[DreamSword]

Episode 1: Very Ordinary Bread Girl

DS: Hello everyone! I'm DreamSword!

Androzani: I am Androzani84.

En-chan: And I'm Enchilada645!

DS: And we're gonna be talking about the third season of Y'all Rangers: Dogengers High School!

But before we get to that, Androzani, you're the newcomer here. Please tell us about yourself and how you're the biggest Dogengers fan ever.

Androzani: Well, outside of this one season, my knowledge of Dogengers is limited. I've seen one episode each from the following two seasons and none from the previous two (I know them mostly because they're the only two wikis acknowledge to exist).

But I do have some production info for this season, most notably the director changing over from Fumie Arakawa to Nobuhiro Suzumura, who those who read Fish Sandwich's review of Kuuga will note as the source of his production facts for that show.

DS: Mkay. It'll be interesting to hear the perspective of a newcomer to the show in practically every regard then.

So before we get into the meat of this thing, I gotta say, boy, this episode sure made me nostalgic.

You all remember growing up in your high school days, right? Praying to the God of Toast, making plans with your friends, getting shaken down by thugs, planning the school festival, resurrecting a samurai with your tears...

Just your average day in Detroit, really.

En-chan: Sounds about right.

Androzani: In my high school, there were only 4 students in my year, one of whom was a year younger and I only interacted with her in Mathematics.

I spent so long in our student lounge (formerly a teacher's lounge) that I started not even coming in until I had a lesson scheduled.

DS: And when you did, you ran out in a hurry with toast in your mouth. Yeah, we can all relate.

Especially Mako, our shiny, new, totally average girl protag!

En-chan: Yep, our very average protag!

Androzani: So average that she's surrounded by the main reason I watched this series in particular: a cast full of veterans from Sentai and Rider.

In this episode alone, Mako's mother Miko is Houka from Magiranger, the homeroom teacher is Hojo from Agito and the ghost sword guy (Name forthcoming) is the Hanzaki Megido from Saber.

En-chan: Speaking of cast though, you can really tell this show got a budget upgrade given we seem to just have an actual side cast this time around.

DS: Not to mention the absolute onslaught of cameos from other local heroes right at the start.

And like, what I really liked about this episode was that alongside the parody of high school girl cliches, we just had an average episode of Dogengers just kinda happening in the background the entire time.

Androzani: And at the tail end, she gets an empty sword sheath to transform from ordinary girl Mako to superheroine... MAKO.

DS: Who I'm guessing is also a local hero given the branding on the back of her jacket, not to mention her family's' company being mentioned multiple times.

En-chan: If I recall correctly that is indeed the case. She even has a couple of alt modes for CM purposes that we don't see in this show too from what I remember digging up on her when I first saw High School.

DS: And while Mako is certainly likable in her own right during this debut... man, Yabai Kamen just steals the show every time, doesn't he?

Him robbing the bank was just a fantastic sequence all around.

En-chan: It's honestly nice to see him back in his villain role, especially after Nice Buddy.

DS: It was also nice to see him getting launched into space via fireball. That gag had me rolling.

Androzani: I can't speak much about him right now, but I did like the speaker guy trying his best to be evil by doing petty crime on a massive (read: corporate) scale.

DS: Was not expecting him to actually be human, that's for sure.

En-chan: Oh yeah.

Shaberryman was definitely the highlight for me in terms of villains this episode though.

DS: Pro tip: Always keep track of your wallet, kids.

En-chan: Or else you'll get kidnapped by your local villain syndicate.

Androzani: On the plus side, you get supepowers out of the bargain

DS: I will say that when it came to the climax of the episode, I actually wasn't expecting Mako herself to transform. I figured the samurai guy was gonna do all of the fighting instead. So that was a pleasant surprise.

En-chan: It is nice to see a Toku Series with a transforming female lead, that's for sure.

Androzani: And her poor friend was left bored to sleep waiting for her.

DS: I mean, Ryoko is a real pal though; basically carrying the work. I guess the group project tropes extend to even when the group is only two people.

Also, the cameo from Great-2 was fun.

En-chan: Great-2's just trying his best. Even if he got the wrong house... and someone decided to steal his delivery despite it being said wrong house.

DS: Pizza was the real hero in the end. Just like in real life.

The only other thing I wanna note about the episode is actually the way it opens.

Like, why did it open like this was an episode of Kamen Rider W?? I mean, I welcome it, but...

En-chan: Gotta get that exposition through somehow!

Androzani: And give Seki his narration paycheque in addition to his Yabai Kamen paycheque

DS: Wait, it's the same dude?

Androzani: According to the Japanese wikipedia, it is.

DS: Dang, that voice filter puts in work.

Was there anything else about the episode that especially stood out to you guys?

Androzani: As someone who was watching this alongside Avataro Sentai Donbrothers, I noticed the unintentional similarity of the two shows having a high school girl as the lead, but take it in opposite directions. I have a meme for it, but not anywhere I can access it right now. Maybe by the finale.

En-chan: I really dig MAKO's design, there's just something about it that hits all the right notes for me.

DS: It's a nice suit for sure. I especially like the hood, even if it's not really used.

Overall, this was a pretty fun intro episode, and I'm curious to see the character work that'll happen going forward.