[Paladin]

Garza unleashes a dangerous new power, bringing forth an army of new Yodonheim soldiers.

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[Androzani84]

Well, there’s a lot to unpack here. So I’ll just summarise it.

Dawww, pwecious babu Galza

I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to care for Kakihara, since she’s only been in two episodes and a movie.

Ah, I see Emperor Yodon resides in the sitting room when not active.

Given my… misgivings towards the Kiraful Go Arrow, I was half hoping for Galza to use his power to smash it to piece.

Wow, Galza’s new form is freaking terrifying.

It’s safe to say King Express Zabyuun is that mecha’s default form.

Ok, now I want to know how they’re gonna pull out of this one.

Also, OT didn’t include it, but the first TV spot for Zenkaiger aired after this episode.

[chasesinister]

Cool twist, that Juuru was actually seeing Garza and not Oradin. The red herring was sucessful since we're conditioned into seeing Garza with a purpleish head and Oradin have a blue head that when I saw it at the beginning I never doubted that it was a young Oradin that Juuru saw. I only caught on the misdirect when Grateful Phoenix executed a different finisher than what was on the drawing that I thought "Wait did Juuru saw Garza instead?"

Well done Kiramager, that was nicely played.

[Fish Sandwich]

Nice of Kiramager to give me one last Ayumi Shimo episode before the show wraps up. Do I even need to say that I liked this one?

It's fundamentally different from the kind of standalone fun that gave us scripts about rap battles, but I can appreciate the symmetry of Kiramager having its final episodes involve both the writers from all the way back with Episode Zero, and as a lead-in for the next three, I think Arakawa is pretty well set up for success by this opening act.

As usual, I think a big key here is how the episode remembers to create a little bit of extra emotional investment on top of the base drama of the final boss showing up. I can't pretend bringing back Kakihara one more time is some major stake that every viewer is sure to be on the edge of their seat about, but, well, first of all, entirely personally, she made those couple of prior appearances count, so at the very least, I totally want to see these wacky kids go to that amusement park. But beyond that, I think what I'd like to stress is just that the script felt the need to zoom in on such a small part of the larger problem at all. It doesn't only frame the threat as affecting some intangible statistics – the random civilians who we only ever see reacting to danger in crowd shots – it puts things on a more personal level by also making it about people too. It might seem like a minor point, and, I don't know, maybe it is, but I honestly think little things like this can make a huge difference on the impact of a story.

The other facet of the plot that does a lot to generate some more interest beyond "bad guys doing bad things" is obviously the way it tricks the audience with that flashback at the start, which serves the purpose of reminding you there's perhaps an earnest place all of Garza's negativity stems from, which combined with Juuru's weird admiration of Rising Garza's cool factor, all points to a final showdown that will be about more than just, again, hitting a bad guy who is doing bad things, which is always nice. I'm very curious to see where this all goes, or if there are any more curveballs the show is going to throw in those last couple weeks. All three of the main villains are in pretty interesting places here at the end (Yodonna hasn't exactly moved recently, but she kinda doesn't need to!), and I look forward to seeing how that all shakes out specifically because I don't know for sure where it's all going.

It's an exciting start to the end, is maybe all I can really say! Unlike the usual Shimo episode, it's hard to talk about this one on its own merits, with it so distinctly being a "part one", but I really did love it all the same, even if I can only put so much of that into words.

[Sunred]

Is it just me or is Muryou's shirt in this episode a nod to Burai's costume? The shade of green is very similar and the way it is decorated with black and gold graphics along with the white parts altogether scream Burai to me.

[Daikaijuman54]

A great episode, with some really neat twists. Usually, I would expect something like a villain betrayal arc, but how it was done here was pulled off really well. Also, Tametomo, your hair is darker. And Garza... Just wow. That new form, Lord Garza, looks amazing, easily one of my favorite Sentai villain designs next to Wyzul and Dogrannio, and with that dream scene of him as a child makes me certain they'll try to redeem him in some way. Though it's kind of a shame Emperor Yodon kicked the bucket before the Kiramagers actually fought him, but who knows, maybe he'll randomly reappear at the end as a final boss, or in a movie.

Looking forward to seeing the Kiramagers take the fight to Yodonheim next week!

[dreamcastegirl]

I teared up at the sheer wholesomeness of Juuru/Kakihara. The whole episode was really, really well done, I thought—I am, of course, obliged to mark this episode down due to the lack of Yodonna content.

*rolls up sleeves and sigs* guess I'll have to pick up the slack, Mr Toei.