[Fish Sandwich]

Jetman 19-21:

Arakawa kicks off another batch of non-Inoue episodes with 19, in which Kaori suffers great amounts of emotional distress that are, remarkably, not related to her co-workers for once. (I kid, I kid. ...Mostly, anyway.) There's nothing particularly deep to this one, but as you'd expect from this writer, it's an all around solid episode. You've got a first half that piles on the stress for Kaori as she becomes the target of the latest Vyram plot, convinced by a series of ominous predictions from a fraudulent fortune teller that she'll end up dying the next time she fights as White Swan. Obviously watching the villain systematically manipulate Kaori until she completely breaks down isn't exactly a delightful viewing experience, but that only serves to up the catharsis of the back half, where she inevitably finds the courage to stand back up and save the rest of the team right as things seem bleakest. There's a tiny bit of room to focus on Kaori's past and how her butler looks out for her, which is also nice, as is the simple act of Kaori asserting to the monster at the end she'll decide her own future. It's a nice note to land the plot on, and Arakawa must've thought so too, because she immediately gets a chance to repeat herself when Ako brings up a fortune (which I'm going to assume she made up on the spot, based on my "popcorn" theory from the last episodes) about how Kaori's future romantic partner apparently looks great in black. So yeah, I mean, I still really like Kaori, and this is a nice episode for her, written by Arakawa, that even gently pokes fun at the show's overbearing soap opera *drama* at the end. I had a good time with this one.

Kenichi Araki shows some serious gusto in 20 by being the first guest writer bold enough to center a plot around Gai, a character who was very clearly made for Inoue, by Inoue. But hey, this is an Araki episode, which means a standout concept for a monster, and when you've got a vacuum cleaner that eats love (?!) going around ruining weddings, who better to resolve the matter than that paragon of proper romantic conduct... Gai. Well, a ton of people, in all probability, but Black Condor is who we've got. This episode is basically exactly how I'd imagine someone besides Inoue would handle this character, in that he's presented in a way that's... well, basically, that actually feels like it's taking the target demographic into account. I mean, it's literally a story about Gai getting roped into helping out a small child, after she comes to him with a ridiculous story about her big sister's wedding being ruined by a vacuum. The episode makes a couple subtle attempts to touch on the ongoing tension between Gai and Kaori, but it's mostly a big goofy episode with an endearingly silly premise. I think my favorite moment in it is probably when Gai only starts taking the girl's story seriously after a woman is unaffected by his innate charm, which could obviously only point to this being a Vyram scheme. It's a nicely balanced outing for Gai, who comes off looking rather foolish, yet also cooler than ever when he gets to single-handedly take down the monster in the name of love, all set to his own theme song. (The lyrics of which were partially written by Inoue, so his presence is still felt in that sense, I guess.)

21 is also from Araki, and good thing, too, because at this point, there's nobody writing this show I'd trust more with the obligatory "good monster" episode of the series. I'm a complete sucker for these episodes to begin with, and with this writer, the monster itself ends up being delightfully quirky. The whole premise is that Ako threw away a stuffed bear from her childhood which then becomes Trash Dimension, who just wants to get along and be friends, only for obstacle after obstacle to get in the way of that. There's quite a bit packed in here, too. I'm already having fun watching the guy going around trying to be nice and fix everyone's broken things, only to be shunned for being a hideous abomination that also smells bad, and I kinda figure between that, Maria trying to execute the poor thing for being a "failure", and Ako's reluctance to be its mommy like she used to, we'd have more than enough conflict to keep the episode going for 20 minutes. But no, we've also got some light social commentary on how wasteful people can be, and Trash Dimension being tempted back to the side of evil after being confronted with the cruelty of humanity, raising the question of whether or not the Vyram have some valid points. It's a way more complex plot than I expected! And I'm not complaining, either. This one was really interesting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmicrescend0

I come to Sentai when I wanna have a fun time, and Toqger is definitely delivering on that! So excited to continue this show!

Always great to see someone getting into ToQger! That was the first Sentai I really made a point to follow when it was airing, and for that reason (and plenty of others, really), it holds a special place in my heart. It's also a show I feel gets better and better as it goes along, too, so I think you're in for a great ride if it's already clicking with you from the outset.