[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Man, I guess I took a break on Maskman right when everything was about to get badass.

Episode 17 takes us to Kenta's childhood home. Which is a shack. In the woods. Under a magnificent rock face. Where he was trained from childhood in Okinawan Kobudo by brutal, magical monk.

While visiting Kenta's mentor, the Maskmen are attacked by Baraba and his MOW. MOW is like Parasite from Superman comics. He steals each of the Maskmen's Aura Power, except for Kenta. The Maskmen go to recuperate while Black Mask takes on the MOW by himself.

Pretty boilerplate episode here. It's cool seeing Kenta's past with his martial arts mentor. And framing him as badass enough to go after Baraba on his own is fun.

Once again we see a Maskman's back story, and once again it's lonely and brutal. These guys didn't have much of a childhood. They were bread to be weapons. It's a bit sad.

The unsuited action was the highlight of the episode. Really fun fights all around. Black Mask continues to be one of the best designed Sentai members in history.

Overall: A fun, if somewhat empty, episode.

3/5 flaccid Masky Rods.