[Androzani84]

Once upon today, we continue with?

Androzani?s Tsukai Detour

And today, it?s alright, because we?re going full force king with?

Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger vs Donbrothers



"Once upon a time, 2,000 years ago in the world of Chikyu, an evil force called the Bugnarak invaded and attempted to wipe out humanity. Five brave soldiers appeared and united the powerful Shugods into the guardian spirit King-Ohger to defeat them. Upon victory, the five became kings and built the world into five kingdoms to rule. But, a prophecy foretells that the Bugnarak shall return 2,000 years later to finish their mission of annihilating humanity, and on that day..."

Ohsama Sentai

Gira/Kuwagata-Ohger: The self-proclaimed Evil King of Shugoddam, the land of the Gods. Gira Husty was born the biological son of Uchu King Dagded Dujardin and the previous queen from the royal Shugoddam family, as per Causus Husty's wishes to have the power to eliminate all his enemies, including the Bugnarak Empire. The child was a gift from Dadged to the royal family for their 2000 year long loyalty and service to his empire, though he was unaware that Causus wanted this child to eliminate Dagded. Causus' wife passed away immediately following Gira's birth. According to Gira's older half-brother Rcules Husty, Gira was kidnapped as a child and despite the family's best efforts, they failed to find him. As a result, they chose to omit all records of his existence; lest the family be subject to scandal, and dishonor should the incident come to light. Gira thus grew up in an orphanage with no memories of his real heritage beyond his name and the taste of a dessert known as ?Rainbow Jururira?. Although he lived in poverty at an orphanage, he was an innocent young man who admired the king, Rcules. However, when the Earth Empire Bugnarak invaded, he became enraged at the king's arrogant and cruel nature. Gira rebelled against the world and became the "Evil King" who protects the people. This allowed him to awaken God Kuwagata to confront the Bugnarak as Kuwagata Ohger, though at the cost of Rcules branding him a traitor. With Gira now on the run from the Shugoddam, he encounters leaders of four nations: Yanma Gast, Hymeno Ran, and Kaguragi Dybowski while exploring their respective kingdom and learn each of their traits and fighting Bugnarak along the way. At his trial in front of Gokkan's sovereign Rita Kaniska, Gira eventually learns that he is in fact a crowned prince who is a legitimate heir to the Shugoddam throne and Rcules's younger brother. With this revelation, Gira vowed to overthrow his tyrannical brother and restore peace to Shugoddam. After his rise to kinghood, Gira leads Shugoddam taking and reforming it into a more peaceful nation and giving it stability unlike his brother tenure. He would also help the stand-in kings of the other nations run each kingdom all the while the original kings are being imprisoned. Raised in an orphanage in the castle town, Gira has a pure and kind-hearted personality and is well-liked by all children. However, having always played the villain role in playing hero with them, he's developed a habit of speaking in a twisted manner, namely referring to the deliverance of true justice and compassion as "Evil". When he learned of King Rcules Husty's goal to "Prioritize the unification of Earth even at the expense of the people" in the name of "justice", he turned against the world by playing the role of the "Evil King" to destroy this so-called "justice". As an orphan and never able to see how a king or queen is supposed to do their work, Gira was quick to make wrong judgements on the other kings and queens, viewing them as nothing but the same as Rcules. However, he will accept the king's and queen's worth once he knowson how happy their citizens are to follow their path and leadership. His adventure with Yanma Gast is one such example. After the timeskip, he seems to have matured quite a lot, toning down the "Evil King" persona in favor of his true one. Despite being royalty, Gira doesn't seem to enjoy the excess attention it brings, as when the people rejoiced over his return by tossing him in the air, he immediately demanded that they stop it because he didn't like it. Despite only ever having it once as a child, Gira's favorite food is Rainbow Jururira, a type of gelatin desert (later revealed as the powdered God Kuwagata Soul). Gira refers to himself as Boku (僕), but he switches to using Ore-Sama (俺様) whenever he's playing his Evil King persona.
