[DreamSword]

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Also, truly only in Toku can you get an entire battalion of Anomalocaris set to Ride of the Valkyries. Honestly incredible.

That part legit took me by surprise. I don't think I've ever heard that song in a Japanese production before.

[DreamSword]

Episode 11: Power of the Thunder Key

Losing sight of what's important can be costly.

When Jack Moon decides to send in a clone of himself powered by the Thunder Key, a divide between the motives of Kenji and SHOT soon forms.

And it's a cool showcase of how the grander takeaway of this adventure differs between Kenji and SHOT. SHOT remains focused on protecting the people of Akebono; Pure defense.

Kenji, however, has gotten used to the Toku formula of new toy, new powers, beat the bad guy. Combine that with his own trait of trying to find the simplest solution of whatever problem is directly infront of him and his idea of justice is primarily defeating the bad guys. Especially Jack Moon after the defeat Kenji suffered before.

And Jack Moon, well, he totally jives with that idea. Infact, he encourages Ryukendo to get as strong as he can, and as quickly as he can too. But yet he also recognizes just how rash his rival is being. He teaches Kenji in the same way a parent lets their child touch a hot stove; Go ahead, use the Thunder Key without any proper preparation and watch what happens.

Had Kenji not been so focused on one goal and one goal only, he also could've appealed to Jack Moon's' ego and told him to wait if he wants a truly strong rival to fight. But again, his primary motivation throughout the episode is to take Jack Moon out as quickly as possible, and both him and Gekiryuken end up worse off for it. It's a rather neat subversion on the formula we've gotten so far when it comes to obtaining new keys, and I dug it.

I suppose, then, that this technically counts as our first two-parter of the show, as I imagine the next episode will be dealing with the direct aftermath of this one, and I am very interested in seeing where it will go.

[Enchilada645]

I'll be honest, didn't really jive with this one. In fact, I didn't really care for most of it. Like the start to it was pretty good, but once the clone Jack Moon starts attacking that's when things just fall apart for me.

There's a casual tone to a lot of this series, and it kind of just clashes with everything in this episode. Especially when we get to my major gripe of Ryukendo as a whole which is well, we kind of just cut to things happening and people saying things without any real setup or explanation. We kind of just have scenes to have scenes at times and it feels clunky.

Like the entire time leading up to the plan I was like "Okay what is the plan? Why aren't we like getting any kind of hint towards it? They're just saying 'we're making a plan, follow the plan' without any real buildup towards it" and that took me out of most of SHOT's sequences this episode.

It's actually a really good plan! I just wish it was set up better?

And that's not going into the end of it where like, there was no tension whatsoever and any kind of drama just felt forced when there was nothing to really warrant it.

Like Kenji inserting the unfiltered key into the GekiRyuKen and being unable to handle its power works on paper. Execution just fell entirely flat for me because of the way they decided to handle it.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

There's a casual tone to a lot of this series, and it kind of just clashes with everything in this episode.

I dunno, I didn't feel like this episode had that usual tone, really. Maybe the "training" scene with Kenji at the start did, but otherwise, I felt it carried itself fairly seriously outside of the few comedic bits they threw in.

Quote:

Especially when we get to my major gripe of Ryukendo as a whole which is well, we kind of just cut to things happening and people saying things without any real setup or explanation. We kind of just have scenes to have scenes at times and it feels clunky.

Like the entire time leading up to the plan I was like "Okay what is the plan? Why aren't we like getting any kind of hint towards it? They're just saying 'we're making a plan, follow the plan' without any real buildup towards it" and that took me out of most of SHOT's sequences this episode.

It's actually a really good plan! I just wish it was set up better?

I mean, sure, but it's not like they keep us waiting about what SHOT wants to do. And not to mention, I really don't feel like that was the important part of the episode, in like any way? Yes, the plan to keep Jack Moon trapped exists, but the more important aspect is that Kenji is acting reckless and arguably lazy, which is what the episode more focuses on. Character over plot and all that.

Quote:

And that's not going into the end of it where like, there was no tension whatsoever and any kind of drama just felt forced when there was nothing to really warrant it.

Like Kenji inserting the unfiltered key into the GekiRyuKen and being unable to handle its power works on paper. Execution just fell entirely flat for me because of the way they decided to handle it.

