[DreamSword]

Episode 3: Rookie, the Camera's Rolling

DS: So uh, mind if I start this off with an anecdote?

En-chan: Sure

DS: Back when I was a kid in the early 2000s, "Game" anime was a huge thing at the time. Yu-Gi-Oh, Beyblade, Bakugan, etc. During that time, my friends and I would often joke about how we wanted there to be a Rock-Paper-Scissors anime, with over the top special effects, sonic booms blowing people across rooms whenever they lost, and a whole bunch of other ridiculous stuff.

And then Dogengers just came and made that reality.

Like, I talked a couple times during the first season about how the show made me feel like a kid again when watching it, and now here, in season 2, they continue to carry that feeling and I gotta say, it's just great to see and feel.

En-chan: See, this is why Ohgaman is a powerful but also incredible man. Dude reminds you of your childhood and shows off a technique taught to only one child in every generation of his family.

DS: Which, given what we learn of his backstory in this episode, implies he had these powers before he became a superhero, somehow. And I just love that.

But yeah, there is so much going on in this episode it's hard to know where to even start. Because what starts off as what seems to be an episode about Ohgaman and Rookie bonding quickly turns into a big insight into Great-Z, the SSoD, and Ohgaman's' backstory. It's wild.

En-chan: There's definitely a lot going on in this episode despite its fairly simple premise.

Honestly one thing I'm glad for is them putting Ohgaman's focus as the first one of these. Helps that they're pushing him as a regular cast member now too which was definitely something I was hoping for out of this sequel. In the first series he was this pretty powerful figure that rarely showed up and had some neat quirks to him, but now we get to see he has a lot more layers to who he is.

DS: Yeah, getting to see his more human aspects really has been a treat. And the way the characters have been paired up as they are makes alot of sense, as we never got to see Jiro bond with Ohgaman in the first season like he did every other character. Which even Ohgaman himself points out.

And I really gotta wonder how much his story pulls from reality here, because I get that this is a low budget indie production, so like, did the whole "Founding of Ohga Pharmacy" thing mirror how Dogengers itself came to be? I honestly wouldn't doubt it.

En-chan: Who knows, but it is fun to think about given the very small scope of this franchise and how many of these guys are actually out and about as we're speaking.

DS: Speaking of Ohga products though, the Buddy-Buddy Blaster. I love how much fun they have with this thing throughout the episode. Like how unwieldy it is for Rookie due to being the size of his torso, haha.

En-chan: It wouldn't be a Toku weapon if it wasn't a bit bigger than usual. lol

That said it is a fun weapon to give most of the cast given their fighting styles, so one can only imagine what other shenanigans we'll end up getting as a result. That said I do like that, at least for our two Ohga-sponsored heroes, they get some cool charged attacks.

DS: Megaman would be proud.

Ohgaman isn't the only highlight here though. We also learn that Great-Z's' show is actually live-streamed in real time, and we also learn what exactly Great-Z's' idea of justice is, which, while I could see many complaining makes him contradictory or hypocritical, I personally think the way it's presented makes him a very interesting character to think about.

En-chan: Right, Great-Z is definitely an interesting antagonist to introduce into the series.

Dude's not a villain, just a hero with his own kind of ideals that just can't understand the Dogengers' own. So it definitely makes the conflict and clash between the two parties a lot more complicated than a simple good vs evil showdown.

DS: Plus, them fighting over who gets to be the real rivals of the SSoD is just a fun premise in general. And it also leads to a moment that I for sure was not expecting: Some extra spotlight for Maid Butler and his unlocking of his own super mode.

En-chan: Yep!

Definitely an interesting but very cool choice to give the villains some updates of their own. We don't really see much of it in this episode beyond its appearance, but it's cool to see that giving characters power-up forms in this series isn't only limited to the heroes.

DS: And without the help of the Golden Seal from season 1 either. It really is an awesome shot to end the episode on too, given MB manages to be the only one to outright resist Great-Z's' teleportation drones. I got legit hyped!

En-chan: That's the power of being loyal to your boss for you!

DS: Is there anything else you wanted to note about the episode? Cause I can't really think of much else to say besides "It's just a fun ride from start to finish."

En-chan: I think we just about covered all the bases here, it's a simple premise that really just spirals into a lot of fun and interesting details about our cast once it really gets going.

DS: Welp, I guess that brings us to a close then. Stayed tuned next time forrrrmegetting kidnappedbya teleporterdrone apparently aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa