[Locke]

Dairanger, the final episode, thank Christ.

Man what a great ending to the series. Sure it was ridiculous as all hell, but it was still really fucking good. I love how the whole 'justice cannot exist without evil' thing was personified by the cast wearing silly costumes and wigs.

And I loved watching Shadam just go totally nuts, with a kitchen knife to boot, despite his crazy powers. And then when he turned out to be clay as well! Plus, although dated now, imagery like the Gorma palace falling from the sky were awesome.

There were some unintentionally hilarious moments as well, like how the show seems self aware how little characterisation our heroes have, so they have someone shout their motivations out to the audience. I'm pretty sure Master Kaku did this mid way through the show as well.

So what is the clay thing about? Does that mean that as long as the Dairanger's exist, they are going to force the Gorma to come back as clay zombies so their battle can continue for eternity? Because considering how close and often the Dairanger's came to losing, and how many people got killed, you can see why the Dragon God wanted the fighting to stop because literally all the Dairanger's need to do is stop and they'd never have to battle the Gorma again.

Overall I thought this show was terrible, it's up there with Kuuga for my 'worst toku series ever'. The action was well done enough to make the show entertaining, and to keep me watching and I really enjoyed the music but that is where my praise ends.

The Dairangers basically had no characterisation at all, apart from shouting and angry faces which basically makes the show pointless. Why should I watch a fifty episode series if there are no character arcs or character growth? Isn't the point of shows this long to be that we can focus on things with a sense of detail we just couldn't with a movie? Well this show managed to tell me less than your average 90 minute action flick, yeah.

Further that, when the Dairangers transformed their entire personality and characterisation (what tiny amounts there were) changed, which is inexcusable when these fights were made specifically for these characters. I was convinced to a point that Daigo and Ryou were the ones in their suits, but entirely unconvinced by the others.

What little plot we had was unfocused and made barely any sense. The show never once seemed to work out what it was, as we got wild shifts of focus, huge story developments that were forgotten or completely dropped and times when the show was all out ridiculous, yet played completely straight.

Even the action, which I appreciated, wasn't that great. The effects are insanely dated, with most powers being done with the same four or five effects, sometimes not even changed slightly. There were thousands of visible wires and other safety equipment. Although the Dragon Star Lord had a wicked design, the mech stuff in this show was terrible.

And yeah, I'm just glad it's over and done with.