[Sh Ranger]

A pretty good episode that delivers overdue lore and plot and character development.

Firstly, there's the flashback to Daisuke getting weirdly excited about visting another Cosmo Layer for the first time (an ordinary-looking one) and suddenly suffering from a severe case of Spider-Verse illness. I currently feel neutral about this as the cause hasn't been explained yet. While Gavan Infinity is the only confirmed Uchuu Keiji who can D-Jump, we know Gavan Type-G and Shaider were able to travel to the Kyuranger universe using an alternative method without any problems to their health.

This could mean:

• There's something wrong with Daisuke's body that prevents him from functioning on other Cosmo Layers.
• The Nega Emorgy is making the Cosmo Layers unstable and preventing multiverse travel through means other than D-Jump and Makuu Space.
• The D-Jump is flawed technology, but the Galactic Police Federation don't have accessible alternatives.

Moving on to the present, WaniPat have more focus in this episode, as the first one set entirely in A0073. They were kind of annoying before since they mostly just mocked Reiji and Daisuke while seemingly doing nothing important despite their higher rank, but after almost losing Daisuke in the first encounter with Death Gavan, these two divisions have started to become friends. I figured that would happen at some point, but I'm glad it's already done so we can get better scenes with them.

Gavan Infinity is not the first Gavan in this universe, having been preceded by Gavan Destiny, now called Death Gavan. Unlike OG Gavan and Type-G, Infinity and Destiny are visually distinct Gavans with different colors and Emogears, although they both have the same general design which I guess is unique to A0073's Gavans. This may explain why Gavans in this show have unique names, as even though the title and rank of Gavan is unique, the user, powers and appearance are not. Of course, the design would have to change for some users, depending on whether they're human or ant.

Death Gavan is much more intimidating now that he's actually doing stuff instead of standing around in the background of criminal scenes. My favorite part is where he's standing around on a rooftop, which is admittedly more standing around like he did before, but then he follows that with countering Infinity's first strike by dropping him through the rooftop all the way down to the base of the building! When Cosmo Gavarion G.I. debuted in the climactic space battle, I actually thought for a moment it was going to lose when Death Gavan's Ark Gavarion GC-R's lazer continued to advance. It took Infinity using an Emotional Burst to turn the tide and I could totally feel the intensity in their fight!

The only minor problem I have with this episode is yet another criminal who's just there to be a criminal. A guy who's mad with society and we only know that since Death Gavan told us. Although I suppose Death Gavan himself counts as the real criminal of the week, hence why I say it's only a minor problem. "Mad with society" is such a generic shallow motivation though, like, I would've accepted something more absurd.

So yeah, this was a pretty good episode. However, I feel like it's still too late for me to get invested at this point, when I have the option to watch Kyojyu Tokusou Juspion instead. But I don't think this is a total failure, I just think Gavan Infinity is a show that I'm more likely to enjoy watching in sequences rather than weekly where I become disappointed and confused with the direction. I'll wait for a Project RED show that I can seriously invest in first, before I consider returning to this one. Until then, I hope the rest of you enjoy Gavan Infinity as much as you can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

I love Death Gavan/Gavan Destiny's naming scheme. I'm sure we'll have to wait to learn more, but I wonder if he was a hero who:

a. Foresaw the worst-case scenarios and prevented them
b. Didn't foresee the future, but rather took on nearly impossible missions to change its course, thus the name Gavan Destiny.

The name is clever as the first 2 kana of Destiny spell Death, which is a Destiny shared by all mortals. Destiny is also a popular sci-fi MMORPG series set on various planets and moons in our star system.