[Fish Sandwich]

Kakuranger 12-13:

Episode 12 starts off simply enough, with some mooks going around absorbing children into a big ball of mud, and a mysterious town where everyone is in a trance, but really this is all a formality to get the back half, a battle royale so epic, it had to be filmed in a quarry. It's the Kakurangers versus around a half dozen old Youkai led by one new one, and the episode gets to deliver by devoting so much time to a single elongated fight like this. It feels like an occasion, even before the introduction of the Jusho Fighters. They're neat and all, but considering Muteki Shogun can still defeat any enemy in 30 seconds or less just by giving them a menacing glare and then going for the finisher, I have to question how much extra help is really needed here. Maybe the Kakurangers just believe in fair play, I don't know.

13 is about a Youkai who makes people unlucky. I repeat, episode 13 is about bad luck. It could be a coincidence, but that'd only make the timing that much spookier. Anyway, this one has a lot of the issues as some of my least favorite episodes so far, like the nearly nonexistent characterization of the heroes, and a plot that's a little too "sane", for lack of a better word. However, I actually enjoyed this one a lot, which I think is mostly down to the aforementioned Youkai having such a strong personality. He borders on being obnoxious, which should be a problem in its own right, but the fact that he's the bad guy means he gets his comeuppance by the end. Said comeuppance unfortunately doesn't come from Muteki Shogun for once, which really speaks either to how pathetic a monster we're dealing with, or how shameless a toy company, considering the task is left to the Jusho Fighters for no particular reason. They even got as many clips added to the opening as some sixth Rangers do!