[FairyKing]

Gotta be honest, I went in expecting to hate this. The whole "using the powers of past heroes" schtick just seems like lazy nostalgia bait to me, and clunky mech suits leading to slow and boring fights have severely dampened my interest in Sentai lately. Really I was only watching it because I love the Kikainoids' designs and whole concept, and I guess so I could say I gave it a fair chance.

But I actually really liked it? I'm not sure whether that means the show is really good since it won me over, or just okay since my expectations were so low. But I'll try to explain some stuff I liked.

For one thing, the previous Sentai aren't "past heroes," in fact Zenkaiger is set in a world that has never had Sentai before! It's hard to explain quite why but that detail makes a "world" of difference to me (Aruto ja naito!), it makes it feel like something new instead of coasting on nostalgia. And the way the Sentai Gears were used for their powers was fine, though it'll get annoying if they lean on that too much. I'm not sure what else the writers have planned for the anniversary aspect, only time will tell if I like it or not, but for now I'm cautiously optimistic.

And the fight scenes were actually pretty exciting! Zenkaiger was obviously the most flashy, but Juran didn't seem too slow either, I can't tell for sure and I assume they cheated a bit with CGI but it seems like those bulky suits are more mobile than they look.

Huge kudos to Juran's suit actor, both for fighting and dancing in his big ranger form, and for being remarkably expressive in his civilian form. I genuinely felt sorry for him seeing how the humans were afraid of him. I wonder if this show will keep exploring the theme of humans being afraid of Kikainoids in the wake of Tojitendo's attack?

Speaking of Tojitendo, I think they showed an impressive amount of personality for a first episode. They still seem like fairly standard Sentai villains, but little details like the boss doting on his pet bird, the tank guy saying only the ruling class matters, and the elite mook calling Juran a commoner help define them a little more.

Meanwhile, Kaito is kinda the weakest part of this episode IMO. He's likeable enough, his enthusiasm sure makes everything he does seem like a lot of fun, and it's also good to see that he does take protecting people and saving the world seriously and isn't just doing it for kicks. But compared to Juran, Kaito just seems so standard and typical as a red ranger (despite not technically being red), even more so than Tojitendo are as villains. I hope he gets fleshed out more as the series goes on, or at least makes a good foil to the Kikainoids.

I wasn't planning to watch Zenkaiger, but if the next couple episodes are at least this fun, I guess I'll be watching Zenkaiger!