[DreamSword]

Episode 5: In Charge of Teaching

DS: I won't lie, I made this gif solely for meme edit potential.

Androzani: When your epic final showdown gets mixed up in a kendo class.

DS: Which actually brings us to what I think was the main idea of the episode? Communication. Cue the Ultraman Blazar theme.

En-chan: Yeah, communication does feel like the main idea they're trying to present here.

DS: And as far as that goes, I felt the episode did it well enough. Although I kinda felt like "insecurity" should've maybe taken the reigns as the big idea given the whole deal with Ryoko in this one.

Androzani: When your best friend turns into a samurai magical girl, insecurity is a logical reaction.

DS: While I would've maybe liked a few hints here and there about it in previous episodes, I did atleast appreciate the episode attempting to give the best friend character an arc of her own. And in isolation, it worked out well enough I think.

En-chan: Yeah, it definitely happens suddenly.

But also I think it works out given all the other things we have to keep track of as we continue on through.

Androzani: It easily could've been buried within the plot of Fukuocalibur's epic final duel, so I'm glad it got some limelight

DS: Speaking of that uh, subplot, I guess you'd call it: The way that the final conversations that each pair has in the climax of the episode are edited together brings about some rather interesting implications about Shuraomaru; intentional or not.

And on the note of Fukuokalibur's' epic rivalry, this episode was surprisingly light on the humor. Pretty much everything is played straight here, with only a small sprinkling of comedic beats. Interesting direction, given the usual Dogengers fare.

Androzani: Even the scene at the Dogengers' equivalent to the Hall of Justice seems rather middle of the road in tone.

En-chan: It's definitely a lot more restrained on the insanity than prior episodes.

But I think that works to its benefit.

Which is especially nice because I always like it when Shuraomaru takes the spotlight and this gives him a rather unique one to boot due to the tone the episode goes for.

DS: For sure. And I suppose it would be alot better than, say, an MCU approach to this whole thing. Ryoko's' concerns are a very serious subject matter, so it was nice to see it treated with some dignity.

En-chan: Yeah.

It was also nice (while played a bit comedically) to see both Fukuokalibur and Mako just consistently ignore Shuraomaru because of Ryoko who ended up getting knocked out for a good while. Really shows where their hearts are in the heat of the moment.

Androzani: And according to the end card, Fukuocalibur will be providing swords for the culture festival.

DS: Swords for what? To cut the pizza with?

En-chan: Clearly more training from hell.

DS: "If we have to suffer through it then so do all of you!"

But you know, despite how much of a sucker I usually am for friendship tropes, to be honest, the most captivating thing to me in this episode was actually the set design.

There's a good handful of easter eggs in the background of this one. Like in the Dogengers' apartment you can see the Buddy Blasters on a shelf, for example.

Androzani: Talking of which, Ohgaman aside, they seem remarkably reluctant to hear Jiro out on bringing a girl into their group

DS: It's mainly KitaQman, who's usually the stick in the mud of the group when it comes to these things. Though given how their latest recruit has been turning out, I don't entirely blame him, really.

En-chan: Plus considering they're all living together... and also have a mini-version of their giant mecha now around...

I think adding one more person's going to make things a bit too cramped (which is saying a lot considering where their base is).

DS: Yeah, that really shocked me. Shrinking down the mech has some really weird implications, given how that thing even functions.

Androzani: I mean, how often do giant monsters appear in Fukuoka of the Dogengers-verse?

DS: Not as often as the average Power Rangers episode, but more often than you'd like.

Anyway, I felt the episode was overall fine as it was. Not a super notable one to me, but did what it wanted to do well enough. The only other thing I wanna note is this: Man, Yabai Kamen is eating like a king this season, ain't he?

En-chan: After how he was treated last season?

He deserves it 100%

DS: I don't disagree.

Androzani: How does he eat with his mask on?

DS: Very carefully.

Were there any other bits you guys wanted to highlight?

Androzani: I missed it in the first episode, but the kendo teacher is played by Kazuki Yao, most famous for being the first voice of Franky from One Piece, but within Tokusatsu, he's known for Ninjaman from Kakuranger and Doctor Z from Akibaranger.

En-chan: Having not seen either Toku he's been in, I recognize him mostly as Franky due to whatever One Piece clips I end up seeing via osmosis.

DS: If Kakuranger is involved, then we need a Christmas episode. Dogengers Christmas would be amazing.

Androzani: As far as I know, the only special I can find is Episode of I-Doll, which I think is a spin-off for next season.

DS: It was the epilogue for season 1, actually.

En-chan: They should put their funds together, skip a year, and release a Winter Movie for Dogengers which is just a Christmas Special.

DS: I 1000% agree on this. I'd donate to the Kickstarter/IndieGoGo/whatever for it, too!

Men, we have a new mission! To whatever company feeds the Dogengers their ideas!

Androzani: That would be the real life version of the Secret Society of Darkness (Known as AHK).

DS: Sounds like something only a member of their group would know... ANDROZANI. YOU WON'T GET AWAY THIS TIME!