Yanma Gast/Tombo-Ohger: The president of N?Kosopa, the land of technology, and the inventor of the OhgerCaliburs and control interfaces for the Shugods. Following God?s Wrath 15 years ago, when N'Kosopa had been decimated, Yanma grew up in the slums, due to the attack hitting the land hard. His mentor, Gin, taught him how to repair computers and the technology from the slums. At one point, he finally created his main laptop rigging, later known as Top Computer, that he still uses to this day. Alas, Yanma's journey to rebuild N'kosopa from nothing didn't start well. At one point, he came across Shiokara, who at that time was working for a counterfeiter boss named Suji, along with Akka, Mayuta and Usuba. Shiokara initially hated Yanma since the latter successfully created a machine to point out the counterfeit money they produced. However, Yanma?s tenacity, determination and resolve, even when facing certain death, successfully won Shiokara over. Thus, Shiokara ended up beating and leaving Suji and swearing his allegiance to Yanma. Eventually, Yanma rose through the ranks, and became the president of N'kosopa, with Shiokara as his assistant. Under Yanma?s rule, N'kosopa turned from a debris filled slum to a futuristic and technological city. A well-meaning monarch who would rather not get involved in politics, Yanma is a highly intelligent man, having obtained his throne through his computer skills alone. However, these skills have made him highly arrogant albeit he was able to deduce that Rcules Husty was far from the benevolent king that he had painted himself to be at a first glance. As a result of his arrogance, Yanma attempted to hack into God Kuwagata and control King-Ohger himself, only to fail where Gira succeeded. While generally approachable, Yanma is slightly aggressive in nature due to growing up in the slums. As a result, unless he has someone watching over him, he will often pick a fight with anyone in the area. Yanma also has bad table manners, which were deemed vulgar by Hymeno. Despite his arrogance, Yanma still takes his responsibility as a king seriously. However, instead of protecting the kingdom himself as a king, he makes sure that everyone in the kingdom follows his path as well as being able to support each other. Moreover, he never views his citizens as just mere "lowly beings" or "tools" to be disposed once they had outlived their use. Instead, he views them all as his comrades. Because of his personality along with how well he has established his kingdom, all of his citizens have no quarrel with regard to following his leadership. When working with the rest of the kings, Yanma always takes the lead because of his vast knowledge and quick wit to read the situation.
Hymeno Ran/Kamakiri-Ohger: Hymeno is the beautiful queen of Ishabana, the land of beauty and medicine. She originally was the princess and lived with her parents, the former king and queen. One day in her childhood, a massive swarm of locust Shugods swarmed her kingdom. Hymeno was helping her parents treat the citizens of their kingdom when a black-hooded figure came out of nowhere and injected a poison into her parents' bodies that quickly took their lives. All Hymeno could do from there was watch as the hooded figure escaped with the help of one of the locusts. This incident would later be known as God?s Wrath, and Hymeno immediately become the newest Monarch of Ishabana despite her very young age. Although the people of Ishabana try to alleviate Hymeno's grief by creating an anime called "Together with Moffun", the incident still deeply traumatized the young queen, to the point of her accusing Jeramie Brasieri as the perpetrator of said incident due to him owning a Cicada Shugod. Hymeno is a rather complex individual, being both selfish and generous. While she seemingly does things only for herself, she truly cares for others, especially for her kingdom Ishabana. She is completely obsessed with her appearance and revels in her beauty. She believes herself to be the most gorgeous woman in existence, and is particularly fond of her hair. Hymeno is also a skilled medical professional who treats her subjects with the best care she can give. Due to her spoiled nature, Hymeno will sometimes be demanding and ask for absurd things, such as having her own butler put on aged makeup and change his name to Sebastian to better fit the role, or demolishing a dilapidated house that blocks her view of the flower garden her servants planted with dynamite, though she provided the owners of the house with a brand new home. If she is enraged during battle, she will go into a fit of a noblewoman's laugh and wildly attack her foes. Due to the tragic events known as God?s Wrath killing both of Hymeno's parents and leaving her an orphan at a young age, she becomes very emotional upon the subject being brought up. She has been seen lashing out in rage as a result, with such rage leading to her desiring to tear up God Scorpion to create an antidote to avenge her parents, fighting Jeramie Brasieri upon mistaking him for the tragedy?s mastermind, and angrily confronting the culprit, 17 years after he had killed her parents. Despite her losses, she is unwilling to lose any more individuals she cares about even when said people manage to capture the man responsible, stopping Rita Kaniska and even hugging them, crying and considering them a friend.
