[Switchblade]

I wasn't really looking forward to this arc. One of the reasons why I rarely get into Sentai is that I feel it relies on too many stock plots and situations that you keep seeing again and again, year after year. This episode's A plot is one that feels like that. I've seen this exact story before in tokusatsu and I know that I'll see it again. I don't have a lot of time for idol and manager stories.

That said, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. Part of that is that we get our first exposure to Kintaros's trigger phrase (and things that sound close enough that why the hell not?) and I'm always down for some Kintaros well-intentioned bumbling destruction. Mostly, though, I just think that Kasumi is really well realized as a character. They got an actress that can make the character sympathetic and engaging, which does a lot to help carry this story.

And yeah, her dad does look really familiar and it's bugging me (albeit not enough to just google it).