[Fish Sandwich]

I believe the term "tour de force" would be a pretty apt description of this episode, yeah?

If I had one complaint about it, it's something that has a tendency to happen in Sentai plots that involve one of the team getting captured. It's like a 50/50 shot if the designated prisoner actually gets to do something super cool in the end to make up for being out of action, or whether they kinda get swept up and forgotten about in the bigger excitement going on, and Sayo is very much the latter here. It would've been real nice to see her get a chance to do some sort of impressive stunt or contribute a day-saving plan of her own, but that's simply not what these episodes ended up being about, and that's a little unfortunate.

Only a little though.

I can only care so much about any of that when what the episode did decide to be about was so completely amazing. Arakawa absolutely nailed a script that's heavy on the adventure, with lots of tense turns, and – crucially to most good hero stories – a strong feeling that the protagonists are working hard to turn the odds in their favor. There's daring all-or-nothing gambits and creative on-the-fly thinking and all that other stuff I just eat right up. The plot does a fantastic job making Garza's plan feel like something more dangerous than usual, and it did an equally fantastic job making it feel the Kiramagers earned their moment of triumph in the end. The lack of a new toy being introduced is likely a contributing factor there, but when you pack this many existing ones into the episode already, I'm sure Bandai is plenty happy anyway. It's always supposed to be a big deal when all the robots in any Sentai stand together for the first time towards the end of the show, and the way Kiramager pulled it off is a shining example of how to do it right.

Equally shiny is the direction for this episode, which I can't say exceeded my expectations when I set my hopes so high to begin with, but boy did it ever meet them! Absolutely gorgeous cinematography, with seriously impressive effects including an assortment of composite shots that seamlessly blend scales the way it's hard to imagine anyone but a guy who directs Ultraman shows pulling off. Throw in some explosions that would make even Sakamoto jealous, and you've got a visual stunner of an episode that does a ton to elevate an already quite good script to yet greater heights. I'm really glad Sentai fans get at least a taste of this kind of style, I'm really glad it happened in Kiramager, and I really hope this convinces a few previously uninterested Sentai fans who like what they saw to maybe give Ultraman Orb or X or something a try; I think you'll like what you see there too. I'm grateful enough for this much, but uh, hey Toei? Please don't hesitate to bring Taguchi on as regularly as you can get him, okay?