[Fish Sandwich]

Probably a bit late to be stating something this obvious, but this really is a show about people coming together, isn't it?

To tell the truth, I was the slightest bit worried the way Zox factored into this last arc would lack the same weight as Stacey and the Zenkaigers proper, but his words to Barashitara right at the start of the episode, they get at something very central to this show's themes in a way only Zox could. After all, nobody knows more about the value of treasure than a pirate. It definitely means a lot more coming from the roguish anti-hero when he says the people you have in your life, as well as the people you find, are precious things to be protected with everything you've got. And the way Zox said it was even a lot more eloquent than I could put it, too! Because that's just what a good writer Junko Koumura is, and that's how good this episode is. Even before the opening starts playing, it's already delivering on a great moment to demonstrate how these characters have grown in the past year.

It doesn't exactly slow down from there, either. Zox and Stacey makes for a surprisingly great team-up. I'm not sure I ever called attention to this, but one little thing about Zenkaiger I've appreciated is that it made sure to have scenes, every now and then, where these two did acknowledge each other to some extent, so you could get a feeling for how the two of them see each other, even as they were both serving mostly as foils for Kaito. And of course, they also debuted right next to each other, and there was that whole episode where Stacey tried to bargain with Zox to get him to fight Zenkaiser, and the tennis episode Zox calls back to here, and, well, basically what I'm trying to stress right now is that even though the blatant narrative function of having them grouped together here is to let the main team be alone for a bit, it's not like anybody in this secondary fight are strangers to one another. So kudos to the show for that, and for continuing to nail Stacey's development too. Again, it's not like you wouldn't expect him to have a final showdown with his dad where he realizes he's finally fighting for his future instead of his past, but, again, the reason you'd expect that is because it's extremely satisfying to watch. Really, this whole chunk of the episode ended up being a huge highlight for me. They even made sure to have Flint doing her cheerleading shtick in a suitably climactic manner, getting right in on the action with her little brothers in tow.

And then there's also the side of the episode with the main team! Which is also right on point the entire time. Starting with how comical the showdown with Bokkowaus starts out. He tries the obvious thing of the same trick from last time, the team avoids it using an obvious solution (and all thanks to Magine, at that!), Secchan grows huge with word power so we can finally get the epic bird VS bird fight we've all been waiting for... it's a great time. It's less of a great time for Gege when God goads Bokkowaus into smashing him to pieces, but hey, they are the bad guys.

As cool as it would be to have a final boss in a Sentai show that's just an arm sticking out of a wall (and I never mentioned it, but I adore that design), Bokkowaus gets the usual final arc new form a lot of Sentai main villains get, and that lets the show do the most traditional possible showdown with him. Taken at face value, it's already pretty great, I think. Him using Sentai powers against the heroes is cool, Kaito finding inspiration in the idea that he isn't the first at something, and the emphasis on the whole grand legacy of teams that have already proven you can take down evil organizations, that's all fantastic. This episode goes for the full-on no-transformation roll call, and it works as well here as ever, stressing as it always does how the heroes don't back down no matter how bad the odds seem. And naturally, with direct support from like, the will of all the previous teams, the Zenkaigers finally take down the Tojitendo regime, and celebrate the happy ending...

...and then we've still got an entire episode left. Nearly everything about this episode functions as a finale, and it even works as a really good finale, but Zenkaiger chooses to do things as unusually as always, and puts a huge spin on Sentai tradition. What exactly that spin is, we won't know until next week, but I already know how excited I am to find out.