The entire thing was about temptation and Jack Moon playing on Kenji's' mental state at the time. Heck, the scene where Fudo talks to Kenji about all the new keys they've been getting outright foreshadowed the climax of the episode. Felt like a pretty natural conclusion to me.

[DreamSword]

Episode 12: Forbidden Invocation! Thunder Ryukendo!

My biggest issue with this one is that I don't know what it's trying to say.

It seems like the ultimate lesson here is how Kenji has become too reliant on new products rather than working on his core fundamentals.

And while that does line up with a couple of previous episodes, it's ultimately undermined by everyone needing to rely on the new Thunder Key by the end anyway, with Kenji really only remembering he has to prioritize others.

It's also weird in that a majority of the episode doesn't even really focus on Kenji or even Gekiryuken. Kenji's talked about a few times, more specifically him as Ryukendo and how much the hero means to the city, but alot of the episode is moreso about the city banding together in an attempt to defend themselves.

Which, admittedly, was nice to see. How this big city acts like a closely-knit, small town community especially in a time of crisis. Even Shigeru, the nerdy kid from the second episode, gets to make a surprise return. Really it almost made me wish that both this episode and the previous one had taken an entirely different angle and focused almost entirely on the townsfolk.

In the end, it's not an ideal ending to this two-parter, but it does atleast feel appropriately "epic" for what appears to be a season finale of sorts. The scale is bigger, the atmosphere is more dire even if it is still a bit quirky, and the final battle ups the power scale to a solid degree. I just wish its final message were made a bit more clear cut.

[Enchilada645]

Yeah this one didn't really do it for me either.

It's clear this is like the end of act one but the way both this and the prior episode are shot and presented, doesn't really feel like it? Everything feels off.

It's also bold of this show which has made a habit of in/out of universe pushing the toys constantly to go "No relying on all these new toys is bad" as like the central theme before just going "We need to use the new toy!" at the end. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too I guess.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

It's also bold of this show which has made a habit of in/out of universe pushing the toys constantly to go "No relying on all these new toys is bad" as like the central theme before just going "We need to use the new toy!" at the end. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too I guess.

Yeah, it's a very odd decision to say the least. Like, it'd still be a bit weak, but if they instead tried to have the message of "Have an idea of what you're doing before using the new superweapon" that probably would've worked out alot better.

[DreamSword]

Episode 13: A Meeting Transcending Time

This was one of the better recap episodes I've seen in recent times.

It's just alot of fun from start to finish. Not only in terms of the meta humor but also the surprising amount of character development for Fudo.

Now, it's not perfect. I didn't like Fudo losing his memory at the end, but I can see why they did it, and at the very least it did help lead to a fun way of ending the episode off.

Speaking of which, that bit at the end where we get a preview of two new enemies coming to town! Lady Gold is whatever to me, but the suit that the new Castor Warrior has? Oh yeah, I dig it. I just hope it doesn't mean that Jack Moon is going to end up replaced.

Overall, I felt this was a nice balance of recap alongside its own original, insane story that makes the whole thing very fun to sit through.

[DreamSword]

Episode 14: A New Enemy

What a cool way to properly start the second act!

Now, the plot itself is nothing ground breaking. Many have seen the Twilight Zone episode about rumors and trust and whatnot, and this follows the same idea.

But, everything that they manage to do surrounding that baseline is really neat. It gives the opportunity to showcase just what the new bad guy, Lady Gold, is like and capable of, and in turn gives us a preview of the next Castor Warrior.

The camera and model work done surrounding the Giant Ryukendo is also really neat to look at, which of course makes the other cool action scenes in the episode(that super speed fight!) all the better. The episode itself just keeps on building momentum, and I was for sure along for the ride.

There are also some new scenes added to the opening sequence starting with this episode, thus previewing more new toys that we'll be seeing the future I'm sure. One of them reminds me of the Battlizer from Power Rangers Wild Force, which given it aired four years before Ryukendo did, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the actual inspiration.

While the episode does lack in the usual comedy and character development that previous episodes have showcased, they do still manage to have some solid character interactions throughout, and what few comedic moments there are do land. It's overall a great hook for what's to come, and I hope the coming episodes won't disappoint.

[Androzani84]

This is probably my favourite episode of the series after two watches (with 36 being a close second). I think it was the introduction of a female villain in a fancy outfit.