[cosmicrescend0]

My first ever Precure was Star Twinkle, a delightful little show about imagination(and space!) My first Rider show was Fourze, a lively show about friendship(and space!) My first ever Sentai was Zenkaiger, a goofy show about family(and......wait. do parallel worlds count as a space theme? It doesn't, don't you think? That's not good at all?! I've got to have consistency when it comes to this sort of thing, or you might as well take the "cosmic" out of my name!)

Anyway! Time for the first 5 episodes of Uchu Sentai Kyuranger!

If I had to describe these episodes in a short phrase, it'd probably be....Ambitious And Strange? Let's get into the details:

- These suits are lovely. I could stare at Shishi Red's helmet for hours. The little henshin stills are really stylish too! Good balance between being uniform and showing everyone's uniqueness.

-Aw man, we're really starting the stakes sky high, aren't we? It's kinda wild, starting a toku where the bad guys have already "won"? Not to mention the sheer scale (88 constellation systems?? A lot of the planets are on a ticking timebomb, exploding to dust once they've been drained of their resources?) That's a lot to save and liberate yknow? At least it firmly places our heroes in the "underdog" camp, and I do love a good underdog story! I t seems the Rebellion has come across a stroke of luck...

-Lucky! Blunt as a bat, straight as an arrow, and with a luck that would make a leprechaun blush? Guy doesn't even know what's going on, but hey those Kyurangers sure do look cool, and bad guys need to be dealt with, so he's joining the team!

....Man, I'm not sure what to think of this guy, y'know? I'm not one to turn up my nose at all goofy hot-blooded superhero youths, I enjoy them a lot! But Lucky..It's like he's more of a force of nature, than an actual person? I wouldn't be surprised if he was a guiding star that fell down in human form. With an archetype like this, you gotta give me something grounded about the character that I can latch onto. So I won't say I like or dislike him atm, I'm just going to wait and see what happens.

-Oh that's right, there's 8 other rangers running around as well! I will admit, I did feel a sense of worry at learning the base roster comes together at EP *5* of all things, but I think they handled it pretty well? Focusing on them in pairs (Lucky/Garu, Balance/Naga, Champ/Stinger, Raptor/Sparda) to bulid the dynamics that'll make up our status quo, it's a fine method. I like them all alot, save for one....

-Stinger's arc is probably the first genuine flop for me in this show? I was excited for this guy: he's got history with Champ! Cool powers! A backstory that you can feel sympathetic for and also see where he went astray! I'm sure he'll make for a great villain/rival character for the Kyurang-Wh. What do you mean he's a spy and already part of the team?

Aloof or more antagonistic members are always fun to have in a team-oriented show. Gotta love a good clash of ideals, yknow. and it's always such a satisfying payoff to when our loner character starts to wholeheartedly believe in the team's vision. The only payoff to having Stinger being already part of the team is really "See? Lucky's gut was right all along ", and that's kinda.......boring? I think if that element was omitted, Stinger aiding the gang here, and disappearing off because he's got goals of his own to accomplish would be a solid wrap to his intro. IDK, just kinda soured the character for me, so I'm hoping for better things when he comes back.

Overall, I'm interested. Not 1000% percent onboard like I was with any of the other Sentai I've watched around this point, but I am mostly liking what I'm seeing!