Rita Kaniska/Papillon-Ohger: Rita is the Ruler and Chief Justice of Gokkan, where those who are accused of international crimes are judged and imprisoned, regardless of country or status. They were initially an aide to their predecessor, Karras Dehaan, for five years before ascending to the throne at age 10 when Karras faked her death during the Wrath of God incident. Before this, Karras embedded the Frozen Imprisonment technique in Rita's right eye, resulting in their heterochromatic eyes. Karras explained the technique in detail to Rita, and ordered them to keep this technique a secret, also hoping that the day Rita has to use this technique will never come. Rita is firm and ruthless, but also fair in their rules when judging defendants in the court of law. As such, they earned the nickname "The Walking Code." When they are in public and on duty, they present themselves as gender neutral, since whatever gender they choose to identity as does not affect their job. However, despite their lawful nature, they are extremely introverted and shy, and talks to themselves using their plush doll named Moffun (もっふん) when in private and off-duty. A running gag with Rita is that they will unexpectedly scream when things do not go their way. Rita also has a major obsession with the fictional character "Moffun", going so far as to own various merchandise of the fictional character. This obsession can be used against them however, as Rita can be easily manipulated if a plush doll of Moffun is at stake or is pulled into the situation with Moffun as the deal breaker for them.
Kaguragi Dybowski/Hachi-Ohger: Kaguragi is the king and lord of Toufu, the land of produce. Originally, he and his sister Suzume were regular citizens of Toufu, working as regular and honest rice farmers. At one point, they met the then ruling lady Iroki, who was impressed by their harvest & produce. She then proposed to sell their products to people over Chikyuu, in return for Kaguragi learning everything he needs to know to rule Toufu as the new lord. When asked why, Iroki claimed that someone as honest as Kaguragi would never betray her.However, During God?s Wrath, Iroki had hoarded all of Toufu?s food, leaving its citizens to starve. Suzume then led a coup to reclaim the rice supply, spear-headed by Kaguragi. However, Kaguragi decided to try and talk to Iroki one last time. Kaguragi ended up learning that the food stocks of Toufu were tainted by God Scorpion poison. Iroki hoarded the poisoned food before the public knew about this and burned it down. Kaguragi tried to persuade Iroki to give some of the food to the Toufu citizens, but she denied to surrender the foods that are now unfit for consumption. To prove her point, Iroki ended up consuming the poisoned rice herself and ordered Kaguragi to execute her after accidentally setting the castle, along with the poisoned rice stocks on fire. Since Kaguragi was reluctant to do so, Iroki ended up incinerating herself, calling Kaguragi a 'Traitor' with her last breath. As a mortified Kaguragi came down from the burning Toufu castle, Suzume noticed that Kaguragi?s hand was dirtied by Iroki's blood. Assuming that Kaguragi had eliminated Iroki, Suzume appointed Kaguragi as the new Toufu lord, much to the elation of the rebelling citizens. This incident, while shaking Kaguragi?s spirit, allowed Kaguragi to learn how to deceive for the greater good, thus turning him into the master fraudster he is in the present day. He would use his mastery of deceit to aid the Ohsama Sentai and Gira on his way to claim the throne of Shugoddam. Kaguragi is a very gentle, wise, and peaceful king who cares for his citizens. However, he is a master of deceit who will do even dirty work as long as it is to protect his kingdom and citizens. He is also noted to be a liar, falsely claiming he anticipated the monarchs to ally to fight the Bugnarak, much to the disagreement of the others. Despite some of his rather unscrupulous personality traits, Kaguragi is shown to deeply care for his younger sister, Suzume. Despite his deceit and lies, Kaguragi has shown to the rest of the Ohsama Sentai that he actually despises Rcules. Yanma has noted that to trust Kaguragi, one must understand his heart and goal first, which is why Yanma was able to trust Kaguragi to take down Rcules. In teamwork with the rest of the kings, Kaguragi often makes moves for his own agenda. While it always benefits the team, none of them are usually happy with how he performs it. Whenever his plan is busted and it is not a bad moment, he always resorts to playing dumb.
Jeramie Brasieri/Spider Kumonos: The child of one of the human colonists from Earth who settled on Chikyu and a Bugnarak noblewoman named Nephillia, Jeramie was implanted with the King?s Proof of the Bugnarak, preventing him from dying, but making his Bugnarak powers uncontrollable, to the point his mother sealed them by placing a mask on his face, and hiding the key. Jeramie thus wrote the legend of the Ohsama Sentai battling the Bugnarak so that he could unlock his power and become the Rift King of the Bugnarak to unite them with humans. Perhaps out of pride as a storyteller, Jeramie has a distinctive way of communicating and speaks in a unique style that does not use words to get to the point, forcing Gira and others he meets to "read between the lines" even when there are no such lines. This makes him difficult to smoothly communicate with and to be understood by others. He is a pacifist who dislikes conflict and tries to remain neutral in the battle between the Kings and Bugnarak, but his true intentions were a mystery during his first appearance. But it was later revealed that he wished the Bugnarak to coexist with mankind after dealing with 2 millennia of loneliness coupled with how his family, the sixth hero and a Buganarak princess, were excommunicated and exiled for falling in love with one another and the fact that he, their illegitimate child had to spread the remade story with his father removed to many across the land while facing prejudice.

