[Fish Sandwich]

Okay, so, the last time Tete Inoue wrote an episode of Kiramager, I outright gave up on trying to talk about it, and I'm once again finding myself struggling a bit to say anything beyond that I enjoyed this episode.

It's definitely a lot less crazy than episode 16 was, for sure. This one is a pretty classic "helping out a sad kid" story, and it hits all the beats, no pun intended. Like a lot of these kinds of plots, I think it sort of assumes you'll empathize with the child without putting in too much effort, which is maybe an issue, but at least here, it's little more than a slight bump in an otherwise perfectly satisfying story. I didn't exactly care about the kid, but I certainly cared that Sayo wanted to help the kid, and that part was as fun as this show always is.

I'm sort of in love with the idea of just randomly dropping the idea into an episode that Sayo is in a band with a bunch of her doctor friends where she kills it on the drums. It's weirdly not that jarring or unbelievable, and even if it never comes up again outside of a joking reference at best, it makes the world feel that little bit richer the same way the characters having real-world occupations does. It's cool to think Sayo has a hobby outside of her two jobs, and it's neat to see her applying that to cheer up someone who needs it.

Watching the other Kiramagers pitch in led to some highly amusing scenes, too. Sayo trying to whip everyone into shape and smooth-talking Takamichi out of the spotlight, that's all great. Actually, once again, I really like how Takamichi is being used lately. After that huge string of episodes where he was constantly the focus, it's swung back around so that he's a step or two away from the rest of the team a lot of the time, maintaining a distance from the main group that's pretty atypical for sixth Rangers in... what? The past decade? Even longer? Obviously there's a ton of merit in those characters who fully work themselves into the existing group dynamic, but it's nice to see a different approach every now and then.

Beyond that... uh... yeah, I kinda got nothing. Garza's surprising passion for rock was great? Ah well. I managed way more out of this episode than I expected, at least. I'll call that a win!