[Fish Sandwich]

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.