[Fish Sandwich]

Man, that entire minute-long sequence of Zox and his family stumbling upon Halloween World might be one of the funniest things I've ever seen in Zenkaiger? And you've gotta understand, if you've watched this show, you know there is an *enormous* list of amazingly delivered comedic moments, but something about the way every little thing in that scene came together is just magical. It's amusing to begin with that the monster of the week is just sitting around dejected next to a pile of garbage on the street because he lost his hat, and somehow it manages to keep escalating further and further until that final gag of Twokaiser popping up around the corner, with every step in-between being at least as hilarious as the last. I mean, the whole reason Twokaiser being there is funny is because Zox seemed more concerned with dancing than chasing after a fleeing opponent. It's a really good sequence!

And Zenkaiger sure does love to spoil us, because that's only one brief segment of an absurdly well-rounded episode. In much the way a child on Halloween night winds up with more candy than they know what to do with, this episode of Zenkaiger has so much going on it's hard for me to know what to pick from, and I'll probably just end up trying to pick it all at once!

Like, even right in the intro, how adorable is it that Secchan and Yatsude are dressed up as Tinker Bell and Peter Pan respectively? Everyone else is doing their own thing, but it's like those two have this special solidarity as the ones always manning the fort for the team, and I find that very sweet. (Incidentally, Magine obviously has the most adorable costume there, of course, not that anyone couldn't have guessed I'd think that.)

And then past the intro, you've got the usual gag-a-second standalone monster plot with a strong premise and impeccably tight execution – the typical controlled madness I've long come to expect from Zenkaiger. Even putting aside that bit with Zox I already mentioned, there are still loads and loads of endearingly silly antics going on throughout this one. (I was particularly fond of Magine's method of searching for pumpkins... not that anyone couldn't have guessed I'd think that.) There seriously is some solid material for just about everyone, even if it's something minor, so on this level alone, the episode is already a huge winner. This show seems to be in love with that Zenkaiju-Oh suit, and it's hard to blame it when gags in the robot fights become that much more fun simply by virtue of involving a huge metal dinosaur, this time wearing an impromptu bedsheet ghost costume.

But wait! There's actually an important structural plot reason why it's Zenkaiju-Oh as well! You have to separate Kaito from his team so that he isn't there to witness the shocking revelation that the show was never really trying to hide from us. It's been pointed out to me that the red lines on Hakaiser's chest literally form the kanji for "father" (父), but it's not so much the "twist" here that makes this so good. It's all about what an interesting wrinkle it is in the character dynamics. Heroes and villains alike are pushed in exciting new directions by this, and it's sure to generate even more great episodes of this show in the future.

Even just getting to that point, too, the episode is a huge showcase of what a delightful addition to the cast Hakaiser already was, pretty thoroughly demonstrating his entire mentality when it comes to helping out his pals, and where this episode gets even more brilliant is that all of this focus on Hakaiser? It's actually focused on Stacey, who has to wrestle with the idea that he might've finally found someone he could truly consider an ally. It's great how this silly story about everyone trying to find a pumpkin first can so strongly highlight Stacey's cynical worldview, where relationships are all about putting people beneath you so you don't end up beneath them. It's even better that the same story can then have Kaito nudge Stacey into considering an alternative... which is teaming up with Kaito's dad. Hakaiser's existence just became a lot more personal to two characters in one plot, and I find that efficiency extremely impressive. Much like I found most things in this episode, as it turns out!