[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Woo! My first LWW! So relieved we ended up with Magiranger!

Thoughts on Episode 1:

- That is one sick villain lair. Love the Frankenstein/Vampire/Werewolf based villains.
- Decent opening theme song and OP.
- Wait a second, these guys are gonna ride hover bikes shaped like broomsticks? Incredible.
- The first gattai robo has a wizard's hat!? This pleases me greatly.
- Hey look, Tsubasa (MagiYellow) is Jin from Go-Busters. He was easily the best part of that show, glad to see him show up here.
- I'm just gonna say it: MagiGreen is pretty hot.
- Geez, there are so many Caucasian extras in this show.
- Super into these henshins and role calls. Didn't think I'd like the uniforms, but seeing them in action I'm pleasantly surprised.
- I really hope the individual robots end up looking like these Heavenly Saints because they are sweet.
- Is Wolzard wearing pointy witch boots? Yes, yes he is.
- I was skeptical of the sibling angle at first (cause I likes me some intra-team romance), but I'm really liking the chemistry it brings. Especially between the girls.
- Wolzard is my favorite sentai archetype. The lone-wolf, bad-but-probably-kinda-good guy--oh my god he turns into a giant robot centaur, too. Wolzard, I like your style.


Overall, I'm way more into this show than I expected I'd be. I like the tone. I think the magic brings an interesting dynamic into the fight scenes. I love the design work -- especially how it incorporates witchy magic stuff into the sentai framework. I like Kai -- he's young, but at least he doesn't scream every one of his lines. And he clearly has a lot of room for growth, which is good for a Red, since he'll receive the most screen time.

More than anything, first episodes of a sentai series are good at demonstrating the series' vibe, and I like the vibe a lot. So far, it feels like Super Sentai via Harry Potter (i.e., lighthearted with hints of darkness creeping around the edges), and I like that combo. Obviously it's way too early to judge anything about the story, but I like where things are going.

Now for episodes 2 and 3. Bring 'em on!