[DreamSword]

Episode 28: Dogs and Cats and Horses and Deer

I'm someone who typically vouches for the inherent silliness that comes with toku.

I've noticed in recent times that something used to be an issue exclusive to the Power Rangers fandom has spread to other Tokusatsu circles as well.

Essentially, the notion that toku should be made only with the adult audience in mind, and that any notion of childishness or comedy should be thrown out, lest the show in question be seen as garbage.

But more often than not, I've found that the more outlandish elements of the given toku show are actually its more fun and memorable bits, and Changerion here is certainly no exception to that rule. In short, Changerion is at its best when it's stupid.

So if you were at all expecting another bout of fun insanity due to the title of the episode, well, sorry to say but you're very much mistaken! This is instead an episode that takes it itself 90% seriously and as such ends up a very boring a frustrating slog to sit through. For real, this was the most I've disliked a Changerion episode in a long while.

The majority of it has to do with a romance I haven't felt more disdain for since Yomogi and Yume in Dynazenon. It's Gauzer and Eri again, and you can argue "love makes people do stupid things" all you want, but that doesn't excuse the fact that the very basis of the romance makes no sense to begin with, ontop of how it's just incredibly uninteresting to watch play out, especially with how it reduces two otherwise enjoyable characters to nothing but lust.

Is that to say that the entire episode is bad? No. I had a couple good laughs at points. But as the whole this episode was just unpleasant to me. Where I drew the line was when a scene is framed in a way suggesting the viewer is meant to sympathize with Gauzer, basically saying: "Gauzer might be an interdimensional evil out to subjugate and consume human life, but Eri hurt his feelings, and that's just as bad if not worse." You have no idea how tempted I was to just stop the episode right then and there.

And to cap off the crap, turns out this is the first part of a multi-parter, so it's not even like I get to escape any of this yet. Frikken wonderful.