[Fish Sandwich]

Who even ARE the absolute legends putting this show together every week!? It straight up should not be possible to maintain this level of quality with this kind of consistency. It's not like every week is some utter masterpiece, to be fair, but on the same token, the episodes that aren't mostly look that way because they have to stand against an ever-increasing pool of episodes that are, and you'll never guess which one I thought this week's was!

I think what's really funny about me be so enamored with this one is that I was ready to not enjoy it that much? Love truly does work in mysterious ways!

It's just... man, I don't even remember anymore. I guess I sort of expected a premise like this to end up being a one-note gag, but if that's what I was thinking, I must have somehow forgotten this is Zenkaiger we're talking about – the show where being as extra as possible at all times is so central it's literally Kaito's catchphrase.

This episode was a riot, even by Zenkaiger's standards. It just totally demolishes those pessimistic expectations I had by having a surprisingly thorough narrative where the entire cast acts out basically every single archetypal romance you can imagine all at once, a chaotic mishmash of heightened emotions that ends the only way it possibly could: paying tribute to the Sentai show that knows that manner of melodrama better than any other.

It's seriously insane. I struggle to even analyze the plot in any specific or detailed manner, because I'm sitting here being way too impressed with how Zenkaiger managed to pull this all off so well. It feels to me like a plot that could only work this well because it's Zenkaiger, with all the sharp writing, frantic overlapping dialogue, and thorough direction that implies. It's downright masterful how this episode can create whatever specific tone and atmosphere it wants to parody at a given moment, and how it knows the exact right timing for the plot to zig and zag in a way that keeps it hilarious. I mean, just look at how Kaito falling in love with that sundae plays out. The way Yatsude is just flattered he likes it so much too, that's such a beautiful cherry on top of that joke, if you'll pardon the figure of speech.

Watching this really reaffirmed for me everything I believe makes Zenkaiger's style so commendable. It's an episode I'd point to when trying to define it even, because it's so rapid, so hyperactive, so madcap, and so silly, in a way that simply does not work if the people making it are not as talented and confident in their vision as they are. Koumura's writing each week; Yamaguchi's direction here, and that of all the other directors elsewhere; the actors who have to do and say all the things they're made to do and say – they're all taking what could've easily been an obnoxious nightmare of sensory overload, and making it into a deceptively focused series that's shaping up to be something truly special, if it isn't already. I know being this effusive is maybe overdoing it, but this episode ended up being a testament to why I love this show so much, and I just can't help but shower it with all the full power praise I feel it deserves.