Allies:
Rcules Husty: The deposed king of Shugoddam and Gira?s older brother. He planned to use the Bugnarak invasion as a smokescreen to conquer the other 4 kingdoms ?in the name of justice?, which turned Gira against him and set the latter on the path to be king. In order to attain this goal, Rcules proved willing to go as far as to align with the Bugnarak and make his brother into a pariah, culminating in his admittance that he would rather sacrifice the citizens he was supposed to protect than renounce his power. Assumed dead, Rcules resurfaces two years later, having pledged his full allegiance to the Space Bug King Dagded Dujardin in order to regain his glory. But it soon transpires that Rcules has been attempting to defeat the Space Bug King ever since witnessing the damage caused by God?s Wrath, even sending Gira away after learning that his father planned to use the latter as a weapon of destruction to assert his dominance. Because he assisted the Ohsama Sentai in defeating Dagded through his knowledge of the Space Bug King?s weaknesses, his sentence of death was commuted to life imprisonment without parole.
Douga: The ?King?s Left Hand? of Shugoddam, and captain of that country?s guard. Initially while he was working under Rcules, Douga acted antagonistic towards Gira and the other kings, though this seems to have only been out of loyalty to his king and his country rather than actual malice. However, Douga is shown to be a kind man who cares about the well-being of both his family and his country. As such, Douga begins to question Rcules' leadership when he chooses to side with the Bugnarak. After Rcules' downfall and Gira's rise as Shugoddam's new king, Douga's loyalty shifts over to Gira. He does his best to help Gira settle into his new position as king, and comes to respect Gira's unique way of ruling. After the timeskip, Douga's faith in Gira has increased, as shown when Gira planned to paint himself as a villain once more due to Hilbil's deeds, Douga vehemently protested his decision and exclaimed that Shugoddam's citizens need Gira's guidance more than ever. This loyalty went so far as when Rcules returned and took over Chikyu, Douga still remained loyal to Gira.
Boone: A young boy who grew up in the same orphanage as Gira. Much like the other children at the orphanage, Boone looks up to Gira like an older brother. After Gira was framed by Rcules, Boone was one of the few civilians who still supported Gira. Boone showed some disappointment after Gira became king and didn't want to play anymore, but was excited when Gira changed his mind and the two got to spend some time together at the festival. Boone has proven to be quite brave for someone his age, running through a battlefield full of Sanagim to deliver the final gear Gira needed, and later piloting God Ant alongside Kogane.
Goroge: The village idiot of Shugoddam. Goroge can be described as a highly provocative person. He's often shown to be the trigger for Shugoddam people?s decision-making once a big event happens. He is also shown to be quite vain and gullible, as shown when he willingly broke up with his girlfriend once Hymeno Ran (Kamejim in disguise) announced her marriage competition. He's also prone to changing sides, as shown when Rcules showed his 'True' persona as a tyrant, he immediately condemned Rcules as an Evil King and pledged support to Gira, despite that just a day before, he tried to convince people that Gira is an evil king.
Kuroda: A Kuroko who functions as Kaguragi?s assistant.
Suzume Dybowski: Kaguragi?s sister, Rcules? wife by arranged marriage and Gira?s sister in law. Prior to making an alliance with Rcules, Suzume was sent to be Rcules' bride to ensure the stability of the alliance. She was initially shown to be a cruel lady and having fallen head over heels for Rcules, but the truth is different. Much like her brother, Suzume is a deceitful person and cares for her brother's citizens. While originally, she seemed to despise Rcules and was merely hiding her hatred of him, their relationship is a bit more complicated than that: Suzume was one of few people who was aware of Rcules's true intentions, as shown when she assisted him in faking his death.

