[Androzani84]

Here we go again, with another edition of

Androzani’s Tsukai Detour

And this week, to make up for Fish missing last week, we’ve got a special edition focusing on…

Kyukyu Sentai GoGoV: Clash! The Brand New Super Warrior



Now for the explanation.

“To stop the Psyma Family who plot to bring calamity and chaos upon humanity, the five Tatsumi siblings equip to become GoGoV.”

GoGoV:
Matoi Tatsumi/GoRed: The eldest son and the leader of the team. He is Captain of the Capital Fire Department Rescue Squad. Matoi takes his duties as a leader and as the eldest brother very seriously. He never backs down from a fight no matter how difficult it might be. At times he yells at his younger siblings for messing up for him. Matoi does everything by the book with no room for messing up. Since he was the one that practically raised his younger brothers and sister, he feels very much responsible for them. He is their "father" and brother rolled up in one.Gets into a lot of arguments with Shou. He might argue with his siblings quite a bit but that's only because he loves them and wants them to be the best they can be. He was also the one who came up with the team's battle cry.
Nagare Tatsumi/GoBlue: The second son of the Tatsumi Family, who belongs to the Capital Fire Department's Chemical Extinguishing Team. He is also the second-in-command to Matoi. Nagare is always looking out for his younger brother Daimon, even though most of the time Daimon does not listen to him and gets in trouble for it. Although he might get yelled at by his older brother at times he never talks back to him like Shou does. Nagare is very protective of his family, and would sacrifice himself to save the others. He usually is the intellectual one of the group, Nagare does not rush into a fight without researching what he is fighting first, once he figures it out he heads full force into battle.
Shou Tatsumi/GoGreen: He third son, he is a helicopter pilot in the Capital Fire Department's Flying Corps. Shou has always dreamed of being a pilot, when he first got his job at the Helicopter the whole family celebrated with him. Out of all the siblings Shou was the most angry and bitter towards their father. While Nagare does not talk back to their older brother, Shou does, arguing constantly with Matoi. Shou is a skilled helicopter pilot, he never loses control and can be very reliable.
Daimon Tatsumi/GoYellow: The fourth and last son of the Tatsumi family who is a Capital Police Force Sergeant. Daimon is the hot head of the group, who rushes into things before thinking and often ends up getting into trouble. Daimon is somewhat the joker of the team, being the youngest male he can be pretty reckless and cocky. Daimon has yet to fully learn to be a team player. One of the reasons why he is always yelled at by Matoi is because he thinks he can handle any situation on his own without his siblings' help. A wannabe bike cop, he is the only brother not in the Fire Department.
Matsuri Tatsumi/GoPink: The youngest and only daughter of the Tatsumi family and fifth member of the GoGoFive. She works as a National Coast Hospital Paramedic. A kind-hearted girl, Matsuri is a strong fighter who is very agile and quick. She does not take it kindly when others weaker than her are treated unkindly or in trouble and her temper is deadly when the Psyma attack innocent people. At times Matsuri is the one that brings order in the household when her brothers and father get out of line.

Allies:
Dr. Mondo Tatsumi: The father of the 5 who disappeared 10 years ago. He returns in the present, having spent the time preparing for the return of the Psyma clan by creating equipment to fight back.he has his children dismissed from their jobs so they can use the quipment he created to fight back against the coming crisis.
Mint: the analysis robot that operates Bay Area 55.
Kyoko Hayase: A shuttle pilot who is Shou’s superior. She discovered GoGoV’s identities by recognising Shou’s voice when they saved her shuttle launch from disaster. Afterwards she wanted to join the GoGoFive but could not because Mondo Tatsumi only designed the team for five people. So instead she occasionally aids the GoGoFive in any way she can and never gets in their way.

