[Phantom Stranger]

So I've been watching Dairanger lately, watched 15 on Shout and I got the DVD set today.

I'm really enjoying it so far. Predominantly the series is comedic and goofy, but to it's credit it is fully aware of this fact and yet is also able to be serious when need be and not undermine one or the other.

Kou, Kiba, so far was been a big surprise. He straddles the line between enjoyably obnoxious and perverse(yet ultimately harmless) and being an insufferable creep. But so far they've done really well with him. He is honestly a really enjoyable character. Seeing him goof off and enjoy his abilities is fun, and while he does abuse those abilities at times, and him being a kid doesn't necessarily make it okay, it does explain it.

But to tie this in with my earlier statement, the current episode is The Secret Byakko-chan. In this ep, we learn a bit about Kou and that his mother is either dead, or in his belief simply missing. So anyway he just moves in with Rin without her knowledge. He has been an annoyance to her in earlier eps, grabbing her boobs, trashing her place (though with good reason if unbeknown to her) so obviously she's not too thrilled about this. But we get a good human moment with Kou opening up to her about his life and mother, how he felt like a burden at his previous residence.

After this spiel, Kou gets a phone call from his mother...which is actually Shouji. Kou excitedly hurries to the train station and Rin is relieved to be rid of him, and plans on having the others take all of Kou's stuff back. All of this is played like some sort of joke, with quirky music in the BG and everything.

I've seen other sentais pull this sort of thing, try to be humorous with a subject that's absolutely discussing to try and play off as a funny moment. But there is repercussions here. Kou is absolutely distraught, as a kid should be after learning the call from his mom was all a ruse orchestrated by someone he was fond of. I sort of wish the repercussion was bigger, since the subject matter is so messed up. But at least its there.

And that's what I mean when I say Dairanger knows when to stop, and why it's been so good with balancing the goofy nature, rather than injecting it at every opportunity even if inappropriate....unlike some other series.