What do I think of King Ohger?

In all honesty, the series never felt like it really found its footing, so much as it believed it had it from the start. Which means that the show has a lot of early issues it never really grows out of. 

For instance, the characters. The main 5 all get given several flaws that the narrative treats as positive traits, meaning that there?s no growth among the cast. Even at the end, the flaws have mostly been explained rather than developed, and the characters felt stuck at square one. The secondary cast aren?t much better, since the show keeps bringing back the same cast of a few generic personalities, and never really gives them any true focus beyond a couple of gags, which makes you wonder what the point of them is.

 And the villains are another big issue. The Bugnarak get sidelined in favour of a very uninteresting and overused evil counterpart to the hero, who in turn spends several episodes coming out on top less because he?s awesome and hyper intelligent, and more through sheer dumb luck. Not helping is that the narrative keeps him in the show long past his ability to generate a decent story, and repeats the exact same ?duel to the death? plot three times (while you could point out Donbrothers did the same, I?ll counter that they mocked the idea of repeating plots more than they played it straight)

And then there?s the increasing habit of trying to build sympathy for the villains at the last minute, after having them be unapologetically evil the whole time. Desnarak?s feeling of isolation are only brought up in his last episode and don?t really jive with how he?s been acting in his 26 episodes as the head honcho villain. And Rcules? 17 year plan is so contrived and utterly pointless you wonder why they even bothered adding that plot element, especially since the show keeps him on afterwards to do f*ck all that couldn?t have been done by another character. 



Which brings me to my main issue with the show. The twists. Namely, that with the exception of Dagded and the Space Bugs, all of the shows twists are dropped in the episodes they?re revealed, with little to no prior foreshadowing. It?s only in the episode where we learn Gira is a prince that the ?biometric security? feature of the OhgerCalibur exists, and it never gets mentioned again, making it clear it existed solely to shoehorn the reveal. 

Now then, enough negativity. Time for some positives.



* I liked the visual design of the 5 kingdoms, with the virtual backgrounds giving them an edge over if they?d shot them in a cramped studio or a stock location.

* The Space Bugs. As I said, their reveal is the only one that is competently handled in the whole show, and they have interesting personalities and abilities. The only downside is the lack of giant battles or original monsters when they take over, which makes some of the episodes very repetitive. 



* The main 6, sans Gira, who I felt really didn?t play much of a role in the show besides convincing the others to tenuously work together. While I bemoaned their lack of development, their colourful personalities and wardrobes more than make up for that.



* The Kyoryuger crossover. The show?s sacred cow, and deservedly so, given the world building involved and interplay between the two Sentai. The use of a different writer and director definitely sold the ?trapped in another world? vibe they were going for.

So to summarise, King-Ohger is good, but not exactly great.

For the production team, this is the second and final Sentai to be produced by Takahito Ohmori after Kyoryuger (which is why I?ll be doing two reviews this year rather than one), the writer is Minato Takano, who wrote most of Ex-Aid?s spin-offs (it apparently would've been the guy who wrote Ex-Aid proper, but he was busy on another show telling the characters when they were Ready to Fight) and the director is Hiroyuki Kato, who as mentioned back in the LupinPat vs Kyu review, I don?t really have an opinion of. So with all of that said, on with the review.

