[Sh Ranger]

The CGI department were clearly enjoying themselves with Kabutan and Scorpie.

Intriguing to see Himeno's tragic backstory. Cicadaman assassinated the former king and queen of Ishabana by injecting them with the same venom ailing the Shugods in the present, which explains why taking control of Scorpie is a personal matter for Himeno, instead of her typical selfishness as you might've presumed. I guess this was foreshadowed last episode with her seriousness, in contrast to her more cheerful playful approach to trying to get Kuwagon from Gira in Episode 3.

Yanma argues that Scorpie isn't culpable for the Rans' deaths, as the one who commands the Shugod should instead be held responsible for their actions. This is partially true, but it also suggests that the Shugods have a lesser judgment or sense of morality that would prevent them from being complicit in evil deeds. I think that sometimes, it's justified to blame subordinates if they're conscious that what they're doing is wrong and yet they do it anyway. In Scorpie's case though, her involvement in the coup probably contributed to her resentment of humanity and maybe she sees helping Himeno as a way of atoning for that.

It's cool how they're apparently bringing back the formula of sharing auxiliary mecha between the Rangers. Gira gets Kabutan, Himeno gets Scorpie, I guess one of the others will likely get God Hopper. With three auxiliary Shugods, this reminds me of Shinkenger's Origami, which also had a kabuto as the first one.

I hope Kaguragi suggesting a holmgang between the Hasties is cause he's actually rooting for Gira to win. If Kaguragi's spinelessness is merely a device he's using for some grand scheme to legally remove Racles from the throne of Shugoddam with minimal risk to the other countries, then that'll improve my opinion of him a little. However, I'm concerned with how Rita doesn't react to the soldiers pointing swords at innocent orphans as leverage to coerce Gira. Surely they should think that's illegal, right?