[Fish Sandwich]

Welp, that didn't take long. One episode in, and I'm already head over heels for Kiramager.

Episode Zero didn't exactly wow me, but I've had an extremely good feeling about this show for a while now. The designs started growing on me rapidly, and almost everything it was doing seemed to be tailored specifically for me, you know? I mean, holy crap, you guys, this show has a fire truck robot voiced by Kenichi Suzumura. I swear Toei stole that idea straight out of my wildest dreams.

So I was still maintaining my usual optimism going into the premiere, and as it turns out, not only can it stand on its own, it's great. Cacophonous, but great. The episode moves a mile a minute, continuing what seems to be a trend of Super Sentai getting louder and faster the longer it goes on, but crucially, it's making good use of all that energy. There's some nice substance here, and, as expected with Arakawa as the writer, we've got loads of loads of tropes pulled from all across Sentai history, some of which haven't seen use in a while. This show's approach to innovation definitely seems to be "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", and I'd be lying if I told you I was upset they're playing it safe this year.

The bottom line is, I like Super Sentai, and this is some definitive Super Sentai, right here. The atmosphere of the scenes with the bad guys, the vibrant, excited tone of the scenes with the heroes. The elements that we don't always get every year, like villains whose suits do the cool thing of incorporating part of the actor's face, the mecha that are characters in their own right or, heck, the mecha that can hold their own in a fight before combining into a robot. You'd better believe I was happy to see that one. Even the cockpits are just... like... that's a Sentai cockpit.

It's all bolstered by some exceedingly flashy visuals that, combined with Ryusoulger and Kamen Rider Zero-One, show that Toei is continuing to up their game every year. Parts of this episode are absolutely stunning to look at. The action here satisfies without a doubt.

The other important thing, the story, I'm feeling quite good about. The characters don't all get a ton of time to make an impression here, which might or might not be a downside of Episode Zero's existence. I can't know what it would be like going in not seeing that first, but, ultimately, it probably isn't a huge deal. There's more than enough banter here to get a basic grasp on everyone's personality, and I think that's all a premiere needs to do. Obviously the other four are also making way to focus on Juuru here, though. I'll say upfront, I'm not sure how well this guy could hold the show together by himself, so hopefully the spotlight spreads out more as the show moves forward. On the other hand, I'll also say I think he was used to great effect in this episode. His interactions with the rest of the team are amusing, and, especially given his scenes in Episode Zero, I get the feeling the show has a real message it wants to get across through him about not sitting back and allowing your life to be dull (you know, the opposite of being sparkly). We'll see how big a theme that ends up being, but even if Juuru isn't Arakawa's statement to disillusioned modern youth, he left a solid enough first impression as a character.

Just like Kiramager as a whole did for me, obviously. There's all kinds of bits throughout the episode that won it major points with me (easy example: saving the OP for next week and using it as an insert), and above all else, it put a smile on my face. You might even say it dazzled me. So heck yeah, bring on a whole year of this! I'm totally ready!