We open not on Earth or Chikyu, but in the location from King-Ohger?s summer movie, with both Jeramie and Haruka narrating the situation for their respective shows? fandoms.











They then ask the question on everyone?s lips simultaneously, while the 14 of them prepare to transform.

OhgerCaliber: Kuwagata!/Tombo!/Kamakiri!/Papillon!/Hachi!

Kumonoslayer: Kaiho! (Release)

Ohsama Sentai: Ohgai Busou! (Kings Armour, Equip. Translated by my subs as ?Royal Raiment?)

Donbrothers: Avatar Change!



After the two teams finish transforming and clash, we cut back to earlier at Shugoddam(nit), wherein Gira?s court were inexplicably making kibi dango.



Even more inexplicably, Taro shows up to deliver something to Gira (who clearly wasn?t expecting him to show up, given what happens next. And before someone says it, no Donbrothers proper would not just have this happen. It would have Taro be given a reason to go to Chikyu, and introduce some contrived method for him to travel there. This is just laziness)



And to emphasise my above point, the appearance of Taro out of nowhere causes Gira to choke on the dango he was eating and die from asphyxiation (apparently, no-one in this castle knows the Heimlich Manoeuvre, since Taro immediately tries to remove the dango BY HAND and everyone else just stands there panicking).



Taro then leaves without making his delivery (well this is already so unusual I doubt he?ll be fired over this) and goes outside, only now noticing the Shugods are stacking on top of each other for whatever reason (the Shugoddam Town Musicians?)



And what is his takeaway from being in a land of robot insects amid a medieval backdrop? He should ask a random child this question.



And if you?re confused? Don?t worry, narrator Haruka has you covered (though how she knows about these events, I don?t know)



Then one day, Giichan flew away, and Taro never saw him again, with the mere mention of the beetle being the one thing that makes him lower his unflappable guard (also, if the sepia tone didn?t give it away to those who have watched neither show, it?s reused from episode 18 of Donbrothers, which resolved this plotline with Taro being told that the beetle was likely dead now, and he accepted it. So this is character regression right here)



The kid then proceeds to tell Taro the exact same thing that Haruka told him in the aforementioned episode.



Taro?s solution to this problem? Invoke his inability to lie without dying temporarily and send himself there.



Amazingly, it works. (I guess Haakabaaka doesn?t discriminate between Earth natives and Chikyu natives?)



Back on Earth, Sonoza and Haruka are out on the town, looking for information.



Unfortunately, the only thing happening is Tsubasa and Sononi running away from the suit actor cameo cop.



But then Minoru Ohno (remember him from last time?) gets hit by a truck and gets left on death?s door (if you look closely, you can infer why the truck crashed)



Despite Saruhara?s suggesting they just let the dude die and save everyone some trouble, Jiro insists that all the Donbrothers help the officer save him (Why is anyone listening to Jiro?s suggestions after the last movie?s events?).



(Not sure how BoonRed?s power up form will help, especially since it wasn?t even out yet at the time this came out in theatres)

And then Haruka chooses this incident to come up with a new premise. Starting with an old man who gets hit by a truck.



And then Ohno revives from the dead as Ohsamaki (for the third freaking time. And this time, they?re going to treat him like an actual threat, despite how easily he went down the last time), and summons the King-Ohger Robotaro Gear, which banishes everyone to Chikyu (except the officer, who gets left there looking confused)



Tsubasa and Sononi end up in Shugoddam.



But any hopes of starting over on another planet are dashed, since they?re recognised by a Shugoddam guard (who is played by the same actor as the cop from the previous scene. This isn?t merely a joke. They were both recurring characters in both shows).



Turns out the pair resemble a pair of Shugoddam criminals, resulting in another chase.



And meanwhile, Saruhara ends up in N?Kosopa just as Yanma and Jeramie are engaging in a prank war.



And Saruhara proves utterly unwilling to put up with any of Yanma?s usual bullcrap.



And for added impertinence, the wabisabi monkey sits on the throne of N?Kosopa and recites a haiku.



