[Fish Sandwich]

The picture this week isn't particularly relevant to the overall episode, but I just really liked the composition of this shot. The fact that Magine is the most prominent character in the frame is probably incidental to that, I'm sure.

Ah, who am I kidding? If I really wanted a nicely composed shot that was also representative of the narrative, I could've easily picked the shot where Stacey in Kaito's body is staring at a wall to avoid making eye contact with all the people he suddenly finds around him that are deeply concerned for his well-being. That one shot kinda tells the whole story in a way, and that scene, along with the one right after it featuring Kaito, set up the central theme here extremely well.

With Stacey, it's all about putting into perspective the things he doesn't have. Everybody in that scene of him waking up is downright doting on the guy under the assumption he's Kaito, and even with his time hanging around as Satoshi, they all might as well be speaking a foreign language, for how much sense this makes to him. Stacey is from a different world in ways that go well beyond the literal meaning. He's used to being treated like a useful tool on a good day, and a piece of trash that keeps missing the can on the bad ones. Which is to say that every day is a bad day for Stacey, when judged against this other standard that Kaito has, where he's a beloved member of a mutually supportive and openly affectionate community.

And with Kaito, it's all about realizing just how bad Stacey has it. He cleverly tries to flaunt the authority he assumes Stacey must have as this super cool one-of-a-kind soldier always getting in intense scraps with the Zenkaigers, only for that to backfire when it immediately becomes apparent that Stacey's existence barely means anything even to some lowly mook. It's this big reality check for Kaito, where he barges in assuming this is his big chance to find his dad, when the only thing he ends up finding is how much his rival's life completely sucks. (Well, and he freed those guys, too, which was nice, but it still wasn't the outing he was hoping for.) Stacey lives in this big scary cold world, and he's only ever got himself to rely on in it.

None of this is made very subtle, of course, so the explanation above is probably redundant, but the drama with these two is always so engaging I just can't help but get all fired up to talk about it. There are some great dramatic beats in this one, right down to one of my favorite recurring things in Zenkaiger, which is when an episode ends with Kaito having some big poignant thought to himself to wrap up the themes in a nice bow. Those little bits of melancholy the show busts out every now and then keep it from ever feeling like too much of a farce, and this was a particularly good example of that.

Plus, you know, the comedy is still as hilarious as always, without stepping on any of what I just said. My favorite gag was definitely Zyuran bluntly telling Cutanner and Ricky that he can't tell the difference between them to begin with. It's funny at first just because it mirrors a thought me (and probably plenty of others) have long had, but it becomes hysterical the longer you think about it, and realize what an astonishingly awful thing that is to say to someone. Apparently to Zyuran, these two are basically on the level of two flies that just kinda hover around Zox and Flint incessantly. Maybe Stacey isn't the only one who could use more respect!