[Fish Sandwich]

Hakaiser. Hakaiser.

...I mean, I already figured out this show is made by geniuses a while back now, but still, cool name!

Pretty cool villain too! Seriously, he seems like he'd be surprisingly fun to hang out with, assuming you're okay with letting the world get conquered by whatever silly plot is happening that week. So, you know, there's a catch, for sure, but this is just about the last personality I would've guessed this guy would have based on his design, and also the absolute most perfect contrast to Stacaesar imaginable. I don't know if Ijirude did this on purpose, or if Hakaiser's amiable persona stems from some other (possibly plot-relevant!) thing, but it's so hilarious to me that this is the replacement for the moody loner part-human kid who keeps losing and blowing up his own guys – just a real friendly machine who lives for nothing more than helping out his buddies, and never lets anything get him too down.

...Mind you, Hakaiser IS already on his way to establishing a losing streak of his own, but we won't hold that against the guy for now. Something about that winning personality just makes you wanna give him a second chance, doesn't it? So yeah, in case I'm being too subtle about this, I think Hakaiser made a very strong first impression here, and brings a dynamic to the show that's almost certainly going to be loads of fun going forward too. If he were just some random guy, he would still be great, but he even comes with a proper backstory that gives his role in the narrative a lot of weight, and means he comes with the big final toy for the heroes to take. That's just how nice a guy Hakaiser is! He'll even deliver gifts to his enemies!

Of course, that last thing doesn't happen on purpose, but that's part of what makes this such a strong episode. Again, if it were only a story about a weird fruit monster trying to dehydrate the planet, and how the Zenkaigers push through that to stop him, it'd still be a solid outing for the show (the gag of his true identity was great), but by combining it with Hakaiser's debut, it puts a lot of extra pressure on the team, which makes it way more exciting to see everybody come together to save the day. And it really is everybody. One thing about this show I've gradually come to realize I'm actually super fond of is how Zox's siblings act as a support team/cheerleading squad for him and by extension the Zenkaigers, and this was a particularly neat instance of that in action. I've probably mentioned before how much I feel Koumura excels at leaning into whatever weird gimmick the monster of the week in a Sentai episode has, and I found it so amusing how mundane the solution to the puzzle this week is. Flint basically just sets up a glorified craft services table on the sidelines, and it works so well, Hakaiser has to show back up to ensure the episode doesn't end too soon. And good thing it doesn't stop there, or we might've been deprived of seeing all the giant robots in the show assemble to face the greatest adversary of them all – wordplay. This show continues to be the best.