[Fish Sandwich]

It's a deeply hilarious bit of self-deprecating writing to have Secchan wonder at the end of the recap why the story of Zenkaiger so far is just the story of Twokaiser. Because, obviously, you know, the show has been revolving around him pretty much exclusively in the weeks since he made his debut. I suppose it's hardly a surprise the dancing shiny golden space pirate refuses to step out of the spotlight once he's in it, but thankfully, the show can get away with calling attention to itself like this simply by still managing to be so good with each episode.

I'll also mention right away, even though I know from the preview this time not to get my hopes up, I give the show some props for doing that Battle Caesar Robo cliffhanger I asked for. I mean, I was picturing an ending with Twokai-Oh already down for the count and everybody just totally freaking out, so this isn't the level of impact I was looking for, but still, I appreciate them meeting me halfway here.

Besides, you can't make the newest merch look too bad, right? If there's one thing that I might complain a bit about, it's how the Zenkaigers end up choking so hard during the robot fight just to make room for Zox to show off his too cool robot some more, but one, it is a pretty cool fight scene, and two, it's only disappointing specifically because of how the rest of the plot up to that point plays out.

This is another one that I find did a really good job letting the Zenkaigers assert themselves, which is critical to keeping the current Zox-centric plotting from feeling like more of a hindrance than an exciting new angle for the stories. Even more amazingly, Gaon is the one who gets to look like the big hero, and that shocked me a little bit. Like, I wasn't previously aware I liked Gaon this much? If that even makes sense? Looking back, I think I've been gradually coming around on him for a while now, and for this particular episode, it really helped that he's so much closer to what I imagined he'd be like before the show started.

The brilliant thing about that is how it isn't as though they had to actually write Gaon any differently to get there – it's all in what the episode gives him to work with. The focus here is on the genuinely positive aspects of that often disagreeable personality of his, and it's a different perspective on the guy that's nice to see. He's just really deeply, earnestly protective of his precious lil' humans, and since he's throwing himself in front of bullets to save them rather than his friends this time, it's considerably easier to get behind his actions. One of Gaon's whole "things" is that he can come off as rather egotistical, so going forward, I think it's sort of huge to have such a clear display of the more legitimately selfless side of his affections. Surprisingly layered character, that Gaon!

So all around, it ends up being a nice little plot for the team. I'm always super happy to see basic setup/payoff stuff like the whole tickling thing here, and they're still doing new spins on the roll call, which is almost absurdly exciting at this point. And despite how much I appreciate Zyuran and everyone deciding they shouldn't have to count on Twokaiser's cooperation to save the day? I won't lie, I always get super hyped whenever Zox uses Shinken Form. What can I say, I'm a sucker for the action in Shinkenger, alright? I mean, who isn't? It's nice to get these little tastes of that in a totally different show that I also enjoy a ton.