Psyma Clan (災魔一族 Saima Ichizoku, lit. "Disaster Demon Clan", translated by the subs as “Catstrophiend”): A family of demons who plan to wipe out humanity to herald the return of their mother, the Grand Witch Grandiene, during the Southern Cross alignment.
Dark King Zylpheeza: The oldest of the siblings and master of the Air Psyma Beasts. Though he hates humans, Zylpheeza is deeply loving to his siblings and mother.
Beast Baron Cobolda: Second oldest of the Psyma siblings and master of the Ground Psyma Beasts. He is the strongest of the Psyma siblings and his strategies always rely more on power than thought, giving him a complex when he compares himself with the dexterous warrior Zylpheeza or the cunning strategist Denus.
Evil Spirit Princess Denus: Sole daughter of the Psyma siblings, the only remotely humanoid child of Grandiene and master of the Aqua Psyma Beasts. Gifted in the arts of disguise, she often uses them to gather information or just cause havoc. Her strategies are particularly cruel and fearsome. She feels great respect for her older brother Zylpheeza
Infant Demon Drop: The youngest of the Psyma siblings, who controls Fire Psyma Beasts. Dragon blood runs through his veins. Being just an infant, he has to be cared for by Pierre, and can only say "Drop", not being able to speak. Despite this, his high sorcery and fire abilities let him participate among his older siblings.
Spell-Master Pierre: A fly-themed sorcerer that serves as the butler to the Saima Family as well as the primary caretaker to Drop, translating his speech. He is also responsible for summoning the monsters within the Psyma Cards given by his masters, and later reviving them as giants using either the Revive cards or the much rarer Golem cards.

What do I think of GoGoFive?: I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous two seasons. I like how the show focuses more on saving people than keeping peace and protecting the planet, which is best exemplified with the line “One life is the Earth’s future”. And after two seasons of MCs who got along a little too swimmingly for my taste, having a group that actuall has conflicts with each other was a breath of fresh air. Especially since, compared to his two predecessors, Matoi stands out for the fact he’s constantly pissed off, which is another unique thing this season has going for it.

All of these changes can be attributed to our new producer Jun Hikasa. Though the name in the writer’s chair, Junki Takegami, certainly isn’t new (he’d previously written episodes for the previous two seasons) and neither is our director, Katsuya Watanabe. With all of that said, on with the review.

An object descends to Earth from space.



The object, a sword, lands in the mountains and crystallises itself (I love the horror vibes with this)



The next day, another object collides with Tokyo, which alerts the GoGoV (apparently, the mountain is outside their jurisdiction)



As they move out, the theme song plays.

Hang in there! (Go Five!)
Stay alive! (Go Five!)
They’ll be there soon
Great disasters
Extreme chaos
Like five gusts of wind they escape just in time

Saving one life
Means saving the future

Rescue soldiers! Faster than before!
Keep on winning those dangerous battles (GoGoFive)
Rescue soldiers! Stronger than before!
Build up your courage, now it’s your time to shine
Save the Earth! Save the life!
Quickly! Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive

As the song plays, GoLiner sets out and deploys the 99 Machines to do their jobs. Pink Aider evacuates civilians on the road, Yellow Armor rescues civilians underground, Blue Hover puts out the fires, Red Ladder allows GoRed to enter the buildings to save the people while Green Hover puts the fires out. And with everything done on the rescue end, Kyoko shows up to help.



So Shou gives his sempai a task even she can’t fail at.



With Kyoko successfully annoyed, GoGoV heads to the crash site to investigate the energy source. Then the sky turns red as the source (voiced by Tetsu Inada in his Sentai debut) reveals himself.



“I feel it. I can feel it.”







After mistaking the newcomer for a Psyma Beast, they try blasting him with the Life Bird in Calamity Breaker mode… which doesn’t work.



And worse, the creature heals the wound they gave him just be mousing over it with his hand (thank god he isn’t a Psyma, or they’d have lost long ago). But he’s annoyed enough to hit them with his Shadow Sword, which leaves all of them writhing in pain. But before he can finish them off, his sword gets shot out of his hand by bullets from another newcomer.



