[Tokumonkey]

This episode left me apprehensive in a way that Episode Zero hadn't, and it's pretty much all down to Juuru.

I can't tell if it's poor writing, acting, or directing, but Juuru doesn't behave anything like a human being. I might have been on-board if he came off as actually introverted and focused, but the insane emoting that they had him do just made him appear to be... yeah. Like no human being that ever existed. I found him to be Ninninger-Takaharu-level annoying. (Strongest Battle pretty much redeemed the character.) This is going to be our main character? Oh, god.

I want to be more excited for an episode in which the separate mecha components defeat the monster, but it's kind of hard to sell that with a crane. I guess I like the voices of the Kiramei Stones enough if we *have* to have talking widgets/mecha.

Something about all of it just isn't clicking for me. I like most of the other Kiramagers. (Jury's out on Blue, however. That the stoic guy is supposed to be an actor doesn't fit.) Our comedian-grownup is just kind of there and not that funny, and I'm not sold on our alien princess's design. Why does she have a bra on her head? I get that she's supposed to come across like a Faberge egg, but something's not working for me. My one thin, almost-certainly-never-gonna-happen hope is that she'll develop a spine and become our sixth hero.

I liked the notion of the summoning circle they needed to disrupt; I was reminded a bit of the Megazords from Go-Busters. I wonder how many episodes it'll take for one of those circles to be completed?

I'll keep watching, but yeah... this felt to me like no more than a two-star episode. Not nearly as a strong a start as our last few Sentai had.