[Phantom Stranger]

Gingaman ep. 11

This my favorite episode so far. It's a Gouki focused and took me by great surprise. It's parents day at Yuuta's School and his dad can't make it because he's going over seas, so Gouki goes in his place, and ends up developing a crush on the teacher, Suzuko. Obviously you're not going to be able to develop some chemistry is as little as a single episode...but I gotta say, it kinda works. Goushi and by extension his actor, Teruhide Takahashi, really makes this episode. He's incredibly endearing and sweet. And while some of it is played for laughs, it's also pretty damn adorable.

The scenes between him and Suzuko are pretty good for what they are, and again, really sweet to see and a bit humorous. Eventually get to the end battle and the city is in chaos. Really fantastic street level destruction which is always fun to see. Gouki is busy protecting Suzuko, and amidst the destruction she recolonizes an unconscious man in a wrecked car, and she randomly says the wedding is tomorrow, and watching it I'm just going "oh...they're gonna pull that." So of course Gouki rescues him (and a wedding dress!) then has to go help the rest of the team. Nice touch is Gouki is holding back tears while he's running and transforming.

Then we get to the final fight, and Gouki is full of emotion and just slams into the MOW. Really good editing here, because after tackling the MOW we realize he's like 10 feet in a tree with the monster, and it was a super smooth transition. He twirls the monster around by his feet like Mario, slamming him into a tree, stabs him in the stomach. All while the amazing Ginga Tensei music is playing, which is so triumphant. Of course, monster grows, and out comes Gingarilla. I looove Gingarilla. Its always fantastic when you have a flexible enough suit which can do more then most sentai zords. So, Gingarilla runs in starting with a face slam, followed by a drop kick, then an amazing elbow drop. THEN he picks up the monster by the freaking head and swings him around, before finally forming Gingaioh and finishing it.

It is amazing.

So, finally at the end, Gouki is pretty torn up about Suzuko and all. But Yuuta comes along with some information. Turns out the man Gouki saved was her sister's fiancee. The smile that comes across Gouki's face is just adorable, almost child like in a way.



This was a fantastic episode, and I absolutely love it. I didn't even mention the villains, particularly Sambash. He doesn't do a whole lot, but there's some hints of things to come, which I kinda already know about, but it's a nice touch.