The monster recognises the newcomer, who identifies him as “Golmois” (which is pronounced with a French accent). Said newcomer then fires several bullets at Golmois, who deflects them into the buildings and Kyoko (should’ve taken Shou”s advice). And the dude learns nothing from this, as he simply shoots the GoGoV and pulls out a bigger gun (jerk).



But before he can finish off Golmois, the Psyma appear to sequester Golmois, who they identify as king of the Juuma (portmanteau of “juu” (beast) and “Akuma” (demon), rendered by the subs as “Demonster”) Clan.



As he asks why the Psyma Clan took Golmois, the stranger’s attention is taken by GoGoV, with the resulting volley of insults (which will be more prominent with other newcomers in Hikasa’s later shows), which ends when Shou points out that Kyoko was injured by stray fire. This shocks him.



As the stranger makes his getaway, we cut to the Psyma Paradico, where the evil siblings are taking the piss out of their guest (risky strategy for someone they presumably want on their side)





Golmois clarifies that he’s missing his Dark Sword, and with it, half of his power (the other half being in the Shadow Sword he still possesses), having lost it in a confrontation with the “Juuma Hunter”. He requests the Psyma help him retrieve it by minimising GoGoV’s interference, by offering to help with their goals.



As Golmois and Zylpheeza cement their alliance, Denus reveals to Kobold that they actually have plans to take both swords from him (what’s a good Sentai villain group without backstabbing?)



Back at the Tatsumi house, Mint sends a message to the family from Bay Area 55.



In the other room, Kyoko sleeps, mostly undisturbed.



The Juuma Hunter approaches Kyoko, repeating the word “Lillia”, before touching her face. But the siblings detect his presence from the next room and come in as he bathed her in green energy. After a short fight between Matoi and the Juuma Hunter, who states his one goal is to defeat the Juuma King Golmois and how he doesn’t need help, the fight gets broken up with a shocking reveal of what he was really up to.



As Kyoko asks who he really is, the Juuma Hunter sheds his armour and introduces himself as the Juuma Hunter Sieg (played by Keiichi Wada, better known as TenKaSei Ryou/RyuRanger in Dairanger)











Back at the house, as Nagare ponders Sieg’s words along with the others, and Kyoko says that she believes he isn’t all bad, Dr. Tatsumi discovers something interesting that happened at Myojin Valley last night.



Realising this is likely the Dark Sword, everyone sets out. In the city, Sieg sees Golmois acting and pulls out the green ball in his pocket and in case you’re not convinced he’s RyuRanger, he does the Dairanger/Magna Defender pose (any similarity with Shurikenger is purely coincidental)



Sieg: Sieg Tector!

Now transformed, Sieg teleports to the Valley, where Golmois is in the process of searching for the Dark Sword with the Psyma Clan. As Sieg decides to just kill them all, the GoGoV appear to aid a very reluctant Sieg (Dude, get over yourself). They transform after beating the grunts.

All: Chakusou! (Equip)

Matoi: GoRed!

Nagare: GoBlue!

Shou: GoGreen!

Daimon: GoYellow!

Matsuri: GoPink!

Matoi: One life is the future of the Earth! Burning Rescue Souls!

All: Kyukyu Sentai…

Matoi: Go…

Nagare: Go…

All: Five!

Matoi: Move Out!

A fight breaks out, with Matoi and Nagare facing Zylpheeza, who fights back with illusions of their civillian forms.



Nagare disperses his with the Build Discharger, before both use their Five Lasers to defeat him. Shou and Daimon then go against Kobolda, with the latter making use of the Beak Driller and the former using the Wing Spreader. Finally Matsuri and Denus fight each other, with the heroic female not having anything resembling an edge. Finally Sieg faces off with Golmois, swearing to avenge his comrades by preventing Golmois from retrieving the Dark Sword. To which Golmois has something shocking to say in response.



