[Battlizer]

Gekiranger 40-44

So all the other Gekiranger family subplot were pretty much fun episodes showing a little bit about the Gekirangers characters and lives with their families, while not really having any obvious impacts on the main plot aside from the Rin/Gen Jyuken plot...then Jan's family episode hits. Holy shit!

I suppose it all makes sense, that Jan's father would be Dan. And hey! It's Battle Kenya/Denji Blue/Gavan! But yeah with both of them having tiger spirits and Jan reminding Rio of Dan it seemed pretty obvious. I like how the previous episodes sort of built up to showing how Jan viewed family. Because nearly every time some spat came up between whichever Gekiranger was having the problem and their family member, Jan would always tell them that families aren't supposed to behave in that way.

Not only is Jan reluctant about fighting a mindless monster that was once his father, but Gou's getting all wound up about having to fight a former friend of his, Miki's, and even Rio's in a sense.

I like how Rio's initial flashback of his time studying Geki Jyuken were all in vintage kung fu movie-vision. But his final duel with Dan was incredibly kung fu movie-esque. Reminded me a bit of Fist of the North Star too. Dan fought Rio despite his injuries to stop him from turning further on the path to Rin Jyuken, so when Rip defeated him, he was denied the honor of having a real fight with him. Rio actually seemed pretty concerned after finding out he killed his former friend in an unfair fight.

Dan's insistence that his son would one day be a match for Rio, kind of caused a stir too. Jan understandably didn't just want to be the destined one to fight Rio because everyone decided he would do it beforehand. Gou is slightly jealous of this since he wants to be the one to defeat Rio in a rematch. And everyone is on either side of the fence. Ken seemed to side with Jan the most, probably cause he's all about not having the load of responsibility on your shoulders.

Rio's decided without a doubt that Jan is his ultimate enemy and Long...is not okay with that for some reason. He definite has some shady shit up his sleeve. Basilisk seemed to let something slip about Rio gaining a new mind. Mele starting to catch on that Long has his own plans.

And Jan's past is pretty damn sad. Dad died, his mother and her village buried in a rock slide....which may or may not have been Long's handiwork. And then just when he decided that he'd overcome his fears. deciding to be the own to take down Rio and Rin Jyuken once and for all and his dad too to free his spirit....in the end, he couldn't beat his dad at all. But he finally reached through to him. I don't think I've ever seen a sadder scene of monster somberly embracing his son.

And the Christmas episode was fun. That kid's English though....wow that was some odd acting. I mean, I suppose it's expected with an American child actor being directed by a Japanese director. His dad sounded like he was Australian or something. Ken was hilarious this episode AND it featured Master Pyon playing the part of the 'red nosed reindeer'. All in all, it was pretty fun.

With Gou receiving training from Michelle Peng in a new technique to defeat Rio, it looks like things are gonna heat up big time.