Jayden's secret is revealed!

Spoilered just case there's anyone out there who's not seen Shinkenger/doesn't know what's about to happen. Discuss!

Is it over yet?

Should be by now.

Unfortunately no Samurai is not over yet series and current shoe at time of writhing. However I will say this about this episode they manged to handle the Shinkenger female red plot point better by having Lauren show some actually interest in Jaden (as any "good" sister does) and the team .....and then immediately made it worse by apparently you cant have two red ranger because ranger team would want to protect Jaden more, however that makes scene now that I'm thinking about it. Also Lauren uses the shadophone witch is her fathers from the stoke footage nice touch and kinda emotionale. Also this episode does have some "real" emotion with Jaden leaving at the end. Overall for samurai Id say a pretty good episode if only it didn't have to line up somewhat with Shinkenger stoke footage plot point and character traits like mines gold and male red during an ark.

He meant "is Samurai over yet?" :p

The lack of reaction from the rest of the team is what killed the episode for me. I'm going to use Shinkenger 45 as an example, not of how to do a Samurai episode but how to pay attention to human reactions.

When Kaoru entered and Takeru revealed his secret of being a shadow to allow her to train, and he wasn't even a Shiba clan member, it DEVASTATED Mako, Chiaki, Genta, Kotoha and Ryunosuke. Why did it tear away at them and drive them away from their duties, almost ripping them apart emotionally? They had spent their lives training under their family's guidance, knowing that their goal was to serve a true lord. They meet this lord, fighting alongside him, pledging their life to him as he's the only way to defeat the enemy. They spend the year bonding with him, risking themselves, devoting every second of their life to him because they believe in his conviction.

Not to mention Genta, Takeru's childhood friend, has to realize that his best friend in the entire world, who he believed to be a role model and the most important person in the world to him, and he spent his life training to join teams with has been feeding him a lie. However, Genta soon realizes and affirms to Takeru that although he had been leading this double life, they were still best friends and had identities outside of being Samurai.

The severe attachment to the Samurai mission, the bonds with each other, devotion and loyalty are what caused the revelation of the secret to have an intense, to say the least, emotional reaction over several episodes. How does Samurai approach this? Mia and Emily ask Lauren to go shopping. Mike gets a hamburger and oogles Lauren's Shodophone. Kevin and Antonio enjoy the cookout. This isn't about comparing it to Shinkenger for the sake of, "oh, this is how it happened in the Sentai." This is the fact that there has been dozens of episodes of build up, and devotion to a red ranger, without none of them realizing what it means for them to be lied to about such a thing.

However, if I'm seeing this wrong. Please correct me.

I haven't seen the episode yet unfortunately. raz, do you have a DailyMotion link or anything to this episode you can share?

It sounds like it was a great episode with a horrible pay off at the end and I'm intrigued to see it for myself and share my thoughts. If it's as shallow as you say it is, it means this whole build-up was for nothing.

No, nothing. Samurai Cast has a bunch of clips though: http://www.samuraicast.com/episodes/...re-episode.php

This show makes me weep for humanity. Honestly. They're acting started out this Super Samurai season better than the first, and I had hope. But good ole Saban proved how idiotic hope is. I'm with Raz. They're reaction was horrible. And the fact they took Kaoru Shiba and made her some blonde cheerleader really pisses me off.

So many issues. Like there being no explination why there's a Shinto Shrine in an American City, why the letter was in Japanese when neither Jayden, Lauren, or their father was remotely japanese. The acting. And I think, on that note, the only reason they were even upset Jayden was leaving was because they knew all they're acting would look that much shittier. When he's around they have a buffer.

I cannot wait for this season to be over already.

Meh, Washington and Hawaii have Shinto shrines so I don't see why that's a particularly big deal. It'll probably be a few days before I get a chance to watch the episode and comment on the other stuff though.