As Sieg is angered by this, Golmois manages to gain the upper hand and stab his enemy with the Shadow Sword.



Matoi thus abandons the fight to help the weakened Sieg. But in the process, Golmois becomes free to track the Dark Sword. As Matoi saves Sieg from falling to his death, stating his ideology of not leaving anyone behind… he’s forced to leave Sieg behind with Kyoko when the extent of his injuries becomes clear.



(I’m beginning to see why this wasn’t picked up for Power Rangers)

But Matoi gets interrupted by Zylpheeza before he can get very far in his pursuit. In the woods, Golmois provides us with exposition on the two swords and his connection to them.









His Dark Sword back in hand, Golmois grows to giant size and zaps the siblings… both good and evil.



His face then begins to tear off to reveal a more monstrous one (did Keita Amemeiya ghost-direct this, or something? Because this is some 90’s Rider sh*t right here)





As the Psyma withdraw, GoGoV summon the GoLiner, separating into the individual Liners (numbered 1-5) and combine them into Renketsu Gattai (Coupling Formation) Grand Liner.

As Grand Liner proves unable to so much as scratch Golmois (which is bad, as he’s basically the type of monster it was built to fight), Sieg shares his story with Kyoko.





Only one other than him survived.





Lillia decided to sacrifice herself to give Sieg a chance to relieve Golmois of one of his swords.



Despite his reluctance, as Lillia being stabbed, Sieg took the shot and knocked the Dark Sword from Golmois’ grasp.





Now Sieg has decided to pass on his life to GoGoV, giving Kyoko his green crystal as he expires. (And his body vanishes into the crystal)



It’s then that the Imps show up (No, I don’t know why), and Kyoko uses Sieg’s crystal to equip the Sieg Tector, becoming a female Juuma Hunter (listed in side materials as “Sieg-Jeanne”



After using her gun to shoot the Imps away, Kyoko makes her way to the giant battle, where Golmois is unleashing his ultimate attac on Grand Liner.



Kyoko shows up as Grand Liner is downed to give them advice.



The GoGoV comply, sending out the 99 Machines and forming Kinkyu Gattai (Emergency Combination) Victory Robo.

As they deploy the Braver Sword, Kyoko merges with it using the Sieg Tector.



As everyone is amazed, Matoi sums up what’s happening.





Victory Robo’s new power allows it to shrug off Golmois’ attacks and break his two swords when he tries the same move again.



With Golmois stripped of his strength, Kyoko leads everyone in a powered version of the usual finisher to destroy him for good.







As the sun rises once more, Sieg’s soul reappears to say one last thing to Kyoko.



As the GoGoV note how they misjudged Sieg in life (to be fair, he was acting like kind of a dick), they vow to make it up by protecting the people of Earth. The gem then bursts into light particles.



One particle then falls into Kyoko’s hand, turning into a miniature gem.



The plot proper then ends with our heroes watching the sun rise.



But now, it’s time for the credits, which are set to a mix of the gang at a swimming pool and shots of the 5 running into action.

Whether or not you are all alone
You find that all of you are extraordinary

What kind of small experiences
Do these five allies share?

On this planet, In this city
With our memories wrapped around us
They will never break the courage within our hearts

All of us will continue forward
Chasing the blue sky of tomorrow
With our faith in the tomorrow
All of us leap into the blue sky





Final thoughts: A fairly good plot, with a surprising amount of world-building for characters we only see once. Sieg in particular makes a very interesting foil to the GoGoV, given his focus on getting the bad guy defeated over saving lives (which also makes him something of a subtle jab at the previous two teams being all “defeat the bad guy” above all else). And Golmois proves himself a surprisingly creepy antagonist, even without his graphic transformation into a dragon Kaiju being accounted for.

There’s no challenge this time, since this is a special. There’ll be a new one next time though.