[Fish Sandwich]

I wasn't totally sure where this one was going at first, but by the end I really loved pretty much everything it did, which is a lot of different things.

The titular plot thread surprised me by not ~exactly~ checking the usual box of a twisted moral, despite being an Arakawa episode. It's sort of a borderline case, I suppose; saying negative thoughts have their place is far from overplayed in media, but it's also not something that seems on the usual level of crazy I've come to expect from this show.

Getting hung up on whether or not the message here fits nicely in some arbitrary box I've imagined completely neglects what matters, though, which is that it's still an extremely well done episode either way. It does everything it needs to. It gets to the premise right away, has some fun with Sena's split personality, and then quickly lands on a conclusion that can only be described as quite a mood. It's more straightforward than I'm used to Arakawa being on this show, yes, but if you think I'm going to say no to an episode of a toku show written by him where one of the heroes gets someone to realize the validity of their own existence on a beach, you're crazy. It's a heartwarming scene, and the lesson that being able to think pessimistically can itself be an important part of optimism is a good one.

What the episode did on top of all that at the end was also surprising to me, but exactly the kind of thing I want to see at about this point in a Sentai. We can still do the episodic plots, but some strong indicators that the series is coming to a close soon are much appreciated, and beyond working in a second huge twist involving Yodonna, which is just straight flexing, Emperor Yodon's debut has the kind of massive 90's Sentai energy that could probably only come from a guy who wrote on basically all of those shows. The creepy voice; the huge scale; the sky ominously turning to night; all you need to do is put that scene in 4:3 and give it horrible picture quality and you could pass it off as genuinely being from that era. It's not really a particularly special or memorable debut, but it's so darn classic I loved it anyway.

One thing that helps there is this episode's amazing direction, thanks to Ryuuta Tasaki, who I somehow didn't notice also directed the previous episode (as though I didn't like that one enough already). Really great little touches throughout, like the Hollywood action movie style slow-motion shot of the dejected Kiramagers taking in the gravity of their situation right after Garza leaves with Yodonna at the end, or how Sena's haste in using King Express Zabyun is emphasized by the combination stock footage literally being sped up.

So when all is said and done, this turned out to be a pretty great episode of Kiramager, as usual, despite that tiny little bit of initial hesitation I felt at first. For some reason. Turns out I was worried for nothing!