This causes Jeramie to cancel the intruder alert and befriend Saruhara, giving him a poem (Japanese poems tend not to rhyme, even in the original language. They instead focus on structure).





As Yanma begins to (figuratively, thankfully enough) foam at the mouth, we change scenes to Ishabana, where Hymeno and Rita are watching a live action adaptation of Together with Moffun.



Rita does their usual cry of frustration, which causes Hymeno worry.



It turns out that they like it, but they interpreted the dialogue to be foreshadowing that Moffun is going to die (clearly Rita is familiar with Netflix?s formula for live action adaptations). At this point, Haruka and Sonoza are teleported in, and offer their professional insight on the show.



As Ohno enters to begin his isekai adventures, Haruka says her exact opinion of the show.



But Rita takes this like Haruka killed their mom, or something.



Haruka thus explains in detail that in her honest opinion, a kid show should prioritise that target audience of kids over adults who obsess over it (given how Young Justice and EMH got the axe due to poor sales to kids, while TTG is still going strong and Avengers Assemble is the longest running Marvel cartoon, despite both shows being lower regarded than the adult fans for the former two, she has a point)



Unfortunately, Sonoza agrees with Rita that a kids show should be written with an adult audience in mind. (Guy has clearly never seen Ultraman Nexus)



Fortunately, Hymeno agrees that a kids show should be aimed at kids.



She also points out that ?The world is mofu mofu? isn?t necessarily a hint that the character will die (especially considering how many kids shows generally don?t have death as more than a vaguely alluded to concept) or even an especially deep line.



Ohno meanwhile is annoyed that they?re focusing on this argument instead of him and transforms into Ohsamaki again (Shouldn?t the other Donbrothers be instantly summoned here already transformed to beat him down?)



In Toufu, Jiro beats his way past all the Kuroko guards, which prompts an unusually battle hungry Kaguragi to accept his challenge of a wrestling match (nice to know its not just the Donbrothers characters and concepts getting mangled).



As for Kijino, he ended up in Gokkan, where he?s currently talking to Rcules and Suzume within their cell. (Did the guards allow him in, or was he just teleported in?)



As Suzume sympathises with Kijino being separated from Natsumi, Rcules actually offers a solution to this whole dimension crossing mess.



No, not the Sentai in the current team position (you?ll note I?vetaken great care not to call them that, just like early advertising for the show did), but their mecha.



But Kijino has PTSD from the time Don King-Ohger blew him away as Hyakujuuking (back in Donbrothers 45) and runs away.



And because we only have 26 minutes to this plot, and we?re only 12 in, it?s time to unite both teams in Haakabaaka. First, Yanma attaches the Thundercaller to both Saruhara and Jeramie.



(They really missed an opportunity to have Taro meet with Yanma and get subjected to this machine)

Saruhara and Jeramie instantly kill each other with fake compliments, but not before they drag Yanma down with them.



Tsubasa and Sononi run over a hole in a bridge, and fall to their doom. (Were there no signs in front of this bridge? That seems like an accident waiting to happen)



Kijino freezes to death in the frozen wasteland that is Gokkan.



And Kaguragi and Jiro die by? bumping their bellies against each other. (Okay, these deaths have gone from silly to just plain contrived)



And finally, the quartet in Ishabana get slaughtered by Ohno.



And back to Haakabaaka, Gira has inexplicably decided that Taro is to blame (yet as Taro points out, it was Gira who decided to wolf down a kibi dango without chewing it) for his premature death.



And then the others show up and egg on this madness. (So we?re basically trying to parody a plot point that these movies haven?t used since Zyuoh vs Ninnin, SEVEN YEARS AGO)



Cue the transformation from the start of the movie.

OhgerCaliber: You are the king! You Are The! YOU ARE THE KING!



And so a fight between the matchups we?ve seen through this movie ensues, with Yanma and Jeramie fighting Saruhara in ghost!N?Kosopa.



And Kijino joins in to try and prevent King-Ohger from making an appearance.



Meanwhile in ghost!Ishabana, Haruka and Hymeno continue their debate with Rita and Sonoza on audience.









And Kaguragi and Jiro likewise have a full on wrestling match in ghost!Toufu (which is, yes, perpetually on fire. It makes sense in context).



And Kaguragi knocks the Ryuko Halberd into its axe mode, allowing Crazy Jiro to take over (which shouldn't happen, since that personality merged into Jiro in-series. Did Takano even watch more than a handful of episodes of Donbros?) and automatically transforms him into Don Torabolt. (Which is again, not how that works. See the video before for the how.)

As Tsubasa and Sononi ponder how superfluous they are to these proceedings, Ohno shows up and beats up all these matchups single-handedly.





That just leaves the two reds, who decide to put it on hold to beat this guy.



But before Ohno can beat them, Master Kaito appears and shoots him (what?s he doing in what is essentially Hell? Shut up, that?s what)

Master Kaito: Himitsu no Power Black!



He then spontaneously generates a cardboard box (even with his endless supply of everything, this bit doesn?t really make sense as more than a Deus ex Machina), from which emerges a repaint of the Ohger Crown, themed around Donbrothers.



This grants both Reds their respective super forms, but with the other?s chest plates (and some red paint splattered over the GolDon Momotaro chest, which does not look as impressive as the creators thought it did. It looks like he got shot wearing the outfit)

Taro then bids the Donbrothers introduce themselves.

Taro: Avataro Sentai?



They then rush into battle before Gira can likewise introduce his team.



One short and fairly unremarkable fight later (a fairly common issue wih King-Ohger, unfortunately), the two Reds use their Ohger Crown Lances to kill Ohno with a combo attack.



This has the effect of reviving him back on Earth, just as the cop is about to perform CPR (at least someone knows proper medical procedure).



Back in Haakabaaka, the fight between the Ohsama Sentai and Donbrothers ends as abruptly as it started.



Jeramie tries to point out that there wasn?t much of a plot to all this, but unfortunately, nobody listens.



As the others return to life, Taro and Gira pay a visit to an old friend of the former. Namely, Sonoi.



I f*cking called it!!!!

As Sonoi gives a lecture on how nobody ever really dies as long as they leave a legacy, the two Reds return to life after trying the Oden.



And just as Taro gave up on him, we find out that Giichan WAS in Haakabaaka. Under Sonoi?s care no less.



And we find out how Gira survived his death (because like I said, Taro?s is temporary by design and the others went through deaths that are pretty survivable with good enough medical aid): Boone doing the same cockamamie method Taro tried earlier. Only this time, it worked.



Over the credits (which come with a song. I just don?t know what it?s called or how to find it on YouTube), the Donbrothers are shown around the other 4 kingdoms, taking in the local culture.









Rcules and Suzume make one last appearance, making me wonder what was even the damn point of having them show up earlier (Rcules? comment about King-Ohger sending everyone home went nowhere)





In Haakabaaka, Sonoi lays out glasses for Iroki, Grodie and Deathnarok (the idea of the former two drinking together makes more sense, if you?re familiar with the behind the scenes of the characters)



We then find out why the truck crashed into Ohno (which I pointed out earlier)



Douga proceeds to swallow and choke on a kibi dango (thankfully, Boone is right there to save him)



Kijino then either explains how they?re going to get back to Earth, or sets up the second part of this double feature. (Decide for yourself)



And Jeramie ends this not on a ?happily ever after?, but on his famous line.





Final thoughts: Honestly, not really a good movie. Most of it is very much what a guy who hates Donbrothers or barely paid attention to it would tell you it?s all about, and what few elements resembled the show were done better in vs Zenkaiger. The interactions with the kings were minimal, bordering on non-existent, and the whole thing devolved into a fight for really dumb reasons, that ends just as abruptly for equally dumb reasons. About the only things I have to praise here is Saruhara not taking Yanma?s bullshit and the discussion over what makes a good kid?s show between the yellows and their besties.

Join me next time, where I?ll be reviewing the second half of this feature, Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger vs Kyoryuger. And depending on whether or not I can actually contact him, I might have Fish Sandwich providing additional commentary (though I?m leaning towards the ?not? outcome, which is no great loss)